{ enchanted forest }

18. { selfless, brave and true }

Winter's back was pressed against the cream coloured wall, her eyes wide open. Her body was shaking uncontrollably. Standing a few paces away from her was Georgia Hayes, her foster mother. In her hands she was holding a glass of wine and her hateful glare was pointed at the girl.

"You imbecile. You can't do anything right, now can you?"

She couldn't say anything. Her body was in a complete shutdown. Winter had come home from school with a bad grade on her history tests. Because of all the chores that Georgia and her husband Frank gave her she didn't have the time to study.

But this was just another bad grade in her long list and now the student guidance councillor was going to be involved. The bad reputation that would give Georgia left a sour taste in her mouth and she had to take it out on her.

"Was it really that hard to just study for once? Or are you that stupid?"

"Perhaps if you gave me a little time to do my homework here, I would score better on my tests," Winter mutters softly, but unfortunately Georgia overheard her. She started trembling. Her pale blue eyes narrow down on the girl that was the bane of her existence, the dirt on her pristine image in the community.

"Remember one thing, little one," she says. She slowly walks towards the girl, her heels clicking ominously on the floor. "Just one word and you will be out of here. Moving from home to home until they finally find someone willing to take a troublesome case like you for more than a week. You should be grateful that we allow you to stay here."

A hateful smirk suddenly appears on her deep red lips. Her eyes were glinting with a sadistic pleasure that made Winter gulp and Georgia's children, who had been sitting on the couch and watching this whole ordeal, giggle.

"I'll call you in sick. Perhaps a week in the basement will make you a little more grateful."

Georgia puts her glass of wine away with a loud thud, almost causing the beverage to spill out of the glass. She grabs Winter's arm tightly in her grip, her acrylic nails digging painfully into her skin. She drags the girl along to the basement stairs while her children Sabrina and Robert rush into the hallway to watch.

Mrs. Hayes pulls open the door to the basement and shoves Winter down, who almost lost her footing on the stairs. She was met with the pitch black room she had grown familiar to. Silently she walks down the remaining steps of the stairs and sits down on the floor, pulling her legs up to her chin.

She takes a deep breath and tries to imagine herself being elsewhere. She wished she was back in her classroom with Ms. Lauren, the kind elementary school teacher that had taken it upon herself to watch over her a little. She had introduced Winter to fairytales and folklore she had never heard of, although also including the famous works like Sleeping Beauty and Pinocchio.

"Brave, truthful and unselfish.. Brave, truthful and unselfish.. Brave, truthful-" Winter whispers softly to herself like a mantra, slowly rocking back and forth. If only she would be brave, truthful and unselfish, she might have a happy ending just like Pinocchio and Gepetto.

She had to believe it, or else it was very likely she would grow mad.

●

David had stood up early that day so he could make Mary Margaret breakfast in bed. Emma came downstairs and sees what her father was up to. "Breakfast in bed, seriously?"

"What happened has been really hard on Mary Margaret. The least we can do is make sure she's eating," he comments, but Emma disagrees. She tells him to give the pampering a rest, haul her ass out of bed and make her move past this.