Hunted

Prelude

"You sure you want her?" The uniformed volunteer worker asked, his uncertainty showing.

She smiled, her impatience not showing. "Yes. Why, what's wrong with her?"

"Well." He looked away, not knowing if he should say it or not. "It's just that..."

She tilted her head to the side. "Will you please just tell me already? I don't have time for your lollygagging."

He paled. "Y-yes'm. Well, you see. That one's very strange. When she was rescued, she had this animal with her. It was a fox, probably no more than two months! It must have been driven out of its den by the parents, and she must have been away from the village to have found it, but it was deathly sick when we got to her and we took it to a professional. She hasn't said a word the moment we took the animal out of her hands and s'been watching reruns on that old TV since. She eats, but never a word."

She looked at the tiny little child in front of the television, a tape recording of Ana Pavlova performing as Gisele was playing, and though she had never spoken with the child before, she was sure the cherub was transfixed by the performance.

She smiled despite herself, then turned to the volunteer worker. "Where's the cub now?"

"Still in the vet's office." He answered, now fearful of the parent about to adopt the child.

"Please send me a message as soon as you get word of its survival. For now, I'll be more than glad to accept this beautiful little girl." Her politeness and sincerity made him rethink his opinion of her.

Two weeks later, they were back in town, the girl she named Amelia who had been clinging onto her every chance she got now started wandering around the pent house complex she would be living in for the rest of her life.

In the spur of the moment, she called her daughter after taking a seat on the sofa. "Amelia," She told the black cherub in the iridescent blue dress. "If you be a good girl, we'll grant you any wish you make." She said in her kindest voice. They had come home before two days before her husband, but all was well. He merely had a meeting he needed to settle which she wasn't up to waiting for him to finish.

Amelia's eyes sparkled, the innocence of a five-year-old showing through despite her docile demeanor. "Really?"

She nodded, her smile reflecting sincerity, something a child would believe in, a child innocent from the fact that even adults make mistakes. "In that case, I wanna be a ballerina!" She exclaimed in gleeful honesty, remembering the videos they would watch in their free time, the beautiful Russian lady in black and white and shades of gray.

She was surprised by the answer, but her calculating nature made her realize it was a perfect idea. "Of course!"

"Really!?" She asked, both in disbelief and excitement.

She nodded. "Really! So promise me you'll be a good little girl, okay? and I'll watch over you."

Amelia nodded a multitude of times before running into her mother's arms and embracing her as hard as her scrawny little arms could muster.

That was the beginning of her rise to stardom, and her second wish for anonymity.