Short Stories and Poetry

Dark Snow (Part 2)

I zoom down the stairs each one bringing me closer to safety. Whenever she gets into a mood like this, it ends up in a new bruise. I want to have at least one door between her and me.
Finally, I reach my small room with a sigh of relief as I close the door behind me. I'm breathing hard, but over my gasping breaths, I can hear shattering glass and something heavy being thrown.

I stand up in surprise, never before in her tantrums has she broken anything made of glass, not after what happened to the window not many years ago. My blue cape catches my eye from its resting position on the coat hook. I move quickly, pulling it from the hook and attaching it around my shoulders. I move past the bed in a hurry and before I know it I'm face to face with the floor's dust bunnies.

"Ow," I mutter, pushing myself up and turning to see what I tripped over.

A small wooden box, void of any specific markings sticks out from under my ratty bed. I pull it to me opening it slowly. Inside is a red ribbon and a ruby-hilted dagger. I pull the ribbon out and push my hair to one side before tying it with the satin. I look back into the box at the dagger and let one finger rub down the flat of the blade. The ruby glints like a winking eye and I'm pulled into the past.

"What is it, Papa?" I ask softly.

"It's a dagger, ma princesse. For you to protect yourself with," he explains, his curled mustache drooping with each word.

   I giggle, "But Papa I have you for that."

   He gives me a sad smile, "Not always mon rubis, the world is a cruel place with evil people and I want you to be brave okay? Can you do that for Papa?"

   I bob my head, "Yes Papa, I will be a brave princess. I will never need a prince and I will slay the dragons myself." I say confidently.

   He laughs, "That's my girl, now run along and tend to the garden with the animals, they may need your protection."

   "Yes, Papa." That's when I turn and skip into the wide garden leaving my father to stand and watch through a distorted stain-glass window...

   I'm snapped out of my daydream by my stepmother's shriek. "You wretched girl!"

   I close the box and push it under the bed with one foot, using the dagger's hilt I attach it to my leg with a piece of fabric. I take one more look at the door before moving deeper into the basement and into the wine cellar.

   The cellar itself is empty for all but a few empty cases that once held the most expensive wine in the land. The doors out of the cellar are a little out of my reach. I curse my petite stature and pull a wine crate over to the doors, pushing it against the wall. I step onto my makeshift stair and with much effort, pull myself up to the doors. I push them open and the smell of wet earth fills my senses. I close the doors behind me and then run into the forest and hopefully into safety.

   My legs pump quickly but I'm not sure how long I can hold this pace. I come into a clearing with fallen moss covered tree lying across it. I sit down on a log to catch my breath and decide I'm far enough from the castle to avoid rough treatment during her violent spell. I pull out the ruby-hilted dagger, twisting it's silver body in my hands, tracing the intricate designs covering the molded silver. A rough sound echoes through the forest, very familiar to me, seeing how I come into the forest often I dismiss the peculiar noise.

   I tilt my head back looking up at the treetops and the sun filtering through them. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, trying to relive the moment I experienced in my dim basement room. I try to reimagine his defined features and twirling mustache. But the only thing I see is a faint red of my eyelids from the sun above. The faint noise is growing louder, I open my eyes and stand up looking around for the source of the disturbing sound. The noise seems to be approaching and it clicks, it's the sound of barking dogs. Not any dogs, but a huntsman's bloodhounds. My eyes grow wide as they break the tree line, I clumsily put the dagger back in its hilt, slicing my leg as I do so.

   I hiss from the pain but force myself to run, deeper and deeper into the forest. And farther away from the only home, I have ever remembered.