Trail, To the Past

Chapter One : She

- I don't have a daughter like you! Go away, you are making my name dirty to people! A shame! This is a shame!

Every word splashed into her ears. The little girl could only look up at her mother with scared eyes and a pale face. She couldn't say a word ; if she dared to, the woman before her would slap her again, and it hurt.
- I am so disappointed! I can't believe this creature is living in my house! I can't stand her anymore! James, get her out of my sight!
The servant who was standing like a stone slowly moved. There were sparkles in his eyes, pale ones, trying to keep calm.
- Yes, madame, I am at your service.
Then he turned around, shaking with fear, kindly said:
- Let's go, Miss Jo.

Being locked in a room, Jo looked outside the wooden window. The sky had turned pink at the time, signalling for a calm evening. It might be calm outside Jo's world, but in hers, no, there were only cruel words of her own mother, meals with only a small loaf of bread and water, darkness of the halls upstairs, where she would be locked for a day or two with nothing to do or play, but a small window to watch the world still moved without her. It was very lonely up there in the attic, with a hard bed and a thin blanket. When winter came, the little girl had to suffer from the cold coming from outside, making her cough and cough until her throat was so sore that James, the servant and her only friend bad to beg her mother for a small amount of money to buy medicines. Every time that happened, Jo's mother never gave her daughter enough to buy a sweet and even gave the small child a scornful look plus a scowl, always " Why is this girl so annoying? " and "I shouldn't have born you!" and things like that. 

Living in a house like this was no more than being a beggar out on the roads, and Jo knew that. But she knew her own mother used to love her very much, it was just her father's death that shocked the lady. Jo felt she was still lucky that she had a roof to protect her from rain and snow, but sometimes, the thought of sleeping under the stars at night excited her.

Little sparkling dots appeared at night like smiling and chatting to each other, without noticing there were people down there, searching for a small bit of happiness. Was it that hard to find, or it was just the sadness brought them down, making people could not reach the thing they were finding?