An Inspired Story

Act 1, Scene 1-5

There was a scene. There was a happy family. A mother, a father and what seemed to be a gloriously happy toddling little girl.

The scene moved to a couple months later. The once beatifically happy couple are now arguing. The lost laughter of the child is nowhere near; she's curled up in the corner, rocking herself as she cries.

The scene once again moves; the father has a suitcase that's about to burst in one hand and curled around the other, a belt. The mother has a line across her cheek, growing redder by the minute. The child is no longer a toddler, she's four years old today. Her birthday present is not a line across her face, but a line across her back; already beading with blood.

Now the scene is of a nine year old child, blond hair fluttering in the wind, sitting on a tattered blanket. She's wearing a tank top, and beneath it you can see a scar running down the length of her back. It's two centimetres wide with the raised edges going up one. Behind her is her mother, or what looks to be; she's worn, not by age but by stress and fear and exhaustion.

Changing once again, you can see the same child, just a day later, staring up at the stars, her green eyes glinting with held back tears. In the distance, you can hear a car stuttering and starting; driving the car is her mother, staring determinedly at the glowing horizon.