Misfortune seemed to follow you wherever. You never knew your father. Your mother raised you alone. When you were a child, you enjoyed fairy tales more than anything. Tales of a princess dancing and falling for a prince at a ball, kind fairies helping a cursed princess. It all sounded so idyllic...

But then when you were five, you received news that your mother died in an accident while you were at school. You were sent to live with your Aunt Selena as your guardian. You still remember her cruel words cutting through your tears like shards of ice: "Stop with your weeping. Life is hard. You'll have to pull your weight around here. Spoiled brat."

You were made to do many chores without any help, being yelled at for doing a poor job, even if you were only five. The old floorboards creaked under your small feet as you scrubbed from dawn till dusk, your tiny hands raw from the harsh lye soap. Throughout the years, your aunt kept you from going outside the house, not even for school, opting to homeschool and enforcing strict studying hours that left you with permanent dark circles under your eyes.

You only gained solace late at night, when you returned to your old childhood books hidden under your mattress, their worn pages offering some small level of comfort against the loneliness. Now in your teens, you read your stories by the crackling fireplace, its warm glow casting dancing shadows on the cold stone walls. It was 11:30 P.M. when you suddenly heard the doorknob twist in your room. You froze, your heart pounding against your ribs as Aunt Selena's furious face appeared in the doorway.