Once Upon a Time

 "But at some point in every child's life, for whatever reason...the lullabies seem to fade away.  Reality sets in...and they must learn the grim truth.  

There are no such things as fairytales." -Lullaby

*****

As time went by, Sarah came to realize she did not remember everything about how she ended up where she found herself.  But what she did, she held onto, the fragments of what happened, in every minute detail.  

The wind had picked up, the air became cold.  The very trees seemed to loom over them.   Iain got paler...something she didn't think he could do. 

She remembered looking up...remembered the fear.   Her little brother screaming, why was he screaming?   The realization that she stood between them, a hand clasped firmly around her neck.   She could buy him some time.  The crutches always made him so slow.  But she could run, once she got away.   If she got away.   She was getting dizzy... 

"Run!"

But he wasn't running.   Barely standing with his crutches now on the ground, he was as a pebble thrown against a tidal wave.   

She remembered the force of the Being, something beyond male of female, beautiful and terrible, turning onto him...and then darkness, before waking up somewhere else. 

Somewhere that wasn't home. 

"Life used to be a fairytale.   Maybe not in a real sense, but like many children, life seemed a lullaby for me.  Where fathers are heroes who keep you from harm... and mothers nurture you and fill your life with love and happiness.

Yes, life was a fairytale indeed."  -Lullaby, an online comic written by Mike Miller

*****

She looked around for her brother.   It wasn't fair.  The other girls were playing with each other, why should she have to follow him around?  When he wasn't hiding out in the woods he was trying to tag along.  The other girls didn't want a boy nearby.   Still, when her mother told her to look out for her brother, she went out without complaining.  He was likely to get hurt if she didn't.  

"Iain...?  Come on out!  Where are you?"  Sarah stomped her foot in frustration.   She didn't mind this place, but didn't feel like searching for him.  Onwards she walked, looking in the usual nooks and crannies of trees and bushes.     It wasn't long before she saw the little form crouched in a patch of sunlight, scattered with grass, leaves and mushrooms.   She remembered the stories of the mushroom rings and fairy tales.  They always fascinated him.   

"Hey! I was calling for you!"  

"Oh.  I didn't hear you... I'm sorry."   Sarah pouted.   "Don't be mad!  Look! This one is new!  See it, Sarah?" 

Was it new?  The mushrooms looked so...old.  So big.  They couldn't have sprung up overnight.  Thinking about it, she didn't remember this part of the forest either...

"I see it..." She sat down on a patch of grass near some tiny growing flowers.   "Leave it alone, you know what grandma says about those."   He never listened, so she busied herself by making a little chain, winding the stems of picked flowers into each other.    She made herself a crown, and happy with her work, she stood and wandered over to her younger brother.    His face was thoughtful, more thoughtful than a boy his age should be, but she was used to it. 

The wind picked up a little bit, the sunlight between the clouds a little...too...peircing.    She looked up, then around...was that...fog?   Iain seemed to be doing something, lost in his own little world.

"What are you doing...?"  

He never got to answer.   

From her hand, the little crown of flowers fell to the ground. 

 Okay, this is an OOC post.  Here's a rough timeline/vision for the PC. 

1923: Born, given the name Sarah Campbell, first daughter to a loving family. (pending age appoval)
1927: Brother born
1931: Both are abducted in the woods, when her brother activates a fairie ring... (pending age approval)

Time in Arcadia passes... here is where I can form links of various kinds.  I'm pretty open to those.  

October 2007: Emerges from the Hedge...and begins her new journey.