-3 Prologue - Leaving (1/2)

Once upon a time, therewas a little girl who lived peacefully at home with her mother and siblings. Her father had gone to war, sending letters whenever he could.

Every day this little girl would run to the mailbox and check it for his notes. Most of the time it was empty, but every now and again she would get lucky, finding a letter tucked inside. The envelope would be dirty, the bright white a smokey shade of gray and brown as if he had rubbed it in the dirt before he sent it.

Her father would fill her small mind with loving words. He would talk about how much he missed his family, and how it was rough where he was, but that he was alright and would come home as soon as he could.

He would talk about memories of their trips to the beach and how he couldn't wait to be home with his family. He would tell his daughter that she needed to be good, that she needed to stay strong, and one day soon, he would show up on the doorstep, and give her the biggest hug she'd ever had.

That little girl waited, she waited and watched the driveway. She waited, stalking the window like a lonely puppy, just anticipating that moment a car would pull up and her father would get out.

Only he never came.

His letters arrived less often, their messages scattered and confusing. The strong man she remembered had started to fear for his family, afraid that something was going to happen to them, warning them to be careful and not to trust anyone.

The girl couldn't understand why he was so afraid, the war was so far away, there was no way it would ever reach them. Her mother had promised her that they were safe right where they were, and that no one would ever come to harm them.

She had told her that the war was between others, that it didn't involve the innocent.

'We are the innocent, my little flower, no one wants to hurt us.'

Then something changed. Her mother refused to talk about her father anymore and told her daughter that she wasn't allowed to read anymore letters.

It was a horrible new rule the girl couldn't understand. Her father was everything to her, it didn't make sense why her mother would take the only connection the girl had to him. Those letters made her feel close to him, like their lives weren't so far apart if she could see his words, knowing that his hands had touched the same paper she was holding.

Losing that, tore her apart inside.