PROLOGUE
600 Words
Nigella stood by her mother's side, clutching her hand like her life depended on it.
Her five year old self did not understand why her mother had dressed her in a pretty princess dress and made her blonde hair into a nice braid. She bounced on her legs, her new shoes made a squeaky sound and lit up like christmas lights.
They were in a very big house, the biggest Nigella had ever been in. Their house was very small compared to where she was standing. She felt small and afraid. She squeezed her mother's hand tighter.
Feeling the pressure, her mother looked down at her with a poker face. It was all Nigella had ever seen. Her mother never smiled, not at her or at anything. Unlike Nigella, she had thick, straight brown hair and the darkest, strictest dark eyes.
"You are here." A deep voice made her mother look away and Nigella started breathing again. Her back was burning in memory of the beating her mother had given her for getting into a fight at school. Her soft blue eyes were watery from pain when she looked up at the man who had spoken. She didn't show it on her face. She had learnt to keep the secrets to herself.
He was very old, Nigella noticed. He was taller than her mother and had the same eyes as Nigella and when he looked down at her, he smiled. His eyes crinkled on the edges and his teeth showed. Nigella looked down shyly.
"Hello, Nigella." He held out his big hand for her. She hesitated and silently asked for her mother's permission. When her mother didn't say anything, she carefully placed her small, chubby hand in his very warm and rough ones. The warmth felt better than her mother's cold. She smiled.
"Hello." She mumbled. Her hand slipped off of his. Slowly, reluctantly.
"I'm here to drop her off." Her mother's words cut the comfort in the air and brought the chills back. Nigella wanted to run to the tall stranger and just stand there to feel safe in his warmth. His smile never melted away, even when his mother looked at him the way she looked at Nigella when she was angry.
"I didn't expect anything more of you, Rina." The man said. Her mother didn't say anything.
"A father should be responsible for his child. I won't take the burden anymore."
She pushed Nigella forward in the unknown man's direction and let go of her hand.
"Mom?" Nigella squeaked at the force of her push. The man knelt and held her before she hit the floor. Tears blurred in her blue eyes.
"It's okay Nigella," The man whispered in her ear, he picked her up in his arm. Warmth surrounded her and she felt comfortable but she kept looking at her mother. They held eye contact only for a brief second. Many emotions passed and many froze in the icy glare of her mother's eyes.
Then she turned away and left.
"Mom!" Nigella screamed. She struggled to get out of the man's hold but he held her tightly. She felt an unbearable pain in her chest that must have been heartbreak. Her mother left her. Nigella was left alone, and that reality was too much for a five year old girl.
"Nigella, my darling. You will stay with papa from now." The man whispered in her ear and patted her back to sooth her crying as the heavy set of doors closed behind his mother's disappearing silhouette. Nigella just knew, she would never see her mother again.
- Writer
