PROLOGUE
1175 Words
Thalia tried to reach for her toy under a truck, but a boy reached them then throw it away from her.
She stilled, anxious.
"You weird, talking with a voodoo doll!" The rude boy scolded.
Thalia wanted to cry for what happened. But she stops her tears.
She glances at her friend. She was invited to play first...
Then suddenly, the children started to bully her by throwing her doll while she is blindly reaching and running for it.
Thalia was confused about the rude action, but she smiled anyway.
"W-Why? I thought we are going to play..."
"Play?! You're so stupid!"
"B-But you... Invited me!"
"Only to make you look like a fool!" A girl said then laughed.
Thalia is getting bullied by a group of people who is years older than her. She hoped for a new life in this new place, but she guessed... She will never have a decent life.
Thalia didn't bother to fight back. She just followed the doll, but again, they throw them away.
"Catch it!" The boy laughed and throw it to his friend, then back again.
Thalia is trying to reach her doll that her Mom made for a few minutes.
The doll is the same as old as she is, seven years old. The hair is made of yarn, and the eyes are made of black buttons.
"Stop it!" She slightly hissed.
"You're a daughter of a cult!" The boy shouted at him in anger. "You're a bad omen here!"
Thalia pressed her lips as she tries to conceal what she feels. The young girl is still not used to that kind of insult.
"T-That is not true," she denied with her weak voice.
A group of kids come after the boy and insulted her too.
"Daughter of a cult! Weirdo! Why did you move here anyway? Did you know that a lot of unfortunate things happened here since you came?!" An older girl growled at the young girl. "Dante, why are you talking to her? Mom told you to stop messing with her!"
The boy just laughed. They are really frightened of Thalia's family. The villagers know that something is wrong with them, and even the kids know it... but they are too young and stubborn to follow a plain rumor.
"Right! She may put a curse on us or something!" Another boy laughed after telling the insult.
Thalia lowers her head and starts playing with her hands.
She didn't even know why everyone treats her like a black sheep.
She was shaking and scared. Thalia wanted to hide and wrap herself with the doll alone... But she is all caught up with a stranger.
Every time her family moves out, everyone is looking at her; scared, mad, or she was like a mystery. Like she is disgusting.
"Do you... all want to die in pain?"
Thalia stood straight when she heard her mother's voice.
All of the kids started to turn pale. Now, it's their turn to shake and stutter.
Thalia's mother put her hands on both sides of her shoulder.
"What are you trying to do with my daughter?" Her mother wickedly asked in a low tone.
Thalia's mother is looking older than she is. Lack of sleep, pale as white, dark circles under eyes, and a thin body. Wearing a velvet long dress and a black scarf, she immediately intimidated the kids.
They all ran away.
"Mother," Thalia called her Mother then she face her.
Her mother smiled. Showing the doll that the boy throw away.
Thalia smiled in gratefulness. She thinks her mother is her savior.
Cult? At a young age, who would understand a cult?
Thalia knows that her parents are devoted to a certain religion. That's how her mother explained it to her.
Religion, faith, and loyalty.
But the villagers were right.
Thalia is too naive to understand everything.
One night, Thalia was about to get a glass of water.
She was about to get out when a group of people with a black cloak entered their house.
She was scared for a moment. But when she saw her mother and father wearing a similar cloak, she just shrugged it then sleep.
"Thalia, no!" Her mother shouted at her one morning when she holds a bread knife.
Her mother and father are very protective of Thalia's being. She is getting bathed in milk every day, comb her virgin hair by the mother and only her mother cuts it too.
She only wears a white dress too that compliments her soft and white skin. She doesn't wear anything but a silk white dress.
Her mother told her, it's for a presentation. She didn't understand what it means.
"Thalia, you know you cannot get yourself any mark or cut," her mother warns her. "Let me do it. Don't go outside too. See what happened to you? I told you... Everybody is insecure..."
She didn't answer and just ate her bread and jam.
Thalia feels loved by her parents. Getting bathe in milk, combing her hair, oil perfume, humming a song before sleeping, and many more to make her beautiful...
But there's a reason behind it.
One night, Thalia was woken up when she feels someone carries her.
It was her father.
"Father... Where are you taking me?"
"To your owner," her father answered coldly.
The young girl didn't understand what does it meant. Thalia just knows they are going downstairs.
She was surprised. Her parents didn't let her enter the basement!
In the entrance, a strong scent of candle and fire reaches her nose.
And then, when the door opened... Thalia was horrified.
The room is lighted up with candles alone. But what scares Thalia was the group of people is formed in a wide circle, they are hidden by their cloak. In the center is like a bed, but made of rock.
"F-Father..." She called when she felt scared.
The group of people started to mumble things. She holds her father more tightly.
"Father!" She squealed when her father put her down in that bed and chain her feet.
"Don't worry, Thalia. This is why you are born..."
The seven-year-old didn't understand what he meant by it. She is just crying because of the group of people, humming!
"Father! I don't... want here. P-Please!" Thalia begged in confusion.
She pulled the chain when her father left her at the center alone.
To her surprise, her mother came.
"Thalia! Don't cry! Do it for us!"
"Mother... I'm scared..."
Her mother put the cloak down.
"Do you want us to live a long life?"
The kid nodded.
The mother's eyes expanded.
"Then don't cry," her mother threatened.
She stilled when her parents both put on the cloak and join the group. Then mumbled.
Thalia was just crying in confusion and scared. She wanted to cry so loud but her mother told her not to.
As the second pass by, the mumbling started to get more clear too. It became louder enough to hear.
"Power and eternal life, this is our sacrifice."
- Writer
