She is A Hybrid

From the day I was born until the age of 6, my life was filled with love, encouragement, and happiness. It was just me, my mum, and my dad. We were content, and we lived in a semi-detached house in Workington, Cumbria. It wasn’t anything special it had a driveway, a back garden, and my favourite thing was it had a beautiful blossom tree that only ever bloomed in spring, I used to love it when the petals began to fall, the ground look like it was covered in a blanket of pink snow. My mum and dad told me tales of animals talking, of a mermaid becoming human in order to marry a prince, A beast who met a maid fell in love and as always, they LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER! Isn’t that how the stories and tale’s end? Well, my story was just beginning, and it turned out to be the worst day of my life when I found myself alone. I woke up as usual, hopped out of bed, and made sure I had Gus, Gus, my teddy penguin with me, wherever I went, he went. I put my favourite blue slippers on, granted they were on the wrong feet, but I put them on. I was always getting mixed up between left and right, my mummy said as long as I put them on, I could work out which feet were the right feet later. I ran to my parent's room for snuggles as I always did in the morning, but when I got there, they weren’t there. I began to feel sad, but I carried on and walked down the stairs. “Mummy!? ... daddy!?” I shouted but again no one answered, I carried on walking down the stairs, as I reached the bottom, everything was a mess and smashed up, it looked like a heard of elephants had run through the bottom half of the house. As I walked around, I shouted for my mummy and daddy again and again, but just like before, no one was there, I sat on the bottom step of the stairs and snuggled into Gus, Gus. I felt so lonely and scared that I was all alone, then I remembered what my mum had told me ‘If you ever find yourself alone and scared, phone the police’ I walked towards the telephone and began to push the buttons, a woman answered “Hello, my name is Sarah. Can I ask what your emergency is, please?!” She said, “hello” I said softly “Hello who is it I am speaking to?” she asked me “My name is Elisha Willow; my mummy and daddy have disappeared and ... and... the house is broken” I said, beginning to cry. “OK sweetheart how old are you?” she asked “I’m 6... I am... I’m” I said, my cry getting stronger as I began to sniffle “I’m really scared. I want my mummy and daddy” I said through my tears “it’s OK, sweetheart, I’ll get someone to come and make sure you're OK, do you know where you live?!” she said softly, making me feel a little better knowing someone would help me. “36 Wilson Street” I said confidently. “Good girl... Well, done sweetheart you’re a clever girl, I have sent a police car round to your house, OK?! Do you think you can stay on the telephone and talk to me until they come?!” she asked “OK” I answered “So, Elisha, can you tell me if anything different happened last night with your mummy and daddy before you went to sleep?!” she asked me , I paused to think about it for a moment “No, it was the same, we played in the garden until it went dark, watched the stars and made wishes on the shooting one’s and then daddy carried me to bed” I said “OK sweetheart, that’s fine, so what is your favourite thing to do with mummy and daddy?!” she asked me, I instantly smiled, remembering everything I did with my mummy and daddy. “We love lots of things, my daddy tells lots of jokes that mummy never gets, and mummy always makes me and daddy breakfast in bed because when daddy makes it, he burns the toast, and we all snuggle in bed together before we get up. Daddy teaches me my first lesson before mummy teaches me after Daddy” I said then went quiet, a sad expression formed on my face and the tears that had stopped while I was remembering all the great times were suddenly over powered by sadness. “Elisha are you still their sweetheart?!” Sarah said, worried I had gotten off the phone. “Will I see my mummy and daddy again?!” I asked between sniffing and wiping my eyes, “Oh, sweetie, I don’t know, but I promise you, we will do everything we can to find them” she said. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. “Sarah there is someone knocking on the door” I told her “Right sweetie you put the phone on the table and open the door and give the police officer the phone when you come back so I can talk to him?!” Sarah instructed me, “OK” I said “Good girl” I placed the phone on the table, and I walked to the door, I pulled a chair over to the door so I could reach the latch and opened it, I moved the chair out of the way. Waiting on the other side was a man and a woman in their uniform, the police officer bent down. “Hello sweetheart, my name is Luke, and this is my friend, Emily can we come in to check and see if you are, OK?” He said softly putting me at ease, but I somehow knew he wouldn’t hurt me. I ran straight to him giving him a hug, I held on to him tight and I burst in to tears. Emily walked in to answer the phone and Luke stood up with me and brought me into the house, Emily finished on the phone with Sarah and she placed the phone back on its stand and began to look around. They saw that everything was a mess, there were books everywhere, glass from drinking glasses and photo frames smashed all over the floor, furniture was tipped over and broken, everything we had was all over the place. Emily also seen stains and knew exactly what they were, she radioed in for a CSI team, back up and an ambulance, by the time they turned up, I was asleep in Luke’s arms. I woke up and had no Idea how long I had been asleep. I was laid on my bed with Luke and Emily looking at me. “Hey, sleeping beauty” Luke said softly, I smiled “Hi... have you found my mummy and daddy yet” I said with hope in my eyes, “No not yet sweetie but we will do everything we can to find them ...Elisha, Emily and I have found out that you have an aunt who doesn’t live that far from here, she lives in the lakes, on Lake Windermere, so because your only little that is where we have to take you until we find out what happened here, “So why don’t you and Emily find a bag and put some of your favourite clothes and toys into it” I nodded, jump down from my bed, took hold of Emily’s hand and we began gathering things to take with me. Emily found a suitcase, I was filling my backpack up, with the things I wanted to take because they reminded me of mummy and daddy. Emily pulled clothes out of the draws and packed them in the suitcase for me, I ran to my mummy and daddy’s room and I took a few things and put them in with my clothes, the last thing I picked up was a photo frame with a picture of all of us in it, it always sat next to my bed. Emily took my hand again and helped me down the stairs, when we reached the bottom, Luke was waiting for us, he picked me up and carried me to the car, he placed me in the car, put my back pack and huge suitcase in the back and we set off to go to my aunts. I never knew I had an aunt, I wonder what she is like, why didn’t mummy or daddy ever tell me about her? Still in the police car with Emily and Luke, it had been getting darker. We began to drive down a lonning, as we drove down the lonning suddenly we drove upon 2 huge, black, iron gates that were open already, we drove down into the driveway, it was in the shape of a ring, where a huge fountain stood in the middle of a grass island, the fountain was very modern the top part of the fountain had a huge, crescent moon and what looked like a wolf with wings cut out into it. The water flowed from the top of it, cascading down into a pond at the bottom, lights shone from the bottom of the pond lighting it up in all its glory. The house well... it looked more like a hotel than a house, it was symmetrical in its design there were nothing but glass doors along the bottom half of the house front and back and I say front to back, because you could see straight through to the garden and what looked like a lake and fells that the house overlooked. The moonlight shone over the top of the fells onto the lake, which is what you could see as you looked through the house to the back. There were large windows for the bedrooms, some had balcony’s, some didn’t and there was a huge rectangular window above the door also front and back with staircases and landings leading to the 11 different floors, the front door was made of oak it had small boxes cut out that were filled with glass and a silver bar handle, there were stone steps leading up to the door, and beside the stone steps there were two huge doors one which was a garage for the house, the other was the kitchen and servant entrance. Luke helped me out, got my case and backpack from the boot and Emily came around the car and joined us in front of the house. We all looked in awe and climbed the staircase up to the door Luke pushed the button for the doorbell, an older woman wearing black pants, a white shirt, an apron and black shoes answered the door, she was and older looking woman, her hair was a beautiful chocolate brown colour, with streaks of ash running through it, her eyes were blue, she was shorter than Luke but taller than Emily, and a welcoming smile was on her face as she looked at me, like she knew exactly who I was. “Hello, my name is Anna can I help you?!” she said “Hello, Anna yes is the lady of the house in Mrs. Scarlett Williams?!” Luke asked her “Yes, come in and I will go and get her for you” she replied I watched as she walked off towards the middle of the room where a circle of sofas sat. Luke, Emily and I stepped into the house, it was very grand, all modern decor, it was one huge room that was sectioned and huge columns that were in rows throughout the room where holding the building up, standing in the middle of the hallway that greeted us all as we walked in was the grandest staircase I had ever seen, it was white marble steps which led to the huge window, that sat at the top of the stairs there was curtains that hung either side and what looked like a window seat set back from the landing at the top of the stairs. There was beautiful fully stocked bar that stood at the end of the room with doors either side of it, they each had signs above that said ‘in’ and ‘out’. I assumed those were the doors for the kitchen. There were sofa areas with coffee tables dotted around the large open space we were stood in. Right in the middle of the room where anna had walked towards, I realised as we walked further in was a seating area that was dropped into the floor in a circle shape surrounding an open log fire. I was about to ask Emily a question when anna came back with someone I could only assume was my aunt, her expression was stern, disdain and disgust, her body language was closed off and very unwelcoming. The lady in front of me, wore a rather tight short black dress, thigh boots and a long silk shawl which was draped over her shoulders, she had purple eyes which I thought was strange but I never asked, her make-up was exaggerated, her nails were like knives and came to a point. “Mrs. Scarlet Williams?!” Luke asked “Yes, what can I do for you?” she said, unamused looking in disgust towards me. “My name is constable Luke Rowell, this is my colleague constable Emily Thrift, we have some news about your sister and her husband, they have disappeared, this little girl is your niece, she has only you to look after her, we are opening an investigation, looking into how your sister and brother-in-law have disappeared and if we can bring them home” Luke explained Scarlet had only looked at me once she concentrated on Luke after that, once he was finished what he was saying, we waited for what felt like a lifetime until she finally spoke “My sister and I have not spoken for 8 years; I despise my sister, her husband and her rat offspring. I will not bring this child into my home; she will disrupt my life” Scarlet said sternly “But if you do not take her, she will go into the system and go into Foster care” Luke said Scarlet filled with rage and burst. “I DO NOT CARE THAT LITTLE s**t IS NOT STAYING HERE A MOMENT LONGER NEITHER ARE YOU NOW GET OUT!!!” she shouted at the top of her voice. I hid behind Luke and was so glad she didn’t want me then I didn’t have to stay with her. “We are very sorry to have bothered you, we will take our leave” Luke said, he looked at Emily then at me. We were about to take our leave when scarlet changed her mind suddenly, “Er ... you! ...wait hold on a moment I am sorry for my outburst but there is a lot of bad blood between my sister and I, however that in no way should affect me in the way I treat my niece, it isn’t her fault I will take her in until her parents can be found if they are not found then we can come to a different decision” Scarlet said confusing us all. I sensed she wasn't being honest; she wasn’t kind in anyway. “Your very kind” Emily stated “Come girl, come see me and Anna” Scarlet tried to encourage me to leave Luke and Emily, I was reluctant to go to them. Something about Scarlet did not ring true with me but Anna made a funny face I smiled and walked over to her she gave me a hug and took the bag from Emily. Anna, I sensed was a kind soul and I knew she wouldn’t hurt me. Luke placed my suitcase beside Anna and he kneeled in front of me “Well, little bud this is where we part ways but I will be in touch with your aunt to update her on the case,” he held out his hand as a high 5, I excitedly gave him a hi 5 back, Emily gave me a hug and they both left waving from the car. As soon as they left and were driving down the road. Scarlet looked at me with disgust and with anger in her eyes, she grabbed me from Anna and grabbed hold of my hair forcefully so I could look at her. “Right, you little brat you will do as your told and never disobey me” she said letting go of me I started to cry, the next thing I felt was a hand across my face the slap echoed against the walls of the huge room we were standing in. “STOP CRYING YOU LITTLE RAT! Anna take her to the attic room get her set up and she will work with you” Scarlet said “Yes ma’am’” Anna answered. Anna took my hand, my suitcase and walked up the stairs with me, up to the attic when Anna knew we were far enough away from Scarlet she began to talk to me. “So, what’s your name little one?!” she asked me I sniffle. “Elisha” I replied “What a beautiful name for a beautiful little girl?” I smiled a little and when I looked up at her she smiled back. “Thank you” I said. We carried on going up to the attic another 10 floors later we reached the attic it was a storage room for things like Christmas decorations, old beds from the many bedrooms and old mattresses, in the corner stood two huge copper containers with a metal fence around them. The best part was that on the back of the house a huge Velux window that opened up to a small balcony outside. It was unused and needed a little TLC, it stood overlooking lake Windermere it was the largest lake in the lake district, I stood taking in my surroundings Anna watched me, I looked up at her, “I know it’s not a lot sweetheart, but I’ll make sure you have some comforts, it can be our little secret?!” she said I smiled and nodded in agreement. Anna, helped me set a bed up well... if you could call it that it was more like a cot it was the only thing we could put together, the parts of bed and mattress that we had in the room had parts missing and weren’t able to fit together to make one bed so we improvised, all I needed was some sheets to go on it. “Stay here I will go and get some blankets and sheets” Anna said as she walked away. Anna returned with blankets and pillows, she found a set of drawers that were in the back of the attic and began to unpack my clothes in to them, I sat on my bed with Gus, Gus looking at the photo I brought with me, I began to cry, Anna heard me and came over to see what the matter was “aww come on sweetheart” as she came and sat on the bed with me “Your mummy and daddy will be back for you when the time is right, you be a brave girl, be patient and they will be back” I nodded my head and wiped the tears from eyes. “Come on why don’t we go to the kitchen and meet everyone, and do some baking” she asked I nodded excitedly I loved baking. My face lit up like it always did whenever mum mentioned baking with her and my dad. Anna giggled at my reaction she took hold of my hand and we walked down the stairs into the kitchen with Anna, there were people bustling around getting ready for the evening ahead, Anna stood beside me squeezed my hand a little to reassure me that I would be safe, then a man walked over to us, “Elisha this is my husband, Billy he is the chef” Anna said introducing me to her husband. “hello” I said to Billy “Well, hello little one, it is very nice to meet you (he looked at Gus Gus) and who do we have here?!” he asked “Gus, Gus is my bestest friend in the whole world, he likes to be very cold” I explained to Billy, he was a penguin after all. “Well, you let me know if Gus, Gus gets hot and will let him use my freezer over there” he said Billy was very kind he had white/grey hair well from what I could see dangling from under his chef’s hat with green eyes, he was very tall, he wore a chef’s uniform and Billy embroidered on his jacket, I nodded “Thank you” I said, with what time we had left before bedtime, we baked biscuits and pastries for the guest that were to arrive that night. I met everyone who worked at the house. Of course there was Anna, and Billy, together they had Jake he is 10 years old and very tall for his age, he has brown hair, Hazel eyes, he loves to play football, and is captain of his team at school, next there was George or Georgie as I called him he’s the chauffeur he drives Scarlet around where she wants to go and in the words of George, he never enjoys the trips, he was very tall, he had brown hair and brown eyes he also helped Billy in the kitchen cooking. Emily is a maid at the Manor, she came from London, a few months ago she and Anna were the only girls until I turned up. Emily was so kind to me when I first came, she was only 18 years old, she has shoulder length blonde hair, blue eyes, she has some freckles across the tops of her cheeks and she is very petite, last but not least is Allister he is like Georgie, a chauffeur or butler whatever Scarlet wants at the time, he was tall and very skinny. Anna told me he was what many would call albino he had pure white hair and had pink eyes, I instantly loved each of them. Jake and me instantly became best friends, we began playing, hide and seek. I wandered into the main hall and didn’t realize I had, I walked over to my Aunt Scarlett who was sat at the table, she was surrounded by all of her guests, I tugged on her dress she looked at me. Furious that some of her guests had noticed me she grabbed my arm tightly and pulled me towards the kitchen. “Would you excuse me for just one second” she said to her guests she smiled through gritted teeth, when we were out of sight in the kitchen, she slapped me across the face and pushed me to the ground I was so frightened, my face hurt and it was bleeding, “You are never to do that again do you hear me” she said, so angry at me for disturbing her, I never spoke a word I just nodded. Once Scarlet walked away, I picked up Gus, Gus and hid under the baking table and cried. Scarlet had burst my nose and lip and had given me an already bruising eye, when Anna came back from serving the guests she sat on the floor to talk to me, see if I was ok. “Elisha sweetie what happened?!” Anna asked me, as Billy joined us on the floor. “I was playing with Jake.... I was hiding, I thinked she had saw him” I said, Anna looked at me then Billy then back at me “OK sweetheart how about we get some cream to go on your little face, you can have your dinner, a bath and bedtime” Anna said to me, I nodded sniffing, tears still falling down my cheeks I climbed out from under the table and held Anna tightly as we walked to her room. “Elisha sweetheart Scarlet isn’t like mummy OK, so from now on how about we try and keep out of her way?!” I nodded “OK” I replied, After Anna cleaned my lip and my nose, she put a cold compress on my eye, and once she had finished sorting me out, she took me upstairs to her room. I washed myself while Anna washed and brushed my hair, then she helped me dress for bed she carried me upstairs with Jake, she tucked me in. we said our good nights soon after, I fell straight into a deep sleep...