Whatever it takes

The Forest

***

'Aarghhh!' Ava's memories of the past went to a total shut down. There was an excruciating pain on the left side of her stomach. Her hand reflexively moved to the same area.

There was a heavy, long irregular shape of something like a stick that had fallen onto her. She hastily moved the thing only to intensify the pain she was having. Tears of pain involuntarily rolled on her cheek.

'This is too painful. Too painful!' she cried. Her palms wiped the wetness on her face hoping that the action would help the tears to stop.

That was when a terrifying howl entered Ava's hearing. 'Wolf?!' Ava's eyes widened in shock. The first thing that came to mind was to run away as far as she can from where she was.

'I don't want to die. No...' she cried again but this time around there was a force that pushed her to go against the pain.

Ava mustered all the strength she had and crawled. She needed to find a tree. A tall one. With her two arms and knees, she did so for the sake of surviving. Yet, no matter how persistence she was, the wound which kept worsening the more she moved, made her felt like giving up. Ava could no longer keep the same pace. She was getting slower.

'Is there no miracle?' she wished, hoping that she would at least find a tree before her body gave up.

'Am I that unlucky?' she lamented when finding that there were none in touch.

'Hiks...' sobbing, Ava succumbed to the feeling of helplessness that was eating up her bravery. The first howl was now followed by several others.

Ava whimpered at the thought of being served on the plate to the wolves.

In the moment of despair, the image of a boy with a sullen face appeared in her mind, and the words that came out from his lips echoed in her consciousness.

'Ava, wait for me. I'll promise I'll come back and see you. Until then, you must stay alive and healthy as you do now,' those were the words she always recalled whenever she felt like the world was crumbling, like tonight. Again, those words of promise had ignited the will to survive in her.

'Zen, thank you. Thank you...' she breathed his name, thanking her savior deeply. Even if she dies tonight, she wouldn't regret it, knowing the efforts she had made.

Ava lay on the ground, taking the pain in, getting used to it before slowly opening her eyes. If she survived tonight, she promised to remember this pain. For it was the one that would armor her from the cruelty of the world.

After affirming her thoughts, Ava ripped the bottom part of her blouse and tore it again to several pieces.

No one knew where she got the strength, for the blouse was made from the finest and tear-proof quality.

Even the god of darkness was in awe while watching her tiny fingers bandaging the wound on her knees without the sense of sight.

Although she was doing it clumsily, the job was completed in the shortest time possible.

'This will do,' satisfied with the result, Ava's right hand went to find the branch that hit her earlier.

Even though it was bulky, the height was enough to support her in the next quest to find a shelter.

As the night reached its peak, the howls heightened, growling even louder as if knowing that somewhere in the woods were their prey waiting to be hunted.

Ava was already immuned to those prying carnivores. Unbothered, she kept walking hoping to bump into a tree.

Which she finally did. Even though, it cost her forehead a severe eggy form.

Ava heaved a sigh of relief, but soon she noticed that the next step was even harder. To climb the tree was the most difficult to the unfit her.

At the residence, there was always that boy reminding her to do some workout. 'You lack stamina. You need it to argue with me,' was what he would say often. Ava chuckled at the memory of the boy.

'Zen, now I know its importance. If I survive this, physical fitness will be my priority,' she promised and started her ascend. For whatever it takes, she must climb the tree!

'Twinkle-twinkle little star... how I wonder what you are...' through the ascend, Ava was singing and humming. She relied a lot on her sense of touch to go through the hardship.

The fifteen times the song was sung, Ava finally satisfied with one of the branches. The build was inviolable and wider which able to fit half of her body, allowing her to stabilize herself and not falling if she would fall asleep.

Ava positioned herself well on the branch she deemed qualified and slowly, she closed her eyes. Recalling the days, he met Zen.

***

Two years ago

Willow Residence

***

Ava woke up the next day feeling energized, she recalled yesterday's event when the butlers and maids of the residence, under the leadership of Butler Bong greeted her with perfect unison.

She sighed knowing that it would happen again. The kind of greeting which too exaggerated, in her opinion, was very uncomfortable and probably would take time for her to get used to.

The pair of eyes she possessed twinkled while staring at the ceiling above her before letting them wandering around the circular shape of the room.

Last night, she couldn't recall the time she had fallen asleep, but the toss and turn, as well as the tiresome sheep counting, were there in her memories.

Still, this room was a lot way better than her previous room at the orphanage.

At least, she had her privacy. So she thought, only to be disturbed by a series of knocking. Not too slow nor too loud, enough to inform the knocker's arrival.

Ava jumped out of the bed and walked to the door, unlocked them and there outside of her room, was a maid named Anna.

A rather chubby woman, but that trait allowed her to look young. Anna, when she recalled was the maid personally assigned to attend to her.

"Young Miss, let me help you get ready for the day. Grandmaster is already waiting for you at the dining room downstairs," Anna reported for duty.

Ava couldn't help but frown. Her head tilted to the side wondering why would someone helped her to get ready.

"Thank you sister, but I can do it myself," she refused and waited for Anna to walk away. Three minutes later, she was still there, looking at her with a smile on her face.

"Young Miss, how about I help to prepare your clothes and do your hair? Other than that, I will not interfere, unless you want me too," Anna negotiated.

She understood why Ava was refusing her help. The Grandmaster had warned her that she was still at the stage of getting used to her new life.

Ava instantly knew that it was futile to refuse, hence, she agreed to what Anna offered to her. At least, she could have the shower all for herself.

"Okay," she agreed and walked to one of the sofas in the room.

Anna followed suit and went to the walk-in closet that Ava didn't know existed. She immediately trailed behind Anna to see the inside of the walk-in closet.

Anna giggled internally when she saw the Young Miss was eagerly looking at the clothes and other essentials inside.

Her brown eyes were getting bigger the more she looks. Anna assumed that she probably was shocked by the expensive items there, and was probably happy to wear them for the first time, only to know later on, how wrong she was.

"Sister, who prepared this? Such a waste of money. If half of these are to be donated to the needy, how meaningful will it be," Ava sighed as she left the area.

Anna who was still in shock, upon seeing the Young Miss leaving, immediately run after her.

"That was the Grandmaster's order," she explained before continuing, "Young Miss, those items are meant for you. Please don't hesitate to wear them," Anna encouraged her.

She wanted to explain further that those items would also help to maintain her status, but her inner thought told her, the Young Miss wouldn't care for such matters.

"I understand. Please choose the plainest clothing inside. I'll clean myself," Ava turned around and smile to Anna, one that she called 'sister'. She thought it was polite compared to calling her 'Anna', which is rude since she was the young one. Calling her 'maid' seemed inappropriate and sounded rude.

"Your order is my pleasure, Young Miss," Anna obliged to the order. She bowed before returning to the walk-in closet to find the plainest kind of clothing, which of course, she would upgrade a bit. Her mission was to choose the plainest, yet one that flattered the adorable body of her Young Miss.

Anna worked hard to fulfill her duty. This is the first time she was assigned to serve one of the Willow Household members and she promised to do her job well.

Plus, Ava was a cute little pumpkin in her eyes. Her chubby cheek and big brown eyes were too adorable that she almost wanted to lift her up and do the 'hoo-ha', 'hoo-ha', bouncing her like what she did to her sister when she was at Ava's age.