Mrs. Olga Lacresia

15 years ago when Seira arrived at Palsbury, no one accepted her or offered a house for her to stay aside from Mrs. Olga Lacresia, the late chief of the town. The old woman treated her as her own child until she died of an incurable disease five years ago. For the first time, Mrs. Olga asked her for something and it was to find her only daughter. It is her dying wish. While working at the same time studying, she searched for Laila through the one picture the old woman gave her. Not long after, fate brings them to her. Saying that they have no place to go, the three lived at the house of Mrs. Olga with her. At first, everything is going smoothly until Frank becomes distant from his family and starts being violent. It was followed by Laila's late-night works in the faraway villages that almost took more or less one week before she came back, leaving her to take care of Mary and forcing her to stop her studies.

When Seira heard the closing of the main door, she hurried to her window; peeping her head out. Frank, still holding the tobacco pipe, is climbing off to his horse. She dashed down to the living room to check for Laila. Taking the final step of the stairs, she found the woman on the sofa with her head down in her bruised hands. Other shards of glass, junks, and leftovers are strewn all over the floor. "Laila"

"Is she asleep?"

Seira swallowed hard, "Yes"

She walked to the cabinet in the living room; pulling out the box of medicine.

"I can handle this myself. You should sleep" Laila suggested.

"It's okay. Let me help—"

"Before you take care of others you should look at yourself first. I bet you didn't know that your cheek is turning purple already" Laila limply takes hold of the box and trudges to the second floor.

Seira raised her hand to her cheeks. Pain erupts as she slightly presses that part of her face.

Sighing, she gets the broom on the corner of the room, sweeping the shards of glasses. As soon as the place was tidied up, she stepped outside and went to the backyard to throw the garbage.

The moon was a warm milky glow in the back coated sky serving as the center of the calm weather. It is beautiful to look at. On other days, she would stare in her window to watch the sky until she fell asleep but somewhat, deep inside her, the sight was giving her a different feeling of uneasiness. With a sigh, she entered the house; locking the door.

She slowly headed towards the stairs and carefully opened the door of her room to not wake Mary up. A short, sharp sound as of the two hard objects coming smartly into contact came to her ears.

"What's that?" she muttered; walking to the window of her room. The moment she got near the window, the pit pattering sound stopped. She opened the window and glanced at each side only to find nothing odd. She takes a step back from the casement but suddenly a claw made it to her shoulders.

"AH!" she instantly covers her mouth with her left hand; taking a hurried look at Mary. Fortunately, the child was still fast asleep. Her eyes shifted to the creature on her shoulder and she was met by a large white owl with a gold ribbon on her leg.

"Oh my goodness" she bleated, placing her right hand to her chest. The owl tilted its head while looking at her before flying to the table near the window and perched on the old furniture. She stared at the white owl; too tired to make an effort to send the bird away. The owl was white as snow with small dapples of sparse black in its body with a gold mark on its leg. While looking at the bird, she somewhat felt that the bird was not a typical bird of like.

Sighing, she walked to her cabinet, took out some clothes, and headed to the bathroom.

Once she closed the door of the bathroom, she got undressed. Her white hair messily cascaded in her back. Black circles due to late sleep nights were around her amber eyes, reflecting on the cracked mirror. Her rather pale lips almost mirrored the dry and pale color of her face. She has a small cut with dry blood on her right eyebrow and lower lip. The other side of her cheek and right arm has a large darken to a blue or purplish color. Her scalp was stinging in pain.

Putting her clothes in the sink, she stepped into the worn-out bathtub.

As soon as her skin came in contact with the cold water, the stinging pain of her wounds and bruises came back at once. She didn't hiss nor winced despite the pain. Instead, tears continuously flowing from her cheeks to the water. The simple trickling of her tears turned into a sob. She brings her knees to her chest.

She is tired. In everything in her life. She is aware that luck and her don't get along but why do today, everything was coming at her at once? Her body, mind, and soul were already tired. Is her suffering from the past, not enough?. Problems keep on coming at her when she doesn't even solve the first ones. She must be wanted for stealing, which she didn't do. She left the owl with her purse which had her money, and her savings was snatched from her today. Frank was planning something towards her and………

She raised her hand to her face; touching her eye. The man with the blue eyes came into her mind. 'I don't like your eyes'. The man is probably just stating his opinion and he surely doesn't know a small section of the story of her life but the phrase affects her more than she could imagine.

"Your eyes, I despise it with all my heart. It's a curse!" a small voice echoed in her mind.

Her eyes shifted to the thick, straight, irregular cluster of scar in the middle of her chest. She traced the scar with her wrinkled fingers.

"Maybe it is…… Father" she mumbled before sliding down to the bottom of the tub, sinking herself to the water.