Rise of the Night Witch

Grief

A/N: This used to be my prologue before I decided to cut it. I didn't want to lose it entirely, so I just moved it to the back of the book.

Ten years ago

Sunshine quenched the darkness out of Summer Hill. The cherry blossoms bloomed, the spring breeze filled the park, the frogs swam with the ducks, and all playground children beamed with joy. All children except for one.

"Give that back!" Marissa cried.

"Give back what?" one of the bullies asked.

All eyes on the playground turned to seven-year-old Marissa Carter. To their left, two boys stopped dead in their swings. To their right, a girl dropped her shovel into the sand to watch.

Marissa hated being the center of attention. It reminded her of those times when the teacher asked her to the blackboard to answer a question. When she didn't know the answer, everyone always laughed and pointed at her.

The bullies had stolen her necklace. It consisted of a simple thread carrying a black orb with a golden star at its center.

They probably thought Marissa wasn't deserving of such a pretty ornament. Her parents never had the money or the time to buy her anything pretty. They bought her old, baggy clothes that were too big for her, and with her ugly crooked teeth, knobbly knees, and bushy brown hair, she wasn't the most popular kid in the schoolyard.

One of the mean girls threw the necklace for another of them to catch. Marissa tried to get it, but she passed it to one of her friends. It was like they were playing Monkey in the Middle with her. All the other kids laughed.

"That's a birthday present from mommy!" Marissa said.

Suddenly, the necklace flew past one of the playing girls. It landed in the sand, its thread broken.

The other kids lost interest.

Marissa scrambled to the spot where her possession fell. She dug the diamond out of the dirt and found that its thread had been ripped. She clutched the remains in her fists.

She couldn't believe that they had really destroyed it. Her mother was never at home. During the day, she was always tired, injured, or absent. She didn't even show up during Marissa's spelling bee last year where she won second place! Her Mom had some demanding job that no-one but her Dad knew about. Dad was always overworked, too.

But Marissa needed her mother and she needed her necklace. It was a talisman to ward off evil demons. Evil demons like those that made her feel worthless whenever those bullies were around.

She put the necklace in her pouch and ran away. Away from the playground.

The playground lay at the center of Summer Hill's park. On one side to it towered the hill that gave the town its name. It was full of blooming cherry trees and the kids loved to climb it so that they could use the big slide it had.

On the other extended a pond surrounded by grass and park benches. Her uncle, her cousin, and her Dad were sitting on one of those benches. Robert Carter, her father, watched the ducks while, Benjamin, her cousin, played with his dinosaur toys. She would tell her daddy about the bullies, yes she would.

But then a cute duckling caught her eye. It lay at the pond's shore with its wing injured and without its mommy.

Marissa believed that, if you're nice to the world around you, the world around you will also be nice. So, she came closer to see what was wrong.

The duckling's plumage wasn't as yellow as that of the others and it squeaked a lot. Maybe it was hungry?

None of the other people on the benches even noticed it. Some careless people threw away a sandwich. Marissa ripped lettuce pieces out of it and gave them to the duckling.