Chapter 1: The beginning
I own nothing
At the tender age of four Bella realized she wasn't like the other kids. They were loud, annoying and really really stupid. She had begged her mom and dad not to send her back to the daycare, but they didn't have time to stay with her at home. Mommy had her photography and Daddy was always working.
Bella glared at the wall of the daycare angrily.
She didn't want to be here.
A small boy ran in front of Bella, tripped over a block and fell. He scraped his knee and began to cry.
Bella looked at him curiously. Scraped knees hurt; she'd had more than her share of them. A really good feeling welled up inside of her a sense of something. That same something she felt when she'd beg her parents for ice cream and they would get it for her. What was it called?
Satisfaction? Yeah, that's right. Satisfaction. She'd read that word before in one of Renee's books. The dirty ones she wasn't supposed to know about that were hidden in her bed table drawer. Bella didn't understand much about them. Just adults doing things to each other. She usually skimmed over that until they started talking again.
She was feeling satisfied, but why? Their caretaker came to help the boy up and console him. Soon the crying stopped.
And just like that the satisfied feeling was gone.
Bella frowned.
-Time skip-
Three days later it happened again. Someone else got hurt. This time a little girl bumped into the table with her head. That satisfied feeling welled up inside Bella again. She watched the other little girl cry.
Was she happy…because the other girl was in pain?
Later that day Bella tested out that theory. They were at the park and a red-haired girl was playing on the slide. Bella licked her lips and climbed the ladder slowly, her heart beating loudly in her chest. Her palms began to sweat and she wiped her small hands against her pants when she reached the top. The red-haired girl was facing away from her and leaning over the slide. Bella reached forward slowly, her hands trembling, and gave the other girl a small push.
The red-haired girl screamed and went over front first. She banged against the sides of the slide and landed on the ground wailing loudly.
Bella hurried back down the ladder so she wouldn't be seen and get into trouble. Mommy's books said that the person at the 'scene of a crime' was the bad person sometimes. Bella didn't want to get caught. She didn't like time outs or no dessert nights.
One of the daycare workers ran over to help the other little girl.
"Mary! Mary! Are you alright?!"
Mary only cried louder and cradled her arm.
"What happened Mary? Is your arm okay? Oh god, I need to call your parents. Someone call an ambulance."
"I don't know." Mary sniffled loudly," it hurts. I want mommy."
The next day Bella went back to daycare Mary wasn't there anymore. The caretaker, Nancy, had swollen red eyes.
Bella heard the other caretakers whispering to each other.
"I heard she's getting fired for not watching the kids more closely. Mary Alice had a broken arm! Her parents were talking about suing!"
Bella looked at the Nancy and that feeling of satisfaction was back stronger than ever. She carried a bright smile through the whole week.
Bella would do anything to keep this feeling.
Anything.
