Chapter 1- Tragic Beginnings
The sun began to rise on the sleepy little Gallian city of Port Water. In a small house in the housing district of Port Water, Martha Mann was already up and about, preparing breakfast for her 2 children. And as Martha was laying out the dishes for her kids, Kathra Mann, the youngest was descending the staircase. Martha saw her and smiled.
"Morning sweetie." said Martha, Kathra smiled back, rubbing the sleepiness out of her eyes.
"Morning Mommy." said Kathra.
"Is your sister awake yet?." asked Martha.
Kathra shook her head, "Nope, Claudia's still out like a light."
"Well breakfast is almost ready, so would you mind waking her up." said Martha.
"You should of asked me that 10 minutes ago...you know how long it takes Claudia to get out of bed." joked Kathra.
"Oh come now, if your big sister really believes that doing all those little rituals of her will bring her luck then so be it." said Martha, finishing setting all 3 plates and utensils.
"Alright mother, I'll go and get her." said Kathra, climbing back up the stairs. She then proceeded down the hall and walked to her sisters' room at the end of the hall. She then knocked on the door and waited for a reply.
"hmmm..." said a very sleepy voice, Kathra then opened the door and peaked inside.
"You up sis??." asked Kathra, seeing her bigger sister laying face down on her pillow, her long, shoulder length black hair all strewn about.
"Whatdya want?." asked Claudia, rolling over on her side and looking at her sister, her black hair covering most of her face.
"Time for breakfast so get up...and get up fast before it gets cold...which it probably will knowing you." said Kathra, chuckling childishly before closing the door once again.
Claudia rolled on her back and stared up at the ceiling, "Is luck on my side today...I sure hope it is." thought Claudia, she then sighed, sat up and swung her legs over the side of her bed. She then planted her feet on the wooden floor of her bed room, but a sharp pain caused her to wince in pain. Lifting her feet up she saw that she had stepped on her hairbrush, which had somehow fallen off of her nightstand.
"Guess not..." thought Claudia, rubbing the bottoms of her feet.
Claudia then kicked the brush aside and walked over to her bedroom mirror and parted her hair down the middle with her hands. She combed on side with another hairbrush, getting the tangles out as she ran the brush through her long hair. Once her hair was tangle free she began to fold up her hair over and over again till it was in a little ball. She then took a little red piece of fabric and placed her folded up hair inside, she tied the little bag of hair tightly and did the same with the other side of her hair. Both parts of her hair were now inside the little red fabric bags.
"Now my hair won't get caught any doorways...or tree branches or fences." thought Claudia, she then opened a small red box sitting in front of her and took out her lucky red headband and tied it around her forehead. She quickly straightened out any stray pieces of hair, then got up and walked to her door.
But she made sure to spin around, to the left 7 times before she opened the door with her left hand and exited the room. Claudia was normally right handed but always made sure to open any doors with her left hand, as the shape of her index finger and thumb formed an L when held up, L for luck.
She then headed to the staircase and grabbed a firm hold of the hand railing before slowly proceeding down.
"1...2...3...4..." counted Claudia out loud, her mother and younger sister looking on, Kathra shook her head and grinned.
"6...7." said Claudia, pausing on the 7th step, before continuing on. She then neared the last 3 steps of the staircase. "11...12..." Claudia stopped on the 12th step, but jumped down to the ground, skipping the 13th and last step of the staircase.
"I'll never get used to that." said Kathra, giggling.
"Claudia...don't you think your getting alittle old to still be doing that." said Martha, putting some scrambled eggs into her mouth.
"I'll stop doing it when my luck changes for the better." said Claudia, walking over to the table and sitting down next to Kathra.
"I think luck doesn't like you because you always talk and complain about it so much." said Kathra, "Just try not thinking about it today, maybe if you don't think about it so much things will be different."
Claudia nodded as she poured herself a glass of Orange juice. "If only it were that easy." said Claudia
The family then finished up their breakfast, and Martha began to clear away the dished from the table.
"So, what are you two going to do today?." asked Martha, putting the dishes into the sink and turning on the water taps.
"I was thinking about going over to Janes' house, we were thinking of going fishing at the docks." said Kathra, swinging her little legs under the table from her chair.
"That sounds good sweetie." said Martha, opening up the window blinds infront of the sink, "The sun is shining, the birds are singing. It's far too beautiful a day to pass up."
"And you Claudia?."
Claudia sighed and looked down at the table, "I was thinking of just staying inside today, today just doesn't feel like a good day to go out." said Claudia softly.
"All you do is stay inside!." said Kathra, "Your starting to look like a ghost with how pale your becoming and I think it's about time you got that hair of yours cut."
"I agree with your sister." said Martha as she wiped her hands on a dish towel, "Your hair's getting very long, your skin is getting pale. Go out and get some sun and here...", Martha then reached into one of her red dress pockets and pulled out some coins. "Go down to the barber shop and get a trim."
Claudia sighed and nodded, "If you say so mother." said Claudia, holding out her right hand. But as she looked at her mothers hand she quickly pulled her own hand away just as Martha was about to dump the coins into her hand.
The coins then spilled onto the table, some rolling over the sides and along the floor. "OH CLAUDIA!!." shouted Martha.
Claudia looked down at the coins, then at her mother. "Mom...there were 13 coins in there." said Claudia.
Martha sighed and placed her hand against her forehead, "Fine...you don't want extra spending money then just take 10, that will pay for your haircut." said Martha, turning around and continuing to wash the dishes.
"I'm sorry mother..." said Claudia, bending down to retrieve the fallen coins from the floor.
"Just go and get showered and changed, if you hurry you can get in right away." said Martha.
Claudia finished picking up her 10 coins and headed upstairs, doing the same routine she did earlier, pausing on the 7th step and jumping the last step.
Once Claudia was showered and changed she headed back downstairs and stood in front of her front door. Being a shut-in most of the time, Claudia always felt really apprehensive about setting foot outside of her home.
She reached out with her left hand and placed it on the steel brass doorknob, "Here goes..." thought Claudia, turning the knob and opening the door. The bright sun blinded her for a moment, before everything came into focus. And as Claudia took the first few steps out of her house she gazed up at the clear blue sky and smiled.
It was indeed a beautiful day outside, birds flew through the sky, the locals were out and about, cars and trucks drove down the streets, their engines glowing a pretty blue color. Claudia closed her eyes momentarily as she walked down the sidewalk, just listening to the sound of her heeled boots clicking against the pavement.
"I always loved paved roads...except for when I trip." thought Claudia, she then opened her eyes once again and continued on down the street, after afew blocks she reached her destination, eyeing the red and white barber shop sign.
Claudia then reached up and ran her hand along the side of her head, feeling alittle bit unsure about cutting her long, beautiful hair. But short hair had it's advantages, for one thing she wouldn't have to worry about it getting tangled up in anything.
She then stood in the doorway of the barber shop and spotted old man Burt, the barber. He was sweeping the floor, but looked up and saw Claudia.
"Well hello there miss Claudia." said Burt, "It's been ages since I've last see you here."
"Yeah...my mother insisted that I get my hair cut today. She thinks it's getting too long." said Claudia
Burt looked at her but was unable to tell just how long her hair was, most her her hair being tied up in the little red bags on either side of her head.
Just then Claudia felt something hit the top of her head and she instinctively touched the top of her head and looked down at her hand...staring down at bird poop she let out a disgusted squeal.
"Oh dear..." said Burt, "But they say that's supposed to be good luck."
Claudias' eyes began to tear up, her lips forming a sad pout. Burt moved forward and placed his hands on top of Claudia's shoulders.
"Oh hey hey come on now. It's nothing to cry about...just come on in and we'll get you cleaned and trimmed up." said Burt, escorting Claudia into the shop and sitting her down at one of the sinks. He then untied her hair and let it flow out and into the sink, running warm water through her hair, adding shampoo and conditioner into it.
"I must say, this certainly is a beautiful head of hair you've got there...you should let it out as it is, not tie it up and keep it hidden." said Burt, finishing up washin Claudia's hair.
He then sat her up once more, wrapped a towel around her wet hair and moved her to the cutting chairs. He could see that Claudia was still alittle sad so he rubbing the towel quickly and hard through her hair before removing the towel, Claudia's hair bursting out all puffy and wild.
Burt laughed out loud, "Hahaha UH OH, look at you!!, you look crazy!!." joked Burt, Claudia couldn't help but smile and laugh along with him.
"Thanks, I needed that." said Claudia, smiling brightly.
Burt then wet her hair with a water bottle and ran a brush all the way through her hair, straightening it out once again. He then pulled out his scissors, "Well, you ready?." asked Burt.
But Claudia wasn't able to respond, as an extremely loud explosion rang out, the ground seemed to shake as well following the blast.
"What the heck was that?." asked Burt, looking back towards the front doors, people could be seen running past the windows in a panic. More explosions rang out, this time closer.
A town guard then burst through the front doors, "Imperial soldiers are attacking, you must evacuate immediately!!." ordered the guard, before leaving.
"Imperials...from the Empire are attacking??." said Burt, "I thought the war was between the Federation and the Empire."
"I'm sorry, but I have to get home right now." said Claudia, getting up and tearing away the apron she had on.
"Be safe Claudia!!." shouted Burt.
Claudia then ran as fast as she could back home, the streets were filled with cars and trucks trying to get out of the city, people were running all over the place in a panic as well, the local police and town guards all heading to the southern side of the city, were the fighting was taking place. Columns of thick black smoke could be seen rising from the southern area of the city, large explosions going off every now and then.
Claudia then rounded the corner of the street and spotted her house...but it was on fire. The 2nd floor had collapsed onto the 1st, and there was a large round hole in the roof of her house which was now a raging inferno.
Claudia dropped to her knees and stared at her destroyed house in shock, tears welling up in her eyes. She stayed like that for a few seconds before throwing her head back and screaming "MMMMOOOTTTHHHEEERRR~!!!!!." at the top of her lungs.