Not every Once Upon A Time has a Happily Ever After, Not every mention of I love you is given a response, and not every good deed is repaid. Some times you have to suffer to get the good things in life. Sometimes you have to do what you know is wrong. Sometimes things just don't work out. Staring at the street, snow covered and barren, it seemed as if this once upon a time story was crashing fast. How could such a warm day be fallowed by something so unrelated to the world. This was her repentment. The punishment for her crime. Her hand shook as she lifted them into the air, to place them gently on her head. It felt as if her mind would explode, as if everything she once thought would pour trough her entire body and out onto the ice and snow. This was her. Without love or family. This was the only her she had ever known. Even now, as the blood dripped onto the street before her, as the screams pierced the dark night sky, as the steam from the car engine that was squished so firmly between the telephone pole, this was her. While those people, those screaming people, where her parents. Trapped in the nightmarish hell that the car was holding them in. No one came. No one would come. Her parents where there, stuck in the snow, while she stood on the outside free from her bonds. The chains that had held her so tightly before, where now melting with the metal contraption as it lit on fire. Then there was nothing. No noise. No light. Nothing. Just her and the blank eyes that stared out at the scene before her. She didn't want to remember. She just wanted to finally be left alone. To finally be able to go to sleep and not wake up to her fathers drunken yells or her mothers slurred Sorrys. To not have to worry about the bed room light flickering on and having to hid, under the bed or in the closet, and worry about what her father would do if he found her. He had found her. Every time she tried to hid, he found her. Could it really be that simple? Could she really be free already? Falling to her knees in the snow, it was all she could do to try to remain strong. To keep the strength she had fought so hard to hold inside. Everything went black. Nothing would be the same. Everything was cold and dark. She couldn't hold on anymore. She couldn't stay conscious. Everything was black once more.


"Ariel?" Her name was repeated for the fifth time. The blank eyes of the girl just stared at the women before her. "That's your name right? You have pretty blue eyes."

Ariel just sat there. Her eyes where not blue, they where aquamarine. She felt like saying that allowed but it would ruin her. She had stayed mute for most of her life already, why end it now. Aquamarine was the color of her eyes, it was the one thing she held so strongly to. They where not blue or green but both. A very light blue but not quite that color. Her face was pale as always. She just sat and sat, even as the women kept asking questions.

"Ariel, do you remember what happened last week?" Had it already been a week. She could have swore the accident was last night. Had she really been sleeping for a week now. That couldn't be.

"How old are you Ariel? Seven right?" No she was ten. She was short for her age but she was ten. How could this women ask such questions, then get them wrong. Ariel balled her hands into fists at her side, but she reminded silent. She bowed her head so her eyes could look at the floor. Her aquamarine eyes. The long blond hair fell in front of her face. It nearly touched the bottom of her back. It was so long. Something her mother loved, when she was sober.

"So she's mute?" A hand touched up against her face, and Ariel flinched backwards nearly tipping the chair backwards. She could tell it was a man by his voice. Her eyes flashed up mixing both hate and fear. The mans hand had recoiled backwards, but by this time is was too late. Ariel jumped up from the chair and with a fleeting spin she aimed her back towards the people locked in the room with her. She still had no idea what these people could want of her.

"Please leave the room. She's got a strong dislike of men."The women stated it as if everything was fine. As if Ariel's startled reaction was nothing new. The door slammed shut, obviously that man was upset, but Ariel still stared at the wall. "Please talk to me. I can't help you if you don't talk."

That was it. Ariel had enough of this women's talking. "I DON'T WANT YOUR HELP! I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP! I NEVER ASKED FOR YOUR HELP! I WANT TO BE LEFT ALONE! MY NAME IS ARIEL LYNN, I'M TEN YEARS OLD, AND LASTLY MY EYES ARE NOT BLUE THERE AQUAMARINE!"

Huffing and out of breath Ariel spun around and looked over the women. She just sat there dumb founded. Ariel lifted a hand to cover her mouth. In the last seven years of living with her parents Ariel had never spoken a word. At least she tried not to. She cried and made sounds, but she never spoke directly to people. Falling down to the ground she covered her face in her hands before blinking as nothing came down to hit her. Nothing struck at her face, or her hands. No blows to the back or kicks in the side. No sound or movement. That's when she looked up to realize the women sitting in front of her was smiling. It was one of the most peaceful things she had seen in years. "That's good Ariel. That's a nice start."


Another day was starting. This was beginging to become a routine. The women came and talked to Ariel in the hospital, but nothing really happened. Ariel hardly said anything since the first day. It was just her sitting on her bed and the women coming in. There was never any men either. No one ever came to visit her but the nurses and the women. Today the light came trough the window, just like any other day. The sound of the birds was quite comforting. Like every other day. She was awake and staring. Like any other day. Today however, the women was outside talking to the pediatricians. She had been locked in the hospital for three years. Locked here inside the psycho ward. She had learned where she was being held only after escaping one day and having the women tell her about how she couldn't do that anymore because of special circumstances. She was on suicide watch twenty-four hours, and she was thought to be murderous. The had blamed her for her parents death. She knew that now. For three years she had been locked in the room, smelling of plastic and cleaning solutions. Chloroform was one of the most prominent.

The night her parents died, she didn't remember it so well. She was not the cause, but she had escaped. She had made it out into the snow covered streets while her parents died. She wanted them to die. She couldn't take that back but she didn't want to live here in this crummy little shit hole.

"Today is her thirteenth birthday. We have to let her go now."

"She's still afraid of men, the treatments not over."

"I say it is. I'm taking her home today."

"Your taking her."Laughing erupted from outside. Obviously a mans voice. Ariel flinched but she still remained in bed. Suddenly the door slammed shut and the women was in the room with her again. She sat on the bed and began to rub Ariel's head. Gently and motherly. Ariel couldn't help but close her eyes and feel safe. It was like the home she had always wanted when the women was with her.

"Are you awake sweetie? I brought you some clothes."Clothes? Could this really mean she was getting out of this place. Ariel sat up abruptly. Her blond hair sound around her body as she trough her arms around the women's neck. "Haha, I thought so."

After a few more minutes Ariel was dressed in a white sweater and black sweet pants, perfect for the cold winter weather outside the stone walls of the hospital. She was ready for this. She still resembled that of a seven year old, it seemed to her that she never grew. She sighed her eyes spinning around the room. The women clapped her hands. "Beautiful!"

Ariel smiled as she took the women's hand and they left the room. Ariel had entered that place with nothing, and now she left with only one thing. The hope of a better life. She was official a foster kid according to the women who held her hand tightly. Every time they passed a man in the hall Ariel still flinched but after awhile she noticed they where all smiling or waving at her. She finally let everything just happen. She tried not to flinch unless they reached out to her, or tried to touch her. She was happy.

'Sweetie, would you like to live with me?'It was the question the women Had asked a few days ago. Of course Ariel didn't answer. She just sat there and the women continued talking. Talking about everything and anything. Mostly about her family. Finally when she went to leave Ariel grabbed her hand and whispered very carefully, Yes. The next day the women didn't show up at all, and today she was taking her away. Maybe this was her fairy tale ending. Like the ones she read about in books, before the accident. It couldn't be that easy though. Nothing ever was. This was just another step in the life she would have to grow to understand.