1821
"Mum, will you please tell me a tale?"
Winter was just around the corner. The fire in the stove crackled, its warmth filling the whole of the fragile, small wooden cabin. Outside the wind was howling, as it so often did on stormy autumn evenings like these.
Evelyn chuckled without turning away from her work and said, "Which one do you want to hear, darling?"
"The one about Hazel!"
She shook her head with a small grin. "Ah, the morning star." Her four year old son had quickly chosen The Golden Morning Star as his preferred fairytale, which did not surprise the mother as she herself favoured it. She paused while pondering how to start. "Once upon a time there was a barren and desolate land. Nothing existed but darkness, ashes and cold, and the people were miserable. The stars saw the land and knew that they alone would not be able to light it up, and so they collected all their stardust over one hundred years, and a girl was born from it. The girl grew in just one day and turned into a woman."
Daniel worked eagerly on the pair of gloves Evelyn had let him sew, knowing he so badly wanted to help out with something.
Evelyn smiled and continued her own work with the skirt, she was currently sewing, "A star came to the woman and named her Hazel. It gave her a candle and told Hazel to travel to the core of the world to light it up. Hazel accepted and started her journey. She followed the star to the entrance of the Underworld, for the star had said that only through there, you could get to the core."
"Was she not scared?" Daniel asked, big, green eyes gawking at her. His face was still chubby, and the brown straight locks, so much like his father's, almost reached his shoulders already.
His mother simply continued stitching the rim of the skirt. "She probably was, but during such dire circumstances one has to be brave, and Hazel was a strong gal."
Daniel nodded silently.
"Hazel arrived at the entrance. The guardian by the gate was merely a skeleton in an armour. The bony guard told her that to gain entrance to the Underworld, she must answer a riddle. Hazel accepted the challenge, and the guardian said, You cannot see me, hear me or touch me. I lie behind the stars and alter what is real, I am what you really fear. Close your eyes and I come near. What am I?"
"May I answer, may I answer?" an excited Daniel put in, and Evelyn laughed wholeheartedly.
"Of course, Dan."
Daniel bit his lip and made a dramatic gesture with his hands, "The answer is … the dark!"
Evelyn nodded. "That is right. Hazel figured this out with help from the star."
"Because the darkness hid behind it!" Daniel added.
"Exactly. The guardian bowed down to Hazel and let her pass through the gate. Hazel and the star walked and walked some more, until they finally reached an abyss. There were dead bodies of lost souls all over, some completely rotten and others brand new. Over the cleft of nothingness hung a crumbling bridge, and just one step made it fall apart and tumble down the abyss."
"Oh, how scary!" Daniel said as he halted in his work.
"Yes, very. Hazel was indeed a very brave girl. And also very clever. She weaved a rope out of the hair of the dead. It was strong enough to carry Hazel, and she was able to climb over."
"Wow," Daniel mumbled.
"Hazel and the star finally reached the core, but a terrifying, bloodthirsty dragon rested by the gate. The star told Hazel that she could not touch any of the golden treasures the dragon protected, or it would wake up and devour her."
Daniel moved restlessly in his chair, completely engulfed in the story.
"Hazel sneaked past the sleeping dragon, but when she neared the gate she could not resist all those gorgeous diamonds and jewels, and she touched them…"
"No!" Daniel exclaimed, and Evelyn tried her best not to laugh.
"The dragon woke from its sleep and began chasing Hazel with a feverish blood thirst – but the star came to her rescue, and at the expense of Hazel's mistake, it burned out by the cold breath of the dragon."
"Oh, Hazel! That poor little star!" The death of the star touched the little boy every time.
Evelyn caressed her son's cheek and said, "Don't be sad, Daniel. Hazel avenges the star eventually, remember?"
Daniel nodded courageously and let her continue.
"Hazel escaped just in time, and the gate closed behind her. She found herself in a completely dark room with only one light up ahead. Hazel got closer and saw that the light came from a candle with a silver flame. She reached out for it, and suddenly the flame grew large in an attempt to absorb her."
The child held his breath.
"Hazel got caught up in the flame, but as she was born of stardust, she did not burn – instead the flame turned gold and expanded. It filled the core, and Hazel dashed to the sky. She kept burning her golden light and became the brightest star in the heavens, the star we know as the sun and light, and the land became fertile," Evelyn finished her story.
Daniel let out a relieved sigh and chattered with a such restored spirit that only an innocent child could muster, "And that was how the morning star came to be! Our sun!"
"Exactly, my darling!" Evelyn said with a loving smile and poked the boy's button nose.
It was indeed nothing more than an ordinary autumn evening filled with fairy tales, fire in the stove and stitchery, all while mother and son waited for father to return home.
1823
He was still in shock. He remembered so clearly how his mother had kicked, screamed, battled only a few hours earlier.
He saw her body surrender and her hands become weak. He saw the extended, agitated arms struggle against some invisible force in an attempt to defy it – but she lost, and so her arms fell lifelessly to the couch.
At least he had not seen her face. He did not see the pain in her eyes as the life slipped out of her.
But six year old Daniel did not think about all of that. He did not understand it. The only thing, he knew, was the pain and confusion. His mother had brutally been taken from him, and he had nothing to hold onto.
Only Hazel.
The little boy was sitting on the shabby armchair next to the couch. He stared monotonously at nothing. The newborn baby lay on the couch. She did not cry any more; she was sound asleep.
She had opened her eyes only few minutes after the birth. Her eyes were a greyish blue colour, not green like Daniel's. Father had simply handed her over to Daniel and focused on Evelyn afterwards. Daniel was ordered to provide the baby a towel and hot water.
Daniel sat on his knees next to the infant and monitored her sleeping form. The memory of his mother's tales by the fire on cold winter nights once again brought tears to his eyes, but he stubbornly wiped them away.
The girl took in calm breaths without trouble. She seemed so tiny and fragile.
He moved once again to sit up on the couch right beside the baby, still merely observing the small being. She resembled a doll. He did not dare touch her, for what if he broke her? Surely Mum would be disappointed.
The door opened, and a tall, tired man with locks just as chocolate as his son stepped inside. He trudged into the living room with slouched shoulders and carelessly threw his jacket and boots by the coat stand.
Dark circles haunted Father's eyes; he looked so sad. Daniel could not help but wonder if his dad would start crying. Probably not, for men did not weep; that, Father himself had taught him.
John Wilkinson did not even grant his son a glance as he dragged himself to the humble kitchen by the living room. Burying his deceased wife seemed to have taken its toll.
"Father?"
John grunted. Daniel hesitated a moment before he continued, "Can… Can I call her Hazel?"
His father rummaged the cupboards while mumbling, "What… Where are they …? Bloody hell…"
He tried once again, "Dad …?"
"Name the baby whatever you want." The man stood up and shut the cupboard with a beer in his hand. "But do not trust she will make it. I am going to sign her up for the funeral clubs next week. I will not bother to have her baptised till she is at least two years of age."
The boy held his breath and nodded.
John walked over to the ramshackle staircase and moved to ascend upstairs to the master bedroom. It used to be Mum and Dad living up there; only John resided there now.
Daniel bit his lip, then spoke hastily before he would regret, "But you will cancel her membership once she turns two, right?"
John again mumbled something indistinct, but it sounded like a confirmation.
Daniel crossed his fingers, fully determined to keep his baby sister alive. John merely walked upstairs and drowned himself in his loneliness and sorrow – and the first bottle of many.