As Pearl closed her eyes with a large smile on her face, she thought over her what had
brought her to this place.
When Pearl was given her inheritance, she was one of the richest heiresses ever. Sadly,
she was also eight years old. All she did was waste her money on useless things, like extremely nice clothes, or copious amounts of candy. Her mother tried to help, but was shunned. Hester left after a large fight two years later.
"You have to stop!" Hester yelled. Pearl remembered a time when Hester had tolerated her actions, thinking it was just a phase. Those days have long since passed.
"I can do whatever I want!" While Pearl had matured, she had not matured well. Instead of obeying her mother, or even tolerating Hester, she had openly insulted her mother.
"Really? Then why do you need me?"
"I don't!" The young woman bared her teeth. "So get out of my house!" The older woman slammed the door behind her.
So Pearl went on with her life. She seemed to be happy for a long time. Yet something was always missing. So Pearl bought more and more expensive things. Sadly, the hole only grew. That was until a problem presented itself. She ran out of money. While trying to fill her emptiness she had wasted all of her inheritance. Then, when she tried to get a job, she was unable to find one. She had refused to learn sewing from her mother, she thought her riches would never end, and couldn't get a job from anyone else in the town.
"I'll get any job you have, I just need some food." Pearl pleaded.
"No, get out of here, demon!" The baker, who had sold her a very expensive cake, just a few weeks earlier, threw her out of his shop.
"Please, I'll do anything for food!" Pearl begged.
"I don't want a witch in here scaring away the good people. So just leave." The seamstress, who days earlier had sold her a dress made of fine linen, waved her away.
Pearl was miserable. Once all the expensive food she had bought was either gone or rotten, so she had to sell everything else she had to get food. This did not last long, as she was only able to get a small fraction of what it cost to buy it. But she used this and begging for scraps of food and actually survived for a small amount of time.
Then autumn left and winter came, and it got very cold. Pearl was eventually forced to sell her house and beg on the streets. She somehow found a blanket and enough food to survive for a while, but she felt herself slipping. She was terribly thin and was always violently shaking. Luckily, or terribly depending on your point of view, one day she found a ray of hope.
That day Hester Prynne walked by. Pearl croaked out, "Plea...se hel...p" She had to talk between heavy breaths.
"I'm sorry" The mother said, without looking down. "I don't have enough."
"But… I'm…"
"I'm truly sorry, but I said I don't have enough. I hope someone who can help you comes along. Goodbye." Hester walked away quickly.
"No… Moth…" She reached out, but fell to her side, her body wracked with a violent fit of coughing. She tried to curl up to get more warmth. Most surprisingly, it worked. Suddenly, all of her pain went away, replaced with a slight numbness. She felt warm, and very comfortable all over. So warm, almost bordering on hot, that she threw her blanket off in discomfort. It was like she was in her old bed again, instead of on a cold hard street. Pearl was overtaken by a large yawn, so she smiled and closed her eyes, going into a comfortable, and very deep, sleep.
That was Pearl's end. All alone, not even recognized by her own mother. With no true enemy but herself. Now Hester, she was all alone in the cottage. Making clothes for a child that would never arrive.
