Marinette Dupain-Cheng watched as the fire burned down her beloved home destroying the lives of her mother and father. She had been playing in the forest when she smelt smoke and heard her mother screaming. The child quickly rushed to her family's aid only to find her house engulfed in flames. Apparently someone had knock over a candle on the rug and now there was fire everywhere. By the time she got there her family's house had been burned to the ground. She didn't know where else to go so she went to live in the forest.

She found shelter in a cave. There she stayed for many days and nights. It wasn't a suitable home but she couldn't think of anywhere else to go. One day while she was picking berries from a nearby bush she heard some travelers coming. Among them was a little boy.

"Hello." He called.

Frightened she ran back into the cave but he just followed her.

"Where are you going? Are you afraid of me?" He asked.

"Adrien!" A man shouted. "Where are you? Come back here!"

The boy did as he was told and returned to the group.

"Father! There's a girl in the cave!"

"What do you mean?"

"Look!"

The group of people went to the cave. Some of them she recognized from where she lived and the others were strangers. Sometimes the people from where she lived would help travelers find their location.

"Young lady if you're in there come out at once!" The boy's father ordered.

Marinette was afraid but she did as she told.

"Isn't she pretty?" The boy asked.

"I know that girl." A man said. "She's the one who lost her parents in the fire."

"Poor child." The boy's mother said. "Where will she go now?"

"I can't take her." A man said. "I've got ten children of my own to feed."

"Nor can I." Another said.

"She can stay with me." Said an old spinster. "I've been so lonely since my son left with his wife."

"Very well then." The boy's father said. "Come Adrien. Salem is waiting."

He pulled his wife and son along. Adrien couldn't help but stare at Marinette until she was gone. It made the little girl blush and smile back shyly. After that she went back with the old woman to her town.

The old spinster was very kind to Marinette and treated her well. She kept her fed and clothed and taught her how to spin, knit, and sew. Though Marinette was grateful to the spinster's kindness she never spoke to her or anyone else because she was so horrified by her parents' deaths. So she didn't thank the spinster with words but rather with keeping her house clean and helping her with her work. They both grew fond of each other during they're time together. But the old spinster died of pneumonia five years later.

Since no one else would take Marinette and since she had no other living relatives except for her grandfather it was decided she would go live in Salem with him. Marinette was fifteen years old now and was leaving the town she had grown up in to live with another. She had not seen her grandfather since she was ten years old and she wondered how he was. She had heard that he had become a pastor or minister of Salem and a very good one at that so she hoped living with him would be good.

She left at dawn with a small satchel of things and was taken to Salem in a wagon. As expected she didn't speak to the driver or anyone else she just sat in the wagon and said her prayers in her head. She prayed that her new life would be a happy one full of love and friendship. That was her only wish, her only prayer.