The sun was bright. The rays tanned her olive skin. She was careless, her long skirt flowing in the wind. She was a peasant but she was happy. Her deep brown hair, long and beautiful flew into the wind's grasp and stands were brightened by the warm sun. Her beautiful brown eyes gazed at the bright blue sky and down over the Mediterranean. Her feet stumbled as she ran from the ocean and the town that was near it. The green grass felt cool against her bare feet. She fell into the meadow laughing at herself. Her laugh was melodious and echoed through the forest she was approaching.
She picked herself up, running from the beautiful weather into the depths of the forest. "Alec!" She yelled for her brother, her laugh still carrying beyond the beautiful trees, "Alec!" She yelled again. Her lithe Italian accent flew like a nightingale. "Alec!" She found her brother asleep beneath the trees.
He was handsome even asleep. Jane admired her brother and his carelessness. She hid behind a tree making sure he was deep in his dreams. She tip-toed near her sleeping sibling, keeping her breathing quiet, she knelt down. Jane moved closer and closer to his ear. "Boo!" She cried. He jumped at the sound of her voice.
"Jane!" He clutched his chest. His horror stricken face faded into a loving smile. "Childish git," He yawned, stretching his arms. She poked at him, moving his bow and pack of arrows aside. "Aren't you supposed to be hunting?" She asked, playfully.
"Mum said to go out, she didn't say I had to catch anything."
"You might want to, looks like Papa won't be able to go out for awhile," Her joking tone fell away when she mentioned her father. "Do you think he'll be alright?"
"He'll be fine. How long can they hold an innocent man?" Alec stood up picking up his bows and arrows. His smile had also faded when he saw the clenching of his sister's lips. She was worried; her face was easy to read.
"Jane, Papa will be fine. You heard Mama." He held his hand on his sister's shoulder lovingly. She grabbed his hand and began to run from the forest. Their small cottage was just beyond the horizon. They looked around the isolated wood finally seeing the comforts of their home.
Jane shuddered in silence. She missed the town by the sea. She hated they had been forced to the edge of the woods. She longed for the meadow and the crashing of the waves against the bank. She stopped running, dropping Alec's hand. "Jane?"
She shook her head; memories fell on her like flurries from a fresh winter's snow. Both were cold, bitter, and left watery marks along her beautiful tan face. She didn't weep this time. She stopped crying because of the past, but she hated remembering her poor father, alone and locked away.
"What did we do wrong?" Jane asked quietly. Inside, she knew. Her family was the cause of their outcast. Their differences were their downfall.
They walked to the tiny cottage, noticing the smoke from the chimney. Their mother was cooking vegetables from her garden, adding in spices and herbs. Alec opened the wooden door, dropping his hunting tools to the side against the thin, flimsy wall. "Smells good, Mama," He said, kissing their mother on the cheek.
Their mother smiled at her son's compliment. Her smile made her more beautiful than she was. She was supposed to be the fairest maiden in the town, when they lived there. Jane and Alec were her legacy. She looked at the twins lovingly. "My beautiful darlings," She said, embracing the two of them.
Jane watched her mother as she walked around their crowded kitchen. She was beautiful…she is beautiful, even past the scars. Even past the pain she carried in her heart, her mother was beautiful. And she was worth living a life away from the world. Alec watched Jane's sorrowful look towards their mother, and anger was struck in him. He hated the town. He hated what they had done to his mother, his family.
The table was set and the family of three sat down. Their mother held up her hands, "Here babies…" She said, grasping them. "We pray…" Her children nodded, bowing their heads, and holding to their mother's hands. "Holy Father," their mother prayed, "we thank you for this food, deliver us from this evil dear Father, and we pray in your name…Amen." She sniffed as she closed her prayer. Alec nodded and Jane kept her eyes on the small portion of food before her. "Eat, eat," Their mother ushered them. She had nothing in front of her. She didn't eat. Her gaunt figure was hidden by the shawls she would knit to bring in some type of salary. Things weren't the same without their father.
A knock at the door alerted the family, but the wood breaking brought fear to their whimpering hearts.