AUTHOR'S NOTE:

I've gotten so many positive feedback. (っ◞ u ◟c) I thank you all! Enjoy.

It was a beautiful autumn day outside. She stared at the window and saw birds flying without a care. She was once one of them, flying to where ever she wanted and just being free. She almost missed being a bluebird. She saw her little siblings playing around the leaf-littered ground. She raked the leaves earlier that day into nice and neat piles, but her siblings had thrown themselves into the piles and undid all her work. Of course, she was furious at first, but then joined them after they had called her old and naggy.

She had been thinking about her life now that she was back home with her family. She enjoyed being back the people she loved and cared for the most, even if they did annoy her tirelessly.

But she couldn't shake off the fact that everything now just felt so… out of place for her. It felt so weird being back home. It felt even weirder waking up the next morning thinking that she was still a bluebird and had to wake up the slumbering brothers to continue with their journey. She still had her habits when she was a bluebird. She'd sometimes start preening or ruffling her feathers only to realise that she didn't have feathers. Or how sometimes she'd prepare to fly only to figure that she doesn't have her wings anymore.

She did miss the feeling of freedom as the wind ruffled her feathers as she flew around. She missed not having to worry about finishing her chores or responsibilities of being one of the eldest children. Most of all she missed Wirt and Greg. Not a single day has passed that she hasn't even once thought about them. She saw Greg in her younger siblings as they wrestled and tackled each other while they played around in the dirt. She heard Greg as they laughed and teased each other. She saw Wirt in her older siblings as they were focusing in their studied, especially when they were writing poetry. She heard Wirt whenever she heard her older brother practice his oboe. Oh she missed those two troublesome brothers dearly, even if they just as annoying and uncooperative as her siblings.

But she thought about Wirt the most. She could never understand the feeling she always got whenever a thought comes across her mind that was about him. Sometimes her heart would go crazy and start pounding against her chest. Sometimes she'd be as red as a tomato everytime she thought she heard his voice. She longed for his company once more in her now dull and boring life.

Yes, life was quite boring in the redhead's homestead. It was always the same routine, same chores, same people. Unlike her adventures when she was a bluebird, she had no absolute idea who or what they would encounter next. She longed for adventure and thirsted for danger at every corner she turned to. She just wanted to be free again.

But alas, her luck hadn't turn out as great as she had hoped for in the next month, she was to be wed off with some stranger and shipped far away from her home.
Her mother had brought up marriage countless times before, but Beatrice refused. Her mother was not one to be discouraged so easily. She kept urging her daughter and insisting that she were to be married as soon as possible for she was already old enough.

"But Mom, I'm only sixteen! I can't get married!" she had said to her mother.

"Beatrice, do you know how difficult it is to raise so many children with only two of us working? Your father and I are very tired. It is for the benefit of our family!" her mother said back.

"Benefi- Mom! This doesn't benefit me at all but everyone else, especially you!"

"Beatrice stop being so stubborn. How can you be so blind?" her mother growled.

"You're the one who's blind, Mom!" Beatrice stomped her foot, "You wish to wed me off to some stranger who's of higher status. You wish to wed me off for the sake of money, not my happiness! Do you care not for me anymore?"

"Beatrice I will not allow 'no' for an answer. I do care for you child, but one's happiness is a small sacrifice to pay for ten others."

"What about Jackson? Stephen? Anna even? Why not them? Why does it have to be me?!"

But despite her refusals, her mother had planned the wedding the very next week. When she heard about that, she didn't dare leave her bedroom. She cried her eyes out that night until she fell asleep.

She pleaded her father to help her out, but the only reply she could ever get out of him was: "Listen to your mother, Beatrice. For the sake of both of us."

Her siblings were there to soothe her. Her older sister, Anna, was always there to calm her down when she became hysterical.

"It's gonna be okay, Beatrice," she stroked her younger sister's hair, "You're a strong girl, I know you are."

"I can't do it Anna. I don't want to marry someone I don't love.." Beatrice sniffed.

"I know you don't Bea. But there's nothing we can do about it. You know Mom," Anna sighed, "She usually gets what she wants."

"I know she only wants to do the right thing, but there has to be another way," Beatrice insisted before sobbing once more

Anna shook her head. "I'm so sorry Beatrice."

She stared at herself in the mirror as her mother styled her hair up into a much more elaborate bun than what she was normally used to. Her freckled face had already been touched up with blush and lipstick, something Beatrice hated to wear.

It was the day of her wedding, the day she dreaded as it grew nearer and nearer. She prayed every night that it wasn't ever to happen and that it would all be a dream. A dream in which she could wake up from and find herself a bluebird again. But at some point, she lost all hope and stopped, finally accepting her fate. But deep inside, she wished that Wirt and Greg would come and visit again, allowing her to run off with them again. But of course, they never came. But then again, it's been about a year.

Anna came into the room and told her mother off, saying that the baker was waiting out with the cake.

"Anna, would you be a dear and help Beatrice into her dress?" their mother asked. She nodded and the little old lady left. Anna turned to her sister.

"How are you holding up?" she asked. Beatrice remained silent.

Anna fixed a few strands of hair from Beatrice's bun. Finally, the poisoning silence was broken by the elder sister as she spoke and said, "Come on. We need to get you out of here." She then started to open a dresser drawer and took out clothes.

"What..?" Beatrice turned from the mirror and to her sister, "Anna, what are you doing?"

"Helping you escape," the sister said as she stuffed Beatrice's arms with clothes, "Hurry up and put these on." Beatrice did as she was told and put on a shirt and trousers that were both too large for her (possibly her brother's).

"I'll go get you food and money. Pack up some clothing," Anna said as she left the room. Beatrice didn't even have to be told. She packed clothes, underwear, a few matches, and a book. Her sister came back and gave her two sticks of bread, a sack of water, and a bag of coins.

"Mom will be here in a few minutes. We need to get you out of here," she said as Beatrice put the materials away. Anna opened up the bedroom window that had the view of the river.

"We don't have time to craft you rope. You need to jump."

"But Anna, what about you?"

Her older sister gave her a quick squeeze. "I'll be fine, Bea." Then they heard the familiar footsteps of their mother. "Beatrice you have to go!"

Beatrice nodded -"Thank you, Anna"- and dropped her sack onto a bush. Just as she was about to jump off, their mother entered the room.

"Oh Beatrice, you'll certainly love the cake! It's got-" she said, but stopped mid-sentence as she witness her daughter jump off from the two story window. She screamed and pushed Anna out of the way and looked out the window to see Beatrice crossing the river.

For the first time in many days, Beatrice had smiled.

Beatrice ran into the woods for a good fifteen minutes straight before she stopped to catch her breath. She took a few sips of water before she started walking again.

It was almost noon. She heard the chirps of birds and the rustling of the leaves as the wind blew in the direction she was walking towards. She took a deep breath and for the first time in months, she felt free. She started to jump and skip, laughing and giggling at what she had done. She spun in circles until she felt dizzy and rolled around the grass, feeling like a child once more.

Beatrice didn't care about anything else. She was free; free from her mother's devilish grasp; free from the prison that was known as her home. She smiled to herself.

A/N:

Well this chapter took me forever. Forgive, forgive. Sorry this chapter was all over the place. While you're waiting for future chapters to be updated, why don't you read my other fanfic? I've already put up the first chapter and am currently almost done with the second.