(13)
"smile"
She kept smiling, for Nessa.
At first, when Father told her what happened to Mama, what happened to Nessa, she was confused. She cried when she realised Mama wasn't coming back. It was her fault? What had she done?
As she grew older, it sank in. The knowledge clawed her heart, squeezing, tightening like an iron vice. She became used to living inside a prison.
One day, Nessa came home from school crying because nobody wanted to play with her. Elphaba held her until she fell asleep.
Eventually, Nessa grew used to it too – as long as Elphaba kept smiling.
A/N: And now for the close! Merry Christmas, and thank you so much to everyone who read and reviewed. Your time means a lot to me. Who knows? I might do this again sometime – perhaps I could do more 100-word drabbles, or flash fiction of a different word count, or possibly some more short stories. Let me know if there's anything specific you'd be interested in. Otherwise, I am currently working on my next full-length fic, a Family/Romance called The China Doll Set, coming soon. In case you missed the preview at the end of Features of a Rose (my most recent fic), here it is:
Ten-year-old Elphaba has been raised in an isolated Vinkun Animal community. But when a tornado devastates her home, she is sent to live with her birth parents in Munchkinland.
Eleven years later, Elphaba feels she knows a thing or two about chaos. Haunted by the memory of the tornado, she has created a perfectly ordered life for herself. The one thing that reminds her of her lost family is a set of china dolls gifted to her by her father.
Then an old acquaintance shows up with an incredible piece of news: the Animals are rebuilding their settlement, which has lain in ruins for eleven years. There's just one problem: the Vinkun King has radical plans to reintegrate Animals into society. The rebuilding of an isolated settlement throws a wrench in his plans, and his methods for halting the project are severe.
Desperate to protect her first home, Elphaba leaves her ordered sanctuary to return to the Vinkus. Can she reclaim the life stolen from her, or is it only a matter of time before her home - and family - come crashing down?