“And where the hell did you find that thing?” Minnie’s father cursed with a bottle of alcohol in his hand.

“I found her out in the woods...” Minnie hugged the toy that was nearly equal to her own size.

“You found it out in the woods? Bullshit! You probably stole it, didn’t you!?” He leaned over and grabbed Minnie by the hair.

“No Daddy, I didn’t steal it! I promise! I’ve been a good girl all day!” Tears pooled around her eyes from the pain.

“You think something as valuable as this would just be lying out in the woods without a single scratch on it!? This is good enough for noble children to play with! Like hell I'd believe you found it in the woods!” His grip tightened, making the pain even worse for Minnie.

Minnie understood that no words would be able to convince her drunken father but that didn’t mean she would accept being called a stealer.

“Ask Mommy! She saw me find her when we were looking for medicine!” Minnie tried using reason to escape her father’s unfair wrath.

He tossed her to the ground with her new toy and stared at her with a look in his eye that showed not a single ounce of love within them. Minnie hugged her toy and backed away from her father, her head still hurting.

“Get out of my sight girl! I’ll talk to your mother about this. And if she says you stole it, you better expect the worst when I come in your room.” He shooed her away.

Minnie went to her room, no longer able to contain the tears anymore. She didn’t understand why her father hated her. She always acted good and never did bad stuff just like he wanted. But he always found something to be mad at her about. Trying to make her daddy happy was just so hard... Was she really just a bad girl that only caused problems?

“Why does Daddy hate me...?” Minnie asked her new toy curled up with her in her bed.

Minnie’s toy was what every little girl would’ve wanted as a present. Poor or rich, she oozed the perfectness that embodied every young girl’s desires. She was dressed in the cutest little outfit with a bow at the base of her chest that could tighten or loosen her uniform. Absolutely fantastic blonde hair in the shape of two pigtails tied with a black ribbon that was almost bigger than her head. Cute pink blush marks under her eyes, an adorable face that could win the hearts of any little girl, and long knee-high socks with some pretty shoes.

“Maybe he just doesn’t know how to show his love.” Pretty responded.

“You sound like Mommy...” Minnie wasn’t satisfied with this answer.

“Daddy is just going through a hard time... Give him a few days to find a job again and everything will be good again.” Pretty said.

“Will he stop drinking the grown-up juice?” Minnie really wanted him to stop.

“Of course, sweetie. He only drinks because he doesn’t have a job. Once he gets a job he’ll be the happy loving man he always was deep down.” Pretty reassured her.

“Okay Pretty, if you say so...” Minnie stopped moving the toy’s lips with her finger and found herself drifting off to sleep.

Sometime later, she woke up and realized that Pretty was no longer in her bed with her. She grew anxious and panicked. Did her Daddy take Pretty away?! Minnie got up in a hurry and quickly started looking for Pretty around her bed. She could’ve fallen off the bed while they were sleeping. Which turns out didn’t happen. Pretty wasn’t anywhere near her bed or in her room at all!

When she looked towards the door, she could see that it was slightly open. This only made her heart race even more thinking that her dad really did take Pretty away. She opened the door with all her strength and ran into the living room where her daddy spent most of his time. Minnie almost didn’t know how to react when she saw Pretty sitting on her daddy’s lap with Mommy’s book in front of them while he was asleep. If he saw Pretty bothering him, he’d definitely take her away!

Minnie used the gracefulness and stealth of a cat as she silently grabbed Pretty from her father’s lap and slowly made her way back into her room. She didn’t know why her daddy took Pretty but since he was asleep that meant he was done with her. Now it was her turn to finally play with Pretty. Play time was supposed to be earlier but she fell asleep and couldn’t get that time back. So, she had to play as much as she could with Pretty before her mom got back and it was dinner time and then time for bed.

“We’re going to be best friends Pretty!” Minnie hugged Pretty from side to side. The lifeless open eyes of Pretty showed no response to the child’s love.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

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“My gods... Get up Harold!” Maddie screamed at her husband.

She just got off work as the village’s alchemist and when she walked into her home seeing her husband passed out drunk in the middle of the living room was not something she happy to see. Harold got up in a start. He knocked over the empty bottles of beer and tried to stand up straight at attention. His eyes took more than a couple seconds to focus in on his wife.

“There were no jobs available today.” He slurred.

“Did you even freaking leave the house?! Before lying straight to my face like this?!” She yelled.

The sound of his wife screaming was more than enough to sober him up.

“I visited all our neighbors, went to the marketplace, and even begged a few of the notable members of our village for a job.” He lied with a straight face.

Maddie walked right over to him and slugged him right in his face, knocking him over the couch.

“You useless sack of shit! If you don’t seriously start looking for a job tomorrow, I will kick you out of this house. You have the end of the week to land a job. I will not live with a good-for-nothing bum that only knows how to waste money on booze and eat up food I could be saving for me and my daughter. Unlike you, she actually has a bright future!”

“Alright! Alright! Stop nagging me! I’ll find a damn job. Will that make you happy?” He shouted back. “Violent bitch...” He muttered.

“What did you just say?!” She grabbed him by the collar and reared her fist back.

“N-Nothing sweetie... I love you...” He stammered.

“Mhmm... Now let me go see what my sunshine has been doing before I start dinner.” Maddie let go of his collar and started walking to her daughter’s room.

As she approached the door, she could hear sounds coming from within it. Maddie stopped just before entering Minnie’s room to listen in to what her daughter was doing. Every parent had a moment where they secretly watched their child just doing their own thing without them knowing. Usually, she hung out in the living room with Harold waiting for her to come home or was asleep in her room. But today it seems she was playing by herself in her room. Which was strange because they didn’t have enough money to afford her many things to play with.

“Magic? Isn’t magic only for nobles to learn?” Maddie heard Minnie talking.

There was no sound of anyone talking before Minnie started talking again.

“You could teach me magic, Pretty?! I wanna learn!” Her daughter excitedly squealed.

Who was Pretty? Was that one of her friends from school? Her husband would’ve told her if there was someone in the house, right? Actually, probably not. He was useless like that. Maddie wondered why she couldn’t hear Pretty talking to her daughter.

“Space magic? Is that how you made those circles from before?”

“Okay. I promise won’t tell anyone I'm learning magic but why can’t I tell Mommy?”

“Mommy isn’t like Daddy. She doesn’t drink the grown-up juice or hit me. She’s nice.”

“What do you mean with space magic, I could deal with Daddy? He only needs a job like Mommy said and then he’ll be nice again.”

“You don’t think Daddy will be nice again...?”

“He only hits me when I've done something to make him mad... But I remember when he had a job, he was always smiling and being nice to me. Could I help Daddy get a job with space magic?”

“But...” Minnie sounded sad about something. “Okay Pretty... It’s a promise between us. I won’t tell anyone even if I'm about to die! I promise.” This was where Maddie burst in the room.

You can imagine the surprise on her face when she saw her daughter just talking to a doll. Maddie exhaled the breath she didn’t know she was holding in and gently smiled at her daughter. Several questions still raced through her mind but seeing that her daughter was safe and wasn’t talking to some stranger filled her with relief. Behind the kind and loving smile she was giving her daughter, an unforgiving rage and bloodlust was growing within her after hearing that Harold was actually hurting their daughter behind her back. Tonight, she and him had several things to discuss about after she put Minnie to bed.

“Mommy!” Minnie ran to hug her mother. “Meet Pretty! My best friend in the whole world!” She introduced Pretty by making her do a noble’s bow.

“Hey sweetie... I see she’s dressed up very prettily. Is she a noble?” Maddie asked.

“Uhm! I don’t know! I didn’t ask her. But Mommy guess where I found her!”

“I was just about to ask that.” She laughed.

“She was just lying up against a tree in the forest! Nobody was nearby or anything!”

“Sounds like you were pretty lucky to find such a cute toy in good condition.” Maddie rubbed her head.

“I know right! Pretty say hi to Mommy.” Minnie held the doll towards her face.

The emptiness behind the toy’s eyes stared at her.

“Hey there Pretty. It’s very nice to meet you.” Maddie did a small bow with her head seeing the doll not respond.

“What’s wrong Pretty? Say hi to Mommy.” Minnie was confused.

“That’s okay honey. Pretty is probably just shy to meeting new people. We can talk when we become friends just like you two.”

“What does shy mean?”

“Shy is when you are nervous about something.”

“Nervous?”

“Nervous is when you aren’t comfortable in your tummy.”

“Like when I met that doggy when we went to the market?” She suddenly realized what her mom was getting at.

“Yes! Just like that! You were so shy but really wanted to pet the doggy.”

“It’s okay Pretty. You don’t have to be shy around Mommy. Mommy is really nice.” She talked to it.

“...” Pretty continued her silence.

“I can’t wait to talk to you Pretty. Do you two girls want to come help me with dinner?” Maddie asked.

“Yes!” Minnie answered for both of them.

“Come on then.” Maddie smiled.