The Caged Princess(Book 1)

Chapter - 1

People don't realise having a dream is a luxury for most people. Many people exist monotonously and then cease to be from earth and from other's hearts.

Being a slave to her routine Nadia took the long way round to reach her school , a detour she could have easily avoided if she had any interest in attending her classes.

It was just the beginning of spring,  the weather had gotten warmer even up here in the hills and the stubborn snow had finally started melting. It was her favorite time of the year not only because she didn't have to stay inside her house due to all the snow but also because her orchard would finally start flowering again for the season.

Her little garden was genuinely all she cared about. She didn't have a lot of possessions that she could call her own so she took great care of the orchard. Nadia enjoyed being by herself and tending to her plants and she would take that over going to school any day.

She didn't dislike her classes because she hated studying ,on the contrary she enjoyed books on various topics ,it was her firm belief that knowledge was never wasted. All the great men in history who were instrumental in changing the world , initially were just interested in books.

She also believed that as long as you are reading books for learning something new it did not matter what topic it was on. A person in medical profession could develop interest in astronomy books which had nothing to do with their job and it would still count as gaining knowledge, you never know when that skill could come in handy. What's more, as long as it awakens any kind of joy in reading it, anyone should be allowed to read any kind of book without judgement .Nadia swore by this wholeheartedly.

The reason why she didn't want to go to school was because of her over-bearing mother who liked to control each and every detail about her daughter's life. All she cared about was for Nadia to not stand out in any way. She always wanted to make sure Nadia didn't excel her classes or made too many friends as to not catch anyone's attention.

She vehemently insisted to let Nadia be home schooled and that she didn't want to entrust her daughter's safety to the school that was too far away.

Every second that Nadia was away from her mother's eyes could potentially put her in life threatening danger or so she believed. For primary education, her mother self taught her at home and let the town believe Nadia was too sick to come out into the daylight, but of course she couldn't hold up that lie forever. As soon as middle school started, Nadia was old enough to argue and throw tantrums at her mother for never letting her step out of the house.

"You don't care about me at all! I want to play outside too! I want to go to school and make friends too!" Little Nadia had screamed at her mother.

"Nobody else can protect you. The world is vile and evil. You have some kind of responsibility to me too, don't you? You are my child, you will do as I say . Stop being so selfish. You are too young to understand how bad the outside world is! You are not going out and that's final!" Her mother had screamed back.

Nadia had stomped her foot angrily and ran into her room bolting it from the inside. She had then stayed there for the rest of the day refusing food.

After half past midnight Nadia's mother was awakened by a loud thud and a scream. Nadia had tried climbing down from her second storey window and slipped and fallen on a bush. Her mother had come running outside. There was blood everywhere and Nadia was wailing.

Even so, despite all the pain, her vision going blurry, Nadia had seen her mother's face contorted in worry. For the first time in her life, she had seen her mother fuss over her. Her heart had suddenly felt full and she became overwhelmed. She had then been rushed to a hospital where her mother had been beside her at all times and looked to all her needs.