Golden Dreams

Prologue

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Blonde locks swayed and danced blissfully along with the wind, blowing away the strands from her face and also blowing away the problems she had to face.

Looking down below the balcony she stands upon, she sees her mother with her back facing hers. She couldn't see what she was expressing, but she could see that she was talking with someone she was unfamiliar with.

He didn't look good, but he didn't look bad either — for a seven year old, that is.

This little girl knows nothing of how the world works around her. It seemed small, taking that she had only roamed around the castle walls her whole life. What was she to know elsewhere?

Sighing, she gazed her electric blue eyes back to the ground where her mother was, eyebrows furrowing when she found her running back inside the castle with the most scared look on her face. It made her wonder what had the man told her that made her express that way.

And as if time flew by too fast, she jolted when a door slammed open surprised her, whipping her head behind to see what had caused it.

"Mom?" She called out, pushing the floor of which she sat on to bring her back up to her feet. And those feet dragged her up to her mother who seemed to have frozen herself on the spot whence her daughter came up to her.

Her tense expression came to an ease, but it didn't last that long, although she tried to hide it. "My darling," she spoke. Her voice hesitantly breaking as she crouched down to the same level as her daughter's height. The girl can see the tainted smile across her face, thinking that she was okay — but reality doesn't tell the truth. "I have to tell you something."

Innocently, she tilted her head to the side with curious eyes, waiting for her reply.

She breathed in deeply and exhaled the same amount back. She crookedly smiled at her daughter as she gazed blearily at the identical blue eyes they shared. "You — we are going somewhere," she continued as she tried to fight off the tears that was starting to fog up her vision, also biting her inside cheeks with the hopes to calm herself down.

The gullible child beamed in amusement as her eyes sparkled at that thought, oblivious to what the true intentions were behind those words. "Really? Where?" She happily asked, clasping both of her hands at her chest that was starting to explode in excitement.

Seeing her precious smile calmed her, but sadly — after a short period of time — it was diminished once she had remembered what was beneath those lies. "Somewhere better — somewhere safer," she answered back as she held back a sob that got stuck in her throat. Luckily she didn't notice it. She didn't notice anything.

"But, where exactly?" The child pouted as she rested both of her hands at her sides, her stubborn nature getting the best of her. Her mother chuckled at this.

"It's a surprise, you love surprises — don't you?" She encouraged in delight as she grabbed both of her daughter's hands into her own, the feeling of panic starting to arise in the pot of her stomach once worry had crossed her mind. "Don't you?" She asked once again when she didn't hear her reply.

Nodding her head, she cheerfully grinned. "I do! I do!" She exclaimed as her eyes widened even more as the excitement overflowed her whole body. "When are we leaving? When?" She immediately questioned.

Her body shook wildly as the thought clouded her mind, but she kept holding it in for she promised that she wouldn't ruin this. Not for her. "Today! Now come, your father's waiting for us downstairs," she replied as she hurriedly stood up to her normal height and held her daughter's hand — for the very last time.