Resurrection- Fallen (Cam)

Prologue

There were flies everywhere, sand too but not the clean beach kind. Thick, red river sand about four inches deep, encased in a round post and rail fence. It was the kind of sand that sent great clouds of dust plumbing into the air whenever it was disturbed. Eventually, the dust settled into your skin where it began working its country magic. For most of the children who came to Mill Valley Ranch it had a lasting effect. Working with the horses taught them love and patience, it provided a confidant for their deepest thoughts - Clean country living was what it was. Victoria found it insufferable. She'd been to many equine programs - The special kind for troubled youth - And found them all the same. Some girl named Ashley or Makenzie beaming at you from a fat brown horse. The daughter of a rancher, whose biggest problem in life was choosing which cowboy to take to prom - The kind of ignorant folk who were all too ready to dismiss the troubles of real people.

'Talking to the horses heals you!'

Yeah right.

All Victoria saw was an economy, animals who trotted in pretty little circles for a carrot and safe place to crash. She was an attraction to these people, a case study, an idea. A life they would never have with concepts they could never grasp. Being in the system was like living in a snow globe. People wanted to shake you up and take a look, just so they could imagine what it might be like to live inside your miserable little dome, but people put snow globes down when the glitter stops whirling.

No one ever thinks what it must be like for the elves trapped out the front of Santa's workshop. Only brought out once a year, to be shaken by a pack of sticky-faced grandchildren who'll soon forget all about the little elves stuck inside. It was human nature, Victoria knew - Out of sight, out of mind. There was something nice about it too, she had to admit. The idea that there was something bigger looking after those elves for the rest of the year, Santa or perhaps even God. They'd be kept in good company, until next Christmas.

If either was listening of course.

God had never listened to Victoria. It was not for lack of trying, she had asked for small things and big things, miracles and coincidence - For anything, just  a sign that she wasn't alone. When God finally did break the silence, it was with unkind words. God's meaning was clear -Blessings were not meant for her. That was what hurt the most, she'd been promised her whole life by good people that things would get better. That she'd suffered enough, that the remainder of her life would be full of laughter and joy. It was not their fault - She knew - They were only trying to comfort her as best they could. 

It was one of these good people, a sister at the orphanage, who had named her - After Queen Victoria of course. Sister Lillian, a comforting old duck. The kind of lady who made you smile even when you didn't want to.

'You're equal parts kind and thoughtful, but there's a fire in you kid. I pray you'll find a man who knows just how to stoke it, same as the lovely Queen did.'

Lillian meant it as a compliment, but as she grew older whatever resemblance the old nun had seen between her and her namesake became baffling.

To Victoria, the Queen was a woman so dutifully devoted to a man that she became immobilized without him at her side. Victoria found the very idea of awarding a man such devotion, of composing herself in such a way utterly abhorrent, and if Lillian had any doubts on Victoria's stance on men they'd certainly been washed away by the events of the past month. Victoria shuddered just thinking about word of her wrongdoings making their way back to poor, dear Lillian. Who, surely, must have had some inkling?

The trouble started on her thirteen birthday. Until then things had been just about as normal as they could be - For a young girl raised in an orphanage at least. She remembered it vividly, it had been a painful experience. Victoria knew what a period was, she wasn't stupid. They were taught about it in school - Tampons, pads. It wasn't too hard a concept to grasp. So when hers finally arrived with a biblical proportion of blood and many sleepless nights she knew something was wrong. But accessing medical care for any womanly condition was difficult enough without being another system kid. They were hardly fond of her at the orphanage anyway - Too many failed adoptions. Not that it was Victoria's fault. There were incidents - Ones out of her control or so she thought, until a week after her first period when her powers began to manifest and suddenly it all made sense.