It'd been ten years since that day.
"Daniella!"
A ten-year-old Daniella ran into the kitchen at the sound of her name being called to see her mother with a basket in her hands.
She never meant for it to happen.
"Yes, Momma?" Daniella asked as she looked up to her mother.
"I made some soup for your grandma because she isn't feeling too good today, and I want you to take it over to her. Can you do that for me?" her mother asked.
Daniella nodded her head as she grinned at the thought of seeing her grandmother.
She was a naive little ten-year-old girl.
Daniella walked through the woods with a hum and a red cape that covered her head as the cold autumn wind blew around her. She stopped when she heard the sudden sound of a twig snapping and slowly turned her head.
He took advantage of that.
"Well, hello there, little girl. What have you got there?" the tall wolf said as he slowly walked around the frightened child.
"A...a basket of...of goodies," she stammered as her hands gripped onto the basket handle.
The wolf raised an eyebrow at her as he asked, "Oh? A basket of goodies, you say? And just who might these goodies be for?"
"My grandma. She...she's um..she's sick," Daniella said as she tried to keep her breathing under control.
That time, the wolf stopped right in front of her with a fake pout on his features, but to the little girl, it hadn't seemed that way.
"Oh, is that so? I am so incredibly sorry to hear that," he mockingly told her.
Daniella looked up at the wolf and became nervous at his intense stare, so she looked around the forest before she cleared her throat and said, "I have to get going now. My grandma really needs me."
She should've listened to her mother. She should've just taken the usual way, but Dani wanted to give her grandmother a special gift of her own, so she made a shortcut through the strawberry bushes.
What a horrible mistake that was.
The wolf nodded, but there was a certain gleam in his blue eyes that sent the already frightened child on edge.
"And just where might that be?" he questioned with a smirk.
"Just across the bridge at Normy River. She lives in the little brown cottage," Daniella answered as she rubbed her hands over the handle of her basket.
The wolf raised his eyebrows in slight shock that the little girl had actually given him a truthful answer, but he quickly covered it up with a seemingly friendly smile.
"Mm, I see. Well, I suppose I should let you run along. Wouldn't want to keep dear grandmother waiting, now would we?" he questioned.
Daniella widened her eyes at the thought of making her poor sickly grandmother wait for her and quickly shook her head as she said, "Oh, no sir, absolutely not!!"
"Well, it was very nice meeting you. I do hope to see you again sometime...Little Red," the wolf said before he walked around her in the opposite direction.
Daniella furrowed her eyebrows at the strange nickname and overall encounter. Still, she shook her head again as she continued on her journey to her grandmother's house, and she was completely unaware of the lurking gray wolf who stood in the shadows with a sly smirk across his features as he watched her walk away.
She was so stupid. So unbelievably stupid.
Why she gave him the directions was something that she would never know...and it was also something that would haunt her for the rest of her life. It was her fault her grandmother was dead. No one but hers, and no matter how many times people had tried to convince her otherwise, Dani would never believe it because she was the one who told him how to get to her grandmother. No one else but her.
The town she'd grown up in was called StoryBrooke, and it was a relatively small town where everyone knew everyone. StoryBrooke was deemed so safe by civilians that the children were able to walk the streets by themselves because their parents knew that nothing would harm them.
So how was Dani supposed to know that some wolf would appear with a sinister plot to kill a little girl and her grandmother?
Yes, she knew it was common sense not to talk to strangers, but as stated before, StoryBrooke was known to be a safe town. Emphasis on the was. At least now she knew not to make that mistake ever again.
The day her grandmother was killed was a day that she would never forget for the rest of her life. For years it had replayed in her mind and kept her up at night. She was pretty sure she hadn't gotten a full night's sleep in a whole ten years.
"Dani?" a deep voice called out, which snapped her out of her thoughts.
Dani looked over from her vanity mirror to the door to see David as he stood in the doorway, donned in his uniform.
She cleared her throat and asked, "Yes?"
"You almost ready? Your mother just got done fixing breakfast," he questioned.
"Uh, yeah, I'll be down in a second," Dani told him with a nod, but she could tell that he knew something was bothering her.
"You alright?" David asked with a frown. "You looked like you were staring in space there."
"Uh, yeah...yeah, I'm fine," Dani said with another nod and gave him a small smile. "Promise... I'll be down in a second, okay?"
David continued to examine her for a moment before he gave her a nod and disappeared down to the kitchen.
Dani looked back to her mirror and smiled a small smile at her reflection. Her long, black hair was pulled up into a ponytail by a yellow hair tie that matched her fitted long sleeve, which only added on another reason as to why yellow was her favorite color as it seemed to brighten her already glowing brown skin. Dani's smile widened slightly as her gaze caught the silver Janine necklace displayed around her neck that she had gotten a few days before her grandmother's funeral. The girl hadn't taken it off since, and she doubted that she ever would.
"Today is a new day, Dani," she whispered to herself. "You can do this."
With a nod, the girl let out a deep breath before she stood up and walked out the door, making sure to grab her jacket as she did so.
Dani's mother ended up marrying David, otherwise known as the Lumberjack that saved her life that dreadful day, eight years ago. In Dani's opinion, their whole relationship was based on that day alone because they would have never even met if it weren't for her. Of course, she was very grateful for David for saving her life, but he wouldn't have had to if she would've just followed her mother's rules. Nevertheless, he made her mother happy, so that gave her a reason to tolerate him. Plus, he gave her-
"Ellie!!" a five-year-old voice called out to her as she walked into the kitchen.
Dani looked down just in time to see her little brother run and jump into her arms, which made her laugh as she picked him up.
"Good morning, Frankie! Did you have a good night's sleep?" she asked him with a smile.
Frankie nodded rapidly with chocolate covering his entire mouth area, which Dani assumed was because of the breakfast their mother had made.
"Uh-huh! Momma made chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast!! Do you want chocolate chip pancakes, Ellie?" he questioned with wide eyes of excitement.
Pretending to ponder the question for a moment, Dani tilted her head before smiling with a nod as she said, "Yeah, I'll have some pancakes. Is there any bacon?"
Frankie nodded again and pointed to the table covered in an array of breakfast foods that included pancakes, bacon, and eggs. Dani's eyes slightly widened as she walked them over to the table of food.
"Woah, what's with the buffet? Are we a bed-and-breakfast now?" she asked her mother after kissing her on the cheek in greeting before she sat down in a chair.
Michelle laughed and shook her head at her daughter's comment as she said, "Nope. I just felt like cooking up a storm this morning. How'd you sleep last night?"
Dani immediately tensed up at her question before quickly shaking it off as she poured herself a glass of orange juice. "Alright, I guess," she mumbled.
Michelle raised an eyebrow at the answer. "Dani," she said in a warning tone.
Dani sighed as she began to eat her food and said, "Mom. You know I haven't had the best night's sleep since I was ten. Can we just let it go? I'm fine, I promise."
They hadn't always started their mornings off like that, but Dani couldn't help but find her mother's slight hovering to be a little annoying at times.
Michelle sighed and looked at her daughter for a moment before shaking her head sadly as she went back to her food.
Dani and her mother used to be able to tell each other everything, but over the years, Dani had found herself distancing away from everyone. The only person she felt she could really confide in was her best friend, Greta Fischer, and that was only because Greta had been in a similar situation as Dani had. She was slowly trying to change that around though as she found herself missing the close relationship she used to share with her mother.
"Ellie, can you bring booberry muffins home today?" Frankie asked, and Dani laughed at his improper pronunciation of the word blueberry, finding it to be extremely adorable.
Dani was an only child before Frankie came along, so she had been used to the idea of being alone. Michelle had thought that her daughter would reject the idea of having a sibling when she'd announced that she was pregnant, but to everyone's surprise, Dani had actually been really excited about it. The birth of Frankie was the happiest she'd been since her grandmother's death.
"Sure I can, Bud. Would you like me to tell Greta you said Hi?" Dani told him before playfully asking, and she watched in amusement as her brother's face turned red in embarrassment before he nodded and reached for his cup.
Frankie had grown a soft spot for Greta ever since he was two. Anytime Dani would watch after him, he'd always ask her if Greta was coming over too, so she liked to tease him about it from time to time.
"Speaking of Greta, could you please tell her that her dress is ready for pick up? And that I apologize for the long wait, business is always booming around the holidays," Michelle said.
Dani nodded her head in answer and looked down at her phone to check the time, which caused her eyes to widen in shock.
"I'm going to be late!!" she cried as she quickly got up from her seat and rushed to put her coat on.
"Wait!!" a small voice called out as she opened the front door.
Dani turned around to see Frankie running towards her and smiled as she bent down just in time to catch him in her arms.
"Bye, Sissy. I'll miss you," he mumbled as he wrapped his arms around her neck.
Dani laughed at her brother's dramatics and hugged him back anyway as she said, "Frankie, we do this every day, Bud. It'll just be for a couple of hours. I'll be back before you know it...and I'll have some of those booberry muffins you want so badly."
Frankie's features lit up with a big grin at his sister's words, which made her do the same, and he nodded his head as he backed away.
"Yeah, Yeah!! Bring some booberry muffins home sissy!! Momma!! Sissy's bringing booberry muffins home today!!" he exclaimed as he ran over to their mother, who caught him in her arms.
"I heard it! Sounds yummy!! Now say bye-bye to sissy!" Michelle told him before they both looked up to give Dani a wave and air kiss.
Dani shook her head playfully at them but returned the gesture and headed out the door.
Sometimes, her family could be a bit animated.