Things Never Done

The Daughter of the Wizard lived on top of Shady Hill. At the bottom of Shady Hill there was a small village.
One morning the people of the village had looked up and saw a castle on the top of the hill. Before that day there had never been any reason to venture to the top of Shady Hill, but the apperance of a castle made the villagers curious. They walked up the path and found themselves confronted by a wall. There was a wooden door in the wall.
They knocked on the door and a small window was slid open. Two yellow eyes peered out from the window. The eyes stared at the villagers while the villagers stared at the eyes.
A few moments passed. Nobody seemed willing to talk to the person behind the wall. Finally, a young girl from the village stepped forward. Her name was Keira. Keira leaned in close to the yellow eyes.
“Excuse me,” she said, ”but who lives behind this wall?”
The eyes squinted, glanced left and right. “The Daughter of the Wizard lives here.” The small window in the door closed. The villagers waited by the door. Nothing happened. As dark approached they made their way back down to the village at the foot of Shady Hill. Keira, however, stayed by the door.
After everyone was gone Keira fell asleep. She woke in the night and found the door open. A small girl stared at her, she was unremarkable except for two yellow eyes.
“Why do you stay here when everyone else has gone?” asked the girl with the yellow eyes.
“I want to meet the Daughter of the Wizard,” answered Keira.
“Why?”
“Because she must have done things I have never done and seen things that I have never seen.”
The yellow-eyed girl considered this. She smiled and in that smile Keira felt a strange longing. Without even knowing how or when Keira fell asleep. She woke up in her bed.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Keira grew up to be a very lovely young woman. Her father was a cobbler and wanted the best for his daughter. He spoiled his daughter and never made her do anything. She never cleaned the house or washed the dishes, she never did the laundry or brought in firewood. All day long she stared at clouds and dreamed of doing things she’d never done and seeing things she never seen,
There was a merchant’s son who loved Keira. The merchant made arrangements for his son to marry Keira.
Keira was unhappy about the marriage. The merchant’s son would buy her things and write her poems, but Keira couldn’t bring herself to care about him.
The night before the wedding came, and Keira was upset. She sat in her room and wept. She wept for the all the things that she would never do and for all the things she would never see. Her father meant the best for her, but she couldn’t bring herself to be the wife of a merchant. She waited till her father fell asleep and snuck out the door.
Keira walked out into the moonlight and realized she had nowhere to go. After a short time she found herself in front of the wall atop Shady Hill. She reached and knocked on the door.
The door opened. A young woman stood in front of Keira. She was beautiful, with golden hair, and long white dress that seemed to be made of moonlight. She was dazzling. The woman stared at Keira with two-yellow eyes.
“Why are you knocking at the door this late at night?” asked the yellow-eyed woman.
“I don’t know,” Keira answered. “I am to be married and I don’t wish to be. So I ran and ended up here. Maybe I could stay here, with the Daughter of the Wizard. I could do all things that I have never done and see all the things I have never seen.”
The yellow-eyed woman smiled at this. “You think living up her would be better than living in the village?”
“Oh, I do,” said Keira.
“Then I will switch places with you. You will get do things you have never done and see things you have never seen. Think carefully and make a choice of your own free will.”
Keira thought for only a few seconds. The moonlight danced on the woman’s dress and she seemed the most beautiful thing that Keira had ever seen.
“I do. I want to switch places.” The two women reached out and held hands. The moonlight grew brighter than Keira ever imagined, engulfing her in its warm light.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Keira woke in a bed that was not her own. She ran out of the only door and found herself outside a small shed. A high wall surrounded an impossibly large castle.
She knew she was atop Shady Hill. A smile broke across her face as she raced to the castle. A tall woman stood before the castle doors. She was dark and mysterious, and frightened Keira.
“I woke up and you were not there,” said the woman. “I had to come look for you. I will never look for you again.” She struck Keira. “Now make my bath.”
Keira cried and tried to explain that she lived in village, but the woman didn’t care. She struck Keira a hundred times before the day was done. Eventually, she got the woman her bath. She set out the woman’s clothes. Later that day she made the woman’s dinner, twice, because the first time wasn’t very good. All day long she worked.
“I don’t belong here,” said Keira as she wandered towards the shed, tired and bruised.
“I believe you do,” said the woman. “ You asked to live with the Daughter of the Wizard, now you do.”
And it was true. The woman was the Daughter of the Wizard and she was spell bound atop Shady Hill. She couldn’t leave and neither could Keira, who had chosen to be here of her own free will.
Keira spent all day, everyday doing the chores of the castle. She carried wood and did dishes, she cooked and cleaned, she did laundry and worked in the garden. Everyday she did something she had never done before and everyday she saw something she had never seen.

Word Count1048 (48 over)