Little Match Girl

Carrie was actually born into a warm and loving Royal family, with a mother with beautiful golden hair, a father who was in line to become King and an older sister who loved her dearly. They were very happy and had no hardship in their life.

Then one fateful day, the King was murdered by a treacherous conspiracy and her father who tried to save him, became a victim of his step-brother 's ruthlessness to claim the crown for himself. Fleeing quickly, Carrie, her mother and sister ran into the woods hoping to escape death. But before they could make it to safety, her sister was taken for the new King while Carrie and her Mother were pushed into a raging river and left to die.

Washed up, Carrie and her Mother were saved by a gruff man who lived in the woods with his two children. After a few months of hiding and being under the care of the woodsman, Carrie's mother decides to accept his proposal for marriage as gratitude for saving their lives.

Although things seemed to settle down, the woodsman started having nightmares and said he was seeing visions of his dead wife. He took to the ale to numb his senses. After time, he started losing his temper often, then began physically abusing his wife and children. He would go off for days without letting anyone know and come back completely sloshed with not a penny in his pocket and only the sweet scent of cherry blossoms around his neck. When Carrie's Mom would ask, he would ram her face into the wall, bind and gag her or worse. All the while Carrie was helpless to do anything or she would be receive the same treatment as well. The woodsman's children were terrors themselves as they blamed Carrie and her mother for their Father's sudden change of personality. Carrie became their personal punching bag from that point on.

Months later, the family had no money to survive. Everything was gambled away. So the woodsman decides to make Carrie go to town to sell matchsticks he'd cut up the night before. If she didn't sell her quota, she would be beaten. Weeks pass and barely anything was sold. The woodsman told Carrie that if she did not bring back 10 pieces of silver, she could not come home. If she tried, he would kill her Mother and her in one swing of his axe.

Determined to sell every last matchstick in the dead of winter, Carrie stayed in town begging the townspeople to spare a penny or two. The snow fell deeper and the cold became unbearable to the flesh. Carrie huddled in the corner of an alley, lighting matches one after another to stay warm. With each match she lit, she could see the images of her real father, her sister, her mother and the beautiful life they had before. Carrie began to feel her heart slow as the chattering of her teeth became louder. As things became black Carrie prayed for her Mom's safety, then nothing.

Suddenly, Carrie's eyes shot open to the sound of a distant wolf and the smell of..... roast meat? She looked about and saw that she was bundled in a blanket in front of a campfire that was cooking what looked to be a wolf.

"Eat." Said a mysterious man. "You need strength if we are to get you home."

Frightened, Carrie ate not saying a word to the stranger, not even making eye contact. Before long, the man stood up and the glint of his strange sword reflected the light of the full moon.

"Let us go. Your home is up ahead."

After walking for 10 miles, they approached the woodsman's cabin. As they got closer, the smell of death and copper became suffocating. Looking in horror, Carrie saw blood everywhere. Streaks on the walls, pools on the ground; everywhere that was once white from the snow, was now a dark, putrid red. Crying out in fear, Carrie called for her mother.

Nothing.

The mysterious man took Carrie's hand and ventured towards the cabin. When they opened the door, flies buzzed about as they saw a man, crumpled on the floor with all of his bones broken and his body mangled in physical positions no humans could naturally hope to accomplish. Carie eventually saw the victim's head and recognized him as her step-father. Strangely enough, she didn't feel ill or even a bit of sadness. What she felt..... was closure.

The stranger released Carrie's hand and picked up a piece of blood soaked parchment stuck to the floor. Bewildered, he let it fall back in its place.

"Your language puzzles me."

As Carrie followed him out the door, her eye caught a glimpse of the paper that started off with "There was a crooked man, and he went a crooked mile..."

Odd.

Carrie and the man searched the entire house and not a soul was found. The man stood still as Carrie watched. He didn't move for what seemed like eternity. Suddenly, the man turned to Carrie and crouched down to her eye level.

"Do you want revenge on the man who took everything away from you?" Carrie nodded. "Then you will dedicate your life to me. You will be my cub and I, a lone wolf no more. We will remove your heart of pain and fill it instead, with Justice."

Carrie nodded again, but was surprised when the man handed her the matches she was supposed to sell.

"To move forward freely, you must not let the roots of your past hold you down..... Burn it." Carrie then understood. She would help her family find Justice with her own tiny hands.

With a few strikes of her matches and the large blaze of fire behind her, she and the mysterious man together took their first step forward. No longer was she little helpless Carrie. Rather, she was on her way to be known as the Little Match Girl.

Knowing in her heart that her mother was somehow alive, she later wondered whatever happened to the woodsman's children. Funny that at the time, no one bothered to check the well.