11 years later

Ashley!” A woman’s voice echoed across a small but beautiful house.

“Yes mum!” Another voice responded, obviously one of a child.

“Are you done with the dishes?” The woman’s voice echoed once more.

“Yes mum.” The child’s voice followed.

“I hope you didn’t cut yourself?”

This time there was no response. The woman who had asked this clicked her tongue as she knew that her daughter as always, had ended up injuring herself while doing the dishes.

“Maybe I’ll actually stop her once and for all,” she muttered while getting up from the chair she was seated on and walking towards the kitchen.

When she entered, her eyes fell on an eleven-year old girl who held onto her pinky finger which trickled with blood.

She looked up to her mother with an innocent smile.

Their relationship was very obvious because of their resemblance.

They both had long snow white hair and skin, both being very beautiful with the girl even showing signs of surpassing her mother when she gets older, and rather than her mother’s brown eyes, hers were blue like that of the ocean while being mesmerizing. This was something that she had gotten from her father who had passed away

Her mother was always reminded of her husband whenever she looked into her eyes, which was why she couldn’t stay mad at her.

“Ashley, I’ve always told you not to do the dishes but you keep on insisting, and look, you’ve ended up injuring yourself once more.” She brought out a first aid kit from the drawer.

“But mum, it isn’t my fault. The knives are really sharp. But don’t worry, I get better and better with them every time. It took me longer to get cut and see, it isn’t even deep,” she said with pride which caused her mother to stare at her in disbelief as she wondered what her daughter actually did in the kitchen.

“Stop saying things like that, and from now on, no knives.”

“But……”

“Have I made myself clear?” She said in a strict tone.

“Yes mum,” Ashley replied dejectedly.

“Good. Now let’s get you patched up.” Ashley stretched out her cut finger towards her mother as she began attending to her. This caused her gaze to fall on the inscription on the back of Ashley’s hand which was still a mystery to her.

When she asked the woman who was the mid-wife that day, she said that she didn’t notice it on the night of her birth, but it was there on the next day.

This made her to take Ashley to someone who specializes in supernatural occurrences where she learnt that her child was a Blessed.

These were people who are given divine gifts either by the world or Higher Existences.

The probability of finding a Blessed would be one in one thousand people. Even she and Ashley’s father were Blessed but what truly surprised her was because of the marking on her daughter’s hand which was a divine inscription and the probability of a Blessed having one was just as low.

So anytime Ashley goes out she always makes sure that she wears gloves to cover the inscription on her hand as this can end up drawing unwanted attentions. She also makes sure to always go out with her.

After covering up her injury Ashley ran past her mother energetically, leaving the kitchen which caused her to release a sigh.

Ashley was really a headache.

“Just like her father,” she muttered with a smile before putting away the first aid kit.

Ashley trotted out of the house into their surrounding which were mostly trees and grasses.

For some reason which she wasn’t aware of, her mother said they couldn’t live in the city until she was old enough and she couldn’t wait for that.

It was sad to say she barely had any friends, with the few she, being older than her. So you can imagine how much she was looking forward to it.

Saying that she hasn’t seen the city would be a big lie as she isn’t as obedient as her mother thinks.

She occasionally sneaked out to a place where she could see the city and watch the people from.

She had to admit that it was a nice view and guess ? She was planning on sneaking out again today.

About 45 minutes from now, she very well knew that her mother would be taking her medication which would cause her to sleep for an hour being enough time to take a peek and come back.

She sat on the grasses on the side of the house and it didn’t take long before a beautiful white kitten came strolling her way.

She beamed before getting up and running to her best friend who usually came to visit her.

She got to know the kitten about two months ago and they’ve formed a strong bond since then.

The kitten also ran towards her and when they were close enough, it leaped right into her arms.

She caught it with ease and began giggling while spinning around with it. The kitten also purred obviously happy.

“Claire, what are you doing here, did you miss me already?” she chuckled as the kitten purred in response.

As if understanding it, she voiced out. “I also missed you but don’t worry, we’ll be sneaking out today.” She made sure to whisper the last part and it was surprising that the cat purred even happier.

It seemed as though they could understand each other and the innocent looking kitten was obviously a bad influence.

After playing together for sometime, she felt that the 45 minutes wait had expired so she went into the house making sure to tip toe while holding Claire who was very cooperative in her hands.

After reaching her mom’s room, she placed her ear against the door, observing what was going on in it, and not long after, a satisfied expression appeared on her face as she nodded before looking at Claire.

“It is time.”