Hey! This story is being written for #AltEnding. I've posted the first chapter so please let me know what you all think.

Don't forget to comment or vote!

Love.

Ana xx

***

The day Mother died, I cut my hair. I remember watching it floating gently around me in a dull blonde ring. It was surrounding me, beautiful and plentiful but also dead and dry. When it was lying there, the veil was unpeeled from my eyes as I recognised the inevitable horrors.

As I turned round, the clattering of hooves far, far below could be heard. There he was again. The magnificent charming man gazing at the tower with eyes that spoke of long days in the untouched grass, laying there under the sky as nature moved around us. He was so clever that he took control over the weather. I'd realised this the first day he came because the sun had played with his hair.

"Ru!" he says now, his rich voice singing over the treetops. It's as clear as pure water. "Come down!"

I turn away from the window, feeling the hot tears as they begin to run down my even hotter cheeks. He has no idea. He has no idea what it feels like to be empty, to be surrounded by a dull blonde ring.

"Ru!" he says again and his calls grow more impatient yet. But I will not turn to the window. I will not turn. "Ru! Let down your pretty hair."

That hits me. It hits me right in the chest. Right in the heart where it hurts the most. I reel back, landing on the edge of the dead dry golden ring. I know I have to let go so I do, burying my head into my arms even though I know he can't see me.

I listen as he calls louder and louder, trying to draw me out. I don't turn. I won't turn. Mother said I should never turn.

But Mother is not here.

"Ru, darling! I want to see you again!" he seems almost pleading now. I can hear the snorting of his horse and imagine my hands winding through its thick mane. "Please! Just come down!"

I stare at the wall opposite, biting my lip. It doesn't draw blood so I bite harder until the metallic taste is flooding my mouth. I swallow it down, telling myself that I shouldn't turn round. I should never turn round. Mother said that I should never turn round.

I turn round.