!! Pixie: 5 !!
Dawna: 8

I once said my heart is for the taking
Only for someone to come and break it
The Overslept; Figure it out

'Mama? What is going on?' a very sleepy Pixie asked while her hands tried to rub the sleep away from her eyes. 'Where is papa?'

The five-year-old raven-haired girl woke up with the sound of crying children and loud male voices that shouted angrily. Pixie had noticed that her mama, oma and brother and sister where home; her papa on the other hand was not.

'Mama why do I hear people crying?'

'It's okay, darling,' her mother answered kindly before she pulled her daughter on her lap. 'Oma and I are here to make sure that nothing bad happens to you.'

'What about papa?' the dotted girl asked with a shaking voice.

Her dark brown eyes had seen how the dark night had been lit up by many flames that burned forcefully. The little girl had also seen how her papa had left the house with a strange uniform on and a worried look in his dark eyes.

'Mama I am scared, where is papa?'

Her sweet mama never answered the question. Instead, she hold her daughter so close to her chest that Pixie could hear her heart beat a little too fast. Something bad was happening outside the safe walls of their small house and everyone knew it.

Hours later the door swung open. Pixie, who had almost fallen asleep woke up instantly and tried to hide desperately behind her mothers safe back.

'Sem!' her mother's relieved voice sounded, causing the little dotted girl to peek behind her back.

Her father had entered their home again, still dressed in the weird clothes. Blood stains decorated his clothes and his eyes looked horrified.

'Lieverd, come and sit down. Will you? I will fetch you some tea.'

She noticed how her father sat down and laid a large knife on the table. The weapon was covered in blood, causing the five-year old to shiver in fear. What had happened? Why was her father dressed like that and why was he covered in blood?

For the first time the little girl was too afraid to ask her father those questions. In fact, she did not even dare to come anywhere near him.

'What happened?' the oldest woman in the house asked with concern in her voice. 'Semual, what happened?'

'I-I,' her father stuttered with a lost look on his face. 'I-It took a w-wrong turn, I suppose. This wasn't meant to happen. It shouldn't have happened. We wanted to t-take down the K-King, not h-him. We weren't supposed to k-kill an innocent. I-It's m-my fault. She w-will kill me, s-she will haunt us down. It's all my fault.'

Pixie got even more scared at the sound of her fathers words. What had happened? Her small heart shrunk at the thought of her father taking the life of an innocence. He would never do such thing, right?

'Semual, try to calm down.'

Pixie was the only child left in the room; her brother and sister had left hours ago. The little, dotted girl could not sleep, however. So, she stayed to wait for her father while they were all digging in the unknown.

Her mother came back in the room and placed four cups of hot tea on the table. Her hands undid her father from his uniform, leaving him almost bare in the room. The red-haired man had cuts all over his chest. The blood that escaped them painted his chest in a colour that matched his hair.

'I killed him. I killed him. It's my fault. I did it. It was me. We are all going to die. I dug our grave. I'm so, so sorry,' the only man in the room kept mumbling over and over again, until he became aware of his daughters presence. 'I'm so sorry, Pixie. I'm so sorry. I would never hurt you, you know, that right? I love you so much, my little girl. I love you. I love you.'

His voice sounded broken as tears escaped his dark eyes. This was the first time Pixie saw her papa cry and it would be the last time too. It made her even more upset.

Her father was this strong, powerful man in her eyes. Not a broken and confused man. What had happened?

'Semual, calm down,' the voice of her mother sounded again as she tried to take care of his wounds. 'Breath with me, will you?'

No one else in the room seemed to share the confusion and panic she felt. It was as if Pixie realised for the first time that her father was an actual human being that could break and do hideous things.

'Good, you are doing great.'

The dotted five-year old could only watch how her parents seemed to be taken away in their own world. She could not leave the room; her small body was glued to the chair with confusion.

'Can you please tell us what happened?' her grandmother asked with a kind voice as she grabbed her son's hand.

'H-He died,' Semual answered with a shaking voice. 'Prince Damien is dead, and it's all my fault.'

Pixie: 14
Dawna: 17

It was cold outside. The streets and the arable fields were covered with a thick layer of soft and fragile snow. It had been snowing for days, which made it awfully difficult for anyone to go outside. That winter would turn out to be one of the coldest ones in years. Children were allowed to stay at home due to the heavy snowfall and people had to stop working because the snow made it impossible for them to do their jobs. At first, people had been happy to get a few free days; especially the children. But after the first week everyone got bored and hungry. There were no extra food supplies and most families started to run out of food.

'Papa! Papa, Pixie is cheating!'

'Am not!' the dotted fourteen-year old scoffed. 'It's not my fault that you suck at every board game in the world.'

'Can you two please stop it?' their father's voice called back from the kitchen. 'I'm trying to work over here.'

Their family owned a small company which created all sorts of soaps for people to either wash themselves, their clothes or their hair with. Due to the cold their soap business was going on the back burner, just like most businesses that did not sell food.

'I'm done playing with you,' her older sister spoke with an annoyed tone in her voice. 'You always cheat.'

Pixie wanted to reply very badly, but never got a chance. Their baby brother started crying and she was on baby duty that day since their oma had fallen ill days ago. She was an old lady which meant that she was more susceptible for diseases such as the flu.

'Pixie!' her mothers voice called from the kitchen, causing the teenager to roll her eyes in annoyance.

'I'm going, mama! Just relax a little; the little monster wont die if we dont check up on him every minute,' she mumbled underneath her breath. 'He's such a spoiled little brat.'

Deep down, the dotted girl loved her littlest brother more than anything. He was her little darling and she loved him with her whole heart, despite the fact that he could be very annoying every now and then.

His cries got louder and louder, yet the dotted girl did not take the trouble to speed her pass. He slept on their parents room, despite being a two-years old. There was no free room left since Pixie shared one with her oma and her other three siblings shared the other one.

'Coming! Coming!' the raven-haired girl shouted before opening the door to see her little brother with tears in his dark eyes. 'Hello there little darling, what's going on? Are you hurt?'

The little boy started to cry even louder when she started to wipe away his tears. 'What's going on, Thijmen? Just tell me.'

Her brother placed his hands on his tummy before looking her in the eye and mouthing hungry. Her heart immediately shrunk, knowing very well that everyone was hungry. The entire village was hungry; she was starving. Everyone was. The last time they had had a proper meal was before the snowfall, which was roughly three weeks ago. Her father had not eaten in days and her mother had only eaten some of their crumbs. Pixie would always make sure to leave a little extra for her parents to eat, but they would not eat it and force her to eat it anyways.

'I know, mijn kleine ster*, I know,' the dotted girl spoke before she moved him to her parents bed where she climbed under the thick sheets with him. 'I have an excellent idea; why don't we take a nap together. Its very important not to waste too much energy on movements that aren't important. Did you know that when your reserves run empty your body starts using the glycogen you have saved in special reserves? Normally this glycogen is saved in either your liver or in your muscles, but since you don't have too many muscles your liver must have it all. Anyways, your body makes sure that this glycogen can come back in your bloodstream where you can use the sugars for your vital organs, such as your heart, lungs and kidneys.'

The little boy looked up at her with teary eyes and started to cry again as she pulled him closer. 'I know, I know. We are all hungry, but this will all end soon; it must. Our King will send some food supplies soon, I just know he will. His Kingdom is suffering, he must do something.'

Thijmen crawled closer to her and closed his eyes eventually, leaving the dotted woman with an empty feeling in both her heart as stomach. Deep down she knew that their King would not even bother to help his subjects; he simply did not care enough. Her papa had said some awful and nasty words about the royals the other night, claiming how they were well-fed and safe in their warm palace. However, the dotted girl refused to believe this. They were suffering so it must have meant that their rulers were doing the same. Otherwise they would do something to help them out. It was the only logical and human thing to do.

'Sleep well,' Pixie whispered before kissing her little brothers forehead. 'I hope your dreams are better than this reality.'

*mijn kleine ster: a Dutch thing to say to someone you love. The translation would be: my little star.

Pixie: 20
Dawna: 23

'What's taking papa so long?' the happiest young woman asked her mother with a confused tone in her voice. 'He should have been here by now.'

'We are sure that he will come, lieverd. Try to relax a little, you need your energy.'

Her dark brown eyes slowly found their way back to her new-born son. He was bald but had the most sparkling orange eyes she had ever seen in her life. They were just as magical and bright as the eyes of the woman who had saved the both of them.

'Hello there, Loöys,' her voice cooed softly. 'My name is Pixie, but you get to call me mama and this is your papa.'

Her husband has filled the little space that was left on the bed and laid next to his wife and new-born.

'He looks just like you,' his voice sounded as he grabbed his sons little hand. 'He is just perfect.'

'You are right; our son is truly perfect,' her voice whispered softly before she spoke again. 'We should invite the Queen over for dinner sometime to thank her for saving our little miracle,' the dotted woman thought out loud, causing her oma to cough in surprise and shock.

'No, we should most definitely not!'

Pixie simply rolled her eyes before she took them off her baby boy. 'Stop it, oma. I don't want to hear how bad she is. Queen Dawna saved our lives, without her you would have lost both your granddaughter and your great-grandson. Is that what you wanted?'

'Don't speak like that to your oma,' her mother corrected her with a serious tone in her voice. 'It isn't polite.'

All of a sudden, little Loöys started to cry hysterically. Pixie immediately held her new-born closer as she tried to calm him down.

'Shhh, my baby, your papa and mama are right here. You are safe.'

The door burst open with a loud bang and revealed her youngest brother. His light brown hair was messed up and tears streamed down his face. Their mother reacted within seconds and grabbed her sons hands and pulled him in the room.

'What is going on, Thijmen? What happened?'

The atmosphere in the room changed completely and by the look his face everyone could tell that something really bad had happened. The silence gave them even more reason to believe that this was true, especially since the youngest boy always talked.

'Papa,' he muttered with tears running down his cheeks.

The dotted woman held closer to her child as panic filled her veins. There would be no happy time for their family; not after the news Thijmen would bring them.

'They took him.'

'Who did?' her husband asked with a hushed voice. 'Who took him, Thijmen?'

'Queen Dawna did,' the little boy answered with a shaking voice. 'She took him to the castle.'

Their mother started to sob uncontrollably and hysterically at the sound of his words. Everyone knew what it meant. It broke the dotted womans heart to hear this and it frightened her. Their papa had joined the resistance a long time ago and they were all aware of the danger that this brought upon the family. Yet, hearing first-hand that something bad was going to happen broke her heart. Not even her new-born child could repair her vital organ.

'She is going to kill him,' the oldest woman in the room spoke before turning to her granddaughter. 'The saviour of your child is going to kill your papa. Do you still want to ask her over for dinner now?'