A/N I would like to thank Celridel for taking the time to beta this story for me.

Seattle, WA

Tears were stinging her eyes. Gathering a deep breath, Estella threw down her coat and book bag and collapsed on the bed. Again, she had to endure bouts of name calling and being attacked. The girl tried to hold back the tears threatening to fall from her eyes, but finally, she relented and allowed them to fall freely. In the span of her whole life, for as long as Estella could remember, she had always been different, and because of that she had no friends to help in school, no friends at all, in fact, save her mother.

To make matters worse, Estella even looked different. At first glance, she appeared to be like any other person. However, if one looked closer, they would be able to notice differences in her the biggest being her ears which held a slight point to them. Not a whole lot, of course, but enough to make her self-conscious. Her mother, Luiniel, also had small points to her ears as well and said it was a genetic disorder, it made her unique, and she should be proud of her differences.

She sniffled, and sat up, wishing she belonged in another world. She often felt so. She used to tell her mother about it, but every time she did, Luiniel would become sad and tell her she needed to not talk about such things. So, Estella stopped, and kept it to herself or wrote her thoughts in a journal instead. Over the years she acquired many, and she ended up having to buy several boxes to place them all in.

Later that evening, she heard her mother call her for dinner. Though she wiped away her tears and washed her face, Estella knew she could never conceal her feelings from her mother. The young woman often swore she could read her thoughts.

She made her way to the kitchen her thoughts still swirling. Before entering, she took several deep breaths to compose herself and then walked in slowly.

"How was school?" Luiniel queried, handing her daughter two plates with which to set the table.

"It was all right, nothing really of any importance to mention," she replied, avoiding eye contact as she took the plates from her mother.

It had always just been her and her mom. She never knew her father; she did not even have a picture of him. Estella had asked her mom when she was younger what happened and why there were no pictures of him around. Her mother told her he lived in another country far away and they had been separated before she found out she was pregnant. When she questioned further, her mom told her to drop it. Estella began to think her mom did not care for her father, as she hated talking about him, but at night she would often hear her crying, and more than once heard her call out his name in her sleep.

Her mother raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "If it was okay, then why are you not looking at me when you talk? You always avoid eye contact when you are hiding something."

It was true, whenever something bad happened, or she was very depressed, she always avoided eye contact with her mom as she always managed to see right through her. It upset her mother to see her daughter suffer, and Estella hated to see her hurt. As of late Luiniel was becoming increasingly melancholy. Estella knew the reason, but as her mother was prone to outbursts of anger or despair, she avoided bringing it up.

"Mom, please, I do not want to talk about it," Estella snapped. Feeling guilty about her harsh words she looked up to see her mom's shocked face. " I am sorry," she apologized. "I did not mean to snap. I just hate this place. I…," she trailed off as her mom moved around the table and put her hands comfortingly on Estella's shoulder.

"Shhh, it's okay, sweetheart. You do not have to explain anything to me. I hate seeing you hurt and I know you do not feel like you fit in here. If I could take you out of this world and to a place where you could be spared this pain, I would," Estella's mother replied her voice trembling slightly as she gently wiped a tear from her daughter's face.

Estella placed a hand on top of her mom's and noticed it was cold. Removing her hand as if receiving an electric shock, she looked up at her mother, concerned, and saw the light which usually shone in her eyes had completely vanished. Every night as of late Estella would fall asleep to the sound of her mother's mournful sobs, yearning for her father. How she wished she could take her mom's pain away from her. Her mom was so strong, always putting her worries on the back burner to take care of her. Many times, she felt waves of guilt for crying over trivial things while her mom was suffering silently to protect her.

They ate in silence that night, neither one of them talking as they were both lost in their thoughts. Once Estella cleared the dishes she joined her mother in the sitting room where they watched a movie together like they did every Friday night. During the film, Estella noticed her mother did not laugh as she normally did. In fact, she appeared to be drifting off into her world. Estella could not help but feel worried something was wrong with her mother. After the credits had rolled, Estella kissed her goodnight and went to bed.

Later, a little after midnight, Estella woke up feeling panic rising within her. Estella got up and instinctively headed to her mother's room, intuitively knowing there was nothing wrong in her own. Her eyes darted around looking for what could have caused her to wake, feeling a flood of relief as she did not notice anything out of place, reaching forwards to gently pull the covers back up over her mom's shoulders. It was then, Estella saw her mom lying on her side with her hands over her heart. When she leaned closer, she noticed her mom was cold, unbreathing.

Her heart dropped to her stomach, and a flood of horror rose to choke her. "Mom!?" Estella shook her, begging for her to wake up. "Mom! Mom! Please!" she pleaded, tears streaming from her eyes.

Suddenly, she released her mother's shoulders and fell backward, her throat constricting tightly, dizziness washing over her as the reality of the situation struck her like a lightning bolt.

Her mother was dead.