Secrets(4):Confusion

Dedicated to insertponceyfrenchnamehere.

Malia sat on her bed staring at nothing in
particular. She was all alone in her room. Her
'grandfather' had explained how she was
kidnapped by her supposed parents.
He told her that she had been kidnapped
before her sixth birthday, on her way from
her friend's home who lived far away. They
were attacked and the servants were killed.
There was also a fire caused by her because
she was full of fear. She was taken with no
traces whatsoever and they thought she
had died, until a servant informed them that
he had seen her ruby glowing in the castle
hall two years ago. After that, they began to
search for her.
When she asked him why he had not
recognized her at the bookshop, he told her
that as a child, she had red hair and red eyes
with extremely pale skin but now she was a
brunette with blue eyes and fair skin. She
thought it was absurd and had told him so,
but he told her that she was not an ordinary
child. He explained that people like her
looked different in the first six years of their
life and on her sixth birthday she was
supposed to take her true form but was
kidnapped before that so they didn't really
know what she looked like as there was
little resemblance to her six year old self.

Her
family had decided to do a secret
investigation and an old woman confirmed
that she had witnessed the kidnapping, and
had seen one of the kidnapper's face. They
had traced everything to her and were
planning to come to her home to announce
themselves and take her away, but it
seemed that they had a traitor in their midst
and the person had quickly given an order
to kill her. They got to her house too late as
the fire had burned everything to the
ground but, they had gotten information
about which way she had gone and he
found her in the field and brought her
home.

She was still in doubt because she hated
their family but, he had told her that it was a
strong love that she could not explain, and
had disguised it with hate. It made sense
but she still felt like they were keeping
something from her.

"Where are my real parents then?" she had
asked.

"Your mother went to a neighboring
kingdom and will be back tonight. Word has
already been sent to her. Your father..." he
had paused then with a sad look on his face.

She felt her chest tighten again. He had not
completed his sentence and she wasn't sure
she wanted him to. He had left her saying
that she needed to rest. She needed to get
out of here she thought. There was
something strange about the Richards
starting from the stupid name. There were
so much more that they had not told her,
she knew.

So many secrets.

She slipped out
of her bed and tiptoed down the hall. She
passed a beautiful garden and was
mesmerized but she did not have time to
admire it and sneaked out of the house. She
had amazing climbing skills and put them to
use by climbing the garden wall and ran
through the forest.
She really had to learn to stop running away
when things got complicated.

*****************
Malia walked across the shallow river and
saw a small cottage near the shore. It was
getting late and she needed to rest. She saw
a young girl of about her age near the
house, tending to a cow.

"Excuse me?" she said when she was near
the girl.

The girl looked up and Malia gasped.

"R...Rose?!"

"Malia" Rose breathed and stood up."You're
alive...oh my God" she sobbed and pulled her
into a hug.