Arelia stood, shaking, near the well. The other girls advanced on her, taking in her strange features, pale skin and dark hair, deep gray eyes. Their leader, the beautiful Eva, shook her blonde locks out of her face and sneered.

“Think you’re so much better than we are.” She shook her head, cheeks flushed with anger and embarassment, she was two years older than Arelia, “Well you’re not! You’re not, do you hear me?” She shoved her backwards, and Arelia stepped back into the slick mud.

“I’m sorry- I don’t want-” Arelia tried to speak.

“Stop!” Eva’s face contorted and she shoved Arelia into the wet mud, “You will never have children, you will never be happy!” She began to cry, angry quiet tears. “You, Arelia, will grow old before your time, and have no children to succeed you. So it shall be, unless you complete the circle, and regain your youth.”

Arelia began to cry as Eva spit at her, the girls walked away. “I don’t even want to marry!” she called.

The curse took effect on her wedding night.