My eyes open, and the room was bright white from the reflection of new snow coming in my tiny basement window. I sit up and look in the mirror, feeling a little better, my side aching, but not causing me to cry.

I have a few hours before work, and I want to feel good, feel happy.

Opening my closet, I am faced with an assortment of items which I have obtained behind my father’s back. First, I pull a beautiful blue dress out of a bag, it was a long, flowy affair, which I wear to feel beautiful. Slipping the gown over my battered body is easy, and zipping it up is somewhat difficult, but the result is worth it.

I look in the mirror, my deep blue eyes brought out by the wonderful piece of clothing. I return to the closet and pull out a small bag of makeup, I apply foundation, covering the little imperfections of my face and I try to cover a deep gash which ran from my chin to my eye, then adding blush and a little eyeliner.

I return to the mirror, loving the way my eyes sparkle and glisten in the light reflected from the window, and how the gown sparkles and reflects all the happiness I attempt to exude. I use my favorite lipstick, which is a deep red, and is the final touch. I smile, and my perfect teeth shine through. I feel lucky that in all the abuse I have taken, my teeth have never been hurt.

I then brush my shoulder length blonde hair, removing as many tangles and knots as I can with the limited time I have.

Looking closely at my reflection, I see myself as I wish I could always be, a beautiful young lady. But zooming out I see the dank basement in which I live. How I am being repressed, contained in a box of definite proportion. I ball my fists, and the look of joy on the face of the princess staring back at me dissolves.

I am full of anger for my situation, I don’t know why a God if there is one watching all of this, has allowed this to happen to me. I try to smile at myself again, to escape for just one more moment.

I cannot.

I sigh, turning around and pulling my dress off, hanging it gingerly on its hanger and slipping it into its protective bag. After hiding it in the back of the sparse closet, I go into my bathroom and turn on the shower, and step into the pathetic flow of water. I wash my body clean, the dirt and grime which I had ignored falling to the ground. I wash carefully to remove the traces of makeup. Any sign of me having fun or joy would result in undeserved insults upon ascending the stairs.

As I dress I see myself in the mirror once again and I smile. “Just another day.”

My work uniform on, I ascend the stairs and hope that the monster above me is in a decent mood. Fortunately for me, it appears that he is asleep. Or blackout drunk.

Grabbing an energy bar, I exit the house, walking through the snow and ice, reaching the freshly salted road.

I walk in silence, as cars pass me, the people within, warm, safe, and protected. I, on the other hand, am cold and shivering. I despise the cold and wish I could be somewhere warm.

My shift passes in silence, and while I do receive smiles and encouragement from Jeff and my other co-workers. I leave the building feeling as frustrated as when I had entered.

I turn onto my street and approach my home. The last light of the setting sun cast long shadows and made unusual things visible. In fact, things which I had never seen. A small shadow cast from a tiny form on the ground was most curious.

Kneeling down to obtain a closer look, I see what appears to be a tiny doll… “Sad, who left their toy out here?”

I reach down and grab the little doll, it is surprisingly fluid, clearly not made of plastic. I pull off my glove, grabbing the little object with my bare hand, and am shocked to discover that it is warm.

I furrow my brow, dipping to get a closer look, and I see a small cloud of vapor coming from its tiny mouth. My eyes suddenly go wide, “Holy Shit, it's alive!”

I look closer and notice that she is having a hard time breathing her tiny impish breaths. I carefully raise the tiny form to my chest, she is nearly motionless. I rub her back and hold her close to my bosom, hoping to warm her as best as I can. Looking at her I see that she is clad in a unique dress, it is a knee length gown, blue and white. The white highlights seem to glow against the failing light of the sun.

Realizing I couldn’t safely carry this little creature through the house, I remove my coat and walk to the back of the house. Placing the coat on the ground by my window.

“I don’t know if you can hear or understand me… but I’m going to put you in my coat and it should keep you warm until I can take you inside.” I receive no response other than a motion of her arm, so I continue, “I want to help you, so stay here.” She doesn’t respond, but she does curl into the warm coat, which I guess is a good sign. I walk to the front of the house and, unsurprisingly, the worst thing in my life is waiting for me.

“What the hell are you doing back there bitch?”

I motion back to the backyard, “I… I just…”

He smiles, “So you think you can just go wherever you please? This ain’t your place, little bitch, you just live here.”

“Sorry.” I squeak out, I go around him and walk into the house, inhaling the obvious alcoholic fumes from his slack jaw. I watch as he stumbles out to the truck, slamming the poor thing into gear, driving away.

I look back through the window, rolling my eyes and extending my middle finger, “Whatever, good riddance, have fun at the bar.” I spin around and descend to my domain, throwing the window open, carefully pulling the coat containing the tiny girl inside. Opening the precious bundle I am pleased to discover that she is still there, and she seems much warmer than before.

I lay her on my bed and run back upstairs. Cracking open a can of Chicken Noodle Soup, and throwing it in the microwave, nuking it for a couple minutes. When the broken speaker on the oven indicated a completed cycle, I pulled out the soup and grabbed a spoon, returning to the bedside of my tiny patient.

Her eyes were not open, and I didn’t really see a way to put the soup in her tiny mouth. I grab a ruler from my desk and lay it beside her. 8 centimeters high, but despite her size, her feminine attributes were very apparent.

She is such a busty little thing. I lean in to observe her tiny body when she takes a tiny, but deep breath. She stands quickly and starts to run to the end of the bed.

Shocked, I nearly yell, “I’m not going to hurt you, I just want to help…”

I stand up and she turns to me, her eyes wide in terror as a beautiful pair of blue wings shimmer into existence, fluttering them she flies out the open window and I watch as she panics and collides one of her wings with a tree in the backyard.

She falls straight down, into the fresh snow.

I run up the stairs, pounding the ground to get to the tiny girl. A fall like that must feel like thirty meters to her. I prayed that she was alive, that I might be able to help her. What I find in the backyard is both relieving, and heartbreaking.

She is laid out in the snow, holding a damaged wing which is emitting small blue spot of light, the healthy one wrapped around her. She is crying, and when she sees me she starts panicking and backing away.

I get on my knees, raising one hand and I slowly approach her. “I won’t hurt you,” I whisper, I then reach my hand out toward her.

She stops backing away but still has a look of pure unadulterated terror in her tiny eyes.

“I just want to help you little one,” I say. As I speak, her eyelids relax slightly, and she lowers her shoulders, still cautious, but allowing me to approach. I do so, scooping the little girl up and holding her against my chest again, to protect her.

Walking back into the house, I ask, “Do you understand me?”

“Yes.” She speaks with her tiny, almost musical voice. She sniffles, her tears still flowing freely. I carry her down the stairs, placing her on the bed.

“I have food for you, it will help you warm up.”

She looks up at me, “That would be nice.”

I grab the spoon and realize just how hard this was going to be. I look down at her, making eye contact. “Sorry, I didn’t even think about how inconvenient this would be.”

She smiles lightly, “I’ve got it, don’t worry about it.”

She holds up her hand and a blue light appears from her wrist, forming a tiny spoon, she grabs it with the opposite hand. What appears to be small threads of light connect the glowing spoon back to its source. She dipped the spoon in the soup and drained it. Her eyes close and she smiles, enjoying the salty flavor.

I laugh, “How long has it been since you ate?”

She looks up to me with significantly brightened blue eyes, coughing softly, “It’s been a few days.”

I had so many questions, I didn’t know where to start… So I remained silent, contemplating my next move, however before I could think of anything to say she spoke, “Do you have a name?

“Um, I’m Alice.” She smiled in reaction, standing up and walking to me, her damaged wing flapping behind her.

“I’m Violet, and I’m, sorry for flying away… most humans try to hurt someone like me.” At this point, I was genuinely confused, why would someone try to hurt someone so… curious and different? Was I so different to be kind?

I hang my head and feel like I’m turning super red, “I’m sorry for that, I really do just want to help…”

Violet spun around, returning to her bowl of soup “I can tell, you seem… different than most people I’ve met, you haven’t bent my arm backward or tried to break my spine. People are so rough sometimes…” She sits down next to the bowl, dipping her glowing spoon back in, and looking back to me. “Have some, there is no way I’m going to devour all of this.” She gestured to the bowl.

Feeling more at ease, I smile and dip my spoon in, taking a generous spoonful. She turns around grabbing at the broken wing and holding it in her hands. “This will take a couple days to fix.”

“So they aren’t part of you?”

She looks to me and giggles, “No, they aren’t part of me, I invented them! My wings allow me to explore places and sights quietly.” She takes the broken wing in her arm, “They aren’t too bad actually, I’ll look at it tomorrow.” She flutters her finger around and red light pulses through her wings as they seem to retract back in, and dissolve into the air.

Although I am shocked at this crazy technology, I shrug and take another spoonful of soup, “What are you exploring then?”

She coughs, “I’m just exploring the world… researching about nature, governments, and stuff.”

Now I’m suspicious. “Why are you researching those things?”

She focuses on her soup, “Oh I’m just curious about it, it isn’t really a big deal.”

I decide I’ve questioned her enough, for now. She seems uncomfortable, and she is certainly not comfortable talking about her motives… Good enough for me, she is nice. I smile, “Keep your past, I just want to help you.”

Her face lights up, “Thanks, I just need a place to crash tonight.”

“Only tonight?”

“Yeah, I should be fine after that!” she laughs,

I do my best to avoid showing my disappointment, “Okay, I’ll try to find something for you to sleep on.” I turn around, hopping to my feet and I open the closet. I see a ton of big blankets, but I realized she wouldn’t really be able to make good use of it. Then I see a small pillowcase poking out of a pile of sheets. Perfect.

Spinning around, I am holding the pillowcase in my hands. “This is perfect, it should be nice for you to sleep on.”

She nods her little head, reaching out for the pillowcase. I give it to her and she lays it on the bed near my pillow. “Mind if I sleep here?”

Happy to see that she is so close to me, I nod vehemently, “That will be good!”

The sun was all but gone, and I was tired, so I entered the closet, slipping out of my clothes and into an old nightie. Coming back into the room I find Violet already under her sheet. I am excited to be with another person, even if it is only for a night. I slip into bed, and make sure my alarm is set, and I close my eyes.

Sleep arrives easily, I had worked hard, but halfway through the night, I hear the slam of the truck door. Then the familiar opening of the door into the house. Then my basement door opens. “Shit.” I squeak.

I hear a tiny movement and a little voice, “What’s wrong?”

“Hide, it’s my father.” The poor little girl stumbles over to the side of the pillow.

I sit up as the drunk asshole fills the doorway. “This is yur fault!”

Standing up, I try to stand between him and Violet. “What’s my fault?”

“I ran out of gas, you didn’t fill the truck!” he takes a step toward me.

He takes another step and I’m starting to panic as I back away and fall to the bed, “I’m not allowed to touch the truck! Why would I fill it?”

He reaches his shaky fist out, grabbing my nightie and pulling me off the bed “You should have filled it you, ungrateful, little bitch!”

He pulls me off my feet and drops me on the floor, kicking me on the left side. I cringe, trying to hold back the tears. He pulls me again, tearing at my nightie. “No, stop!” I yell, tears starting to flow freely as the dainty dress fails against his drunken grip.

“If you didn’t want… this you shouldn’tuh have been so… un.. un… grateful!” He starts grabbing at my breasts, and I do what I can to stop him, which isn’t much. As I kick and cry, one very fortunate kick of desperation makes solid contact with his groin. He shoots up, yelling and holding himself.

Clearly dazed from the alcohol, he stumbles about, going to the staircase. “You’ll pay fer that you… little… bitch.” He stumbles up the stairs, grumbling about his nuts. I take shallow, fearful breaths until I can’t hear footsteps, crawling back into bed, my cries muffled by the pillow.

As I cry I feel Violet moving around, she runs her hands along the multiple contusions and bruises that cover my midriff. I hear her sniffle, she is crying… for me…

“You poor thing…”Violet’s little hand touches my forehead, “You wanted to help me?”

I let loose another volley of tears, “Of course, I care about people.”

“Well, thank you for your help Alice. Now I am going to help you.”

I furrow my brow, looking up from my pillow to the tiny girl, “What do you mean? I’m fine! He’s going to forget about this in the morning and everything will be normal!”

She frowns, placing her hand on my curled fist, “Everything is not fine here sweetie, you deserve better… I’ll take you with me, to my home, if you want to come.”

“Where is that? I’ve tried to run before and he has always found me.”

She giggles, rubbing my forehead softly, “You may have run, but you've never left Earth before."

My eyes shoot open, “What did you just say?”

Violet touches my cheek, guiding me to her eyes, "I’m not from Earth, and I want to take you with me, to save you from… this… I can see what kind of person you are, because, despite your situation you wanted to help me… So, I am going to help you have something… better.” She pauses, looking around the room, “Better than this shitty home, and better than your shitty father.”

My tears continue to fall, as I bring my hand around to Violet, scooping her up and pressing her against my face, lightly. She reciprocates, placing her forehead on mine and lightly rubbing it with her hands.

I meet sleep quickly, thanks to the comfort of my new friend, who also happens to be an interstellar beauty…