text: [Themes: grimdark fantasy, drama]
  
  Life has never been easy for you. You were separated from your mother when you were three years old. Although you never heard the full story, you've heard enough over the years from the gossips of Endlemire to piece together the gist of it. Father banished your mother from the household with accusations that she didn't act like a proper wife, or even a proper woman. You never saw her again. In fact, the only memory you have left of her is a vision of a beautiful, but careworn face framed in copper colored hair, the same hair that you have.
  
  In light of the scandal, Father raised you with strict severity, even compared to the other children of your conservative village. The older you got, the more people threw it in your face that your mother was so scandalous. Any mistake you made was attributed to your mother's flaws. Perhaps if you looked less like her, they might have forgiven you in time. Instead your features are soft and fair, rather than dark and stern like Father's. You have heard it over and over again how much you look like your mother. The villagers sometimes whisper that red hair is the sign of a tainted soul, and green eyes reveal a dangerous heart. They are rare enough colors among the villagers, but aren't entirely unheard of. But no one harassed the others for these traits. Then again, you didn't recall anyone else having both traits at the same time.
  
  At first you tried to stand up for yourself, but this seemed to turn people against you even further; someone with your shameful lineage should show more humility. You were told you should be grateful to even be allowed to stay within Endlemire's boundaries. Forget the fact that when the trouble happened, you were nothing but an innocent child. Forget the fact that you were never told what shameful sin, or horrible crime, your mother committed. Living under the shadow of your mother's scandal hasn't done you any favors.
  
  How do you feel about this?
  
  > Sad: you think you'll run away.
  They say that running away from a problem never solves it, but you're skeptical about this. Since your problems seem to stem from the people of Endlemire, it just seems to make the most sense to relocate yourself. You slip out of your house one day while Father is at work. His work schedule has been the same for as long as you can remember, and you have no worries that he will return home early. This should give you enough time to get away. You are more concerned about being seen by one of the villagers. Nervously you creep away from the only home you've ever known. It doesn't take you long to reach the edge of the village, where you stop and look around.
  
  Endlemire is a quaint little place, nestled up against the mountains. A lot of men in the village mine and quarry there. Nearby there is a swamp, which has a bit of a history to it. Originally it was a swamp, but then it was cultivated. During a particularly bad flood, it was turned to a swamp again and the people never bothered cultivating it again. Then there is the road winding out of the village; it only goes in one direction. As its name suggests, Endlemire is pretty much the end of the line since the mountains were never made fully traversable.
  
  While running away seemed like a good idea at the time, you realize you've never been outside the village and you don't really know anything about life outside of it.
  
  What do you plan to do about this?
  
  > follow the Road
  The road looks like the easiest path; the swamp is too wet, and the mountains are too rough. Putting one foot in front of the other, you start walking down the road. The cobbles are easy on the feet and you aren't plagued with indecision on where to go; the road just keeps stretching itself out in front of you. In fact, it seems a little dull after you scraped up the nerve to run away.
  
  You are just starting to relax a little when you hear voices up ahead. Your first instinct is to panic; maybe it's your father or one of the villagers coming to take you home. Then you realize that those voices would be coming from behind, not ahead. Still, your experiences with people so far have made you wary of others. On the other hand, are you sure you want to avoid all people for the rest of your life? That seems like a rather daunting prospect.
  
  But you must decide now what you want to do.
  
  > hide from the people.
  You're just not ready to trust these men yet. You duck into the bushes and wait for them to pass. As they go by, you hear them laughing and chatting to each other easily; they seem less guarded than the men and women of your village, and you feel a sense of regret and longing. Why couldn't Father have been more like these men? But that is neither here nor there; they are gone and that is one path you'll never know. The only thing to do now is go forward.
  
  So, you do.
  
  Unfortunately, it isn't long before you hear more people coming. Just as before, you hide in the bushes. These people seem a little less friendly, and you feel more comfortable about hiding from them. This happens several more times, and considerably slows your progress. You had no idea this many people used this road; Endlemire always seemed so sleepy. And each time you hide, you find it harder and harder to think about doing anything else. Soon you don't even think about it anymore, you simply take refuge in the foliage the moment you even think you hear someone coming.
  
  In the end you never do make it to another village. Instead you spend the rest of your days hiding in the forest. You survive off of berries and roots to start with, supplementing it with anything you can scavenge from people when they stop to rest, or relieve themselves. As you get a little older, you start hunting animals and cook them over a crude fire. Word spreads of a feral child living in the woods, but no one really connects you with the little girl that disappeared from Endlemire, probably because no one wants to be bothered with claiming you.
  
  You live like this for several years, until the area sees the worst winter it has seen in over seven decades. When spring finally brings a thaw, your body is found cold and dead, curled up in a little ball in a futile attempt to preserve warmth. You are buried unceremoniously in the forest and are soon forgotten.
  
  Your life has come to a close; perhaps it was your choices that brought you here, and perhaps it was just cruel fate.