Ten years ago

Sunshine quenched the darkness out of Summer Hill. The cherry blossoms bloomed, the spring breeze filled the park, the frogs swam with the ducks, and all playground children beamed with joy. All children except for one.

"Give that back!" Marissa cried.

"Give back what?" one of the bullies asked.

All eyes on the playground turned to seven-year-old Marissa Carter. To their left, two boys stopped dead in their swings. To their right, a girl dropped her shovel into the sand to watch.

Marissa hated being the center of attention. It reminded her of those times when the teacher asked her to the blackboard to answer a question. When she didn't know the answer, everyone always laughed and pointed at her.

The bullies had stolen her necklace. It consisted of a simple thread carrying a black orb with a golden star at its center.

They probably thought Marissa wasn't deserving of such a pretty ornament. Her parents never had the money or the time to buy her anything pretty. They bought her old, baggy clothes that were too big for her, and with her ugly crooked teeth, knobbly knees, and bushy brown hair, she wasn't the most popular kid in the schoolyard.

One of the mean girls threw the necklace for another of them to catch. Marissa tried to get it, but she passed it to one of her friends. It was like they were playing Monkey in the Middle with her. All the other kids laughed.

"That's a birthday present from mommy!" Marissa said.

Suddenly, the necklace flew past one of the playing girls. It landed in the sand, its thread broken.

The other kids lost interest.

Marissa scrambled to the spot where her possession fell. She dug the diamond out of the dirt and found that its thread had been ripped. She clutched the remains in her fists.

She couldn't believe that they had really destroyed it. Her mother was never at home. During the day, she was always tired, injured, or absent. She didn't even show up during Marissa's spelling bee last year where she won second place! Her Mom had some demanding job that no-one but her Dad knew about. Dad was always overworked, too.

But Marissa needed her mother and she needed her necklace. It was a talisman to ward off evil demons. Evil demons like those that made her feel worthless whenever those bullies were around.

She put the necklace in her pouch and ran away. Away from the playground.

The playground lay at the center of Summer Hill's park. On one side to it towered the hill that gave the town its name. It was full of blooming cherry trees and the kids loved to climb it so that they could use the big slide it had.

On the other extended a pond surrounded by grass and park benches. Her uncle, her cousin, and her Dad were sitting on one of those benches. Robert Carter, her father, watched the ducks while, Benjamin, her cousin, played with his dinosaur toys. She would tell her daddy about the bullies, yes she would.

But then a cute duckling caught her eye. It lay at the pond's shore with its wing injured and without its mommy.

Marissa believed that, if you're nice to the world around you, the world around you will also be nice. So, she came closer to see what was wrong.

The duckling's plumage wasn't as yellow as that of the others and it squeaked a lot. Maybe it was hungry?

None of the other people on the benches even noticed it. Some careless people threw away a sandwich. Marissa ripped lettuce pieces out of it and gave them to the duckling.

The duckling was glad to be fed. However, after swallowing the crumbs, the duckling closed its eyes and didn't open them again. Its feathers fell off and all that remained was a tiny skeleton that turned to dust.

At this moment, Marissa noticed that the sky had darkened, too. Grey clouds blocked the previously bright sunlight, draining much of the park of its vibrant colors. The park benches had no people who sat on them anymore and even the playground was now deserted. The cherry blossom trees had shed all their leaves. Their pale branches made them look like crosses on a graveyard.

Marissa still knew the way back home. There was a trail that led to the street with the hardware store, she could see it from here. But no matter how fast she ran, that street didn't come closer. It was as if the ground under her feet stretched out or as if the street recessed with every step she took.

A nightmare had come true. It was like in those bad dreams where she tried to move forward but found herself stuck in place.

Behind her, she saw the street extending in the sky, its bottom forming a right angle to the park's surface.

What was far weirder were the new people in this park though. Gigantic people. They were as tall as the cherry trees from behind which they emerged. Black cloaks concealed their faces and human-shaped bodies. All Marissa saw of them were the ink-black, gibbering, octopoid tentacles that protruded from under their hoods.

She first thought they walked, but in reality, they glided above the ground like ghosts. Marissa saw no body from below, although the tentacles suggested they had one under those robes. They came from the hill, from the pond, and even from the sky.

Marissa was surrounded from all sides. Even if she wanted to, she had no place to run.

When they came closer, Marissa could hear their whispering voices.

"Not even your parents love you," they said. "Every time you do something, you embarrass yourself."

Marissa took out the rest of her necklace. It was supposed to protect her from evil demons, wasn't it?

Throwing one last glance at the hill, she saw one dark figure that wasn't like the others. The figure was human-sized with a wardrobe born of shadows. Black vest, white undershirt, a black cape, black pants, black boots, and a black, wide-brimmed pointy hat over her ugly face. A witch?

The witch had a silver shining staff she held like a wand.

She mumbled a spell and teleported next to Marissa. She looked at the little girl with a warty face that was older and crinklier than leather. Then, she pointed her staff at the monsters and shot a bolt of dark energy out of its tip. The blast tore the monsters' cloaks in half and crumbled their remains to ash. It was brighter, stronger, and scarier than anything Marissa had ever seen.

Their monsters' voices muted. They didn't tell her anymore how worthless she was in her mind. They were gone.

Marissa wished she could rejoice, but there was still this witch. She probably had only killed these monsters so that she could eat Marissa herself and make soup out of her in her rusty cauldron.

The witch did none of this. She mumbled another spell and made herself gleam in a bright white. Her cloak and hat dissolved into thin air while her face changed entirely. What remained was a brown-haired woman clad in a maroon cardigan that Marissa recognized only too well.

For everyone else, she was just an ordinary woman. Not the tallest nor the smallest, not the prettiest nor the ugliest, not the most popular nor the most hated. But for Marissa, she might have been the most important person in the world.

That witch was Alice Carter, Marissa's mother.

Even a casual observer noticed similarities between the two. Both had the same brown hair, the same thin eyebrows, and the same round faces, although Marissa inherited her nose, her brown eyes, and her curls from her father.

Alice looked at her daughter and smiled. "Well, I guess you now know about my day job."

Sunlight revived the park. The cherry petals returned to the trees and color returned to the world.

"Mommy, what happened, what happened what happened?" Marissa asked. "There was a duckling and then everyone was gone and then those monsters came."

"Those creatures were demons," her Mom said. "I call them Grief Eaters because they lure people into their Otherworld to feed on their sadness. The cute little duckling was a bait because they wanted a child this time."

Marissa shivered, but Alice patted her head.

"Don't worry," Alice said. "They can't harm you as long as you have me, your necklace, and, most importantly, your hope. Never let your grief eat you."

"Hey, that's a play on 'Grief Eater'!"

Her mother smiled and rubbed her daughter's head. "You're so smart already."

"W-what do I have to do to make them go away?"

"They will never 'go away', but you can make it so that the demons never come. As long as we are with you, nothing bad will happen."

Only now did Marissa notice an adorable little white rabbit gnawing on an old magic wand before her feet.

"That's White Rabbit, my familiar," her mother explained. "Once you're old enough, I'll show you how you can form your own. They are very important for magic."

She couldn't wait! Cute pets made her sneeze, but this rabbit didn't make her allergic in the slightest. Because this wasn't a normal rabbit, it was a magical rabbit! And she wanted one, too! Or even better - a cat. They were so easy to talk to.

Marissa looked behind her and now, even the street had returned to where it belonged. In a final transformation to normality, the children returned to the playground, the ducks returned to the pond and her Dad, her uncle, and her cousin returned to the park bench. Even the noise returned.

Alice waved to her family, telling them that she finally found the time to arrive. The Carters had a nice remaining day at the playground. Benjamin showed her his dinosaur toys while Robert explained to her the difference between a female duck and a drake.

When they returned home, Marissa asked her mother everything about the magical world. She learned of wraiths, vampires, and demons and she thought that, once she was a grown-up, she'd help rid the world of those evil monsters.

One night though, Alice didn't come home again and everything changed.