erika, that's great! I'd love to see what you do with this.
I'm back to fairy tales. They're much more comforting than real life.
~Currency~
Forbearance was her only currency. For every demand, every rebuke, every snarled, chiding word, she offered another piece of it. Standing straight, chin up, eyes wide, she dug down deep, chipping away at the solid bulk of it, offering it up to her stepmother and the vicious girls she was made to call sisters.
No one would beggar her in her own home. She paid a price each day, ears ringing with their screeches, the back of her thighs burning beneath the willow switch. Each moment she withstood, she imagined the comforting weight of a gold florin, given in silence.