Dawn sighed as she woke up on the morning of June 21st, the day after her seventeenth birthday. Aside from spending what little time she did with her family, the only thing wonderful about her birthday was the baker's boy in the market who gave her a sweet bun while she had been shopping after work, getting what little food they could afford with her family's wages.

Spending the day of her birthday with her sisters in a clothing sweatshop under the harsh, cruel gaze of her employer, Christopher Lewton, was not the way Dawn had wished to spend her birthday. However, the small things were what mattered, and if her working on her birthday meant keep her family from going hungry, then by all means she would do it. When her shift finally ended at four o'clock in the afternoon, Dawn sent her sisters home to see their parents before they had to leave for the night-shift at the factories. In the meantime, Dawn went into the market to buy that weeks groceries from the small stalls that lined the streets, and to purchase a small flower or two from the homeless children who were far worse off than she was.

On her usual visits to the market, Dawn was pushed around and stepped on, not a hint of kindness towards a young poor girl such as herself. However, on this particular day, when she stopped off at the bakery to purchase what little bread she could afford, she was surprised by an act of kindness that gave her more hope within the world.

After she had bought a half a loaf of bread from the baker and begun to leave, the baker's boy slipped a sweet bun into her basket with a wink. Smiling her thanks, knowing he would get into trouble if the baker were to find out, Dawn left the shop and spent the last of her money on vegetables.

When Dawn got home, after making her sisters dinner, she ate the small sweet bun in her room as she poured over a novel, the taste of honey and wheat filling her senses as she chewed the delectable bread. It was a rare occasion for Dawn to experience such a feeling. Not just the wonderful flavors on her tongue, but the pure act of kindness shown to her by the baker's son. For despite the possibility of him getting punished for giving food away that would earn them money, he risked it to give her one small morsel that he hoped would help to fill her stomach that evening.

Finishing her novel, Dawn sat by the window of their cramped apartment and looked up at the moon, partially hidden by the dark smoke of the factories. Her thoughts roamed to the novel she had been reading - a fairytale of far off places, fae magic, dragons, and princes in disguise. Envisioning herself into her daydreams, Dawn couldn't help but feel that this was the perfect end to such a wretched birthday as she drifted off to sleep, her head laying gently upon her arms as they rested upon the window ledge.

As she woke up, she stretched her arms up over her head and massaged her neck. 'How could I have fallen asleep there? I guess I was more tired than i thought..'

Getting up from the floor, Dawn stumbled to the kitchen and sleepily began making a plate of eggs and toast for she and her siblings to share that morning for breakfast before work. Getting her sisters out of bed and ready for work, Dawn sent about getting herself ready while her sisters ate the most of the meal she had prepared.

While Mary and Ariena had left for work, Dawn ate her small breakfast, letting her mind drift back into the thoughts she had been having before bed the previous night, before making her way out of the house with their small lunch in hand.

'Perhaps my wishes will come true and today will be better than the last,' she mused hopefully to herself as she hummed an old Irish tune she heard while petting the small cats in the alley on the way to work. It still amazed her that such darling creatures survived on those streets without getting dirty and going hungry. She assumed they must have a middle-class owner who allowed them to run around during the day.

Dawn didn't mind, however, for she had visited them on her way to and from work every day since she found the mother giving birth on her way home from work. With the help of Dawn and her younger sister Mary, all of the kittens had a safe delivery and were cleaned up as best they could. Over the year and a half she'd been looking after the cats in that alley, Dawn had come to name each of them and love them all dearly.

The mother she had named Moonshine, for she had small bits of white upon her forehead, yet a dark grey color filled the rest of her coat. The eldest kitten, a small miniature replica of his mother, she named Starlight, the small grey kitten with white paws and white specks on it's back was named Freckles, the black kitten with the white nose was named Midnight, and the youngest kitten, who was spotted with white, grey, and black, was named Marlin. How her sister Mary had come up with Marlin, Dawn will never know, for she was only five years old at the time and could hardly read. However, Dawn was proud that her imagination had trickled down to her sisters, even if it was only in a small, hardly noticeable dosage.

Leaving the small cats behind, Dawn continued on her way to work, getting ignored and shoved around in the streets as she walked. Ignoring them, determined they wouldn't ruin her morning, Dawn walked into the clothing shop through the back entrance. Moving down to the basement, she went to her station and began to work. Unfortunately, Mr. Lewton decided today to release his temper upon the staff, specifically her youngest sister Mary.

Mary hadn't even done anything wrong, to be perfectly honest. All she had done was accidentally trip and bump into Mr. Lewton on her way up to hand in a finished product. This earned her a slap across the face, rude name calling, and being shoved out of the way, falling to the ground with a loud thud. While the rest of the staff just sat there and continued their work, even Ariena, Dawn refused to take it sitting down. Standing up, Dawn rushed to her sister, took the garment, and threw it the two feet to the finished table. Picking up her sister and holding her, trying to calm the tears that had begun to pour from her eyes, Dawn let into Mr. Lewton.

"How dare you take out your anger on an innocent child! She's just a small girl for God's sake! Is it her fault if she stumbled a bit? She apologized, and how do you forgive her? By striking her and shoving her to the ground? You're a cruel and heartless man, Mr. Lewton, preying on an innocent child like this just because she is of Italian decent!"

Mr. Lewton, a bit taken aback by her outburst, not having been talked to like that from an employee, much less an immigrant employee, before in his entire twenty-four years. Not having words to respond, he simply backhanded Dawn across the face, forcing her to lean on the nearby table with her free hand to keep from falling to the floor. Unfortunately for Dawn, her outburst would leave quite the bruise upon her cheekbone and the possible loss of her job. However, she believed it was worth it to stand up for her younger sister.

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