The winter had never been this cold before. Ice clung from the branches like gnarled fingers, the sky laced with snow yet to fall. Tovia lay against the snow, the ice gripping into her bare skin, her breath turning to fog as it hit the air. She was completely frozen, becoming combined with the hard ground. Her tears froze on her cheeks as they slipped from her eyes, dribbling from her white lashes. The music box was silent, completely and utterly soundless. Tovia waited, her silver hair spread amongst the frost, she lay and waited, waiting for that time every day when her mistress turned the key.

The music box was cold, frozen, a scene of ebony trunked trees and snow coated branches. Every evening when the sun fell, Tovia’s mistress turned the key. Once the key had been turned Tovia had no choice but to obey the stiff movement of her body. She leapt and spun, pirouetted and jumped her entire frame unfolding into a eerie sequence of beautifully cruel ballet. Once the dance was done Tovia bent down to her knees and lay on her back once again against the snow.

Tovia didn’t know when and how she got inside the music box, she had no memory other than the dance sequence she completed every evening to satisfy her mistress and of course the poem. The poem that was etched into her brain like a scar, the poem her mistress made her recite whilst she danced:

Amongst the frozen tree and bark

you will pay for your unforgivable crimes

you disobeyed my orders

so you will pay for your lies

you went to the forbidden place so now you will remain my everlasting puppet

For eternity you will stay

Tovia did not understand the words completely, all she knew was she disobeyed her mistress and this was her punishment.

She watched as the sun lowered itself, readying for her mistress to turn the key, but the moment did not come. Tovia lay still, her limbs frozen. And then after a long anticipation of waiting she finally heard the click of the key in the lock and began her strange dance, muttering the poem beneath her breath as she did so. Once it was finished she heard her mistress bid her goodnight, but before Tovia could lay herself back against the frozen floor her mistress’s voice played itself through her ears: “You have obeyed me well, you shall remain in captivity but I will grant you the gift of movement, you shall be allowed to move against your own will but you shall not go into the forest.” Tovia nodded thanking her great and good mistress for her kindness.

The night was cold and Tovia was colder, she wore a thin silk gown, it was beautiful yet deathly cold like everything else in the bleak expanse that was the music box. Tovia wandered across the frozen marshes, mist clinging to her eyebrows and lips. She felt the tips of her fingers freeze ever so slightly. She stared across at the forest and the trees that where sure to provide warmth. Tovia hugged her arms close against her chest, her teeth chattering a chorus from within her mouth.

Tovia did not want to disobey her mistress but, she also was not fond of the idea of freezing herself to death. She decided to snap of a branch from the nearest tree she could find, she would not go into the forest just find some bark to start a fire. Wrapping her arms around herself, Tovia began her journey. After minutes of searching, she found a handsome branch, it was certainly big enough to provide warmth. Ever so slowly she lifted herself onto her tiptoes and leapt up, latching her frail fingers around the branch and bringing it down swiftly.

No noise followed Tovia as she dragged the wood from the tree, she decided that her mistress hadn’t seen or didn’t mind. Tovia was correct in thinking that the wood would start a fine fire. Towers of billowing flame and smoke warmed the music box, so much so that Tovia found herself rolling up the sleeves of her dress. Warm and satisfied Tovia prepared herself to dance, she decided she would dance especially hard to impress and thank her mistress. When the time came for the key to turn in the lock, Tovia danced and spoke with a smile across her face, it was only when the routine had ended that the smile fell.

“You stupid girl!” Roared her mistress, “Your greedy witch!” Her mistress screeched, “I told you not to go into the forest, but you persisted in snapping of a branch, you will pay for your crimes, you shall dance forever, you will dance for eternity, you shall never rest and when you finish I shall make you do it all again and again and again!” Tovia had no choice to do as she was told, after all she was under the spell of the music box. And so she danced for eternity, until her feet bled and bruised from the twirling and until she lost her voice completely from the muttering of poems. And so Tovia danced on, voiceless, choice-less and forever doomed by the forest.