Precious Family
Prologue
I Do Not Own The Boxtrolls

There was a loud screaming echoing through the town of Cheesebridge. The sound seemed to echo from each squint home to the next in the awkwardly packed and narrow streets.

"No, not my son!"

A women in one of the homes woke up to a empty bed. Her husband must have been with the Box Trolls once again but what was it that woke up from her dreams.

"My son!"

The women was suddenly wide awake as she grabbed her shawl and made her way into the nursery which had been placed into the wardrobe due to a lack of space in the two bedroom home.

The crib was empty. Mother instincts kicked in, and she ran into the other room where her two eldest were starting to wake up due to the noise that had erupted outside their bedroom window.

"Mother" asked the daughter, "what is going on?" The mother ran to the window and looked outside to see Snatcher and the Red Hats approaching the front door.

A loud banging echoed through the house and the son got out of bed and went into the hall and to the front door, the girls following behind him.

He opened the door to see the large man blocking the outside.

"Is your mother in Andrew?" asked Snatcher. Andrew nodded and moved his ten year old body out of the way. His mother approached the door - her twelve year old daughter hiding behind her nightie.

"Yes?"

"I'm afraid to tell you that your son and your husband has been taking by Box Trolls" said Snatcher. The mother covered her mouth in shock. Her daughter sobbed and Andrew gripped the door harder.

The Lord of Cheesebridge then approached the door, his own baby daughter asleep in his hands.

"I'm afraid that without a husband, your family will have to give up this house for another" he said. The women suddenly grew angry.

"And what? You'll just throw a grieving widow and her two children onto the streets!"

"No, I am going to hire you as my nanny" he said, "you have the night to pack."

Once everyone had returned to their homes, to hold their own babies and children close to them, Mary Louise Trubshaw closed the door and feel to the floor, tears streaming down her face in waterfalls.

"Mama" Anyalise Trubshaw sat on the ground beside her mother and held her, Andrew on the other side as they grieved for Herbert and Edward Trubshaw.