Girl Number Eight

Prologue

Girl Number Eight

 

Prologue

November 17th (12  years ago)

 

"Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen," A stout man, Mr Herald announced at the top of the room, "I expect you all are very excited and know the rules off by heart but for security reasons, they are here again," He gestured to the board which had the rules projected on to them in big bold writing.

It read:

1. Daughter must be born between 1996 or 1997 and must be female!

2. Tickets are 200 dollars each and must be paid in full before receiving ticket.

3. If something happens to the winning child between now and when they are sixteen, the girl in second will marry Master Jacob Blakefield.

4. Daughter must move to New York when they turn sixteen and the marriage will be arranged for shortly after their seventeenth birthday.

5. Girl must've been born in America or England to enter.

6. Winner will marry Master Jacob Blakefield, age five at present (will be eighteen at marriage), heir to the richest man in America.

"Okay, does everybody have their number? I will pull out the ticket in five minutes!" Mr Herald said happily.

Everyone began chatting to their spouse or to their friends apart from two people, Gerry and Helena Greene, a middle class family. They felt totally out of place in this fancy room with these rich people. They held their three year old daughter, Isabelle, tightly between them and waited anxiously.

They didn't know what to do, this was their only hope of getting their daughter a good life, a life she deserved. They scrapped up two hundred dollars to pay for one measly ticket, Helena knew the odds of winning were slim but she hoped and prayed that it would be her ticket that got pulled out, Gerry knew too, many of these rich folks bought tickets worth thousands. They surely would win.

Chloe and Robert Stafford were an example of this. They were the second richest family in the United States, their daughter would be the perfect girl for Master Jacob Blakefield. Their daughter had to win this, no matter what. Hailey Stafford was a four year old beauty, she had golden ringlets and bright blue eyes, pink lips and rosy cheeks, an all American girl. She would undoubtedly grow up to be a gorgeous lady like her mother and the Staffords made sure that everyone knew that.

Isabelle Greene was another story altogether, she had straight brown hair, hazel eyes and pale pink lips. She was English. Isabelle had a loving nature and even though she was only three, was completely aware of her surroundings and would always be alert and clever.

"Everybody, it is time!" It was Mr Herald, he got back on to the big stage and stood with a huge metal case beside him. It looked like it contained thousands of slips of paper. It probably did. "Everybody have their tickets?" He allowed a short pause before continuing. The room was silent.  Everybody held their breath. The only sound was Mr Herald swishing around the tickets inside.

He finally picked one and held it up towards the many people in the huge auditorium. Hundreds of people were wishing at this very moment that their daughters name and number would be read out but nobody wished more than Helena Greene and Chloe Stafford.

"And the winning girl is. . . . Isabelle Amelia Greene? Ticket number eight," Mr Herald announced, though it was more of a question.

Confused faces spread across the room, all thoughts the same, 'Who was this girl?' 'This is why the ticket price should have been higher!' 'God damn it, thousands wasted!'

"Could the parents of this girl please come up here?" Mr Herald asked, politely smiling.

Helena and Gerry stood up warily, all eyes shooting daggers at them. They tugged their girl along with them and made their way from the very back of the room to the very front. Whispers broke out about how average looking the child was and how average their outfits were.

After things were settled and Mr Herald took the child's details and the parents'. He pulled another name from the box for the child in second place. "Hailey Stafford! Ticket number one!" The room began to fill with applause, nobody would dare be anything less than polite to the Staffords. After the Blakefields, they were the richest people in the country.

Helena and Gerry were ecstatic for their little girl. This was a perfect opportunity for her.  She would grow up to be a perfect bride and live a plentiful life of luxury. But Helena and Gerry knew that they needed to hide her from the world until she was sixteen. They flew back to their home in East London and installed alarms to keep Isabelle as safe as possible, of course it would never be enough.

Chloe and Robert Stafford were satisfied, this petty Isabelle girl could be easily disposed of. Although first place would've been a heck of a lot easier, second is close enough. Robert already had is phone out, this Isabelle Greene stood no chance at ever seeing this marriage through.

Oh how wrong he was.

Author's Notes:  So what do you think? This is a Christmas gift from me to you to say sorry for not updating DYAG. I hope you like it and if people seem to like it I will continue. Just remember this will be a cliché type story so don't complain later about that. . . We all need a little cliché every now and then right?

Happy New Year!

Love Lauren