The Masquerade

The Passageway

To say that the passageway was dark was an understatement. It was pure darkness; the absence of life and nature itself. The darkness felt like some life-stealing force, and I was its next target.

My heeled feet shuffled forward to make room for Hugo, the Blue Flower to my Butterfly. I felt his presence behind me; his breath hot on my neck.

"It's kinda dark in here, don't you think?" breathed Hugo, pushing his chest against my back. I sensed him grab something behind us, in some secret alcove that only he would know about. I heard a slight whoosh, and then a soft click, like Hugo moved something then pushed a button of sorts. "I think, my dear Victoria, we need to shine some light on this conversation." As he said those words, the sounds I heard earlier made sense. It only took seconds for the passage to light up in hues of purple and blue. Silver torches lined the dark, musty walls, holding dancing figures of purple and blue flames. The flames danced as if in song, moving at times, then stop, as if they were catching their breath from dancing the night away at the masquerade. The scene reminded me of what just occurred, and I blushing a little, surprisingly going unnoticed by my dance partner.

" How very dramatic of you, my dear Hugo," I said, mimicking him. A slight blush appeared on his sharp cheeks, but it left as quickly as it arose. " I have to say, I'm quite impressed. It's like you prepared for this conversation, and wanted to make it as dramatic as possible."

"Can't blame a gentleman for wanting to impress a beautiful lady such as yourself. And no, I didn't prepare. If you bothered to look, you would have noticed this contraption on my left that lights the torches. But, you were probably to busy pondering how such a handsome gent, such as myself, can look so great while in the dark," said Hugo, with much confidence in his guess, but he was ever so wrong.

I turned around to fully look at his face, or . . . well, his eyes that were blessed to look like jewels that belonged in the Royal's safe, several floors up from where we are right now. "Actually, Hugo, I was thinking about the conversion we were about to have. I don't know why we have to host it in secret. Why not out there?" I started moving forward, bit by bit, trying not to fall forward, and most certainly not backward. I don't need Hugo knowing my clumsy I am, or how much I'm shaking because of how nervous I'm becoming. Hugo follows suit, letting me take my time getting used to the rocky terrain that is passageway calls a floor. " We could have had this conversation out there, where it's warm. Not in this dark and cold passageway that leads to some secluded garden." I quicken my pace as I slowly get comfortable with the floor. Hopefully, there's a bench in the garden. I want to take this damn shoes off. I'm now moving at a normal pace, Hugo smirked like he could read and hear my ranting thoughts about the torture devices strapped to my feet. " The guests are either too drunk to remember anyway we say, or they're too invested in their partners that they would bother noticing anyway."

" Could we have had this lovely conversation out there? Yes. But it's not a nosy guest that I worried about," Hugo practically whispered that last part. He grabbed, more like tugged, my upper arm to slow me down. Our feet shuffled in some unnatural, awkward song as we both slowed, then stopped. He placed both his hands—which were cold from the bitter air coming from outside, from the garden—on my fabric covered shoulders, spinning me around to face him once again. He got close to me, our foreheads touching, "It's you I'm worried about."

I backed away from him after he said those words. I pressed my back against the rock wall, catching my stuttering breath. "What do you mean that you're worried about me?"

"Sorry, I misspoke," said Hugo, "I meant to say your reaction. I'm worried about your reaction. I know that you flush easily, as proved when we were dancing." Hugo lifted his hands in front of him like he needed them to prove his point. " I took that information into account and figured that you would want to be alone, or just be around fewer people in case . . . in case you freak out," He finished as he put his hands around my face, cupped my cheeks, tracing my jawline with his thumb.

Facing my gaze from the dark floor to his face, his eyes, I saw pure emotion, pure concern for my well-being on his face. I opened my mouth to say something but then decided against it. I needed to for whole and complete thoughts in my head before I say anything. I looked ahead, the secret garden in perfect sight, and I realized my heartbeat was beating in time with the water springing from the fountain just a few feet away from me. I looked back at Hugo's face and whispered back my response. " I appreciate your concern, I really do. But why would I freak out? What would you say in the conversation we're about to have that would cause me to feel such a way? How serious are we talking here?"

Hugo, bless him, sensed my unease of him and backing away a couple of steps, but not far enough in case something happens. Our feet were the thing of ours that were touching. After a few drops of water from the fountain and a few cries from birds later, Hugo responded.

"Well, first of all, one question at a time, Love. I can only do so much." His tease caused a smile to form on my face, and Hugo certainly noticed. He continued, "And, to answer your questions, I may be . . . exaggerating, but I want you to feel safe. So, in case you freak out, I want you to feel comfortable . . . with me. The conversation we're about to have will answer any question that you may have regarding why you, of all possible women, were invited tonight, to the masquerade. But, in order to do so, we need to be in the place the whole story started, hence why we're on our way to the garden in which the climax of the story - our story- take place." He finished his statement by gesturing to the garden. My gaze followed the length of his muscled arm and looked at the beautiful garden once again. From this angle, all I could see was the gorgeous fountain ahead of us. From what I could see, the top consisted of skulls, made from black rock.

The skulls were arranged in an uncanny order, placed gently on top of one another like someone just dumped the dead onto the fountain and left it to become one with nature and become something entirely different. To form some essence of dark and beauty, a perfect combination of both.

I looked at Hugo again, seeing a sense of uncertainty and want in his eyes. " So, all will be explained tonight? No more surprises? Just simple and straight answers?"

Hugo dropped his arm and returned it to its place by his side. He faces cleared of any remaining emotion from before and looked at me. "Well, I'm not entirely sure about simple and straight answers, but you'll leave tonight knowing more than what you did before. But to answer your first question, yes. I will be explaining tonight, whether you understand it or not, I don't know. But I want to give you answers, I've been wanted to tell you all night. Can you please get out of here and make it to the garden? Our story starts there. It would only make sense if I explained everything to you there, too." He finished, almost out of breath. He smiled at me, awaiting a response. I smiled back and said, " Then lead the way, my dear Hugo."

He gasped at me saying his name in the tone that I did, dark and secretive, like our current setting.

He grabbed my hand and dragged me the rest of the way through the dark passageway. Hugo stopped suddenly, just before the entrance of the garden, causing me to bump into him. He quickly turned away and looked me over one last time, making sure I was ready for the news I was yet to receive.

"Well then, milady. Follow me."

We both walked over the threshold of the garden, and walked over to the bench, next to the blue flowers.