The Masquerade

The Butterfly and the Blue Flower

    Hugo's dark locks ran like shadows between my fingers. His tears left stains of sorrow, despair, and confusion on the bodice of my dress—but I didn't care. I didn't have a care in the world for anything else at the moment. The only thing on my mind was Hugo and his well-being. I wouldn't—couldn't—bring myself to move on. I didn't have a second thought about myself; my life could be falling apart in front of my eyes but they only thing I would focus on is Hugo. In a way, my life was falling apart. Hugo was shaking underneath me, grasping me tightly and whispering sweet nothings into my chest that I couldn't make out. I was about to acquire if he was ready to begin his dreadful tale again when he said a peculiar thing that caused my heart to miss a beat.

   "I've could have lost you, too." His arms squeezed my waist, and he tilted his head, so his weary tear-stained eyes looked into mine. "Maybe not immediately, but I would have lost you eventually. Even though we just met not only hours ago, I feel like a piece of my soul is somehow complete. Your presence astounds my being and lights up my soul. Before I met you, I thought my only passion was science. But now... I've realized I used it to fill a hole in my existence that should've been filled with your love." He grasped my chin and gently pulled my face closer to his, our single breathes becoming shared, our souls became one with each other, our lives finally having meaning now that our other half is with us. "If tonight has proved anything, you must know that I deeply love and admire you and it would be a great honor to get to know you, Victoria. I would keep any information regarding you as safe as I keep any of my specimens— even more so because you are precious and dear to me."

     If I weren't already shedding tears, I would have started then. I've never met anyone who cared about me as profoundly as Hugo declared. Yes, my family loved me, but it didn't go skin-deep. I was an only child, but somehow both my parents managed to place their love in other unholy areas. My father wasn't shy about hiding his secret comings-and-goings with gambling. It was blatantly obvious. With my father's wealthy income from his job at the bank— one of the many the Medici's own— and my mother's gracious payments from the extravagant tea parties she hosted, it was rather odd when I discovered significant sums from our family account going missing each month. An ordinary person wouldn't have noticed, because as soon as money was taken out of our account, it was quickly replaced. My father's addiction may not be affecting my family directly; we surely are not suffering at all, but if it goes on, I fear my father's soul may be far from redemption, if it isn't already.

     My mother, on the other hand, placed her love into her social events. Her saying goes as follows, " If I'm not hosting it, there's absolutely no point in attending." My mother's constant party planning began years ago before I learned of my father's gambling. My mother wanted a simple get-together with friends she hasn't seen since she was a young girl at the Academy— the school for girls and women in my town. She started planning as any sane person would, she picked who would be invited and who wouldn't, she planned the meal and made her signature rose tea blend. Everything went splendid, as far as tea parties go. After all the guests left, my mother decided it should be a monthly occurrence for her to host some kind of social event. What started out as small gatherings of friends, later turned into lavish affairs with half the town's population in attendance. Noble families full of esteemed men and women came with their children— sons and daughters who expected the world to bow down to them at their every wish and command. I became "friends" with ladies in attendance and have since regretted even looking at them and giving them the wrong idea. Needless to say, it was challenging to find solstice in my own home which wasn't tainted by parental sin.