"Live like there is no midnight."
***
For Antoinette Gertrude, life is perfect. A little ball of bliss, a dream which came true. But one day, it all comes crashing down.
The death of her mother, makes her father distant. It was like all of her life...
"Shhh," I kept my finger on Red's lips. She immediately quietened up and held my finger. We walked to the ballroom, my mask firmly in place. After much discussion, Red had finally agreed to wear hers.
I took my pencil and card from the maid and saw that due to me being the lady of house, all of my dances were booked. But, what I didn't understand was, why seven out of then eleven dances were booked by the same person.
Edward.
Seemed a pretty common name, so I had no way of knowing who he was.
***
I looked into his eyes, trying to figure out who he was, before this last dance ended, and he left. He seemed to know me, not well, but enough to know which topics I like to talk about.
His green eyes seemed to look into my soul.
"So, Edward," the band was about to finish, "who are you?"
The last beat. The Finale.
He looked at me, took a breath, and replied, "Someone you will meet soon, sooner than you think."
***
I came back home, frustrated, for no reason at all. There was no problem at my dance partner not telling me who he really was. For all I knew, Edward could just be an alias. I really shouldn't be sad, or disappointed.
"Antoinette, your name is quite a handful to say. May I just call you by your middle name?" My step-mother, no, mother, asked. I felt insulted that she would say that about a name my mother had so lovingly picked.
"Of course, Lady Lucille."
"So, Ella, how was the Masquerade?" She sat at the sofa, ready to change into her night gown to sleep. Red tugged at my fingers, her eyes closing. I picked her up, and then looked at Lady Lucille.
"It was perfectly glad, m'Lady. There were lots of fine gentlemen there," I replied.
"Did you find someone suitable to be associated with our name?" By this, I knew she meant a suitor for me. But she could have specified worthy of me, but rather chose to go with our house, making me feel more obligated to find a suitor, as my duty.
"Lady Lucille, I had earlier asked Sir Francis for a little more time. Perhaps till the Annual Ceremony."
"Oh, I see," she nodded. "Elaine is also going. She will represent our house. Unfortunately, Javotte is not. But I think you will get along well with Elaine, infact, better than with Javotte."
"I surely hope so, Lady Lucille." With that, I curtsied and walked away. Elaine and Javotte live on the same floor, both of their rooms on either side of mine.
I opened the door to my room and gasped. Elaine sat there, smiling a little at my shocked face.
"Good evening dear sister," she patted the bed next to her. "I think this is one of Red's dresses."
I looked at the green dress, remembering that I had told the maid to keep it in the next room till I returned.
"I beg your pardon, Elaine, I forgot to take it back. I am grateful that you came here to return it."
"Nette, can I call you that?" With my permission, she continued. "Nette, we are sisters. We don't need to talk so formally. Besides, no one is looking at us. We can finally be us."
I furrowed my brows in confusion.
"But, Elaine, this is us. We are supposed to talk like this, with etiquettes a proper lady has, even when there is no one around," I replied, hesitating to continue as the spark in her eyes dimmed.
"But this is not us, Nette. This is a caged Nette," she pointed rudely at me, "This is not what you can be."
"Elaine, I think you need your etiquette lessons all over again. You should never point at a respectable lady like that. It is rude and unbefitting of a lady of your status."
She sighed. "I guess my tries will not work right now. But I will free you from this cage Nette, I promise you, because..."
She left it at that, leaving the room. Soon after, Javotte came rushing into my room.
"Where is my wardrobe maid?"
A maid soon came after her, close to tears.
"Miss, I am your maid," she cried.
"But you are my hair and make-up maid, what about my wardrobe maid?" She turned to me.
"Javotte, calm down. She is your maid for all the purposes."
"Why?" She stomped out, muttering something about lack of maids and us being poor.
***
749 words.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
