━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━
Peeking Sisters
━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━
"Do you think she'll be nice?" Meg questioned.
"If she's anything like the one sending her, I doubt it," Beth said.
It was hectic inside the March household. Everyone was hurrying to clean the place, as they heard about the letter from the day before. From sweeping the floors to wiping the bookshelf, it had been a while since they tidied so much - with such a short notice.
It was cloudy outside, however; the sun was peeking through the white overcast, attempting to reach down and touch the ground below which was filled with snowfall.
"Someone should complain to the post-office," Meg mumbled, cutting out a tomato salad for the evening dinner. "We received a letter almost two-weeks late!"
"Jo's not around," the younger one replied. "She's in town at the moment."
Josephine (Jo) March was the second oldest of the sisters, next to Meg. Many knew her as the rebel of the family, who often, was the sibling who had the most courage.
"I baked cookies!" Amy entered the kitchen, holding a pan filled with brown sugar biscuits, that had yet to be decorated.
Beth rolled her eyes and left the room, heading over to the guest bedroom to see if there was any other cleaning to do. The third March sister, Elizabeth was very shy and quiet. She struggled with minor faults, such as her resentment for the housework she must do.
"Have you cleaned the living room?" Meg asked, now wiping the counters with a worn-out cloth. She set aside the bowl of salad and covered it with a damp cloth.
The oldest March sister, Margaret (Meg) represented the conventional and good; she was like her mother, for whom they named her.
"Nope. Too boring," Amy replied, her gaze was focused on the silver spoon to decorate the cookies with some pink and blue frosting that she made the day before.
"You were supposed to do that," Meg looked genuinely upset, but the youngest one didn't really mind, as her current activity distracted her thoughts.
When she had finished wiping the counters, she rushed over the living room, so she could start the chore Amy didn't begin. The girl was too young, and perhaps because of her age, which was barely twelve, she stayed further away from doing her tasks.
The youngest March sister, Amy was an artistic beauty good at manipulating other people. Unlike Jo, Amy acted as a perfect lady because it pleased her and those around her. Frequently, she used her age as an excuse for her poor sense of accomplishment, not ready to accept the responsibilities of a young woman.
After dipping the tip of the spoon inside the blue frosting, she carefully painted a face, but because of its liquidness, the smile came off rather messily. She frowned slightly; it was a biscuit that now looked like it was carelessly made.
She attempted to draw on what she thought Annie would look like, however; her poor artistic skills offended her. The hair came across as being overly curly, and the face looked like it was punched one too many times.
Groaning, she put the cookie plate to the side of the counter and placed the frosting bowl into the sink, not really caring with the fact that it was still filled with the substance. She had given up, and she wasn't sure if she would feed the newcomer the snack soon.
It looked too horrific to even be seen.
***
Jo slouched in the desk chair as she wrote. Occasionally she caught herself doing it and straightened up, pushing her shoulders backwards and the small of her back upwards and in, sitting taller, more erect. She told herself that she didn't want to wind up as some hunchbacked old lady in a few decades time, but within a few more minutes of writing, she had forgotten and resumed her slouching posture.
She was the last of the sisters to find out about the upcoming visitor, and to say it upset her was an understatement. Much like the rest of her family, she wasn't sure how to feel about the sudden news. She was hoping to spend the Christmas holiday with her sisters and close family. Not like they really had any, other than their Aunt March.
She didn't care for cleaning; it wasn't her thing. Instead, she spent her time isolated from the daily chores; it was a hassle for her and did some journal writing instead.
It was never about anything, in particular, sometimes she just thought about different scenarios and stories, and had the sudden urge to put them into words on a paper.
It was something that made her happy.
She finally flipped the notebook closed and threw the graphite pencil into the drawer of the desk. At her side sat a forgotten tea mug, long since devoid of warmth. Grabbing it, she took a sip, cringing at the coldness.
I suppose the Winter has caught this too; she thought and placed the cup back down, reminding herself to throw out the remaining drink away when she went to the kitchen.
Mustering up the courage to stand up after almost an hour of constant sitting, she made her way over to the library. It was unusually quiet inside the home, and she assumed that everyone had headed outside for their own reasons.
Sneaking a glance inside the other bedrooms only confirmed her suspicions. Their rooms were tidied up like always, except there was not a soul in sight. She fantasized running barefoot across the halls and screaming at the top of her lungs. It wasn't often that everyone was away, it only made her want to follow-up on her little daydreams all the more.
A loud knock on the main door pulled her away from her thoughts. Rolling her eyes at the fact that it broke her small moment of peace, she opened up the wooden door, shivering at the cold rush of air that slid to her arms.
From one look, there was no doubt in Jo's mind who this mysterious woman was, and with that fact known a mischievous idea browsed her mind.
Annie McLaren.
___
Surprise! I published the first chapter sooner than I originally said. I have a lot planned for this book, but not a lot of time to complete updates...
I would originally go for a more formal approach with the chapters, such as the writing style with my 'REGIME' fiction, but I think I'll settle for a slightly more informal style, like the HSMTMTS book. If you need an idea of how that looks, look at those stories.
Have a safe read!
YOU ARE READING
Lady March - (L.L.)
Romance[FEATURED BY WATTPAD] As Annie steps into the March household, she's met with skepticism and cold shoulders from her new board sisters. But as she delves deeper into their lives, she begins to see the true meaning of family. And as the March sisters...
