The Masqueraded

15

Mavis took her little sister by the hand. She was wearing her tiny butterfly outfit and the silver crown which made her pudgy little face glow. She checked her watch. Six o'clock in the evening but it was darker than usual. She knelt down and adjusted the little girl's crown which occasionally drooped down her tiny head.

'Listen, remember your steps and you'll be fine Bee', she said, patting her neatly arranged brown curls. The little girl nodded her head and smiled daintily.

'Will you be clapping for me Mavi?'

'Yes!' Mavis responded with a smile.

She got up to her feet. Taking out her phone, Mavis dialed Wes' number. Weren't they supposed to call her? The phone was engaged. She tried Ru's, she wasn't answering hers either. Probably had it on silent, as always. Mavis sighed and closed the the door, ushering her little sister out and called out to the caretaker loudly.

'Lara! I'm leaving. Make sure you feed Timmy and tell Ron to shut down that damn game by the time we are home. Its so goddamn loud!'
There was a muffled voice from inside the house as they walked out into the front yard. She went with Bee to the main road and stood in front of the halt.

The 6.05 shuttle bus was late. Mavis was annoyed, she was supposed to get a call from Wes and Ru. They had promised to get there on time. She looked up and noticed that the sky had darkened considerably now.

Crap. It's going to rain.

She looked at her little sister sitting silently on the raised podium, her hands folded in front of her. Bee looked up to Mavis and counted on her endlessly and and although Mavis sometimes found it difficult to handle, she loved her. Sort of.

The bus finally came fifteen minutes late and Mavis hurriedly got in with Bee and grabbed themselves a seat. A couple of minutes after the bus dropped them off about half an hour later at the town halt. Redden-garden was a kilometer or so from from town.

They got out of the bus only to find, to Mavis' dismay, that it was drizzling. She pulled her hoodie over her head and handed her sister a small umbrella which she pulled out from the little tote bag.

They were late on top of everything and Mavis panicked. It was Bee's big day after all and she really didn't want to ruin it for her. The two sisters half-walked, half-ran down the little road curving into the massive space which was 'Redden-Garden', pride of the entire town.

The Redden-Garden Arena would have been crowded if they'd come just a few minutes ago but now there was no one outside. The drizzle had turned into a steady downpour gradually. Mavis felt the water soaking through the cashmere. The two girls stepped into the shade of the entrance of the hall.

'Mavi, are we going to be late?' The little girl asked, her eyes as big as saucers. Mavis shook her head. They walked down the Hall into a dim corridor which led to the main building. Redden Garden was like a little town. It had a recreational center, an auditorium, main hall, huge lunchroom, classrooms for weekend-learning and a massive State of the Art Gym, just in the the first floor.

It was extremely difficult to navigate their way around Redden-Garden Arena. There were people walking past them in a hurry, barely glancing their way as they crossed the small open area in the pouring rain and entered the next building.

Mavis pressed the button of the elevator near the fire-exit. It usually wasn't safe since it was pretty old but it was getting late and she could see that her little sister was also a bit disconcerted.

'We'll get there as soon as possible Bee', she reassured the little girl who nodded and looked down at her feet. The two girls finally got into the lift. It was cranky-old and so tiny Mavis was having second thoughts.