Written by popular demand. It needs lots and lots of work. I'm not sure yet if I like where I'm going with it. Tell me if you like the plotline so far, if it's something you want to read more of.
Chapter 1
Amelia peered out the enormous foggy window. Gray clouds peppered the sky, and rolling hills were sprinkled with trees.
She leaned her forehead on the cool glass and closed her eyes. Images raced through her mind and there was no slowing them down.
She wanted a break from thinking. But thinking wasn’t something you took a break from. Thinking was something you had to do if you wanted to be a “person.” Amelia didn’t know anyone who didn’t think, except her Uncle Fred who had been in a coma for six years.
She smiled a bit at the memory of Uncle Fred. He was the family joke, sadly enough. His wife, Clara, refused to take him off life support. Amelia considered the whole thing ridiculous. The poor man should at least be allowed to die without becoming the butt of her family’s lame attempts at humor.
“Mel?”
Amelia opened her eyes slowly.
“Mel? Are you awake?”
Amelia turned around in the window seat to face Laurie.
“Your mother wants to know what you’ve decided about the ball.”
Amelia looked around the room. It was spotless, but to her it may as well have been covered in a layer of dust and grime for all the memories it contained. She sighed.
“Yes, Laurie. Tell my mother yes.”
Laurie beamed, but frowned quickly when Amelia turned back to the window.
“Mel? Oh, Mellie come on. This is ridiculous. You have every reason in the world to be the happiest girl alive.”
Amelia looked at Laurie, her gray eyes hard and cold. “I said I would go,” she said harshly to Laurie, who winced. “Didn’t I?”
“Yes, miss,” Laurie muttered, bowing her head. “I just meant… well you didn’t seem particularly happy about it and I…” Laurie faltered when Amelia turned to look at the window again. She took a deep breath and continued, “It just seemed like you were only saying yes because it’s what your mother wants.” She said all this in one breath, her words tumbling out like clumsy bricks banging together and chipping edges.
Amelia continued to stare out the window. One who didn’t know better might have assumed that she was simply trying to block out what Laurie was saying.
After a few awkward seconds, Laurie turned to leave the room, the door creaking a lonely goodbye.
Once alone, Amelia rested her head on the cool window pane, pretending that the beads of condensation trickling down her cheeks were tears.
~
“You look marvelous,” Shima pressed her palms together and gazed in adoration at Amelia’s beautiful figure. “I have finally found someone to wear this dress. You know how many people have tried this on? So many, I cannot count. You have such grace, such elegance. You must choose this one.”
Amelia stepped down from the platform without so much as looking at herself in the mirror and started taking off the dress.
Shima’s brow furrowed worriedly. “Do you not like it?”
Amelia shook her head. “No, it’s fine.”
Shima looked at Amelia’s mother. “She’ll take it, Shima, thank you so much. It’s perfect.”
Amelia turned around to let the assistant unzip her and rolled her eyes. “Her mother loved to put words in other people’s mouths.
“Amelia,” her mother hurriedly followed her into the dressing room. “Amelia, darling, what’s the matter?”
Amelia whirled to face her mother. “Since when have you given a damn about my well-being?”
Amelia’s mother recoiled as though she had been slapped. “Why, Mellie, I, I only--”
“You’re disgusting,” Amelia spat. “You’re nothing but a lying, cheating sniveling old woman. You pretend to be my mother. You pretend you care what happens to me. You pretend you want me to marry for love.”
Laurie had appeared in the doorway of the dressing room. She stood there, silent, like a sentinel waiting for an attack.
Amelia’s mother looked horrorstruck. She clutched at her chest, heaving dry sobs that refused to become tears. “Amelia,” she gasped hoarsely. “Amelia, please.”
“Amelia,” Laurie said calmly. “Amelia, think about this. She’s the best mother you’ve had in years.”
But Amelia had made up her mind. As she stared down at her sobbing, mess of a mother, she gave one last, triumphant smile.
And with a slight jerk of her head, Amelia’s mother keeled over, dead.
~
Now, to start...
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