The Things We Desire

Introduction: The Things We Desire

The unfortunate end of Lenora Mansen is a tragic tale to tell, but one that needs to be heard. Her tale is one of an unhappy fate and is not very joyful. Her story is not a happy, fairytale like ending.

A fairytale life is like what princesses have. They have luxury, no worries, and no pain to deal with. Fairytales are always happy, always good, and are always about true love.

In a fairytale, everyone has a happy ending.

But not Lenora.

She found out that in real life you rarely see happy endings. True love will only last a little while in the real world. But most of the time there are no happily ever afters.

But then again, don’t we all live unhappy endings in one way or another?

Chapter One:

True love came to Lenora Mansen when she was seventeen. It was the summer of 1938 in New York and the Mansen family were visiting their friends, The Aroughs, who were throwing a party for their eighteen-year-old daughter Madison.

There Lenora met Jack Harrison, a friend of their friends who had just completed his college degree in New York.  With his tall build, and his gleaming golden brown hair, with eyes to match, Lenora couldn’t help but to feel attracted to him. The party went on through the night, and all Lenora could focus on was Jack.

 During the party Lenora went up to Jack and decided to talk to him.

  “Hello, Mr. Harrison,” she said formally putting out her slim hand.

She stared at him with her deep brown eyes with interest.

Jack turned around, his tuxedo fitting him just right. His eyes surveyed Lenora’s short cherry red dress that accentuated her curves, and a smile appeared on his face.

  “Please, Ms. Mansen, call me Jack,” he said in his slightly accented voice.

Lenora’s pale face blushed with embarrassment, and she moved a lock of her dark hair from her face in nervousness.

  “Jack, then, please call me Le- Lea,” she decided on. Lenora hated her name. Her Mother had picked it out because she thought that it was a suitable name for a woman; but Lenora thought it was ugly.

Jack smiled at her, and Lenora couldn’t help but to smile back at him.

  “Well, Lea how long have you been friends with the Aroughs? he asked making convesation.

  “Oh gosh, I couldn’t possibly count the years I have known Mr. and Mrs. Arough’s daughter, Madison!” gushed Lenora as Madison ran up to her with a glass of wine in her hand.

Madison’s angular face was flushed, and her long blonde hair was tightly curled to her hair in ringlets. Her blue eyes twinkled in the lights of the candles and of the chandelier.

  “Lenora! Lenora, come here!” she shouted excitedly. Lenora’s face turned red, and she tried to stammer an excuse to Jack while Madison tugged on her arm.

  “Lenora,” mused Jack, “I like it better than Lea.”

Lenora smiled just a bit as she left Jack, and followed Madison out the white mansion that the Aroughs’ lived in.

As she half listened to Madison’s excited chatter about her new suitor, her thoughts were glued on Jack Harrison.

A year later, they met again. This time it was at The Mansens house. Lenora’s family lived on the better side of New York with the mansions. But the family lived in a manor that was just outside of the city.

The manor was made out of dark colored wood, and had many windows placed on the outside. It looked very old, and antique like.

The inside of the house was top-notch royalty like. It had golden drapes on the windows, white furnished doors in every doorway, imported furniture from Sweden, three rooms downstairs and seven upstairs. The three rooms downstairs were the living room, the kitchen and the bathroom. Upstairs they had four bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a spare room.

Lenora was listening to the radio with little interest when the doorbell rang. Lenora sprung up from the couch and ran to go get it. Her two younger sisters followed her to the door, whispering. She opened the door and was quite surprised to see Jack standing there.

  “Lenora, uh- I mean Ms. Mansen, it’s good to see you again,” he said coughing to disguise his mistake.

Lenora smiled briefly at him, and moved aside so that he could get into the house.