Violets in the Ballroom

Chapter Four

I'm still sick of this.
It's the next day in this scary house and I still haven't gotten used to it!
After breakfast I walk down the hall, going back to my room.

Then I stop and notice large, grand doors on my left, next to Stepmother June's room. I let my curiosity get ahold of me and peek through the open gap. I see a massive room with tall ceilings, colourful walls, a big tangle of glowing lights, purple flowers everywhere and a grand piano smack-dab in the middle of the room. It was magnificent.
It was a Ballroom!
I sink to my knees.

I watch the lights dance around the room like real people. 

How come Stepmother June didn't tell me about this? After all, it is the only thing in this house that has any sort of real beauty and she knows that I have a passion for dancing!

I stare at the sides of the room, the paintings crawl up the walls and the rainbow of colours end at the tip of a stunning golden chandelier, topped off with shiny diamonds and sapphires that dangle from it.
The lights where so entrancing that I forget to breathe and stifle a cough.

When I finally return to reality, I stand up and wipe my face with the palm of my hand.

Someone pulls me backwards by the neck of my dress and slams me into a wall. I try to scream but my mouth is covered.
I try to see who my attacker is but they slam their hand into my head, making me dizzy. Black spots appear in my eyes and my brain refuses to cooperate, drifting further and further away from me. Suddenly my sight returns to me but too blurry and bubbly for me to tell what was real or not. Something sharp digs into my arm and this time a scream escapes me, piercing my throat with what feels like a thousand tiny needles.
The last things I see are a bloody knife, a furry muzzle and big brown eyes.

And then darkness.