One Last Song - Rewriting

Chapter Four - Lucinda

I turn the silver spoon over with my index finger and middle finger and then flip it back to how it had been. Mother and father sit in front of me eating.

It is the morning after the party. Everyone had gone home at three in the morning which to me, had seemed a little over the top as we weren't even celebrating anything. 

I don't know why but it always disturbed me; watching people eat. I didn't like it. It made me feel strange and awkward, especially when I wasn't eating with them.

Mother slides a small spoonful of pumpkin soup into her mouth and swallows it precisely while father spoons up a large spoonful and slams the spoon in his mouth. He swallows roughly and I gulp, trying not to feel disgusted at their manner of eating.

'Lucinda,' father says.

'Yes, father?' I reply, turning my attention to my rather large father. He has a small beard and a shining balding head. 

'Did you perform a public dance with young Master James?' He asks.

And on to the topic of James... I pick up the spoon and start twirling it again, focusing it in a specific position so that the light from the window would reflect off it and shine onto a painting of one of father's relations.

'Yes, as a matter of fact I did,' I reply. 

'Last night, James came to me with a proposal.' He starts off slowly. I continue with my shining of the silver spoon.  'He ask for you to take his hand in marriage.' 

The spoon falls from my grasp. 'What?!' I say to quickly and loudly to think of what I was saying.

Mother swallows some red wine rushedly and looks at me with an astounded expression on her normally expressionless face. She puts the glass down. 

'I beg your pardon, young lady!' She says, shocked.

'I do apologize but I will never take James' hand in marriage. Not now, not in a million years.' I say firmly. 

'By all Lords and Ladies in Europe, you will most definitely take James' hand in marriage and you will hold your head high and the pair of you will become the next Vamparian Aristocrat rulers!' Father says loudly.

'But it is not James I want to marry!' I cry.

Mother's jaw drops even wider.

'Then who?' mother says loudly. She flicks her hand at the door and the waitors and barmen run out of the door, closing it sharply behind them.

'What? Mother, father, I am only seventeen. I do not wish to marry just yet. I am not even legally an adult.' I say. Father shakes his head in annoyance. 

'You will marry James! You will hold your head up high! You will inherit the Godwin fortune and you will live happily ever after!' Mother shrieks just as I shout 'No I will not!' 

'Enough of this!' Father roars over the top of us. We both fall silent. I had stood to my feet as had mother and we were both leaning over the table glaring at each other.

Father walks over to mother and puts his hands on her shoulders. He pushes her back into her chair and the looks at me. He looks tired, fatigued, weary and older than he normally does.

'Go to your dormitory and you are not to come out until your mother or I say so.' He sighs.

I screw my face up and storm out of the room and into the atrium. I stop and look at the front doors: they had been left open. I look anxiously from the dinning hall where mother or father had shut the door behind my, to my bedroom, to the cloakroom and back to the doors.

I smile to myself and walk slowly and cautiously towards the cloakroom.

I shut the door silently behind me and grab a black cloak. I sling it over me and without hesitation, I open the door and run outside of the palace without a backward glance. 

The brisk spring air hits my face and I inhale the beautiful stench of the roses and lavender growing in the garden around the other side of the palace. The warm sun hits the top of my black cloak and velvet green lace up cress underneath.

It was still slightly cold as I could feel the early spring air seep through the cloak and my dress as I walk down the pebbled driveway and down into the valley where the peasants and poor people lived.

I knew how I would probably get into huge trouble when mother and father find out that I had gone outside of the palace walls by myself but I didn't care. They were going to make me do something I didn't want to.

I didn't want to marry James. I do not love him at all. Sarah or Juliette can both marry him. Anyone but me. James is not my type. Sure, he's handsome and all but I do not love him at all. I'd much prefer someone else. Someone not surrounded with the wealth and praise just because they are from a rich family.

I make my way to the bottom of the hill and turn into the peasant streets and try, unsuccessfully to fit in.

Unfortunately for me I'm a fish out of water. I try to smile at the people but they just look at me and shake their heads. I didn't particularly mind the peasants or they way they lived. The children ran up and down the streets playing with one another in skirts and tops but they didn't wear the same pretty dresses we wore. 

I find an stall with fresh fruit on it and I pull out a few coins from my purse that I had strapped around my shoulder and tucked away beneath my cloak. 

I pull out an apple off the bench and hold it up to the man selling. He smiles at me and I notice he has his two front teeth missing.

'Hello, just this apple, please,' I say handing him the money.

'Yeh ain't no peasant. Yer an Aristocrat.' He says. I blush.

'No, I'm not. I work at the palace, that's all,' I lie.

'Yeh ain't a very good liar, that's fer sure.' He says. I try to walk away but the man walks out from behind the stall and grabs my arm and spins me around so I'm facing him.

'Lookie here!' He reaches down my cloak and pulls out a necklace. A necklace I always wear. A necklace all of the Vamparian Aristocrats wear. Its a shield with a lion and a heart with an arrow through it.

'The Godwin crest! Adam!' He yells and another younger man walks out from behind the stall. He's got an unshaven stubble beard and milky blind eyes.

'What is it?' He asks. 

'We gots ourselves a Godwin 'ere to 'elp us' The older man reaches down and grabs my chin. I try to scream but he covers my mouth with his dirty hand.

'Stop!' I yell. 'Get your hands off me!' 

'Give me yer money and I'll let yeh go!' He says and I try and squirm out of his grip.

'No! I will not let you rob me! I warn you!' I scream through his filthy hand. His breath stinks likegarlic and onions. He breathes heavily on me and I scream again. 

'Well then, the punishment,' He says slowly and pulls out a butter knife from his side pocket. I scream louder and louder, hoping someone would come and help me.

He poises the knife to my neck. 'Last chance, M'lady. Hand over the money or I'll run yeh through,' 

'No!' I scream and I close my eyes tight. I feel the cold of the blade against my skin and I squeeze my eyes tighter when someone yells, 'Put her down now!'

They release me and I collapse to the floor in faint.