Born to Darkness

Chapter 1

  New Orleans, 1788

Ophelia sighed, slowly losing patience with her client, Elizabeth, who kept jerking each time she pressed a cloth to her cut. The cut was less of a scrape that she had received on her left leg after tripping over her own feet, though she acted as if it were a battle wound and demanded it to be treated like one. This wasn't the first time she had been brought to Ophelia's home with an affliction of the sort. In fact, this was the third time in one week she had fallen, scrapped some part of her body, or accidentally cut herself. At this point, Ophelia was used to seeing the young child grinning mischievously at her doorstep while her mother stood behind her with an exasperated expression.

As Ophelia pressed an alcohol soaked cloth to her wound Elizabeth flinched once more, causing Ophelia to release a frustrated sigh. "If you sat still Elizabeth, this process could be easily finished at a much quicker pace," she stated as she soaked the brown cloth in a bowl of alcohol and wrung it out. Elizabeth winced as she pressed the cloth back onto her leg.

"But it stings!" she complained, her blue eyes welling up with tears.

Elizabeth's mother, Marianne, held tight to her hand in attempt to comfort her daughter. "I understand it hurts darling, but Ms.Boleyn is right. The more you continue to squirm, the longer it'll take for her to finish."

Elizabeth was very beautiful despite her age of five, with long, dark hair that cascaded in curls down her back and her mother's bright, blue eyes and pale skin. Her father, Jonathan, had no doubt that men would be fighting to court her once she came of age, however her boyish edge obstinate nature influenced by her older brothers made Marianne think otherwise. She often kept Elizabeth indoors while her two brother played outside in attempt to keep her from getting cuts and scrapes that would scar her skin but Elizabeth usually ran out the door before Marianne could stop her.

After another long five minutes of Elizabeth flinching and complaining, Ophelia finally finished cleaning her wound. She reached for the bandages beside her and carefully wrapped them in a spiral, paying special attention to how they overlapped.Satisfied with her work, she gently safety pinned the end of the bandage.Elizabeth sighed in relief before smoothing down her blue dress, pushing herself off the chair, and running towards the back door only to be stopped by her mother.

"Elizabeth darling, I believe you forgot something?" Marianne said expectantly, her blue eyes looking down at her daughter with a calm, yet intentful gaze. Elizabeth ran back towards Ophelia and wrapped her small arms around her legs.

"Thank you Ms.Boleyn!" she exclaimed, grinning up at her happily. Ophelia smiled and crouched down to Elizabeth's level and wrapped her arms around her small frame.

"You're welcome," Ophelia said while pulling away from Elizabeth. She put her hands on her shoulders and looked at her with seriousness, " Now you be careful next time! You wouldn't want to worry your mother any more than you already have."

"I won't, I promise."

"Alright, now run along now chére."

Elizabeth grinned, quickly ran towards the back door and disappeared into the garden. Marianne sighed exasperatedly and sat down at the round table, placing her hat beside her. The hat was small and light pink, elaborated with flowers of a white and pale yellow color. Her dress, also light pink, was decorated with frilled sleeves, a white rose brooch, and at the very bottom of her dress, a light pink ribbon where two more white roses were pinned. On her hands she wore white gloves, and on her neck, a two stranded pearl necklace. Her neck-length, curly,blonde hair was pinned into a popular style worn by the french that Ophelia had showed her. Ophelia couldn't help but have some jealousy towards her friend's beauty. She found her own features-dark, wavy hair, brown eyes, and olive toned skin-rather dull compared to Marianne's pale, porcelain skin, bright blue eyes, and golden curls. Marianne however, begged to differ.