Elisabeth Marie

Chapter One

"Elisabeth, stop daydreaming and open the elevator," Mother repeated, sharper this time. I looked up to see her standing impatiently by the shiny gold-tinted doors, tapping her foot and giving me a look. 

"Yes, Mother, of course," I said quickly. I knew that look. It was not a good look. I followed her over to the elevator and slipped the key around my neck into the hole in the wall. The doors slid open silently and Mother stepped inside.

"I left you a note on the table," she told me as I slipped the key in again, closing the doors behind her.

"Have a nice day!" I said, just like I knew Mother liked me to. Once the doors were completely closed I relaxed and walked over to the table. A perfectly crisp sheet of Mother's stationary was sitting on top of one of the placemats.

Hi Elisabeth, I had to go to the office early today- sorry! I wish I could be here more often, but you know how work is- it's work! Anyway, I should be back by noon for lunch so we can talk about my new job. Don't forget to practice your flute! And your piano playing is, let's face it, awful. Work on that, too. And don't forget to study for your Spanish, French, and German finals. I'm fairly sure that those are at the end of the week. Mr. Johnson will be here by 10:30 for your English lessons. Kisses! Mother

I sighed. Another lonely morning until classes would start in a couple hours. "Mocha, where are you?" I called into the sunny kitchen. The sound of paws on wood came from the hallway and within seconds my brown lab was barreling into me. "Whoa, slow down there," I laughed, leading the way over to the pantry to get her some breakfast. "Mother didn't already feed you, did she?" I took her giant leap onto me as a no.

"Well then," I said, holding the bag of food out of her reach as I poured some food into her bowl, "Dig in!" Mocha pounced onto the bowl like a cat on a mouse, ignoring me again. Just like everyone else. No. I wasn't supposed to think that way. Mother wanted me to be positive. I wanted me to be positive.

I watched her eat for a couple of seconds before walking over to the radio, turning it on just to get the voice of someone other than me into the giant apartment the same way I did every morning. "Good morning, San Diego!" the announcer said enthusiastically as I walked over to the cabinet to get some cereal. "It's 8:15AM, the sun is shining, and the beach is wide open! So put on those swim trunks, enjoy the summer sun, and have a great day!"

"I'm not going to the beach today," I said aloud. "Or any day. Am I, Mocha?"

I poured some milk into the bowl with the cereal. "But that's okay, isn't it? Because we are just fine... up here... safe and sound, with the world just another picture on the wall." I put the milk away and leaned down to pet Mocha.

***

"Goodbye, Mr. Johnson! I'll see you on Thursday!" I called after my English teacher as I shut the door to the elevator and breathed a sigh of relief. "That was the most boring hour of my life," I said aloud as soon as the door was firmly shut. 

Mother had set the furniture up so that it all looked away from the windows- "Outside is just a distraction from what's important, in here"- but I turned around my favorite chair so it was facing the park across the street and sat down in it, enjoying the view. I pulled out the journal I'd been writing in for nearly ten years and flipped to the page I had marked when Mr. Johnson had arrived so I could continue reading. It all sounded similar.

"July third," I read, barely able to make out the seven-year-old handwriting. "Mother bought me new curtains for my room today. The city sure is pretty. We made spaghetti. Mother taught me about birds today and I told her I wanted to fly like them, but she told me that's silly. I think I can see some little girls like me playing way down there on the street. It looks like fun."