Bella Donna

My Death Sentence

Leave. Leave. Leave...

I awoke in a pool of my perspiration. My dreams have been erratic in the coming days. My father usually worked on Saturdays. Today, however, there was supposed to be change. We were invited to the Thomas estate. It was one of the richest families in Mediaș. They invited my father and I to have lunch. I never enjoyed socialite events. Even if it was just lunch, the high class turn their noses at us even though my father is the one who delivered their babies, wraps wounds and give them their fancy drugs.

I got dressed quickly peering quickly in the big mirror in our hallway. I must brush my hair, it's a nest. How can I impress the wealthy when my hair looks a mess? I ran a brush from my scalp to my wispy ends. My hair has a mind of its own. It's heavy with natural curls. I brushed thoroughly until the nest, on the top of my head, was soft as silk. My drawer held all my clothing, red always brought out my Italian complexion. I was more pale than my mother before she passed, her skin was the colour of honey at the bottom of a jar. Dark and sweet. I was the shade of sand. White, yet dark in some rays of light with a colour of peach hue. I slipped my head through the red dress over my smock allowing the thick straps of fabric to fall off my shoulder. I tied the corset under my bust, tying the strings tightly around my torso.

"Father? Where have you hid my shoes?" My bare feet touched the wooden floor, the cold ran through my feet to the tip of my head. My god, why must it be this cold? I made my way to the examing room where my father was, bent over his desk reading up on new techniques of medicine. "Father? Were not you who said we have no time for dilly-dally? And now here you sit, reading. You're starting to look like me." I found my shoes under his desk.

"I am not sitting, I'm standing. I am merely skimming through my new medical books from London. We are heading out now. The Thomas family has generously sent a carriage for us." He fixed his overcoat around his neck. "Very well. I will await for its arrival. Why are the Thomas family having us for lunch? Are you going to be their permanent physician?" I peered over my father's shoulder reading the title of the medical books. Error of the Mind. A book about disorders that inflict the brain. That a curse or a 'demon' hasn't brought on. Modern medicine has come a long way. Nothing can be simply prayed away.

☽───⛧ ༺♰༻ ⛧───☾

The Thomas estate was like anything I saw in London. Open villas with thousands upon thousands of wild apple trees. A white home bigger than the entire main street of Mediaș. It was too much. Our carriage stopped abruptly at the front door of the home, as the family and its servants awaited outside the doors.

"Good afternoon Doctor. Hope all is well." Sir Michael Thomas shook my father's hand as I hopped out of the carriage.

"That it is Sir Thomas. A thousand thank yous for your generous carriage to escort my daughter and me. This is Bella Donna."

"Good day. Thank you for inviting us to your loving estate." I reached out for his hand as he laid a kiss on my knuckle. Why must men do this? Cannot any man merely shake a woman's hand just as a man? That is all I desire.

"No, no. Thank you Bella for joining my family. We have been waiting for such a beauty as yourself to grace my son Arthur and his mother Eugenia." He turned to show his stone-faced wife and boy he calls a son. He was possibly my age, but he stood as if he was cut at the knees. Wobbly with a fascination with the ground beneath him. He only caught a quick glance at me as I saw through him. He was no man at all. Just a boy in his father's rather large shadow.

"Bella Donna. Is that your mother's maiden name?" Eugenia, Michaels's wife showed up out of nowhere behind him. "Um...no, my lady. Bella Donna is Italian for beautiful woman." I wiped little strands of fabric away from my shoulder. Perhaps I was uncomfortable under these circumstances. "Awe! I see, how exotic. Your skin is less pale than mine. Some might think you are a labourer haha!" Hmph...so you see simple farm hands, who are making a living just like my father as less than? Well, this isn't going to end well. "At least my lady, they will know I work for what I earn." My father nudged me peering down at my shoes. "Please excuse her, I believe the sun has some effects on her."