I Am Her - ONC 2024

Chapter 4 - Vows That Bind Most Cruelly

The sun shone rather brightly when Angela woke up. As she regained her grasp on reality, she couldn't help but feel nature was mocking her. So many pretty clouds and birds and butterflies and flowers overwhelmed her surroundings, almost as if she weren't diving headfirst into her doom without the ability to do anything about it. She thought and thought, but no idea came concerning the opposition of her cruel fate. All she could do was follow the Mayor's ridiculous demands, at least for now. She had to get out of there somehow, and she was certain that she would do so, if not how she would do it.

"Good morning, my dear," Marissa said, appearing out of nowhere even though it was only six o'clock, and with this little regard for her privacy, Angela knew that coming up with a proper plan wasn't going to be easy.

"Good morning to you as well," she said with a forced smile. "What are you doing here at this time of day?"

"You need to hurry up," Marissa said in a hushed tone of voice. "My father likes to get the day started early, so you had better get ready in half an hour. Come on. You don't want to leave him waiting, now do you?"

"Of course not," Angela said, laughing awkwardly. "I definitely wouldn't want to leave him waiting."

"He would appreciate your sentiment greatly. I'll leave you now. We wouldn't want to waste our time, after all," Marissa said with a bright smile, leaving the room swiftly.

Angela groaned and rolled her eyes as soon as Marissa left. Of course, it wasn't unusual for someone like the Mayor to be unreasonably concerned with perfection and order in every aspect of his life, especially time, but she still couldn't help but feel annoyed. It took her a few minutes to browse through the large oak closet and find just the right outfit - a mint dress with pink flower patterns, a straw hat with a rose in it and a pair of pink ballet shoes. She then got out of the room walking on eggshells, her shoulders tense as she strolled through the hallway and waited for the Mayor to appear. 

He did it soon enough, a broad smile plastered over his face. He waved at her as if all of this were normal, which it surely was to him, but she wasn't willing to think about it too much and simply returned the gesture with a forced smile, which he, luckily, didn't notice. She stood there like a statue for several seconds as she tried to find a way to start the conversation, which she didn't need to do because he started it himself:

"Good morning, Miss Stevenson. How's your day going? I'm so glad you woke up this early. Personally, there's nothing better than meeting a person who shows true consideration and respect. I suppose you like to wake up early in the mornings anyway from what little knowledge I have of your personality, which I do too. One must seize the day to find true happiness and success, and there's no reason to dwell much within the shadows of the night, where nothing but cold, dark emptiness lay. I cannot for the life of me understand why some people love the night. It never gave me a reason to do so."

Wait, I love the night, Angela thought before she remembered the rest of his words. 

She then raised an eyebrow in befuddlement. "Why is it that you hate the night, Sir?"

"Hate the night?" he stammered, looking around as if he'd seen something moving in the shadows. "No, not quite. It's not a big deal, anyway. We really shouldn't be wasting our time on such unimportant quibbles. We need to finish our breakfast before it gets cold, after which we need to take you on a tour of the garden, which is really important. Time is money, after all."

She wasn't exactly in the mood to try and get answers out of him - not that she believed she could succeed in her endeavours, anyway - so she simply rolled her eyes internally and thought of nothing as she enjoyed her food for the next half hour.