Corpse Bride (The Novelized Version)

According to plan

CHAPTER ONE :

Victor pulled his favorite sketch book from his desk. The one given to him for his eighteenth birthday. It had a handsome polished black leather cover detailed with hand painted intricate designs of vines and leaves on it.

He opened it to a blank page towards the back because the rest had been filled with sketches and notes on various plants and insects in the garden.

Moths and butterflies were his favorite things to draw. This one was a very pretty one according to Victor. It had cerulean blue wings with light spots on the top ones and delicately curled antennae.

It flitted around inside a bell shaped glass jar Victor kept on his desk for drawing insects such as these. As he finished the last detail on the wing he looked it over, and when he was satisfied with his work, he closed the sketchbook. Victor looked out the window up at the sky.

Gray as usual, he thought, however, if one were to focus very closely it could be a sort of blue.

He stood up opened the window, inhaling the fresh London air that blew in. Taking one last fascinated look at the moth, he lifted the jar to set it free. It happily flew around his room and then out the window and onto the street below.

Good luck little moth. At least you can have freedom. He thought.

"Victor! We're going to be late!" He heard his mother yell from downstairs.

"Lovely I'm being forced into an arranged marriage with no say whatsoever and for the stupidest reason! I can't believe that I'm getting married for a higher social status! Well, at least we'll be helping the Everglots. They need the money and father's business has been making a lot of it. I just wish they could've told me sooner. A month isn't exactly a lot of time to fully comprehend the fact that you're getting married to someone you've never met. What disturbs me most was how casually mother brought it up over tea!" Victor mused out loud to himself.

Victor recalled the day when his mother had brought up the news as casually as if she were discussing the weather at tea-time...

~~~

"How are your studies in insects going, Victor?"

"Entomology, mother," Victor corrected her, "and quite well, thank you for asking."

"That's good to hear. I saw a lovely pair of curtains in town today that would look perfect in the parlor."

Curtains? Victor thought, How did this conversation go from my studies to curtains? Oh well.

Victor knew better than to openly question it. He also knew that when his mother was talking, she was unpredictable; she'd go from one topic to another so often it was all very hard to keep track of.

For instance, once when Victor, his mother and father were having breakfast, they were discussing father's fish business, even though Victor didn't have much to say in the matter. One minute she was criticizing her husband's idea to put his fish in cans and the next she was criticizing Victor's appearance...

"I'm telling you William, it's a waste of time and money! You should just forget it!"

"Nell, I think it's worth investing in and we should try it just for the sake of it!" He defended.

"William , have you ever noticed that Victor looks like he has a case of the rickets?" Said Nell, eyeing her son critically.

"What?!" Said Victor and his father. That had been a very strange breakfast indeed.

Victor listened as his mother described the curtains appearance and how they matched the sofas so perfectly along with the color of the floor and walls, while he politely drank his tea.