𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐤𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐤𝐞~short stories~

Ingrid

Prequel short story part 2: Ingrid

Ingrid Terran Silver.
Intelligent and pretty.
Well respected among men but not considered a candidate for any marital status.
She was seen as an individual instead of just a woman, and for that she felt lucky. But she also wanted to be desirable. So in the selection she splurged on beautiful clothing decorated with flowers. Because flowers were feminine right?

She looked around at the room of selected. They all wore their clothes like they belonged in them. She began to wonder why she thought that the clothes fit you instead of a person fitting the clothes. And she felt foolish.

"You haven't any tan lines," a stranger observed her body aloud for the first time in her experience. "Other you're very good at applying sun oils or you don't wear skimpy clothing out often."

With this being her first impression of him it was hard for her not to appreciate some intelligence about his gaudy entrances and clothing. And his eyes weren't as a harsh as she imagined them on her pale skin.

"You're very observant," she said, her voice never raising from a low volume. "No, this is the first dress I've owned that was like this."

"You look lovely. I feel humble to be apart of the occasion you bought it for." His wink sent a wave toward her that brushed her skin and made her stomach tingle. She let out an ungodly giggle mixed with snorting sounds and hid her face. "Oh god. Forgive me. That was unladylike."

"It was marvelous," he said, laughing and seemed, to her relief, unfazed by the sound. Her white, freckled shoulders were dusted over with pink and her face with red.

"Thank you." She strained to look at him so she could introduce herself and found his eyes glued behind her. She turned over her shoulder to follow them and found the most beautiful girl she'd ever seen. She wore beautiful cream colored dress that went perfectly with her sun kissed complexion and bright eyes. Eyes that held the prince's gaze for long enough for Ingrid to understand how the world worked. This girl fit into her clothing.
And Ingrid didn't.

She never got over the jealousy. But she never let it deflate her determination. If she couldn't be the beautiful one that held his eyes. She would be the genius that held his mind.

And she would be his wife.

She was the first of the women to bare his child. His firstborn, she thought, must mean something to him so she raced for the spot.

"Thaylin, listen to me when I explain it. Math isn't hard if you just follow the instructions. The exact understanding of the purpose comes later but for now you just follow the rules," she said, pointing to the paper.

"Mother, may I speak freely?" The 7 year old little me said.

"Speak, my child," she granted me.

"Why does it seem like I must always follow the rules while everyone else gets to do whatever they want?" I asked, wondering to her mother why my siblings were running free with no rules while I sat in the study learning arithmetic and proper manners.

"Because those children have lost their mothers. They lack discipline because of it. But as long as you have me, my beauty, you will always have a path on which I can guide you." She kissed my forehead. "And right now, we are on the path of learning. Math!"

My mother was a nurturing person. And she let my father get away with too much.
But no one could stop him.
Especially not me.

Ingrid Terran Silver.
Beautiful and determined.
The person who least of all deserved to die the way she did.
And I, the child who didn't deserve to be forced to witness it.

My mother was beaten to death in the garden outside the window of the music room. I was playing the piano and my drunken father decided I didn't do it well enough. But instead of taking it out on me, he vented his anger out on my mother. More specifically, 4 of her ribs, her jaw, her leg and wrist.
Her corpse had more bruise than skin.
And her eyes were more black thank their beautiful red-brown. And swollen shut in an unpeaceful way.