I stood, alone, as I always am, against a large mahogany dresser in the back room. The walls were a drab 18th century looking yellow, with white curling flowers all over. I sank to the ground, sitting on the frigid mahogany flooring. It was such a fancy house, much more expensive than to my liking, I mean...I know we were royalty, but really. The voices continued. What were they whispering about? I thought to myself. The whispers went on, low and careful from the next room, like they knew I was listening. But my hearing wasn't all it was cracked up to be, even though I'm only 16. The problem was that I listened to a lot of loud rock and "emo" music. I sigh, and tug slowly on the laces of my tall black Dr. Marten boots. They were probably talking about me, my mom often did. Suddenly I heard a soft knocking at the door. The door creaked open slowly to reveal a tall girl with dark raven hair and shimmering yellow eyes.
"Piper please, I don't want to talk." I grumbled.
The truth was that I had always been jealous of my older sister, she was born with beautiful black hair, and mine...well, It was the color of mustard. Her eyes were a beautiful sunlight yellow, the most unique eye color I had ever seen on a person before, and mine were blue, just blue. My bangs hung over my face, covering it. My face was pale, not from being born a beautiful porcelain like Piper, but from not getting enough sun. Her tall, perfectly curved figure slid next to me, and she sat on the hardwood floor.
"I know you don't want to talk Ivy, you never do." Her silky voice rang into my ears.
"That's because I don't like people." I snapped.
I hadn't meant to be so harsh but Piper took it the wrong way. Her eyebrows curved downward in a concerned scowl.
"I need to get you some friends Ivy, people you can actually talk to." She sighed.
"Who are they whispering about in there?" I changed the subject.
She puzzled for a bit, then sighed.
"How should I know Ivy, I haven't been in there."
I turned away from her perfect face, and mumbled,
"I bet they would let you in, mom always liked you."
Piper gave me a smile like a mother would to a child that was misbehaving.
"Mother loves you just the same as me Ivy." She coaxed.
I scowled at her.
"No Piper, you don't understand. She hates me, she's always telling me to be better than I already am, I mean how much better can I be?!" I raged.
Suddenly I heard a loud, impatient knocking on the door. Of course Piper just had to be the one to answer. She opened the door and a woman marched in with an extremely sober face. She was relatively pretty, with long beautiful black hair and acidic blue eyes. The lines and curves in her face showed that she had aged with time. Her sickly sweet white blouse unevenly matched her expensive rose pencil skirt and too high black heels. This woman, was my mom. She clapped her hands together exuberantly and sighed, looking down at her pathetic, gothic daughter. I glared back at her with a sharp eye. Then she glanced at Piper and it was like I wasn't even there. She smiled happily at her.
"Ah, Piper, it's time for the annual Ball of Ages! You're going to look exceptionally beautiful in that new dress I bought you."
Piper beamed, show off.
"Why thank you mother, I'm looking foreword to it."
Mom smiled and pet Piper's shining hair. It was like watching the TV, I couldn't interact at all and if I did, it wouldn't matter.
"And I bet your just as excited to meet that new husband of yours." Mom chattered.
She just couldn't stop hacking on and on about Piper's betrothal, ever since she turned 18. I don't even know who Piper was going to marry. I always hated the idea of betrothal. I mean having an arranged marriage!? Yuck. I didn't even realize when mom suddenly turned to me. She was wearing that sour expression that she tried to hide with a smile.
"Please, Ivy, stand up. I must inform you of something."
I hesitantly scraped off the mahogany floor and onto my thick, black boots. I had snuck out and bought them with my own money since mom 'didn't approve.'
"Stand up straight dear." She snapped.
I did as she said.
"This year Ivy, your father and I have been discussing the idea of you coming to the Ball of Ages..." She started.
I didn't see what the big deal was, I came every year. I'm not saying I liked it, but the food was okay.
"...and we discussed the idea...of you having an arranged spouse as well."
My head started spinning, I almost screamed at her. But instead I bit my lip, I bit it hard. I felt like I was going to cry. Why did I have to do this?! I thought I at least got two more years of freedom. Tears swelled in my eyes like thick water about to drench from a waterfall. This wasn't fair!
"Do I even get a say in this!?" I retorted.
She scowled at me, "Honestly Ivy, it's not a big deal. Think of it as an opportunity to get yourself out there, make some friends, because I know you aren't getting anywhere close to that sitting in your room."
I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms.
"Well maybe I like it in my room, maybe I don't want to make friends, ever thought of that!?"
She sighed and rubbed her temples.
"This isn't open for negotiation Ivy, we're done discussing this."
My mouth hung open in shock, I hated her.
"Mom, this isn't fair! I'm only sixtee-"
She cut me off mid sentence with a sharp snap.
"I said we're done Violet!"
And with that she slammed the loud, wooden door in my face. I hated when people used my real name. It was like my only toxin. The one thing that got to me. Violet. I'm not Violet, I'm Ivy. Violets were pretty purple flowers, Ivy was a thorny green entanglement of branches. I wasn't a flower. Suddenly Piper had her hand on my shoulder. It was cold, but sort of comforting.
"Come sister, we must get ready for the ball."
She said this somberly, as if she knew what I was going through, she didn't of course, she didn't have to face betrothal at 16, she had friends. Friends like Becky, and Alice, and Yvonne. Nonetheless, I walked out of the living room with my head held high, and walked next to Piper as if I was really meant to be her sister. We walked down the long, droning hallway and turned onto a small patch of room that held the stairs. I actually took the lead when we walked up the elegant spiral staircase. Our rooms were on opposite sides of each other, my door was black, and her's was a pale white. The last thing I saw before disappearing into my room was Piper's shining golden eyes, wishing me luck. I spun to face my room. My mother had painted it a sickly light purple a long time ago, before I bought my posters. My sister likes to call my room The Shrine because my wall was covered in so many posters that I couldn't even see what color the wall was. Posters of bands, rock bands, alternative bands, movie posters that I wanted to see but couldn't because my mom never let me out of the castle, and every celebrity ever known to man with black hair over their eye and some form of piercing. My bed was a crumpled old thing, basically jammed into the corner of the room, with dark red plush sheets and a dusty mahogany frame. I never used it. The windowsill was where I usually slept. I walked over to it. I had told my father, when I was younger that I had wanted a place to sit and watch the sky. He built me small sitting area, and I loaded it with tons of pillows and blankets. I felt the carpet, it was white and very fluffy, my fingers jammed on pencil shavings from erasing my drawings. My drawings were another thing I added to The Shrine. They littered all over the walls, covering every last spot of purple paint. Someone knocked on the door. I wasn't expecting anyone, I wonder who was disrupting my one spot of peace. I opened the door sharply and regretted it immediately. It was just one of Mom's house maids. She was shivering, most likely from fear. I softened.
"It's okay, it's okay, are you here to get me ready for the ball?" I asked her.
She smiled good-naturedly.
"Yes Ma'am, I need to get you plenty cleaned up for tonight's ball."
I sighed and put a hand on my hip.
"Alright...I guess if I have to." I decided.
I followed her down the long upstairs hallway, bright colored daylight flooded into all corners of the upstairs from the multicolored stained glass windows. She led me around a corner and into a small light blue room filled with light, the ceiling was high and detailed. It was painted that ill-colored white that mom likes so much for some reason. Against the wall was a huge oakwood closet that I didn't expect could fit into a room so small. There was a pale blue vanity against the other side of the room. The maid hustled and bustled around pushing open the closet doors and taking out my dress. It was the most hideous thing I had ever seen. The sleeves were short, and puffy and princess like, I'm just getting started, the torso of the dress was sick, sparkly, flowery, and most of all...PINK...It was gross and frilly and went all the way to the floor. I decided then and there that I was not wearing this dress. I started to walk out of the room. The maid caught my shoulder.
"Please, Ivy, it will make your family very proud of you if you wear this dress." She coaxed.
I sighed, "Uuuuuuugh, fine."
I stepped foreword, toward the ugly shape of a dress. It looked very hard to fit into.
"What now?" I asked.
The maid smiled and took my arm, bringing me into the master bathroom. It was large and painted a light sea foam green. A huge, elegant ivory tub was against one wall and a huge rectangular mirror against the other. Against the mirror was a calico granite countertop, with two large bowl-like sinks. And two faucets that were shaped like swan's necks, gracefully dipping into the contents of the sinks. I don't usually go in here often.
"Now you take a bath ma'am. Make sure to make yourself nice and clean."she instructed.
She left the room, going out through the light blue door.
I looked at the large oval-shaped bathtub and slipped off my dark purple tee shirt and dark black skinny jeans. I slowly turned the icy knob and warm water rushed into the tub. I slipped in, letting the hot, running water soak up to the edge of my neck. Then I reached behind my wet blonde hair and shut off the water.
Once I was all clean and fresh I stepped carefully out of the tub and wrapped a soft yellow towel around my shivering, skinny torso. Then all of a sudden I felt myself being rushed into the light blue room by the maid, with only the towel on. I tightened my grip on the top and the hardwood floor was icy on my bare feet. Then something white was being shoved into my hands.
"Dress ma'am." The maid said.
I did as she said, slipping on the thin white tights and tank top. Then came the hard part. I sucked in my gut as I faced the dress. Then she strapped a tight corset around my waist. I sucked in my gut to make it less painful but it didn't help any, it felt like there was a person suffocating me through the waist. Then it got worse. She just kept tightening it and tightening it. I was sweating and I couldn't do anything besides hold out my hands and stare down at the torture device.
"Wh-w-" I tried to speak but it came out as a choke.
"It's only necessary ma'am." The maid explained and she stopped tightening.
Finally! I thought. I tried to sigh but it was too tight. I tried to relax but it was too tight. I tried to breath but it was too tight.
"C-can you-u l-loosen it-t-t?" I managed.
The maid sighed and unbound the strings a tiny bit, just enough so that I could breath. It was still threatening to choke me. I sharply exhaled.
"Let's get this over with."
I took one step towards the dress and I knew that this was going to be the most miserable thing I have ever done. I struggled to put it on.
"I-hate-this!" I shouted from inside the pink puffy concoction.
The maid chuckled. I think I see daylight! It was true! I poked my head out of the tiny head hole. I struggled bit, but I eventually made it through the gross, layered pink sleeves. I looked at the maid expecting her to forget the whole pink thing and give me a subtle black dress instead. But instead, her eyes lit up.
"It's so beautiful Ivy!"
I groaned. Great. A puffy pink dress for the ball.
"Now time to do your hair!" She said, smiling.
I huffed and tried to take that first step foreword. Unfortunately for me, the freakin dress tore out from under my bare feet and I found myself stumbling headfirst onto the floor. I smashed my head. The maid looked surprised and helped me up quickly.
"Are you okay ma'am? Do you need ice?" She asked kindly.
"Naw, I've survived worse." I dismissed, even through my head was spinning and aching wildly.
I sat on a chair next to the dark blue vanity and she started messing with my impossible blond hair. I felt tugs here and there and she lightly messed it into a clean cut braid across the top of my head. My makeup was simple, a light pink eye shadow and thick mascara, with light pink lipstick. I fought with the maid a few times about putting on thick black eyeliner but finally I was ruled against it. I hated the lipstick, I hated the hair, hated the dress, I hated everything about this. I was only doing this to please my mom. I just didn't get why I had to wear the corset. I was already pretty skinny, but apparently I wasn't allowed to look healthy. I was finally done, except shoes, which the maid slapped some pink heels on me. Well, this was the last straw. I faced her.
"I have to quickly get something from my room, okay?" I asked.
She nodded and grinned at me. As soon as she gave the okay. I shuffled quickly down the hallway, nearly tripping on the Persian carpet. I held the door for support against the heels. I opened the door and shut it tight behind me. I threw off the heels and tossed on my beat up red converse, lacing them up. Hey, no one would notice anyway. My dress was to the floor. I stepped out into the hallway confidently, but my comfortableness was restricted by the corset. I slowly made my way down the winding staircase to my family, they were all just as smartly dressed as I was. But the only one I really noticed was Piper, who seemed to glow in a bright, sleeveless sea foam green dress. It matched perfectly with her porcelain skin. Her black hair was beautifully done in a thin braid down the back. Her golden eyes shone at me.
"Oh Ivy you look beautiful!" Piper gushed.
I blushed and looked down at the sickly pink dress. I certainly don't think so.
"Yes mm, so much better than that junk you usually wear." My mom said sourly.
I looked up at her. Her dress was a deep blood red, it buttoned to her neck and had long tight black sleeves. Why couldn't I wear that dress. Her hair was pulled back in a tight black bun. And her blue eyes were sharp.
"Let's go then shall we?" My mother rushed.