(I do not own the character Judge Turpin, nor do I profit form this.)
Hi all! Haven't written anything in a looong time, so this is my latest contribution about mr Alan Rickman as The Judge!
Enjoy!
Chapter 1.
Ms Tuffet and her Step Daughter
Katherine sat on her bed and combed through her long dark hair absent-mindedly.
The afternoon sun streamed in through her window, but was stifled by the lace curtains; casting a dull patterned light across the room.
Katherine stared at the poppies that patterned her walls, they had once been vibrantly red, scattered across the cream wallpaper with such realistic beauty, it was almost as if they could have been plucked right from the paper. Now however, they only dimly represented what they had once been, a pale faded pink, worn, aged and almost forgotten.
Katherine lived with her stepmother; her father had died when she was only a toddler, leaving her and her newly found mother in a most unrespectable position.
When she was seven, Katherine had to leave behind all that she held dear, including her own name and was moved to London. It was here that her stepmother took on a new identity, naming herself as Katherine's biological mother and claiming to be a grief stricken widow.
This however was not in the slightest bit true. The self-proclaimed Ms Tuffet was an evil, spiteful woman who married Katherine's sick father for his wealth, and when he died she squandered his business earnings on frivolities. Before she knew it, Ms Tuffet was alone and penniless with an orphaned child.
So she abandoned all but her hope, changed her identity with the last few thousand pounds that remained, and moved into a small, but reputable home with her new daughter in London.
Katherine was seventeen now, and had returned from boarding school to spend the summer with her step-mother, it was the first time she had been allowed home in three years.
A clock chimed somewhere in the distance, Katherine's gaze followed the sound until she found herself staring at the locked bedroom door again.
She sighed and dropped the silver hairbrush on the sheets, she longed to be back at the school, making practical jokes with her friends on the teachers. She needed excitment, fun and friends; instead she had to make do with a dusty old dolls house and the prospect of being verbally abused by her jealous stepmother.
She shuffled to the edge of the bed and moved the lace curtains to one side, the window was dirty, but she could make out the smeared shapes of children down below playing in their gardens, their laughter carried far, and taunted Katherine like cruel jeers. She grunted in irritation and swung the lace back across once more, how desperately she wanted to be outside!
A sudden rap at the door startled Katherine out of her sulk. With a nervous stumble she got off the bed and stood poised for the entrance of her stepmother.
Ms. Tuffet swept into the room, glancing quickly and cuttingly at her stepchild; she strode over to the window and swung the drapes across to completely block out the light.
Katherine felt a soft flump of material hit her in the face, then a dim yellow flicker of the gas lamp illuminated a sparkling dress, which she pulled from her vision.
"We are invited to attend the Honourable Judge Turpins banquet this evening." Ms Tuffet snapped at her foster child by way of greeting.
"I understand he has recently lost his ward to the asylum," she continued, pacing slowly about the room, her eyes fixed on Katherine, " what a terrible loss he must be suffering, we must make sure we are there..." she leant in close on the girl and placed her fingernails on either side of her small shoulders. " To comfort him."
Katherine kept her face placid, but as she digested her stepmother's words, she felt an angry pang of discomfort and hatred course through her whole body.
Ms Tuffet grinned knowingly and released her stepdaughter from her sharp grip before sweeping back towards the door.
"You have three hours to get ready, I trust you can manage to make yourself more appealing in that time?" She asked sharply, eyeing the girl with distain. " Remember you are considered a woman now, so behave accordingly, I have no qualms about punishing my dead husbands bastard child."
The words rung horribly in Katherine's ears, as her stepmother slammed the door shut once more. She felt a burning revulsion rise up in her chest and before she could stop herself she had screamed loudly at the closed door and hurled the dolls house which shattered loudly into hundreds of splinters against it.
Katherine stormed towards her bed and flung herself on top of her pillows, punching them repeatedly until she had only tears left. How she longed for her old life with her father again! How she despised the wicked old floozy who dared to call herself mother!
Eventually Katherine ran dry of tears, and resigned herself to dress for the forthcoming meal, her stomach was twisted into knots of fear, she knew that her step-mother had plans of re-marrying; she just hadn't taken into account that the one who might be getting married was herself...