Introduction

Sophia Camden was never an ordinary girl. She never showed much emotion and she preferred to be on her own instead of with other people. She enjoyed isolation which was was very unusual for a girl of sixteen. Sophia would stay home and read rather than go out with friends. About the only thing that was normal with her was, like most girls, she was terrified of spiders and extremely disliked all other insects. Because of this, although she loved the outdoors, she rarely enjoyed them, for the fear of getting tics or running into a spider web.

Several things were known about her. She had blue eyes, blond hair, and a very fair complexion which almost made her look sickly not to mention that she was relatively thin. She was very quiet and was rarely inclined to talk even to her own family. Some would say she was very beautiful, others plain, but everyone knew that she was very intelligent. Her irrational fear of human interaction kept her from proving this fact to strangers, but despite this everyone could tell. There was an aura about her that when you looked into her eyes, you knew she was deep in thought. When put in a room full of people, she would just sit and observe and think the entire time unless someone else happened to start a conversation with her which wouldn't last long.

Sophia had always been shy as a little girl, but this complete want of isolation instilled a sense of fear into her parents. They often talked to each other about her ways and her own two brothers thought something might be wrong with her. On the other hand, her grandmother had the fullest amount of confidence in her. Whenever someone would make a remark on her quiet disposition, her grandmother would reply, 'still water runs deep' and the person would agree.

So since Sophia is so taciturn and reserved, what brings us on this journey of a story about her? This is not the half of it, for what people may see on the outside is only a small fraction of what goes on in the inside of her own great mind. She always loves company, it's just that it can come in the form of an animal and please her just as well or even more so. She has a dog and cat and loves them very much. Little do people know that she has other thoughts stirring deep within the walls of her very being. And so, the story begins.

Chapter 1

As Sophia awoke in the early morning, she immediately fell into her normal cycle. She would go down to enjoy a breakfast made by her very own mother. They did not have a cook because, although the house in which they dwelt was large, the family was relatively poor. She was greeted by her family and gave a small response back, would finish her breakfast, and immediately return to her room. Then she would bathe and dress for the day. She always was dressed rather nicely even though most of her time was spent alone in her room and she rarely went out.

This is where Sophia was, sitting on her window seat looking out into the garden. She was drawing a picture of a flower and was so focused on the lines she was making that she didn't notice the carriage drive by. It was unusual for carriages to pass by since the Camden's lived in the country. The neighbors usually arrived on foot or horseback and only sometimes were carriages driven into town. Besides that, this particular carriage very clearly belonged to a wealthy person and therefore, peaked more interest among the country folk.

Later that day, the Camden's received an invitation to a ball for the next evening. It was a welcoming party for the new guests which came as quite a surprise for the family as they had no idea the newcomers had arrived. Mrs. Camden became flustered and was running about in search of dresses and suits that could be worn to this formal occasion. Sophia had not attended many balls. In fact, she had only been to two before and didn't care much for them. She was a graceful dancer, but her social skills made everything awkward so she disliked to go. She knew her mother would make her attend in an attempt to make her known to the world. Stuck inside the house all day, no one was able to admire her. All of the chatter for the rest of the night was about the upcoming social event which sparked a sense of excitement that flowed throughout the house.

Secretly, Sophia was looking forward to this ball. She was starting to feel very lonely and was desiring a male caller. She hoped that she would discover someone of her liking tomorrow night and therefore needed to look her absolute best. She picked out a dress but decided to alter it a bit to fit her older look. She cinched in the waist a little bit and brought the sleeves up to elbow length. She then opened the chest somewhat more and eliminated some of the overbearing ruffles which made it more of her taste rather than her mother who enjoyed showy things. The dress was quite elegant. It was a deep yet light, grey blue color and was made of a silky material. Her father had brought the fabric with him as he came home from town one evening. He said an old woman had given it to him after he helped walk her home. There wasn't enough fabric for Mrs. Camden to make curtains or a dress for herself, but there was just enough to make a dress for Sophia because of her small size. That was about a year ago and luckily, it still fit Sophia. She was only able to wear it once at Christmas and her family was the only ones to see it so she could still wear it out. It was her very favorite dress and this was the perfect occasion for her to wear it.

Sophia stayed up late that night, picturing scenes of dancing and laughter. She wanted to have fun and she wanted a lot of friends, but she couldn't ever bring herself to stand out. Hopefully this dress would help her, but this didn't console her. She knew that she would just blend into the background of people, stand in a corner, and not say a word to anyone. She did have one good friend, Cassandra. She was the one and only person she could fully talk to and even then, she still kept things inside her. Although they were great friends, they didn't talk much but, at the ball Sophia was sure they would. The only problem was that Cassandra would probably constantly have a dancing partner and therefore not have the time to converse with Sophia for that is what usually happened during social gatherings. At last, Sophia was finally able to rest her mind and she fell asleep. Even in her dreams, she was worrying about the dance and was never really at peace.