The year is 1880 in England. The fashion for women contains tight fitted bodices, narrow sleeves that has frills at the end, high neckline, and sometimes the skirts ends right above the shoes. For the men, they are slim with the jacket unbuttoned a little to show the neat waistcoat and the chain of the pocket watch. The collars are stiff and they have a tie or bow tie.
England is beautiful with lush green grass and trees. Carriages take people to their destinations, and everyone is well groomed, including the horses. It is clear and sunny above the polluted sky. This day isn't like any other day, and this one day changes my life forever.
I dislike parties and I specially dislike this party for two reasons. My sister, Margaret Kingsleigh, which I hate with every fiber of my being is going to attend, and this party is an engagement party for my other sister. Alice Kingsleigh, my sister, doesn't like the man that is going to propose to her, and I really don't want her to get married. She is truly the only friend that I have in this world. Except, I'm not too worried she will accept the proposal, because like I said she has told me on many occasions that she hates Hamish. As you can guess, Hamish is the man that is going to propose to Alice.
"You're not wearing a corset," Helen, mother, says to Alice and I snicker a little. Of course Alice isn't wearing a corset, she despises corsets just as much as I dislike them. Alice's blue eyes flicker towards me on the other seat and focuses back on mother.
"I despise them," Alice replies in a soft, yet determined voice, "Besides, AnaBeth isn't wearing a corset herself."
"AnaBeth doesn't need a corset, but you do," mother says as she checks to see if Alice is wearing any stockings, which of course she isn't. I stick my tongue out playfully at my younger sister, and I turn back towards the window. Seeing Alice's reflection in the window, I see her roll her eyes and a strand of her golden blonde hair falls down her face. Mother not missing a beat, quickly puts the strand away from her face, and puts it with the rest of her curly hair. Her hair is beautiful, but it doesn't really suit her pale skin.
Closing my eyes from all of the fuss, I take a deep breath in and the smell of wet grass makes its way through the air. The wet grass smell reminds me of that horrible day, and the gut retching emotion takes over to the point where I have to open my eyes. It seems that neither mother nor Alice notices my discomfort, and I give a small sigh of relief. The rough rocking of the carriage starts slowing down and finally stops altogether.
The young footman opens the carriage door, and mother steps out with the help of the footman. Alice, who is only a few months younger than me, is helped out and then myself. Taking Alice's arm in my own, I start whispering to her and making sure mother doesn't hear me.
"Can you believe it, Alice?" I whisper excitedly, "We are nineteen years old, and you are already being proposed to."
"Please, don't remind me, AnaBeth," Alice replies with irritation in her voice, "I do not like or love Hamish, and I will not say yes to his proposal. Thank you for telling me about this beforehand, sister."
"You are welcome, sister, but make sure you at least act surprise, when he asks you, because I will get in trouble if you don't," I plead to her, "Which means that Margaret will want to talk or yell at me, and you know I don't want to ever see her again."
Before Alice can reply, we arrive in front of the huge stone mansion, which is owned by a man that was friends with our father, before father died. We were six at the time, when Charles Kingsleigh died from an illness that I can't even remember anymore. I didn't know Charles for that long, but when I entered this family, he treated me like I was another one of his daughters. Yes, I am not originally from the Kingsleigh family and that's why I have a different last name, but they treat me still like I'm part of the family.
We turn to the left of the mansion, and we enter the gardens where everyone is already there. The gardens are beautiful and well kept. At the bottom of the stairs is a huge wooden dance floor, and on both sides of the dance floor there is multiple white clothed tables. Each table is covered with an individual white umbrella. People in white, light blue, and yellow clothes are already dancing the waltz, if I remember correctly. I'm not well versed in the art of dancing, and I am not planning to show how incompetent I am in that art.
Lord and Lady Ascot greet us like they have been waiting for us. Like usual, Lord Ascot is nice and friendly, while Lady Ascot is stern and stone face as ever. I don't believe anyone can truly say they are friends with Lady Ascot considering she is very pompous. Especially at the Kingsleigh family, namely Alice and myself. Both of them are wearing white. Lady Ascot has her mousey brown hair curled and in a messy bun. All of these light colored clothes make me feel out of place considering I am wearing a dress that is the color of an eggplant. I would have worn something lighter, but I don't have any clothes that the lighter colors would suit my raven black curly hair.
"Why are you wearing such a dark dress?" Lady Ascot asks me, with an icy, yet polite voice.
"My daughter, AnaBeth, does not have any clothes that would fit in this occasion. This dress was the most suitable out of all of her outfits," mother explains as I curtsy. Basically, mother is telling them that this is the only bright dress I truly own. I hate bright dresses like pink, yellow, or blue, and I only have dark colors like black, dark red, and gun metal gray.
"It is good to see you all again. It has been awhile since the last time we saw each other," Lord Ascot says to us, trying to change the subject, "Alice, you look so much like your father. AnaBeth, you have become even more beautiful, since the last time I saw you. Of course, Mrs. Kingsleigh, you are still stunning."
If only Lord Ascot understands that it hurts me, when he says that I am beautiful. The man that I loved...No! I will not think about him and what he said to me, and I walk down the stairs with Alice.
"Alice, come dance with me," Hamish says to Alice, like I'm not even there. Hamish has always been like this. What I mean be that is that he is a lot like his mother, meaning that he is arrogant, when he wants to be. Deciding it would be best to let her dance, I remove my arm from her arm, and I turn towards the maze in the garden.
"I will see you after your dance, sister," I tell Alice, as I am heading towards the maze. The lush green hedges make an excellent maze, and I trail my fingers lightly against the rough, but smooth surface of the leaves. Pleasant memories of my childhood takes ahold of my mind, and I softly start humming. As a child, adults have told me that I have a beautiful singing voice, and learning that, I started singing to let my emotions go or to tell something about my life. I find that singing helps me more than writing or talking to people.
"You still have a nice singing voice, AnaBeth," a man's voice says behind me, and my whole body freezes, along with the feeling of my blood starting to boil all at once. I never want to hear his voice again, and after everything he has done to me, he is going to talk so familiar to me! The wounds that he has made are still very fresh and open. Except, I will not allow him to know how much he still hurts me, so I keep my composure and turn around.
"My name is AnaBeth Aileen," I tell him, with as much calmness I can muster. He still looks very handsome with his brown hair and his perfect features. I mentally shake my head back and forth to focus on the present, not in the past, "Please, address me as Ms. Aileen."
"Oh, come now," the man says to me, as he takes a step forward, "Why don't you want me to call you AnaBeth? You use to want me to always call you AnaBeth."
"You know why I won't let you call me that, Lowell," I spit his name out like it is poison, and I take a step back, "If you will excuse me, I have to go back to my sister."
"AnaBeth, I have missed you," Lowell says to me in a kind voice, and he strokes my cheek with his gloved right hand. Disgust fills my entire body, and I slap his hand away. I want to punch him in the face, but he is not worth it, and I will also get in trouble if I do.
"Don't you dare touch me!" I tell him in a low menacing voice, "You chose my sister, not me, so go back to that backstabber!"
Quickly walking past him, I exit the maze, and I find that Alice is with our older sister. They seem to be talking, but I do not care, and I need to talk to Alice, anyway. Walking right up to Alice, and I stare at Alice not even glancing at Margaret once.
"Alice, may I talk with you for a while?" I ask her, with anger and disgust still on my face. Guessing that she sees how worked up I am, she removes her arm from Margaret.
"Hello, AnaBeth," Margaret says to me, and my anger rises to the point, where I feel like I will either explode or punch someone in the face. Slowly moving my eyes away from Alice, I slide them up to Margaret's and I can tell from her face that she can see that I am still pissed at her.
"You may not call me AnaBeth. My name is Ms. Aileen," I whisper harshly to her, "use it."
Before she can reply, I take Alice's hand and I briskly walk away. Not letting go of Alice's hand, we walk away from everybody else and I sit underneath an oak tree. Finally, I release her hand, and she stands in front of me. As if she is talking to a sad little kid, she kneels on the ground and looks into my eyes.
"What's wrong, sister?" Alice whispers to me, and I bring my knees up. Putting my head into them, I stay like that for a minute or two, but it feels like I stayed like that forever. Slowly, my anger, disgust, and my overwhelming sadness drains out of my body. My shoulders slump, and I take in the smell of grass and dirt.
"Lowell stopped me in the maze," I tell Alice, while my head is still on my knees. Since my legs are covering my eyes, I can't see Alice's face, but I heard her gasp.
"What did he do, AnaBeth?"
"He said he missed me, and he stroked my cheek, but I slapped his hand away. I should have slapped his face too, or punched him, but I couldn't. Alice, I still love that horrible man, and it hurts me. I feel like my heart is going to burst, but at the same time I despise that man with my whole body. What kind of man marries a woman and then tries this behind her back?"
"A horrible man that's who," Alice says to me. I know that she must be feeling anger towards Lowell, because of what he has done to me, but also the fact that he tried doing this since he married our sister. I may not love Margaret, but Alice does and I am glad she still does. Margaret may have backstabbed me, but she deserves to have at least one sister that loves her. I must have gone mad.
"Alice? Do you think I am mad?" I ask her, as I lift my head up. Alice puts her hand on my forehead as if she is checking to see if I have a fever.
"I believe you have gone totally mad, bonkers," Alice replies to me, as she moves her hand away, "But I will tell you something, all the best people are."
Her saying that makes me smile, because that's what Charles always told Alice, when she had a nightmare and asked if she was bonkers. My sister smiles back and we hug each other, when I hear the light footsteps of a woman approaching us. Unfortunately, Margaret is the one who is coming towards us. Not wanting to allow her to see me like this, I quickly get up and wipe the dirt off of my skirt. Alice proceeds to follow me and by the time she reaches us, we are both presentable.
"Alice! Hamish is looking for you, and he wants to speak to you," Margaret says and we both look at each other. We know what he is going to say, and I look towards the party a few yards away. As usual Alice is as strong and independent so much that she doesn't seem nervous about the proposal. Even though she doesn't like the idea of being weak, or anything like that, I know she must be a little nervous.
"Thank you for informing us, Margaret," I say to her, as I take Alice's hand, "If you don't mind, Alice and I will walk back to the party alone." I smile and Margaret nods. I can tell that she is surprised by my sudden change of attitude, because she leaves us in shock. After she has walked away from us, Alice and I slowly start to make our way back.
"It's alright, Alice," I tell her, "Just let Hamish down gently."
As we are walking, we both suddenly stop and look towards the opening to the forest. I don't know about Alice, but I stopped, because I saw a streak of white in my peripheral vision. Not too sure, but I think I saw a white rabbit in a blue waist coat. Except, that's not possible.
"AnaBeth, did you see something?" Alice asks me, her voice is full of curiosity.
"That depends," I reply, "Did you see a rabbit with a waist coat on?"
"Yes."
"Then, yes," I say, and I take a step towards the woods. Right after I take that step, I remember that I have to take Alice to her engagement party. Sighing, I take out my golden pocket watch that I have had on my person forever. Glancing at the time, I put the pocket watch back into my pocket. When the Kingsleigh family first found me as a five year old, I didn't have anything, but the pocket watch. Also I could only remember my name, and nothing else.
I turn back towards the party, "Come on, Alice. We have to get back to the party."
"What about the rabbit?"
"We can look for it, after you tell Hamish that you are not going to marry him."
Alice sighs as well, and we walk a few more steps before we see the glimpse of white fur again. Except, we can see it and Alice starts chasing the rabbit. Calling Alice's name, I chase after Alice. Thankfully, the rabbit eludes Alice and I catch up to her. Quickly, I grab her arm and start speed walking towards the party.
Right as we reach the party, Hamish comes over to us and looks at Alice. He tells her that he has been looking everywhere for her and says he has something to tell her. Hamish takes her towards the gazebo and everybody that has attended the party follows them, including myself. Please Alice, I think to myself, don't make Hamish cry. We do not need a grown man crying, because people are going to be upset as it is.
There is a painter already working on the proposal scene, and I make my way to the front along with the rest of the two's families. Standing next to mother, I watch the whole scene unfold. Once they are on the gazebo, Hamish takes Alice's hands and bends down on one knee. Before he can say anything else, but Alice's name, Alice tells Hamish that there is a blue caterpillar on his shoulder, which there is. Hamish being the wimp as he is, looks at the caterpillar and tries to figure out how to remove the caterpillar without touching it. Alice, who is a tomboy, takes the caterpillar and puts it on the railing, then focuses on Hamish. He reluctantly takes her hand that she used on the caterpillar and starts his proposal.
"Alice Kingsleigh, will you be my wife?" Hamish asks her with a smile. Alice starts mumbling and steps backwards. Hamish stands up, but at that moment Alice runs into the maze.
"Alice!" I yell, as I run after her. Hearing the disapproval behind me, I keep running after my sister. I keep yelling for Alice to stop, but she doesn't stop running until we are a little bit in the forest.
"Alice, why didn't you stop running?" I ask her, out of breath. I watch her as she walks toward a rabbit hole at the base of an old tree. Keeping my eye on her, I step towards the hole as well. Before Alice can say anything, she slips and starts falling into the rabbit hole. Yelling her name, I grab her arm, but instead of stopping her from falling, we end up falling down the rabbit hole together.