Moonscoop owns CL. The song "La Vie En Rose" belongs to Edith Piaf.
As a little girl, Sissi Delmas loved a lot of things. But she adored her mother most of all.
Veronique DuPont was a slim, classy woman who loved poetry, nature and fashion. She was an heiress to a French department store cosmetic chain who aimed big in life. She was young and vibrant and could recite hundreds of W.B Yeats poems by heart. In 1978 when Veronique was 25, she met Pierre Delmas, a stock-broker with brown hair that was graying at the temples and a nice mustache. They met at a Jazz café one night in October. Jean-Pierre was immediately drawn to Veronique's bohemian spirit. They hit it off almost instantly despite differences in jobs. Jean-Pierre bought stocks from Veronique's family in hopes of impressing them. They would sit in her small flat, listening to Edithe Piaf records and Veronique would read poetry she had written, love poems and sonnets. After four months of dating and romance, he proposed to her while the pair were on a picnic in the park. After taking 3 minutes to consider, Veronique said yes. In six months time, they were married.
In 1985, the stock company Jean-Pierre worked for crashed. The man was down on his luck, but his old university friend Jim Morales had good news for him. The principal of a boarding school called Kadic was resigning, and Jim thought Jean-Pierre was a good enough man for the job. Jean-Pierre took the job after a month of considering the job. He and Veronique moved into a large apartment near the school with the money Veronique's parents had given her. The job brought in better money than working for the stock-brokers. Jean-Pierre and his wife was happy.
They could only have been happier in December 1989, when Veronique announced she was pregnant. Their only daughter Elisabeth was born on August 1990. The little baby-affectionately called "Sissi"-was born into a home of adoring worshippers, lavished with everything a little princess could want. Because both Jean-Pierre's and Jim's jobs at the school took a lot of family time away from the new mother and child, Veronique spent much time with Baby Sissi. When Sissi started Kindergarten at the Elementary School part of Kadic, Veronique would pick her up after school everyday, where they would go to a café and eat chocolate croissants and browse through posh boutiques in the sophisticated downtown district. When they were at home on rainy days, Veronique would play her records on an old record player she had bought in a antique shop, where Sissi would attempt ballet and listen to her mother read Sissi fairytales
Sissi loved spending time with her mother. These afternoons were the highlight of her days in Elementary school. But, in 1997, Veronique began complaining of fevers, nosebleeds and listlessness. She went to the doctor, where the doctor confirmed everyone's worst fear: Cancer. But even as she grew weak, Veronique was still a free spirit. Jean-Pierre and Sissi would bring her books and record player so she could enjoy her favorite things in her dying days. During her final Christmas, Veronique gave Sissi a music box that played "La Vie En Rose", her absolute favorite song. It would be the final present she was to ever give her little girl.
"Ma cherie, je serai toujours avec tu…."
In March 1998, Veronique Delmas died. Sissi was in 3rd grade. Sissi was inconsolable for over a week. True, she loved her father and her Uncle Jim. Sissi just wanted her mother back. Jean-Pierre's job as headmaster took up almost all day, so Jim started working half-days to take care of Sissi. After school, the little princess would sit on her mother's side of the bed at home and played her music box over and over. Sometimes, she would fall asleep while listening to it, and Jim-overcome by sadness and compassion-would pick up Sissi and carry her to sleep in her own bedroom. Jean-Pierre tried to move Veronique's record player in Sissi's room thinking it would help settle the child from her grief, but Sissi flew into a tantrum when he set it in her room. Sissi was terrified of it, thinking it harbored her mother's ghost. Jean-Pierre, though disturbed by this, made no further suggestions of putting the record player in Sissi's room.
As Sissi grew older, she could hear her mother's voice at nighttime throughout the year. Sissi thought this as a mind-trick at first, but as it happened more often, she grew fond of waiting for her to come and chat with her. Veronique's words brought a sense of comfort to the girl, who was getting to be quite demanding and bossy. But Veronique understood everything her child was going through. Sissi had gone through a lot of troubles since her passing.
When Sissi turned 17, she began to receive less and less visits from her mother. She began doubting that the ghostly voice was even real. Sissi's life was getting hectic. She had a few meaningful friends, but not an entire circle. Her relationships lasted only 3 months or less, sometimes she would have 5 in a year. She was not promiscuous by any chance, she just wanted something to fill the empty void in her heart. On her 18th birthday, her friends took her out to party and get drunk. Sissi was tipsy by her 2nd glass of vodka and in time drunk from 4 glasses of Irish whiskey. The alcohol made her feel nice, the same joyous feeling she got from talking to her deceased mother.
She came home disoriented and nauseous. She curled up on her bed and looked around her dark room. It was almost 3 am. Sissi kept her ears alert for Veronique's voice. By 4 am, she heard nothing. Her mother always came on her birthday! Sissi choked back sobs at this abandonment.
"Mama!" Sissi said. "Mama!" her voice got louder, tears streaming down her face. She sat up and looked at her reflection in her vanity mirror. "Don't leave me…..Mama, please….Mama!" she was in hysterics now. "You can't abandon me! No!" she yelled up toward her ceiling, in doubt her mother could hear her. Sissi looked at the music box on the vanity. Without realizing what she was doing, she smacked it from the vanity onto the floor. It shattered into little tiny shards of painted porcelain and glass.
Suddenly, everything came rushing back to her. The bullying of her friends and classmates, temper tantrums, her strings of lovers and all the alcohol, her hopes and dreams…..Sissi sunk down next to the broken music box, her body heaving with sobs.
"Ma belle…." a voice shook the young girl from her hysterics. "Ma cherie…."
"Mama?" she whispered hoarsely. "Mama, is that you….?" Sissi looked up to see her mother, standing before her. She looked striking, as she did when she was alive.
"Yes, my little Sissi." Veronique was slightly transparent, but still beautiful. Sissi reached out to touch her, but withdrew her hand.
"I-I'm sorry, Mama….I'm sorry about everything…..It's just…I-I miss you, a-and I'm just a l-little…." Sissi whispered. "The music box…..forgive me? I was just….so many things I've wanted to tell you!" Sissi began to cry, barely leaning against her mother. Veronique shushed the girl, patting her head.
"Ma petite, it's alright….Hush yourself now, Mama's here…." she said.
"Mama, can't you stay with me for a little while?" Sissi asked.
"Non, ma cherie. I must leave. But remember, I will always be with you. I've been watching you grow up, dear one. I've seen everything you've done, and I will always forgive you no matter how horrible the things you may have done have seemed. I love you, ma belle."
Within the blink of an eye, Sissi's mother vanished. Sissi, though shocked at how fast it had all played out, gave a contented sigh. She looked at the shattered music box, then looked up at the ceiling.
"Mama….Thank you…."
The next morning when Sissi woke up, she was shocked to see her lovely music box had been restored on the vanity as it had been for almost 10 years. From that night on, she received no more visits from Veronique. Sissi could never really explain the events of what happened the night of her 18th birthday. Was it a miracle? An act of God? A sign of redemption for all her sins? Sissi Delmas merely shrugged it off with a tug on her heartstrings.
Sissi was now 26 years old. She lived a happy life in in Montmartre. It was a beautiful day in Spring, and she sat in her bedroom, brushing her daughters hair. Everyone thought Sarah looked just like her mother, and would be a striking girl one day. Sissi smiled at these compliments.
"Maman!" Sarah said. "Mommy!"
"Quoi?" Sissi replied.
"Dois-je te ressemblement?" Sarah asked. "Do I look like you?"
"Oui, bebe." Sissi nodded and giggled. "Yes, silly girl! Of course!"
"Dois-je ressembler a Grandmaman?" The little girl asked a question which made Sissi go silent for a second. She gave her mother a quizzical look. "Maman?" Sissi looked at the child and then caught her own reflection in the mirror. For a second she could have sworn she had seen Veronique's face looking back at her. Sissi blinked back tears.
"Yes, you do, my little princess." Sissi got up and retrieved the old music box from a drawer in her vanity. She sat back down on the bed next to her child and wound up the music box. Without a word, she pulled Sarah into her lap, humming the song her mother so often sang to her when she was little:
"Quand il me prend dans ses brasIl me parle tout bas,Je vois la vie en me dit des mots d'amour,Des mots de tous les jours,Et 'a me fait quelque chose…."
A/N: Sissi is now shown in a new light. This is a gift thing for a friend of mine. After three days, it is complete!! Enjoy, y'all.