i Mom always took care of her with the smile.
Not simply a smile, that didn't describe how deeply the emotions played in her eyes, what Julia would have taken for hate or annoyance in any other person turning into love, approval, affection. Mom always loved her so much that she never let her outside, never wanted her to leave her side for long, and when Julia was bad Mom loved her enough to punish her. Even though it hurt badly, Mom told her she deserved it, and Julia knew she did it because of love. It all was the same, really, though for some reason in her memories she remembered Mom as looking different. Faces shifted, but never lingered long. Mom was Mom, and that was all Julia needed to know.
When she was sixteen, things changed… Somehow.
Mom was more distant. The smile was colder, but Julia didn't care. Words were all she needed for affection, the days when Mom would brush her black hair and make her look like a porcelain doll. That's what she called her, on the rare occasions toward winter's arrival when Mother would hold her on her lap, Julia's dress and hair perfect, glass-blue eyes reading whatever book was laid out on the desk. /i My doll… What a perfect doll you are, Julia…
i Julia thought nothing of it when Mom wanted to make her breakfast that morning. Usually one of the maids did it, but questioning wasn't good at all- It only made Mother angry, so Julia took it with a grain of salt as she sat at the dining room table, waiting as she had been told. Her eyes looked around curiously, watching out the window as a fox from the forest stalked a rabbit through the yard. It was playing with the rodent, running forward before stopping, allowing it to fall into a false security before running forward again. Mother set the plate down before her with a smile and a pet on the head, making Julia grin happily. She must have been good, otherwise Mom wouldn't be treating her so nicely. At Mother's prompt, she started in on the meal- Oatmeal, mixed with a massive amount of brown sugar, just the way Julia liked it. Mother smiled as she ate it, actual delight in her expression. Good girl… Julia was quite proud of whatever she might have done to deserve this treat.
Julia developed a headache soon after breakfast.
She felt ill, found herself vomiting harshly in the bathroom, bent over double as her gut screamed in pain. Mother simply passed by the open door, not bothering to stop as she glanced at the sick girl with ice in her eyes. Lightheaded, fully exhausted of anything else to throw up, Julia crawled to her room down the hall with sheer pain, making it only just inside the door before she became dizzy and had to stop. Seeing things… Julia was delirious, dancing images before her pained eyes that made her stomach pain double and her lightheadedness increase. She fell, lying on the floor, breathing heavily with the dry heaves.
Was it hours that had passed before Mother came in? Julia didn't know. It was darker, the sun had begun to set, but Julia's world was dim for other reasons. Her hair was brushed back from her hot, so hot, face, cold fingers and cold eyes staring down at her. Did she reach upward, call for her mother, or was that a delusion as well? Mother stood near the window, outlined by the moonlight, watching as Julia hemorrhaged and died on the room she had slept in for sixteen years.
The last thing Julia saw was red…
The fox finally ripped out the rabbit's throat, leaving it to bleed once it had eaten out the heart. /i