It really couldn't be a more perfect day. The sun lit up the clear and cloudless sky and shined its golden rays down onto the earth below, spreading its warmth onto each and every thing it touched. The luscious trees proudly displayed their picture-perfect emerald colored leaves and little nests that housed hungry little baby birds. Their parents flew about around the trees either looking for food or visiting their neighbors. No matter what they did, each chirped and tweeted many different types of tunes and songs as they went about their day. Not one seemed to have a worry or a care. They certainly didn't seem to care about the old grey horse trotting past them on the road beside their little neighborhood. Nor did they seem to care about the carriage he was pulling behind him. No, not one bird even glanced at that old horse as he passed. Not one cared.
"Lucky birds," the young woman muttered as her carriage continued down the path.
"Samantha, will you please sit up straight? A young lady does not slouch!"
Sam gave her mother an irritated look as she was forced up from her position on the seat and made to sit straight.
"Honestly, Samantha!" her mother continued, "Slouching about and staring up into the clouds is no way to start a marriage. If you're going to be a proper wife, you need to start acting like a lady!"
"So tell me then, dearie," the elderly woman across them said sarcastically to her daughter-in-law, "When are you planning to start?"
"Why won't you die, you old hag?"
"Mother! Pamela!" Sam's father shouted in another vain attempt to keep the peace between the two.
"As I was saying, Samantha," Pamela continued, "You need to start acting like a lady. I don't want Mrs. Masters or her son Dashiel to think that we're all a bunch of uncultured swine."
"Oh, don't worry about that, dearie. They'll only think it's just you that's the uncultured swine."
"I'm going to throw you in front of the horse, you crazy old bat!"
"Mother! Pamela!"
"Well," Sam crossed her arms and glared at her mother, "Maybe, I don't care what Mrs. Masters or Dashiel Baxter think about me. Maybe I just want to forget about this stupid wedding and go home!"
"You are going home, Samantha! You're going to your new home! Or at least, it will be your new home after you and Dashiel get married tomorrow."
"For the thousandth time, Mother, I do not want to get married to Dashiel!"
"Now, now, Samantha," Jeremy reached over to pat his daughter's hand as if she were a small child,"Every bride gets nervous before their wedding. Perfectly normal. You'll get over it once you say 'I do.'"
Sam yanked her hand back and crossed her arms again.
"What if I say, 'I don't?'"
"Samantha!" Pamela hissed as she tugged hard on Sam's ear, "I will not have you embarrass this family!"
"She doesn't have to, dearie," Ida Manson retorted, ignoring her son's groan beside her, "You're doing a perfectly fine job of doing it all on your own."
"Go dig your grave, you bag of bones!"
"Mother! Pamela!"
"I'm serious, Mother!" Sam managed wrangle herself out of her mother's grasp, "I don't want to marry Dashiel! I don't even like him and I'm pretty sure he doesn't like me. Hell, he probably doesn't want to go through with the marriage either."
"How could you not like Dashiel?" Pamela asked in disbelief, "He's such a fine young man. He's brave, charming, smart, handsome, caring-"
"I have no idea who you're describing, but it's certainly not Dashiel Baxter."
"Oh, Samantha! Stop being ridiculous! Dashiel is a fine young man with a good upbringing. And his mother is a fine and noble woman whom I think you'll like very much."
"In other words, he's rich and a mommy's boy."
"Samantha! You will marry Dashiel Baxter and you will like it!"
"Why do I have to marry him? I don't give a damn about his money! Let him marry some other rich girl!"
"You will marry him and uphold the Manson family's honor!"
"Too late," Ida replied, "The unholy union between my son and Satan's wife has already tarnished it."
"Why didn't they burn you at the stake, you old witch!"
"Mother! Pamela!"
"Excuse me, Mr. and Mrs. Manson," the driver at the front interrupted, "But we're approaching the mansion now."
Sam looked out the carriage window and gasped. The Masters mansion in front of her looked nothing like at all like a mansion. The building was built entirely out of stone, but was painted white. The sun's rays made it shine so brightly, Sam was temporarily blinded. When her eyes adjusted, she saw the mansion had great big towers with painted red roofs that seemed to touch the sky. As the carriage came closer to the mansion, its wooden door dropped down to the ground welcoming the new guests. The house reminded Sam of a fairytale castle than an actual house, only with a Prince Repuslsive instead of Prince Charming.
The carriage was almost to the door when Sam noticed an assortment of what looked like oddly shaped stones nearby the mansion. It took a moment for her to realize those stones were tombstones.
"It's a graveyard!" she gasped, not realizing she had spoken out loud.
Pamela turned to where Sam was looking and frowned, "Why in the world would they have such a ghastly thing in such a beautiful place?"
"I'm sure they were just being nice, dearie," Ida replied, "You didn't HAVE to accept their invitation, you know. Then the place would still look beautiful."
"You'll be the next one buried in that graveyard if you don't shut up, you wrinkly old toad!"
"Mother! Pamela!"
