Hi everyone! Okay, so I wrote this for English and my teacher said I should put it on here so here goes! Mind you, this is my first FanFic ever so please be nice and I would definitely appreciate all constructive (that being the operative words here) criticism! Thanks and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Pride and Prejudice belongs to the amazing Jane Austen. Besides, if I did own something, I'd be rich, which I am not.
It was after the ball at Netherfield. My mum, Jane, Elizabeth, Lydia, Kitty and I were all sitting in the lounge, discussing the evening's events.
"Oh girls, I'm just so thrilled!" said my mum. "You girls are all admired by many great and respectable men. Jane, judging on Mr. Bingley's behavior towards you, I think that soon you two will be engaged! And Mr. Collins seemed quite interested in you, Elizabeth. Why, I daresay that he might make a proposal; he seems to like you so much. Lydia, Kitty, the officers seem to enjoy your company very much; perhaps, you too might be married soon. It is quite a comfort to me that none of my girls will end up being an old maid."
"Except Mary!" cried Lydia. "She never socializes at the balls. All she does is just play the piano and read!"
Like I haven't heard that before. Hello, my name is Mary. And, just like the name implies, I appear to be very plain. I have mousy brown hair with grey eyes and very thick glasses. Compared to all my sisters, I am the "homeliest." Or at least that's what my mum and Lydia say. They are always criticizing the fact that I don't have any interest in getting married and that I always just keep to myself. Normally, I just ignore them, but lately this has been getting very annoying.
"Well, at least I have some common sense," I retorted. "Unlike you." Lydia rolled her eyes and Jane looked away uncomfortably. Kitty and Elizabeth just exchanged a quick glance, knowing that an argument was about to happen.
"Mary, she does have a point. You NEVER socialize. You're always reading or playing music or being alone. How are you supposed to meet a nice man, hmm? Aren't you afraid of becoming an old maid? Oh dear, that would be just awful! You would be an embarrassment to this family," said Mum.
"Mary, we just have your best interests at heart," Lydia sneered.
Now, Jane cut in, "You should stop mocking poor Mary. It is very cruel and what you say is untrue."
I was getting mad. The last thing I wanted was sympathy from Jane, the perfect, beautiful daughter. I don't need your help; I can fight my own battles! I thought. But instead of saying that, I rolled my eyes and ignored my mother and Lydia. They kept rambling on and on about how I wasn't very pretty, how I was too bookish and isolated, and how I was an embarrassment to the family because I wasn't clever or handsome. I pretended to be absorbed in the book I was reading. Since I was paying them no mind, I was surprised when Lydia came up to me and started playing with my hair.
"You know," she said coyly, "you would be so much prettier if you did something with your hair! It's just a plain mess! Let me see, perhaps I could—"
I cut her off. "Will you just stop touching me?!" I swatted her hand away. This happened every night, every day! Making fun of me. I lost all of my patience with them. "All of you are always ignoring me, and when you're not ignoring me, you're mocking me! Well, I have had it up to here with that!" I shouted. I turned towards Lydia and my mother and snarled: "And you….you two have no right to criticize me! Both of you are incompetent, lazy, and rude and are the last people on earth I would marry if I were a man! Oh, how I do pity father for marrying someone like you, mother!" They all just stared at me, dumbfounded. Here was Mary, the girl who barely said anything, yelling at the top of her lungs about how irritated she was with her family. Serves you all right! I thought. With my little outburst finished, I stalked out of the room, only to bump into my cousin, Mr. Collins.
"Oh, ah, hello um…Mary..." he said awkwardly. I threw him a dirty look and pushed past him and went straight up to my room. As soon as I got there, I slammed the door and began to cry, sliding down the wall until I was curled up in a little ball on the floor. After what seemed like hours, I pulled myself together and thought about what I was going to do. I don't ever want to see them again, I thought. After an outburst like that I don't think I even could see them again. So I sat there and started to think about how I could possibly deal with my family. Suddenly, a dangerous yet appealing idea occurred to me; what if I ran away? No one would miss me, and I wouldn't really miss anyone here, except maybe for father. Father was the only one who partly understands me. I debated for awhile, and then finally came up with my answer. "Tonight," I whispered, "I will steal a horse from the stable and I will run far, far away from here, where I will never have to see my family again."
