1.
She sat amongst the roses, flashes of red and white and yellow filled her small brown eyes.
The breeze blew through her brown locks as she stood from her vibrate spot amongst the flowers.
Book under her arm, she began to skip; skipping along the dirt ground as the bright light from the sun behind the trees shone between the large trunks.
There was an eye- the same brown eyes that she had at the start. It blinked a couple of times before a single red tear escaped, falling down and down until…
'Annabelle! Annabelle! Belle what are you doing!'
Belle opened her brown eyes, the whole left side of her body aching.
She sat up, rubbing her eyes to discover that she'd fallen asleep out on the balcony bench once again; although this time wearing a long pink gown which was for her sisters wedding- she was her bridesmaid.
'Belle get off there!' her mother Helena whelped, tugging her daughter by her arm and standing her up, dusting off the dress frantically.
Belle sighed quietly as her mother looked back to her, her eyes sharp as daggers.
'You will be wearing this for your sister's special day!' her mother snapped, her grey thick hair which was spun into a loose bun bobbing on the top of her head as she spoke. 'How do you think she'd feel if she knew THIS was how you were treating her wedding! By going outside and laying down on a bench for a nanna nap? In the DRESS!'
'It's not like Kennedy wanted me to be her bridesmaid anyway," Belle mumbled, bitterly.
Her mother huffed, throwing her long scarf around her and looking down at Belle along her elongated nose.
'Well whose problem is that?' her mother said, callously. 'Now, accompany me back inside. We have an important job to do.'
Her mother reached forward and grabbed Belle's arm, tugging her inside.
'And what is that?' Belle asked; shaking her mother off her once they had gotten off the balcony and returned back inside.
During Belle's absence the living room had been turned into a clothes dump with many various dresses and shoes and veils thrown everywhere.
In the far corner there was a large clothes screen where a loud, high-pitched sequel was coming from.
'Kennedy darling are you alright?' Helena cried, dashing over to the screen as fast as she could with her little red heels and peering around it where Kennedy was wearing an extremely tight wedding dress. 'What is this! Have you been eating again!'
'No! The dress has just shrunk in the wash!' Kennedy defended; the bottoms of her large behind protruding from the bottom of the dress.
Belle sat down awkwardly on the edge of one of the sofas and watched as her mother tugged Kennedy by her long blonde hair out from behind the screen and stood her up straight, small tears appearing in Kennedy's light green eyes
Belle smiled slightly seeing how chubby her older sister had gotten since her and her boyfriend Lance had decided to get married.
'What are you staring at!' Kennedy snapped, noticing Belle sitting on the chair.
Belle shook her head slightly as her mother took out a tape measure and measured Kennedy's waist.
'You've gained ten pounds!' Helen cried, angrily. 'How dare you!'
'I swear I haven't been eating- promise…!'
'I've got the food you wanted sis,' Belle's other older sister Mara whimpered, waddling into the room with three bags of McDonalds in her hand with a tray of sundaes in the other.
Mara paused as she saw her mother with the tape around Kennedy's waist and grinned slightly.
'I-I mean…?'
'KENNEDY!' Helena snapped, hitting her daughter across the face.
Helena was often like this to her two eldest daughters. They were never allowed to eat apart from when they went out on important occasions, and they were also never supposed to allow Belle to leave the house as they believed her to be too ugly for anyone to see- but the truth was; Belle was far more beautiful than any of the family had ever seen.
'It wasn't for me mother, I ordered Mara to get some food for Belle as no matter what she ate Belle would still be fat!' Kennedy lied, all too fast. 'You see! I was just doing a nice thing for a poor hungry girl!'
All eyes turned to Belle who just stammered but didn't say anything.
'But Belle has been asleep since she first tried on the dress when I was last here,' her mother said slowly and turning back around to Kennedy, glaring right down into her eyes. 'So think very hard before you try and lie to me again.'
Kennedy gulped silently before Helena stepped back slightly and walked towards Mara, hitting the McDonalds out of her hands and storming off down the halls.
'CLEAN THIS PLACE UP!' she yelled from down the hall.
Kennedy glared over at Mara, before her eyes turned to Belle.
'If this place isn't cleaned up before mother comes back, I will make your life a living hell,' she stated, walking over to her and leaning in extra close. 'Got it? Come on Mara, help me choose and outfit for tomorrow night's party.'
'Of course Kennedy,' Mara cried, tottering after her older sister as the "blushing" bride stormed off to her room.
Belle stood up and groaned, looking down at the trashed room.
She was often left to clean up after everyone else without any choice.
She began by placing all the potential bridal dresses in their boxes and placing them on the left sofa. She then picked up all the junk that had been dumped onto the coffee table and re-ordered all the magazines.
An hour later she plonked down onto the couch exhausted.
'What is this?' Helena demanded; walking into the room, her large black stilettos clicking on the wooden floorboards as she walked.
Belle sat up straight, breathing in deeply and hoping that her cleaning was up to scratch.
'Erm… everything is clean,' Belle stammered, hopeful.
She watched as her mother scanned her hawk-like eyes over the living room.
'Belle come here please,' Helena said, looking down at something on Belle's dress.
Belle gulped quietly, timidly walking over to her mother who looked down to her with a grimace.
'What are you wearing?'
Belle looked down to her current piece of clothing- she still hadn't changed from her bridesmaid dress and in the far left corner of it there was now a dark black blotch, possibly from the coffee mugs Belle had cleaned up.
'My dress,' Belle replied, timidly.
Helena reached down and grabbed the corner of Belle's dress, fire in her eyes.
'You ruined my daughters' dress!' Helena snapped.
'I-I didn't even notice-' Belle stammered, quickly.
Helena grabbed Belle by the arm and tugged her along the hallway, Kennedy and Mara's door opening slightly as they walked past.
Helena threw her youngest daughter into her bedroom and slammed shut the door, locking it with her own private key outside.
Belle sighed quietly, sitting up straight and rubbing her sore arm.
She knew that the real reason she was here was because Kennedy told Helena that she felt Belle was prettier and thinner than she was so this was her mothers' solution.
Belle sat up, dusting her dress down before slumping down on her bed and running her hands through her long brown hair.
She was really getting tired of everything that came with living here. She just dreamt of getting away, escaping into one of her favourite story-books- she loved reading.
Belle shuffled down to the end of her bed and looked out her window to the world below.
Being on the top floor of the highest building in New York did have its benefits; no-one else could hear Helena's frantic yelling, but the down-side was that there was no backyard, no beautiful garden. Oh how Belle dreamed of having a beautiful garden.
Belle lent down on the windowsill, looking up to the clouds and sky above and wishing for everything she could possibly think of, before falling straight to sleep.
She awoke to a startling prod just above her hip bone.
Her brown eyes fluttered open and she looked around to where her mother was standing.
She threw a garbage bag at Belle and crossed her arms.
'As punishment for your failure,' she began, crossly. 'You will remove all the old clothes and magazines from the attic- and I'll have you know, that there is more up in that tiny space above our flat than you know.'
Helena's devilish eyes danced in their sockets before she stormed out of the room, the grim faces of Kennedy and Mara peered out from either side of Belle's door.
'Belle's in trouble,' Mara chanted, grinning.
Belle rolled her eyes before the two twits laughed and strutted off after their mother.
Belle stood up, quickly closing the door and changing into a pair of jeans and blue top before laying the stained dress out on her bed- she'd fix it later.
Taking the bag, she made her way out into the hallway, pulling down the ladder to the attic and clambering up into the dark, cramped space.
She switched on the lights and waddled along to the boxes in the corner, pulling them down and beginning to go through all the old magazines.
After throwing many various old items into the garbage bag, Belle finally took a well earned rest, sitting down and leaning against one of the old tall boxes.
She was soo tired and ready for sleep, but knowing that Helena had more chores for her to do downstairs she decided to remain where she was.
Hazily, she suddenly spied a large wooden box in the corner of the attic- it definitely wasn't there before?
Belle crawled over to the box, cleaning off the mountain of dust on the lid before trailing her fingers across the picture of a rose on the top.
With one shunt she opened the box, expecting some form of amazing treasure but in stead only finding three objects; and old tea pot, a golden candle stick and a broken clock.
Confused, she reached down to pick up the candle stick when she heard footsteps from the attic entrance.
'What is taking so-?'
Belle looked over to where Helena's head had popped up into the room, a face of both shock and concern flooding her face.
'Put all those things away right this instant,' Helena whimpered, her voice slow and worrisome.
Belle hastily placed the stuff away and closed the box, shoving it back into the corner before picking up the garbage bag.
'I'll get it, just go to your room,' Helena said, there wasn't even the slightest level of anger in her voice.
Belle stood up and crawled her way towards the stairs, hastily going back downstairs and walking down to her room, looking back to the attic where Helena was still standing on the top step, staring off to the box in the corner.
Belle closed her bedroom door before siting down against the door, wondering what was so horrible about that box.
After all, what could a candle stick, a clock and a tea pot have to do with anything?
