Flickering. Dancing. Glowing.
The flame mesmerized her, holding her mind captive. Against the dark walls of the chamber, the warmth was inviting. The velvet chair she sat upon was plush. Leaning her chin on her clasped hands in front of her, four year old Maura Isles stared at the flame with scarily adult-like intensity and focus.
Mummy and Daddy had gone out, leaving her with Old Rosa. Rosa was Maura's nanny who fell asleep all the time; Maura thought it was funny to see how many objects she could stack on Rosa without waking her up. Of course, if she did wake up, Maura knew that meant an hour locked in her room. But she didn't mind so much sometimes. She liked her books that were on the bookshelf in her room. Maura liked looking at the diagrams and trying to sound the more complicated words out. As a four year old, she was very proud of herself that she could read, mostly. Maybe then Mummy would give her a hug once she became really good.
Whenever Maura was bored, she wandered the huge mansion aimlessly. It was silly, but the huge ball of string tied to her doorknob had saved her from getting lost a few times. The wandering was how she had found the dining room. Usually reserved for parties, the room had high vaulted ceilings, nice furniture, and candle holders on the walls. A palace for a little girl. All she needed was a prince to take her away.
Loud. Overwhelming. Scary.
Mama and Dad were shouting again. She may have been able to comprehend the words had they been spoken in inside voices, but four (almost five! Her birthday was in two weeks!) year old Jane Rizzoli was a bit scattered at the moment. Her baby brother Frankie was sleeping, weren't they worried they were gonna wake him up?
Jane had tried sleeping, like a good girl. She had said her prayers (and asked for chocolate cake for her birthday) and crawled into her bed, which she constantly made a nest out of by lumping the blankets together and hiding under them. But as the volume escalated downstairs, she found that she just couldn't lie still. Jane had a hard time doing that anyways. Sure, Mama and Dad shouted sometimes. It was natural. She still couldn't help that it bothered her.
That was what had brought her to the landing on the stairs. Jane was proud of her ability to eavesdrop and not get caught. She practiced when Mama had her friends over. Maybe she would be able to figure out what exactly the ruckus was about. Unfortunately, the decibel level was a bit too loud. Too bad. She was going to boast about her spy abilities to her friends tomorrow. That usually impressed them. Giving up, she turned around to run up the stairs.
"Hi. I'm Jane."
Maura started, not expecting anyone to be near her. A girl about her age was staring at her, waiting for what she assumed was a response. She was a bit taller than her, and had black curly hair and big brown eyes. The hospital room was too warm and smelled funny. And her arm hurt really bad. Rosa was sitting outside, reading a paper.
"Well? Do you have a name?" The girl called Jane said, impatient and snapping Maura out of her reverie.
"Of…of course. My name is Maura." She stated shakily. She wasn't really great at new people.
"What are you here for? I broke my arm falling down the stairs. I got a green cast!" Jane asked, lifting her arm so that Maura could admire her cast.
"I broke my arm too…but I fell off a chair. I was trying to get some candles, they were really pretty. My cast is pink." Maura said, breaking into a toothy smile (she had already lost her two top front teeth). "Pink's my favorite color!"