Auction: charcoal
Astrology: Lysandra
Disney, Kanga: "Some people care too much. I think it's called love."
Amber's Attic: quote below
Book Club, Mister Nancy: smoking, yellow gloves, spider
Lyric Alley: Lost and gone so fast
Ami's Audio, King Falls: fall
Word Count: 481
"I know you think this world is too dark to dream in color, but I've seen flowers bloom at midnight."
-Andrea Gibson
Lysandra never would have thought the world could be so dark. One moment, she'd had everything. Phineas would have been hers, and they would have eloped. She'd had a future with him, but now it's gone without warning.
She could still have a future with him, but he's so bloody noble. He can live with being disowned and the shame that comes with it but he would not let Lysandra join him in his shame. Maybe she's bitter for it. It hardly seems fair that everything should be taken away from her, that, in her true love's stead, she has been forced to marry his brother.
Arcturus is not Phineas. Where Phineas was kind and gentle, Arcturus is rough and cruel. Once, her lips had known only the softest kisses. Now, she nurses a split lip, carefully applying a healing balm and watching the bloodied skin slowly pull itself back together.
Her husband watches her, puffing away on his pipe and sending charcoal grey clouds of smoke into the air. He taps a yellow gloved finger against the kitchen table as though daring her to challenge him again.
"You're lucky," Arcturus tells her, a wicked smile on his thin lips. "I will never abandon you."
She's certain it's said with affection, but it sounds too much like a threat. There's no fighting the frightened shiver that grips her slender frame.
"My brother didn't care for you," he continues before puffing on his pipe again.
"He did." She knows it's true. Maybe she's still upset with Phineas for leaving, for trapping her in this life, but she understands. He couldn't have provided for her without his family's gold and support. Severing ties, as painful as it had been, is for the best. "Some people care too much. I think it's called love. That's why he left."
She should regret those words, but she stands tall and doesn't back down. Maybe her life has grown dark, but she refuses to continue to shrink and live in fear. Lysandra may be trapped with Arcturus, but she can still bloom; she can still grow.
He's on his feet in an instant. His pipe falls to the floor, tobacco spilling out on the tile. Before Lysandra can even speak, his bony knuckles strike her firmly across the face. Lysandra's head jerks back, and she feels her lip split open again. She doesn't even have a chance to catch herself. He slaps her again, this time sending her crashing to the floor.
Lysandra watches a spider scurry across the tile, and she laughs. She should be afraid. She should scurry just like the spider.
But she isn't; she doesn't. She will find a way to rise above this somehow.
It's what Phineas would have wanted.