It was cold and cruel, calculating.
"Let's get inside before we are buried in this storm." Anthony pushed me a little bit forward, and I became keenly aware of the snow picking up. Before long, it would be piled over our boots. I was expected home before the morning, and I didn't want to make my mother worry. Yes, I lived away from home to go to school, but I had been home a few days and didn't want to keep her waiting. I know what people say about me. I hear. I see. But know this. I do have a soul. I do have a heart… or rather I did. Before.
The plan was to eat a meal with Anthony's family, sing a few songs of Christian celebration, and depart. Easy.
I followed Anthony up the stairs, Simon strolled behind me, and we entered through the front doors of Wexley Manor.
I cannot tell you my first impression in any appropriate words. There is nothing to compare it to. As I said, it was the largest home I had ever seen. The outside made me jealous. The inside made me green with envy. I knew I wanted a house like that someday, only bigger and more grand. When we first entered, our top coats and hats were retrieved. At first the chill made me shiver, but a roaring fireplace to my right pulled me toward its warmth. While I stood there and warmed myself, I couldn't help but look around. Like I said, it was immaculate. It was stunning, and I was smitten. Though Anthony and I had been friends going on three years, I had never been to his home. It our last year in university, he decided it a good idea to show Simon and I where he resided. I believe to this day he only did it to show his wealth. But it backfired on him, did it not?
The entire entryway was made of polished wood, walls so shiny one could see his reflection if he squinted hard enough. The fireplace was bigger than the one in my sitting room at home. It was exquisitely decorated for the holidays, green limbs in the form of garland roped across the mantle and down the floor. Red holly berries were inserted at various places along with some white flowers I could not place. Lit candles sparkled. Red and green bows adorned the sides of the mantle. Very festive indeed. And I was in a festive spirit, especially since I'd laid eyes on Miss Rebecca, though we had still not properly been introduced.
The red ribbons, a deep crimson red that reminded me of blood, caused my mind to return to her, Rebecca. I didn't see her at the moment, for I did look for her. I saw Simon and Anthony chatting in hushed tones next to the stairs. Simon's eyes found mine and then down to the floor as quickly as they met. He must have known, even then, the treachery he would cause me. You see, my friends, one my best friends — one I loved like a brother, and the other an acquaintance from school, are the villains of this story. They are the men to whom you will not like when I am finished with my tale. They are the cowards who stole Rebecca from me. They are the men I have hated all these years since.
At the time, I noticed they acted strangely. With hushed tones and averted eyes, but I thought nothing of it. Simon had always been a closer friend to Anthony than I, so it wasn't entirely strange that they were having a secret conversation. Still… I should have known. My mother taught me better than that. She taught me to be cunning and keenly aware of everything that went on around me. And her training paid off. I saw what was going on, but I was too trusting, too… naive in my friendship with Anthony that I thought nothing of it.
Can you imagine if I had? If I had instantly known what they were planning? Things would have turned out so differently, wouldn't they? I had barely met Miss Rebecca;. I didn't even know her name, but I knew there was something between us. Something people only have once in a life time.
And she had smiled at me.
That didn't happen to me often and I clung to it.
If I had known the treachery that would befall me and Rebecca in a few short hours I would have found her instantly and declared my intentions. I had an unknown benefactor whom I had never met providing me with funds. I could have provided a home for her, a life, a family. I could have loved her for all the days of her life.
If only I had known.
It is easy to talk of such things in the past with clarity. The fact remains that I did not know. To me, Anthony and Simon were just two men chatting at a party. Nothing more. Nothing less. I soon joined them, noticing that their hushed tones abruptly stopped when I neared, and a more coherent, social conversation flooded to my ears.