She took a deep breath and fled the room.
This worried me. Sable never cared how I looked before. Something different was going to happen tonight, and with my parents, different was never good.
I removed my gown and pulled on the slip. Goosebumps broke across my skin, but I don’t think it was because I was cold. I moved to my vanity and combed my hair. After the restless night I’d had, thanks to another nightmare, it would take time to untangle my long tresses.
Just as I set the brush down, Sable burst through the door, bringing with her a gust of icy air and two women I’d never seen before. Her face, framed by gold hair curlers, was the same color as her white satin robe, making me think of a blizzard. Instinctively, I pulled my arms against my chest.
“You slept in.” She said the words as if I’d committed a treasonous act.
I glanced at my alarm clock. A little after eight. I kept my voice calm. “Did you want me up sooner?”
“I want you to use your brain. Can you do that?”
“I’ll try.”
Sable’s thin upper lip twitched; her left eye mimicked the movement. I might have considered her beautiful if it wasn’t for the hateful expression permanently plastered to her face.
Sable closed the distance between us. She smelled like jasmine and my father’s cigars. I’d learned early in life that those smells brought pain. Inwardly, I trembled, but I willed my stomach not to churn.
“This is a rat’s nest,” she said, grabbing a fist full of my hair and snapping my head back. “If tonight wasn’t so important, I’d have it shaved.” She let go of my hair and inhaled deeply. “This is going to take a lot longer than I thought.”
The next two hours were a whirlwind of demands and insults. The two women Sable had brought with her were hired to help me look my best. I’m sure Sable had paid a high price to find the very best stylists around. The dress she chose for me was a backless, blood-red evening gown she’d purchased from some designer I’d never heard of. This was not like Sable at all, who could care less how I dressed. It was Erik who purchased all of my clothing for the times they wanted to parade me in public, which wasn’t often.
After I dressed, Sable instructed one of the girls to sweep my hair up into a tight French twist, leaving no strand out of place. The poor girl, who couldn’t help but check the time on her phone every few minutes, had to redo the style four times before Sable appeared satisfied.
“Can we do anything about her green eyes? I prefer blue,” she said, her lip twitching again.
The girl frowned. “Do you want her to wear contacts?”
“You’re useless,” Sable snapped, but she continued to stare at my eyes as if conjuring a spell.
I remained silent throughout the entire ordeal. I’d learned long ago that it was easier to endure than to open my mouth, even if I was trying to help. Sable looked me over one final time and left with a flick of her wrist and an unsatisfied grunt. The two women followed after her.
The moment the door closed, I replaced the dress with jeans and a t-shirt and planned my escape. I had to get outside and take a break from the contention that poisoned every person in the house. I would never make it through the night otherwise.
It wasn’t difficult to sneak away, my head down. It also helped that I hid my face by carrying a tall vase of flowers as if I was part of the event staff.
The moment I opened the back door, I bolted toward the edge of the nearby forest and didn’t stop until safely behind a thick oak tree.
I glanced back at the home. It was an ugly site. It wasn’t really a home but more of a gaudy mansion made of brick and stone. It was several stories above ground and several below, though only a select few knew of its depths. My room was in the east wing, opposite my parents. What I wouldn’t give to live in a suburban area, surrounded by normal people. Come home from school, play video games or watch TV. I wasn’t allowed to do any of those things. Occasionally, Erik allowed me to use his laptop for schoolwork, and when Jane wasn’t watching, I would visit different webpages, hungry to learn all I could about the outside world.