Music Recommendation: Castration- Ben Frost
"It seems like the governess that you hired for Rosetta isn't doing a good job, Lady Aurora," Molly's mother remarked, noticing young Rosetta make her way to where they stood.
Even though the vampires were cold creatures in nature, most of their kind who entered high society didn't like to show their personalities and wanted to be part of a society filled with poise and perfect manners.
"Don't you know not to tear the butterfly's wings, Rosetta?" Molly's mother questioned her.
Young Rosetta looked at the woman's daughter, who stared back at her. Rosetta raised her hand and pointed a finger, "Molly, Ellyen and Wilma did it. They were with it earlier, and I found the butterfly only now."
"Rosetta is lying, mama," the girl named Wilma quickly cleared her name before suspicion of what they had done would arise. "We didn't touch or even see the butterfly at all. Isn't that right?" The young girl looked at her friends, who nodded.
Rosetta's eyebrows furrowed, and she said, "Liar! I saw you waiting to catch it. You said it yourself to me."
Wilma cowered behind her mother and responded in a small voice, "I don't know why she's blaming us for something she did."
One of the women clicked her tongue and said, "Not only cruel but she blatantly lies. It seems like you will need to put in a lot more effort on this one, Lady Aurora."
"They are lying, mother! I would never do such a bad thing!" Rosetta's voice raised, and this was enough for Lady Aurora to lose her patience.
When they reached home, Lady Aurora dragged her young daughter through the corridors. The Marchioness scolded, "You cannot sit still without making a scene every single time I take you out so that you can mingle. Not only are you hell bent on ruining your name, but sullying the Hookes family name."
"Mother, I didn't do anything wrong! I swear I didn't hurt that butterfly!" Rosetta tried to explain to her mother in a shaky voice, but her mother was more than furious to listen to even a word of hers.
It wasn't about hurting the butterfly. Lady Aurora could care less about the insect. People had looked down upon her, the same people who were beneath her. She said angrily, "How long will it take for you to behave like the other girls? Do you see them making a scene? You are good for nothing child. Nor do you look pretty, nor do you have the sense to behave in public."
Lady Aurora continued to drag her daughter to the quieter side of the mansion, while Rosetta pleaded, "Mother, please! I will behave better! I promise! I won't do it again."
But her mother didn't pay any attention to her pleas and she continued to pull her until they reached a room, where the curtains covered the windows. Lady Aurora reprimanded Rosetta, "This has been repeating for a long time and I thought you would learn, but it seems like you are slow. It is time for you to learn and not repeat this kind of behaviour again."
Rosetta had already received a slap on her cheek from her mother when they had climbed inside the carriage, and tears had streamed down her eyes. She shook her head, "P--please, don't hit me mother."
Lady Aurora looked around the room before her eyes fell on the old and closed cupboard. She dragged Rosetta and opened the cupboard, which had dust in it, before pushing the girl inside it.
"Mother!" Rosetta sobbed, and Lady Aurora glared at her. This had the little girl quiet while her lips trembled.
"You better sit in there and reflect on what you did. It is time you become smarter, than tarnish the Hookes name," Lady Aurora closed the cupboard and locked it from the outside. She said, "You will stay here, until you learn your lesson." With that, the Marchioness closed the room's door and left her daughter in the dark.
Rosetta, now locked in the cupboard while surrounded by darkness, called for her mother, "Mother! Mother, please let me out!!" She shook the cupboard's doors with her tiny hands, but it didn't open. "I promise to listen! Plea--"
She heard something scratch against the corner of the big cupboard, and she started to panic further, "MOTHER!"
In the present, in the Moriarty mansion, Rosetta's breathing was uneven, and she had pulled her knees close to her chest.
Rosetta crumpled her skirt, digging her nails into the fabric, which pressed into the sides of her legs. The fear that had been etched in her mind from the past had returned in full force. She felt it crawl from every side of the darkness she was surrounded in.
"I am sorry..." Rosetta whispered, her voice holding sorrow that even Eugene sensed. "I... I am scared of darkness."
She wondered if Eugene would find it funny. That a grown woman like her, who was a vampiress, was scared of such closed spaces that were dark. But then she heard Eugene's gentle voice,
"I understand, Lady Rosetta."
The silence was deafening except for the heavy breathing from Rosetta, who appeared to be trying to calm herself.
"T--There's a spider..." Rosetta whispered, hearing the little rustle in the room. "I don't like spiders, Eugene."
Eugene moved to where Rosetta was, and he sat next to her, "I am right here and next to you. I will keep the spiders away from us."
"But you can't see," Rosetta pointed it out, and Eugene's lips twisted into a smile, on how the vampiress spoke directly even though she was scared and he was the only company she had here.
"I have good ears, milady. I will use them and I believe you have good ones too," Eugene spoke to her in a calm voice.
Like a scared mouse, Rosetta moved to one side only to end up yelping when her shoulder touched Eugene's, and she quickly apologised, "I am sorry!"
"You have been apologising too much. You haven't done anything wrong to say sorry," Eugene said to her. It wasn't like Rosetta didn't want to stay close to him, but she didn't want him to think wrongly about her.
Rosetta asked him, "Aren't you scared of the dark?"
"People of the poor grow up without too much light. We live on the streets, in the alleys or forest until someone gives us a job, or brings us here to serve them. You get used to it after sometime as it is normal," Eugene said, before thinking to himself about how there was no light in some of the people who belonged to the wealthy status.
"I don't think I could ever get used to the darkness..." Rosetta whispered, and a tear slipped from her eye.
For the next ten minutes, they stayed in silence. With both of them locked inside the room, not knowing how long it would take for someone to find them, Eugene asked, "Why are you scared of spiders? You are bigger than them. All you need is something to smash it with."
Rosetta nodded in the dark, "I am bigger than that... When I was small, my family would often lock me up in the cupboards and rooms, which were dark and old. To discipline me."
"Were you a handful as a child?" Eugene asked her.
Right now, their status or kind didn't come into the picture. Because of the darkness, they focused on each other's voices and the emotion behind them.
Rosetta stared into the darkness, "I must have been." Considering the number of times her mother had turned furious and locked her up. But after two seconds, she said, "I don't know. My mother used to be very upset with me, even if I didn't do anything wrong. How was your childhood?" She tried to distract her mind. She added, "It is okay if you don't want to share."
His childhood? Eugene thought about it and answered, "I never knew my parents. Never seen them as they didn't stick too long for me to know them. I lived in the back alleys, searching for food. I wanted to help so that I could fill my stomach. But people don't trust children who are poor, if they steal something."
Rosetta turned to look at Eugene, and she asked, "How did you find food then?"
Eugene answered nonchalantly, "Go through the trash of every person's house when they were asleep." But he could do it only in the middle class or the poorer side of the village and town, as guards often guarded the houses of the wealthy. Somedays, there was no food, and some days, there would be rotten food, which would make him sick after eating.
Trash.... Rosetta couldn't believe that Eugene had such a hard childhood.
"When did you start working at Eve's house then?" Rosetta asked him.
"It was two years before Mr. Dawson passed away. I was young but not too young when I came to work for the Dawson's family. They have been very kind towards me, treating me like their family member," Eugene would forever be grateful to the family.
"You know, when I first met Eve, I thought how nice it would be to be her. Beautiful, calm, kind, and a family who loves her dearly. I can tell with the way Lady Aubrey and you look after each other," Rosetta softly laughed.
Eugene murmured, "Be careful for what you wish, for the wish you wish upon isn't what you would want." Rosetta's eyebrows furrowed, and before she could ask why he said it, she heard him ask, "You make it sound like you don't have a loving family."
"Would you look down upon me if I badmouthed my family?" Rosetta asked, and then she said, "You don't like my family, so it should be okay... My parents have been everything I have known, they were the only ones who have loved me. But it is only now that I question if they really do. Ready to use me, just to achieve their own motives. Pardon me, I don't mean to complain."
"I am sure you didn't mean to," Eugene said, "It is the curse that many bear, when born in a family that belongs to high positions."
Rosetta smiled and said, "I wish my parents would lose all their wealth."
Listening to her words, Eugene burst with laughter as he noticed the vampiress's innocence in her words.
He then said, "Don't be scared of darkness, milady. Once you accept it to be part of you, you will learn to walk through it."
"You think I will be able to do that?" Rosetta asked him in hope.
"Yes," Eugene offered his words of hope and advice. He continued, "You are bound to fear because of how you were treated and how you felt many years ago. But if you think about it, time has changed now. You are no longer that small girl. The thing that you feared, is now much smaller than what it used to be. Think closely, if you break the door now, you will find light. All you need is to break the door."
Rosetta thought about it, realising how true his words were. There was light and people outside this room. More than that, there was Eugene right next to her.
"Thank you for your kind words, Eugene Eggs. I will always keep them close to my heart, even if one day you may not respond to my feelings the way I want you to. We can be... friends. I do have very few of them," she awkwardly smiled.
Hearing the last name, Eugene's lips twisted once again. It was because that was not his last name. He had given the vampiress an odd one because he knew a person who didn't love him would never be able to accept such a terrible last name. Especially not one who liked to maintain an image in front of others.
Eugene didn't go to comment on Rosetta's words, which left her wondering what he was thinking.
