The Virgin Sacrifice. | On Hold |

From coaches to roaches.

January 3rd, 2014. - 7:45 pm. 

Dear, Diary. 
Today is my nineteenth birthday. Papa invited the Monroe's, Cummings and the rest of the Aryan Golf Club members. This means, I am expected to dress appropriately, eat finger foods and sip champagne while a the soft hum of the jazz band surrounds the room. Mama hasn't said a word since a stylist walked in and insisted my hair be wound up in a tight chignon. Thaddeus picked out a silver dress with a revealing back for me. 

I'm finding it harder and harder to keep my temper in control whenever Papa or Thad try to join in on a conversation I am struggling to keep with their groupies, I am filled with this overwhelming urge to throw the glass at their face, watch it drip into their expensive attire and walk away. 

This is perhaps why I'm hiding in the pantry while Maria keeps and eye out for the Clarence's. Tomorrow is the day I move out. I have already looked up a couple of apartments over my the 5th. Found one perfect and already met with the landlord. A steady trickle of my belongings are disappearing from my room at the manor to the apartment. I don't know how long I can keep this up. 

I feel like I don't belong. I refuse to play dollhouse. Everything is settled. I transferred my inheritance into my personal account. Applied and received acceptance from the university of my choice and booked an apartment. I have 1/3 ready for my move away from this menagerie. 

until later, Nina Clarence. xoxo

_______

May 29th, 2014 - 7:40am

Like every other Monday morning, Nina woke up to the sound of her alarm. Her eyes were not desolate but alive with expression as she watched the clock tick to forty one. Pulling the covers from over her semi nude form, she pulled on her sleep robe and proceeded to her morning rituals. 

It had been five months since she'd left the presence of her childhood home. There were occasions when she missed the familiarity of her surroundings, but that was just about it. She missed nothing else but Maria's cooking from the Ashmore Manor. It had been quiet a scene when she revealed her decision to depart. Tempers has flared, curses muttered. Her inadequacy was discussed at length by her brother and father. But, it was nothing she hadn't already thought about in her head. Every scenario that would have led her back had been looked at thoroughly and eradicated or simply solved by Nina. She would not, ever willingly step foot in that house again. 

It was a shame too, Ashmore Manor was beautiful Victorian manor and willed by her Papi to her name. She had gone from riches to rags in an attempt to save every last penny. Her new apartment was as basic as it could get. A studio apartment with a decent sized kitchen and bathroom. Large full wall windows covered one side while a small stairway moved up to a division in the wall that made it a small hiding place. It was her own personal library. 

Everything she owned fit perfectly in her apartment. She had plenty of cash to spare because of her 60% scholarship at university. Yet, she bar-tended at the popular bar Studio four days a week for a little more than minimum wage. 

Any normal person would raise an eyebrow at Nina's living situation. A rich girl living in an middle class section of the city, working, travelling and studying like anyone else around her. She had her reasons to stay away from the upper east side and not many to stay at home and stare at the walls. 

Every weekday, she would wake up at 7:40. Clean up, change and eat. Walk up 5 flights of stairs to Claire's apartment. Open the door and use her colleagues running machine until 8:40. Thank the women, water her plants and return back home. She would then eat some more and have a shower. Do her hair and collect her books. Take the 10 o'clock train to the city to attend her 11:15 class. 

Spend time at the campus, laugh with her friends, get her homework and studies done by 6pm and take the next bus to Studio and tend to the drinks of strangers. She would finish at 10 and drive with Claire home from work. Shower, eat and collapse into a relaxing cycle once again. 

As of the fifth month, there was nothing special about Nina Clarence.