STARDUST ✑ twilight

chapter v ; o, i am fortune's fool!

[ STARDUST, VOLUME I ]
Chapter V ; O, I am fortune's fool!

❝O, I am fortune's fool!❞
Romeo and Juliet | Act 3, Scene 1
William Shakespeare

❀

January 25th, 2005

The Swan House – Bella & Maddie's room, Kitchen

BELLA WAS GONE FROM THE ROOM WHEN I BLINKED sleep from my eyes three hours later. The previous night's contents, including the much-too-early hours of the morning where Bella tried extracting the truth from me, were now stapled to my conscience, unable to be forgotten. The memories almost immediately swarmed me when I regained present awareness, peering across the room and examining Bella's side. Her backpack was gone, bed perfectly remade. I also noticed her favorite pair of shoes—some dirty black Chucks that had seen better days—were gone from their usual spot by her desk.

It wasn't much of a strange occurrence, but I couldn't shake this feeling of uneasiness that was chilling my bones. If the feeling was a direct result of Bella and I technically having a disagreement, I wanted to sate it as soon as possible. I'd get down on my knees and beg Bella to forgive my verbal blunders, swearing to her I'd spit out everything, including the nitty-gritties and the grotesque, unfavorable parts of my epiphany. I hated being on the bad side of anyone, much less somebody I was desperate to make friends with.

I didn't want Bella's cold shoulder.

With my sleep schedule being discombobulated, it took five more minutes to recuperate from being so freaking tired I could close my eyes and be out instantaneously. Then, I was up and shuffling around the room, picking out a comfortable outfit suited for bad hair, bad mood, bad everything days coupled with a baseball cap and some miraculously clean tennis shoes. My exhaustion gave leeway to looking unpresentable and feeling no embarrassment from it, so I didn't even comb my hair before I aggressively compressed my scalp with the hat, nor did I check to see if my face looked alright or was tremendously greasy before leaving the room. After a quick stop at the bathroom, I headed for the stairs. The little boathouse clock in the bathroom said it was a quarter after 6.

To my astonishment, Bella and Dad were both at the kitchen table when I found my way there. Bella was reading a paperback novel with a name I didn't recognize, a cute little deer-headed bookmark lying on the table, and Dad was doing crosswords on a ripped-out page from an old newspaper. Unable to mask my feelings, I came to a squeaky halt at the archway, Bella and Dad's startled faces peeking up at the sound of my sneakers' betrayal.

Dad recovered quickly. "Hey, Maddie!" he said smilingly, putting his ink pen on the table. "Going for a walk? You're underdressed for the occasion, aren't ya?"

I glanced down at my baggy sweatpants, navy blue sweatshirt, and off-white tennis shoes. I was severely underdressed for venturing into the woods where the trails were likely splatter-prone and covered in mucky, staining puddles. It wouldn't be smart to go trudging in the woods looking like I did—feeling like I did, either.

Well, that's what I was thinking until I glanced over at the window by the sink, noticing that there was snowfall.

Oh! If the snow was laying, the climate had to be rough and unforgiving, not relenting in its environmental hazards to accommodate nature lovers. I wouldn't be hiking for a few days, it seemed.

"I think I'd die if I went out there," I said, ominous phrasing paradoxical to my sunny smile. "It looks colder than the peak of Mount Everest. Burr."