e lucevan le stelle
anna gray was dead on paper, thanks to people's laziness.
in 1924, anna bernard was suppose to go to Birmingham with her guardian, attend grace burgess' wedding and leave the city. easy and uncomplicated ― the reality however was...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
══════ • ❀ • ══════
Anna was consumed by anxiety.
Because Imogen was still recovering from her migraines, Anna needed to go to Grace's party by herself. She has never been to a big party by herself ― only the thought of doing so has always made her very anxious. She thought about staying home but knew she couldn't do so since she had already accepted Grace's invitation.
So with anxiety traveling through her entire body, Anna watched herself from her vanity's mirror while her maid Frida pinned her hair up into a bun.
"Maybe I should keep my hair open," Anna said suddenly.
"We can do that," said Frida.
Anna sighed. "No, it's fine. I'm just nervous. Can you tell? Can you tell I'm nervous? Because I am totally and completely freaking out. I am not a fancy girl. I lived in the streets, not even two years ago. I can't go to a party this fancy without Imogen's help."
"You will do fine Miss Anna. You will do more than fine actually," Frida said softly. "Mistress believes in you. She always speaks very highly of you."
"She does?" Anna asked with a sigh of a relief.
Frida nodded and put one last pin on in Anna's hair.
"She really does. Now you need to believe in yourself Miss Anna."
"You think I will do okay? I'm nervous around those people. There's something about them that just makes me very uncertain of everything. Grace's nice but the others I just... I don't quite understand them. One minute they're nice and talkative and the next, they turn into these quiet strange people," Anna explained and walked over to her bed.
There was a dress laid out for her ― a beautiful dress with hand embroidered details. Anna ran her hand against the dress, the material felt expensive. And that it was.
Imogen didn't save on expenses nor did she have to. Anna wondered how many dinners she could by with the money spent on the dress.
"Maybe take the pearls," Frida suggested once Anna had put on her dress.
Anna waited until Frida had closed the clasp before turning around to look at herself from a body length mirror. Anna laughed a little at her reflection ― she looked like an heiress who's lived with important and fancy people her entire life. No one could tell that Anna's had a bad life, no one could tell she grew up without a real family.
Or perhaps she once had one ― she couldn't remember.
"Do you really think I will do fine?" Anna wondered.
"Yes Miss Anna. We all think so," said Frida.
Anna's face brightened up and she turned around to face Frida.
