Down By The River

1

ℍ𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣 𝕙𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕤𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕣𝕦𝕞𝕡𝕖𝕥𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕨𝕒𝕣?𝕋𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕨𝕒𝕤 𝕓𝕝𝕠𝕠𝕕 𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕓𝕒𝕟𝕜𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕓𝕣𝕠𝕨𝕟 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕣𝕦𝕚𝕟𝕖𝕕 𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕕

Charlotte Anderson was watching the clock that was hanging on the wall. She had a lot of time to get ready for Sunday mass, but there was nothing left to do - not unless she wanted to do her hair again. But at the same time she was afraid of just... overdoing it. There wasn't even any point to doing her hair much, since it would be hidden under a scarf anyway. Still, there was a lot of time left until she'd go to church with her family, and Charlotte didn't know how to pass the time.

She had woken up unusually early this morning, because she couldn't sleep well for some reason, but now she was getting tired again. But it was too late for her to lie down again. It would ruin her dress and her hair and she had just spent a lot of time on looking presentable. She wasn't even sure who she was looking presentable for. Her parents wanted her to marry someone very faithful and religious, so obviously she would be looking for someone during mass... but there weren't many eligible young men left. None that Charlotte was interested in anyway.

She didn't much care for the boys in the village - not the ones that would go to church anyway. When she thought of someone she might like to marry, she was always thinking of someone that her parents wouldn't like, someone that wasn't of a good standing in the church, someone that was travelling, that was adventurous, that wouldn't tie her down to a house and a kitchen... but of course that was never going to happen. Her parents weren't going to allow it and Charlotte was too scared of her father's drunken wrath to openly act against his wishes.

She was trying her best to live her life and have some fun. Charlotte had mastered the art of sneaking out, or at least she thought so. She had been caught a few times, but lately she had gotten much better at it. Not that she was sneaking out at night very often. There usually wasn't much to do anyway, but she liked to go for walks at night, look at the moon, and dream of a different life. One where she didn't just exist to have children and to work in the kitchen.

But what she thought didn't really matter. Charlotte sighed and got up from her chair. She had been thinking about wearing a nice necklace her mother had given her, but she figured that it wasn't worth it. Her father was most likely going to tell her that she shouldn't wear it, because she should be looking humble and not adorning herself with golden jewellery or however that Bible verse went. She never really paid much attention, much to her parents' dismay. She really wanted to pay attention. Maybe if she did a better job at listening, she'd be better able to fit into whatever life was proper for a woman... but it was just so hard to listen to the entire sermon.

Charlotte took her bag from underneath her bed and opened it, putting her missal and her Bible inside, before taking her rosary as well. She wasn't sure whether she was going to wear her scarf over her head on the way to church as well or not. She'd see how cold it was going to be and then decide. If it was cold outside, she might as well wear it over her head. With another sigh, she closed the bag and slung it over her shoulder. Charlotte was getting hungry, but normally she wouldn't have breakfast until after mass. Still, if she went downstairs her mother might have something to eat for her. There was no doubt that her mother was up already, Charlotte could hear her rummaging around the kitchen and getting her little siblings ready.

She closed the door behind her and slowly made her way downstairs, holding up her skirt so it wouldn't get dirty with all the dust on the floor. Charlotte knew that she should have swiped the floor in the afternoon, but she had completely forgotten. Her mother was probably going to give her hell for that, but she had just been so tired and when she had woken up from her nap, Charlotte's little brother was asleep and she didn't want to wake him. There was no way to win in this situation.