dance of the wood || tuck everlasting

Runaway

Adelaide Foster was a simple girl in a complex world.

She took after her mother, an intelligent, beautiful, and sophisticated woman, although Adelaide wasn't so sophisticated. She often played with her little sister, Winifred, who was only 11 years old.

Her bond with Winnie was something you could only pray for with sisters. They were inseparable. Winnie got to pretend to be proper while Adelaide could get to feel like a kid again, even if playing in their wood was forbidden by their mother. They would play every day... until about a year ago.

The Fosters had lost a husband and a father. Every day since, the Foster girls have been locked in a house of "sad and lonely", as Winifred put it. Adelaide tried to be positive and look on the bright side for Winnie, but nothing was the same as it used to be.

Adelaide did everything she could around the house to help, but as many dishes she cleaned or laundry she hung to dry, nothing had changed.

As twenty crept nearer and nearer to Adelaide, Betsy grew worried she might never find a pair. This caused some disagreement in the household. Adelaide insisted she could stay with her mother, Winnie, and Nana to help with chores around the house and Winnie wanted a friend to play with. Mother, despite all the arguing and tension that had built in the past two days, had forced Adeline to get married.

The news was upsetting to everyone, but mainly to Adde. She refused to come out of her room for days, being married away to a man she hadn't even met. Mother even admitted to the poor decision-making, but in her words, "If you don't get out of the house now, I'm afraid you never will. Please, be a good girl for me. Try to be a good girl for father." Again with the dead dad guilt, to which Adelaide always replied, "Yes, mother."

Which led Adelaide to stand in front of a full-length mirror next to a personal tailor with a wedding dress on.

"This could be a great option, don't you think?" The tailor asked, proud of his work while Adelaide's eyes welded with tears. She blinked them down and made her best bet at a smile, the corners of her mouth turning up into an uncomfortable semi-circle.

"It's beautiful," Adde tried, flattening out the little wrinkles caused by some of the pins.

Nana walked into the room and let out a little gasp. She waddled her way over as fast as she could as Adde faced her. Nana saw the look in her eyes as she stopped in front of her. Nana gave a sympathetic smile, tracing the lace lining the collar where the dress ended.

"You look just like your mother did," Nana whispered. Usually, that would be a compliment to Adelaide, but this time she just frowned.

Suddenly, some music started playing from outside. It sounded like a band. Of course, Winnie was already racing down the stairs and bursting through the door and out to the porch. Nana gave Adde a look before giving her a quick pat on the shoulder and following Winnie outside.

As Nana made her way out, Mother came into the living room to see all the ruckus. She gasped when she saw Adelaide and immediately gushed about how "this must be the one" and, "you'll look so stunning."

This whole interaction was blurred out by Adelaide with some, "Yes, mother."s and, "Thank you, mother."s. The furthest she could remember was sitting on the couch and watching an interaction between a strange man in a yellow suit and her family, to distract herself from the fact she was getting married at 19.

⁕⁕⁕

Adelaide sat at the porch stairs, still in her soon-to-be wedding dress as her family stayed inside. She knew her mother would get onto her for being outside in anything other than black, but she needed a breath of fresh air.

"Do you mind if I join you?" Asked a small Winnie Foster from behind. Adelaide smiled at the familiar voice and without even looking back, patted the spot next to her on the stairs. She heard Winnie shuffle and then plop down next to her. She was still in the dress Mother scolded her for being in, although Adelaide thought the green dress complimented her fair skin and red hair.

"At least it's not an ugly dress," Winnie shrugged as she examined the dress Adde wore. She chuckled under her breath and nodded, her long chestnut hair falling in front of her face.

"I suppose so," Adelaide reasoned as she tucked her hair behind her ear.

The dress wasn't big and poofy, which was actually quite nice to Adelaide. A simple plain dress with some lace details here and there and a mini corset to sinche her already small waist. The dress reached her ankles straight down and only met her lower shoulders with lace. It didn't really look much like a wedding dress, to be honest, but Adelaide, of course, would favor that.

"Give us a twirl!" Winnie insisted with a giggle. Adelaide listened to her little sister, as she always would, and stood up in front of the porch.

Adelaide spun in a little circle a couple of times as Winnie golf clapped, pretending to be a critic. Adde laughed, as there was no twirl factor to the dress, yet Winnie acted as if it was magnificent.

"Here!" Winnie exclaimed, randomly pulling an orange and pink flower crown from behind her back. Adde laughed in confusion, furrowing her eyebrows as she looked at the crown. It was quite well made for an 11-year-old.

Adelaide shrugged it off and put the crown on her head, inviting Winnie to join her and holding her hands as they spun in circles, giggling and laughing till they were halfway in the yard and nearly at the gate of their house.

Adelaide sighed as they stopped twirling, realizing how far they'd come from the porch. Her smile slightly downturned and she looked at Winnie. Winnie, predicting what Adde was going to say, spoke,

"It's a cage for a yard you can only mope in." Winnie sighed, giving her a pleading look. What was this..? Oh. Oh no.

"No. No chance, mother would be furious!" Adelaide whisper-yelled, leaning down to Winnie's height.

"When the front door's shut," Winnie grabbed Adde's hands and pulled her slowly closer and closer to the gate.

"Should the gate open?" Winnie asked with a desperate look but adventurous look in her eyes. Adelaide knew how she felt, curiosity overwhelming as all it took was a push to explore a whole different life. But it was wrong... but how do we know right from wrong if we haven't experienced wrong?

"Winnie, I-"

And just like that, the gate flew open in the blink of an eye and Winnie was far into the wood.

"Winnie!"