The Knight Family Halloween Ball

Shivian ❥

Siobhan Serpent rolled her eyes miserably, her pale hand outstretched in front of her face as she gazed unhappily at the silver engagement ring encasing her finger. Its evergreen, dazzling emerald smiled mockingly at her, as though it took pride in the metaphysical prison that it knew the ring had trapped her within.

Siobhan opened a small, rose coloured handheld mirror and began to gently adjust her veil so that the thin, obsidian lace hung over her face perfectly. She should've left the dressing room at least 10 minutes ago, but she just couldn't bring herself to.
She knew that the second the ceremony began, there would be no possibility of escape, and she would from then onwards forever hold the title of being Roger Knight's wife, and that thought deeply nauseated her.
Just as Siobhan was being briskly whisked away into a tornado of these defeatist thoughts, she heard a warm, familiar voice speak softly behind her.
"You all right, Bon Bon?" Vivian Cross asked Siobhan, a quiet smile painted intricately across her pink lips, and her head tilted slightly in curiosity.

The mirror that Siobhan had been holding snapped shut suddenly, the pearly whites of her eyes widening, and her inky black irises dilating in immense surprise.
She stayed stood motionlessly for a moment, paralysed with shock.
The room was filled with nothing but silence, but all Siobhan could hear was the rush of bellowing blood pounding in her ears.

As the intense wave of winding shock rolled over her, Siobhan slowly turned around to face Vivian, the fine sandy hairs of her eyebrows knitted together in confusion.
"Viv?" Siobhan spoke Vivian's name quietly and as a question, her throat tightening with emotion and preventing clarity, and instead creating a hoarse projection of the word.
Vivian's eyes scoured Siobhan's figure, which was draped in a delicately weaved, midnight black bridal dress, its fine fabric clinging tightly to every soft curve of her body.
"Marjorie told me that this whole miscommunication trope is way too overdone, and you know what, I think I agree with her." Vivian told Siobhan, gently reaching an elegant hand forwards to softly stoke the delicate, smooth skin of her cheek. Siobhan nuzzled into her touch eagerly, relishing in the warm feeling of safety that came along with Viv's presence, it felt like a comforting, cosy blanket wrapping itself around her.

Siobhan took a deep, shuddering breath and rose her gaze to meet Vivian's. Dark, taupe coloured powder accentuated Siobhan's deep-set, widened round eyes, making her irises glow a bright crystal blue, like the cool hues that decorate a midwinters sky.
"I must admit that I agree with her there, too." Siobhan told Vivian, a fiery smile igniting her face with colourful emotion, unlike the desolate loneliness that had shadowed her features only a few minutes earlier.
"We both know that I'm not one to beat around the bush, Bon, so I'll just be as straight up as possible." Viv began, slowly removing her hand from Siobhan's cheek and shuffling from foot to foot nervously.
"I have feelings for you, Siobhan, and I think that I've fallen in love with you." Vivian inhaled sharply before continuing, "I don't expect you to feel the same way about me, but I just wouldn't be able to live with myself if I hadn't taken the chance to tell you before you got married. I know how inappropriate this timing is, but I couldn't let you go out there without knowing how you feel, and that this marriage is what you really want."

Siobhan's jaw had dropped slightly, and Vivian's words rung loudly inside of her mind, ricocheting off of the walls of her skull. She'd always been an inherently stoic person, never allowing her walls to fall for even a second to uncover the internal battles that she had faced perpetually throughout her life. But now, glistening tears cast a clear sheet of glass over her eyes, and one glance into them revealed a lifetime of struggle that had never been put into words.
"I never wanted to marry Roger." She told Viv quietly, almost afraid to speak the sentence that she knew would change everything, even if it was for the better. This confession of how she truly felt still felt like somewhat of a betrayal.

"I want to be with you, Vivian," Siobhan continued, the hoarseness of her voice now departing as a tiny slither of confidence began to grow, "it's always been you, I just never knew how to leave him. He didn't hit me, but everyday he told me that he would, and everyday I grew more terrified that his threats would no longer be empty." She finished, and as petrifying as it was for Siobhan to admit the extent of the fear that had lead her to feel as though she would be eternally tied to Roger, she realised that finally allowing herself to speak up about the everlasting terror that she had endured had opened up a belief in hope and trust. Siobhan now had an untraveled, open road to explore with the woman that she truly loved, and the inner indecisiveness that had once felt as wide and as wavering as the ocean was fading away; she could be who she wanted and experienced life to the fullest, an infinite path of freedom was within her grasp, and she had no intentions of ever looking back.

At learning of what Siobhan had been experiencing for all these months, Viv pulled Siobhan into a tender, heartfelt embrace, and for a while, both women stood holding each other tightly, basking in the warmth of their bodies pressed against one another's.
"I'm so proud of you, Bon, and I'm so, so sorry." Vivian whispered into Siobhan's shoulder, contentedly inhaling the scent of her sweet amber perfume.

Eventually, Siobhan untangled herself from the brunette, and flipped back the black veil falling over her face to run a hand through her silky, linen blonde hair.
"Can we get out of here?" She asked, a small smirk seated on her lips.
"Of course!" Vivian chuckled, taking Siobhan's hand in her own to guide her towards the doorway.
"Wait-" Siobhan mumbled as they neared the exit, and she pulled Vivian back towards the dressing table so that she could remove the hoop circling her ring finger, placing it clumsily on the table before hurriedly rushing out of the room and down the corridor with Vivian.
Siobhan and Vivian both felt dizzied with courage and excitement, so much so that they didn't even notice the presence of a woman with long, crimson red hair until she was standing directly before them.

"Well well well, what do we have here?" Amelia Roberts asked, an expression of satisfaction and a hint of impression painted across her face.
Both Siobhan and Vivian stopped dead in their tracks as though they were a couple of deer in headlights, mouths agape and eyes darting worriedly to one another.
"Oh don't you worry, I'm not going to snitch." Mia laughed teasingly, one of her gloved hands resting on her hip, the other fiddling with the engagement ring that Siobhan had discarded in the dressing room.
"Look Mia, me and Bon really need to get out of here, like, now! So, you can either help us, or get out of our way." Vivian remarked firmly, raising an eyebrow in Mia's direction.
"Yes, I'll help you," Mia groaned, rolling her eyes at Viv's unyielding tone, "I've been a Shivian supporter since day 1, after all." She added, blowing a sarcastic kiss as she amusingly remembered her first interaction with Vivian in the car park, just after she'd spotted her and Siobhan talking from Marjorie's office.
"Thank you." Vivian sighed. She'd heard all about Mia and her antics, and she'd been worried that her lust for the dramatics would lead her to keep them there for a lot longer than they could afford.
"Look, here are Reece's car keys, his car is a white Range Rover and it's parked just at the bottom of the driveway, on the left. Good luck." Mia said, rummaging through her small leather handbag to produce a set of shining, silver car keys.
"Thank you, Mia." Siobhan nodded to the redhead. Her and Mia had never seen eye to eye, and never in a million years would she have expected that she'd be the one to license her and Vivian's hectic escape.

Hand in hand, Siobhan and Vivian darted down the hallway, both breaking into a jog at the sight of the stairway nearing. The front door was poised just at the bottom of the staircase, and they were so close to making it out. Adrenaline gushed through Siobhan's veins as she clambered down the steps and clumsily fumbled with the bronze door handle, before finally pushing her way outside.

The icy October's wind cut into her skin (which was clothed in nothing more than dark lace) like a volley of icy razor blades, making her cheeks sting and redden. Bare trees stood like skeletons, and colonies of browned leaves that had not long ago fallen from their branches were scattered along the gravel, carpeting the ground. Siobhan inhaled gulps of crisp, fresh air gratefully, she then turned to Vivian to ensure that she was ready and following her nod of approval, they raced down the driveway in search of Reece's car, still gripping to each others hands tightly.

The smile had barely fallen from Siobhan's lips since deciding to leave with Vivian, and she felt an aura of gratitude glowing throughout herself like never before as she stumbled into the passenger seat of the car.

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