Perfectly Flawed

Prologue

The boy pressed his clammy hands against the window, watching the world unfold beyond his wide eyes. There were children, playing on the footpath. A girl in a yellow dress was chasing a boy, her hair disheveled and flying behind her. Two boys pushed skateboards, yelling in excitement at their friend who had just fallen off. The children all screamed with laughter, free of any worries or restrictions.

The car moved as the light turned green, and the boy watched as the children faded into the distance. He felt something churn in his stomach - jealousy. The boy looked around the car, his parents silent in the front seat, the interior dark and opulent. He wished he could play with the other children.

The boy was only seven, but he was dressed in a two thousand dollar suit. He was only seven, but he knew that the empire his father had built was the most important thing in the world, in his life. He was only seven, but he was told he was too old to play, and instead spent his time in his father's offices, watching. In a year he would be pulled from his school and placed in the most elite academy in the country. A year after that he would lose his mother and be told that mourning was a waste of time, and something he was to not do. A year after that the walls he put up around himself would completely cover him, shutting and locking for God knows how long. He was only seven but he was never allowed to be a child.

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The girl was the only daughter, and her mother was a socialite. Needless to say, the girl was raised, or molded would be the better word, into a perfectly behaved, dressed and mannered child. Never a hair out of place and always conforming to the strict unspoken rules of the elite class, the girl was forced to stuff down the frustration she felt when her brothers were allowed to play while she had to attend luncheons. But when she was ten, the girl's father took her into his office and placed his world in her hands, and from then, the girl's future was carved out for her.

Perfection, order and achievement was what the girl was raised with, raised to be. Her life was half running in the most elite socialite circles, and half preparing to take over her father's business. She was never allowed to do anything other than what her parents taught her, so as she grew older, she lost the part of her that made her her. The child grew into a shell, a robot; a perfectly sculpted and beautiful prodigee, lacking the excitement of childhood.