A White as Red as Blood (PG 13) (Completed)

Chapter 6: A tale as old as time

*Play the beauty and the beast theme, “Tale as old as time”. . . The instrumental. *

His maids took my bags, greeting me as if it were an order they had not wished to participate in. June was with her Nurse, while I was with in my new room. I did not share a room with my husband, which gave me some relief. It also meant he was probably retaining his own room so he could commit adultery. I did not care however; I was simply glad someone else was going to satisfy him if I did not. Perhaps that is why some of the maids were unhappy to see me, fearing I would be angry at them if they were forced to sleep with my husband. If anything, I pitied them, knowing they had no way to be free of this old man until he passed onto the next world. Perhaps the original Mrs. Bolos was not happy that he was sleeping with her women, so she was gotten rid of.

“Mademoiselle, I have been sent to prepare you to go to My Lord’s room tonight. He expects you soon.”

I looked at this maid. She was young, younger than I so perhaps sixteen. She had an almighty bruise under her left eye, which seemed to be subsiding into a yellow pigment now. I didn’t need to ask, I knew it was my husband who had inflicted this upon her. She caught me staring.

“Please, take no notice, I am simply clumsy and fell in the kitchen”

I could tell she was telling herself this, hoping and willing it to be true. It wasn’t. My husband had undoubtedly asked for her to come to his room, like she is summoning me now, and she must have asked if she could pass or something. Her eyes darted to the uninteresting floor boards, studying them as if they were new. She was ashamed. I walked towards her, lifting her chin and examining her teary eye.

“It was not your clumsiness, it was my husband.”

Her expression said it all, shame and regret was painted all over.

“What is your name?”

The maid looked at me, presumably wondering why I even cared.

“Meadhbh, princess”

“Well Meadhbh, could you help me get ready then?”

She smiled half heartedly, cleaning her rough worked hands off her grey apron. She started by pulling my clips out of my hair, removing the heavy wig. When she undid my corset I moaned in delight, finally getting the darn thing off me. Meadhbh laughed, asking why proper women were obligated to wear these. I told her it was our price to pay for being too obnoxious and snobby. She laughed at this too, and I felt happy that I could bring joy to a broken girl. She helped to slide my new white night gown on. Once it was on, the fear set in. I felt the tears trickle down my face, not bothering to wipe them away. I wasn’t ashamed of my tears, knowing half if not all these women knew what it was like. I was escorted to his room, Meadhbh guiding me and showing me the way through the windy corridors. This was finally it, the end of my innocence, the end of my life as a virgin and a girl. After this, I was a woman. Not just because of the act I will complete, but because of the knowledge I will have gained leading up to it. I knocked on the door, and was greeted by him I his night gown also. I felt queasy.

“Thank you Meadhbh, I shall be seeing you soon.”

Fredrick closed the door in front of Meadhbh, blocking me off from all other forms of humanity. I smiled half heartedly at him. He beamed down at me, closing the space between us, forcing me against the wall. I felt his soggy lips pressing against mine, my eyes closed firmly, willing myself to be anywhere but here. His tongue entered my mouth as he shoved it down my throat. All the stories I read as a child had promised me romance and love. They had lied. I cried again when he put his hand on an area I have never shown anyone, rubbing me through my gown.

“Go lie on the bed.”

It was an order, so I did was I was told, fearing the same fate Meadhbh had. He stood at the foot of the bed, taking off his night gown, revealing a small friend of his, which had become hard and strong. I gulped, the saliva getting caught it my throat as the lump was too big. HE approached the bed, crawling on top of it and me. He wedged me between him and the firm bed. I feared he would suffocate me with his weight. He ran his hand from my ankle up my gown, pushing up the garment as he went. He started rubbing me again; this time there was no material to separate his wrinkly fingers from my skin. My back arched in pain as he shoved his fingers inside me all at once, stretching my sensitive skin. I began to cry again, this time quite audibly.

“Shut up or I will shove into you harder”

I tried to conceal my tears, knowing he would do as he promised. But he could still hear my cries, so he did. He leaned up again, leaning down so his penis would go in. He shoved hard against me, causing my tears to grow to screams of pain and discomfort. This angered him, so he shoved harder and further in. When he was done, he moaned while still inside me. My insides warmed up and I cried even more. All I wanted to do was close my legs and let him leave.

“Leave, you ungrateful little bitch, and bring Meadhbh in here to clean these sheets.”

I glanced at the sheets through my watery eyes. They were a white, but they were as red as my blood now. I looked at my new nightgown; it had received the same fate. A white as red as blood.

I walked out of his room, leaving him sitting on the bed angrily. I couldn’t tolerate the pain anymore. When I got outside the confides of his room, I slumped my back against the wall, sliding down it until I was curled into a ball against it on the floor. Meadhbh walked over to me, as if she knew I was mentally incapable of looping for her.

“He wants me doesn’t he?”

I looked up at her, apologising with my eyes for what I was about to say.

“Yes”