Behind the Masquerade

Attracted

She wanted nothing more than to sit up in her room, sleeping the night away. She wasn't fond of masquerades, for she didn't like not knowing who were behind those masks. For all she knew, it could be the spawn of evil she would be dancing with.

She didn't want to dance with any spawn of evil, so she sought to just stay on the sidelines, watching all those couples dance and laugh amongst themselves in the crowd. Her parents, being the typical demanding parents most children had, were yearning for grandchildren. So they thought that a masquerade could make their two daughters find a fitting fiancé and give them those grandchildren. But Sophia didn't like the prospect of having children.

She didn't even know the feeling of sharing her life with a boy; let alone sharing her bed with a guy. She always imagined her first love to be that knight in shining armor, atop a gorgeous white horse. He would sweep her off her feet, and make her feel like the most special person in the whole entire world.

But her first love had turned out to be a fraud. But that didn't change the fact that she believed her second knight in shining armor would be faithful and true to her, and only her. She believed in second chances.

That's what she told herself the last 16 years of her life anyway. 16 was a very young age to Sophia. Her sister, Madison, was 17, but she acted like she had matured years ago. Madison was rather responsible for a 17 year old, while Sophia was very not responsible for a 16 year old. Complete opposites in other words.

Madison was the highlight of the family; the pride and joy of her parents. She was pretty, beautiful, mature, well-mannered, sophisticated, multi-talented, or in other words, the perfect princess. Everyone would think the only thing missing was the fact that she was a princess, but that is where everyone gets the incorrect buzzer. Madison was a princess, or the "Perfect Princess" whom most would call her.

Madison had everything a girl could ask for; she had the money, she had the clothes, she had the wealth, she had the power, and she had the perfection. She was the angelic idol in everyone's eyes and she was the image of flawlessness. Everyone loved her, everyone adored her, everyone worshipped her and everyone respected her. She had everything Sophia wanted.

Sophia was the other princess to them. Simply 'the other princess.' She was not as pretty as Madison, she was not as mature as Madison, she was not as well-mannered as Madison, she was not as talented as Madison, and she was not as perfect as Madison.

Everyone compared them. Sophia hated it. She hated the fact that no one loved her for being Sophia. To them, and even her parents, Sophia would never be as good as Madison. Madison would always be better than Sophia, and Sophia would always be the one in the background while Madison was being praised in the open.

Madison got everything she wanted, while Sophia had to ask, or even beg, for the things she wanted. Whenever there were parties, Sophia's parents would bring Madison forth and praise, "Here is my daughter, Madison! She is really such a sweet and beautiful girl and we love her so very much! Don't you think she is such a nice person? Oh... And my other daughter is Sophia. She's somewhere around."

Whenever Sophia got into trouble and her mother would lecture her, it would be the same. "Why can't you be as mature as Madison? You should take lessons from Madison! Try to be like Madison!"

Sophia had a deep hatred for her sister. Sophia hated her sister for being her perfect sister. For being everything Sophia wanted to be, but couldn't be. For being just so perfect.
Sophia tightened her grip on her glass of wine as she snapped her thoughts back to the ballroom, with all those waltzing couples and smooth music. She twitched her nose in annoyance when she eyed Madison, in her beautiful pale pink dress and mask, waltzing right past her with a tall, elegant man, who also had a mask on.