It Was Always Her

Chapter 17

Yvette's POV

~Morning of the Masquerade Ball~

"Yvette!" I hear my sister yell outside my door with fists pounding on it shortly after. I open my eyes and stretch my arms above my head. Shaking my head, I smiles to myself. Lotte is always so needy but I love her all the same.

"Come in Lotte." I yell to her as I sit up in bed. The door flies open and an exhausted looking Lotte rushes into my room. Her cheeks are flushed as if she had just ran laps around the Opera House. Charlotte heads over to my closet and pulls out my corset, throwing it at me. Erik had finally returned it about two weeks ago.

"Lotte, why are you in such a rush?" I question her. She immediatly stops what she's doing and stares at me, mouth agape.

"Yvee, surly you haven't forgotten what today is?" I cock my head to the side and knit my eyebrows together. She dramatically gasps and falls down on my bed, hand over her heart."How could you have forgotten today is the masquerade ball?" It is my turn to gasp. How had I forgotten? I was attending it with Erik, my heart skipped a beat at the thought.

"Earth to Yvette." I hear Charlotte say and I shake my head, seeing her waving her hands in front of my face. I blush slightly and smile.

"Sorry, I was lost in my thoughts." I say as I get up off my bed, grabbing my corset and walking behind the changing screen. "Lotte, what time is it?" It is probably around 9:30, that was time I had usually been getting up, unless I was down with Erik like last night, then I didn't get back until early in the morning.

"Your clock reads 12:45." I drop my corset and rush over to my bedside table where I had my clock. It truly did read 12:45.

"Lotte!" I exclaim, rushing back over to snap my corset off the ground. "Why on earth did you not wake me later?" She walks towards me and begins lacing up my corset for me.

"I thought that you were already up, I could've sworn I walked by your room and heard you walking around, I'm sorry.." I roll my eyes, curse Erik for leaving so early this morning. My sister knows how much I despise waking up late, the whole day was basically wasted and I was beginning to worry about how much time I would need to get ready for the masquerade ball.

My sister finished tying up my corset so I stepped away from her. The ball started at 7:00, so I still had quite a while to get ready. Walking over to my vanity, I opened up the top right drawer and pulled out my mask. It was beautifully crafted, the mask was black and made out of lace to match my dress. It covered more of the left side of my face, so I wouldn't have to cover it up with makeup.

"Oh Yvee, where did you find such a beautiful mask?" I hear Charlotte ask as she peers over my shoulder. I laugh at her and place the mask gently on my vanity.

"I found it at an old antique shop, the lady who sold it to me said that it had belonged to her, and she too had used it to go to a masquerade ball." I glance at Lotte and she nods.

"Would you like me to put your hair curlers in?" She asks suddenly. I shake my head yes and sit down at the vanity. Even though my hair was naturally curly, it still needed a little help to keep its curls. My sister immediately begins twisting my hair and putting my curlers in. I sigh and begin to daydream about dancing with Erik among all of the masked faces.

~7:00 that night~

I looked at myself in the giant mirror in my room. My black dress's train cascaded on the floor while the front exposed my legs. My hair was pulled half up into a small bun and half was falling down my back in blonde ringlets. I was wearing my mask and it covered my deformity perfectly.