Glistening in the Moonlight

Chapter One

Charlotte Thompson was the epitome of perfect. But if you asked her, it would be a totally different story, as everyday seemed like the mushy bowls of oatmeal the servants ate. Routine, routine, routine. It was the only word she ever heard. In fact, it was probably her mother, Rose's, favorite word. Day after day, she led the same, ever so bland life. Of course, in the town folk's eyes, she was living the dream life being the daughter of the Thompson estate. Then, there was her goddess like looks: golden-brown waves of sunshine and ocean gray eyes with a hint of green. Finally, there was not one day where Charlotte repeated an outfit, as all her dresses were from the latest styles in Paris. However, none of this mattered to her. Once you tore through her materialistic happiness, there was a hole in her heart. No one loved her. 

Now, everyone in sometime of their life experiences the rich flow of love rushing through their body, giving you purpose. Charlotte's time had not come yet, and alas, her only special connection was with Joseph, the head gardener. His kind nature always seemed to be able to talk to her about subjects which took her mind of her worries. Everyday, at lunchtime, she headed out to the estate's highly coveted garden to talk to Joesph. Even though he was seventy-three years old, Charlotte felt like he was the father she never had. This type of behavior was received with scornful looks from Rose. "Charlotte, I give you thirty minutes of free time throughout the whole day and you choose to spend it with this filthy gardener." At the beginning, her mother had tried to steer Charlotte away from the garden, offering useless Parisian dresses. After a month of trying, Rose knew it was inevitable to change her mulish daughter's mind but always observed Charlotte from the window with pressed lips. If she could not control these precious thirty minutes, she had the right to observe, with hawk eyes. 

Sure, Charlotte earned her share of social interaction with the multiple servants with their "Yes, Miss Charlotte" and other phrases that did not come deep down from their hearts. Everyone who worked for the Thompson estate respected her and practiced nothing but polite manners to her, in fear of losing their jobs.

Charlotte's parents treated her like a china doll, spoiling her rotten. However, in her eyes, they were the most emotionless people on Earth. Every smile, every laugh, every hug was all for publicity. All Rose and Aaron Thompson cared about was the way they were viewed by the town folk. Did they really care about Charlotte? No. Yet somehow they had made it into "The Scarlett Weekly" for being the "most kind parents in South Carolina". Her mother was a control freak and her father was gone for ten months out of the year, off traveling. It was obvious her parents had a terribly miserable marriage, as the few weeks Aaron was home, fights would erupt like volcanoes, sprouting day by day. Afterwards, her father would leave for another trip and the subject was never spoken of again. 

Behind her layer of fake happiness, lived an undesirably depressed Charlotte. She might as well have won as an Emmy, as no one knew. All they saw was perfect Charlotte Thompson.