Chapter 1- The Fletchers
VIVIEN looks like she's going to faint.
She stands on the front porch of the huge mansion, an uncertain look scrunches her face. The doorbell was encrypted with a capital F and it looks very much like bits and bits of diamonds were carved into it, the way it sparkles radiantly against the sunlight. She took a deep and needed breath before pressing her index finger on the doorbell, a chiming sound rings like a melody but drowns out like an echo without reaching her ears.
Calm down. She scolded herself as she awaits for someone to open the door. Keep your cool. She wishes halfheartedly that no one would come and open the door because that would mean opening the same door to a new life that she's been dreading hopelessly. This is going to change everything, she thought. If she was a dreamer and a wanderer, she would've left everything behind and she would've ran away from all the adjusting and readjusting that she's going to have to face. She could drop everything and turn to the opposite direction, full of renewed hope and dreams soaring higher than the clouds. If she wasn't too afraid, she could've escaped.
But she's not a dreamer and she doesn't live in bubbles of fantasies and well thought-out stories. She loves reading and reading about these fictions that seems too good to be true but this is reality. She knew better than to live in falsity and delusions. Sometimes, things happen. You just have to accept it and learn to live with it. Everyone has a choice to make. You can either walk away or keep going. Life is simple like that. Walk away or keep going.
Her mom's face broke into a huge grin, her pearly white teeth coming into full view. "Oh god, Vivien!" Before she could say anything, she was already entrapped in and between the arms of the woman she thought she knew well not until she was forced to reshape her life. Unbelievable.
"Mom," she breaths against her mom's sunshine blonde hair, she sniffs a hint of apples and lavender and is instantly whisked away to memories where she would spend time massaging her scalp with her mom's conditioner, getting some of it in her eyes which burns as the chemical slides downward her eyelids.
She could hear her mom's voice cracking as she spoke. "I'm glad you changed your mind."
They haven't pulled apart and a feeling of bone-deep sadness causes her throat to dry up. She misses hugging her mom like this. She misses her.
"Come inside, yeah?" Her curls were bouncing up and down as she leads her to the unbelievably large interiors of the mansion. Vivien would never get used to something as drastically big as this. She lived in a rather bigger than average house back in Seattle, it was certainly too big for just her and her mom and dad.
But this.
God, this is at least five times the size of her former house.
The mansion is modern and sophisticated. Expensive and authentic paintings lined the walls, claiming its validity. A swirling staircase sits royally in the center -the main attraction, a diamond chandelier hangs from the dust-free ceiling. The walls stretched endlessly and it's making Vivien's head spin in all directions.
"Welcome to your new home, honey."
She swallowed hard and realized how big the lump in her throat had gotten because gulping down air seemed to take some effort. She didn't say anything which made it all easier.
