The Frills of Sanity

Prologue

It was a beautiful sunny day. Crystal-white clouds and the ball of gold played their usual game of hide and seek. The swirls of cold wind soothed the souls and cooled off the heat. The atmosphere of the day made the town look like a piece of heaven and so was felt by every soul visiting the orphanage named 'The brighter Days'. The orphans were more than excited today. Every month they would eagerly wait for this day. After all, it was the day when the 'outsiders' were allowed to freely walk-in without undergoing any screenings and were allowed to mingle with the orphans; some would even bring pretty gifts, at times!

Today, the usual grey building of the orphanage shone with the shades of rainbow. The old rusty gates bore a huge banner with a colourful 'Welcome'. The walls of the grand hall were decorated with the cartoon-themed banners. Little dove birds, shiny stars and fairies rested peacefully on the ceiling and the hall seemed like floating on the balloons.

The children were rushing here and there with their little drama-costumes clutched in their tiny palms and their sweaty bodies were beaming through the crowd to find their friends. Everybody seemed busy and was surprisingly at their best behaviour today.

Though everything was kind of Christmassy, Mrs. Mary Holmes seemed to be in rush. Anger, frustration and confusion were written all over her face. She stumbled a little at the sight of a little girl named Scotty who seemed to be on the verge of crying. Her pace slowed down as the girl leaped towards her and clutched her gown in her tiny fist.

"Mrs. Holmes...Uhmm...Do you have a minute?" Little Scotty asked as Mrs. Holmes halted and gazed in her eyes. She glanced up at Mrs. Holmes with a sheepish smile, fidgeting hands and fear was evident in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Mrs. Holmes knelt and held Scotty's hands in hers. She glanced around and returned a brief smile to random people smiling at her.

"Have you seen Hope?" Scotty pouted. "We were dressing up for our dance and I don't know when or where she suddenly disappeared." She continued her confused pretense and Mrs. Holmes tried hard not to laugh.

"Oh dear! Every time? I think Hope has got cold feet, again. She will come around when the event starts." She observed Scotty's frowning face and giggled. "Remember the last time? She did come after all, didn't she?"

When Scotty nodded affirmative and ran towards so called 'back-stage', she stood up and quickly fastened her pace. She wondered where would Hope go every time during this event. This little girl was a bundle of secrets and surprises. 'Just like her parents!', Mrs. Holmes nodded at her thought.

Being a warden of this orphanage was not only challenging but also exhausting for Mrs. Holmes. To top it off, it seemed like she had a whole different scene at hand and a lot was going on in her mind.

While walking towards her office and making her way through the crowd, she kept smiling at the children and nodding towards the respectful 'hello's. As she took the last turn towards her office, she clipped a letter in one hand and frill of her long black gown in other. She paused for a moment at the sight of two ladies waiting near the doors of her office. She held the letter in air, narrowed her eyes and raised her left eyebrow postulating a question. The two ladies standing near the doors pursed their lips and winked at each other which made her angrier. She walked past them and hurried straight towards her office eyeing them to follow her. She opened the wooden doors of her office and let the ladies walk in. She sat on her chair while the ladies closed the doors.

Her office appeared more like a study. It was a small little cozy room in a big manor-turned-orphanage where she would always meet these ladies and a lot of these meetings would end up to be another big cat-fight. On this hot sunny day even the air conditioner in the room seemed to be taking a nap and definitely didn't help her cool down.