Where The Dead Things Are

Proulouge: When All Goes Downhill

I was spiraling through the crowd, with a man in a white mask and a black tuxedo holding my hand. I could hear chatter all around me, coming from all of the other masked guests. I caught snippets of some conversations, most went a little like,"Yes, Prince Sammual Cartwell has taken a fancy in Crissa and David's daughter, Maria Heartlley. Maybe the Prince will finally settle down!" Or, "Did you hear the rumor about Maria Heartlley and Sammual Cartwell? I heard that they are engaged to be married next weekend in Paris!"

After what seemed like hours, but was actually minutes, we reached the far side of the room. The man reached for the golden door handle, the handle that resided in the exact center of the honey colored doors on the East wall of the Great Ballroom, and flung the doors open, revealing a exhilarating garden. He took my hand again and lead me to a far corner of the garden.

"Do you like it? It's the Queens." The man gestured toward all of the exotic-looking flowers.

"Yes, it's breathtaking. I could look at this corner of the garden for hours!" I replied, looking at a brilliant yellow flower that reminded me of the sun.

"Maria, I know it's you. No one else could have that much interest in flowers except my mother, and she's inside." The man, or rather, my fiancé, had figured it out.

I turned to smile at him. Over my pink mask I could see Sammual taking off his mask, grinning. "Well, you got me." I chuckled.

"So I did."

"That could be qualified as cheating, you know."

"Why, it wasn't cheating! I just... Took a girl outside, to the garden, and that girl happened not to look at me rather than stare at the flowers all day. So I knew that girl happened to be you!" He tried to look offended while he was saying this, but he failed miserably, considering that he looked like he was sitting on an angry cat.

"Okay, that is the worst excuse ever. And...Are you trying to look constipated? Or are you stepping on broken glass and hot coals...?" I asked him sarcastically.

"Oh, shut up." Was his lame response. I smirked. He knew I was right.

I turned my attention back to the flower. Something about it... Something about it looked familiar. Like I've seen it before, maybe in a book, or in another garden somewhere.

"Sam?"

"Yes, Maria?"

I turned to him. "What kind of flower is this?" I gestured to the golden flower.

He laughed. "I don't know. But I think my mother does. I mean, this is her garden."

I let out a halfhearted laugh, for Sam's sake. He was going to get worried if I didn't act normal.

Quickly straightening my posture, I grab his hand. "Well, come on then! Let's go ask her!"

He chuckles at my impatient and childish behavior. "Alright, alright. You have no patience, do you?"

I drag him to the closed ballroom doors. I pause right before them.

"Maria? What's wrong?" I hear the hint of worry in his voice.

"Well, before we go in, you might want to put your mask back on. It's a masquerade ball, for Heavens sake!"

"Ohh... Right!" He shoves the mask on his face and ties the back.

"Let's go!"

That's the last thing I say before I get lost in the crowd.

The crowds chatter is the last thing I hear before everything goes black.