Eighteen

Chapter 1: Happy Birthday

"I can't believe we've truly found each other, after all these years." She says as daisy petals drop rhythmically to the ground. 

His hands squeeze hers tight, "A hundred years for you, half as much for me." He chuckles. He releases one of her hands and she wipes a tear from her face. 

Molly looks out into the collection of various people gathered before her to witness her marriage. A wave of sadness floods her when she thinks about her mother passing long before this big day. 

All sadness, though, is quickly replaced by pure bliss when her eyes move back into the ones of her true soulmate. She could finally start her life, and she intended to do just that.

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London, 14 October, 1908

"Molly darling, time to wake up!" Bertha, the housekeeper announced. Molly stirred in her sleep but didn't wake. Bertha shook her one more time, and she jumped up in her bed, as if awoken from a nightmare. "Heavens darling, are you alright?" 

Molly rubbed her eyes and looked around the room. "Is it morning already? It feels as if I've only slept an hour!" She stood from her bed, and Bertha moved to the curtains. She swung them open and opened the private terrace doors, and Molly walked on to the balcony. The warm summer breeze blew her golden locks back. 

"This is the first day of the rest of your life dear, are you ready?" Bertha said with a smile. Molly always thought of her housekeeper as a mother figure. Her real mother was always attending some sort of ball or gala, so Bertha had raised her to be the woman she is today. Molly nodded, she was beaming. "Alright then , i'll leave you to it. Your day dress is in the wardrobe, i'll be back in a few minutes to tie you up."

A few minutes later, Molly was dressed and ready for her eighteenth birthday. She walked downstairs  and met her parents in the formal dining room for breakfast. "Good morning." she kissed her father and took a seat at the table. Two maids brought and served breakfast, and they ate in silence. 

"Guests will be arriving at dawn for your ceremony, you will wear the outfit that Bertha gives you." Molly's mother, Margaret said without looking up from her plate.

She thought about the hideous dress her mother picked out for her. She sighed, "Yes, Mother." Molly wished there was an easy way to skip the ceremony. She would be devastated to meet the love of her life in a dress like that.

For the rest of the day, Molly wandered around the estate, and eventually ended up in the stables. She grabbed a wire brush and approached her horse, Midnight. She looked into his big brown eyes and tears welled up in her own. "Why couldn't I just grow up on my own, Midnight? Why do I need to be bonded with someone in order to age? I just don't get it." Midnight neighed and swung his tail lightly. 

"Molly darling, it's time to dress for your ceremony!" Bertha yelled from the stable doors. She sighed and set down the wire brush. She took Midnight by the face and set her head against his. 

"I'm coming!" She yelled and left the stable. 

In her room, Molly opened her wardrobe to the evening dress she would be wearing tonight. She replaced her corset with the help of her maid, and slipped into an old fashioned burgundy evening dress. Her mother must have bought it recently, as it was a new style that she had never worn before. She had to admit, it made her feel like a real woman. 

Before heading downstairs, Bertha did up her hair in a traditional curly updo topped with a large floral hat to match the dress. "You look beautiful, dear." She said to the young girl. Molly smiled and headed downstairs to wait for guests to arrive. 

Hours later, the party was hustling and bustling and Molly was the center of attention. Everybody was admiring her warm skin and bright eyes. She was sad, because any minute now she will be changed into a cold immortal until a touch from her true soulmate brings her back to life. 

"Molly, it is time for the ceremony to begin." Her mothers warm arms wrapped around her own and leads her to the stage at the front of the ballroom. She passed men and women who were stone cold, stuck in time, probably hundreds of years old. She also passed couples who were vibrant with life, who just found their soulmates last week. 

She approached the chair that she would sit down in a mortal and stand back up an immortal. "Ladies and gentlemen," the crowd quieted, "on this glorious day, my daughter Molly turns eighteen and begins the first day of the rest of her life." The crowd cheers and the hair on her arms raise. Her father held the ceremonial chalice out to his daughter, and she took the cup between her hands. She stared at the dark liquid and the crowd murmured. "As I pass this chalice to my daughter, I too shall pass the elixir of immortal life. Once this spell is cast, only one true loves touch may break the spell and bring her back to mortality." the crowd clapped once more and Molly blinked before lifting the cup to her lips.

The thick, cool liquid ran down her throat, and she had to fight not to spit it out. All eyes were on her as the last of the elixir traveled down to her stomach. She lowered the cup and looked out into the crowd. The room seemed to look a shade darker than she remembered, but she didn't think about it too much.

The crowd gasped and Molly was momentarily confused. Her mother handed her a mirror and Molly looked into it, and saw a dull version of herself. Insecurity washed over her and she stood up from her seat at the front of the room. The crowd stopped clapping and tears streamed down her face. 

Molly ran to her room and threw her head into her pillow. She sobbed and cried and she thought of ways that she could reverse this curse. What seemed like hours later, Bertha barged in her room. "Miss Molly, why in God's name did you run and leave your guests like that? Your parents are very ashamed and disappointed."

"I don't want to be like this, I'm hideous! I'm stone cold and I have no color!" Molly cried, her head not lifting from the pillow. It was true, her beaming blue eyes had dimmed to a foggy gray, and her skin had become cold and hard as stone. 

Bertha laid a hand on her shoulder, and she could no longer feel the familiar cold touch of her housemaid. More tears ran down her face, this was her, for the rest of her life. "Oh darling," Bertha said sadly, "You still look incredibly beautiful, trust me. You will find your love in due time." She finished, reassuringly. 

Although she didn't believe her in that moment, Molly hoped that she was right.