Damsel

The Other Bee

Anna Marie Bee

The phone in the Bee residence tolled in the distance, echoing through the tight corridors, swinging through the foyer to shoot up the stairwell unanswered. It rang three more times without relent, before switching to voicemail. While the raucous ringing continued, one call after the next, three stories above the kitchen, in the highest room in the house, Anna Marie Bee rolled onto her side and pushed her body onto both elbows to rub her grass green eyes.

Across the extravagantly designed room -which had been Ella's before she left for school -Anna Marie glared at her likeness in the full-length mirror. Thick black hair of the straightest kind was matted around her sharp, sun-kissed jaw and each of her eyes was boarded by purple-like bruises. She resembled so closely the living dead that Anna Marie shielded her face, pulling a lump of black hair into a ponytail behind her head.

She always woke up like that -looking more tired than a nights rest ought to supply -but Anna knew once she was out in the sunlight, all that would change. She yawned, stretched her arms toward the roof and upon hearing the phone begin another round of tolls, leapt from bed onto the cold wood floor, feet padding as she walked.

The house was remarkably still. Aside from the perpetual knell of the phone, there was a daunting absence of sound -Rover's bark, the vibrating clatter of vacuums, doors slamming, shoes squealing across the marble, lobby floors. It was unnerving to hear the house in such a calm state, though since Ella left, Anna Marie found something odd about the large estate -it was too big and in that vast space she felt so small that a stirring hush crept into her bones.

The white and gold tinted foyer was dappled with antique lamps and rugs, landscape paintings lining either side of the wall before opening up to a massive chandelier hanging above the marble stairwell, which twisted and curved in an elaborate 'S' shape. It was strange to be awoken by the droning of a phone, and Anna tried to remember the last time she actually touched a landline.

She grappled the phone, catching it by its cord and slamming it against the holster. Just as another volley of rings began, Anna Marie plucked the cord from the wall and shook it out to lie along the clean countertop. "Eloise...Mario? Hello...anyone here?" Anna Marie plucked up an apple and bit into it, waiting in the most visited room in the house, expecting someone -anyone -to wander through the convoluted kitchen. No one did.

The aching in her head had subsided, but Anna Marie knew the exhaustion wouldn't release until she felt the sunlight dancing over her skin. She ignored the open newspaper and stole instead, the steaming cup of coffee set beside it, steadying the liquid as she fumbled with the front doors handle to step outside and...at least one-hundred people were standing on her front yard.

"Miss Bee, do you have any comment on your sister's disappearance?" One reporter, a woman she recognized as Dianna Clarkson from channel 11 news asked, shoving a microphone into Anna's face.

"Have the kidnappers set a ransom?" Another said.

And another asked, "How are you mother and father dealing with the tragedy?"

"Does your family have plans to leave Falls City for Danaby?" Microphone shoved in her nose.

"Some speculate the Shadow Shifter has taken your sister. Any comments?" A younger man murmured.

Anna Marie had plenty of comments -though none of them were T.V friendly. Among them, 'how the fuck should I know.' and 'get off my god damn yard, cretin'.

But at least the sun fueled her long enough to perk Anna up, and she felt as if an infinite weight had been lifted, her mind cleared and the ach in her skull dulled before disappearing altogether. Even so, the news frenzy left Anna's head swimming with questions and diluted in answers. One thing was made plain.

For the umpteenth time in her eldest sister's life, Ella Bee had been taken and once again, Anna Marie Bee was the other Bee.

* * * * * *

Anna Marie tossed another almond at the window, watching as a frazzled looking intern who had been sneaking in the bushes retreated with a girlish scream.

"What do you mean don't worry? My sister's hanging over a pit of spikes on just about every news station I can find. She's even featured on Telemundo. We have to go to Danaby."

On the other end of the phone, across the world, Angelo Bee grunted at his youngest daughter's words, and the toughness that lay within them. "Listen, Anna, sweetie, I can't afford to drop everything and run to save Ella every time she gets kidnapped."

The silence was unbearable, until Anna Marie finally spoke. "Really? Did you just say that? Honestly, what kind of father doesn't drop everything when his daughter is kidnapped? Look, Angelo, don't make me call mom."

"I'm right here, Anna and I'm with your father on this. We're in Beijing closing a major deal. We can't afford to lose this, not with so much on the line. The Heroes will save your sister, they always do. "

"And don't call me Angelo. You know I hate that." Her father chimed in.

Anna said what she was thinking. "You're awful parents."

"Hey, young lady, watch your tone with me!" Her mother yelped in response, but it was hard to come off threatening when you were a thousand miles across the globe.

"Fine. Whatever. I'm going." She said decisively.

Her parents were silent, no doubt internally deciding what to say, and at last, her mother's voice echoed a delay of words. Words Anna expected.

"You're not going anywhere, missy! You're fifteen. You can't handle the media alone, and we can't have you talking to reporters without either me or your father present. I'll call Marla, she can handle the press and take you to and from..."

"Afraid I might tell them the poor girl dangling over a death pit's parents can't come home because they might lose a business deal?"

"I'll not miss this for Ella and her involvements, but if you keep this up, Anna Marie Bee, I will fly home on the next available flight just to lash you. Do you understand? You're on thin ice, young lady, and I'll not be made a fool of by a fifteen-year-old brat! Get your act together or I swear I'll..."

Anna didn't get to hear the rest of her mother's rant. She hung up the phone with so much force it popped off the carrier and she said a few not-so-nice words to the inactive line.

What did her parents know about Ella and her involvements? It wasn't like she asked for this. In fact, her sister went to Danaby to avoid the Shadow Shifter and pull herself out of the world of the Heroes and Villains. Ella never made a choice that lead to her damsel status. That was just the way it turned out. Her sister wasn't supposed to be a pawn; she was a strong minded, intelligent girl, who just so happened to be too pretty for her own good and at some point, earned attention from a very sinister Villain.

One thing Anna did know was that pawns tended to die first.

And while Anna Marie was often jealous of her sister -for her attention, her looks, and her kindness -she never once wanted anything bad to happen to her. Ella was her big sister, her idol and if she were in trouble, Anna Marie would do everything in her power to make sure her sister wasn't alone in her fear. So even though she knew her mother would have a bitch flip, Anna Marie called the family driver, grabbed a baseball cap to conceal herself, packed an over bag and stole her passport for the filing cabinet in the basement.

She was going to Danaby and that was that!