His Eyes

The Misfortune (Prologue)

               My life has been anything but fun. Anything but adventurous. ANYTHING but good. Ever since I was born, my life has been a living hell. I was conceived at a tavern, born in a horse carriage, and raised in a basement cellar. 16 years of torture so far. My huge, growing family could care way less about me, if they even acknowledged my presence- regardless of the times they need me to do something for them. I wholly despise these stupid, bossy individuals who are somehow called my "family". I bend over backwards for them and all they do is take pleasure in whatever they would like to do. I, on the other hand, have to tend to cleaning the whole mansion (all 52 rooms), taking care of the farm (somehow we have a farm), withstanding all of my punishments for "misbehaving", and figuring out how to leave this wretched place without getting caught, all while staying in the closet! At least I was worthy enough to be upgraded to living in the closet rather than the basement... *shudder*. Hopefully that was enough description for my life.

Suddenly I heard a knock on the closet door. 

Knock knock.

"Who is it?" I muttered sheepishly.

"Alden, your brother. Come on, open the door. I can help you clean," Alden sounded muffled from behind the door. I hesitated. I know he's just trying to be a good brother and all, but if my parents or, in fact, anybody sees him helping me, we're both going to get in trouble.

"Alden, you know you aren't supposed to help me clean, and if anybody sees us, it'll be over." I stated. Either way it's a dead end for me. I forgot I'm not supposed to have "idle chatter" while doing my "chores", which is all the time. Stupid, stupid rules. Suddenly I heard heavy clicking in the hallway. Fuck.

"And just what do you think you're doing, hm? Talking to the closet door again, are we?" I recognized my father's certain tone of voice. After he said that, I could tell he was dragging Alden down the hall by a dragging noise and Alden's stifled cries. But what will become of me? I winced at the thought. Perhaps I'll be hung and tortured again, or I'll be put in the backyard crick without any clothes. Not that it matters really...all my punishments are equally painful.

My first thought as to where my brother was was in the basement, as everyone who "misbehaves" is put in there. Except me, of course. I deserve "worse punishments" since I "behave worse". I pretended like I was finished with my cleaning chores and I proceeded to the basement, not allowing anybody to look in my direction. This was quite easy, as you can imagine, with there being 52 rooms and all. Anyone could be anywhere. I shuffled my way down the creaky, wooden stairway that lead into the basement, careful not to let any wooden board groan at my weight. As I found myself entering an open space, I stopped and looked around the room.

And what I saw there was the most traumatic thing I have ever seen in my life. My father's once wine-violet gown was now encrusted in blood, his black hair dotted with speckles of red. His face was stained with confidence- a strange, queer confidence. It was as if he had gotten every single property in the world all to himself...as if he owned the world. My jaw gaped in horror...

"ALDEN!!!" I screeched subconsciously. At that moment I had forgotten everything that was around me, everyone. I ran over to my now dead brother, burying my head into his chest, reassuring myself that this was all a dream, just an outlandish nightmare. But truth be told, it could never be that way, now could it? My guider, my helper, my savior, my brother, heck- my BEST FRIEND was now lying on the ground in front of me, lifeless! Fate never guided me anywhere pleasant, much less fortunate. My life has always been very fortuitous if nothing else. I was never lead to the right path, always astray. And now look where my fortune has lead me!

The misfortune.