Secrets Downtown

Chapter 1

My name is Lorinda Georgina Richmond, the eldest of eight girls in the Richmond family. My mother told me the most important job in my life is to marry a man with money, because my family has no sons to continue my father's business. That's my only purpose in life, my mother says.

I glance up at the oval-shaped mirror hanging on top of my bedroom desk. Quickly, I retie up my curly mahogany brown hair into a bun as I stare into the mirror. I've always been called words like pretty, graceful, beautiful and elegant. I have been called these words too many times that I kind of just grew out of the feelings of being flattered. I take a glance at my teal blue eyes as I finished pinning my hair together, before brushing off the dust that had landed on my bold black dress. I step out of my bedroom and walk down the hallway.

I notice two of my nine-year-old twin sisters, Christy and Salma walking down the hallway hand in hand. They stopped in synch with blank faces as they saw me hurriedly approach them.
"You two, have you seen Florence anywhere?" I ask. Florence was the second eldest of my family and was the sister I was closest to.

"She is in the library," answered Salma, Christy nodding beside her. Of course, Florence is in the library. She's always in there, writing stories and reading books.
"Thanks, girls", I hesitate, "shouldn't you two be in bed? It's way past your bedtime". Christy and Salma glance at each other in worry.

"Please don't tell mother," Christy begged, squeezing her sister's hand tightly. I chuckle, crouching down and kissing them both on their foreheads. "I won't. But you must be hurrying to sleep soon, alright?" I comfort. They grin gratefully at me in thanks before rushing down the hallway to their room, still holding hands. I watch them leave until they're out of sight, then continuing down the hall and upstairs to the library.

Lightly, I push the massive wooden door open to the library, peering inside. I see Florence hunched over a book. She has a quill in hand that seems to be used very aggressively by my sister. I tiptoe into the room trying not to disturb her as she was writing efficiently. I peered over her shoulder, noticing the many words written on just one page of her notebook.

"Good evening. What are you writing about?" I suddenly ask all of a sudden. In a panic, Florence slammed her book shut in embarrassment and darted her gaze at me. As soon as she saw me, her expression softened into relief. Her terrified surprise made me giggle.

"Oh, it's just you, Lorinda. You scared me!" Florence giggled along with me and opened up her book again. "It's just a story about forbidden love... it's stupid, I know,"  Florence shrugged and pushed her above-shoulder-length black hair behind her ear. My eyes lit up with amusement.  "It's not. You should let me read it sometime," I encourage. Florence pulls the wooden chair out next to her and pats on the seat for me to sit down. I shake my head and pull her by the arm, telling her to get up.

"Take a break. Let's go downtown!" I asserted. Florence arched her eyebrows, uncertainty taking the better of her. "Right now? Lori, it's past 7 o'clock!" Florence argued. "No one will notice if we're away in the slum district," I flash a mischievous look at her. "Gosh, Lorinda, I don't have anything for the revolution!" Florence shook her head in disappointment, trying to get away from my grasp. I held tighter.  "You don't have against it either. Come on! It'll be fun!" I made my sister stand up and made my way down her arm; I wrapped my fingers around hers pleadingly. Florence sighed hopelessly. "Alright. Let's go through the garden," she accepted, walking me out of the door.

I grabbed my dress and held it up so that I wouldn't trip over it. Florence seemed to be thinking the same. We walked quickly down the hall and downstairs to the first floor, hoping no maids would notice us.  As Florence and I turned a corner, a wooden door leading to the garden. I pushed it open and made way for Florence as she excitedly sped through. The garden was quiet and undisturbed. Beautiful flowers of all colours spread along with the dirt. Neatly cut hedges spread around the ring of the garden, with a small fountain in the centre. "Let's push through the hedges and hop the fence," I suggested. Florence agreed by nodding. We pushed passed a hedge, and Florence climbed up onto a brick wall that had black bars sprouting up from it. I helped Florence climb over it slowly, trying our hardest to not rip her poofy blue dress. I exhaled in relief when Florence landed on the path of the fence safely. My turn. I climbed up onto the brick wall when an alarming force spoke from behind.

"What are you doing?" I whip my head around in fear.  Iris, my younger sister peered up at me, finally noticing Florence on the other side of the fence. She crossed her arms angrily, letting her long braids trail over her arms. I wince as I realised that the garden door didn't have a lock on it. Iris must have gone outside to look at the flowers.  "Nothing, Iris. Go inside," Florence lied. Quickly as she said so, I smoothly swung myself over the fence, landing next to Florence. As I did that, Iris clenched her hands into fists, walking over to the hedge and putting her hands on her hips in annoyance. "That doesn't look like nothing to me! As the eldest sisters of the Richmond family, you shouldn't-"

I cut her off, stepping forward confidently. "Florence and I are going to go visit the slum district". Iris let her hands rest, but her eyes were a different story. "The slum district?! You know father hates the slums. He'll be so angry if he found out you were there," Iris protested. "Father doesn't need to know. Besides, since you're here, would you like to come with us?" I offered. All I wanted was to not let Iris tell us off. It seems that I was lucky today. Iris let out a small grin. Her eyes brightened with excitement. "Really?" Florence and I nodded. Iris pushed through the hedge with hesitation and climbed onto the fence.

The three of us crept through a row of trees beside the mansion, sticking against the wall. The shadows gave us the advantage to hide away from pedestrians and horse-carriages marching along the road. Once we got to the end of the road we reached the town hall. No one seemed to be at the desk luckily.  "Mother said not to go out at night," Iris reminded worriedly. Florence turned to her, trying to comfort her by taking her hand and squeezing it firmly. "Iris, it's going to be so very. I promise it'll be the best night of your life!" I agreed as we entered the centre of the hall. In the open centre was an enormous fountain. Fine rose bushes grew evenly among sides of it. The town hall led to the two other districts: Middle Class and the slums. I've only ever explored the Middle Class, so it's exciting to visit the slums for the first time. What would it look like? What are the people like? What kind of stores are there?

A short lady sat tiredly at the slum desk. She lazily looked up at my sisters and me. She flashed a confused look because of our strange clothing. I knew this because slums are meant to be the poorest of the districts, they couldn't afford such dresses.  She groaned as she pulled out her paperwork from her desk, but she kindly smiled when she looked back up. "Visiting friends, dear?" She asked. I shake my head. "Okay. I need your first and last name from each of you,"  The lady asked. "Florence, Iris and Lorinda Richmond," I say. The lady grinned and went to write something down, but she hesitated.

"Richmond?" She says, almost whispering. We all say nothing. I bite my lip, holding in my breath in suspense. "Never mind. Come right through girls," The lady's smile returns, writing whatever she had to write back down then looking back up at us warmly. I exhale with relief and simpered at my sisters. They smiled back, and we all exited the town hall into the slums.