Crowned

Chapter 1 The Call That Changed Everything

 Once Upon a Time...

It all began with a mere phone call, one that would alter Mara Clare's life forever. The room is quiet and yet there is a small echo of contemporary music simmering in the background. She is laying on her bed, arms-length in one of her favorite books, a litter of leatherbacks scatters her bed like blankets. Her hair is up, gathered into a messy bun while bits and pieces glide along the delicate planes of her cheekbones. She has a glass of white wine cupped in her hand yet her eyes never flutter from the pages.

It is her twenty-fifth birthday and she has waited all day to simply do what makes her happy. It has been a day of leisure and she has made several cups of tea while lounging around her apartment and reading some of her favorite books. Her voicemail machine, yes she is quite old fashioned and has a landline, flashes with numerous calls that she doesn't care to answer.

Her favorite place is always her bed, it's where dreams are made and the view overlooks Lake Michigan along with the city below her. At dusk, the city lights shine through her window like dozens of stars and she'd watch as the people around her livened up her city, coming alive just like the characters in her books.

She loves reading, manifesting her imagination right before her very eyes. She is the girl who reads by flashlight until the wee hours of the morning when the stars would disappear, paving the way for the sun. She is the girl who looks at others as a glorious mess of blurred words, knowing there's so much more than mere flesh and bone. Her life is mundane but the character's inside her books catapults her into a world of fairytale, adventure, and her favorite romance. Sometimes, she feels lost in a world that she couldn't quite understand. She is in love with the idea of someplace far in the distance one that probably never existed. Yet, her stories conglomerating with her imagination give her hope that maybe someday she'd find that place, the place that made her feel at home.

She is just about to complete another page, her fingers itching with anticipation, her pouty lips part, as her eyes dance across the page. She comes towards the end of the chapter and is elated to read more. As she is about to turn she hears that her cell phone is going off. She would ignore it but it seems to keep ringing despite her not picking up the first two times. With a sigh, she closes her book delicately putting it on top of the stack on her bed. She turns around on her back looking up at the ceiling grabbing her phone. She notices all the pictures of places she hopes to go, they were merely cut-outs from magazines, but she knows one day she'll make it there. This world of hers, this black and grey existence, can fill with an abundance of color she just has to find it.

An unexplored world mixed with these pictures on her ceiling gives her purpose. Every morning she'd wake up, go to work, do her part, she knows she's saving up to explore the unknown. There has to be more out there, a story ready to unfold, she just hadn't found hers yet.

Hesitantly she picks up her cell phone knowing it's probably a wrong number because no one would be calling her. Mara's parents never called her on her birthday she has never been close to either of them. They lived far in the woods in the middle of rural Illinois and she'd only receive postcards from them during the holidays. They never celebrated special occasions or believed in celebrations. They were her family but she never felt the closeness to them like the families she'd witnessed or read about in her books. Both her parents immigrated to Chicago when she was a newborn. Her father, from Germany, and her mother his Afro-Brazilian bride, they barely showed love to each other, therefore, they never knew how to love her.

Reading is how she coped with a loveless childhood. She'd read and re-read books as if they were her family and friends creating bonds as each page turned. She never found others like her because their roots always settled in the earth but she couldn't settle here. She's waiting to find someone like her, someone to water her imagination making her feel grounded. Until she found that, everyone else would be a watercolor, washing off throughout her life.

When she was small she'd read Peter Pan, falling in love with the esteemed hero who never wanted to grow up. Neverland placed a bookmark in her soul and she prayed every night, leaving a letter to Peter saying,

Dear Peter,

I've left my window open...Please rescue me.

xoxo-Mara

Peter never came and as she grew she should have lost hope that magic like the ones in her stories were real. Yet, she clings to the possibility that it may not be here in Chicago but someplace else.

She realizes that her phone is still ringing so she answers the phone with a swift, "hello."

The husky voice of her boss from work answers back with a happy birthday and she is unsure why he feels the need to call her realizing that it isn't simply to wish her well.

"So, I'm really sorry to do this to you Mara but I need you to come in and cover a shift, Tina called off."

"Again? Listen, Jonas, no, there's no way, it's my birthday." Mara pouts.

She lifts herself up from her lying position and grabs one of her books putting it inside her lap. There is no way she would give up her day, it only came once a year, and she would be damned if she caves and works a shift she had requested off a year prior. Mara never took sick days or vacation days because she never had someplace to be, and she never had a family to visit. Holidays would roll past and she'd be in her apartment alone hoping that one day she would have a place to be, a family to share dinner with, maybe even someone who'd miss her.

"I know Mara, I'm going to terminate Tina next week but tonight is a huge night and we really need you, please. I'll pay you overtime, give you candy, anything you want, I just really need for you to work tonight!" Jonas sounds desperate.

Mara blows strands of her hair out of her face while rolling her eyes. She pushes some of her hair behind her ear. Why is she always caving? Why can't she just say no? She always changed her plans to help others, if she is honest with herself she needs the money but money isn't worth everything to her.

"Fine, but you owe me, Jonas."

"You're a doll, that's why you're my girl!"

"A huh, bye Jonas see you in an hour."

Jonas hangs up the phone and Mara throws the phone on the bed. She gets up and walks to her closet pulling out her black cocktail dress that is required for her job. She's worked at this club, Acqua since she was in college. It gave her great hours, awesome tips, and allowed her to pursue school during the day.

Jonas had scouted her in a coffee shop while she was reading a book lost in its pages. He had come up to her saying he had never seen someone so lost, so transfixed with a story, he small talked with her for quite some time, afterward giving her his card asking if she wanted to work with the club. He continued to tell her that she had this look about her, one that was so captivating and striking. She could never tell if he was flirting with her or simply being nice and wanting her to never quit. Besides, Jonas is her boss and that could get way too messy.

She puts the black dress on and stares in the mirror flattening any bumps. The dress hugs her curves like a glove and accentuates her legs even though she's on the shorter side. She takes her scrunchy out of her hair and allows her freshly showered hair to dance along her shoulders. Her wavy light auburn hair falls just below her back. She grabs her black heels that have been placed underneath her bed and she puts one on. She walks with one foot heeled towards her dresser grabbing her red lipstick putting it on. After, she turns towards the mirror again examining herself with a sigh. "Well, happy birthday Mara." She says to herself.

It's a sad realization that nothing would be changing, this birthday everything would be exactly like the same... or so she thought.