Crowned follows a character named Mara Clare who is a waitress in Chicago. She has never felt connected to anyone. Even her parents never seemed to love her. Therefore, her escape came through the pages of books. On her 25th birthday, she gets a cal...
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"Live the full life of the mind, exhilarated by new ideas, intoxicated by the Romance of the unusual."
-Ernest Hemingway
Mara looks at that quote several times on her phone as she paces back and forth in her bedroom. She's biting her already cracked nails, a bad habit, as she stares down at her unpacked suitcase. She doesn't know what decision she is going to make and her inconsistency creates a war zone within her mind.
Her brain, is yelling at her screaming that this is ridiculous, stuff like this doesn't happen to anyone. Perhaps she would go, what if she got there and Andorra is awful, filled with people who hate her, Alfie would abandon her, and sadly Peter, no longer her Peter, would be confused as to why she even came. Maybe he wanted to leave her in the past, maybe he even saw her as a one night stand, stored away only for his imagination. Her brain has never been nice. This realization causes her to sit on her bed and grab a pillow bringing it up to her chest. She holds onto it tightly staring down at her rather large suitcase which has never been used. She had brought it last year in hopes of traveling to all the places that sparked her imagination. Months flew by and her suitcase sat in her closet merely collecting dust.
Now it's her heart's turn, it comes to her defense in full force, wearing a full coat of armour, it's always been a wild thing, maybe that's why it's caged by her ribs. Her heart brings back the moment from the bean and how that kiss felt so real, so natural, it makes her think about her world devoid of color. She relives her memories in black and white, merely touching him casting hues of pastels to shoot across her eyes. Yet, nothing turns her life to color like that kiss.
She remembers how they laid next to each other all night and nothing in the world seemed to matter to them, nothing but each other. What if she did go, and he did want her, all the other nonsense could fall into place because if they had each other they'd be strong enough to face the world. Mara has always been a bit naive, believing in romance, chivalry, and above all else love.
Maybe it's because she never really experienced it before, neither with her parents, friends, or family. It seemed like a made up word in her stories, but she hoped, that one day it would find her, she had to believe it would. What if she gave up on her own story, what if this is her chance to find what she's been looking for all along? Her heart murmurs, you have to fight for this fairytale, it does exist!
Mara sighs and she lays down on her bed looking up at her ceiling. When had she become such a masterpiece of broken dreams, hopes and wishes? She had always wanted something magical to happen to her, yet here it is, and she cannot decide whether to dive into her fairytale or turn away from it altogether. When she made that wish her on birthday she never believed that it would come true.
She finally believes that her intrusive mind has left her alone but it whispers it's last tidbit of information to her, What if you have to watch Peter marry someone else? Just the mere thought causes her stomach to turn with turmoil. How could she watch him fall in love with someone else, let alone marry them? It's been weeks, he's probably met this woman, gathered a relationship with her and yet she had the nerve to believe that she could break them up!
Mara stands up and brings her legs up to her chest, there's no way she would do this, it's not right and she couldn't take that risk with too many uncertainties. She looks at her cell phone next to her bed, Alfie has explained that no matter her decision, she should call him at eleven p.m. so he could have the limo waiting for her in the morning. The clock reads ten fifty-five p.m. This would have to be the hardest decision she has ever made in her life. However, she knows that she has to let this wild dream go she knows deep down her brain is correct it would only end in heartbreak. Her poor heart, knowing it's lost the race, dives back into her cage of ribs and she feels like it beats a bit slower now, drowned in defeat.
She cannot help it she doesn't want to cry but the realization hits her at once that she would be giving this up, and her sadness dawns to a peak because of all the what if's. She would never know how this story would end because she is too afraid to try. As she sheds a tear wiping it away, she reaches for her phone about to tell Alfie her decision. Yet, before she grabs her phone she hears a book that is on the edge of her bed fall to the ground. She looks over her bed and picks it up, looking at the title, it's one of her all time favorites, Pride and Prejudice. She grabs the book opening it up, letting her fingers graze against it's familiar pages and words. Something catches her eye a quote by Jane Austen herself, "it is very often nothing but our own vanity that deceives us."
Before she can think of anything else her phone rings, it's Alfie, because she knows that it's eleven p.m. She picks up the phone, her throat is crackling and her mind is a blur of emotions.
