Promise

28

Lucy
I was woken up by my alarm clock early in the morning. I had purposely set my alarm an hour earlier than the guys so that I could emotionally prepare myself for today. I didn't dream about him last night which was a relief. But the memories kept replaying in my head, this trail had scratched open an healed wound.

I took an long shower and looked at myself in the mirror. I wasn't the weak person i was when he hurt me, i was stronger than him. I took a deep breath and let all my emotions fade away, i didn't want to feel anything today. He wouldn't get to see my weak and broken again.

I looked at my closet and debated about what i should wear. I kinda wanted have a "oh no my rich husband mysteriously died" vibe. But i had no clothes to achieve that. I grabbed the box that had all my mother's old stuff in it and searched for a dress. There wasn't a lot of clothing in the box but i managed to find a tight black dress and some long black gloves. I laughed as i put the cloves on, it looked really dramatic. In the corner of my eye i spotted something in the box that i had totally forgotten about, her old point shoes. I picked them up from the box and felt a wave of emotion hit me. The shoes were still brand new, she was supposed to wear them to her big show. She had never made it to her big show.

I felt the urge to put them on and try to dance on them like i did when I was younger. Dancing used to feel like flying, especially when i danced with my mother. Even after she had died i felt free and happy when i would dance. I took my socks off to put the shoes on but i stopped when i remembered my 'old' injury. On my right ankle was a big scar that went all around my ankle. I stroked my fingers over it and let the memory come back.

I was sitting downstairs with my uncle. We both sat on opposite sides of the couch watching an TV show. Things were going fine until i had to laugh really hard at something that happend in the TV show. He got mad and told my to shut up but i didn't listen.

Being locked in the basement was a normal punishment for my brother and i. But my uncle had started to do it more often, even when we had done nothing wrong. My brother had learned me to pick locks so whenever we would be locked up in the basement we could get out ourselves after my uncle went to sleep. We didn't saw the basement as a punishment anymore, just as a simple timeout because we could get out whenever we wanted. My uncle eventually found out that my brother and i would get out of the basement oursleves so he upgraded. He drilled a hole in the wall and attached an big iron chain to it.

He tied the chain around my ankle extremely tight. It was the first time he did that, i didn't even know that there was a chain in the basement before this. I desperately tried to get out of but i only pulled it tighter. After a few hours my brother came to check on me to see why i was still in the basement. It took us almost 3 hours to cut the chain around my ankle. It had damaged a muscle in my ankle, i wasn't able to put my full weight on my right ankle. I wasn't able to dance after that, i couldn't even walk normally for a few months. The limb had thank god disappeared over time, but i was never able to dance normal again.

I put my socks back on and put the shoes back in the box. I had no time to dance right now, i had to get ready for one of the hardest days of my life. I put on the black dress, tights and the gloves. My makeup wasn't much, just some concealer and mascara. I decided to let my hair loose. I looked at myself in the mirror, i really looked like a widow who may or may not has killed her husband.

20 minutes ago i had heard the guys stumble around. They were waking up and would probably wake me up once they were done getting dressed. Little did they know that i was already awake and ready to go. While i waited for someone to knock on my door i looked in the mirror. I felt as if i was missing something. Then it hit me, lipstick. I put it on and gave myself a satisfying nod, everything looked right. There was a gentle knock on my door and Luke entered my room "Time to... oh you're already awake. " he said kinda disappointing.