Trial #9 {Challenge Accepted}

Day 12

Take the first line of your favorite novel. Remove and replace the nouns and verbs, and write a story that begins with your new line. Delete the first line.

***

The day was Friday, and I was on my way back from Uni, for the Christmas break. No one had come from home, so I came home through bus, after storing all my belongings at my future home for the coming year, in Utah.

The day had reached its utmost end as I walked into my parents’ driveway under my umbrella. The place was huge, it wasn't a mansion, but it sure resembled one. Neatly kept lawns adorned each side of the driveway I was on. The house itself was decorated with hundreds of fairy lights on the outside, giving it a cozy, christmassy, look. The coziness stops there. Once you're in, all you're going to feel is the icy cold hearts of my parents. Oh, and maybe their disapproving stares, as well.

I walked up to the door and rang the bell.

Timothy opened the door.

“Miss Lancaster, good evening,” he said. I smiled warmly at him. Timothy was our butler, he always had a soft spot for me, unlike the other monsters that lived in this house, home, whatever. He gave me a smile in return, and ushered me inside, taking my coat off as soon as I got in. In that second, I was enveloped in fond memories of this place.

Only to be disturbed by the monstrous beast of my cousin.

Now, when I call him a monstrous beast, it's not in a derogatory sense. Never. Trevor was the only person in my family in front of whom I could actually be myself. That should give you an idea of how much I cherish his friendship.

“My dear cousin!” he said, coming down the large marble staircase as if he were someone in the 1940s. He wore a black suit with his hair gelled back, unlike his usually tousled hair. I still don't know why my family focused on being formal even at simple family dinners.

He gave me a tight hug as soon as he approached me.

“Careful, I have cheesetouch,” I told him.

He recoiled in mock horror. “Oh my God! I have been defiled by the lowest of breeds in the human species, my cousin Evie. Ewwww!”

I chuckled as silently as possible. “What’s with the twentieth century attitude?”

“Well, if your parents are going to make it a rule to dress like you're living a century behind, you've got to be the part,” he said.

“Touché".

“Come, my fine lady, dinner awaits,” he told me, entwining his arm in mine and resuming his act.

“Wait, dinner began already? I wanted to freshen up and change into something else, Father and Mother are going to kill me if I walk into that dining room wearing this,” I told him, motioning at my outfit.

“Too bad you came in late,” he told me.

“Father didn't send anyone to Uni, so I had to come through bus,” I told him, and let out a sigh. “I guess I'm coming in with you, then,” I told him.

Both of us mounted the stairs and walked into the dining room on the second floor. When we walked in, the only occupants of the room were my parents, Aunt Cordelia and Uncle John.