Vampire Vocab

We were doing Round Robin, a game where we create a story as an ensemble, in my theater class at Piven. One story we told stuck out to me so, as I am prone to do, I am going to post it. I didn’t name the characters, by the way. Otherwise, the main characters name would be Vladmira, or something equally strange. Lucky main character. Here goes:

Elizabeth was a small, wiry girl. She had chestnut brown hair that fell in tight curls across her slim shoulders. She wore leggings and an oversized sweatshirt, and she loved her birthday. Every birthday, she would lift her pillow in the morning and find a huge chocolate heart, resting like a tangible symbol of her parent’s love, on her bed. She would pick up the heart and bite into it, closing her eyes with bliss. Caramel, thick and buttery, would trail in long strings from the heart, until a giggling Elizabeth would bite them off. It tasted like heaven, wrapped in milk chocolate.

It was her ninth birthday and in the morning, Elizabeth, giddy with excitement, lifted her pillow to find…nothing. Nothing but her crisp, cool, white sheets which, as tears blurred her vision, seemed to goad her. Elizabeth had, just recently, gotten braces, and therefore could no longer eat caramel. But nothing could distract her from the ire that had swept in to quickly chase away the hurt. How dare they refuse her the highlight of her birthday? How DARE they?! She stomped down the stairs to the kitchen, her footsteps like thunder, threatening a storm. She met her mothers kind, compassionate, brown eyes with her anger-filled ones. Her mother had short, lusterous brown hair, and a curving mouth that always seemed ready to curve into a smile, or  offer kind words.

“Where is my chocolate heart?!” Elizabeth screamed. “WHERE IS IT?!” With each word, her voice became shriller, until it reached a screech. Her mother quietly, calmly explained, as she always did when Elizabeth lost her temper.

“You know you can’t have caramel, Elizabeth. Your braces–” Elizabeth cut her off.

“I WANT my chocolate heart!!” The next moment, her father leaned over her, imposing. Her father was a big man, tall and muscular, intelligent eyes glinting from beneath thick eyebrows.

“You can’t have it,” He boomed, his voice ringing with finality.

Elizabeth shrieked with frustration, darted up the stairs and hid in the bathroom, trying to calm down. It wasn’t working. She ran to her room, snatched the pillow from the bed and hit it against the bed, again and again, until she noticed something odd. On her bed were the crushed remains of many, many chocolate bars, their raspberry, chocolate, mint and otherwise filling dripping slowly onto the bed, staining the pristine sheets. A note, splattered with striking splashes of red and brown from the chocolate, read:

We’re Sorry, Elizabeth. We’re sorry you couldn’t have a chocolate heart this year. We love you.

Always.

Elizabeth’s tears started anew. She set down the pillow gently on the bed and slowly walked to the door, tears dripping down her face and falling, a perfect drop of moisture, to dampen and darken the carpet. She progressed down the hall, a sick feeling growing in her stomach, gnawing at her throat, causing her knees to wobble. She carefully walked down each step, watching her feet, keeping her eyes on the ground, eyes blurry with tears. She only wanted one thing for her birthday now: forgiveness.

She softly padded into the kitchen, quiet as a scared kitten. She looked up at her parents faces. Her father looked grim. Her mother, disappointed. Her mother never looked disappointed. Elizabeth’s tears redoubled.

She wailed, “I am so sorry! I didn’t see the note…or the chocolate…or anything! I am so sorry…so sorry…so…sorry… Please, please, forgive me!” She broke off into sniveling. As she looked up at her mother with tear stained cheeks, she saw her mother’s face soften. Without saying a word, her mother reached out and stroked Elizabeth’s cheek.

Just once.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 2nd, 2009 at 7:00 pm and is filed under Life, Ramblings, Writing.
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