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The late July day started like any other, for Aiva lived in a routine that had never been disrupted. Everyday she was woken by her nanny at the same time. Miss Juliet bathed her and fed her, counted out pills and made sure Aiva took them. Her unruly hair brushed and forced into two elastic bands. Miss Juliet even helped her into her clothes and wheelchair.
Through-out her thirteen years of life the girl had grown numb to these monotonous proceedings. Unable to keep kindled any spark of irritation or annoyance towards her parents compulsion, let alone any actual dissent against it. Aiva could not bear to acknowledge any continued antipathy. She learned long ago this lesson and ceased on her insistence that she could do any of this on her own. It was a battle that Aiva never won.
At least she’d had Miss Juliet for the last three years. That was something. Her newest nanny a breath of fresh air amidst this stagnation.
Miss Juliet handed Aiva her tortoise-shell glasses, lending her a perpetually started look, before rolling her out of the oversized bedroom and into an adjoining room. Within there was no furniture save for a tall table inlaid with white cushions.
Miss Juliet aligned the wheelchair parallel to it. “Okay girly—” She positioned herself in front of Aiva and they locked hands. “One, two three!” The woman tugged Aiva, who was much lighter than a thirteen year old girl should be, and with another “heave ho!” She was lifted, making sure to only exert herself in tandem with Miss Juliet’s ques; the least she could do rather than be nothing more but a doll to be moved and placed.
Aiva turned herself to lie down.
“You know, physical therapy has helped many people.” Miss Juliet started to massage Aiva’s legs as she did every day. “People who should have never been able to walk again running in marathons and…” She rattled on as she moved each muscle group. It seemed the nanny wanted to keep the silence at bay. This happened often around Aiva. She was quiet by nature, but around Miss Juliet she often found words pressing up against her lips. The woman was one of the two people in this house Aiva felt she could talk openly too. So she didn’t bite back against her interruption.
“It’s like Hephaestus.” Her voice was small, but Miss Juliet still smiled down at her, never pausing in her own work.
“Are you liking that book I gave you then?”
Aiva cricked her neck with the swiftness of her nod. “Oh yes! I felt bad for Hephaestus, his mother was so cruel to him—” Miss Juliet’s lips shifted into a tight tense line across her handsome features, and Aiva rushed out the rest of her thoughts before falling mute again. “I just read past the part where Thetus rescued him from drowning!” She wanted to say more- to talk about how amazing it was that the God of blacksmithing had made something so great out of himself despite how he’d been born. But couldn’t quite find the right articulations and was unsure of how Miss Juliet would react.
“I’m glad you’re enjoying the stories Aiva. They’ll fit in nicely with our lesson on classical mythology for today!”
“O-oh yes! I’m really looking forward to that!”
Before they could lapse back into reticence Miss Juliet began to chat on- this time about the Greek pantheon, the stories Aiva already knew, characters she’d already met. Miss Juliet only interrupted her own ramblings to give the girl directions such as ; point her toes or bend her knees. Aiva never gave any of her own thoughts away around her therapy, or how her body felt, staring up at the ceiling.
“I think it would be nice if we studied in the garden room today.” Miss Juliet recommended when the session was over and Aiva was back in her chair. The woman smiled and Aiva returned the expression as her posture shifted just a little; straightening up in her seat as the first sign to having heard the suggestion.
“I’d like that.”
The garden room was found on the first floor’s east wing. Two of the walls were made of paned glass through which a portion of the grand garden could be viewed. Summer was well underway, for all the flowers in their various shapes and hues were in bloom. From marigolds to silver bells. The other walls were painted in pastels which lent the room an airy feel. Once the student and her teacher settled they began the arduous task of mathematics.
“You’re progressing so fast I may not be able to keep up!” Miss Juliet teased as she reviewed another finished problem. Aiva beamed with pride at the compliment before attempting to school her features.
“Would it be okay, if we do the rest of our work outside?”
“You really do love the flowers, don’t you?”
“I do! Not just that though. I want to learn how to plant them and grow them!”
Juliet pursed her lips in thought. “I’m not sure if your mother would approve- what with your allergies.”
The girl visibly deflated. “You’re right.” Aiva began before Juliet had even finished her thought. “We do have gardeners for that work I suppose.” Aiva would have to suffice with imagining what working in the earth would feel like, to daydream about being out in the dirt like that. She looked up to Miss Juliet, ready for her next assignment when she noticed that the woman’s eyes now followed movement behind Aiva. The hazel growing a harsh edged glare just as Aiva heard the telltale clicking of heels, sharp against the wooden floors of the hallway.
Aiva didn’t need too, she recognized those imperious footsteps, but still she peaked over her shoulder.
Mrs. Corelyn rushed towards the front doors where she no doubt had an escort awaiting her. There was neither greeting nor farewell. With no attempt to even seek out her daughter. Susan had not even glanced their way.
“I’m sure she’s late for something important.” Aiva said in her soft voice. She didn’t allow any of her hurt to show, expression controlled and shaped into a much practiced look of simple indifference.
Miss Juliet smiled too wide as she refocused on her ward, tucking a stray curl behind her ear. “Seems to me you’ve got this down. What do you say we move onto a history lesson? And then we can talk about your reading assignment for that classical mythology we were discussing earlier.” A small smile, almost imperceptible in it’s swiftness, turned the corners of Aiva’s lips up before passing. The older woman returned the look in kind, countenance softening. Next to mythology, history was one of Aiva’s favorite topics to study.
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Aiva went through the movements of her day. They were mechanical and practiced. Lectures and assignments. A break for lunch before diving back into her academia. Her mind often floated through a purgatory of thoughts about life outside her sheltered existence. Intermingled with these wonderings were brighter reveries of those myths and curses, of gods born into struggle who grew into their power and goddesses who gave their favor to heroes. They wove for her such a bright tapestry that she could forget the mundanity of her own sequestered life, at least for a moment.
Her attention was brought back to the present during English as miss Juliet assigned her a new journal topic.
“What?” Aiva cut Miss Juliet off, though her voice was not much louder than a whisper.
“I want you to write about the last dream you had and what you think it meant. Dreams always have important meanings hidden in them.”
Aiva went back to staring out the window. “I don’t dream.”
“Of course you do—”
“I don’t.”
“Aiva it’s scientifically proven that everyone dreams while in R.E—”
“But I don’t.”
“You must not remember them.”
“I don’t have any too remember.”
“So…” miss Juliet placed a cheerful note into her voice after a brief pause in which Aiva could hear her soft sigh, “we’ll just have to tweak the prompt. Why don’t you describe a dream you would like to have.”
Aiva nodded and stared down at the blank word document page opened on her tablet. She wondered what everyone else dreamt about, unsure of how to even begin.
She was rescued when Mabry stumbled in, dark hair tussled and still in her pajamas.
“Well look who finally started to move,” Miss Juliet snipped, looking up from the test she was grading.
Mabry yawned especially wide in her mom’s direction before she spoke. “Hey can I go down to the park to hangout with some friends later?”
Miss Juliet placed her laptop down with a sigh. “Acutally I was hoping you would stay and psend time with Aiva since her lessons are almost finished for the day. I have some errands to run, so she won’t have much to do without you around.” Aiva kept her eyes glued to her screen, though she had already seen the crestfallen look that had crumpled her friends features. She knew Mabry didn’t enjoy having to keep her company all the time, that time spent with her was incomparable to time spent with her real friends on the outside.
But Aiva was selfish.
Mabry swiftly hitched a smile up and walked over. “of course we can hang out. Any free moment that you actually have must be spent wisely with that hardcore schedule that your parents keep you on. Classes in summer? Honestly.”
Her theatrical scoff shifted easily into a giggle, though Aiva thought perhaps it was forced. The wheel-bound girl felt a twinge of guilt every time Mabry was unable to do something she wanted because of her. As she packed up her work and handed it to Miss Juliet, she grew determined to make this day a good one for her friend.
Aiva quickly found out that she wouldn’t have to try hard though.
Once Miss Juliet was out the door; preoccupied with her other duties, Mabry turned to the younger girl.
“I bet mom’ll be home around 5. That gives us a couple hours of freedom.” Mabry began moving the two of them out of the garden room and down the hallway.
“What are we going to do?” Aiva asked, curiosity piqued by her friends sudden cheer.
“Well first,” Mabry said, looking down at Aiva with her hands on her hips, “We’re going to get you ready.”
“Ready for what?”
“We’ll fix up your hair up different; you’ve worn those pigtails for as long as I can remember.”
Aiva reached up to feel her hair. She liked them, it was the only way to keep it presentable.
“We’ll mix up your outfit a little bit and hey… you wouldn’t mind ditching the wheelchair would you?”
Aiva smiled as she realized what Mabry’s big plan might be. “I don’t mind.”
“Sweet!” their conspiratorial conversation had lasted them all the way to Mabry’s room. Inside Aiva suffered a brutal brush job, cringed her way through the selection of clothing, and twitched during a lipstick and eyeliner episode.
Given Mabry’s reaction at the very end of all that, Aiva was supposed to be impressed with her new appearance. Her hair was a halo of late autumn colors that encompassed her head now that it had escaped the elastic confines. She could barely make out the aqua headband Mabry had placed as an afterthought. Her cubby face looked even rounder now. Dark eyeshadow brought out the blue tint in her otherwise gray irises.
Mabry’s clothes were different than the style Aiva was used to wearing. Bellbottoms belted around her waist hung loose down her scrawny legs. The material felt strange against them. Her blouse was a swirl of orange and green that draped shapeless from her shoulders in an unimpressive manner.
After a moments admiration Mabry glanced down at her still slippered feet.
“While I’m in the shower, you can pick out my clothes.”
Aiva turned away from her reflection in the mirror to face the other girl as her animated voice rang out the suggestion. As the bathroom door shut Aiva eyed the messy dresser, heading towards it though she was still unsure of where to start. Thin legs shook beneath her and for a moment she was fearful that she would fall, body tilting forward too far.
If she did Mabry would be sure to call off their day of fun—whatever it may be—for Aiva’s benefit. But the girl didn’t want that. At the last moment her hands flew out, palms meeting with the sharp edge of the half open drawer.
Aiva steadied herself, looking over her shoulder. Still alone in the room a sigh of relief passed her lips. Mabry hadn’t seen her stumble. Opening the drawers she began to dig through the multicolored fabrics within. She thought of her friends eye color- a light, almost golden brown—and began to look for clothing that matched.
In record time Mabry was primed for their day out. Aiva observed the other girl primping in the mirror. How she rearranged her brown curls and dabbed at her makeup. Aiva wondered is this another thing that everyone else does but me? She didn’t like looking at herself, but then again, she wasn’t as pretty as her friend.
“You let me know the minute you feel tired or anything okay?” Aiva startled out of her thoughts as Mabry grabbed her hand, pushing her inhaler into it. “And let’s not forget this!”
The younger girl nodded. Her heart began to beat a bit faster with every step they took through the long hallways. There was a certain type of new excitement Aiva had discovered in this unknown. As Aiva’s elation grew, she focused less on walking well and stumbled, bumping her hips into a console table—the priceless figurines atop it shuddered but none fell. Mabry looked over at her and before ‘are you alright’ could slip from her friend’s lips she righted herself, concentrating on her movements once more.
Mabry looked her up and down before nodding. “They key is,” she whispered with a wink, “To act like we’re not sneaking out.”
“Are we?” Aiva had only been outside of her family’s estates three times prior too this for educational expeditions arranged by Miss Juliet and approved by her parents.
“Sh!” Mabry led Aiva toward the kitchen where an exit was. However Rebecca, the head cook, stood amidst her bustling workers. “Not this way.” Was hissed. They moved through the house, next trying the eastward exit out of the garden room, then the west exist through the garage. Both blocked by employees of the Corelyn family.
“Well geez. I guess we’ll just have to go out the front door,” she teased before suddenly pushing Aiva into the shadow created by an archway. A finger to her lips.
Aiva followed her gaze down the corridor where an imposing figure had appeared. A Richard stepped from around the corner. His eyes swept the area like a searchlight. The two of them held their breath until the lumbering man moved on. Her pulse sounded loud in her ears as Mabry let out a breathless giggle.
“Now’s our chance!”
Aiva once again found herself pulled along. Both laughter and uncertainties left in their wake.
“Hurry! Hurry!”
They burst through the front door and gasped in the fresh air. Mabry skipped ahead. They passed the circle drive and the elaborate marble fountain. Their images reflected in the shimmering surface of the ever flower water for a brief moment before scattering in ripples.
Aiva’s breath wheezed and she tried to keep as quiet as she could before Mabry noticed. She fumbled her inhaler out of her front pocket as they dashed down the driveway. The girls slowed their pace as they neared the front gates.
This was the last obstacle between them and freedom. She wasn’t sure how they were going to get past the two Richards who guarded the electronic entrance. As they drew closer her heart slowed. Aiva knew this was the end of the line.