Chapter 1:
I stand up and take a few steps back to examine the dress. It is a light blue silk gown with a lace torso and puffed sleeves, the lace of the collar finished the dress off. I picked it up carefully and hang it on my rack next to my desk.
I then sit back in my chair which has been worn down over the years and stare out the window. There isn't much of a view from the attic; the window faces an empty field next to mother's shop. I faintly remember looking out of this window when I was younger and longed to play in the green fields. The fields are now yellow and dried up. I hear a knock on my door and it startles me.
"Come in." I say quietly. The door creaks open and mother's head pops in. She is wearing a yellow extravagant dress with puffed sleeves that wrap tightly around her wrist. She is wearing a yellow matching hat with flowers pinned on to it. Her face is caked with the usual makeup and the ruby lipstick. Mother is pretty, with or without the makeup, and so explains the rest of her daughters.
"Katara dear, I'm going out with Thomas, will you be fine on your own for a while?" Her voice is soft but has a sense of firmness in it. I give her a small smile and nod. I know she is in a rush but she walks over to the rack that garbs my newest dress creation.
"Oh Katara! This is lovely!" She gushes and then looks over at me, and frowns. "You really should make something for yourself though. You have such talent and you're beautiful but you dress so poorly." I can hear the kindness dripping in her voice. I am not beautiful, and I prefer to wear what I like. I look down at my dress, it's a plain grey dresses that cinches slightly at the waist. There are no puffed sleeves.
"Mother, go on. You'll be late. Besides I like what I wear." I say rapidly.
"I worry about you sometimes…" She presses her cheek to mine, to prevent her lipstick from smearing. "I might be late, so close up for me. Goodbye dear." She calls out as she closes the door behind her. I turn to look back out the window.
Mother goes out with Thomas almost every day now. I'm sure they will soon get married. I sometimes want to object to her choice, but I have no reason to do so. He is handsome and is the same age as mother, he has a good job and he is kind. I just don't like him.
After father died, I was expecting mother to re-marry, but I guess I never believed it would happen. I thought back to when father married after my real mother passed away. I didn't like my new 'mother' at first, she was excessive, but she was always very kind to me. Mother passed away when I was only five, so I don't remember her. Father re-married when I was seven and he passed away when I was fourteen. I am now seventeen years old living with mother and her three daughters.
Jane is now eighteen, I always felt close to her because she and I were similar, she wasn't even really my sister, but I always felt close to her anyways. Lucinda is now fourteen, she and I don't get along. We are not real sisters, but I have no relationship with her at all. Laura is nine and the youngest out of all of us. She was born a year after father re-married. I was first angry with her when she was younger, but now I am the closest to Laura. She is my only half-sister.
Jane is off in University so I don't see her much and Lucinda attends a special secondary school and Laura goes to a nice school not far from home. After secondary school, I didn't attend University. I knew mother needed someone to work in the shop, so I became the one to help her.
Mother's shop is open every day and is called, 'Dress Emporium'. She owned the shop before I even knew her. I don't remember who used to work at making the dresses before me but now it was my job. I pulled out a new piece of fabric. It was a light pink color. I placed the fabric on my dress. I then chose the proper netting to go with it. I finished it off with a crème colored lace.
I suddenly heard a bell ringing from downstairs. I quickly stood up and straightened my dress, it was wrinkled in many places from sitting down for such long periods of time, but I didn't really care. I opened the attic door and winced when I heard the loud creaking noise it made.
I walked down the stairs so I ended up right at the cashier desk. There was a woman standing there. She was a large woman with a smug look on her face. Her large feathered hat loomed over her billowing figure. Miss. Withers.
"Good morning Miss. Withers, how may I help you?" I said faking a kind and timid voice.
She looked me up and down before replying. "I'm looking for a dress for my daughter, Elena." I cringed at the mention of her name. Elena was a girl in the town, she was the same age as, and she attended the same secondary school. But she was very different from me; she was pretty with large eyes and a slender face. "You must have heard about the wedding haven't you?"
I bit my lip. I didn't hear about much. I was usually cooped up in the attic prying over dresses and seams or in the hall playing piano. Mother never liked the piano but father always liked it. He taught me when I was very young. I always thought about pursuing a career as a musician but according to mother only males could pursue such a career. "Congratulations." I said quietly. Miss. Withers laughed. She had an ugly laugh, it was loud but at the same time tinny.
"Oh no! It's not my daughter's wedding. Heaven's no! Mrs. Grant's daughter is getting married, haven't you heard?" I ignored her question and nodded. "Is there anything in specific you are looking for?"
"Something in a light color, tight at the waist, puffed sleeves."
I walked away from the cashier table towards a rack of our best dresses. I pulled out a purple gown. She shook her head. I pulled out a red one next. She shook her head barely looking at the gown.
"I've already looked around the entire shop, I was wondering if you have anything in stock?"
I slowly walked up the stairs and into the attic room. I pulled the blue dress I had made today off the rack and carefully walked down the stairs. Miss. Wither's looked it over, one eyebrow raised. She then slowly nodded.
"Did you make this?" She asked me curiously.
"Yes Miss. Withers."
"I wouldn't believe it if your mother hadn't already told me. You made this yet you're wearing such a tasteless gown."
"Would you like to purchase it?" I asked her changing the topic. She nodded. A few more women walked into the store and began looking around.
I quickly handed her the bag and took the money and placed it in the drawer. "Have a good day." I called out as she walked out of the store with her head held high.
The rest of the day was spent helping women purchase dresses. I finally closed the store and walked over to the kitchen. Laura and Lucinda would be coming home soon. I missed the days when Jane and I used to prepare dinner together but that was before she went to university. I prepared a simple meal consisting of bread with boiled vegetables.
I heard Laura and Lucinda enter the house. Laura ran into the kitchen. I smiled at her. She gave me a brief hug. "How was school?" I asked her. She took a seat the dinner table. Laura had bright green eyes, just like her mother. She was tall for her age and her dark brown hair fell down to her shoulders.
"Jacob got in trouble today! He even got the strap. I was so scared!" Her voices rushed out in excitement. "Does it hurt a lot?" She asked me.
I weakly remembered receiving the strap a few times in secondary school. "Yes, that's why you have to be good to never get it." She stared up at me in awe.
"Are you hungry?" I asked her. She nodded. "Well then go upstairs and wash up and then you can eat." She smiled and quickly ran up the stairs. I could her Lucinda already coming back from washing up. She took a seat at the dinner table without any greetings.
I set a plate in front of her. "How was school?" I asked her.
"Where's mother?"
"She's out with Thomas." I said softly. I watched as Lucinda's eyes flashed with something. I wasn't sure if it was anger or something else. She had green eyes as well, slightly darker than mother's and Laura's. Her hair was very dark and it fell around her pale face all the way down to her lower back. She had large eyes and a pointed nose. Pretty, like mother. I wondered how my real mother looked like. She couldn't have been pretty if I was her daughter.
Lucinda began eating and so did I. We sat in silence until Laura came and began to drone on and on about her school. I occasionally nodded and smiled at what she said, but I wasn't really paying attention.
"Time to go to sleep."I said to Laura after she had finished eating.
"Can you play piano for me?" She asked. Her green eyes shined with eagerness. I smiled. Laura probably inherited some of father's love for music. She sat next to me on the stool and I began playing a familiar melody.
It was a lullaby I faintly remembered mother singing to me before she died. My fingers relaxed and so did the rest of me as the music filled the room. Laura sat next to me with a dreamy smile planted on her face. The music warmed up the usually empty room, how it used to when father was alive.
After an hour of relaxing, I had to half carry Laura up to her room. I tucked her into bed and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. Lucinda was already sitting in her room. I knocked on the door and didn't hear a reply.
"Lucinda?" I continued knocking on the door. I slowly opened the door and poked my head in. She was resting on her bed reading a book. She didn't look up at me when I entered but I saw her eyes look up for a moment and then quickly refocus on her book.
"It's time to go to sleep." I said quietly. She ignored me. "Lucinda."
"What?"
"I said it's time to go to sleep."
"I can go to sleep when I feel like it. Just because mother's not home doesn't mean you can tell me what to do!" She snapped as she finally looked up at me. Her eyes were red, had she been crying?
"You're right; I was just hoping you would listen." I said softly as I shut the door to her room behind me. I walked over to my own room, which was the attic. I closed the attic door and quickly changed into my sleeping clothes. I then curled up into my bed and pulled the covers up till my chin. I turned on my side and stared out the window once more.
I couldn't see anything, it was too dark, but looking out of the window still made me feel peaceful. I heard mother come in through the door, but I was too tired to get back up. I lay in bed listening to mother talking quietly with Thomas. I cringed as I heard his voice. After a while I fell fast asleep.