The sun lit up Vienna's room, hitting her face with its warm golden rays. She groaned at the piercing light, squinting her eyes as hard as she could. The groggy vibration of her vocal cords reminded her body of something terrifying, a flood of fear and sorrow enveloping her very being. She bolted up, clutching at her throat as she felt it tighten. Her eyes darted around the messy room as if she'd never been there before, there was no recognition of the items that had followed her around for the last 17 years of her life. However, the panic suddenly relieved itself quicker than it had arrived, her vision expanding and heart rate settling as she slumped back into her pillow, an exhausted yawn forcing her to breathe deeply and slowly. Her face imitated the look of death as she entered the bathroom, she stared at her reflection with bitter judgement. Her skin was pale, her eyes red and swollen. It was as if she'd cried the entire night. Her neck began hurting the longer she stared at herself in the vanity. An ache that slithered along the inside of her oesophagus. Coughing, she waited for blood to pour out, but it never came. Relaxing onto the basin, her hand pressed deep into the ceramic. Gasping and panting as she stared down into the sink, her reflection now looking back at her with only pity. She put it all to the side, putting off the mind tricks that her brain was playing at her. Making haste, she brushed her teeth only having her choking as an afterthought, brushing it off like it didn't matter, slowly settling into her body.
Making her way out of her pompous bathroom. She sat at the corner of her velvety pink sheets, staring at her navy blue uniform, its yellow accents highlighting the edge of the blazer. She sighed, hesitantly putting it on, the fabric loosely hanging around her thin body. Standing in front of the mirror, she tucked her wandering white locks behind her ears, leaving her shoulders bare as she placed a black headband on her head. Feeling presentable, she grabbed her black school bag filled with all her school supplies before making her way down the long flight of dark oak stairs. The smell of a full English breakfast caught Vienna's attention before she was startled by the voice of an older woman.
"Hurry up and eat the food before your driver gets here, Vienna" Vienna's mother sternly yelled out, her body declined in a brown leather chair as she worked vigorously, her tight schedule matched with her tightly shut mouth and aged eyes. Vienna sat behind the kitchen island, that stood to the far middle of the extensive room, her legs dangling off of the edge. The Butler, Renley, served the breakfast to the young lady, her lavender eyes searched the plate as warm eggs spilt over into the beans. She stared curiously at the plate before nodding to her butler, Renley bowed in return giving his thanks. Beginning to eat she stared at her inattentive mother, eyebrows furrowing as she just stared, the air tensing with each second. Solemnly eating she watched her mother's long fingers tap away at her laptop's keys, being the only sound in the vast house.
"You know mum.." Vienna spoke up out of the cold silence, a shiver was sent down her spine as her mother's head cocked up slightly.
"Yes, sweetie?" her sickeningly bittersweet voice perked up, expression unchanging as her eyes stayed glued to the bright screen.
"You know what? never mind.." Vienna's voice sank as she began to lose her appetite.
"Um, I have a few tests this week, it seems like I might fail all of them though"
"That's not too great sweetie" Adele's unheeding responses only challenged Vienna to see how far she could push it.
"Yeah if anything I may just fail them on purpose and streak naked in the halls"
"Oo that sounds brave" The cheery, endearing tone of her voice came out of her blank face as she continued to tap away at the keyboard.
"Yeah and since I'd do that I was thinking of just never wearing clothes again and base-jumping off a cliff every Friday after I abandon schooling, maybe even becoming a witch too"
"Maybe just one thing at a time honey" Her absent-minded responses were amusing but lost their spark in the same fashion that the tiger skin rug in the middle of their living room did the same day that it was delivered.
Vienna huffed as she took one last bite of her now cold eggs "I've had enough of this"
She stood up and put on her bag before giving one last disappointed glance to her mother.
"You never listen to me anymore, it's like all you ever think about is work.
I can't believe that hanging around the royals changed you this much" The line naturally fell out of her mouth as if she'd been meaning to say it for a while, its meaning solidified in how her mother only caught a single word out of the entire conversation.
She looked up only after her daughter slammed the front door shut as she left.
"Royals? That little girl has such an active imagination these days" Adele giggled, continuing to work.
Vienna walked out of the building, the driver was already parked outside of the entrance waiting for her to get in. She smiled, nodding as she got into the backseat which had refreshments and snacks laid out in the middle, resembling a small kitchen island in the way it protruded out of the car.
Vienna eyed the small island before tilting her head in the direction of the nearest distraction, splashes of green, orange and red washed over her car window. She watched intently as the word autumn painted the outside world. She didn't remember much of summer as she spent it all couped up within her comically large room, fitting at least 3 other people. She wasn't used to such glamour, let alone such a fancy lifestyle, 5 months of pure agony have gone by as she tried to fit herself in with these new social norms. Having to speed up her studies to be on the same level as her new classmates, as well as learning the differences between social classes and how she was lucky to move up. The only thing lucky she had experienced till now was a slight room upgrade and depression seeping more into her mindset, her thoughts filled with her old life and how it all never mattered in the end. The car halted suddenly, Vienna being snapped back to reality as the past 5 minutes black out of her memory. The driver opened up the door for her, letting her feet gently sweep the ground as she got out of the sports car. Her bag followed shortly after, swinging it over one of her shoulders before thanking the driver. It wasn't long before the driver had driven off, leaving her there stranded in front of an unfamiliar building.