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Faces in the mirror
Two souls intertwined by fate brought apart by time and hatred. Luciel lived the rest of her life locked away in a tower with only the old servant maid that was her company since her parents died. Her hair shown hints of silver in the lustrous blond locks and fine lines across her smooth snow white skin but she doesn’t mind at all.
Birds chirped at her. They never forgot how she cared for them. She raised her hands towards them and stoked the tiny body perched in her index finger. Her eyes gleaming were with excitement.
“She’ll be here. She’s finally going to visit me,” she whispered excitedly to the flock. “I haven’t seen her in a while you know? And now she’s come to visit me.”
“Maybe she’s just busy. Ruling the country is not an easy job,” she waved her fingers. “No, no, no it’s not an easy job. A year has it been? Oh dear, oh dear, I can’t remember at all!”
“She’ll be here and we’ll go to the courtyard,” she paced back and forth across her room. “Yes, the courtyard like mama and papa used to take us there. With all the wild flowers all trimmed and grand! Oh how wonderful! We danced and each dancer asked us both. They could never tell us apart!” excited giggles escaped her lips as she swayed drunk with happiness.
“What shall I wear? A dress? Purple? Beige? I only have a few ragged clothes. Surely she won’t mind,” she plucked a simple satin ribbon and arranged her hair. “She married Prince Adier you know? She married him in a hurry. I don’t mind. I don’t mind at all. But really I thought he was here to ask my hand in marriage but that’s all in the past now,” her voice fell in sad despair. “I wonder if they’ve had any children.”
A soft knock was heard from the wooden door and the old maid servant entered the room. She was carrying a white laced gown. “Miss, I come to give you this,” the old servant bowed in respect.
“Oh wonderful! Wonderful! Now I have something decent to wear,” she exclaimed. “Will she come Old Mother?”
“Yes Miss, your sister will arrive any moment. I shall take my leave.”
“Yes, yes, thank you Old Mother,” the old servant bowed her head low and lightly sobbed as she left the room.
“She’ll come to take me away from this prison,” Luciel smiled as she put on the dress.
It was well past midnight when the door opened. A gust of cold air from the parted window has woken Luciel. A black robed person was standing by the doorway only illuminated by the candlelight. The face she know so well.
“Lianna! Lianna!” she cried out. “Have you come to take me away?”
“No,” was a cold stern reply.
“But I thought you came to see me,” Luciel’s face fell.
“I came to see you. But only to look at what you’ve become. You were mama and papa’s favorite because they see me as only a substitute,” Lianna laughed a bitter laugh. “See, time does take its toll my sister!”
“I don’t understand. We are one. We are twins,” Luciel was perplexed with what was transpiring.
“No, I’m still beautiful. With a husband. With a kingdom. While you have none. Even your beauty withered like a leaf in an autumn season. You are nothing,” Lianna looked sternly with an evil grin distorting her delicate face.
“No! I’m still beautiful! No! I’m still you,” she shrieked.
“You and I are two different persons. See for yourself what you have become,” Lianna stepped aside revealing a mirror. She stepped beside Luciel’s reflection. “You and I are never the same.”
Looking at her reflection. Seeing her face for the first time. Tears fell from her eyes. Yes, the beauty left her and what shattered her the most was that she no longer have anyone but herself. She screamed in pain and agony and climbed the tower window and leaped. Her body landed on the ground and her blood seeped through. As twilight came birds gather around Luciel’s body and they picked blossoms from wild flowers and covered her. They do not know how to mourn and they shall never shed a tear. For them she is now free to fly.
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