Abandoned

     “Yes, miss.” The Blue Xweetok maid bowed, curtsying and trying to be as polite as possible to this brat. She briskly walked over to the Aisha's bedroom suite to retrieve her fluffy slippers.

     The Pink Aisha, scoffing at the Xweetok's lowly status, made herself more comfortable in the couch. She stretched her arm across the wooden part of the settee and stroked her gorgeous and elegant emerald-green dress, leading its long tail to the floor.

     She sighed and laid her head back, dramatically bringing her petite hand to her forehead. “Oh, why must Mother take so long beautifying herself? We are already beautiful enough.”

     Her father, sitting in a loveseat across from her reading the Neovian Press, put his newspaper down and looked solemnly at his daughter. “Alice, you know you take this long yourself,” he said, his bushy black mustache like a caterpillar above his lip somewhat distorting what he said, “Don't fret; your lovely dress shan't be given away to anyone poorer than us. Not that it's likely, seeing as we, the von Wraiths, are the richest here in Neovia.” The stocky but proud Brown Elephante adjusted his suit forward in pride.

     Alice rolled her eyes. “I just want to go get my dress!” she demanded, sitting up straight now.

     “What is all this bickering I hear?” asked a voice, coming from behind Alice. She turned around and saw her mother descending the stairs, her soft blue gown floating about her.

     “Mother, you took so long!” whined Alice, sitting up straight. She fixed her beautiful dress. “Can we go now? I have been looking forward to trying on the dress Prigpants and Swolthy have been making for me; this cannot be put off.”

     “Very well, let's go.” Her mother was not as young as she used to be, but she liked to believe so. She had caked on lots of makeup and looked like a pale Zafara ghost, but she was only White. Her tone was as stony cold as her expression. Alice rather disliked her mother, but the one thing she was thankful for was her hair, which Alice had inherited and was proud of.

     “Tell the servant I won't be needing my slippers anymore, when she comes back,” casually said Alice, as if traveling halfway through their mansion for nothing wouldn't be hard on the poor Xweetok maid. The Pink Aisha slipped on a pair of heels and marched out the door with her White Zafara mother.

     As soon as they left, the Blue Xweetok had come back to find her mistress gone.

     “Sorry, they left for dear Alice's dress,” grunted the Brown Elephante, going back to his reading.

     The Xweetok could only smile politely and go back, for losing her job by speaking her mind was not something she wanted. She mentally cursed the von Wraiths.

     * * *

     The streets of Neovia were as misty and foggy as usual. People walked about in their ridiculously long dresses, parasols (though there was no need of them), silk fans... all the accessories of the rich, though not everyone walking now had a fortune as their clothes told.

     Mother and daughter gossiped about the poorer than they, snickering at how they so attempted to look wealthier.

     They finally reached the tailor shop, and the instant they came in the Purple Mynci and Yellow Lenny began to gush and warmly greet their best customers.

     “Mrs. von Wraith, Miss von Wraith! Ah, the light of our dark day,” said Swolthy, clapping his hands together.

     “We're here for Alice's custom dress we ordered, Swolthy,” icily said the Zafara, not wanting to socialize with these pitiful fools, “not to chitchat and dillydally!”

     The Mynci, slightly taken aback, tried to not angrily rant back. Instead, he smiled weakly. “Prigpants will be bringing it shortly.” The Mynci motioned for the Lenny, who went into some room behind the counter to retrieve the most beautiful, exquisite, stunning dress ever made.

     It was a lovely shade of purple and red mixed together; a red-violet plum color like a Dark Faerie's wings. Lighter shades of that unique color faded in and out, causing it to look like some warm sunset when twirled. A deep red sash ran across the waist and ended with a bow to the side.

     Truly, that gown was like a piece of paradise made into something wearable.

     Swolthy and Prigpants looked very excited themselves about this creation.

     But instead, Alice frowned in displease. “It's hideous! I said I wanted a purple, darker shade like night! Ugh, this is disgusting!” She shoved the dress away.

     The Mynci and Lenny were so shocked, their mouths hung open in disbelief. “But miss, you didn't say that. You specified us to match it with-”

     “One's style changes! You could have sent a messenger to tell me what I wanted then. This doesn't deserve to be in my collections,” Alice argued, and her mother nodded. They both walked away from the shop, leaving two very angry tailors behind.

     “You made the right choice, darling,” said the White Zafara, her rude expression somewhat softening, “Only the finest of everything get into the von Wraiths' fortune.”

     They continued to walk, some beggars asking for money but the two women didn't even flinch at the sight of helping someone.

     Little did they notice their Blue Xweetok maid had followed them here and seen their true side. And even less suspicious was the fact she was skilled in magic and had placed a curse on the von Wraiths.

     * * *

     Joseph von Wraith has mysteriously fallen into his deathbed a day after the dress refusal. His wheezes came in raspy and labored breaths.

     “Oh Father, don't leave us now!” pleaded the Pink Aisha, grasping her father's hand. Alice's mother wept quietly, dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief.

     “Too late,” said a voice. At the door of the master suite in the von Wraith household was the Blue Xweetok maid, in a dark cloak.

     “You! That maid! You did this? Why?!” cried the Aisha hysterically.

     “I have been working for you for many years, Miss von Wraith, and observed your family is nothing but vain and egocentric. You care only for your fortune. You do not consider others in your little fantastic world of riches,” spat the Xweetok.

     Alice was whimpering now.

     “I have placed a curse in your family. Your deaths will all come soon enough, and when you do...”

     As if on cue, Alice's mother fell to the ground, dead. Alice screeched.

     “The last remaining von Wraith shall live atop in your mansion's attic, giving away all the items you once held dear to those who deserve it.”

     “No! Please, no!” begged Alice.

     But the Blue Xweetok simply laughed and morphed into a Dark Faerie, a cloud of purple smoke engulfing the faerie and she flew away. Her wings were as purple as the dress Alice had disliked...

     * * *

     The Ghost Aisha patiently floats about her attic prison, waiting for a visitor to come. Someone must discover me one day, she thinks.

     Though the Aisha's previous life had been one of riches, of glamor, of divinity, she was to forever roam this small room in what was before her grand mansion.

     She secretly hopes she can pass on this curse to someone, someone else who will fall into the traps of greed from the items she stores...

The End