CHAPTER 01: The Escape
COLOURS. WHAT WILL happen to this world without colour at all? It would be dull. Boring. Lifeless. Plain.
As a painter, Eloise knew that her life had no colour at all. No excitement. Nothing special at all.
Sighing, she put down her paintbrush and stared at her unfinished painting. It was a woman coloured in black and white running in an endless field of darkness. And then she realised... that could be her. She just drew what's on her mind again.
She's like a girl running in an endless darkness but the truth is... she has no way out. She's trapped no matter how she finds the right path.
Just like her, she's just inside the huge mansion. She can't even get out if she wants to even though she's already twenty one. She doesn't have freedom at all.
But then, she always looks at the brighter side of everything no matter how plain and boring her life is. Eloise always thought that it's for the better. That maybe, her stepmom is making her stay inside the mansion always for her own good.
"Are you done?"
Eloise almost gasped as soon as she heard the familiar voice of Paloma behind, her personal helper in the mansion. She didn't even feel her presence since she was too caught up from her own thoughts.
"Not yet but I didn't have the energy to continue my painting anymore," Eloise answered as she stood up and frowned. She's a mess right now. The watercolour is all over her dress. Aside from that, she also forgot to take a bath since she was too engrossed from what she's painting earlier.
"You painted black and white again, Señorita. Hmm. You must be bothered with something."
Eloise just arched her brow then pouted. Well, Paloma is right. She's bothered by her own situation again. This is not the first time that she thought about her life being plain and boring but this time, something is telling her inside that she wants to experience a normal woman.
But the problem is, her stepmom won't let her.
"Paloma..." She called her as she sighed and sat at the corner of her own queen size bed. "How does it feel to be... free?"
Paloma looked at her as if she asked something weird. One thing that Eloise likes about Paloma is she's not that nosy that's why she's comfortable to voice out everything towards her. Aside from that, Paloma is just five years ahead of her, so Eloise sees her as her older sister. Paloma's mouth can be sharp sometimes but she can actually trust her.
"Oh, I never knew you would ask that kind of question to me now. How does it feel to be free, Señorita? Hmm..." Paloma looked up as if she's thinking. "To be free feels... heaven... like you're having sex with the person that you truly love without any inhibition at all!" Paloma giggled as she wiggled her eyebrows teasingly at her.
Eloise rolled her eyes. "I'm serious here, Paloma! Why would you even include... sex in our conversation? Tss."
Paloma grinned. "Well, that's the truth! Sex is fun and feels like heaven just like freedom! Ugh I forgot! You're still a virgin so, maybe you won't get what I'm trying to say, Señorita!" She laughed teasingly again as she poke Eloise's side with her index finger.
Eloise blushed at what Paloma said. Well, what she said was right. She's a virgin and doesn't have any clue about sex and orgasms but that doesn't mean that she's ignorant about it. She has read tons of books about sex before, so she's not that innocent anymore.
"S-Stop it, Paloma!" She avoided Paloma's teasing gaze.
"I'm just teasing you, Señorita!"
"Tss! But on a serious note, how does it feel to be like a normal girl like other girls out there? How does it feel to go to a normal school where I interact with other students? How does it feel to get out and buy anything I like in the mall and maybe shop with friends? I want to feel those things, Paloma..."
"Señorita..." Paloma looked at her with her soft eyes, like she was also pitying her situation.
"I wonder why Mom always locked me here." Eloise sighed heavily again. "I know it's for my own good but I still can't help but to wonder, you know..."
"Señorita, your mom is just taking you away from danger. You know how wealthy your family is, it would be risky if she would let you roam around outside!" Paloma obviously wants to lift her mood as she starts to clean her mess and pick up the paintbrush and get the wet wipes to wipe the floor tainted with watercolor.
"I know that but... isn't this too much? And I get it that we're rich but why am I the only one who's locked up here inside? Why is mom free to go out anytime and anywhere she wants? She could even attend parties! Why can't I just be like her too?!" Eloise's tone was laced with so much frustration.
"W-Well, if she wouldn't go out, who would look over your business? Who would manage your company if she won't get out? You should understand her, Señorita. She's also doing her best to--"
"I still don't understand. If she's too afraid that I might be put to danger, then she could hire a lot of men just to protect me! I wouldn't mind as long as I could get out of this huge and lonely house..." Her eyes watered a bit. She's really a cry baby. She easily cry from small things.
"Oh, no! Please, don't cry, Señorita!"
Eloise just cried even more that she couldn't control her tears anymore. She sniffed and messily wiped her face with the back of her hand, without caring if the paint would smudge her face anymore.
"Señorita, let's get you clean and fix yourself. Your mom might see you in that state--"
Paloma's words were interrupted by a knock on the door. They both looked at each other nervously as if they already had a clue who's outside the door.
The person outside just kept on knocking and Eloise was just rooted to her position as she started to feel tense already. Paloma then quickly went to the door and opened it. It revealed the elegant and sophisticated Delilah Winchester, Eloise's stepmom.
Before her father died, he married Delilah. That's when Eloise was still so young. She grew up without knowing that much about her father. She only has Delilah and the other helpers in the mansion. They are her own kind of family.
Eloise went back to reality when Delilah finally entered her room with her arched brow. She has this expression like she was too disgusted at Eloise's own room.
"Goodness gracious! Your room is so messy, Eloise Cassandra! I don't know if this is still a room of a woman or a forest for wild animals!" Delilah exclaimed as she frowned.
Eloise almost rolled her eyes. Delilah could be really overreacting sometimes. It's not that messy actually. It's just that her paint is not yet fully clean since Paloma had to stop wiping it earlier when Delilah knocked on the door.
"Paloma, fix your Señorita's mess!" Delilah motioned her hand and Paloma immediately followed what she wanted. Paloma quickly fixed the mess and Eloise just stood there, unmoving as she looked at her stepmom. "And you, young lady." Delilah laid her eyes to Eloise. "Have you seen yourself in front of the mirror? You looked like... shit!"
"I know, Mom. Uhm... do you have something to say first? Before I'll go to the bathroom and take a bath..." Eloise said.
"My amigas will come here later. We will have a tea party! You know what to do. You should not get out of your room until we're done downstairs. Do you understand, young lady?" Delilah said and crossed her arm that emphasise her cleavage since she's wearing a dark red off shoulder dress that ended up just above her thighs.
"Yes, mom..."
One thing that Eloise will never understand is the fact that Delilah will never let her out of her room if other people are in their house. Eloise is used to not going out already but Delilah never introduces her to her amigas. She wondered why...
"Okay, that's the only thing that I like to say. I'll go downstairs now. Paloma! You make sure Eloise won't get out, okay?" Delilah looked at Paloma with her intimidating eyes.
"Y-Yes, Madame," Paloma answered as she looked down.
"I shall go now!" Delilah said one last time before she finally got out of Eloise's room.
"Your stepmom is really scary! Phew!" Paloma said as she dramatically held her chest and wiped the imaginary sweat on her forehead.
"Why is she always like that, Paloma? She will not even let me meet her friends!"
"You know what, Señorita... I have a hunch about that."
"Huh?"
"I have a hunch that your mom doesn't want you to get out of your room whenever she has visitors because you will surely catch everyone's attention! And you know your mom, she always likes the spotlight." Paloma shook her head as if she's disappointed.
"What are you saying, Paloma?" Her brows furrowed.
"Well, that's just a hunch! Don't mind it that much, it's better if you take a bath now and fix yourself, Señorita!"
IT WAS ALREADY dark outside. Eloise let Paloma sleep on the couch near her bed this night since her mom instructed her to look at her and make sure that she won't get out.
Eloise smirked as she stared at the glass on the side table. "I'm sorry, Paloma..."
She let Paloma drink the glass with sleeping pills on it, that's why she's sleeping soundly now. She will surely wake up the next morning.
Eloise then stared at the balcony where she tied the edge of the comforter and her other clothes. She will use it to escape. While taking a bath earlier, she had a realisation that she should taste freedom even just once in her life. It's okay to do it since she knows that it will make her happy in the end.
"It's now or never..." she whispered as she climbed down using the comforter from the balcony and then slowly reached the ground.
Now, she's finally out of their mansion!
"Hmm. What shall I do first now that I'm free?" Eloise asked herself and grinned.
