Annabelle Albrecht had always hated rural Old Emerald with its watery, weary waters. It was a place where she felt trapped.
With slender hands and fluffy hair, she was a clever, adorable tea drinker. She was brought up to be a polite young woman as the daughter of the town's reigning monarch. Her friends described her as sweet and compassionate. She'd even dived into a river to save a fragile kitten once. That was the kind of lady she was.
However, none of them knew how much of a coward she was.
Annabelle walked over to the porch of her home, looking over residential estate and reflecting on her old-fashioned surroundings. The rain hammered on the roofs of the sheds, the fallen leaves scattered across the gardens. The serene setting was suddenly interrupted by the steps of someone scrunching the leaves on the ground. Looking up, she saw the alluring figure of Flora Jones: a tactless but charming fool, with a sweet voice and a pretty smile.
Annabelle gulped. She was not prepared for Flora. Suddenly, the rain's patter seemed to match her heart's pace.
As Annabelle stepped out to the rain and came closer, she could see the ill glint in her eye. Flora glared with all the wrath of a thousand angry cats. She said, in a hushed but determined tone, "Don’t even try to talk to me."
Annabelle looked back, even more nervous and twirling the unused umbrella in her hands, while the rain soaked her clothes. "Flora, I am so sorry for hurting you like that. I really did love you but you know I...can't," she replied.
They looked at each other with lonely souls, like two wingless birds sitting at a very high, high branch: unable to fly -- unable to escape.
Flora studied Annabelle's wobbly hands as silence fell between the two.
Eventually, Annabelle took a deep breath. "I'm sorry..." she began in an apologetic tone, "...but we can’t be together, and we never would. I just can’t ruin everything just for you."
Flora looked irritable, but inside, her heart broke. Anybody close to the pair could hear it shatter into a thousand pieces.
“Alright then,” the fool replied, walking away into the distance.
Annabelle came inside from the rain, her eyes cast downwards. Soaked in rainwater, she caught the attention of her loving mother.
“Annabelle! Honey! Why are you so wet from the rain?” her mother inquired with concern for her daughter. She holds her tight as she calls out for the maid to bring her a towel. “We need to get you dry. You’ll catch a cold.”
Too emotional to reply, Annabelle simply stood frozen, unresponsive, which scared her mother, “Annabelle! Are you alright? You look pale.”
Annabelle did look pale but it was not because of the rain. She truly loved Flora, it was not a lie. But due to her circumstances, she knew that things were going too well for her to cast that all away for love.
“I’m alright, Mother.” She replied, smiling ruefully and grabbing the towel from the maid. “I’m just really tired…it’s been a long day.”
“Well then go to your room and rest well, my love. I'll send tea to calm you, okay?” Her mother replied with such fondness in her eyes that made Annabelle’s heart ache even more. She knew that if her mother knew where she had been or what she truly felt for Flora, she wouldn’t look at her the same way ever again.
“Yes, thank you. I need the tea after the day I had today,” she replied, making her mother smile, hence making every negative thought expel from Annabelle's mind.
“No need to ponder on irrelevant things. It’s in the past now.” She serves a reminder to herself. As she looked up to the door of her room, she chanted a spell-like phrase, “As I open the door, step inside, and close it behind me, I will leave all of it to the past.”
But not even a cup of tea would calm Annabelle's nerves tonight.