Delicate Beauty
Prologue
The silence in the candle-lit room spoke with her consciousness. Everything in that room mocking her. Her vision blurred but she wasn't done with the 10 page essay her father had assigned to her that day. Every word echoing in her mind louder than the last. Beginning to slowly muffle as her chest began to burn from exhaustion. The sound of her pencil repeatedly clashing with her desk caused her ears to ache. Scuff, scuff, scuff, scuff, scuff, scuff, scuff, SNAP. Suddenly the girl stood up and clenched her fist in frustration.
She looked at herself through the mirror placed on her birch wood drawer. Her skin was the shade of a dead body, which complemented her skinny frame. Her hair going to her shoulders, yet one piece of her hair on the right side of her face going down to barely below her shoulders. She looked into her eyes and pulled at her eyelid, staring into her purple eyes that resembled blindness.
She slapped onto her hollow cheeks, causing her already weak skin to bruise. "Whoa." She said so quietly she might as well have thought it. She frantically grabbed onto her color corrector causing her to knock over her black harp. WHAM! The sound echoed through her poorly decorated room. She jumped back and quickly took off her black pajamas and ran over to her closet. Slamming the closet door open she quickly scanned around it. She threw her pajamas under her bed and grabbed onto her assigned clothes.
Her father opened the door and stared at the girl. He stared at her black long dress with puffy sleeves which was over a white collared shirt with a black tie. Maintaining her purity with black leggings and thigh high boots. He scanned the room and saw her harp on the ground. "Pick that up." She slowly crouched over and grabbed onto the harp. "Back straight, you're not like the other kids. Be better." She straightened her back and slowly stood up. She placed her harp back onto her drawer. She wiped the dust off her dress and placed her head gently on the front of her torso.
Her father walked into the room and grabbed onto her papers. He slowly flicked through the papers correcting every grammar mistake and lecturing her about her average vocabulary. Till he got to the 9th page and it was blank. "What is this?" He said as he waved the deck of papers in her face. "Sorry, I was gonna ask you about that sir. I don't think I can finish the essay tonight. I'm extremely tired and can barely think straight." She said while avoiding his gaze. He sighed and placed the papers back on her desk. "Do you want to be like the rest of them?" He said as he rubbed his forehead.
The girl quickly tried to reaffirm her father but she stuttered, causing him to slam his fist onto her desk. "AMBIKA, STOP SPEAKING TO ME LIKE YOU ARE NOT MY CHILD!" He rubbed on his fist and patted her on the head. "Do better. I don't expect any less." He walked away and signaled her out of the room. "Have you been eating well?" He asked her. "Yes." Ambika responded. He suddenly stopped and turned back to look at her. "You sure?" She bumped into his back and fell to the floor. She stared at him with hatred before quickly fixing her face into a smile.
He grabbed onto her arm and pulled her into the kitchen. Her arm went limp and her eyes looked in fear. He finally let go once they were in the kitchen and pointed at the scale. She squeezed her arm and shivered with fear. She widened her eyes and looked at her father as he towered over her. "How tall are you?" He asked. "Five two." she responded.
"Take your clothes off." He demanded. She slowly took off her dress but the stern snaps caused her to hurry. All of her clothes laid on the floor revealing her pale skin. Her ribs and spinal cord protruding from her body. Her father looked down at her with pure judgement. He gently placed his hand on her back and shoved her onto the scale. A surprising weight of 76 made his eyes widen. "Why haven't you been eating!" He asked. She stared at the weight blankly with her fist closed and covering her breast. "I didn't want to. Sorry sir."
He told her to put her clothes on and go to her room. She complied and walked into her silent candle-lit room. She opened her fist and grabbed onto her harp. She sat on her bed and played it silently. Looking out of her mirror and seeing a crow fly by her window. Suddenly her father crashed into her room and grabbed onto her wrist. "AMBIKA WHAT IS THIS?!" He said while revealing a paper that showed an eighty eight. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She pleaded. "YOU ARE A DAUGHTER OF ONE OF THE MEMBERS OF THE SUPREME COURT AND YOU'RE PULLING IN SCORES LIKE THIS? ARE YOU SLACKING!" "NO I'M NOT I SWEAR."
He grabbed onto her harp but she grabbed onto his arm and bit him. He jerked back and slapped her across the face. "WHAT THE HELL?! ARE YOU CRAZY?!" She quickly grabbed onto her harp and hugged it tightly as she ran into a corner, her back to her father. "YOU'RE A WOMAN, HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY THIS?! ACT WITH DIGNITY!"
She hugged onto her harp tighter. Every word coming from her father made her hold it tighter. Her father grabbed onto her shoulder and pulled her away from the corner. He pointed at the exit and screamed at her to get out. She hugged onto her harp tightly and ran out of the house.