Ella Fontaine

She was beginning to feel the weight of summer. Summer meant no classes, it meant working at the magic laundry and working on the household. The Fontaine mansion wasn’t built for one person to do all the work, yet that was exactly how the household was arranged. And all of it was put on Ella Fontaine who, if her father had not remarried would be the master of the mansion.

After her shift at the magical laundry, she barely could stand on her feet. Blisters prevented her from moving quickly, and she barely could bite back her tears.

“Someday, I will find my happiness.” She whispered to herself in a weak attempt to cheer herself up, she found herself sitting down on the pavement removing a shoe to see the damage on her feet. It was worse than she imagined. And she sighed. “When will kindness repay me, mother?” She whispered to herself, surprised to see a butterfly landing before her. She decided to dry her tears and put back her shoes but got started to see she no longer was alone.

“Oh, I apologize.” She kindly smiled before offering the other a bow.

Her heart broke for the young girl before her. She could see the pain she was in and it took all her will not to audibly gasp when she saw the damage to her feet. 

“No need to apologize sweetie” she said approaching her and taking a seat next to her. “I have some things that will help with the pain and the healing with the wounds if you’d like them.” Persephone offered “Don’t worry, they’re herbal remedies” she added to reassure her. 

“I couldn’t leave you like this, it’s not in my nature” 

A soft smile came on her lips as she noticed the woman’s concern. She wasn’t used any longer to have people worry about her. Not with the abuse she faced at home, and the tiredness that came from working each and every day. She tried to smile through the pain, as she did every day. But the sudden kindness really made her eyes sting, and she had to swallow to get rid of the choking feeling that had built up in her throat.

“I’m glad someone as kind as you blessed my day.” She could genuinely chuckle and smile now. And felt genuinely happy at the moment. “It’s been a long one.” And more work awaited her when she got home. She hoped she could manage her chores without fainting, if that were to happen she wouldn’t know how severe her punishment would be. Perhaps it would be better to rest a tiny bit, and brace the punishment for being late.

Yet, a part of her wondered. How long until she would be free?

Violet was a hour into her shift at Mode’s and it seemed to be a slow day. She was rearranging clothes on the racks into colour categories and size order to make sure things were the way that Edna always liked them to be since they were in disarray thanks to the previous days customers. 

After finishing her task, Violet returned to her place behind the front desk and crossed off the completed task from her to do list. She took a sip of tea from her teacup and ran a hand through her hair, lifting her head and giving a greeting when the store door opened.

If you were someone who was interested in fashion, then Mode was certainly a place that you have heard about one way or another. It had been curiosity that had lured her in, as if someone had given her a shove of courage.

Yet when she was standing there, and was greeted she came to realize what she exactly had done. Her cheeks flushed crimson as she quickly moved to return the greeting.

“Hello.” Her eyes then moved to the clothes surrounding her, and aside from her eyes widening they also sparkled in amazement. This was the closest she had ever been to her dream as an aspiring designer. Her smile softened as she whispered. “The designs are astonishing.”

Violet was standing behind the counter when she saw the woman wandering around the store and she couldn’t help but smile at the sight. There was something so innocent and heartwarming at how enamoured she looked. 

“Hello” she waved “Welcome to Mode’s” Violet said, offering the usual greeting to her while she walked out from behind the counter. “Glad you like them, I’ll be sure to let aunt Edna know that you like her designs. She’ll love you for it” 

“Try on anything you like, you’re more than welcome to”

“Ah- Hello.” Ella greeted politely, smiling a tiny bow before looking around once more. “Yes, I’m amazed, truly. The amount of detail, the daring colour choices. I feel like I can learn so much from simply glancing over the designs.” Her fingers itched to design shoes to match. 

It was like an artist heaven here. “Ah…” She flushed. “I’d faint honestly, Miss Edna has been one of the many artists that inspired me to study fashion. I always dreamed to create a shoe collection for her classic designs.”

“I’d feel wrong to put something on, and I can’t truly afford any of her designs. I’m saving money for both college and moving away from home.” Her smile faltered for a moment. “That being said I should head home soon.”

Rachel exited Castle Cafe looking rather distressed. Her eyebrows were knit together as if she had just come to some deep, terrible realization that something wasn’t right.

She held two take-away cups in her hands, each filled with a different syrupy sweet, piping hot coffee.

“Why did I do that?” Rachel muttered to herself with a shake of her head. Sighing pointedly at the two cups, she slumped back against the wall by the door. Her day had been stressful; her parents, loving as they were, were having a hard time with a particular part of Rachel’s trauma (as was Rachel). The poor girl was agitated beyond belief, and had tried to rid the feeling of being trapped with a walk. It wasn’t working so far, and it all culminated in the current coffee shop incident.

Rachel had stood near the back of the queue for ten minutes, fighting with herself over which coffee to buy. Vanilla? Or Caramel? Vanilla or Caramel? People were looking at her funny, and she had already sent three people to go in front of. The barista wasn’t much help in the decision making process either.

So now she was stuck with two cups of coffee.

“What is wrong with me? I can’t drink this much coffee, this could kill me! And I can’t just… give it back, because that lovely man worked so hard to make it. And then if I did, how would I choose which one to give back? Would he be mad? Oh! He would be so upset that I didn’t like his coffee!”

-

“Are you alright?” Ella asked with the greatest concern. The girl looked like she was in quite an ordeal. She didn’t hear what she was saying, but it was clear to her that she wasn’t feeling too well.

“Is there anything I can do for you?” Was she perhaps suffering a panic attack? It was then she heard her say something about the cups of coffee in her hands.

She was beginning to feel the weight of summer. Summer meant no classes, it meant working at the magic laundry and working on the household. The Fontaine mansion wasn’t built for one person to do all the work, yet that was exactly how the household was arranged. And all of it was put on Ella Fontaine who, if her father had not remarried would be the master of the mansion.

After her shift at the magical laundry, she barely could stand on her feet. Blisters prevented her from moving quickly, and she barely could bite back her tears.

“Someday, I will find my happiness.” She whispered to herself in a weak attempt to cheer herself up, she found herself sitting down on the pavement removing a shoe to see the damage on her feet. It was worse than she imagined. And she sighed. “When will kindness repay me, mother?” She whispered to herself, surprised to see a butterfly landing before her. She decided to dry her tears and put back her shoes but got started to see she no longer was alone.

“Oh, I apologize.” She kindly smiled before offering the other a bow.