Chapter 1

Miss Perfect

Beauty fades. Jollity and cheer never last forever, except for the stories I tell. As I clasp my dry fingers unto each other and sit limply in my worn-out rocking chair by my gigantic window opened to the snowy streets of Buckingham, a particular story erupts from my many thoughts.

Upon a specific time, a girl lived amongst the hyperactive people of Buckingham. She was the cheeriest person we had known at that time. She had been fairer than the crystalline morning dew on bay leaves in the garden, but she had no parents and only lived with her younger sister (two years younger). They lived in a small, modest cottage in Buckingham, just about the axis of its infamous palace.

"Mia! I'm off to work right now!" She dabbed so much red lipstick on her lips that it dripped, and she resembled a young vampire on his first meal.

"I packed your lunch already!" Mia was her younger sister; she had pale skin, full lips, and an almost petite frame, yet what was most adorable were the twinkling of her sea-blue eyes.

"Oh well, thank you."

"Tara, you have a lipstick stain on your blouse." Her eyes widened, realizing she may have worn too much lipstick. She thought of the hopelessness behind her returning to find a new blouse, as she had an enormous closet chucked up with hundreds of clothes. She knew it was always like the adventurousness of a quest, picking out something to wear.

"Oh no, no, no, no, no, I'm already late!"

"I'd help you." Mia dashed into their large bedroom, which seemed to be the most significant room. The walls were off-white and seemed as delicate as cotton. They were also decorated with figurines, models, and paintings. Tara was a prolific painter, after all, and that was, in fact, her professional job.

"Thank you dearly, Snowhite," Tara said with a smile as she handed Mia a cotton maroon blouse. She wore it with delight, knowing it was even better than the former. Satisfied after being able to clean off the excess of her lipstick, she kissed her sister farewell and hopped out and into her plush convertible, even making sure not to break her ankles from running in her high-heeled pumps.

However, this young girl was extravagantly beautiful with a jolly good life. She was tall and had a well-sculpted frame and finely carved-out curves in all the right places. Her hair and eyes always glowed in daylight, and when you saw her, you could never retrieve a smile as she had always been a jolly good fellow.

"Hello, Mr. Anderson! Good morning!" She waved and wore a wide grin - an unknowing way of flaunting her perfect teeth. She chuckled in response when Anderson, her neighbor, waved. She waved, honked at, and greeted everyone she met (her neighbors) as she drove past the lawn.

Everyone loved her this much; she was lovely. She had a good and well-paid job and could afford everything she wanted. She turned on the music player, enjoying the hits and jam; she nodded her head rhythmically, sipping a warm espresso in the car and driving carefully as she accelerated onwards, upon remembering that she was late. Her life was perfect, although at a specific time.

Sweating, with their forehead, temples, and chin glimmering with sweat, she threw some papers out of place; she browsed through the shelves and the cabinets and very tall stacks of dusty and smelly files in search of her masterpiece - a drawing she had made some days ago. Her boss needed it urgently, and she couldn't find it anywhere.

She prayed in her mind, muttering some things to herself that must have meant that she regretted buying her sister's silly movie night spree idea, making herself go to bed heinously late and waking up late as well. Still, for the eyeshadows and all the makeup she had on, it would have been prominent from the cloudy eyebags that would show in the morning. Now, she grew even more regretful as she sought for the masterpiece.

"Phew!" She sighed in relief just when she found the masterpiece. She forced it to be straightened out as it had been crumpled. She started all over and arranged her papers and everything she had thrown out of place. She thought she would do more today as her assistant, her best friend, took a day off. She realized why work seemed mundane today, from the absolute quietness. Her friend, Jenner, had always been talkative.

She swayed across the hallway, ostensibly scrutinizing the art gallery - the paintings by her left and right - also checking with dire caution if they had been dusty and reprimanding the cleaners when necessary. She rearranged the models and photographs in the art gallery, also making sure to display new ones.

She hummed a tune from Wizard of Oz. She had always been a helpless lover of animated films.

"Somewhere outside the rainbow? Really? On a steamy Monday morning? You gotta be kidding me." That was Neil, Tara's friend and colleague at work; he had chuckled at the tune Tara hummed and whistled to. He did find it charming, too.

"Don't, please." She blushed red on her shiny cheeks.

"Don't what?" He coughed, pretending to be choking on his tea, while he fastened his pace. Tara had begun to walk away fast, dispatching herself from further teasing.

"Neil!" She giggled quietly and slowed down as she noticed that the artists had started to pay attention to their little chatter. He caught her arm and almost twirled her around, but she had been wily enough to wriggle out from his grasp and scurry into her office amidst heavy fits of giggling.

"Bye!" She shut the door in his face

"Somewhere over the rainbow, the sky is blue. Oops, I've got tea on my three-piece and don't know what to do." He sang in a forced, high-pitched tone, but it sounded too poor to be good enough, so Tara laughed in amusement.

She felt her stomach rumble and remembered her sister packed her some food. She rocketed off to her bag, ripped it open, and took out the thermoplastic plate of food her sister had made. The way she turned it loose was theatrical. Still, she loved overly tasting the aroma with bare and flared nostrils. It was a steamy but sloppy spaghetti in Mexican tacos; there were meatballs and nugget toppings. She also made a wrap of chocolate chips and fudge brownies for dessert. Digging in and munching away was all Tara could do while she thought deeply about her next masterpiece.

She savored every bit of it even more as fulfillment clutched her heart until someone barged in. There wasn't as much as a knock, and if there was, she didn't know.