Aaliyah was stabbed with envy and Jealousy.
The woman was gorgeous in every way, and the make-up only brought out her beauty and made her look elegant. The clothes she was wearing were something Aaliyah could only imagine, and she had this black shiny bag in one hand.
At first, Aaliyah thought the woman was like Theodore but she wasn't reeking of any dark and unnatural energy and so, Aaliyah leisurely walked into the house.
"Look at you!" The woman jumped from her seat, her lips wide with excitement.
Aaliyah first looked around to make sure she wasn't mistaken about who the woman was talking to.
"He didn't tell me he's brought in another one!"
Aaliyah's brows creased, "What do you mean by another one?"
"Oops! I wasn't supposed to say that," The woman grinned nervously, "But don't worry, you'll turn out just fine,"
Aaliyah eyed her this time, "Will I?"
"What is your name? How did the both of you meet?"
"Aaliyah," Aaliyah replied, feeling awkward around the woman. She's never talked to someone who looked this rich and had such a nice face. It made her feel worse than anything.
"Where exactly did he...," The woman gave her a once over, not appreciating what she saw, "...find you?"
Aaliyah remained silent. If it were Alastair or Theodore, she would have talked back by now.
"I'm sorry to say but...you're not...you're just a lot different. I didn't realize he could ever be interested in...your type," The woman sneered, disgust now shimmering in her eyes.
Aaliyah had been given the wrong impression at first that the woman was gonna be nice, but that wasn't it at all.
"Likewise," The words fell out of Aaliyah's lips before she could stop herself, and that must have been a sensitive spot for the woman.
Her eyes flared with fury, then she smirked lazily, "I can't wait for your time to run out like the rest. I hope you...,"
"Elizabeth!" Alastair exclaimed from the stairs, effectively shutting her up.
The cunning look that had been on her face was instantly replaced by the sweetest smile Aaliyah had ever seen. Aaliyah was taken aback, wondering just how many faces the woman had and had perfected them.
"Alastair," She turned to him with a smile.
"Come with me," Alastair said and went back up the stairs.
Elizabeth turned to Aaliyah again and chuckled with an eye roll before going after Alastair.
Aaliyah felt belittled, as always. But she was not going to let this get to her. Instead, she picked up her tools and began to thoroughly clean up the second floor to keep her mind and body busy, although it didn't help much with her mind as she often wondered whether she was really that ugly, and whatever Elizabeth came to see Alastair from.
No way! Did he take her to his room?!
Later that evening before the sun went down, Aaliyah stood naked in front of the mirror inside her bathroom. She had just finished taking her birth and was already subconsciously comparing herself to Elizabeth.
Aaliyah had big eyes. The Nuns said it was so big they always felt like plucking it out. She had a small nose, not as smooth and perfect as Elizabeth's. Aaliyah's lips were full and dainty, and a light pink, but they were small.
She had almost no fat in her face, and her body was mostly bones. Maybe if she fed herself well, she would become more plumpy and acquire more fat in the right places.
These small breasts weren't doing anything for her.
She was nowhere close to being perfect, and the way she looked had always bothered her so much, even when nobody pointed it out.
"You're beautiful," She cracked out, her eyes swelling.
She was only trying to convince herself.
That night, Aaliyah did not know what had come over her. She had thrown the covers aside and leaned back on the pillow with her arms and legs spread, waiting for her nightly visitor.
Her... Nightly Visitor?
Aaliyah waited and waited, but there was no sign of him.
Even when she thought she had given up and laid down, she would wake up from any slight movement on the bed only to see that she was the one that had made them.
He had only come to her for just two nights in a row. But those two nights...those two nights were unlike any other where she had spent it all alone sleeping on the same dirty mat for years and years.
He had been here. He had given her a taste of what it felt...to not be alone.
Where was he now?
"What am I doing?" Aaliyah sniffed, smiling at how stupid she'd become, "I'm only one out of many. I'm probably just a puppet on one of many stages!" She hugged her soft pillow, comforting herself.
"Hug yourself if there's no one to hug you." She kept repeating to herself, hoping that would help her fall asleep again.
Two hours passed, and Aaliyah was still wide awake. She wanted to go for a walk around the mansion, but it was completely dark and she was still very much scared from the incident that had occurred yesterday morning so she remained in bed.
The only source of light was the silver glow coming from the Moon.
She was almost convinced it was a full Moon again, only to look outside her window and see that it was a crescent Moon tonight.
"I don't know why I'm still expecting him," She uttered softly while still staring at the Moon, "Is he gonna show up?"
Resting her head on the window, she closed her eyes.
"I Promised Penelope I wouldn't leave her all alone. She's probably just going to bed by now," Aaliyah shook her head, then pressed her temple. Never has she been so disappointed in herself before, "I left a little girl waiting, while I'm here... waiting for a man. A cruel, wicked, and heartless man to come...and tell me he doesn't know what he wants. Funny, right?"
"It's not funny actually," A tiny voice replied.
Aaliyah gasped with a startle, moving back. She had definitely heard that, and the voice had come from just outside her window.
"You cannot afford to get attached to him. You have to focus more on surviving," It said again.
Aaliyah remained silent, slowly moving back and away from whatever it was.
"Did I scare you? Oh sorry, I should have come tomorrow morning but then you started to talk to yourself, and I thought your voice was pretty,"
There was no feeling of aggression, cruelty, or danger coming from the strange voice. If there had been any, Aaliyah would have noticed the presence with her occurring goosebumps long before they even spoke.
"Who's Penelope?" It asked.
"We...once lived in the same building," Aaliyah replied, slowly approaching the window again.
"And you're?"
"Aaliyah,"
"You have a very old name. Are you...old?"
"I believe I'm still very young,"
"Aww, Good for you. I'm old,"
"How old are you?"
"How much do you know?"
Aaliyah was confused, "How much...do I know?"
"I'm twenty...three!" That sounded made-up like she had just guessed and said whatever came to mind.
"Are you?" Aaliyah's eyes narrowed as she peeked out the window to see the person.
"Of course!"
"No, I don't...,"
All of a sudden, what looked like a giant spider jumped on her window from outside, and Aaliyah screamed and fell back on the bed. The figure was so huge it was covering most of the window, but then with a closer look, Aaliyah confirmed it wasn't a spider.
It was a human, with its legs and hands spread out her window.
"By the way, I climbed up here. These Bars won't let me in, though," The Person said, then grabbed the bars and pressed their faces on the hard glass covering it, "Did I scare you again?"
It was still too dark for Aaliyah to make out the place, but she could tell it was a female, "A little," Aaliyah breathed, pulling up to a sitting position, "Who are you?"
"You can call me...Yuan,"