She started dipping, swaying, and whirling, stepping in time with the pleasant melody as it drifted through her head. Her eyes were closed as she spun throughout the ballroom.
The ivory colored walls holding golden gleaming candelabras with their blinking, flickering light bouncing off the lavish decorations. The shining platters catching the light, heaped with more delicacies than you could ever imagine. Their pleasant aromas drifting around the ballroom and up to the sparkling chandelier. The orchestra in the corner providing the sweet music on fine instruments. The ballroom was surely the most finely decorated room in the whole manor, complete with suits of armor guarding the doors and the priceless sapphire high up on a pedestal.
As the night’s wonderful melodies came to an end, she opened her eyes and placed her dancing partner in the corner of the broom closet, where she had been hiding, with the door to the ballroom just barely cracked open. A door no one pays attention to, like her.
She felt her heart clench and tears well up in her eyes, as she wished she could be in the ballroom, truly be in the ballroom, seen and heard. Wishing she could be wearing a silky gown instead a tattered dress, soaked in dirt and grime. With layers of smooth fabric rustling around her as she would dance with a real man, not a broom.
While she danced to the final song, she remembered every night she had spent in this closet. Remembered every night she had peeked out the small door. Repeating each step, each spin, and each twirl. Remembering how she only ever had a broom for a partner and a bucket for an audience.
As the closing song ended she dipped into a curtsy. But rose with tears in her eyes. She sunk to the floor, tears streaming down her face. Not caring if anyone heard her.
Eventually, she wiped the tears from her eyes. She didn’t know how long she had been crying, but it had felt like decades.
Standing, she brushed off the dust as best she could. Turning towards the door, she cracked it open, and peeked outside to see if anyone was still there. Empty. There wasn’t even a guard or servant in sight!
She closed the door a quietly as possible, tiptoeing towards the small servant door.
SNOORRT! Jumping as high as the sky. Nearly falling on her back. “What th-“She started, then saw the cause of the noise. Breathing a sigh of relief, as she watched Gerold snore with a mop smashed up against his face.
He was hiding behind the pedestal, avoiding his work, but how did I not hear him snoring? She thought. While suppressing another wave of giggles, a glimmer on the floor caught her eye. Not a flicker of the dying candlelight, but something else.
Turning her head towards the blue, gleaming sapphire, the smile gone from her face. Nearly priceless. The masters most prized possession. Realization dawned on her as she realized that she was all alone. Well, more or less. She could easily sneak up the stairs and take the gem, and no one would know that it had been her. The gem could buy her way to freedom, and much more.
But I can’t leave she thought. I can’t leave everyone else trapped here. They will have no way to escape and earn there freedom. But a quiet voice in the back of her mind urged her to take the gem.
Not until I have a real plan. A plan that saves everyone. And with that she tried to push the persistent thoughts away.
Turning away from the gem she gently walked the last few steps towards the door. Reaching for the door, she took one last sweeping glance around the ballroom. Hoping that she wasn’t making a mistake, she slipped out of the ballroom.
Teen Wordsmiths 