Chapter Text
„There are two ways of seeing: with the body and with the soul. The body’s sight can sometimes forget, but the soul remembers forever.”, Mary closed the book and flashed a gentle smile at the camera before filming her outro. She’s spent the past two hours talking about The Count of Monte Cristo and why it was one of her favorite classics to read and a go-to recommendation. A video her followers had requested for at least half a year now as she mentioned it in nearly every Q&A. She was glad to finally have gotten around to finally do so.
It appeared her best friend Kenna was glad all the same as she rolled of the bed in mock despair, “Finally!”, she groaned and held her hands out towards Mary expecting to be pulled up by her friend. “I told you not to come over so early.”, Mary smiled as took Kenna’s hands in hers. The latter just huffed and walked over to the walk-in closet. “I thought you were exaggerating. I did not know you literally could talk for hours about one book. ONE book Mary! You must admit that is a bit insane to the regular person…or reader.” “Well, I like this one a lot. It has multiple layers and always introduces new people and new plot points that take you into another psychological spiral.” “Yeah, yeah whatever.”, Kenna answered but not without a smile as she started to examine the dresses on the wall.
Mary had been home schooled essentially all her life. She went to kindergarten in Linlithgow and to elementary school in Paris when her family briefly lived there but after that her parents decided she was better off being home schooled. They never said but she always assumed it was because of the burglary in her grandfather James’ home. Mary had spent the weekend with her grandparents when someone broke in. The police claimed it was an accident how it ended, that those types of criminals usually operated without weapons as they are a high risk but a younger of the members seemed to have panicked when they noticed the house was not empty and shot at her grandfather. He died the same night in the hospital and though the group was charged and imprisoned Mary was under shock, and her mother Marie de Guise had been overprotective of her only child ever since.
Mary was all the gladder for her small group of friends, a group of four girls that she had known since childhood. Mary and Kenna had known each other the longest as their parents used to work together often and then came Aylee, who was a year younger, and Lola. The three girls started school without Mary and in their second year of high school Lola befriended Greer, she was one year older but both girls had been in the theater club and immediately hit it off. Mary was grateful her friends never left her behind and always included her.
Today was one such day because two of her friends were about to enter their final year in school and as such their grade had a big dance planned before the holidays and then the ultimate study year. Naturally Kenna had been begging Marys parents for weeks to take their daughter out for the night and finally they had agreed.
“This one.”, Kenna threw a dress at her friend already examining what shoes would fit best. The dress of choice was a beautiful, black, floor lengt, corseted dress with gold applications on the bodice and a heart neckline along with separate black sleeves. It was beautiful and absolutely something Mary could not wear to a school dance. “She wouldn’t allow it.”, Mary said firm and hung the dress back into the closet ignoring her friend.
There were a lot of things to be said of Marys mother. Many things to be wrong but one thing that was essentially cemented in stone was that she was a devout catholic and would rather have her daughter wear a sack as long as it was modest in her eyes. Mary had given up on the battle ages ago. She already was able to negotiate off-shoulder dresses or slight heart necklines. A dress combining the two was absolutely unimaginable and the only reason Mary even owned such a dress was currently standing in front of her. Pouting. “One day she will have to accept that her daughter is a bombshell and let you wear the dresses.”, Kenna muttered making her friend laugh. “If you keep this up, she will send you away to your dance without me.” Leaving the black gown in the closet Mary turned toward a safer option. Sage with yellow top and details with gold thread. High neckline but still elegant and modern.
Two hours later when the remaining girls of their group arrived Kenna was just about to finish her friend’s hair. The conversation had quickly turned away from the dresses and dress codes towards Kenna’s second favorite topic. Boys. As such she was currently in the midst of explaining to Mary essentially all of this guy, Niklas. His life and how they would make the most beautiful children causing Lola, who just entered the room to throw one of the many throw pillows at the brunette. “Yesterday you told us your heart belonged to Alexander”, Greer remarked in a dry tone making Kenna pout again.
“He asked Jessica to the dance.”, was all she answered before letting go of Mary’s hair and started to admire her work in the mirror. “Like a princess.”, she smiled. “Like a Queen.”, Lola answered and pulled Mary to stand. “Are you excited?”, she asked and turned her around her own. “Your first school dance!”, Lola continued gushing and took Mary in her arms again.
“You all seem way more excited than I do.”, Mary laughed and hugged Lola back. “I am.”, she added and gave them all a thanks. The dances were one of the few things Mary was actually sad about missing out on. When her friends asked her to join, she was over the moon and immediately started to worry. She was not a basket case. She knew that she had friends that cared about her – clearly. She also had been at several social gatherings with her parents and made a few brief acquaintances over the years, yet the idea of a school dance was equally frightening and exciting. So many people her age, all in one room and all of them had known each other for years. She would be noticed as the odd one out, there were no delusions in her mind, but she also got to spend a night with her friends, a glimpse into their lives.
The five girls finished getting ready and slowly made their way down the stairs, careful not to trip over their gowns. Kenna, already a little bit tipsy from the flask she sneaked in her clutch stopped dead in her tracks when Mary’s father James Stuart stood at the foot of the stairs. She had hoped they would make it out without a lecture this time but of course the Stuart household was not the place for that. The lecture lasted exactly 12 minutes and consisted of Mary making five promises: not to go with strangers, be home by curfew, call if needed, no alcohol and don’t drive. The last two specifically were targeted more at Kenna than Mary but still Mary promised not to do any of these and to make sure Kenna did not either though they both thought the alcohol clearly was in her system already.
Finally, they were let go and could enjoy their night. The drive to the venue was short, Greer, already 18 and with her very own car, knew a few shortcuts and brought them there within 20 minutes instead of the 30 the internet had told them it would take. A time they would have to remember if they wanted to bring Mary back just when her curfew struck. It had always been like that. They would go somewhere, watch the clock, have fun and wait until the last possible minute to send Mary back through the gates of her house. It was expected and yet her parents worried every time she went outside the same way Mary kept feeling guilty for making them wait until the last second.
Tonight was slightly different though. Mary knew through movies and Greer's tales of her ball the previous year that those gatherings were lively and fun, but she had not expected it to be like that. The private school the girls went to was clearly not holding back the donations it received and provided live music, a buffet and a great space to dance. Immediately the five started a circle and spun around. Laughing and dancing in the middle of the room. Mary was certain in her 17 years she had never had more fun in her life dancing for hours with her friends, laughing and getting told all the gossip while Kenna and Lola pointed at people Mary had only ever heard of. She had to admit with faces to go with the names a lot of the tales did make a lot more sense and she was delighted to now have this experience as well.
They spent the entire night like that, always making sure at least two of them would stick with Mary when Lola had been taken away by her sweetheart Collin and Kenna started flirting with several boys. Mary had to admit even watching that gave her a great sense of normalcy. She had never resented her parents for denying her regular school life, sometimes she was glad for the flexible schedules and liberties that came with it. Because of that she had learned to remain organized and focused and confident in her thoughts, she wondered often if she had felt less confident with 20 other students sitting around her, listening and judging. She knew all of that, attributed to her starting a YouTube Channel at 15, to rant about her favorite books and make videos about fashion without ever being embarrassed about it. That was something she would always be grateful for, but she also wished she could have had at least some of the experiences other teenage girls went through in schools. Like the panic before a test, last minute study sessions before class started or a hallway crush.
She was completely unaware and laughing with Aylee and Greer, still dancing together when Lola rushed towards them, looking equally scared and sorry. Aylee was the first to notice their friend and immediately started worrying as well asking what had Lola in such a mood. “I can’t find her”, she stammered looking as if she was about to cry, “Mary I am so sorry, I forgot the time, Kenna disappeared and I can’t find her and you will be late and-“ “Breathe.”, Greer interrupted their friend asking her to slow down for a moment. “What do you mean Kenna disappeared?”, Mary asked ignoring the fact that she will be home late. Her friend was more important than her being grounded.
“I don’t know. She was dancing with Lucas and then suddenly she was gone. He said she went to the bathroom to fix her make-up, but I searched for her and couldn’t find her…”, she broke off clearly distressed and Mary would have lied to say the news left them cold. “Okay”, she said, “we will look again. She can’t be that far. She probably just sat down somewhere to relax her feet or to lie down for a moment. Kenna is reckless but she is not stupid. We will find her.”, Mary promised and took Lolas hand again. They decided it would be best to split up and to call each other when they found her.
Fifteen minutes passed and by now Mary was sure she would be grounded for several weeks but none of that mattered as she ignored calls from her mother. She did feel guilty, but they still hadn’t found Kenna, and she was genuinely starting to worry. She had meant what she said earlier. Kenna did a lot of reckless things. She took her mom’s car two months ago and drove to Edinburgh for an opening of some random boutique and she did drink, sometimes ending up drunk, but Kenna was not stupid. She would not just leave them and go for a walk or drive back with any random guy and that’s exactly what had them worried because she had randomly decided to walk the 40-minute drive back to her house then something serious must have happened to her.
They kept searching for at least another ten minutes when they heard giggling from the tree line surrounding the venue. First it was a male voice, then a female one. It took Lola only a few seconds before she recognized her friend’s tone and stomped over to the trees. Mary, confused, only stood there as her friend dragged Kenna out by her hair clearly angry. She had never seen gentle Lola to be so furious and tried to intervene when she started yelling at Kenna, but Lola didn’t have any of it.
“No. She knows we had to drive you home an hour ago. She knows your parents and that they trusted us to bring you home on time.”, she yelled and turned back towards Kenna. “We were worried sick looking everywhere for you, thinking God knows what happened to you, meanwhile you are out here sleeping with some random guy in the woods, Kenna that is low even for you!”, she finished her speech before walking towards Mary. “Come on, we’ll get you home.”, she said quieter now taking her friends hand and walking back inside.
Mary looked back still shocked at what happened and only saw Kenna’s tear stained face as she watched them leave. She thought she saw her mouthing “I’m sorry” but Lola had already pulled her back inside so she couldn’t be sure. Greer and Aylee had heard the commotion and were already standing at the door ready to go. They didn’t say anything on the way to the car and most of the drive back. “You didn’t have to be so mean to her.”, Mary whispered after a few minutes. Lola looked at her in disbelief for a second before fixing her expression. “I was worried. I thought she fell into a ditch and hurt herself and meanwhile she was doing...” Lola didn’t finish the sentence, but they all knew what she meant.
“Will you be okay?”, Aylee asked Mary when they turned towards her street. From afar she could already see the lights in the living room were still turned on. Her parents would be angry at her. “Yes”, she said trying to give her friends a reassuring smile. Her parents were rarely angry at her. They usually had no reason to be. They had their five rules and Mary followed them, knowing they came from a place of heart. The one thing her parents valued more than anything though was trust in business and in their personal lives. The girls knew tonight was a betrayal of that trust.
She waved a quick goodbye to her friends and closed the car door. She took one last deep breath and walked towards the front door. She didn’t have to look for her keys in her bag because her mother had already opened the door before she took the final step.
They were furious. Of course they were. Her parents weren’t loud. That was unsophisticated, her mother used to say, and that somehow made it worse. Mary knew they were hurt, and she knew pain was a strong emotion, so she let them lecture her for another hour. She listened to them as they called her irresponsible when they told her how worried they had been, that she should have answered her phone. She did take no malice when they grounded her for two months and forbade her to see her friends for at least the same amount of time. She was prepared for all of that, what she wasn’t prepared for was the look in her mother’s eyes, when she said how disappointed she was.
Mary knew she had betrayed their trust, she knew that now extended to her friends and that they would not be seeing each other in person for a few days, but to see how real her mother’s fear had been that was something she never knew. In her mind the overbearing and the fear for her was superstition or a means to keep control over something after her grandfather was murdered but she now realized it was more than that.
Mary never gave it much thought as a child, but she remembered the news articles. They always were big when a billionaire died. How her mother always put the papers away when she came across one that referenced her daughter being just next door when the shot was fired. When they said how lucky Mary had been to have survived even when murder was never the intention of the criminals. They were in the house for money, jewelry anything expensive they could take. They never cared about the lives behind the names and yet they changed Mary’s life forever.
“I’m sorry, Mama. Papa.”, she said quietly when they finally dismissed her and sent her to her room. She stopped before the stairs, one last time when she heard her mother cry. Her parents had a strained marriage, more business than love nowadays but they always found a common ground in the love for their daughter. Mary hated how today that factor was their fear for her.
She got ready for bed in slow motion that night, taking off the dress, unhooking her jewelry and taking off her make-up on autopilot. She briefly checked her phone to find a message from Greer letting her know she picked Kenna up and got her home safe. Mary was grateful for that, but she didn’t respond. Instead, she put her phone down again and thought.