The Darling
An excerpt.


The day they married he told her that the whole house was for her. Every inch of it. Every chair, book, table, and vase. It was all there for her. She was to have everything her heart desired. His only rule was that she was no to go outside without his permission.
And she had been outside only once this year, but simply for him to take a Polaroid of her amongst the daisies to send back to her aging mother in Nottingham. That was in March, and now the leaves were beginning to turn colors and she was longing for it.

Before she knew exactly what she was doing, she had ventured from her maroon armchair beyond the large glass windows and to the door. Her petite, bony had rested on the brass door knob.

She took a long deep breath and rotated the handle. The door creaked open to reveal a lush backyard. One that the girl hardly recognized.
So she didn’t notice at first that she had strayed from the door frame to the shade of the powerful towering oak trees. Beneath them sat clusters of flowers, each bright, colorful, inviting. Mockingbirds chirped in their nests high above.

The girl found a small patch of shade amongst a bundle of golden daffodils. She gently plucked one and held it to her face. It was sweet, clean. It smelled like her mother, like home.

She let it slip from her fingers as she momentarily shut her eyes and leaned against the rough bark of a tree. A soft, subtle breeze floated against her scarlet cheeks and through her auburn hair.

She exhaled and opened her eyes, slowly, to find a small bumblebee hovering in the air before her. She smiled as it softly landed on the tip of her protruding nose, and giggle as its wings tickled her skin. Cross-eyed, she watched it as it gently hummed.

It was so beautiful and delicate. Its wings were thin paper lanterns and its fur was as soft as the kitten from her childhood home. She decided that she wanted to hold onto it forever. So she clasped it between two sweaty palms.

She finally had someone. Something. A small friend.

But suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in the middle of her cupped hand. She yelped and opened her palm, releasing the wounded creature and revealing a red bump beginning to form. She had never experienced this kind of pain before. It was intense and foreign and she began to sob helplessly.

As she ran inside she knew that he would find out that she disobeyed. He always did.

This is why I don’t let you go outside, she pictured him scolding.

Outside is not for girls like you.

Look at what you’ve done to yourself.

See what I told you?

The girl poked the throbbing lesion as she returned through the doorway and back into the house, feeling a rush of frigid air over her body.

Darling you are too delicate to go outside.

“Darling, you are too delicate to go outside,” she whispered to herself, small droplets forming underneath her eyelids.