Poisoned Eyes

Lol Andi/Amber
My name's actually Sammi or Sammy. I spell it both ways. Loooooong update coming up!
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Sometimes I wonder why Mrs. Crawb even adopted me. Sure, I do a lot of work, but she could get a better slave any time. As soon as I had started to get a picture of what Mrs. Crawb was like, I thought for sure it would be easy to escape. She doesn't care about me and she doesn't care where her minions go. But now I know better. It's so strange, but Mrs. Crawb always watches me like a hawk. She even has hired guards to keep me inside. And I know she pays them a lot, because I saw a check once for a guard.

Whenever I try to leave the house, she completely blows her top. I remember the first time I tried to leave.

It was a beautiful morning. The air from my window was crisp and refreshing, and a thick carpet of leaves of all colors spread out over the ground: vivid red, bright orange, lemon yellow, and a chestnut brown. Anticipating the crunch of leaves under my feet, I bolted for the door. I could almost taste the thought of being outside again. I reached the front door, felt the cool touch of the wood as I moved to yank it open, when a hand shot out of nowhere and seized my arm.

"Sorry," the guard had told me. "You can't go outside. C'mon, follow me. We can't let Mrs. Crawb spot you tryin' to go out. I know it's nice out, and o' course I would let you out 'cept Mrs. Crawb would fire me. An' I like my money 'nough. The name's Dave, by the way. Dave Bekkit." he had added that last part like he was tossing it over his shoulder as he walked away, bumping right into Mrs. Crawb.

And I had thought Bertha yelled loud. That was nothing compared to-

At 7:00 AM, Amber lifted her head

 

Oops. Forgot about the and sign.

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At 7:00 AM, Amber lifted her head and blearily looked around, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She felt something sharp digging into her thigh. Amber looked down, realizing. A thousand thoughts were racing through her head. I can't just fall asleep like that! Albert would come up! He would see it! What if he already did? I can't let that happen! As Amber shoved the journal back she paused. A faint murmur floated up from downstairs. Quietly closing the panel, Amber tiptoed down the stairs, wincing at every creak.

As she reached the plush carpeted hallway, the voice grew louder. It was definitely Mrs. Crawb, in a bad attempt at a whisper. Amber crept to the gold-edged door with the little bronze plaque on it reading "Anastasia Crawb". As Amber slunk up to the door, she heard Mrs. Crawb clearly.
"Yes," Mrs. Crawb rasped. "Yes, I know. I got that, it's understood. What's your address again?" Amber heard the scratching sound of pen on paper. "Okay, you'll probably get it on Thursday. Yes, Thursday." Mrs. Crawb sounded annoyed now, with her rising voice and the increased amount of shifting around. But then her voice dropped.

"Sorry, I know it's hard to hear. Just remember to leave the order forms on the doorstep. Leave them on Monday at noon, so we can get started right away on your orders. Wait, what's that?" There was a pause. "Great, he's always been a sniveling little rat. Good luck. I got to go now. I know, I know. It's coming to you on Thursday. Bye now." Amber heard the click of the phone hanging up, then a beep, beep, beep of her dialing a new number.

"Hello?" Mrs, Crawb whispered. "Yes, it's me, Anastasia. I'm assuming this is-oh, sorry. I can't say your name! So are we putting Operation-I keep forgetting! I know the phones might be bugged! Okay, so we're still putting the plan in action? You know she's turning seventeen soon, right?" As Amber leaned closer to the door, she could faintly make out the garbled reply of the person on the other end of the line.

Then Mrs. Crawb started grumbling. "You know, the girl's been a lot of work," she muttered. "I hope you remember my percentage of the cut. And when you're dividing it up, be sure to factor in the fact that I've had to pay for all of her stuff from when I first got her, and she's been constantly annoying me from the first day. It's been hard enough hiring those guards to keep her inside, and now that she's older she wants to get outside more. This is getting hard to manage."

A sharp bark interrupted Mrs. Crawb. Amber could hear the words "STOP COMPLAINING!" before the person on the other end of the line quieted down.

"Sorry boss," Mrs. Crawb said, subdued. "But remember, she's turning seventeen soon. Sorry! I'll shut up now! Goodbye." As the faint drone of the dial tone let Amber know that the call was over, she sagged to the ground, lost in thought.

What was that all about? Amber wondered. In the first call, Mrs. Crawb was talking to someone, probably about something being delivered to them. Mrs. Crawb had said it would probably come on Thursday. Faintly she heard Mrs. Crawb muttering to herself. Footprints were pounding on the polished, hardwood floor in her room. But Amber hardly noticed.

What would come on Thursday? Who is she delivering it to? And what person was she talking about? The person who was a sniveling little rat? Well, now she knew she had to go outside on Monday, to take a look at that order form.

And what about the second call? Who was Mrs. Crawb's boss? And what "Operation" was she talking about? It must have had something to do with the fact that Amber was turning seventeen soon… her birthday was November 21st, only several days from now! What was going to happen then?

And as Amber sat there, thinking, the door swung open on its smoothly oiled hinges to reveal Mrs. Crawb.

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 What's going to happen next? What's Mrs. Crawb going to do to Amber? Will Amber be able to think of a clever excuse?

Find out in the next update… 

 

Phew! I'm exhausted!
More tomorrow…

 

This is the prologue I added
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Monica slammed her fist on the desk. "ANNIE!" She bellowed to her apprentice. "I THOUGHT I TAUGHT YOU BETTER THAN THIS! HOW COULD YOU HAVE SPILLED IT?"

The eighteen year old Annie cautiously poked her head into the doorway. "I-I'm sorry, Master Tremaine. When I was walking in, I-I tripped, a-and spilled it, then… they escaped."

"And you said you spilled it on her." Monica Tremaine's tone was frosty cold.

"Y-yes. She crawled away once I spilled it on her, and she-she's gone now."

"How could you be so careless? And spill it in that spot?"

"I-I really don't know… I'm so… so… sorry!"

"Well, it's not my problem. You know it's up to you to fix it and make things right. I taught you my ways, and it's up to you to put them to good use."

"Y-yes, I will. I will not fail you!"

Monica shoved a few pieces of aging paper at Annie. "Well, good news. I won't punish you because… look here. Read this."

As Annie flipped quickly through the pages, her eyes grew large. "Do you mean… are you seriously… I made this happen… how… what? Wow… the… the… the Stardust Stone?"

Monica nodded in confirmation. "You know I've always wanted the Stardust Stone, and now I finally have my chance. For years I've been searching, and I came upon these papers when you spilled it. In that spot. A coincidence. And a mistake became a benefit… I just hope you can find her and fix your mistake to make things right again. You also need to find them. And do what you were originally planning to do. The power will set in several days from now…"

Annie nodded vigorously. "Okay, I will make this work. I will make this happen! I won't let you down, master! I won't! I promise!" Quickly, she dashed out of the room, no doubt planning already.

Monica shook her head in disbelief. "The Stardust Stone… In all my years… Why, I've never…"

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Confused? What does this have to do with Amber? Later, it will all make sense. It will all come together. But all in good time… all in good time…

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Is this interesting enough? Should I make it more interesting? Should I wall people when I update?

 

…Anyone?

 

You will get one
Just gimme half an hour

 

NOOOOOO I TYPED THE WHOLE UPDATE THEN IT DELETED IT!!! 

 

Here we go again *sigh*
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Amber sat on the hard backed wooden chair, scared to death. Mrs. Crawb paced in front of her, muttering under her breath. "How much did you hear?" She snapped.

"What?"

"WHAT DID YOU HEAR?" Mrs. Crawb roared. "I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR YOUR TRICKS, JUST TELL ME!"

Amber shrank back in her chair. "I d-didn't hear a-anything!" She stuttered.

"THEN WHAT WERE YOU DOING IN MY ROOM, HUH? ANSWER ME!"

"I was j-just… uh… going t-to ask you… um… if you w-wanted… uh… tea! Honestly!"

"WELL I HATE TEA! IT'S NOT YOUR JOB TO GIVE ME DRINKS, ANYWAYS! SO NEVER GO INTO MY BEDROOM AGAIN!"

"B-but I didn't, I just went outside…"

That was a mistake. Mrs. Crawb pressed her face next to Amber's. "Listen to me, you girl," she hissed. "I can make your life so miserable that you would rather have that old crone, Bertha, beat you day in and day out, than live here. Yes, that's right. I know about Bertha. Don't think I don't know about your past life.

"I can make it so that you are locked in a closet, starved and weak, until you are hanging onto life by a thread. Then I will force you to eat, and beat you until you bleed, but never let you end your suffering. I can do things far, far worse than death to you, because I'm not allowed to let you die. So never, ever, in your life, go near my bedchamber. You understand, girl? YOU UNDERSTAND?"

Amber gulped. "N-not allowed to die?" she squeaked, hastily adding, "I-I mean, y-yes, I understand, very clearly."

"Good. NOW GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!" Mrs. Crawb bellowed.

Without so much as a backwards glance, Amber scampered out of the room, terrified for her life.

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I wouldn't want to have her as my guardian…

 

Oops I messed up the lines

 

Thanks

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I'm so glad I was able to make something up about why I was near Crawb's bedroom. Who know what she might have done to me, if she found out that I was listening to her conversation! Yes, it's all well and good that I'm all right, but I desperately need answers. Something big is going to happen, and I need to know what it is, because I have a feeling I'm not going to like it.

But first, I'm going to need to find out what is on that order form. At noon, I need to somehow sneak out of my room, go outside, and read the order form before Crawb takes it in. Not such an easy feat, but I have a plan…

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BLEHHH. Short. Role plays sucked the motivation to write out of me. I quit them. SIGH.