The Teacup - By Brianna Paulino

“She’s coming for you.” Lilith blurted out.

I looked up away from my novel to face her. I placed the novel onto my lap and had a confused expression on my face. Lilith was hyperventilating, arms spread out, blocking the door. There’s no doubt about it; she looked terrified.

“I’m sorry, what do you mean ‘she’s coming for you?” I asked, “Who is this ‘she’?”

Lilith stood away from the door frame. She looked both ways of the hallway, making sure that no one was listening to our conversation. She stepped into the room, her enormous yellow gown having trouble fitting into the door frame. Slowly closing the door, she whispered a name.

“Mindy…”

Wind bolted through my spine. Shivers crawled into me. I stood up from that uncomfortable feeling, hoping it’ll go away. I couldn’t believe my ears.

“Mindy?! As in, the maid?” I startled.

“Yes!” Lilith looked down. I could hear little whimpers coming from her. I walked closer to her, placing my hand on her cheek. That’s when I noticed little tears streaming down her youthful face. Strands of her brunette hair began to stick to her face, messing up her makeup.

I wiped a tear away from her face and rubbed her young complexion with my thumb as softly as I could.

“Shhh dear sister, please don’t cry,” I whispered, “It stings me when you cry like this...I haven’t seen you cry like that since Aria....”

“Aria…” was all that came out from her.

Aria was our older sister. The original queen of the kingdom. The week after she was coronated to be queen, one of the maids found Aria’s motionless body on the floor of her bedroom. As soon as the maid found the newly crowned queen laying down on her own floor, she was confused. So, she went closer to her and noticed that her orange-ish hair was covering her own face. She moved the hair strand and saw that Aria’s bloodshot eyes were wide opened, however she wasn’t moving a single muscle. Aria was completely motionless.

The maid checked for her pulse, only to be given the horrible news.

That there wasn’t a single sign of life within Aria.

There wasn’t any evidence of how she died. The only clue was a teacup under her extravagant bed frame. There wasn’t any of the liquid in it, except for a little droplet that fell onto the carpet and stained it. Based on this, rumors circled in the castle of what exactly happened. Half of the staff says that she was poisoned by a displeased member of the castle because she was crowned the new queen after Mother retired. Others say that she committed suicide because of the additional responsibilities being dropped onto her shoulders; not wanting to carry that horrible burden.

The public doesn’t know of her passing... we all covered it up. Reputation is incredibly important to us. It’s too fragile to be broke completely. We said that Aria gave up her position to me, so she could go to another country to live with her mysterious lover. Still scandalous, but it’s nothing compared to a sudden murder.

“I understand you miss Aria…” I responded, “I miss her too. So dearly... I don’t think I deserve to take her place like this…”

“Hey now! If there’s anyone Aria would give her important position to, it’s you Florence.” she interrupted, “I’m just worried... what if you end up like Aria?”

“What makes you say that?”

“Well, isn’t it quite strange? Someone supposedly poisoned Aria the week after her coronation. I overheard what Mindy’s planning to do today. After your coronation later, you’ll have your occasional evening tea and biscuits, being delivered by Mindy. She said she has something planned for you.”

The shivers returned to me. They traveled through me like a blizzard. I twitched for a bit. My eyes were wide open, filled with such fright. The phrase kept on repeating inside of me.

“She said she has something planned for you.”

“She says she has something planned for me.”

My vision became foggy.

My head began to hurt.

It felt like my heart stopped.

For a moment.

Lilith noticed this and yelled with fright.

“Dear sister! What’s the matter?”

I woke back to reality. “Oh, nothing. I just caught a bit of fright of what you said...I just can’t believe all of this is true…”

“It was my fault.” Lilith blurted out, “I shouldn’t have told you. I put you into too much fear, especially an hour before your grand moment... the crown being placed onto your head...everyone cheering you on... God’s gift of the sun shining brightly upon you... I shouldn’t have told you.” She looked down, her chocolate brown eyes averting away from me.

“What?” I asked with confusion. I grabbed her fragile hand with reassurance. “I should be thanking you for telling me. If it wasn’t for you, I would’ve ended up in Aria’s place... please don’t put the blame onto yourself.”

It took a long moment, but she finally looked up at me. All I see is a sad smile.

“Of course…” she whispered, “Anything for you, my dear sister… anything.”

Feeling exhausted, I slumped into the soft chair inside of the royal tea room. As soon as I sat upon the velvet chair, all I felt was a sense of uncomfortableness. The extravagant purple cape was still around me, adding another layer to my appearance. I looked down to my fidgeting fingertips, feeling a bit of fright...there shouldn’t be anything to be afraid of though. Lilith warned me about Mindy and her plan. That way, I should avoid this sudden death. However, I was still a bit agitated about this.

Even during the coronation ceremony. As I say my oath after the crown was placed upon my head, my fingers began to fidget and that dreadful sensation suddenly came to me. I was thinking to myself, if I back down now, I probably won’t be killed. I wanted to cheat death and be the winner of the game.

However, since these responsibilities have been put onto me and I don’t want to let Lilith down, I continued on with my role. I recall everyone cheering my name...oh my name being cheered out loud...none of that celebration could make these worrisome thoughts fly with the cheers.

While waiting for this supposed anticipated moment to arrive, I reached the crown from my head and stared at it. I felt its ridges and jewels on the tip of my fingers. Fragile and incredibly pleasing to the eye. It could make anyone’s appearance and status outshine the rest.

Mother’s crown.

Aria’s crown.

Now, it’s my crown.

I have taken the oath to accept full responsibility for anything that not only happens in the castle but the entire kingdom. Everyone is counting on me. Staff members are counting on me. Mother is counting on me. Aria is counting on me. Lilith is counting on me…

*Clank*

I flinched at the sound of a clank. I looked to my right to see who had entered the doorway. I expected someone with short brunette hair, wearing a certain black and white outfit. However, I was wrong.

This was the first time in my life that I was thrilled to be wrong.

Coming towards my way was a young woman with a perfectly perfect ponytail and a yellow lavish gown. She was holding a tray with two purple-tinted teacups, a teapot, and a plate of buttered chocolate biscuits. My absolute favorite. My eyes lit up.

“Lilith!” I exclaimed, “Thank goodness it was you! Why are you here carrying the tea? I thought…”

“I went to the kitchen and volunteered myself to set up your teatime,” she responded without hesitation. A sweet like candy smile was on her face. Of course, I returned the smile back to her. She walked towards the small velvet table and carefully placed the tray, trying not to make anything fall.

As soon as she placed it, she grabbed the teapot and poured the tea into the two little china teacups. I could sense the smell of cinnamon.

Afterward, she carefully placed the teapot back to its position.

“Oh, yeah!” Lilith exclaimed, “This is your tea, alright?” she pointed at the teacup facing in front of me. I nodded as a response. Lilith took one of the empty chairs by the table and sat down. Her gown was not fitting in the chair, just like mine.

She took a sip of her tea.

“So, how does it feel being the newly crowned queen?” she asked.

I laughed at that silly question. “Oh dear sister, you know I just started being queen two hours ago.”

“Nevertheless, how does it feel?”

She took a sip of her tea.

I took a sip of mine.

The taste tingles in my mouth. My favorite tea, cinnamon.

“Well, I still feel wrong taking Aria’s position,” I responded, “However, I feel like I could handle the responsibility of being the queen of our beloved kingdom. I have a good feeling I’ll make an impact.” My lips curled to a smile from that thought.

Lilith smiled. “You never fail to look at the positives, Florence.”

“Well, yes. That’s a noble quality of being queen, now is it?” I laughed.

I took a sip of my tea.

The taste is tingling even more.

“True... true.” Lilith placed her elbow on the table, hand holding her face. She looked a bit sleepy in my eyes. Her eyelids began drooping.

“Tell me, have anyone you want to dance with at tonight’s ball?” I asked, “Well, besides me, of course. Any princes or dukes catching your eyes?”

I took a sip of my tea.

“Goodness no. No one has caught my eye yet,” she responded.

“How so?”

“The opposite will happen, eyes will be caught on me.”

I laughed. “Now how is that going to happen? What’s your grand plan? How will their eyes be upon you, dear sister?”

“Their eyes will be on me as soon as I wear that crown…”

“Don’t worry! I’m going to let you borrow it so you could have your fair share of romance!”

*Clank*

My hand felt numb. Suddenly, I couldn’t feel it.

Tea splashed all over the carpet. Shards of the teacup broke into millions of pieces.

Lilith scoffed.

“You’re quite naïve aren’t you?” she asked with coldness in her voice. I could feel the cold air from it as it shivers down my spine.

I looked at her, a bit confused.

My heart is beating rapidly.

My hands are shaking uncontrollably.

My head hurts like hellfire.

“Wh...wh..” I’m trying to get my words out. However, each time I stutter a sound, it burns in my throat. “What do you mean?”

Then...everything froze.

Clouds filled up my vision.

My chest burns with acid.

Every part of my body, numb, and feeling detached from me.

Horrible coughs spurting out of me. One, two, three, they couldn’t stop.

It burns. It burns.

It burns….

Little giggles coming out from Lilith. I forgot she was still sitting across from me. I tried to look at her. Trying to notify her I’m in excruciating pain. All I saw from her was a sinister smirk.

A sinister smirk.

A sinister...smirk.

Then...slowly.

Time froze completely.

I couldn’t feel anything. I couldn’t hear anything. I couldn’t sense anything. I couldn’t see anything.

The last phrase I heard was…

“Say hi to Aria for me.” as she placed the crown onto her head.