Chapter 6

As the darkness began to fall over the land, the flames of passion and lust were rising to infinite heights. The angered Vincent wandered through the halls of Daae Manor lost in his thoughts. He had not been this upset in his entire lifetime. Also the adaptation from his former playboy lifestyle was not an easy one to leave behind. He wandered by an open door and it peaked his curiosity. He stopped and could hear a beautiful voice coming from the room. It seemed to lure him as if it was Siren herself. His heartbeats quickened as he peaked his head in the door. There was the beautiful maid Lindsey. Although her clothes were stained and dirty rags he could tell she had a beautiful curvaceous body underneath. He slowly approached her from behind, his eyes never moving from her body. He could feel himself taking deeper breaths and a small fire burning in his loins. Lindsey could feel his perverted eyes scrolling up and down her body. She continued her cleaning hoping that he would soon leave. Vincent continued walking towards her and softly slid his fingers along her spine.

"Greetings Lindsey, How are you today," sly fully asked Vincent.

"I... am fine sir," her voice was nervous and shaky.

"Excellent, you are looking quite divine,"

"Thank you sir, you are looking handsome as always,"

"Well thank you madam," he said as his hand slowly slid through her hair.

"Monsieur Vincent, what thoughts are going through your head," quickly asked Lindsey.

"The thought of your beautiful body embracing mine as you give into my seduction,"

Lindsey stopped what she was doing and stood up straight and stared into Vincents eyes. Vincent returned the glare as his hands slowly started to caress her form. Lindseys eyes slowly closed as she let herself go with his touch. Her lip seemed to quiver as Vincents hands grew more inconsiderate to her pleasure and focused on his own. Than he abruptly stopped and grabbed her by the arms and roughly threw her upon the love seat under the window where Sidney and Andre once watched the sun set as teenagers. Than before he approached her he walked towards the door and shut it softly as he was unbuttoning his shirt.

Meanwhile on the other side of the manor, Sidney relaxing bath was rudely interrupted by Beatrice. Sidney covered herself at the sound of the door opening but once she saw it was her mother she did not bother.

"Are you trying to destroy this family," angrily asked Beatrice.

"What in the world are you talking about," quizzically asked Sidney.

"You must be out of your mind to keep returning to that idiotic excuse for a human being,"

"How dare you question who I see? Mother you know quite well that Andre and I have been friends since we were mere children. That is a bond that can never be forgotten"

"You had better learn to forget for he will be the downfall of you," Beatrice said as she quickly turned her back to Sidney and slammed the door behind her as she left.

Beatrice stormed down the hall as she approached her chamber door where Rene sat in a chair near the gray brick fireplace.

"What did we ever do wrong, Why did our daughter turn out to be such a foolish, naive child," asked Beatrice to Rene.

"I do not understand what the harm is. They have been friends for over a decade. Why pry them apart when time can do such a better job," replied Rene.

"Because Sidney needs to learn that she now has the greatest most perfect man she will ever meet in her entire life right here in the manor, and she is willingly resenting him!"

"Beatrice you must let this ride through. I am positive that this will so called friendship"

"I cannot comprehend why she doesnt end it now and stay where she should be with Vincent," said Beatrice pouting tone.

Sidney arose from the bath and grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her body. She shivered from chill coming from the crack of the window. Goosebumps covered her body as she walked over and shut the window with a light slam for she was angered by her mother. She stared at herself in the mirror hanging on the wall. She stared at the empty shell that looked back at her. She no longer understood who she was anymore. Everyone was trying to control her life, her destiny. She continued to dry herself off and grabbed another dry towel and wrapped it around her body. She let out a soft sigh with a tear in her eye as she walked out of the bathroom and into her chambers. She walked across the cold floor and latched the door shut so no one could barge in on her. She looked at her closet and took a deep breath with more tears. As she walked to the closet door and grabbed the handle her conscience could not decide whether or not she should do what she was about to do. Out of the sorrow of her heart she needed the memories of love and happiness. She slowly opened the door and looked to the floor of her box that she contained her memories of a past life.

She never kept it locked for she was afraid she would lose the key and never be ale to enjoy the memories again, so she simply kept it very well hidden. She opened it and tried to hold in her tears so she did not ruin her secret treasures. She carefully picked up a stack of six letters that Andre wrote her when he was twenty years old. She scanned through them and certain lines stood out in her mind. As she skimmed through the first on she noticed the line "My love for you will never fade, it will last forever like the beauty in your soul". It made her smile somewhat as tears fell missing the letter by a few centimeters. She set that letter down and looked at another one that said: "No matter what I say I will always love you, Anger and fear may consume me from time to time but my love for you will conquer all doubt". She held these letters and held them close to her heart as she let out a soft sigh as more tears formed. She finally let them go and softly set them on the ground as she returned her focus to the box. Her eyes quickly got the soft glow of an object she had almost forgotten about. A small golden locket that Andre had bought for her nineteenth birthday. The cold metal seemed to cool down her hand as she turned it over and started reading the inscription on the back that read: "Now I can always be close to your heart". She turned it back over and opened it and smiled. The picture of her on one side, smiling so happily and so in love. Than on the other side was the smile of Andre that she longed to see so dearly. Those hazel eyes she wished to longingly gaze into for what seemed to be an eternity. The cool metal now grew warm in her hands and his fingers slowly engulfed it hoping that it would sink into her skin and merge with her soul. Than she set it down on top of the small stacks of letters. She looked through the box full of pictures and memories. Than she came across the one thing that she would never forget no matter how much anyone forced her to. This thing was so small but it meant more than the world to her. She picked up a small golden band. A ring that Andre had given to her in secrecy. No one was to ever know about until they decided the time was right.

It was during the beautiful trip into Switzerland. They use to take long walks through the snow filled woods. Watching the ice slowly drip off the leaves as the sun would manage to periodically find a way through the clouds. Listening to animals run across the snow covered ground. Hearing them frolicking without a care in the world. There in those woods while the snow began to lightly fall once again, Andre did something Sidney had never expected. He turned to her and stared into her eyes looking for an unspoken question. Holding her hands for warmth. Their breath was steaming in the bitter cold air. Than Andre slowly dropped to one knee as he looked up at the widened eyes of Sidney. He reached inside his black blazer coat as he pulled out a small golden band and held it up so she could get a better look at it. Andre had said no words but she was already forming tears in her eyes. She nodded and relaxed her fingers as he slowly slid the ring on her finger. The snow was sticking to their clothes and hair but it did not matter. She lifted her hand to get a better look at the ring. Andre rose to his feet and awaited a reaction of some kind. She stared back at him and leaped into his arms. He caught her and could not stop smiling as he held onto her as tightly as he could. The silence was beautiful as well as awkward. She had never expected this and was in shock. He had never intended to do it so soon and was shocked that he was able to do it.

Sidney stayed kneeling on the floor of her closet reliving the moment as if she was there again. She could feel the numbness in her hands. She slid the ring on to remember the feeling it gave her. Nothing could have bothered her in that instant. The world and worries simply faded away into a dark void in her mind. Tears were still falling from her rosy red cheeks as she could not accept the fact how her life is and how it should be. A knock came upon her chamber door and it startled her. She did not know whether it as Vincent or Beatrice but she knew no one must ever know about her box of another life. She quickly began putting all her priceless treasures back into the box and threw as many things on top of it as she could. She stood up and brushed herself off as she quickly adorned a worn down orange gown she wore often around the manor. She looked at herself in the mirror as she passed it to see if it was noticeable that she had been crying. She could not really tell from the blur she saw and unlatched the door that was being knocked upon. She slowly backed away from the door and waited to see who it was. Lindsey came into the room smiled as she picked up a dust pan she had left in there earlier. As she walked by Sidney she noticed the golden band around her finger and smiled.

"I did not know that Monsieur Lynn had given you your wedding band so soon," she said with a smile.

Sidney quickly looked down to her finger in utter shock that she had forgotten she was wearing it. Panic rushed through her body as she did not know what to say. No words came to her head so she simply nodded and smiled. Lindsey saw the look for the split second of fear and panic. She returned the smile and exited the room with haste.

Sidney quickly took the ring off and did not know where to put it. She walked towards her window and set it atop the window sill hidden behind the curtains that were never opened. She looked around making sure she had not left anything out that she was not supposed to. She sighed after noticing noting out of the ordinary. She walked towards the door and slowly shut it.