Matt Bellamy: 1785 winter

Chapter 1

5 pm Sunset

I was sitting on my chair next to the window of my bedroom, aimlessly brushing my hair because I simply had nothing better to do. I had a strange feeling someone was staring at my pale image through the window. I tried to shake it off but I couldn't. Unable to take the uncomfortable feeling of curiosity anymore, I looked to the direction of my discomfort. To my surprise I saw a very handsome man standing under a shady tree. He had rich dark brown hair that messily fell over his piercing electric blue eyes and a wicked smirk placed on his lips . He didn't look away when I caught him staring, instead his his jaw dropped slightly leaving his lips parted as he continued to watch me with what looked like awe. Something about this man was so fascinating. Never in my life had I ever seen a person so captivating. Our eyes locked for a few minutes until that teasing smirk displayed on his lips once more, then in a blink of an eye, he disappeared. I shook myself from the trance I was in and noticed it was dark, very dark. So many thoughts raced through my head 'How long were we gazing at each other? Was he real? Am I going mental?' I laid on my bed and pictured his beautiful face in my mind. I took in a deep, calming breath forgetting I had a corset on. I took the dress off to relieve the pain it just caused to my sides and slipped on a nightgown afterward. I slipped into bed and dreamed about the mysterious, beautiful but very strange man.

I woke in alarm from knocking sounds coming from the other side of the door.

"Sorry miss, but your father wants to see you in the living room." The maid spoke with a timid voice "Should I help you dress?"

"No thank you Rose, I think I can manage." I hurriedly breathed as I scrambled around for a dress.

"Thank you miss." Rose said, "I'll tell him you'll be there directly."

I slipped on a gown having a little trouble with the corset but succeeding. I paced down the hallway, almost tripping on the edge of a rug and earned a few looks of disapproval from some of the house staff. They always judged me, I should be used to it. Not wanting to keep Father waiting, I rushed into the living room and saw him standing by the window, gazing out into the cold winter scene. I stood awkwardly in my position not knowing what to say or do.

"We shall have dinner at the Ritz in celebration of your brother's engagement." Father stated, "Dress appropriately, the carriage will arrive at Two."

"Yes Father." I curtsied and silently left the room.

2 pm

I wore a beautiful long green gown with a wide lace neck exposing the shoulder in the latest fashion. I put on a cameo choker while Rose curled and styled my hair. We heard a gentle knocking at the door

"Yes?" I questioned.

" Your carriage is here, Miss Kingston." The Butler informed me.

"Thank you." I called out to him. I walked over to the long mirror to take in my appearance.

"You look beautiful, miss." Rose gawked.

"Thank you, Rose." I blushed at her compliment.

"Now, we shouldn't keep your Father waiting." Rose worriedly stated. Rose had always been scared of my Father and I didn't know why. She scurried to the door and we both hurried to the carriage. I stepped into the closed carriage to find Father was already there and not happy.

"Eleanor, I think I'm going to have to teach you about punctuality because this is unacceptable." He stated in a worryingly calm voice.

"I'm sorry Father, I'll make it on time next time." I quietly replied. I figured out why Rose was so scared of him. He sighed and looked out the window with a disapproving look on his face. I looked out the window for familiar scenery but I didn't recognize anything.

"Father, where are we?" I questioned.

"We are taking a short cut through the slums, since you decided you wanted to be late to your brother's engagement party." He said with heavy insinuation. I turned my attention back to the scenery and something caught my eye. It was him, the handsome man. He leaned against an old run down factory while smoking a pipe. His stance was very composed, it gave him the air of someone who was self-assured and confident in his looks.... which I might add were very pleasing to the eye.

We arrived at the Ritz and made our way over to our snobbish family. I sat in silence, eyeing my food whilst everyone else at the table made judgmental remarks about others. As I sat there picking at my meal, I thought to myself, 'Why does my family have to judge everyone so much? Is it because everyone is rude to them? Do they judge others to make themselves feel better? Or is it because they have nothing else to do or talk about.'

"ELEANOR!" Someone aggressively shouted.

"What?!" I half shouted, startled. My whole family stopped what they were doing and glared at me.

"What's wrong dear?" My Father said softly, embarrassed and irritated from my outburst.

"Somebody said my name." I stated, a little confused.

"No they didn't." Father whispered, anger clear in his voice.

"Yes they did!" I insisted.

My Father turned back to face everyone else and stated "Sorry everyone, Eleanor is a bit ill." reassuringly.

They all returned to their conversations of criticizing innocent people and 'financial issues'.

"ELEANOR!" I jumped but this time knowing it was probably just in my head.

"ELEANOR, I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME!" This time even loud than before.

I put my hands up to my temples and squeezed my eyes shut. My head throbbed more and more every time the mysterious voice shouted. I shot up from my chair and screamed from the shoots of pain going through my head. My body was trembling and sweating. I opened my eyes but I couldn't see anything except a hazy figure standing in front of me. The closer it got the more pain I felt but I couldn't move. It leaned in close to my ear and whispered something in a strange, foreign language, then brought it's hand up to my forehead and touched two fingers to it. With that, I dropped to the ground.