Black Heart - The Black Velvet Band

There were icy blue-silvery eyes that seemed very wolfish peering through the veil of darkness. They blazed in the darkness, blazing like a warm kindling fire; but the fire seemed warm and kind, not a hot and sinister flame. The young woman tried to walk towards the eyes, curiosity got the better of her, but with each step she would take the eyes would step away from her. They were so close, yet so far. They moved like ash on the wind, It was strange. These eyes still kindled like a candle on the windowsill, still warm on a winter’s night. The darkness was ice cold around her; the eyes were her only salvation. She began to run quicker, and quicker. She reached out towards, trying to reach for the eyes. She was so close to the eyes, she could almost touch whom they belonged to. But it was too late. A blinding light shone so brightly like a twinkling sun, and she couldn’t feel anything.
    Vada, who was a young fox woman, woke up on the creaking and groaning wooden floor on her ship sailing the great sea. The golden sunlight shone through her open window and it tickled her curvaceous light auburn furred body; it was young and beautiful. The smell of salt hung high in the hair and the brushing of the sea was against her ship. It was only a dream. A dream that still lingered in her mind. Those wolfish eyes were a mystery to her. This wasn’t the first time she had this bizarre dream. She started having it when her last birthday had struck at noon, about a few months in the past.
    Her calm blue-teal eyes that sparkled like sapphires quickly glanced around the room and her long brown hair was tangled in knots. An anchor tattoo was inked on her thin wrist and a rose tattoo was inked on her shapely stomach. She gave a deep sigh. She was almost to her destination, to the grand city of Nona, to a new start. But one of the biggest issues was her mother and her father. They still hung on to her so tightly like she was still a helpless child. Vada was a young woman, about twenty-six years in age. It was ridiculous that her parents kept a close eye on her. It drove her to the brink of insanity.
    She laid on the shifting floor for a minute or so, still barely waking up. Then she heard a knock on her door.
    “Vada!” A shrilling voice cried out. “Are you up yet?”
    Vada scowled then she mumbled and moaned on the floor. She didn’t want to rise up that morning. She didn’t want to see her folks anymore. She wished she was as free as a careless bird, or a soaring mermaid upon the open sea. She loved the sea, she loved to sail and swim.
    But alas, she was trapped by shackles of her family. A maddening prison set by her parents - her mother to be precise. She hoped one day her hero would save her from her tower of hell and give her the freedom she so badly wanted.
    Vada just laid on the floor, not responding to the cries of the shrilling voice. She was still moaning like she had something wrong with her stomach or her mind.
    “Vada! Get up!” the shrilling voice cried once more. “We’re almost there and I want you to be dressed and ready! You don’t want your family to look bad, do you?”
    “Yeah, yeah,” Vada moaned and she gave an exhausted sigh. She slowly sat up on her tush. She took a deep breath of the salty sea air. She sat down for a minute or so, analyzing the room once more. She looked at her queen-sized bed that was more than enough size for her to comfortably sleep on. The wardrobe made from a refined golden wood, only the rich would have the luxury to have the wood made into a wardrobe. The oversized mirror that had a fine golden trim that was tucked away in the back; and the silver-wood desk where she kept her expensive makeup and glimmering jewelry that her mother had bought her since she was a little child.
    Despite being born and raised into such a rich family, getting almost anything she wanted that money could buy - anything but true love and freedom - she hated it, every single last expensive item that towered in her room with a menacing look. It was a struggle for her to keep on going with each day, and each day was getting tougher and tougher. The insanity would deeply creep into her mind with its menacing jaws, and the hatred towards her family would embed in her heart. Sweet death would be a release for this poor vixen. A terrible thought, but the truth nonetheless.
    Her love would generally turn sour in her past, either her love would be too controlling of her like her parents or they would find a skank that her love would deem better than Vada. It was a sad tale for this vixen, and she wanted it to end so badly. But the day would progress on, and she would feel like a slave in shackles.
    Vada slowly took a deep breath, trying to embrace herself for the big day, entering the grand city of Nona. The beginning of her new life. To her it wasn’t a new life. To her it was just the same old life in a different city. The same shit but different pile. She gradually stood up on the moaning floor and she stumbled towards her golden wardrobe. She swung the doors of her wardrobe wide open and she inspected the elegant clothes she had hanging up in her wardrobe. She pulled from there a creamy white blouse that didn’t have a single crease or wrinkle on it. It was a beautiful blouse, but Vada saw it as just a regular old blouse. Either way, she began to put it on, slipping her arms through and buttoning up until the last button, where she left it loose. It felt soft as wool and it looked elegant like a swan.
    Vada sluggishly got dressed in her clothes that her mother demanded that she would wear for this exciting moment: an aquamarine dress made from vibrant silks that showed the importance and the wealth of her family, a beautiful necklace with a chain of moonlight silver with a deep blue sapphire jewel that resembled a heart, she called it her Heart of the Ocean, and a pair of prepossessing inky black leather boots that were finely crafted and only fit for a lady. But Vada added one final touch to her outfit: a black velvet band that she tied her hair with. She would always tie her hair back with that black velvet band ever since she was a little girl. The band was given to her one Christmas eve by a strange man who was veiled in shadows and mystery. Vada never knew who this man was or even what he looked like. He didn’t even speak a single word. The only thing she saw was a silver glint in his eyes and a warm passing through her heart.
    It had been her mother’s dream to move the family to the grand city of Nona. They could have done it any time, but she thought it wasn’t safe enough for a little girl. But since Vada was now a young woman - still a dog on her mother’s leash - her mother thought that the time was right to pursue her dream of Nona. Vada didn’t care that she was going to Nona, but she kept hope in her heart that she might one day meet a great guy in that grand city that would stick with her until the end of time. She knew that this would be so, she had a feeling, like a flickering candle burning in her heart, that she would find her true love.
    She took one last deep breath and she closed her eyes. She thought about the silvery-blue eyes that kept popping up in her dreams and she thought that she might meet them in the grand city, giving her a glimmer of hope to an answer to whom the eyes belonged to. She opened her teal-blue eyes once more and she advanced out from her room into the new life her mother laid for her, the new place they would continue their lives of riches and false happiness. Buy it with money and wealth.
    Vada proceeded onto the deck, past the crewmen who would give her a bow when she passed them, but she didn’t look up at them, she didn’t even notice them. She thought that these men were lazy as sailors. She thought that she could do their job twice as better than them. She was a sailor ever since she was a little girl. It was her fiery passion to sail the vast sea, and to not work on the ship she was trapped was a great insult to her. All she ever did was lock herself in her room away from her ghastly parents and just waited. The clock ticked in her mind and with each tick it drove her more insane. She just wanted to get the hell out of there, away from everything.
    When she was aboard the deck she looked up at the pale blue sky - not a cloud was in sight. The smell of salt from the sea tickled her nose and the wind brushing through her fur. But the smell of salt soon turned into the heavy smell of burning coal and the skies became a light ash grey. She looked forth to see tall, looming, metropolitan buildings and dark heaps of smoke coming from tall stacks of chimneys. She saw the grand city of Nona, finally after a long journey of being stuck on the dainty little with her frustrating parents for weeks upon weeks she was finally at Nona. A small glimmer of happiness seeped through her heart; she would at least get a little space from her parents in this monstrous city.
    She used to sneak out at night back in her old home when she turned into a young woman, a teenager. She would always be a child of the vibrant night. She would walked down the streets at the late hours, hanging either alone or with her old friends, but she would mostly go alone, and she would get up to little mischievous things. She would paint the town red with trouble. But she would not seem happy when she had to return to her real life, she didn’t even feel happy when she walked out underneath the full, luscious moon; but she needed to escape from her family and her only way to escape was to go out late at night, to keep the jaws of insanity from ensnaring her in their wrath.
    She looked at the city as it got closer and closer. The buildings seemed to get taller and taller, like giants touching the sky. She was intrigued by the buildings, she had never seen any so ginormous before. She used to live in a big city before this, but the buildings were never as colossal as these ones in this vast city.
    Vada began to hear footsteps coming from behind her. One dainty and one elegant. She gave a heavy sigh and she looked behind herself to see her parents, her mother and her father. Her mother was a vixen lady with silver hair and watchful green eyes. She wore a long, beautiful gown of elegant silks with lavish laces. Her father was an older fox gentleman with finely groomed nutty brown hair and content violet eyes. He wore a neatly pressed suit with a clean fedora hat on his head with a big ostrich feather sticking from the brim.
    Vada looked at them discontentedly, not saying a single word. They began to advance towards her where her mother inspected her with watchful eyes.
    “Vada,” she said trying to seem calm; a smile began to appear on her face to look presentable to whomever was waiting for them at the docks to bring them to their new home. “You’re going to act like a good girl when we get onto the dock and you’re going to do as we always do.”
    Vada sighed. “Head high, don’t slouch, don’t look at the lower classes, don’t talk, don’t question, do as the Fletcher’s do.”
    “Good,” her mother said with a gleam in her eye. “Now, let’s getting going to our carriage once the ship pulls into the port. I want to see our new house before the end of today.”
    With another sigh Vada looked forth at the city; trying to ignore her parents for the time being. It wasn’t too long until their ship pulled in with grace into the noisy, messy port. Folk wearing dirty workmen clothing were all about rushing about, working on the port, trying to keep it functional and as neat as possible for their high and arriving guests.
    In the heap of the commotion and the work there stood their large black carriage to take them away to their new home. It had a border of glimmering gold and it stood without a scratch, it was fit for a king - or the higher class people. The horses pulling the carriage were tall and black and they stood ready to pull the carriage out of the loud port. Beside the carriage stood a large fox man wearing a tall black top hat on his head and a clean, well-fitted suit on his body. He kept a blackwood cane in his hand.
    The three Fletcher’s advanced out of their ship once it had completed docked. The father and the mother both walked arm-in-arm with their head high, their backs erect and they payed no attention to the lower working class. Vada walked behind them, taking short glances at what work had been going into this dock; the sweat on each of the folk’s brows and how much their arms ached from what labour they had been going through. She felt envious about these folks. She thought they were more free than she was. She still followed her parents, trying to head her head high and her back erect.
    They kept a quick pace on their way to the carriage and to the large fox, who had rusty red fur and bright green eyes. He had black speckles on his snow white muzzle. His stomach was profound and a spherical shape, his cheeks were fleshy and his arms in his suit were meaty. He awaited for the Fletcher’s with a beaming smile upon his face.
    “Hello, mister and misses Fletcher,” he bowed and he greeted. “Welcome to Nona. How was your tip from…”
    “Fulgur,” said Vada’s father with a smile hoisted across his face. “It was a dismal journey, I’m just glad that we’re finally here.”
    “Oh, how dreadful,” remarked Hunter gravely. “Yes, at least you’re here in Nona. Now, let’s get you two…” he looked behind them to see the shy and quiet Vada behind the two Fletcher’s. She didn’t make much eye contact nor did she say a single work. “Three of you will come with me in the carriage to your new home and we’ll pack up your things graciously and we’ll send them over to you.”
    The parents just gave two simple nods. Vada, on the other hand, did nothing but keep a shy smile painted across her face. It was a facade to hide her true emotions: a bleeding hatred and a crippling depression. The three Fletchers made their way into the carriage with grace. Inside the large carriage where the seats were made of fine sapphire blue velvet and the ceiling was made from a vibrant glowing glass.
    The father and the mother sat across from Vada, and Vada sat in silence across from them. She kept her head bowed to the dark ground. The coach was deadly silent, you could hear the ruckus from the outdoors clearly. The mother and the father just sat with their backs erect and their heads high.
    With the crack of a whip the horses trotted out of the port: clippity-clop, clippity-clop. Vada looked out the tinted grey windows as she saw the port grow smaller and smaller, and the workers slowly becoming ants. She gave a hefty sigh as she looked out the window as the new city she would now be living in. She saw the tall buildings made from stone and steel. She saw the folks, who were in similar clothes as the workers were down at the docks: dirty and probably handcrafted.
    As Vada looked out onto the busy streets she spotted a family of lizardfolk - a mother, a father, and two sons. They seemed so blissfully happy with each other. Vada felt trapped as her eyes lingered on the family. She couldn’t take her eyes off of their happiness. She looked back at the cold, dark ground and she gave deep sigh of depression. She closed her eyes, waiting for the carriage ride to reach their new home.
    Each passing second would drag on to feel like a hellish hour. Her parents said nothing, not even a peep. The father looked around, sometimes at his wife, sometimes at Vada and sometimes out of the window. The mother just glared at Vada, like she was expecting her to do something terrible, something wrong.
    Slowly the carriage ride passed on through the streets. The Fletcher’s could hear crescendos of voices overlapping each other and the stamping of the horses onto the stone streets outside of their coach. Vada laid back in her seat as she just looked up at the ceiling with bored eyes. She began to close them, but her mother seized her from doing that.
    “Vada!” she barked menacingly. “Sit up straight and stay awake! We’re almost at our new house.”
    Vada slowly did what her mother told her to do and she sighed. She looked at her mother with furious eyes, but she tried to remain expressionless. The tension inside the coach was terrible, almost as if you could cut it with a knife. But the tension slowly subsided as the streets slowly looked cleaner and the streets were paved in gold. They saw other carriages around that were neat and large like theirs. They saw few folk on the streets, but they wore elegant gowns and suits much like Vada and her parents. Her parents looked out at the new streets in amazement, but Vada couldn’t care less. To her it was just another prison cell for her to be held in.
    The carriage slowly pulled up to a large white house, a mansion even, and the Fletcher’s all came out of their carriage to see this new place of theirs.
    “This is great!” said Vada’s father. “Even much bigger than our old house!”
“Yeah!” said Vada’s mother; she began to walk towards their great new house as she looked in dazzling amazement at their grand house.