Ellie saw food popped into existence in front of her. She looked at it longingly. As with anything that was Wong made, it was a delicious fried dumpling food platter with everything she should have been dying to eat at this moment. It was comfort food she would have made herself, if she had been hosting this gathering at her apartment, instead of at her husband"s home. All of her friends ate quickly until there was none left for her. They asked her if she wanted some but Ellie shook her head. Even though her mouth wanted to savor the plate, her stomach felt oddly full such that she felt strange. The previous night she had been positively ravenous.Seeing their satisfied faces, made Ellie feel strangely calm. She looked at the time and turned to her smiling friends, "I hope you can excuse me now ladies. I think it"s time for me to head back to bed for now." The Monopoly money dripped from her fingers as it fell from her grip. All of the ladies stood up concerned as she held up a hand to gather what she could salvage. She laid down what money she had with a sigh. "I think I"ve had enough for today. Olga, I"m afraid you"ll have to take Wong Enterprises from me another time."
"You keep it. I"m sure from what I"ve seen it"s going to be a hard company to keep. I really doubt I could handle or would want to for too long." Olga"s voice was soft as Ellie felt a warm touch on her head as she bent down to clean up whatever money Ellie had not. Ellie wasn"t too sure what happened after that. The hands that gripped her next were stronger. Maybe it was Michael? She knew the women had left before she had gone on to the cloud of a bed. She couldn"t let Katie or Olga or Heather or Emmie see her like this. Ellie knew also that Henry shared this feeling to make their guests feel unbothered by the problems in the house. The Wongs would only show the beauty and not the shifting shadows of their skeletons hiding away.
On the bed, Ellie"s white sheets quickly grew yellow with her body"s sweat. She wished to be dunked in a cool bath as she felt like she was burning inside, although Michael rea.s.sured her again and again that she didn"t have a fever. She wished she was cool enough to be comfortable in the bed.
She tossed and turned as her limbs never felt comfortable in every position she tried to sleep in. When Ellie did finally did get to sleep, her dreams were odder than madness. In mirrors she could view several different possibilities of the future and past. Her veil was crocked on her as she danced off the edge of a balcony at five years old. In another was her college formal, but instead of her friends she was alone. As an aged woman, she opened a coffin to find both of her parents alive, but young, staring at her in alarm. They both rea.s.sured her that getting married in his hurry would not have dire consequences. Then she was pulled back down somewhere deep into the present where Henry sat with a bottle of whiskey that he had smashed against a dressed the painted clown face paint on him as he grinned. His laughed echoed throughout the manor as she ran to find a way out.
She pounded on the elevator doors . . . "Please . . . Please . . . I don"t want to be stuck like this. I don"t even know him. I am sorry for making a decision like this . . . I didn"t know I would be alive still to feel the pain of it."
Finally she collapsed into bl.u.s.tering broken sobs. There was no one to comfort her . . . alone in the mad asylum of her dream.