What Lies Beneath

Lisa stood in front of the mirror staring at her reflection. The person she saw there did not look like her. She had her blonde hair in gorgeous curls and was wearing a gown her stepmother had picked for her. Her step mother's words were 'it is marvellous. It suits you perfectly well. I do say the gown is your exact colour.'

Lisa was sure that what her stepmother had said was not meant to be a compliment considering she was bright pink at that time and the gown was a hideous pink colour. It also had ruffles. Who buys clothes with ruffles and a turtle neck these days?

Lisa wondered how she was going to get through the party her family was hosting. She was tired of staying with them. Her father never listened to her and her step mother was willing to do anything to drive her crazy. It did not help that she looked nothing like her father. She had taken her mother's features. Her mother had been a beautiful blonde with blue eyes and a smile that lit up her whole face but she had been a maid.

Most people did not know. They felt her mother had seduced her father and had gotten pregnant for him to trap him. They called her mother a slut but Lisa knew better. Although the hatred for her mother had extended to her. Nobody in the upper echelon which her family belonged to wanted to have anything to do with her. They all frowned upon her.

Lisa knew her father had raped her mother and that was how she was conceived. She knew this through her stepmother who made sure Lisa knew how worthless she was each and everyday. She wondered why the family still kept her around sometimes. They should just send her to somewhere far so she could live peacefully.

A knock sounded from the door making Lisa snap out of her thoughts.

"It's time to go downstairs." Mary a maid told Lisa.

"Thank you Mary." She said as she made her way out of the room and down the stairs.

On getting there, she realised the party was already in full swing. So much for being an important guest like her father had said she thought to herself with an eye roll and she made her way to eat some macarons. The only thing that was able to make any of these gatherings bearable was the snacks. Lisa had a sweet tooth.

"You need to slow down on the carbs."

Her stepmother said to her with a frown as Lisa popped a macarons into her mouth.

Lisa turned to look at her stepmother. She was dressed in a fabulous silver coloured floor length dress. Her makeup was flawless and her fabulous brown her was placed in delicate curls.

Sometimes, Lisa was jealous of her stepmother. She did not look a day over forty and still had an elegance about her. She always held her head high and stood her ground. Sometimes Lisa wished she was able to stand firm like her stepmother and not cower when people talked to her like she was trash.

"Well not that if you stop eating it you would be able to get a better shape." Her step mother said to her assessingly.

While Lisa was not overly thin, she also was not fat. She felt she was okay but anytime she came out and saw these fabulous people, she wanted to hide in a shell.

Lisa just looked at her stepmother as she kept on talking. She really did not know what to say to the woman.

"That's by the way. At least someone is interested in you. You remember Tommy Brandy?" Her stepmother asked her.

Lisa frowned. Of course she remembered him. The man always tried to get into her pants and he was old enough to be her grandfather. Lisa hated him.

"Well, he has asked for your hand in marriage." Her stepmother said with glee.

"Marriage?" Lisa asked her stepmother incredulously.

"Yes of course. He is a nice gentle man you know."

Lisa could not believe her ears.

"I am still just seventeen. I have not even graduated from high school." Lisa said to her stepmother but the lady was not listening to her. She held Lisa in a firm grip and directed her to where the irritating old man stood.

"Tommy." Her stepmother said to him as they met with him.

"Charlie." He said as he gave her stepmother a hug.

Charlie was her stepmother's name but Lisa tried not to is that name when talking about her stepmother. She hated the name.

"I have brought your bride." Her stepmother said with a smile that Lisa was sure was going to haunt her for nights to come.

"You fine little thing." The old geezer said. Lisa hated everything about this man. And if she did not hate her stepmother before, she sure was adding her to the list.

Tommy tried to touch her but Lisa stepped back.

"She is a shy little thing." Her stepmother said to Tommy with a chuckle.

Shy my ass. Lisa thought to herself with disgust. She did not want to have anything to do with the man.

"I already know. I also know beneath all these hideousness is something young and enticing." He said licking his lips not even trying to hide the fact that he was listing after her openly and her step mother being who she was, just chuckled and gave Tommy a little slap on the shoulder.

Lisa could not believe her eyes. If she did not do something soon she was going to be given off to someone she absolutely hated. She was not ready to give her virginity to someone like him. Although in this case, she suspected it would actually be taken and not given.

Lisa was still lost in thought and staring irritatingly at what was taking place when she felt the temperature drop. She turned and wondered if there was something Wong with the air-conditioning or maybe the windows had been left open but considering that there were lots of people in the room the temperature was not supposed to be ice cold.

The place became extremely quiet and Lisa could not hear anything not even the sound of the music that was playing in the background. The doors opened and someone wearing white walked in.

She looked homeless and her black hair was all over the place. Lisa wondered if others did not see the girl. She knew for sure that the people would never allow someone like that enter the party.

Lisa observed as the girl moved. She was dripping like she had just come out of a shower. Her feet were also bare. Lisa could not see her face and she was not sure she wanted to see it. The girl approached Tommy and lifted her head.

She was standing very close to Tommy who was now scratching his neck like something was itching him.

Lisa was unable to move as she watched the girl. She stood glued to the floor. What was happening? She asked herself. It was like she was the only one seeing the girl.

She held on a server as he passed and asked him

"Do you see anybody strange?"

The sever looked at her like she was crazy but seeing as he had to do his job to serve these so called rich people, he replied her "no ma."

"You really do not see anybody? A girl with a wet white dress?" Lisa asked him.

In the server's opinion the only person dressed strangely was Lisa. Who still wore clothes like that he thought to himself. In order to indulge her, he took a sweeping glance around the room but did not see anything.

"Not really. I'm sorry but if you will excuse me. I have something to do." He said to her as he hurried past her.

Lisa could not believe this. Sure she had heard strange noices but she was never in a situation where she was seeing somebody some others did not see.

Lisa watched closely as the girl whispered something to Tommy who looked uncomfortable. He was still scratching himself. Lisa noticed the girls clothes were not fully white. Some of it was stained with something red or maybe that was the design but she knew it was not.

Lisa's lips trembled as she noticed the girl was bleeding from her stomach. Lisa let out a scream and the girl raised her face to look didrectly into Lisa's eyes. Lisa now had full view of the girl's face and what she saw did nothing to make her feel less scared. The girl's face was rotten. A part of it had already oeeled off and the other half of the face had works coming out.

Lisa fell down to the ground letting out an ear piercing scream as she tried to hide in a corner. She could not believe her eyes.

"What is wrong Lisa dear?" Her stepmother asked her.

But Lisa could not bring herself to say the word given she was not so sure what the word would be. She could only just point a shot little finger at the girl.

"S..she she's. Her face." Lisa said with a cry as her whole body trembled.

"What are you saying?" Her step mother asked her.

"There is a girl. Her face." Lisa said with a loud cry.

The girl was looking at Lisa with a deadly smirk. It was like she knew nobody else would believe her. She started moving closer to Lisa who scrambled to her feet. She fell back down two more times before she started running.

As she left the ball room, she heard murmurs of people calling her a psycho.

She was pretty sure she had just sealed her fate after what had happened here but there was little she could do about it. The girl was not far away and Lisa wanted to get as far away from the girl as possible. She wondered what her father would say to her after what happened. Not that it mattered now.

"What do you want from me.?" Lisa screamed at the girl.

But as the girl opened her mouth the only thing she could hear was wails and sharp cries of pain.

Lisa tried to block the sounds out but it was proving impossible to do so. She had no idea of when she passed out but she was sure she never wanted to experience something like that again.