Prologue of As You Wish

May, 1848

I was eleven years old when I made the acquaintance of Albert Wilcox. It was summer and the heat from inside the house had driven me outside. I was laying in the still dewy grass watching an army of ants march back to their little dirt hill carrying crumbs of bread upon their backs. Mother was sitting on the yellow, wooden swing, humming a song. Our garden was beautiful, really. To the left was mama's prize winning patch of red roses and to the right, there were small lemon and apple trees growing. They were still just saplings, but mama said they would grow soon. In the center, where I laid, there were, what I predicted to be, at least a billion blades of grass. At the end of our garden stood a tall golden gate separating us from, what mama called, a world of brutes and beggars. I had only ever seen parts of this mysterious world when papa came back from work and his hunting trips. He was always away on business and I missed him dearly.

"When will papa and Tommy be back from hunting?" I asked, sitting up.

"Hush, child. You talk too much." She replied, stepping off the swing. Mother never seemed to answer my questions and there were few times we maintained a conversation without her grabbing me by the ear and dragging me off to scold me.

As mama walked back inside, Buster, our beagle, ran through the small space between mother's legs and the door, pushing her to the side.

"Buster!" She shrieked.

As he came over to me, I sat back down and began petting him. His soft brown fur was still just as soft as it had been when he was a puppy. He was five now, but still as hyper and active as ever.

"Handshake!" I requested cheerfully, and sure enough he gave me one. Through our years of friendship I had taught him some tricks and it was finally paying off. It had taken some time, though, and many, many treats. Too many treats, I thought. He was a big dog, bigger than he should be and it was seemingly impossible to get him to lose weight. Truthfully, his weight never bothered me, but mama complained about it constantly, saying that one day if we were to somehow starve, he would be enough to last us for weeks.

"Don't worry, Buster," I said to him, shuddering at the thought, "I'll make sure you're always safe."

He had never purposely misbehaved, but the moment I promised him safety, I swear he must have really wanted to test me. As soon as the words of promise left my lips, he hopped off my lap and ran towards the gate.

"Buster! Stop!" I commanded.

He didn't stop. Instead, he found a hole in the gate that was just his size and managed to shimmy through it. And then he stopped and looked at me from the other side of the gate as if to taunt me! The little devil dog.

I gasped. I had never thought of Buster like that until now. "Buster! I swear, if you don't come back here this second you will never get another trea- no, you will never get another scrap of meat."

He stood there for a second or two longer as if to consider what I had just said, but instead of coming back like I had requested, he started to run down the gravel path that led to who knew where. Running to the gate, I watched as he slowly disappeared into the distance. I once heard that when you are about to die, you see your life flash before your eyes. Well, in that moment, all I could see was my mom scolding me while Tommy, my brother, watched and laughed. No, I could not allow that to happen. I had to quickly brainstorm a way to escape my confinement. Ah! And then it hit me. I could climb the gate. I had never climbed anything before; it was riveting. My heart had begun to beat faster as I placed my feet on two of the long, golden slants of the gate and placed my hands slightly above head level. Slowly bringing my feet and hands higher simultaneously, I could feel my blood rushing faster. And I think it was because of this excitement that I was able to muster the strength to maneuver myself onto the other side of the gate and hop down onto the ground.

Under my feet, I could feel the scorching  hot gravel road, but at that moment Buster was the only thing on my mind. Quickly recovering from my landing, I stood up, brushed myself off, and started to run in the direction I had seen him run in.

Surprisingly, the outside world was nothing like my mother had described it as being. If anything, it was actually beautiful. Each side of the small road was lined by oak trees, and to the left and beyond the trees extended a large grass field dotted with flowers. The air also seemed to smell sweeter than it had before.

"Buster?" I tried calling his name.

Nothing.

"Buster?!" I called again.

And sure enough, he barked in response. When I finally got to the location that I was sure the barks were coming from, I bent over in an attempt to catch my breath.

"Miss?" I heard a voice say. It sounded like it could have come from a thirteen year old boy.

I raised my arm in the air to show that I had heard him, and didn't look up. "Give me a second."

"Of course. Would you like some water?"

I nodded and he ran off to fetch the water. Finally able to breathe normally, I sat down on a nearby fallen log. I looked around. The first thing I noticed was a small clearing where there stood a small wooden cabin-like building. The boy must live there. I could never imagine living in such a small home.

When the boy finally returned, Buster was right behind him.

"Here's your water." The boy said.

"Thank you." I replied, cautiously taking the canteen from him. After taking a sip, "I was just wondering. Where did you find that dog?"

"Oh, him?" He asked, pointing to Buster.

I nodded.

"He appeared out of nowhere just a few minutes ago. I reckoned he ran away from his owners, but no one has come to claim him." He bent down to scratch Buster's head.

"Buster doesn't like when people do that." I muttered as Buster attempted to nip the boy.

"Whoops. Hey, how did you know that?" He looked up at me.

"Well, he is my family's dog." I said matter-of-factly.

"Oh!" He smiled awkwardly, "Are you from around here?"

"Yeah, actually I am," I replied, pointing towards the direction of my house, "I live down the road."

"Surely you don't mean the Greene mansion?" He seemed a little fidgety at this point.

"Well, I don't know about mansion.."

"Oh! You must be Elizabeth Greene. I've heard a lot about you."

I looked at him, a little surprised and almost sure that whatever he must have heard could be nothing good. "How do you know me?"

"Didn't you know? I belong to the Wilcox family. My family serves your family."

"Oh. No, I didn't know that. What's your name?"

"Albert. Albert Wilcox. It is an honor to make your acquaintance, Miss Greene."

"As it is to make yours." I replied.

"Oh, but the honor is all mine." He gave me a rather charming smile that I will admit made my heart flutter a little.

***

By the time we had finished with the introductions, the sun had almost completely set and the sky was filling with an inky black. Strangely enough, exhaustion was the only feeling I was not feeling in that moment. But I knew that I had to leave or I would get in further trouble than I was already in. I shook his hand and told him that I had to leave.

"Do you want me to take you back?" He offered, standing up. He was actually quite tall, I realized, and the sun's reflection appeared perfectly in his pale blue eyes. For a moment I wondered if the ocean was just as blue.

"No, it's okay. I don't want you to get in trouble. Besides, it's not that far away." I bent down to pick up Buster. "You've gotten me into a lot of trouble today, little guy." I said to Buster.

"Huh?" Albert asked. He seemed a little dazed.

"I was talking to Buster," I replied, blushing. "I'll see you later, I guess."

"Goodbye Miss Greene. Get home safe."

"I will, thank you." I smiled.

When I finally got home, mama didn't even notice. She had fallen asleep, and nothing would wake her once she was out. Smiling, I walked up to her and pulled the blankets over her.

"Good night mama, I will see you in the morning." I whispered.

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And that shall conclude my prologue. I promise this shall all be important in the future. Thank you so much for reading. I will be updating once or twice a week. Elizabeth's adventures are far from over; stick around to see what happens to our young heroine! I promise it will be an adventure. :)