Chemical Poison

Behind a polished glass window, Anneliese Lorenz said goodbye to her parents. Neither smiled at her. Both spotting a rather grim expression as they waved goodbye to their only daughter. And as the strange car her Uncle provided them, she watched them disappear from view.

For another few seconds she stared. Unable to stop her eyes from looking at the now empty road. All she could see was the gravel, a bunch of red and white flowers, and the maids and security walking up and down the courtyard. It was a luxurious lifestyle if the danger didn't make itself so known.

As for the thing with teeth was always nearby.

It consumed her, destroyed her and was always present. It wasn't seen but always listened too. The thing with teeth made darkness its own - night had never looked so bright in comparison. And it followed her everywhere... even to her Uncles estate. A place even monsters feared.

Turning around silently, Anneliese searched for it. The looming dark room completely filled with grand portraits and bright red curtains held no such monster. For once, and maybe for the first time, Anneliese was the biggest monster in the room.

With the click-click-click of her polished shoes, Anneliese made pace towards the sitting room for afternoon tea. Her mood was gone, absent, and completely missing. She was a shell to be cracked; yoke-less for the baker. Tougher stuff have been made but Anneliese sure strived to be the best.

So she continued walking. Past the servants that lowered their head as she passed. Never glancing at the framed knifes on the wall, knowing very well she would not want to read whoever's name was engraved in gold on the metal frames. She walked at the same pace even as she past her other uncles - the ones she didn't know the names of nor were of any importance to the Lorenz heir. Her head did not drop as conversation stopped as she entered the sitting room.

Much like most of Schmidt estate, the room was cold to the bone. Colour was only found in the red curtains and golden engravings on frames. Knives were decorations and teacup designs were the foundations of power. Within one small room she could feel it all: anger, betrayal and lies. 

Trailing her eyes to the man of the moment, the monster of the house, she bowed her head. Raising her eyebrow to ask silently if she could sit down... she waited until he smiled with his toothy smile. The whole act of entering a room was over the top and dramatic.

But her Uncle wasn't known for his dramatics for nothing.

Sitting down on the red velvet ottoman because all other seats were all taken up by strange men she didn't recognise. She sat silently. Not touching the tea she was served until her Uncle took a sip. Conversation flowed as it always did; a meretriciously planned waltz of business, politics and the gossip on the street.

It would be another hour before her name is mentioned, well technically her parents, but her name nonetheless. 

"My sister and her husband are on a trip to Berlin," Johann mused as he took a sip of his tea. He didn't continue until he placed the red and black teacup onto the small glass table in front of him. "I sent Josef to the Universities to source out the best of the next generation."

The room grew silent, Anneliese stayed neutral.

Now, she was addressed. "I believed Josef to be incompetent, but he's done the impossible with their little daughter." He smiled.

The man smiled with his teeth.

"Anneliese, tell the men what you learnt last week in your lessons."

Sighing, Anneliese brushed her skirt before she spoke clearly. The same way her mother had been teaching her ever since she could speak. She over pronounced letters, accentuated certain words and always in a higher pitch when surrounded by men. It was a skill of life and death; her mother said it was what made luxury and danger equal to one another.

Only those with luxury would fear the danger of their voice.

Smiling, she spoke. "The relationship that some matter is both particles and waves, specifically the mathematics around Schrodinger's equation."

Whistles, laughs and the same old jokes she was used to hearing. Who would she be marrying? When will she be marrying? What was the Lorenz fortune? Her education, her beauty and her manners was all curated for marriage. A life she dreamed since she was child.

But these men were not who she wanted.

She was very aware that her Uncle was forcing her to attend afternoon tea, gala's and business meetings with him to find a suitable candidate for Anneliese. She was a rare commodity. The only heir of the Lorenz's, the only way men could dream about becoming a Schmidt man. She was the key to the fortunes of Germany's richest, the solution to the question of who exactly is Johann Schmidt, and the future of high society.

Anneliese knew her worth. The second she turned seventeen she would be wed.

Luckily for her, she was only six.

Eventually Anneliese was excused from the sitting room and left to her own devices. Freedom wasn't an option in the estate, but luxury was. And luckily for her, time was a luxury she was permitted. So she spent the hours before twilight wondering down the halls. Thinking.

Her parents would be gone for a few days. She was alone. And the thing with teeth was silent and no where to be seen. Perhaps it was the stray specks of sun shining through the clouds that made the thing with teeth hide in fear. Not even the crowds of unmannered men caught its attention, nor the loud noises from party planning between the wives of some relative that believed themselves the lady of the house.

Her mother was the lady of the house and in her absence Anneliese took her spot. Luckily, at only six years old - she could not be trusted to plan the annual Christmas gala. Because if it was up to her, they would ditch the whole celebration in favour of the Christmas markets in Nuremberg. But supposably that was idiotic, at least that was what her favourite, and only tolerable, cousin had said.

As another old lady she couldn't recognise rushed past her, yelling that the plates were to have a golden rose bundle engraved in the white ceramic. Anneliese scoffed. Clearly the lady knew nothing of the Schmidts; Roses were only ever engraved as a pair. One white, one red.

The aroma hits her then, the scent of the roses of the garden outside. Turning midstep, her forhead crashes right into a chest. Hissing under her breath as her hand went straight to her head - rubbing it quickly.

"For the lords sake-" She hissed as she narrowed her eyes at whoever had ran into her. As she looked up, her mouth dropped open.

In all his glory, he stood tall. Pearly white teeth, his meticulously gelled back brown hair and the same beady black eyes that Anneliese also bore. Dressed in a black suit, his tie the same red as the rose he held, Anneliese's eyes narrowed further.

"You do know it is rude to run into a lady."

He scoffed. "Then you would be fully aware that ladies do not narrow their eyes at men."

Rolling her eyes, a smile snuck across her lips. "Those roses better be for me."

She watched him dramatically bow at her, his hands doing some elaborate gesture as he forced the rose in her direction. "M'lady" was all he said, standing in that position until Anneliese accepted the rose. Of course, she offered the same dramatics: curtsying with her ankles crossed, lifting her skirt slightly, and giggling a thank you.

The rose was a deep read, the only red allowed within her Uncle's red. She once heard a servant say he created the colour, and sometimes she believed them. She had never seen such a red before, it was intoxicating and it was power.

Her uncle may be a monster in disguise, but she knew her uncle had taste. The red was the only life that radiated from any of the rooms. When she was younger... she found it unsettling. Now? She found the beauty in it all.

"No hug for your favourite cousin?"

Curving her lips into a smile he had taught her, she shook her head. "Oh no, Sir. I cannot possibly hug a man that left me."

Matching her own grin, he cocked his eyebrow up. "Sir? Huh?" He repeated, a slight arrogant tone to his voice. "When did my favourite little cousin grow up?"

Giggling even more as she sniffed the rose one more. 

"When you decided to go to school in Austria and left me all alone."

He shook his head, a grin still spread across his lips. "Should I have given up my education to make sure my dear cousin wasn't lonely? Forgo my duties as the heir of this fine house?"

Nodding her head as she twirled in her spot, she giggled again. "Of course! You should have Oskar! Uncle's afternoon teas are so boring without you."

Anneliese was twisting in her spot, unable to control her energy as Oskar lowered himself onto the red carpet, kneeling. His face was eye-level to her's now. All humour gone.

"Ah yes. What a terrible cousin I have been. Well, let me make you a promise dear child." He paused, dramatic as ever. "From this day forward, I will never leave your side. I will be forever and always there."

Rolling her eyes as she giggled and shook her head in agreement. "You better keep your promise."

With deadly serious - a glance Anneliese could not understand at six years old - Oskar Schmidt made his first and only promise. 

As he linked elbows with the young Anneliese the thing with teeth appeared behind them. Neither realised as the two spoke loudly on their journey towards the dinning room for dinner, but the thing with teeth followed Anneliese all the way. As midnight night hour inched closer and when the windmills picked up pace; the thing with teeth grew. 

For only a few short minutes, the thing with teeth grew large. Overcoming the entirety of the hallway the two young heir's were once standing, destroying all in its path. Eternity was made of tougher stuff, but the thing with teeth is both the ancestor and future; the poison and the cure.

But Anneliese was only six years old, so none of this mattered... truly.

Anneliese suffered from attachment issues. She hated losing what she already owned and absolutely abhorred letting go of those she loved. The week her parents were gone ripped her to shreds, she missed them dearly. But it wasn't nearly as bad as the months Oskar spent studying in Austria. It was an issue, no woman was meant to adore her cousin as much as she did.

To her, she was her only family. Her parents were always too busy for her, spending hours in a laboratory or having brunch with some socialites. Anneliese was always alone. For a girl who was brought into this world with so many baring witness - she was a lonely child.

That was until she turned four and was introduced to her cousin, Oskar, the eldest son in her generation. Her family lineage was messy, more so when her Uncle swore off marriage and children. The family legacy was then placed onto the first son and daughter born. Lucky for Anneliese, she held that title with Oskar.

Out of all her cousins, she was thankful it was Oskar who had her back. Being brought up in a family that prized knives over everything else - she knew she was lucky that she was the only daughter born. Or else she would have to be watching her back at every corner. 

She couldn't imagine the fear Oskar must feel every time one of his brothers entered the room, but she knew it would feel something like holding a cracking glass. Never knowing when it would shattered. Perhaps a time bomb.

So they were outcasts together. Nearly every week for two years straight she clung onto Oskar, that was until it was announced at his twelfth birthday that he would begin his formal tuition in some expensive university in Austria. Anneliese had cried that night... she was also punished by her uncle that evening.

A memory she refused to resurface.

So, as morning came and her parents returned. It was to no one's surprise that Anneliese kept both her parents and Oskar in arms reach, nor was it unexpected for her to latch onto their arms. She was attached; she just wanted to keep them near at all times.

Then came presents. For a newly turned seven year old girl, she received more jewellery than a bride would be gifted on her wedding night. Boxes wrapped in the finest red silk with a bright pink ribbon around them was scattered across the room. Stuff bears, fluffy madeleines, assorted yarns and wools. Everything she could ever dream of.

Seated at the dinning table next to her parents, the beginning of a cruel ending begun. Bloodshed was born from naivety and unfortunately Anneliese was an innocent child. For what should have been common knowledge was lost to her tongue; she could not speak the language of the unknown. Perhaps it was the sheltered upbringing her parents had provided for her or maybe it was her veil of ignorance. 

Somewhere deep in her mind, Anneliese she knew chose to ignore all that was vile and bad. For her family was made of thorns and she was one with them. They did not go into the night kindly, as for every thorn had a story of blood and wounds to tell - even her sweet Oskar was exactly the same. The carpet of the dinning room was stained with blood, a fact she knew for sure.

The knives in frames were the final decision of the dead, a rumour she heard from the maids. 

And yet she sat in her chair, believing that all the adoring and smiling faces around her were roses. That they smelt as sweet as they smiled; a con all aristocrats could muster at age seven. Forgoing their brutality for the lie that always provided: the blood on their hands was simply just red paint.

Of course, at age seven, Anneliese did not know that the next few minutes would define the rest of her life. Tortured by the questions of what if's and the constant reminder of what true pain felt.

Pain wasn't a feeling or an emotion. It was a state of being. She could not be in pain but become it. Completely overwhelming.

Her smile grew as her uncle raised his wine glass to wish her the happiest of birthdays and to begin the feast laid out across the dinning table. To the young Anneliese, this was luxury and not danger... and she had never been so wrong before.

Especially when her plate was removed from in front of her and a cage with a pink velvet cloth was placed in front of her. Another present. Barely able to stop squirming in her seat, she beamed up at her two parents before her fingers itched to touch the fabric. God, she loved velvet.  

"Your mother and I are never home enough," her father begun to say, drawing the attention of the entire table. "And Oskar has many more duties than to entertain a seven year old."

Her focus was snapped away from the now wriggling box covered in the finest velvet she had ever touched to her mothers gentle voice. "What your father means to say, is that your uncle suggested we get you a friend until you're old enough to begin to attend galas on your own."

And with that, the velvet was lifted and her eyes a lemon-green one. They were so wide, and at first she was confused what it was. She could only see the beautiful lemon-green, a colour she never expected to adore so much. Instantly, it became her undisputed favourite colour. 

Next, she saw the orange and white, completed engulfed by the dark black fur. She was certain what sat terrified in front of her. The pink moist nose, the shiny and smooth coat, and the tiniest paws she had ever seen. 

Her parents had gifted her a kitten. This time she couldn't control the squeal.

Unlocking the cage, Anneliese grabbed the kitten and held it. The kitten did not fight but slowly nestled into her arms, falling asleep. Maybe that was what caused such a bond between the two, the knowing that they loved unconditionally.

"What would you like to name her?" Asked her uncle at the end of the table. Had she watched him, she would see the grin forming at the edge of his smile.

She knew that this kitten would be what she had always wanted in life. A friend, a love and sometime to cry too. She was lost in the calming energy the cat offered her, allowing her to run her fingers in her fur. Another soft whimper came from Anneliese as the cat nestled into the crook of her arm.

Smiling down at the precious small thing, she made a decision quickly. "Jenna, my pretty, pretty baby."

History was sealed, and the thing with teeth followed. It was darkness sinking, an unknown event to experience: the beginning of a death. But it was also night's incarnation, a promise for better tomorrow's.

So, as history would tell... Anneliese's attachment to things she loved became deadly.

Her parents became more absent, Oskar became more nasty as he spent more time away from her and eventually time caught up to her Jenna. It was the ignorance that this luxury wasn't also danger, that she took each afternoon tea with Johann and his friends for granted. The few hours she sat, idly patting her Jenna on her lap as she listened.

Never did she think to take a photo or to commission a painting. As her Jenna was a picture to herself. In fact, her left back paw was a painting of different purple hues that made the most interesting colour. Even the scratch in the middle of her nose was still a mystery to Anneliese. But all of this was art to her, a religion of a sort.

Within a simple kitten, Anneliese learnt how to love so fiercely and to never let go, perhaps this was the knife of never letting go. That this love hurt just as much as the aftermath; It was he tug before the pull; the tsunami before the storm; the cure before the poison. 

And from such a delicate thing- such a precious being... worthy of so much more life. Anneliese learnt that love was important and just as important as oxygen and carbon dioxide (although many argued this fact). To throw yourself at a cliff and know that they would be underneath, awaiting for them.

But it was the actions of the adults in her life that spoke louder than any love a small kitten could provide. To build a young girl with both the importance of love and family duty, it was no wonder why the Anneliese of the future struggled so much. Where the kitten was unknown to her fate, the adults were not.

Such a cruel and punishing fate was delivered to her on her seventh birthday, wrapped in a deep green velvet. And there would not be a day that passes were the cost of family duty would not hurt as much as a knife. 

Within the looming corners of the room, the thing with teeth appeared. It's teeth sharper than any blade and it's darkness being just as deadly. For a happy occasion, a chill ran through her bones as she caught sight of the thing with teeth. Suddenly, breathing wasn't difficult, it was nearly impossible.

The baby cat slept in her arms as the dinning room erupted in conversation, but Anneliese's eyes did not snap away from the thing with teeth in the corner. Thankful that the white belly of fur was a beacon for her as the thing with teeth slowly made the room sink into darkness. 

The death of such innocence was meant to be a lesson that family comes before all others. And yet Anneliese learnt another lesson, a class no one expected.

With loving comes unimaginable pain, and no one else knew that better than Anneliese Lorenz.