Light to Dark and Life to Death

The life and soul of the party was what she was perceived to be – but only by those who hadn’t known her for a long time. The people who had met her quite recently had no idea what she was really like, only those in whose life she had been for many years, had felt her wrath, seen her anger and known the dark side of who she really was.

The party room dazzling, like the brilliance of fresh snow on a cold but very sunny morning, the glare was blinding at first until the eyes got used to it and tiny black pupils gradually dilated back to normal.

“Gosh she’s not going to want to pay the power bill after this one, is she?” someone asked rhetorically, knowing that money was no object. Her family had always had money. It went through her fingers like clear water.

The room had been painted for the extravaganza, a brilliant white – translucent and stark, sparkling as the flashing lights hit the walls and bounced from one side to the other.

“It’s like being in a sparkly milk bath” someone said. “I hope you’re not an epileptic”.

The guests were entering the room now in great numbers, ‘oohing’ and ’aaahing’ as their eyes were invited to look upwards to capture the spectacular sight of a huge chandelier hanging from the centre of the ceiling, silent and still – but ready to greet the visitors with its aureate light beaming down on them.

‘Amazing’ and ‘breathtaking’ were some of the adjectives coming out of the mouths of the people who were facing the ceiling. ‘Bloody typical’ said one man sounding very annoyed. “Well I mean” he continued in the same tone “She’s not all light and goodness is she?”

“Derek, just shut up please” ordered his sister. “If you can’t say anything nice at someone’s 80^th birthday party, then for goodness sake just zip it!” and with that she stormed off out of the room with her female friend in tow.

“Honestly Lynn, he does go on” she quietly voiced to her friend.

“Yes but they do have history don’t they?”

She just gave her friend an icy cold stare, awful enough to scare a young child, and walked quickly away.

The large room was filling up. An atmosphere akin to a great social occasion was developing.

The chatter and laughter was building as more people arrived. “Goodness me, look at the size of the light. I wouldn’t want that thing to fall” remarked an elderly woman, eagerly marching through the hall to find where the alcohol was being served.

Huge vases of artfully arranged flowers were displayed around the room. Large ‘attention seeking’ blooms stood up straight as people admired them. A rainbow of colours exploded against the white walls and a heavenly scent, probably from the deep crimson roses wafted gently in the air, and had noses sniffing to detect the source of the fragrance.

At the entrance of the room, on the side of the large wooden door that hadn’t been opened a colourfully written and illustrated piece of card read: HAPPY 80^TH BIRTHDAY CLAUDIA. AN AMAZING LIFE LIVED BY AN INCREDIBLE LADY. WE ALL LOVE YOU. Pink hearts adorned the paper – her favourite colour.

A graceful lady dressed mainly in black stood and perused the door and the birthday message. Her elegance showed in not only the way she was dressed but by her stance – upright and proud. Her hair was knotted in a French braid and little colourful jewels had been pushed into the hair – sparkling each time she moved her head. When she had finished reading the card on the door she shook her bejewelled head and muttered “We all love you? I think not Claudia” and with that she walked into the hall, knowing that she was walking in uninvited.

It was fast filling up. Canapes were being served – little tarts were presented on an oval platter and passed around, along with little meaty balls of some sort with a dipping sauce.

Glasses could be heard chinking with ‘cheers’ and ‘bottoms up’ being said and the alcohol flowed freely – no expense was being spared.

Over in one corner the band had struck up – a stylish jazz band comprising of two saxophone players, two trumpet players, a trombone player, a guitar and a baby grand piano – shiny as a pair of patent leather shoes. They were playing songs that you would listen to in a smoke filled New York jazz lounge, and some eager beavers were already up and dancing.

The doors had been opened onto the decking – mainly for the smokers – the swirls drifting upwards to the sky on the windless, still evening. Colourful outdoor light hanging in the trees reflected on the lake and shards of red, orange and yellow danced on the surface. The garden reaching down to the water’s edge, so colourful by day, was now just dark nondescript shapes.

Suddenly a black crow swooped low onto the decking and perched on the top of the railing. “Shoo, go away you horrible bird” someone yelled, waving their arms around. “I can’t stand those awful birds, creepy sinister yellow eyes, no wonder they’re called the birds of death”.

Suddenly a loud bell rang and as the people on the balcony looked up to see where it had come from, someone called out “Time to come in to the hall. Claudia is here now”.

Chairs were pushed back and the bottom of the glasses skulled. Everyone made for the doors and the big room where the ‘party girl’ had made her entrance.

“Hmm, let’s see what she looks like tonight then” someone said loudly and a couple of people in front turned around and smirked at the remark.

The jazz band was silent and eventually after a few ‘ssshhh’s’ the whole room was quiet.

A side door opened and in walked Claudia. Her grand entrance was rewarded with cheers and claps. The lighting hadn’t been subdued yet and as Claudia stepped inside the room a spotlight captured her and followed her.

Not looking her eighty years or anywhere close to it, she walked over to the top of the hall where the microphone was and took it from its cradle. Her long black sequined dress shimmered as she stood erect and confident. Long diamante earrings dangling from her lobes complimenting the huge diamond ring she wore on her finger.

A lady whispered to her friend next to her “What a performer but what else would we expect?”

Claudia gave a well-rehearsed ‘welcome’ speech, thanking all of her family and friends for attending her eightieth birthday party and telling them to ‘eat, drink and be merry, for we know not what tomorrow brings’ and then adding “And I will make a more formal speech at the end of the evening” to which a few moans and groans could be heard coming from people who had heard them before!

The band struck up once again playing jaunty songs that people got up and danced to. The shiny wooden floor began to fill up with arms and legs going every which way. A very large bay window was opened and a breeze made its way inside – the white paper lanterns dangling from the ceiling swayed along with the music. Outside the soft drifting lights on the lake were beginning to spin around in the wind.

Claudia smiled and charmed her way around the room. She loved a party and especially being the centre of attention. Her seemingly doting husband was just the opposite and kept out of the limelight – but gave his wife the attention she need at the right time.

There were some in the room who loved Claudia and there were those who didn’t like her – in fact some hated her. She had wronged a lot of people during her lifetime and some of them were here tonight. Of course the usual ‘hanger-oners’ who took what they could from someone and pretended, were here too.

The room was light, bright and full of merriment but beneath some of those smiling faces and the laughter were hard hearts and grudges held against the woman shimmering and dazzling as she twirled around the dance floor.

“Look at him chatting away to his friends over there. What a weak man to fall for a woman like her, to come under her spell just like all the others. SHE was the one who caused Michael’s ill health and his depression. She’s responsible for him taking his life. She turned his children against him”. The red headed woman spat out the words to her friend who tried to comfort her.

“We shouldn’t have come. I knew it would upset you. Why on earth did I let you talk me into it?”

“I wanted to see for myself what she was like now. She thought after all these years I had forgiven her, would come to her eightieth birthday party and have fun, never. She ruined my brother’s life and killed him. I will never forgive her”. And with that she finished off her drink.

“But it was so long ago Janet” her friend pointed out to no avail.

“There will be many others here who feel the same way about her. She thought about of no one but herself all of her life. Can you see any of her children here? You can’t, and you know why? She was an awful mother to those poor children. Oh I know they all went to good schools, lived in a huge house and had every toy that opened and shut, but no love. They all left home as soon as possible and never came back. Michael loved those children and they loved him, until she got to tell her hateful lies about him to them, and they were too young to understand. That’s what finished him off. And when the children got older and found out the truth, what do you think that did to them? I loved those children too but when Michael went I had to move away too. I couldn’t stand to be around her”.

Derek wandered from one group of people to the next, filling up his glass as he went. He kept his eye on Claudia though, wishing he had the courage to go and tell her just what he thought, but knowing he never would. His anger towards her always bubbled to the surface but never seeped over the edge even when he saw her, which wasn’t often and always just by chance, except tonight. When he received the invitation he sat wide eyes looking at it for a while. His initial reaction when he read the fancy gold embossed card with a big 80 on the front was ‘No way would I ever celebrate anything with that woman” but as time went on and it got closer to the RSVP date, he decided that he would like to see what she was up to – surely she didn’t think I had forgotten what happened all those years ago? I will never forget it! How can you not remember what your business partner at the time did? She knew when she bought my share of the company for a pittance, when I needed the money for health reasons, that there was a massive deal ready to be brokered that I knew nothing about. She gave me next to nothing and she made up lies to assassinate my character and it all worked for her. “Actually” he said aloud to himself “I’m happy within myself and with the way my life turned out -  for the better, but I look at her and wonder how she has lived with herself all these years, AND to have the time of her life while living to at least eighty!”

Supper had been served and groups of people were heading for the large table draped in a white linen table cloth, where platters and bowls of both hot and cold food had been placed. A long line had formed as if it was a conga dance, but instead of holding the person in front, hands were holding plates piled high with the food.

At the front of the line was the ‘guest of honour’ Claudia. She had obviously had a few glasses of champagne as her once bright red lips was now dull with most of her lipstick on her glass and as she held court, her words were slightly slurred and slow. Her hair was falling down from the robust dancing she had been doing, giving her a slightly dishevelled look.

More food kept coming out and guests continued eating. Music continued to play while supper was served and a loud buzz of talking could be heard in the air.

Suddenly there was a group of people at one end of a table pushing chairs back, standing up and leaning over one of the guests. A tall man had grabbed a lady from off her chair and wrapped his arms around her chest from the back.

“Is someone doing the Heimlich manoeuvre on that table? Who’s choking? Oh my goodness – it doesn’t look like it’s working”, screamed an almost hysterical voice.

“Thump her on the back, up on the shoulder blades” someone called out. “Is there a doctor here?”

A young man ran over to the table from the other end of the room. He hadn’t known there was even a problem until he heard that a doctor was needed.

He could see that the tall man giving the treatment knew what he was doing, but when he called out “It’s not working” the doctor took charge. “Let’s get her lying over the table and I’ll see if I can feel anything in her mouth. And can someone find out where the ambulance is please”.

“The ambulance is seven to eight minutes away” sounded an anxious voice, knowing this was too long.

“Keep trying the thrusts between her shoulder blades”.

By now most of the people from the other tables had come over. The music had long stopped and a few people had gone outside the front to wait for the ambulance.

Derek was one of the people who had come to see who the poor person was and was shocked to see that the woman was Claudia. But his reaction to the situation was different to what he thought it would immediately be, he realised that he wanted her to breathe, to sit up, to cough, anything. But she lay lifeless.

The Doctor was feeling for her pulse, putting his face close to her mouth and trying desperately to find a sign of life.

“It’s too late” someone called out. There was stunned silence. The shocked crowd didn’t seem to know what to do.

Claudia lay motionless. The brightness and white light began to fade, it gradually disappeared to a dot the size of a pinprick and Claudia whispered ‘goodbye’ as the black night took her. There was no light left, just complete darkness.

Back inside the party room, the uninvited guest, sophisticated still in her black dress, the jewels in her hair sparkling as she knelt down next to Claudia, whispered “Goodbye Mother”, stood and walked outside.