Eloise, Lady of the manor

That was it. The cherry on top, the crème de la crème, the piece de resistance was finally up on the wall. Joy looked around her little treehouse, hammer in hand and a few small nails tight between her lips. She had pearls of sweat on her forehead from the summer heat, which she quickly wiped off her face with her free hand. The pride that filled her was new, it was the first time she felt she had accomplished anything. The posters, newspaper clippings and frames she had diligently been collecting over the winter months, so she was ready to get to work once spring showed its face. She spat the nails out in her hand and put them back in the little glass jar her dad had given her. It was full of screws, nails and other ‘good to have’ things any kid could ever need in a treehouse. She wiped the saliva off on her jeans and sat cross legged down on the floor to admire her work. The poster was perfect. There was a beach, a palm tree and a couple walking hand in hand. It was pure class Joy thought. There were other treasures around the treehouse that she had been collecting, small things, big things, broken things and even valuable things. The long pearl necklace she had borrowed from her mum’s jewellery box hung around the ‘neck’ of a thick tree branch she had found in the woods. A little hat perched on top and small leather gloves were placed carefully on two smaller branches that stuck out from the main ‘body’. She had named her Eloise, and she was the lady of the manor. Lady Eloise af Treehouse to be exact, but she wasn’t too snobby about it when only Joy was around. 

“What do you think My Lady, doesn’t it look spectacular” Joy said, trying to speak in a way she thought was posh and lady-like. 

“Oh yes my dear, a classy piece of art you have found” Joy continued in the voice of Eloise. 

“Oh, thank you My Lady I do try, I do try” she trailed off in her own voice as she got off the floor to curtsey just to stumble and fall back down on the floor again. Joy giggled at her own silly ways and got back up to put the hammer away in its designated safe place. Her dad had told her many times not to leave tools around as you never know who could come knocking, and a hammer across the head would be very dangerous indeed. The voice of her father echoed in her head as she thought about him and she smiled at the memory, he had always worried about anything and everything. Silly monkey…

“Don’t sit in the middle seat of a car Joy, you may fly out the window!”

“Don’t ever look under the bed Joy, something may be there and if you’re not prepared it could get you”

“Never make an ugly face Joy, if the wind turns at the same time as a black cat crosses the road then you may end up looking like that forever”! 

He was always so full of advice, her dad, he was very intelligent he was. Joy put the hammer in the box amongst its friends Mr Screw, Miss Saw and Jar Jar Bings, the screw jar. She closed it back up and turned towards Lady Eloise only to notice she had been knocked over by the breeze. 

“oh deary me, Lady Eloise, however did you fall. I sure hope you have not harmed yourself.” Joy exclaimed in her made-up posh voice as she rushed over to pick up the lady and put her back against the wall. She propped her back up and looked her over to ensure she had not been injured, thankfully Lady Eloise was perfectly intact. Joy pulled out a red lipstick she had also found in her mother’s room, she knew she no longer used it so there was no risk in taking it. Joy carefully outlined a mouth on the head part of the branch, making Lady Eloise as pretty as an English rose.  

“There we are My Lady, as beautiful as a high-end hooker as my dear father would’ve said”. Joy had no idea what it meant, but it was something her dad used to say to her mum, so she assumed it was nice. 

“Oh my dear Joy” Lady Eloise said “however would I manage without you up here in my manor, I just could not”. 

“I will always be here for you My Lady” Joy replied back as she tenderly picked Lady Eloise up and held her in her arms. She spun Lady Eloise around in her embrace, feeling as happy as she ever had. She walked over to the far end of the treehouse, ready to begin the tour of her new things. 

“See here My Lady, this is something that I found and thought you would like” Joy pointed at one of the frames on the wall. It was a small silver frame with a picture of a young boy in it, it had engraved writing at the bottom informing the reader that whomever had owned the frame had lived, laughed and loved. Joy didn’t know the boy, or rather the boy didn’t know Joy. She had seen him around many times over the years, so it felt as if they were friends. She had watched him grow up from a distance, always wondering what it would be like if they were friends for real, but she had never dared to say hello. She often watched him and his family going about their day. Playing in the garden, having a BBQ with friends and even shouting loudly after a few too many drinks. Joy didn’t mind the shouting, her dad had always said that shouting at someone meant you loved them, you showed that you cared. The boy’s dad must really care for them, thought Joy. After spending many hours and days watching, assessing and dreaming about what it would be like to be one of them Joy decided one day to try it out for herself. The family was out, she knew they wouldn’t be back for a long time, so she made her way into their house. She just wanted to know what their lives were like. She had long been curious about the family and the house, they all seemed so fancy. She bet they had servants making them tea, and a chef cooking them meals, although she had never seen anyone like that come in or out. Joy carefully made her way through the window she knew they left slightly open, silly of them really, you’d never know who would take advantage. Lucky for them that Joy kept an eye on them and would stop anyone trying to get in. She slowly made her way to the kitchen; she was specifically interested in what they had going on in their fridge. She was hungry, and excited about what she might find. The fridge was full to the brim of things Joy had never seen before, greens, treats and drinks she could only ever dream of. Colourful little cups of chocolate pudding and jellies, she grabbed them all and slurped up every bit she could get to with her fingers and tongue, she had no care as to what she looked like once she was done. She collected the cups and wrappings she had spread across the floor and gently placed them in the bin, folding them between other bits of trash so they wouldn’t be noticeable. The sugar rush hit her hard, she was feeling very giddy – and a little bit braver than before. She walked through the house, conscious not to be seen through the windows. In places she crawled, pretending she was a soldier in one of those films her dad loved so much. She pow pow powed with her fake gun in pretence as she belly-crawled across the front room floor to the hallway, and the stairs to the second floor. She ran up the stairs, enjoying the clunk clunk clunk noise of the wooden slats as she put her whole weight behind each heavy step. In the master bedroom, where the mum and dad of the house must sleep, she found the little frame. She hadn’t planned on taking anything but seeing it there all shiny and pretty she couldn’t help herself. The boy had blonde hair and blue eyes, quite the opposite of Joy. The eyes now looked back at her through the glass, eyes that she wished would blink or light up in recognition when she was nearby, but they never did. 

“What do you think Lady Eloise” Joy asked 

“He is a very handsome boy indeed my dear Joy, indeed” Lady Eloise replied with enthusiasm. “Is he a friend of yours?” she asked. 

“Oh My Lady, I wish it was so…I wish it was so. But he does not see me, does not speak to me and does not know I exist” Joy replied back. She quickly moved on to the next stop of the great treehouse tour to show Lady Eloise her next remarkable acquisition, one that she had found only the other day.

“This, My Lady, is what they call a dart board. They’re very rare and very dangerous my father always told me”! Joy carefully put Lady Eloise down on the floor to demonstrate how the dartboard worked. She grabbed the darts off the only chair in the treehouse and moved back as far as she could in the small space. 

“Look at me My Lady, I will show you” Joy said as she threw the darts at the board. None of them hit in the right place, and some of them fell onto the floor or attached themselves to the walls instead. 

“That wasn’t very good” Lady Eloise said, and Joy huffed and picked the Lady back up off the floor and continued on her tour. She wasn’t taking any of this critique, it wasn’t like the Lady would be able to do any better. 

Next was the beautiful leaning tower of Pizza. She had collected boxes out of bins for a long time, cleaning them out with baby wipes to ensure they weren’t too dirty for her artwork. 

“I don’t like it” Lady Eloise said “It smells like rubbish and looks like rubbish. I guess I can’t expect much more from a girl that is rubbish” she finished off.  

Joy was taken aback by the sudden hostility of Lady Eloise and she deliberately dropped her on the floor. She wasn’t going to be spoken to this way, not even by a Lady. 

“How dare you Lady Eloise, how bloody dare you”! Joy shouted at the stick on the ground as she hovered over the lifeless shape. “How bloody dare you speak to me in this way in my own house, I brought you in here and made you Lady of the Manor and this is how you repay me?” Joy was not happy. Her voice got louder and louder as she berated Lady Eloise on the floor. She felt the anger take over, as it had so many times before. She kicked Lady Eloise, she kicked her all across the room until she hit the wall on the opposite side. The hat went off, the pearl necklace tangled, and the lipstick smeared. Joy walked up to the Lady and picked her up, she broke her arms off as she sobbed. One arm at a time she broke into as many pieces as she could as the tears streamed down her face. She picked up the hat that had fallen off and put it on her own head. She grabbed the pearl necklace and wrapped it around her neck as she walked up to the small mirror she had put up on the wall just earlier today. She looked for the red lipstick in her pocket and carefully opened it up. She pouted at the image that faced her, it didn’t look anything like her. The woman that looked back had dark circles around her eyes, short hair and crow’s feet creasing the delicate skin around her eyes. Joy put the lipstick on her cracked lips, pushing too hard until it broke in half. The clown looking back wasn’t her. This wasn’t what she was supposed to be. To look like. This wasn’t her life. She continued crying as she looked at the image of herself. The image everyone else saw. A lonely, middle-aged woman with a 100-yard stare. Joy turned around towards Lady Eloise to see if she was still there, but she was motionless on the ground, just as sticks should be. Her arms in pieces which made the resemblance to a lady equal to none. The sobs that came from Joy grew louder and deeper as she had realised what she’d done. She threw herself on the floor and slammed her fists against the wooden planks. Her hands started to bleed as she did so, but it didn’t stop her. She rocked back and forth in grief, pulling at her eyelashes to remove them as they were stealing her tears, thieving was wrong – even if it was just tears, her father had told her that many times. 

She felt rather than saw when she was lifted off the floor, she didn’t fight it, she knew there was no point. She kept her eyes shut; she knew where she was now. She always ended up here. No matter how nice of a day she had in her treehouse with Lady Eloise, or playing with that boy and his parents, no matter what she did she always ended up back here, strapped to a metal bedframe and force-fed the medication she had puked up. She didn’t want to open her eyes. She didn’t want to see. She wanted to stay where she was. She wanted to remain in the treehouse all summer just her and Lady Eloise, but she knew she had to stay. One day she’d go back.