Romances in fairy tales are equal parts suffering and passion, it seems. Fairy tales have always told Sal that a better ending waits at the end. Sal lay on the floor with her left hand atop the page of “Romeo und Julie”. Her hand lay outstretched towards the ceiling, where a sky would be if she was not bound in the house, a sky she could’ve seen any time, any day if not for now.

It has been a week since the letter was discovered. It has been almost two weeks since she was in Ren’s presence. She has almost forgotten the color of the setting sky. The gentle touch and the whispering, serene voice of that man lingers in his absence.

The remaining days were quiet and dull punctuated with the occasional visit of the Signor and all the more the strange weight grew in her chest. It was a weight that fumed like ember quietly at the Signor’s presence but quickly melted into a heavy, muddy, solid rock at her.

She stretched a hand to peek at the page of the book where she had left off. Of course, it was that page. The woman feigns death to avoid an ill-marriage only for her lover to fall distraught at her prone body. A farce that will lead to nothing but tragedy.

The Signor knocked at the door causing her to try to sit up and grab her veil. All trying to appear the perfect lady still. The Signor came inside with only his cane making a sound. Sal dared not to look at anything but his shoes.

Metal clinked softly by the table as the smell of soup penetrated the air. The Signor have never brought her lunch before. It was the maid’s job. A vague explanation crossed her mind, an unwelcome reason. For the next few days, the same thing happened. Sal never saw the maid.

“You’re wasting food, child.” the Signor said today. He must have been staring at the bowls of barely touched food on the table.

“I will. I’m sorry.”

The air was tense. Sal did not move from her position nor she raised her head. The words came off like parroted niceties.

“The maid must have spoiled you.” he remarked.

Sal shook her head ever so slightly.

“I will not go easy on you like she did. If you don’t want to eat then you starve.” The Signor repeated.

Sal gingerly ate the stale food, all the while being watched by the Signor. Even though he never went close, his shoes never left her line of sight. It was unlike the maid, who’d though annoyed and at times, bold, would leave her alone. Sal held herself back from asking about the maid, for if the Signor could remove Oleon and Ren from her, why would he let the maid stay?

Sal wasted away her days in the small room, making do with the gray light pouring in through the capiz windows. A thin layer of dust had begun to settle onto the walls and on the untouched bookshelves and tables. She slept on the floor, her mattress dangling from the bed. Strange, she did not notice the dirt in the place until the maid was gone.

For years, Sal had thought this place as her sanctuary. It was a place she could stay to hide when all the visitors came in. A place to hide from the possible scorn and insults people may throw at her when they see her presence. Now, only the Signor came to this room.

Sal brushed a finger against the thick layer of dust settling on the windowsill, especially thicker at near the edges of the window. It would be a decade still it would seem before the windows get opened again. The silence used to be calming, but now, a deep sense of calm tells her that the Signor is present. He has never left the Casa ever since.

It is quiet. No visitors to hide from. Sal edged a finger from the top of the inch worth of space between the windows. It went down and down, as she slowly pushed the window panels away wide open. Like a curtain in a theater.

The sky looked how it used to outside, serene and blissful, clouds glowing like cotton balls soaked in golden liquid with their underbellies gray. It has been more than a week since she’s heard from Ren, the last time she set foot in peace.

Sal climbed on the windowsill. Her legs strained because of the previous inactivity. Nonetheless, she put one leg over the sill before laying herself flat on it and finally bringing her whole body over it. It was a beautiful sky and a beautiful garden. After all, there was no one else to hide from in the outside.Sal gripped the sill tight. Sal remembered something Ren once told her, ”The worst beasts are not in the forest. They live in the castle.” And Sal wanted none of it.

A resounding bang vibrated across the place. Sal froze on the edge of the windowsill.

“Child, get down now!” the Signor commanded.

Sal wrought it in her mind not to face him as she did as he said. The memory of his face that time was still fresh in her mind,a blank, monotone husk with an angry scowl.

The Signor angled to raise his cane. Sal covered herself with her arms, by instinct. It did not land. Whether the cane did not reach her or the Signor simply granted her mercy, she did not know.

“Seeing how bold you are to be so much as asking for danger tell me that you really shouldn’t be kept loose.” The man closed the windows shut. “You must have forgotten the dangers you face when you disobey me.No one should see you.”

Sal kept her head low and her eyes averted still from him. “I was wrong. I’m sorry.” The words felt empty, like it was a doll speaking those words. It only came to mind now, how even when the Signor was close, he never looked at her.

“By law, a child is a property of her parents. I will not tolerate you upsetting me anymore.”

A small flame of that heaviness surged in Sal’s chest. She kept her eyes on the wooden floor, yet with a sudden urge as if to attempt to upset that weight, she glanced up. The SIgnor’s head was almost turned at her direction. It was as if he was averting his eyes too.

Sal lifted both of her hands as she spoke as if possessed by a self she never knew, “It was fine. Nobody saw me. No one sees me.”

The Signor went quiet after that. No further words were spoken as he left the room.

A rush came in to Sal’s nerves. She darted to open the book where she left off, scanning, and slapping the pages away until she reached the end.

Romeo and Julie. They were both alive at the end.