Kill Switch

Chapter 1

Winter

My ballet slipper brushes the hardwood floor as I slowly step down the long hallway. The glow of the candles on their pedestals lines the dark walls, and I fidget with my fingers as I glance from left to right at every closed door I pass.

I don't like this house. I've never liked it here.

But at least the parties are only twice a year-after summer recitals in June and following the premiere of the annual Nutcracker performance in December. Madame Delova loves ballet, and as my school's benefactress she considers it a "gift to the masses to descend from her tower once in a while to entertain the villagers and allow us into her home."

Or so I overheard my mom say once.

The house is so big that I don't think I'll ever see all of it, and it's filled with things that everyone is always gushing over and whispering about, but it makes me nervous. I feel like I'll break something every time I turn around.

And it's too dark. Even worse today with the house lit only by candlelight. I suppose it's Madame's way of making everything look like a dream, the way she kind of looks herself: surreal, too perfect, and porcelain. Not exactly real.

I press my lips together, pausing before I call out, "Mom?"

Where is she?

I step softly, not sure where I am or how I'll get back to the party, but I know I saw my mom come upstairs. I think there's a third floor, too, but I'm not sure where the next stairwell is to get to it. Why would she come up here? Everyone is downstairs.

I clench my jaw harder with every step away from the party I take. The lights, voices, and music fade, and the silent darkness of the hallway slowly swallows me up.

I should go back. She'll get mad that I followed her anyway.

"Mom?" I call again, scratching at the tights on my legs as the costume I've been wearing since this morning chafes my skin. "Mom?"

"What the fuck is the matter with you?" someone yells.

I jump.

"Everyone is uncomfortable around you,"

Penelope Douglas