Smoke And Mirrors ***completed***

Prologue.

Nothing stands out conspicuously or remains so firmly in the memory as something you have blundered.

The leaves of memory seemed to make a mournful rustling in the dark.

It was that momentary pause before the Miss Universe Winner is announced.
The tense mood.
The fever pitch. The Abated breaths and the pounding hearts.
The anticipation palpable, permeating the air.
The anxiety to say nothing of the mounting excitement bordering hysteria.
Silence swept through the Hall. Intense, engulfing and overwhelming.
Isabella Blair was caught in the middle of it all or more to the point she was the center of it all.
Blood roaring in her ears left her lightheaded.
Her knees wobbly when her name was called out. It echoed, resonating in her in the silence at its wake before the room erupted as if in climax in applause.
The magnitude of it all froze her on spot teetering in her sparkly crystal heels. The world spinning, her face unbelieving, sweat beading her forehead, her glossy full lips forming a perfect O, her beautiful brown eyes wide and shimmering with tears.
It seemed like chasm away, eons away when she had dreamed of such a moment. A pipe dream from the wild imagination of a impressionable young girl who believed in fairies and happy ever after. Who lived in her mind because reality was too cruel and everything to her young mind was challenge.
From the context of fantasy to reality.
And to think it had all been set in motion by a horoscope.
Maybe her stars were aligned. Lady luck smiling down on her. Who knew or cared?
It took a moment for it to register in her mind like a gathering swell of an ocean wave before it hit her and
When the sparkly glittery crown was placed on her head she felt invincible. On top of the world.
Wearing it with the ease of a borsalino hat but with grace, sophistication and pride of a true royalty.
In the chaos and fray of joy and exhilaration she thought with a note of humor she was finally the princess she had always wanted to be and a happy one at that.
Everything was right with the world which she felt she held on her hands.
The big fancy title and crown with all its power for little silly me she mused giddily tempted to do a little victory dance but she was too dignified for that. After all she was Miss Universe.

*****

You would think with everything that had happened to her over the years her passionate side of her nature would have been dead.
But no. That would mean letting all those things define who she was. Letting all that rotten luck shape her and she was resilient and hard nut to crack if nothing else. She wasn't the type to allow things to happen to her lying down. So despite everything not because of everything she was always open to love. It was more fun that way and anyway you never knew what you were missing out on if you lived on guard all the time. Of course everybody would hurt you but she never regretted anything or anyone who made her happy even if it was for a moment.
Call her impulsive, imperious or dare devil in the extreme but she was just living life the only way she knew how.
So, it was inevitable what happened on that night. Spur of the moment decision in the heat of moment.
In retrospect, she would like to think It was serendipity and after all it was given she would act on the attraction. That chemistry like a pulsing force in her drawing her to him. She was a risk taker as a rule even reckless in some cases. Maybe she lacked self control but that aside she had enough self-knowledge to know herself beyond that. She couldn't judge herself in terms of her desires that was just the tip of the iceberg. And anyway self-knowledge was better than self-control any day. Life was complicated as it was why add to the headache by analyzing all her actions. It defeated the purpose.
He wasn't her normal average conquest. He was sleek, citified, elegant and cultured. Definitely from high society with his polished looks, expensive suit and Italian leather shoes.
But the beauty of life was enjoying the variety life had to offer. wasn't it just last night she had tried out white meat?
the point being enjoying something new every once in a while.
After all variety is the spice of life.

The buzz of alcohol in her blood, fired up by a dose of lust and a promise of love to come she let herself go on a ride. Least did she know she would be giving more than just her body. He had an agenda and unfortunately his didn't wash with hers.
She could have walked away unscathed but she hadn't. She could have prevented the wheels she had set in motion but she hadn't. And that was that.
Things were long way from over and like she had come to learn some things had an uncanny behavior of nipping you in the butt when you least expected it and this was one of those moments.
Oblivious to all this she enjoyed herself. Lived in the moment and let her future self handle the consequences after all she regretted nothing.
And anyway Lighting didn't strike the same place twice or did it?
Maybe it was the sod's law: what can go wrong will go wrong.

******

The door shut in her face, quietly but it would have been slammed with a startling force because the reaction was the same; that vibrating grating sound rattling her bones.
She Flinched.
It was a familiar sound, ricocheting in her mind reminding her of all the times doors had been shut in her face. The sound striking a discordant note in her.
Frozen into inaction as if surrounded by impenetrable ice, she longed to cry but hadn't she learnt along the line crying never absolved anyone? Never washed away the pain.
Feeling dizzy she felt as if she was loosing altitude. Fast. And come to think about it that wasn't far from the truth.
She reeled with the magnitude of it all as her whole world crumbled like a house of cards. Everything spinning, spiralling out of control and the shock and panicked fear she couldn't do anything to stop it.
How she would have loved to chalk it up to stupidity and good will. After all she had had the best intention at heart. Didn't that count for anything? It had to, didn't it?
The ice that had cloaked her started to crack as she tried to hold onto her veneer of calm and indifference but the veneer proved fragile in the face of the avalanche of grief and pain that washed over her.
Respond to the situation instead of reacting she told herself as she tried to hold onto her will but for all the good it did her.
Red rheumy eyes glazed and unfocused welled up in hot tears as she tumbled to the cold tiled floor.
Every cookie eventually crumbles and for the first time she broke down.
And there was nothing she could do to ameliorate the situation she thought through the paroxysm of pain, floods of tears, the spectrum of emotions and the echoing void in her heart.