Entry// o1
Title// The Morning After

It was a night to remember. The vast assortment of costumes maked a dizzying kaleidoscope of color on the dance floor. The fountain of champagne swirled and fizzed with strawberries galore. The soft illumination of thousands of candles, torches, and lanterns cast spooky shadows in the most unlikely of places. It wasn't until the last candle burned out and dawn crept over the hills, that Sena Tsubokura was discovered laying in the center of the serpentine garden. Chilled to the bone from the previous night's cold front, the debutante was expedited to a local private hospital and quickly admitted to the psychiatric ward.

A distraught escort painstakingly took the ridicule of the part time staff as he tried to explain the state he found his beloved Sena in. Her luxurious ball gown was tattered and torn, bits of fabric caught on hedges lead the search party straigh to her. He found her curled up on a gazeebo bench, rocking back and forth. Sena's skin felt like ice drenched in the cold morning dew, and her dress was soaked through. From what he could tell, something possessed Sena to go for a moonlight dip in the fountain. Her vibrant eyes looked vacant, as if she were under a spell or in a trance. Though no physical damage was visiable, Sena's cohort, Micah Leopold Van Trapp, Jr., was extremely distraught over Sena. He was one of the many suitors chasing after the daughter of the influential Japanese diplomat, Atsushi Tsubokura, and on his first arranged outing with her, he ends up losing track of her and having to take her to a hospital. The emergency transport staff, however, were convinced that this little socialite had one too many Cosmopolitans or Martinis.

Wrapped tightly in blankets, Sena merely stared out of the window in her private room. Touching the cold glass with her finger tips, she watched the heat leave her body and steam the window. Her father's security detail were keeping a close watch. Her father could be heard in the room next door yelling at the doctor for his decision to admit her for psychiatric evaluation. Her mother, Izumi, sat behind her on the window seat, brushing Sena's long hair.

"If you did not want to go with Mister Van Trapp, you should have just said so, Sena," Izumi lectured in an indifferent tone. "There was absolutely no reason to cause the scene you did. That dress was six thousand dollars, and it took weeks to get made and shipped here."

"It was not my intention to cause a scene. It was an accident," Sena replied monotonally, refusing to give her mothe the satisfaction of the last word. "I just kept hearing this voice... calling me..."

As Sena tried to turn her head to look her mother earnestly in the eye, Izumi yanked the hair brush back, dragging her daughter along with. Taking a handful of Sena's hair, her mother chose to keep her temporarily in place. Sena gritted her teeth and felt her eyes water quickly.

"No more lies. There are no cameras or people to draw all the attention toward," Izumi hissed, wrenching the bush free from a tangle of black hair. "This charade has gone on long enough. You're not crazy, Sena, so stop pretending you are."

"I know what I heard," Sena gritted, as her mother shoved her away when the doctor entered.

Of all the people she had hoped would understand and reassure her, her own mother turned her back on her. Gathering up her blankets, Sena looked at the doctor with hopeful eyes, feeling her mother's presence move across the room to her father's side. The young doctor smiled at his patient, wiping a stray tear from her cheek with his thumb. He stroked her hair gently before leaning over and whispering something softly in her ear. Panic washed over her face, and rage filled her heart. She couldn't take it out on the one person in the hospital who took her seriously. Throwing her arms around his neck, Sena broke down and started crying hysterically.

Her father signed her away, releasing her into the doctor's care.