Chapter Text
Day 1
And it's another fabulous day in Wellington Wells. The sun is up and the weather is overcast and only slightly rainy, with occasional patches of sunshine. Wakey-wakey, everyone!
Katherine's deep and dreamless sleep came to an abrupt stop at the sound of Uncle Jack's voice. With his Good Morning serenade shattering the serenity of sleep, Katherine forced her eyes open and immediately felt the usual insufferable headache. Out of habit, she reached out for the bottle that sat on the table beside her bed.
“Pass me one of those, would you?” croaked the voice from beside her. No doubt, Katherine's husband was also feeling the normal headache from lack of Joy. Without hesitation, she handed him the bottle and the man—fully clothed—sat up, adjusted his glasses, and opened the bottle. “Odd,” he murmured.
Odd was not a word normally heard this early in the morning.
Katherine quickly sat up and looked down at the singular off-white pill sitting in her husband's palm. “Take it,” the words came out of her mouth before selfishness could settle in. What would possibly possess her to say such a thing? With zero concern for his wife, the man ecstatically popped the pill into his mouth and swallowed it with an audible gulp. The mask-enforced-smile on his face broadened a little more and his pupils became tiny dots. He hopped out of bed with energy that instantly annoyed her and with too cheerful of a tone, he told her, “Better get down to a Joy Booth as soon as you're able to. Don't want anyone thinking you're a Downer!”
Katherine smiled back at him just as animatedly. “Don't worry, dear! I'm sure there's Joy in the house somewhere and I'll be sure to top us off first thing! The usual vanilla?”
“The usual!” he beamed as he strutted out of the room.
Katherine continued sitting on the bed. Her neck felt tight and the buzzing in her head made it hard to think but even so, she knew that there wasn't a single pill of Joy in the house. Why, she had been a good hostess last night and offered some of their own supply to their guests as an after dinner delight! The memories from last night's loud and liquor-heavy-dinner party made her stomach rumble and her head throb. She applied pressure to her temples and took several calming breaths. She would have to collect the empty bottles around the house and fill them to the brim! That way, this sort of situation would never happen again!
“Right then...off we go,” she said in a poor attempt at motivating herself to get up. After another session of focused breathing to ease her dizziness, Katherine finally placed her feet onto the floor. The obnoxious sound of high heels against wood made her look down in confusion. Why were her shoes so loud? ...Why were her shoes on in the first place? Odd.
“Have a cup of tea, dear,” her husband's voice startled her. “You look dreadful!” He began rummaging through their closet and pulled out an outfit that was nearly identical to the one he was wearing. That, too, suddenly seemed odd. Back when they first met, didn't he loathe vests? Didn't he—that's right! There's Joy in the water!
Katherine smiled adoringly as she watched her husband change into his clothes and said, “I'll get right on it!” The shrillness of her voice made her head hurt even more. Did she always sound so irritating?!
“Off to work! Catch ya later!” And without so much as another glance, her husband walked out of the room yet again.
Initially, she was unaware that she was sitting perfectly still, waiting for the sound of the front door to open and close. It was only as the door slammed shut that Katherine realized how important it was for him to leave before she did anything...but why was it so important? The answer, though faint, lingered in the back of her mind. Choosing to ignore such a preposterous thought, Katherine crawled across the bed and for the first time in who knows how long, she shut off the radio. The headache thanked her quite ungratefully by sending a way of nausea to her stomach. With a whimper, she decided to freshen up before her day truly began.
Katherine unbuckled her polished shoes and slipped them off, giving her toes a wiggle. She continued disrobing by peeling off her knee-high stockings, sighing in relief as she flung them to the side of the room. It was as if she could actually breathe now, not that stocking-indented calves had anything to do with breathing. With her first genuine smile of the day, Katherine stood up and made her way to the bathroom, which was where she unknowingly got the first good look of herself in nearly a decade.
The mask she wore—though clean and of the most pristine whites—had grime caked around the edges of the eye holes and the faintest bit at the corners of the mouth. “Goodness,” she hissed, ripping the thing off. She flipped it over in her hands to get a better look at the grime but it wasn't there. For a small and silent moment, Katherine stared at the mask only to realize that the grime must have been on her skin! She looked up at her reflection and gasped, not because of the filth that discolored her skin, but because she.... She didn't recognize the woman staring back at her!
The finest of lines adorned the corners of her eyes and a slightly more noticeable one streaked across her forehead. Her skin looked thin and had an odd sort of discoloration to it. With a closer inspection of her face, Katherine focused on the grim around her eyes. It appeared to be composed of layers upon layers of makeup that sort of melded into one. The lack of Joy was making her sweat, which made her hair clump together in an odd way and the layers of make up slightly melt, like a wax figurine. Trembling, she turned the hot water handle and stumbled over to the bathtub, turning the handles to fill it with water.
It felt like hours had passed as she cleaned her face, then washed her body and hair. The fact that the bath water turned a darker color after she was done bathing churned her stomach in the worst of ways, but at least could take joy in feeling clean. The headache wasn't so bad anymore but her stomach was still actively complaining, forcing itself to become the focus of her discomfort. Feeling that old but familiar sensation of sick bubbling away was enough motivation for Katherine to abandon her make up, her stylish hairdo, and most importantly: her mask. She didn't even trade her bathrobe for proper clothing, which seemed downright sacrilegious! But! Katherine was hungry and feeling sick all at once and something had to be done! Were there leftovers from the night before? What had she cooked, anyway? A memory flashed from the previous night's events, reminding her that...she and her guests never got around to eating anything.
Katherine made her way downstairs and to the kitchen where she began throwing open cupboard doors in an attempt to find anything that would soothe her nausea. There were molded and rotten vegetables here and there that made her feel even more queasy. The fridge was no better, being host to rotten meat and something that faintly resembled white mud and whiskey. Seeing the sourdough starter reminded her that Oswald had brought some flour home and that's why she had her neighbors over. “But we didn't eat anything...” she told herself as she closed the fridge door and took a few steps over to the oven.
She opened the oven door to reveal a loaf of sourdough just sitting there, waiting to be eaten. Why did alcohol and Joy have such bad reactions when taken together? She would probably feel a lot better if she had eaten last night. Then again, maybe she would feel better if she just had some Joy. It was hard to ignore the craving she felt for Joy. She longed to feel the capsule on her tongue, to experience explosion of vanilla just before her world became better and brighter. Her stomach audibly groaned, reminding her that if she hurried up to eat, she'd be able to get to a Joy Booth sooner.
Without bothering to grab a knife, Katherine tore at the loaf with her teeth and fingers, making a right mess of her yellow bathrobe. The bread was over baked, too dense, and far too crumbly, but as soon as she swallowed the first mouthful, her stomach seemed to thank her. It was the soothing and calming sensation of finally feeling a little better that made her think clearly.
She sliced off the edge of the loaf that she had been gnawing on and took it to the living room, where she plopped down on one of her sofas. Though the headache was back at the front of her focus, Katherine continued eating her slice of bread while looking around at the house. It almost seemed foreign to her. Sure, she knew it was her home but when was the last time she had really taken a look at it? “Everything is dusty,” she murmured, realizing that the kitchen was probably beyond filthy and when was the last time she shopped for groceries? Was it a week ago or more? It's not that she couldn't remember, it's that her memory seemed so fuzzy and out of chronological order that she couldn't make sense of anything.
With a glance at the clock on the wall and coming to the conclusion that she still had plenty of time to get the Joy bottles refilled, Katherine decided to get on with her day. First, she went upstairs and slipped on a white and pink polka-dotted dress with a fresh pair of knee-high stockings and a pair of strapless high heeled shoes that were in a box at the bottom of her closet. She reapplied her makeup, styled her hair, and after a thorough cleaning, she fitted her mask to her face.
From there, Katherine returned to the kitchen and tossed out all of the rotten food, made a small list of things she needed to do while out and about, tended to her sourdough starter, and started on making another loaf of bread—one that wouldn't be over baked or forgotten about. It was as she was getting ready to leave the house that she realized that not only was her headache gone, but she actually felt...good. It was like a fog had been lifted from her brain! This alone was enough to make her smile as she grabbed her purse.
“Today will be a good day!” she told herself as she stepped out of her house with a smile, eager to be greeted by the beautiful sight of Maidenholm kissed by the colorful midday light.