Here is Part #1:
One afternoon, Princess Annabelle was going on a rather long ride through the woods near her home. She felt as though she had been riding for hours, but she didn't really know because she had forgotten to bring her pocket watch along. Besides noticing that she had been riding for longer than usual, she also noticed that her horse, Toffee, was starting to slow and grow tired.
"Alright, I'll let you have a rest. You certainly deserve an apple and a sip of water," Annabelle patted her horse and smiled, before making a small noise with her tongue as a cue. Toffee was an older, less spirited horse who was very intelligent and knew cues without having to be whipped or wear a special lead for the spunky horses. Annabelle enjoyed the pleasure of riding him more often now that he was retired from the Royal Fox Hunt Team.
Annabelle dismounted from Toffee's saddle and prepared his apple and drink of water.
As Toffee finished up the last of his reward, Annabelle looked over her shoulder at her surroundings. She didn't spot anything unusual - just the common trees, shrubs, and overgrown bushes all around.
"Alright, I suppose we shall be on our way, Toffee. Mum may be having visitors for high tea. Oh, how I will enjoy spying," Annabelle giggled. Annabelle spoke to her horses because she liked to believe that they knew exactly what she was saying.
Toffee seemed to know, because he stood up like he knew Annabelle was about to mount his saddle once more.
Just as she was preparing to mount Toffee, she noticed a human - what she, from a distance, figured must be a girl. She was lying in the grass and appeared to be sleeping.
Annabelle didn't recognize, from where she stood, the servant uniform she wore. She was certainly not one of the palace servants!
"Now you stay here, Toffee - wait for me to come back," Annabelle ordered in a stern yet soft voice that she had learned from the gentle stable hands. Toffee was very good at listening, and Annabelle had no doubts that he would stay. Annabelle was a bit nervous, but she loved to help people and escape on a new adventure, so she was more excited than anything.
She rushed towards the tree branches that had long grown out to the point that they resembled a wire fence, crossing and overlapping every so often. Annabelle didn't want to ruin her new knit sweater, but she did know that she had to figure out who this strange girl was and why she was there.
Annabelle parted the branches a bit and proceeded to slip through the tiny opening. She felt her petticoat tear in quite a few places but she resisted the urge to worry. What were petticoats compared to going on an adventure with a mysterious girl?
I'll sew it secretly in the nursery - or deliver it to Miss Buckle to fix. No one will find out, She tried to assure herself that tearing her petticoats were okay - but she wondered if it was. They had been made out of fine spun fabrics all the way from Asia. Her father's trade handler had traded many valuables to get the fabric and Annabelle didn't want to seem like she wasn't careful or cautious, even if she really wasn't!
Annabelle cautiously walked on tip-toe towards the girl. She appeared to be asleep, but Annabelle felt a shock of panic rush through her. Suppose the girl was unconscious and she was blamed? Or, what if the girl was worse than unconscious? What if she was...dead? The girl had clothes on that appeared a bit too big, so Annabelle couldn't tell whether or not she was breathing. She bent down and lightly picked up the girl's warm hand and held it lightly in her hand. The girl's eyes fluttered open in a look of terror.
"What on earth are you doing?" The girl sprang up and frowned, taking a step back from Annabelle, who tried her best to act calm and welcoming.
Annabelle was a bit startled, but, she figured, the girl must've been startled too. "I'm - I - I'm sorry," Annabelle stuttered out, obviously in more surprise than she herself even knew.
"You startled me," the girl looked at her angrily.
"I didn't mean to - really, I didn't," Annabelle was a bit hurt. She had startled the girl, but she wanted her to see that she was just trying to help.
"Well we all seem to do things we don't mean to, don't we?" the girl retorted in a sassy and hurt voice.
"I was really just trying to help you," Annabelle looked at her.
"How?" the girl raised an eyebrow.
"Well, you're on my father's property and he would be enraged to find that you were sleeping here. I can see you off," Annabelle offered gently; regaining her confidence. "Are you alone? Where are you from?"
"I don't need no help," the girl frowned, speaking in improper English. "My parents dropped me off - they couldn't afford me no longer and 'course I'm alone. Ain't nobody want me is what they said."
Annabelle cringed at the girl's terrible English. Despite wanting to be a commoner, Annabelle had never heard anyone speak so improperly. It was like nails scraping on a chalkboard - it just sounded so wrong.
"Someone wants you - of course they do. But no one is going to want you if you act like that," Annabelle winked playfully.
"I don't find it funny," the girl looked stern. "Now you better get away. I'll leave in my own time."
Annabelle felt a little intimidated. "I could get you some nice clothing, a basket of food, or anything you could need."
The girl shook her head defiantly. Annabelle didn't want to take no for an answer. She wanted to help the poor girl.
"New shoes?" Annabelle asked weakly; beginning to lose hope.
"I already got shoes," the girl went along speaking in her improper way once more.
Annabelle glanced at them and nodded slightly; not wanting to stare, yet still wanting a better glimpse at the girl's strange shoes.
"Crafty huh?"
"Yes, yes," Annabelle replied hurriedly, blushing as she tended to do. Had she stared at the strange, raggedy shoes for too long?
"I made 'em out of some old animal hides I found in the woods by an old camp. Then, I tied it and bound it with string. See, I have shoes. I don't need any of your fancy junk."
"Okay," Annabelle replied. "I was just trying to help. I really can get you help."
"Now leave!!" The girl roared, smoothing her skirt out so her ragged shoes weren't visible.
"This is my property and I'll do as I please," Annabelle was tired of acting so gently and kind towards such a rough and defiant person.
The girl reached out and pulled her necklace. "I bet that costs a lot of money."
"Get off of my necklace!" Annabelle screamed in fright, before dashing off. The girl acted unimpressed with anything that she didn't have at first, but she seemed overcome by the sight of the beautiful jewels. It was a fairly new necklace that Annabelle had received from the Princess of Sweden.
Annabelle raced off; desperately trying to slip through the crack in the tree branches once more. It was hard and her hair snagged more than once as she tried to navigate through the leafy tree. She hopped over tree branches and ran as fast as she could carry herself. She looked over her shoulder, but she couldn't spot the girl.
Suddenly, as Annabelle was trying to hurdle over a branch about 2 feet high in the air, the branch caught onto the buckle in her shoe and she felt as though she was about to fall. She couldn't tell if the girl was behind her or not, but she was afraid, so she tried not to lose her balance.
Unfortunately, her efforts were to no use. She lost her balance quickly, yet still in slow motion. Her hair flung every way and she thought she heard her sweater tear in the back.
Soon enough, she had face-planted the ground. She had a mouth full of squishy mud and crumbly sand. She thought she heard footsteps behind her, so she spit twice and ignored the rest as she fled the strange girl.
The strange girl watched as Annabelle galloped away on her horse. She had been terribly mean, but somehow she liked Annabelle - she didn't want to admit it, but she wished she had accepted Annabelle's help. Luckily for her, she didn't think it was too late.
Back at the stables, the stable hands were at lunch in the servant lunch hall. Annabelle put the saddle away and then began to get the little carrying packs off of Toffee.
Annabelle hung the little messenger pack on its proper nail. She knew her work was just about done in the stable. She put a blanket over Toffee's back and set out the pail of oats. She had watched the stable hands and servants do it so many times that she felt as though she were a pro at it herself!
However, as she went about her tasks, she felt a strange sensation - something did not feel right.
Sure enough, the strange girl was hiding in the stable - she had trailed Annabelle back to the palace grounds. She didn't know how to reveal herself, and she was pretty nervous; now that she was at the palace and had walked so far, there was no turning back.
She coughed nervously, and it must not have been as quiet of a cough as she thought, because Annabelle spun around in fright.
"Who is there?" Annabelle looked worriedly over her shoulder, trying to back up against the wall so that no one - whoever or whatever it was she had heard - could sneak up on her.
"I guess we got even," the strange girl stepped out from behind a corner in the shadows. "I startled you and you startled me."
Annabelle was more surprised than startled, but she didn't say so. She collected herself and looked towards the girl. After the aggressive move the girl had made by grabbing Annabelle's necklace, Annabelle was a bit wary of her. She had found that even a child stranger could be angry and maybe unsafe.
"I didn't want to come get you," the girl looked at the ground. "I don't usually need help from others." She looked at Annabelle when she said 'others.' "But I need to know how to get off this property. I may not have much of a life - but the last thing I need is the dungeons and cells."
Annabelle nodded, "I quite agree."
"Well, tell me how to get out," the girl stood before Annabelle, once again, intimidating her - almost.
"I can't let you leave tonight," Annabelle shook her head. "It's much too late. It takes hours to clear our property and it'd be well past dark by the time we got there. My nurse would wonder where I was and you may have trouble navigating. I invite you to spend the night in the servants' homes. I know a kind lady there - Miss Buckle. She'll watch you for the night without asking questions - she respects a stranger's privacy like that."
"Alright," the girl sighed, "I guess I could use a small rest with a real roof over my head for the night."
"Very well. I'll show you there. I'm Princess Annabelle Charlotte Victoria Windsor. It is a pleasure meeting you," she curtsied slightly. Now that she was inviting the girl to stay at the palace for the night, she remembered her manners and introduced herself.
"I'm Winifred Morgan," the girl - Winifred - shrugged; obviously not understanding the curtsy. "Nice to meet 'ya," she mumbled half heartedly after saying her name.
Annabelle took the girl's hand and the two walked off secretly towards the servants boarding.
End of Part #1 (I am expecting this to be a 2 part series)
I hope you enjoyed reading through Part #1! Part #2 will be up whenever I take the outdoor scene pictures. XD (Hopefully the weather will hold up so that I can actually get outside to take pics!) Until then, I'll be doing some photo shoots and stuff, so keep looking back, please!
I am trying to come up with ideas for other photo stories for the Little House on the Prairie photo story series, but I was having a bit of a creativity block, so I decided to write an Annabelle photo story instead!
I don't know whether this is one of my favorite Annabelle episodes; I still think I like the episode where she finds her long lost sister, best! If you like the few Annabelle photo stories I've done on here, do you have a favorite "episode"?
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