The Dining Party Invite

"Mister Carswell!" Abiona shouted, standing outside the rail fence lines. Her hand held the long beige hat that was flapping with the wind on her braided brown hair. Her other hand took care of her rich dress, which flowed with the wind. "Mister Carswell," she shouted again, looking over the fence where a middle-aged man walked a horse inside the square fence of the farm.

Mister Carswell tipped up his brown hat, which covered his view to look into the distance, and saw a girl he knew. Abiona waved her hand to get his attention, and Mister Carswell signalled her to wait.

He walked along with the brown horse approaching the girl, "Lady Abiona, you look bright today"

Abiona carried a big grin on her lips, "Yes, indeed" She handed him a flyer that was waving with the wind. The man let go of the horse's reins. "Here." Mister Carswell clutched the paper with both his hands. He narrowed his eyes as he had left his glasses inside his house.

"This is wonderful," he beamed, "Congratulations to your father. I can't ask for a better governor than him." Mister Carswell offered a heartfelt smile to the young girl, who felt proud at hearing his words.

Abiona bowed gently. "Thank you, Mister Carswell. Is Prudence around? Can you please let her take today's day off? We have a dining party at our house." Her eyes looked over the ground that stretched behind him, scanning around the stable of the horse farm. Realising her rudeness, Abiona said, "You should join as well"

Mister Carswell chuckled, "Thank you for considering, but you know how tricky it can be to deal with the horses when Lady Prudence isn't around" He knew how parties involving high-status people were, even though Mister Carswell provided horses to them as well as trained the upper-class kids, standing amid them would only lead to him being looked down on in the entire event. He looked around the farm and did not see the girl who worked here, "Lady Prudence must be inside the stable"

"I will get her then, thank you for considering" Abiona bowed and Mister Carswell returned the bow, going back to the horse he was walking before. He knew how dear friends the two girls were, despite their status. Personally, he enjoyed watching friendships like theirs, without a care for the judgmental eyes of society.

Abiona walked around the fence, struggling with her dress in the windy weather. She peeked inside the stable to check for her friend. Her gown was light in colour, and she did not want to unnecessarily taint it.

"Prudence," Abiona called out, but there was no response. She wondered, was Prudence really here and took a step ahead raising the hem of her dress, "Prudence?"

"Abi! what brings you here?" a slivery voice called from behind Abiona, startling her. She turned around to see a white horse, adorned with tiny spots that looked like grey freckles decorating its body. Raising her hazel eye, Abiona saw her friend who was delighted yet confuse to see her here.

Her friend's naturally red wavy hair was tied loose today and swayed with the wind, forming ripples in the air. Prudence moved the strands of hair that fogged her blue eyes and a smile broke on her pink lips.

Abiona would usually wait near the fence for Prudence. Rarely did she step near the stable, where the ground could be dirty, which surprised Prudence.

Abiona stepped a little closer, and it had the horse neigh in distress. She immediately stepped back, scared of the animal.

Prudence promptly turned the horse around till it took an entire circle and calmed down. She got down from the horse. Her hand dusted the shirt and straightened her skirt, caressing the horse's head as Prudence said, "Easy girl, Abi is a friend" The Horse huffed and shook its head in disagreement with Prudence's words. She turned to her friend. "Daisy hasn't seen you this close before, maybe she got defensive because of it"

Abiona got more distance. "That's okay. I know how Daisy hates company other than you. She will come around one day, or maybe we will get used to this relationship as a frightful one"

Prudence chuckled at Abiona, "Let me set her in the stable and join you" Abiona nodded and Prudence held the bitless bridle that went around Daisy's faint grey nose.

The stable had a separated shade with stalls that faced each other. Prudence came out after making Daisy comfortable in her stall. Her skirt did not touch the ground, so walking on the damp ground was not a bother.

Abiona was standing on the clear ground now, a little away from the stable entrance.

"What brings you here at this hour?" Prudence asked Abiona. She rarely got to spend a lot of time with her friend. Abiona had got busy with her father taking part in elections and Prudence worked overtime to pay for Daisy. The mare was owned by her now and was to be paid for in instalments as Prudence couldn't afford the price in a go. Plus, the monthly expenses of food and wellbeing for the mare were not easy for her, even though Mister Carswell never asked for it knowing the weight of her feather light purse.

Abiona came ahead to lock her hand in Prudence's elbow, "We are heading to my house. Mister Carswell has agreed to let you go for the day"

Prudence's eyebrows knitted together, "Is something special today Abi?... Did I forget someone's birthday again?" She used to work day and night. It would usually result in Prudence forgetting about petty things. With Abiona around, she had no worries as her Abi would always remind her about it.

"No," Abiona corrected her, "they announced the election results today. My father won!"

Prudence raised her eyebrows with a delighted smile adorning her lips, "That is amazing, come on I want to meet uncle now and congratulate him" She immediately removed the stained apron that covered her green skirt and the brown shirt that was tucked into the skirt. Prudence was just as merry as Abiona right now.

Abiona's parents treated Prudence as their own child, and it made her think of them as a family. There was a tremendous difference between girls statuses, but their friendship was much stronger for that to be a bother. With the parents also accepting both of them as children, the taunts from people around never managed to create a rift in their friendship.

Abiona pulled her friend back. "Wait, we have a dining party tonight. Why don't you bring your mother as well? You might even find yourself a nice Prince Charming."

The last words made Prudence chuckle in ridicule and she overlooked them, like they were never spoken. The suggestion of inviting her mother had Prudence think for a moment. She knew all the high-status persons were going to attend and Prudence lived in the smallest part of the town, where the houses barely had two rooms. She, for a fact, knew how her mother avoided such gatherings because of the eyes that they would get.

Prudence had attended a few parties and soirees with Abiona before and she had felt how the people repelled from her, knowing she was one of the poor and worked on the horse farm where usually boys dwelled in the dirt.

"I will think about it later. Let me congratulate your father for now." Prudence knew she won't be able to convince her mother. She looked at Abiona, who was a little disappointed. Prudence's tone came low and cautious to put a reasonable reality for not immediately saying yes to her friend. "It is a dining party, Abi. You are well aware of the crimes and mobs going around the city during the dark, right? It would get dangerous for me to head back home alone at night, especially with the rise in missing cases"

Abiona pondered on Prudence's words. There were a huge number of organised crimes going around the town for decades and Abiona was well aware of it. Her father was now the governor, and it was only fair for her to know what goes about.

Though the missing cases were not their doing, other red eyes lurked in the darkness. She knew because she had met a few of them, and most of them belonged to the prestige families who would attend the dining party today at her house.

On the other hand, Prudence, was not aware of them as only rumours surfaced in the place where she lived with no actual case reported.

Abiona thought it was better to not let her friend know as she would always take care of Prudence, not letting her fall in their presence, and Prudence won't be acquainted with any around in her area, as the night creatures hated the poorer places. But the same can't be said about the humans who lurked the nights with hands that have carelessly sinned and are counted no less evil to the one with red eyes.