Drops of murky water cascaded onto the heads of the soldiers, a swirling shadow cast over their perfect forms, obscuring the red tinted sunlight engulfing their arms and slender figures.
Maude lessened her grip on the pencil as she moved the instrument across the paper in one final, swift motion. She gazed, enraptured by the simplistic beauty of the rain splattered stained glass, enchanted by the way the light danced upon the ground in mesmerising patterns of vibrant colour. Maude felt her legs tremble from the ache that had settled there, invited by her uncomfortable position. She rose slowly to her feet, tucking the drawing pad under her arm and hastily packing her collection of coloured pencils into the felt pouch perched on her hip. Stretching
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"Please, call me Phillip," replied the detective cheerily, but Maude caught a glimpse of something playful in the mid-thirty year old's tone. She was accustomed to his arrogance and mocking and knew she was going to be stood - the rain lashing unsympathetically at her - engaging in the detective's game for some …show more content…
It was this feeling of annoyance that now made her begin once again to criticize the town in which she lived. Thornewood. Even the name was unwelcoming. Since her father had left her mother, brother and herself, Maude had hated the small dreary town with reinvigorated passion. She began to pass various establishments proudly boasting the name of the town; 'Thornewood Grocers', 'Thornewood Florists'. Maude wondered, not for the first time, why anyone would willingly come to a town like Thornewood, where the buildings in the centre of the town bore the ghosts of faded bright coloured paint in a past attempt to make the town appear more joyous and attractive. Even this endeavour was overshadowed by the repetitive pattern of colours. Green, blue, green, blue... and early indication of the town's obsession with order and routine. It seemed that everything here faded; apparently even the stability of Maude's family. Maude's father had left. Ten years ago and she still cursed his name. Her mother never fully recovered. She was ostracised by her own family for 'failing' at the one job that women were entrusted. Ergo, they were to remain in Thornewood until Maude herself takes on the anticipated role of mother and spouse. Maude had resigned herself to the fact that she would probably be coerced into marriage at some