Wilkes
Legacy Name: Wilkes

GO AWAY. I'M WORKING ON IT
"I swear to God, if you do not stop getting your nice suits dirty..." his mother grumbled angrily as she straightened up his bow tie, "I will make sure that you wear nothing but disgusting hand-my-downs for the rest of the year. Then maybe you will start to appreciate the nice clothes you have."

Wilkes wasn't even listening to his mother's threats. He didn't care what he had to wear, and besides, the suits were too stuffy anyway.

"Now listen to me, we are having high tea with the Benedicts within the hour, so try to stay clean in the meantime." she snapped.

He quietly sighed as his mother walked off, her heels clacking against the floor. Wilkes waited for his mother to be out of the parlor before he slumped down in a chair. The Benedicts. He had been dreading this day for weeks. His mother and father claimed it was just a friendly tea party, but Wilkes knew the true reason. He was eighteen now, and his father had been dropping hints of him taking control of the family wealth once he married.

Wilkes sat quietly, staring at the marble floor in the parlor. A spider appeared by one of the chair legs and made it's way past Wilkes' feet. His eyes widened and he reached down, gently coaxing the spider onto his hand. He smiled as it scurried around on his palm. He could hear his mother call for him, letting him know that their guests had arrived. He rolled his eyes and gently tucked the spider in his breast pocket and left to join his family.

There she was, poised like an old doll whose joints had become stiff from time. Her name was Mary-Anne, eldest daughter of the Benedict family. He couldn't help but scowl ever so slightly at the pompous spectacle of brown-nosing his parents were putting on. His father gave him an abrupt pat on the back, snapping him out of his daze.

He sat at the table, staring down at his tea thinking about how much he didn't want to be there. Mary-Anne sat in the chair next to him in her frilly white dress. Wilkes glanced to her; she looked so cold and emotionless. He knew that if everything went well between their parents today, he would have to marry her.

Wilkes nibbled on a wedge of cucumber sandwich as the adults chattered away like parrots. Just as he began to zone out, Mary-Anne let out an ear-piercing shriek. Startled by her scream, everyone's attention turned to her. She sat with her feet up on the chair while pressing her body as far away from the table as possible. When her mother asked her what was wrong, she pointed to the table, shaking in terror. The spider that Wilkes had put in his pocket had escaped without his knowledge during the tea party.

"Don't worry, pumpkin," Mr. Benedict said as he grabbed a napkin, " daddy will take care of it."

Wilkes' eyes widened as he reached across the table to kill the spider. "No!" he yelled as he threw himself over Mary-Anne's side of the table, shielding the spider. In the process of protecting his eight-legged friend, his elbow hit Mary-Anne's cup of tea and sent it flying all over her nice white dress.

Everyone fell silent, stunned by everything that just happened. Wilkes slowly lifted his head up and looked over at Mary-Anne. She sat there, shaking and speechless as she looked down at her ruined dress. Tears started to fill her eyes and before anyone could say anything, she ran off crying. Mrs. Benedict quickly followed to comfort her daughter.

Wilkes lifted himself off the table and sat back down in his chair, cupping the spider in his hands. He could see the fury growing in his mother's eyes. His father on the other hand, was trying his best to apologize to Mr. Benedict for the accident, but he didn't seem too forgiving. Wilkes immediately turned his daze downward as Mr. Benedict walked by, giving him a rather stern look.

"Mom..." he said timidly, breaking the silence, "I'm sorry-"

"Stop, Wilkes, just...stop." she snapped through her teeth, putting a hand up to silence him. "You've done enough damage to this family today! I don't want of hear any of your excuses! Just go...sit in your room."

His stomach churned as his mother's words cut into him. He turned and walked back to the house, still cupping the spider in his hands. The walk back to his room seemed to last forever with the echoes of his mother's voice bouncing around in his head. He'd never seen her so upset before.

Wilkes stepped into his room, closing the door behind him. A heavy sigh left his mouth as he slumped down into a chair by his window. He slowly opened his clasped hands. The small spider sat very still in Wilkes' palm. He carefully lifted his hand to the windowsill. "Sorry about all the chaos earlier." he said as the spider scurried off to the corner of the window frame.

He sat quietly while watching his spider friend until he started laughing to himself. "Boy, you sure gave Mary-Anne a good scare though." he chuckled.

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