Chapter 2: Chapter 1: The Beginning of the Story
The air was heavy with humidity.
Caroline tried to pat the friz out of her hair while dabbing at her forehead with her handkerchief. It had stormed the previous night and the gathering gray clouds promised another stormy night.
The streets were covered in mud causing Caroline to lift her skirt as she cross. Her shoes kept sinking into the mud causing her difficulties as she attempted to cross. A chestnut brown mar approached her, and its rider tipped his hat to her.
"Good evening, Ms. Caroline, what brings you out at this late hour?" he greeted her with a cheerful smile.
Caroline returns the smile to Webders' only son, James. The mar stomped its foot annoyed at being made to stand in the mud. Specks of mud stuck to Caroline's skirt making her smile turn down.
"Good evening James," she returned the greeting while stepping to the side of the horse. "I am rather in a hurry right now. You see, Danial's carriage will be leaving soon."
"Ah yes, I had heard he had joined his majesty's army," James said. "His father must be very proud to have another son serving."
"He is, but how is your father doing? Is he feeling any better?" Caroline asked
James scowled, "he is still bed ridden. Spends his days groaning like a child while making mother and my sister serve him hand and foot. I couldn't stand his whining anymore and Chestnut was getting restless."
"I do hope he feels better soon. For your poor mother sake," Caroline told him when she heard someone calling for her.
A breathless woman hurried across the street towards her while a younger child tried to keep up, reaching out for the woman's skirt.
"Do not delay with idle gossip, child," Caroline's mother scolded her when she reached her side, "the coach will not wait for us!"
Caroline simple nodded in agreement and winked down at her younger sister who was clutching at her mother's skirt.
"Good evening, Lady Dunches," James said with his usual cheerful grin. "Where are you off to in such a rush, ma'am?"
Lady Dunches looked up at James still scowling. "Shame on you, James! You should know better than to try to chat up a lady while she is standing up to her ankles in mud."
James blushed, "my apologizes," he stuttered.
"You should hurry home and help your poor mother take care of your father," Mrs. Dunches continued.
"Mother, the coach," Caroline reminded her.
"Oh my! Yes, let us go!" Lady Dunches cried urging her daughters onwards.
Caroline gathered up her skirt again and held her hand out to her sister. Elizabeth took it grateful and followed Caroline and their mother across the road. James urged his horse on once they had crossed. Caroline could see his ears were still very red.
"You did not need to be so harsh with James," she told her mother.
"Quickly Elizabeth, before some wagon runs you over!" Mrs. Dunches told her youngest daughter and ignoring her eldest.
Caroline reached the other side before her mother and paused to wait for her. Her soft green eyes roamed over the streets, watching the towns' people weaving their way around the wagons and carriages that cluttered the road. It was always busy in the late hour. It was if everyone wanted to be out in the last moments of sunlight.
"Hurry Caroline," her mother called to her once again.
Caroline snapped out of her thoughts and ran after her mother. The sidewalk was just as messy as the road but at this point, she had given up on trying to keep her skirt clean.
Elizabeth's grasp on her hand tighten as they passed the butcher's shop.
"Good evening," Caroline greeted the butcher still following her mother.
Elizabeth trembled slightly as the man waved at them with his red tinted hand.
Caroline could still smell the hint of backed bread as they went by the bakery.
"Mommy, I'm tired," Elizabeth whinnied as she dragged her feet.
"Hush child. We need to hurry! And for goodness sake, hold up your dress. You are allowing it to trail in the mud."
Elizabeth stuck out her bottom lip in a pout and only halfheartedly lift her dress.
Caroline smiled down at her little sister.
Both girls shared the same colored eyes and soft amber brown hair a feature they had inherited from their father. There were faded splotches of red that covered Elizabeth's pale skin. Scars left from when she had the pox a year ago.
"We are almost there," Caroline promised Elizabeth.
Her words proved true as they turned the corner and saw the post office up ahead. A carriage stood waiting with the horses pawing at the ground with their hooves.
As Caroline approached the carriage, she could see Danial's family huddled around her fiancé. Danial's mother was holding tightly to his arm crying while her son tried to comfort her.
Danial notices Caroline and his face lit up in a boyish grin that Caroline could not help smiling back at. Danial's father also notices them approaching and gently removed his wife grip from his son.
"You must return," Danial's mother cried still in tears.
"I will mother," Danial promised giving her another hug.
Caroline waited for them to part before she approached. Danial turned to Caroline with his smiled widening enough for her to see his dimples.
"I'm sorry Danial. I didn't mean to be late," she told him as he embraced her.
"I was afraid you wouldn't make it in time," he told her, his arms holding her close to him.
Caroline could smell the hint of mint mixed with the earthy smells of the outdoors from his coat.
They separated and Danial looked down at her concerned.
"I am sorry for delaying our wedding," he told her remorsefully. "I know how much you wanted to be married now."
Caroline shook her head and quickly said, "do not let our wedding trouble you. Your duty is first to the crown and after you have finished your services we will then be wed."
Her throat tightened and she coughed to clear it.
"I still get to be the flower girl," Elizabeth told them.
Danial laughed and picked Elizabeth up into his arm as he done since she had been a babe.
"Of course, you will be, and you will be the prettiest flower girl ever," he promised her with a wink. "But you have to promise me you will watch over my fiancé while I'm gone."
Elizabeth nodded gravely, "I will try but I can't watch her when she rides her horse into the woods. I'm not allowed to go in there."
Danial laughed again. He kissed Elizabeth on the cheek before setting her back down.
The driver coughed impatiently from on top of his seat.
"Sir, we should leave now, or we'll miss the boat," he warned Danial.
After a few more good-byes and Danial gave Caroline another kiss good-bye, he climbed into the coach.
The driver cracked the reins across the horses' back, who practically lurched forward with restless energy.
Everyone at once called out well wishes and farewells. Danial's mother could only sob holding tightly to her husband's arm.
Danial stuck his head out of the window to look at them one more time. His chestnut brown hair was tossed about by the wind and his sea blue eyes were soft with sadness. He shouted something to them but by then he was too far away for them to hear.
Caroline stood apart from everyone else, smiling until Danial was too far away to see her. She reached for her neck and found the necklace around it. Dangling from the chain was a ring.
She rolled the ring between her fingers as she watched her betrothed leave for the war. She would have to wear it for a while longer.
Caroline swallowed feeling like she was wearing a palm size stone around her neck.
Another carriage pulled up next to her as Danial's mother cries begin to reach hysterical.
Caroline attempted to move to help comfort her when the driver stepped in front of her to open the carriage's door.
She quickly stepped to the side and out of the way as the passenger stepped out.
He was a tall man dressed in a black overcoat and wearing a top hat.
As he walked past her their eyes met briefly.
Caroline was surprised to see he had two different colored eyes. One red and the other golden.
The man tipped his hat to here and continued on-
Ted, nicknamed Teddy, realized he had accidentally spelled 'her' 'here' and quickly corrected it, so the sentence read-'The man tipped his hat to her and continued on.'
Scanning over the two pieces of notebook paper, he was amazed by all the spelling errors he had made. Embarrassing ones that a third grader would have known better then to make.
"I guess spelling is the first to go when you are engulfed in your writing," he said before yawning.
He threw his arms back over the couch as he stretched.
The notebook slid off his lap as he stretched out his legs, falling to the floor.
"What time is it?" he asked looking over at the old grandfather clock ticking away, the pendulum swaying back and forth.
Eight already? Dammit, his sister's train will be arriving at the station in a couple of hours and he still had a list of stuff to do around the house before he left.
He was supposed to be helping David put in the new glass windows on the third floor.
Frustrated, he bent over and picked up the notebook. He should not have stopped to write but he had a sudden moment of inspiration. He had seen clearly in his mind's eyes a young woman named Caroline, running through the street trying to say good-bye to her fiancé before he left for the war.
Once again, he re-read what he had written while wondering if there was a story, he could make from it. Not now, of course. He did not have the time to write another novel. He was already in the middle of trying to finish writing his aunt's latest book. Before her passing, she had been working on a documentary of the many murders that had happen in the Burgens house. It was a squeal to her first book, Twenty Ghost Stories and Six Curses, where she had written briefly about the Burgens' house. She had only scratched the surface of the house's rich and bloody history and wish to devote more time to it in the squeal.
Unfortunately, she had died before finishing and Ted had wanted to complete the book in her memory. He had written several books before, but this was his first non-fiction story and it was proving to be more of a lengthy, not to mention difficult, endeavor.
"Oh well," Teddy muttered and closing the notebook, mentally shelving it for another day.
He pulled a folded-up piece of paper out of his pocket and unfolded it. Reading the long lists of tasks that still need to be done, he could not help groaning slightly. Some of the task were highlighted in yellow to be done right away while others were underlined several times with the same message of urgency.
Putting in those windows was both highlighted and underline.
"Ted?" David called from upstairs.
"What?" he called back.
"Is Lizzy down there with you?"
"No, she isn't."
He heard heavy work boots thumping on the stairs as David came down. The third step squeaked as David put his weight on it, making Teddy add another thing to his list.
He tossed his notebook back on the coffee table as David enter the room. There was sawdust in his hair and dirt smudges on his face. He did not come all the way into the room but stayed on the wooden floor of the hallway.
"Why are you looking for Liz?" Teddy asked.
"She wanted me to take her to the train station today. But I cannot find her," David told him as he wiped his hands off on a rag.
"Maybe she's in the kitchen? Or outside?"
David did a reverse and left the room.
Teddy could hear the squeal of the kitchen door opening and then David called, "she's not here."
Ted went to the window and pulled back the curtains in time to see a deer run across the front yard followed close by her fawn.
"I don't see her outside."
"Did she go on her own?" David wondered also looking out the window, but the car was still parked in front of the rose bushes.
"She wouldn't have walked, would she?" he asked uncertainly.
It was typical an hour drive to town. Double that if you are walking.
"She wouldn't leave without saying good-bye," Teddy told him.
He tried to think of another place Lizzy would have gone. The catacombs? No, she knew it was not safe down there. Maybe she went for a walk in the woods?
"She was pretty eager to leave," Christy told them.
She had been dusting off the pictures hanging on the wall with a feather duster. She had pulled out one of her pink earphones to listen in on David and Teddy's conversation.
Teddy could hear the faint stuttering sounds of dubstep coming from her earbud as Christy walked over to them.
"I think the stress of our aunt's death and dealing with the lawyers was starting to be too much for her," Teddy told them.
"I thought she was leaving because she was hearing things," Christy yawned before going back to her dusting.
Teddy did not answer but searched his pocket for his cell phone. He quickly texted, 'where r u? U still want David to take u to the station?' before sending it to his sister.
"Hopefully, she will respond soon," he said before grabbing his toolbox off the floor. "Let's put those windows in before I have to pick up Julie."
David agreed before following his boss up the stairs.
"Wasn't Julie traveling with Carol and May?" he asked nervously.
"Don't worry, Carol is not with my sister," Teddy assured him. "Julie is coming alone to take care of the paperwork and then will meet Carol and May at the airport."
"Good," David muttered to himself very much relived.
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NoraBlack
NoraBlack I actually did make the spelling mistake of 'here' instead of 'her' :)
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