*ON HOLD* Cora Crawley had another brother. Her brother married and had a beautiful daughter named Evelyn Levinson. When a mysterious fire burns the Levinson home, 6-year-old Evelyn was the only survivor. Cora takes in her orphaned niece - and this...
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(A/N: Super long chapter! Enjoy, my loves!)
Evelyn sat at her vanity brushing her hair before bed. She sighed placed her brush onto her silk-covered lap. Nothing of substance occupied for mind per se...she wanted chocolate. This was a common nightly occurrence for Evelyn as her beast-like sweet tooth took over right before she went to bed. She bit her lip as she debated whether or not to go down to the kitchen and sneak one of the chocolate bars she knew Mrs. Patmore hid in the salt jar. According to the ladies of her family, being seen in your nightgown was highly inappropriate but was that what kept Evelyn in her room? Absolutely not.
Giving in to her demons, Evelyn stood up and laid her brush on the vanity while knocking off Ben's letter in the process. She stared at the letter, which she had placed back in its envelope, and shrugged - she'd get it later. Without shoes, quietly snuck from her room and to the kitchen. The servant's hall was quiet as it was fairly late and if anyone was awake they'd more than likely be in their rooms. Or so she thought. Tiptoeing into the kitchen, the sound of a pained grunt down the hall distracted her from her mission. Evelyn moved towards the noise to see Bates leaned against the wall with his eyes screwed shut in pain.
"Bates?" Evelyn spoke quietly.
Bates' eyes flew open as he jumped. He straightened himself on his cane. "Evelyn...I was just going to bed."
"I'm not stupid, Bates. Somethings wrong. What is it?"
He sighed and shook his head. "My leg's just giving me trouble is all. Nothing to concern yourself with."
Thomas trudged angrily down the stairs and looked at Bates, not seeing Evelyn in the doorway. "And what are you doing?"
"Talking to Evelyn."
Thomas whipped his head around and went wide-eyed when he saw her. Evelyn's stomach dropped when she saw Thomas's puffy red eyes and tear-stained cheeks.
"Evelyn...oh thank God...I thought you were...you're not there..."
She approached him worriedly. "Where shouldn't I be?"
"Up...Upstairs."
Evelyn looked at Bates for any idea on what was wrong with Thomas, Bates shrugged.
"Thomas, why shouldn't I be upstairs?"
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Kemal Pamuk, dressed in only a red robe, quietly walked down the hall consisting of the ladies' rooms. He kept replaying Thomas's hesitant words in his head: "Fourth door from the right staircase. There's a gold bell on the doorknob." Pamuk quietly counted the doors until he reached a door with a little gold bell.
Glancing down, he could see light streaming from under the door - she was still awake. With a malefic smile, Pamuk turned the knob slowly and opened the door which elicited a loud creak (something characteristic of only Evelyn's door). His face fell when he saw that she wasn't there. Her comforter was turned down with an open book laying on her pillow, the lamp beside it turned on. Pamuk walked the rest of the way in and looked around, approaching her vanity where a cup of tea sat with gentle steam floating out of it - she must have recently left. Stepping closer, he heard a wrinkling under his foot where he had stepped on a letter. Picking it up, he pulled it from its envelope and scanned over it. A smile tugged at his lips.
