A Never Ending Goodbye

Chapter 3

"Remember, we must be here for our man. If we
don't, he could throw us off his property. This world is about men. So clean for them, hold their children, raise those children, be there for their emotions, take care of their property while they are out in battle, and so on." Our teacher said, she was currently going over what we just learned. "Now, we have a visitor to our class for the new girl, Elaine, please be on your most polite behavior while she is here." The teacher opened the door and stood by the edge of the classroom.
"Hello." The visitor bowed. "I know for a fact that all of you know me. Even you, Elaine. I am Mistress Diane." Diane had a straight face, no smile. It looked as if she was emotionless. "Now, before you all get excited, Mistress Senia is not coming here."
There were murmurs of disapproval from the young girls.
"Now, that's not ladylike. If you disapprove, do not say anything. It is in the handbook, and it is in multiple of your tests." Mistress Diane lectured, and gave the teacher a strict look. The teacher looked scared, but kept a smile. "Now, children. A very important lesson, do not end up like your teacher. Reason being, she came to this establishment and was never chosen by a man. She sat around until she reached twenty-five years old, and no man wants an old woman for a wife. So she has now disappointed her family name, hence, why her name shall never be referred to."
The teacher looked sad, she definitely did not want to get shut down like this by Mistress Diane. Elaine politely raised her hand.
"Yes Elaine?"
"What if a woman does not want to have a man, what happens to her?" Elaine asked, an innocent tone in her voice.
"First of all, those ideas are stupid. Not marrying a man? Ha, the answer is simple, we believe that is just a dumb phaze the woman is going through and marry her off anyways. After all, we think of what is best for you, and that is what is best for your future." Mistress Diane said, smiling. Elaine nodded and smiled back.

***

It has been three months since that day. Elaine was currently at home, sitting with her brother. She was currently explaining what she was learning.
"Oh! Mistress Diane is so rude. She says that if you do not want to get married yet, you are just going through a phase, and if you slouch for even a second, she will scream at you to be a lady!" Elaine frowned.
"Ah, that sounds horrible." Jack said sorrowfully. Jack hugged her yet again. "Have you met any friends?"
"Oh! Yes I have! Mistress Senia is so kind, oh and this girl named Alexandria is so scary. But she does not follow our standards at all, she is strong, and wears men's clothes. And then also Akani, Akani is a little older than me, and she is also so amazing! She's fun and is always keeping me in contact." Elaine smiled brightly.
"Great to hear you have friends at this place. You were always lost in a fantasy I could not see when you were young." Jack said, smiling and giving her a pat on the head. Then, he tapped her on the back and ran off. Elaine smiled and ran after him, reaching for him. She laughed as they ran out to the open land. She kept chasing until Elaine tripped on the bottom of her dress. She yelped and Jack ran to catch her. Elaine hit the ground before Jack could reach her.
"Ouch." She muttered, holding her ankle.
"Elaine! Are you okay?" Jack squatted down in front of her, "let me see you ankle," he gently removed her hands.
"It hurts." Elaine muttered again, clearly trying not to cry.
"You will be okay," Jack said while inspecting Elaine's foot. "I am going to carry you to Mother and Father, okay?"
Elaine nodded and Jack picked her up bridal style. As Jack walked inside, their mother rushed to them.
"What happened? Set her down on the futon in her room." Mother sounded rushed and scared. After setting Elaine down, Jack explained what happened, of course he left out small details that would've gotten her in trouble.
"We were walking outside and I went ahead of her, that is when she tripped and I could not run back in time to catch her." Jack said sorrowfully, briefly glancing at Elaine. Their mother sighed and rushed out to get Father to cast a telegram for a doctor. In just a few hours, the doctors arrived. Jack and Mother were sitting next to Elaine while Father sat in a chair he brought in from the main room. Immediately, the doctors shooed away Jack and mother, and started looking over Elaine's ankle. Each time they touched she would flinch and scrunch up her face in pain.
"Mr. Sullivan, I am sorry to report, but Ms. Sullivan's ankle is broken. It will take about one year to fully heal with our medication." One of the doctors said, they looked scared, almost as if Father would get mad at them. Father just nodded.
"Treat her."
The doctors simultaneously grabbed things out of their bags. One doctor placed a rod going from Elaine's hip to the bottom of her foot, then they cut it. The rod was only at Elaine's knee to her foot. The doctor held it there, while the other wrapped Elaine's leg with a heavy duty bandage. They wrapped this bandage around her leg too many times to count, but now, Elaine was unable to move her leg.

***

It's been two weeks since Elaine broke her ankle. She did not go to the house, so she has been spending all her time in bed, talking and playing small games with her brother.
"This reminds me of when I was not at the house. We are finally close again." Elaine smiled. "I hope my ankle is broken forever." She laughed.
"Now that is a bit overkill," Jack laughed as well. "You would rather have me with the pain of a broken bone? I am flattered."
Elaine smiled, then heard the distant sound of footsteps. The door, loud as ever, creaked open. It was the doctor again. They were coming back to check on Elaine and give her some medicine for the pain. The doctor crushed some weird looking leaves into a goo-like substance, then mixed it into water.
"Ma'am, drink this while I check out your leg." The doctor gave Elaine the medication, and while she sipped it, they unwrapped the padding around it so they could take a good look at it. After a few moments, he wrapped it up again. "It'll take much longer." They said, then walked away and closed the door behind them.
Elaine just sighed and looked at the ceiling.
"Mistress Diane is definitely not happy about this, I could just hear her yelling 'one of my beautiful little candidates! Oh she's crippled, how could she, this is what she gets for being unladylike'!" Elaine giggled and looked up to the ceiling.
"How rude of her, one day I'll make her care about all of you young women," Jack smiled playfully. Elaine smiled at Jack graciously.
"Now that I've been here for such a long time, I can not stop thinking about the old times. When me and you would always play and get Father angry," Elaine smiled, "I miss that." Elaine stared at the ceiling.
"I do as-" Jack was abruptly cut off by Elaine suddenly jerking. She let out a heart-breaking scream in agony, and the doctors ran into the room, rushing to his sister's side. They pushed him away, leaving him only able to watch Elaine scream and cry out in extreme pain.