The End of Wythwood Boulevard

Part I - The Aftermath Of A Night Now Passed

1st January, 1830.

"Well, what do you think?"

Elsie was sitting on one of the several sofas of the second floor lounge, completely motionless, simply staring at her sister. She'd just entered with some sort of bizarre contraption, which was apparently meant to assist in the process of cleaning up after their mother's little soirée the previous night.

"El?" her sister's voice came cutting through suddenly, tearing Elsie away from her thoughts. "Yes, sister?" she replied, the dull tone of her voice clearly revealing her reluctance to do so. Melanie crossed the room towards her with that thing. "What on earth is that, Melanie?"

"It's just a, well, it's.." Melanie paused, "well, I don't quite know what this is." She had set the piece of equipment down now, beginning to poke and prod as if she were studying it. Then, after a moment, she spoke up again. "I asked you what you thought of it," she said, pointedly glancing back at Elsie.

"I for one think that it's dreadful, and that I should like to never see it again," she shifted a bit in her seat as she mumbled, crossing her legs. She leaned slightly forward to peer at the ground, where the hilarious display of cleaning supplies were gathered. "Did you put this together?" She asked Melanie in a louder tone, while stifling a laugh. "That I did," Melanie replied.

"Well," Elsie remarked, a sudden pleasant lilt lifting her voice, "I suppose that if it works as well as I hope it would, with the amount of effort you've clearly put into sticking everything together, then I should like it just fine." She crossed her arms in a satisfied way and slightly sunk backwards into the chair, content to sit and watch whatever Melanie was now doing.

Though that didn't last long at all, as their mother conveniently came bursting in from God knows where. She was trailed by none other than William, their eldest sibling.

"Good morning," he muttered, his face reflecting his recent late nights spent working much more than any man ever should. "Building things already?" He looked at Melanie, a sort of 'what's your deal' expression crossing his face for a moment before he was interrupted.

"Shouldn't you girls be.. doing something?" Their mother spoke, busying herself with clearing off one of the writing desks behind them. "It would be most helpful if you would actually assist me for once." That had ruined the moment of peace, obviously. Elsie rolled her eyes, and the three siblings exchanged a brief glance of sorts.

Their mother, Carolyn Clarke. Oh, dear God.

A woman of just five and forty, she had been the head of the house since their father had up and left some years ago. She now prided herself on the fact that she needed no such man around any longer. Though this was extremely terrible in the eyes of, frankly, everyone, but this was the one progressive step their mother seemed to finally be taking.

William had moved across the room now, clearly not interested in helping, instead standing at one of the many windows overlooking the front of the house. Not many people were out this early. He would be surprised if he saw more than five people on the way to his office. "Do you think it'll rain today?" He asked, though he didn't turn away from the window.

Elsie stood up, striding over to assist her mother as she cleaned. "What kind of a question is that?" she laughed, finding it odd. "A silly one," Melanie chimed in, still attempting to figure out how to work her own device. William turned back to face the room, squinting his eyes. "I was just trying to make polite conversation."

"And your idea of politeness is talking about the current state of the weather instead of helping your poor mother tidy the house?" Mrs. Clarke had jumped in now, making a poor attempt to play some sort of guilt card on him. "Yes, actually. It is," he shrugged, then circled back around the room before making his exit back the way he came.

"..ten, nine, eight.." Elise walked over to the window, carefully watching the path in front of the main door of the house. "..seven, six, five," she continued, a small smirk growing on her face. Had she finally done it? "..three," she paused, the tension of her own little game hanging in the air.

It would appear not. On cue, William came racing out the door after having realized he was going to be late for another day of what they all assumed to be sitting at an empty desk and doing nothing of importance.

"Damn," she huffed. Less than ten seconds, yet again. "Watch your mouth!" Carolyn snapped, turning around to face her youngest daughter. Elsie turned to face her as well, sighing a quick 'sorry' before returning to her work.

That must be why he left so quickly. So he won't have to help with anything, she thought. It was a bit too perfect that William had just happened to realize he had somewhere to be just as he was needed for something. It was much too like him as well, always racing off when anyone required anything from him.

He had gotten the habit from their father, it would seem.

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They'd finished tidying most of the second floor by now, the other two floors having already been finished in the much earlier hours of the morning. Though, Elsie still refused to believe that there could possibly be anything earlier than six hours after midnight. The fact that some people awoke that early and were able to go out and accomplish things had always been completely baffling to her.

Hoping not to get pulled into any other insufferable tasks, the girl made her way into her bedroom, also overlooking the front of their estate. She had been drafting another letter to her father, which she would then burn, as she had no idea where he was and had no way to get her messages to him.

In all honesty, she was much too tired for this, both from the day and from her countless failed attempts to find her father. He clearly wished for nothing to do with the family anymore and she had almost completely learned to be content with that.

Elsie opened her window, leaning out a bit to get a better look at what was going on in the streets. It was beginning to get a bit late now, which meant William would be returning home soon, and it was really a shame that he'd have to walk today.

It had started to rain.