Wings Of a Raven

Part 4

As he approached the old mansion, a strange feeling came over him. Yesterday when he came here it was already dark, he could see little, so not all the memories associated with the house came back, but now it is different. In a moment when he passes the last corner he will see the whole mansion, not just the lights from the windows or lamps, the whole Stern mansion in its splendor. He stopped, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then moved on. After two steps, his family residence emerged from behind a wall of trees. An overgrown black metal fence, a huge gate that he left open. He felt that he was looking at everything after so many years, but despite the weeds and light rust, he could see everything as when he passed this way every day as a child. He moved on. The cobblestone path leading to the massive building was overgrown with weeds, as if the land itself had reclaimed it from the hands of the manor, but it didn't look as if no one had taken care of it for several years, more like several months. He passed black tall lamps standing beside it, the whole length of the road. On both sides should be gardens, now it was more like an overgrown clearing. He reached the fountain.

"It's dried up. For a long time." He touched the stone wall, which seemed not to have come into contact with water for a very, very long time. He looked at the sculpture between the steps and moved on. Along the way he heard shouting, two women's voices seemed to be shouting at each other. He didn't want to listen to them too much, after all it probably wasn't his business, but nevertheless the screams were so loud that it was impossible not to hear some, no matter how hard he tried.

"It's like this every time! When will we finally find a place where we can live for more than a year!" definitely more was said by the thinner of the voices, Michael was sure that this person was more upset than the other.

"I'll sort it out, maybe I can find something. I know it's not easy for you, but I'm doing the best I can, I'm trying my best." The second of the voices he recognized, he had talked to Emily yesterday, it was her. The two voices bore some resemblance to each other, enough so that he was able to connect the second voice to Emily's daughter Abigail.

He came to the door when they both noticed him. They stopped arguing, Abigail looked at her mother, threw her backpack over her shoulder and left the house. Emily stood in the middle of the hallway, lowered her gaze, wrapped her sweater even tighter, took a deep breath and looked at Michael. "This..." she managed to utter one word before he interrupted her.

"You don't have to explain. "he said, closing the door behind him. "One of the most important things I've learned over the years is that you should never, ever annoy an upset mother." He smiled in her direction and walked closer. "I'll talk to you later, I see you have other things to do now." He looked at the woman and after a moment directed his gaze to the stairs at the other end of the corridor. On the stairs stood a little girl, it must have been Emily's second daughter Rose.

"Rosie, are you ready yet?" asked Emily. The girl nodded affirmatively and ran down the stairs straight to her mother. "We still have some time, so we'll go over to Miss Clair's for something sweet, what do you think?"

The girl nodded enthusiastically, hugging Emily's waist. She looked first at her and then at Michael standing next to her. "Who is it?" She asked.

"This is Michael. He's..." Emily again did not have time to finish her statement.

"My name is Michael, but we'll introduce ourselves later, for now you should probably get on with something more important than me. I don't know who Miss Clair is, but she will probably be more interesting." He smiled and looked at Emily and winked, indicating her exit with a movement of his head.

"Well that's right, when you get back from school you will tell Michael who Clair is, okay?" she asked and the girl nodded affirmatively. Emily looked at Stern and thanked him with a nod, then left the residence with Rose.