When you believe

Chapter V: "To Cair Paravel"

She opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling of her room. That awful brown ceiling she always had wanted to paint blue. But of course her mother wouldn't let her, she always said that shade of brown was a nice colour. Of course it wasn't. It was too dull and uninspiring for Bee's taste.

Deep down, even if her mother didn't say it, she knew Susan didn't want to change much of the house because that was the way it was before her father died. For some reason her mother wanted to keep the house the same, without any changes or improvements. Changing it felt for her as erasing the memory of her husband in that house, her beloved Charles.

Drifting away from her thoughts Bridget got up from bed, resigned to the fact that sleep wouldn't welcome her back anytime soon. Looking out the window she could still see the moon high up. The girl let out a breath. This sleepless night would be a long one, for sunrise wasn't near.

She looked around to find herself in an empty room. Her brow furrowed. The beds of Caroline and Alice were not there.

That's odd...

Bridget didn't feel sleepy at all and her puzzlement awoke her even more. Why weren't her sisters' beds in the room? Better yet, why were Caroline and Alice there?

Her initial thought was that they most likely had nightmares and got scared so they went to their mother's room. Or perhaps they were feeling ill. Either way, the girl began to worry about her sisters so she walked out of her room.

As she opened the door she froze on the spot. That was it. Her room was all that was left of the house. There was nothing around her bedroom as it was before: the bathroom, her mother's room, the small living room. Everything was gone and her room was the sole survivor of the house.

Beneath the limited light the moon and the stars provided, all Bridget could see around her were ashes and debris. Nothing else. All had been destroyed and left a deserted, barren land where she was alone.

The girl cried out her mother's name, her sisters' names. No one answered. An oppressive feeling settled in her chest and she could feel the sting of coming tears in her eyes.

She was completely alone, stuck there in the middle of nowhere with a choking feeling of isolation she couldn't get rid of.

- - - - - -

Her eyes fluttered open as the sunlight caressed her skin. It wasn't that what woke her up but the voice of a young man with a peculiar accent she had never heard before. At least not before yesterday, anyway.

"Wake up, my lady. The day awaits and we still have about one day's journey to finally arrive to Cair Paravel" Fevian said with an excitement Bridget couldn't share after just having been woken up. "You should have warned me you were such a sleepyhead" he teased her.

Not a morning person at all, she groaned at the idea of spending another day, a whole bloody day, riding to whatever place he was headed. Bridget was still lying on the grass, the very spot where the young man had decided to stop last night to camp and rest. Apparently Bridget had 'over-rested' and Fevian was so eager to keep on the move.

But why the hurry? She was clueless in that matter.

Being the perfect gentleman he was, he held his out to help her up. Sometimes Bridget couldn't decide if she found that kind of behaviour to be good or annoying.

"Good morning, my lady" he said with a smile and she accepted his hand and stood up.

Enough!

"Will you stop calling me my lady, please?" she said "I am no lady and my name is Bridget. Or even you can call me Bee if you want to, but please stop calling me that. My lady is just too irritating"