Black December Rains

Of pain and pleasure.

Chapter Five (I)

“Of pain and pleasure”

(August, 1841)

The doors and the windows of the Thomas Manor were rattled by a scream in the wake of one evening.

A scream so painful and horrifying that all the things that were made of glass in the house broke with its effect.

Zeph heard all the commotion and she ran outside from the back door of the house, towards the part of the woods that looked especially horrifying at this time of the evening. She asked the cook to follow her and he did come behind her in, but in a fearful demeanor. The sun was settling down leaving behind it a faint orange glow which when came down on the forest floor covered in dried yellow leaves, through the dense leaves of the trees created an enchanting effects in the woods but not in a good way, never in a good way.

She ran huffing and puffing all the way in the direction in which she had seen her mistress wander off sometime back. She wanted to scold her, like she had done so many times before while reprimanding her against going in the woods especially alone but this woman was butt-headed and never listened to her. Zeph understood that she was a woman of city, and an educated one at that. She had her own set of thoughts too, but still she expected her to sometimes listen to her. After all Zeph was a native, and she knew things that she did not.

She quickened her pace, lest any harm should come to the pregnant woman, god know that she was already in a very fragile condition. These city people were very careless and to some extend fragile, they did not know how to take care of themselves. They opted for medicines and other stupid new age things rather than good and healthy food. Never in her life had she seen children as under nutrition as these. In spite of having so many resources at their disposal they just didn't know how to use them. Zeph wanted to take care of the kids too, but they were stubborn like their mother.

Zeph noticed a figure move in dark before she heard a sound of thud from the same direction, it sounded as if something or someone had fallen down, probably unconscious. Prey, that wouldn’t be her mistress. The lady didn’t know what was good for herself or the baby she was carrying in her. She quickened her steps a bit more, picking up her skirt in one hand lest she slipped on the cloth and the lantern in the other hand to help her see in the dark lest she injured herself too. As she moved forward, she felt like the woods getting thinner. She was right as she came to a small clearing very soon.

It was strange, for the clearing looked natural, yet deliberate as she looked closely at the ways the woods surrounded the place covering it, somehow hiding it. Zeph stood on her tiptoes trying to position the lantern the highest she could, so she could see in the ominous dark that covered the whole place. Few feet away from herself she found a lump lying on the forest floor, she went near it and as she feared. The lump was nothing else but her mistress, lying unconscious on the forest floor covered in dirt and dead leaves.

“Ahh, poor woman, come on Renold help me pick the mistress. We must take her to the manor at once. I gear for her child.” She clicked her tongue and beckoned the cook with her hand. He was a shy one, a young man with the fear of the god. He knew stories of these woods and was shaking with fear as he helped her pick the mistress up and then took her weight on himself.

“Renold, do you think you can hold her weight child? One of us must lead the way.” She spoke to him calmly, in case he got frightened more than he already was.

“Yea, lead the way.” Zeph looked at the cook carefully he was one strange lad, he barely spoke anything. Stranger thing was that his tone had a French touch in it.