Amabelle

Chapter Fourteen

She'd just been getting accustomed to sleeping, but since this sudden appearance of this strange man, she had once again been rendered unable. She tossed and turned, hoping the pleasant darkness would ease her mind. It didn't. A small chink  of pale moonlight wormed its way through a gap in the curtains. Some movement in the corner of her eye distracted her from her intense staring contest with the plain ceiling. A shadow snatched away the light momentarily. She sprung to her feet, and in an instant was by the window. Empty blackness and the moon was all she could see. Disappointed, she drew the curtains tighter, and returned to bed. Although she knew her attempts to sleep were futile, she had to because the effects of insomnia were getting to her thought processing. After reading a terribly boring section of the evening's paper, her body finally acquiesced to a light sleep. Dragging herself back to earth was a task when morning came.

"Where's your father?" Amabelle asked glancing over the morning paper,  not interested in the contents in the slightest.

"Thursdays are when he goes into town on business. He left very early - he always does to get there on time, it's quite a while back and forth to London." Mable explained, intently buttering a piece of toast.

"It's why he schedules our afternoon of music lessons on Thursdays - he doesn't like to hear 'amateur' playing." Oliver added with a smirk. She could just imagine the ungodly sound he might make to annoy his tutor.

"I see. What instruments do you study then?"

"We all learn the piano. Then we have our individual instruments. I play the flute, Oliver plays the violin, and when Amelia's a bit bigger, she's going to learn the harp." Mable answered wistfully.; she seemed slightly jealous of her younger sister.

"I'm really excited, you see, mother is going to buy me one especially as soon as I grow big enough to play it!" Amelia commented enthusiastically. All Mable could think of was how her and Oliver's instruments were second-hand from relatives. At that moment, a figure flashed by, followed by Mrs Douglas in floods of tears. Amabelle found it difficult to suppress her curiosity.

"Why is your mother crying?" She blurted out. The children all looked down, mumbling.

"Oh, she's always like that..." Oliver trailed off. It was obviously uncomfortable for them to discuss the issue, so she quickly changed the subject and a jolly mood returned for the rest of breakfast.

Their lessons went by smoothly. The children wrote their various adventurous stories. However, none of them were satisfied, and wished to continue them before she read them. She promised they could write a bit more every Thursday until they were finished. None of them cause any antics or embarrassed her in the presence of guests. She was earning their respect, and they were now eager to learn.

The clock struck two and lessons ended. She had a free afternoon while they had their lessons, and she intended to explore the grounds in further detail. Pencil and pad in hand, she decidedly made her way to the forest, determined to enter, and maybe do a few sketches. Unfortunately, she bumped into the gardener. She was making a nasty habit of walking into people.

"Oh, I'm so terribly sorry! I'll pick those up for you!" She apologised, crouching down to gather the basket of clippings he'd dropped.

"Thank you MIss." He smiled slightly before frowning. "You weren't planning on visiting the forest by any chance?" He ventured, leaning forward on the shovel he had in his other hand. "It's just I'm afraid you're not allowed in there. Not that anyone who ever went in there wanted to go back again anyway. You see, many ancestors have been buried there, so it's a private place. Family members only. I'm not even allowed to tend the plants in there." He mused as she placed the basket in his hand. He smiled again and wandered off.

She checked he wasn't looking and ran into the forest anyway. She drew a breath as she was greeted by the most lustrously green and fertile sight she'd ever laid eyes on. She followed what she assumed used to be a path. She could see a pale blue light off in the distance. She took another step forward. The trees seemed to move their branches to block out all sunlight and a sudden through wind swept her backwards. Surely that couldn't be natural? She stood up only to be winded by another gust. The air had stirred up dirt that now blinded her as it invaded her eyes. She heard a deep rumbling, and could hear heavy steps coming towards her. She scrambled back up the track, feeling incredibly foolish. The thuds rocked through the ground and vibrated her very bones. She feared they might shatter her. The opening she'd come from was in sight, and she crawled to it, unable to stand properly, as ivy kept moving to trip her up. She reached one hand over the threshold and the light returned and thudding ceased. Warily she turned and saw the paradise that had greeted her, transformed from the living hell it had been just minutes ago. Confused, she rushed back inside to change - there would have been questions if anyone had seen her in such a tangle. Something clandestine was going on. Or had gone on. Perhaps she was disturbing something that previously lay peacefully. She dared not ask anyone about it...

AN

Hello my lovelies! Thank you for all the reads! :D

I know it's been a while but hopefully you'll not all have forgotten about this! Getting back into the writing groove! Just thought I ought to point out - none of the stuff I post (in general) is edited, it's all straight off the cuff pretty much. Just minor tweaks happen when I do the type-up. So, all editing will happen after I've finished this. (It takes me ages to edit stuff, so I prefer to have a finished body of work first.)

Anyways, will try to update again, but I've lost my master notebook with my story plan, so whoops... :/ Back to school soon, so I'm making no promises... :P

- Mirabel