The sun streamed through the window, catching the dust motes as they sailed towards the ground. Charlotte gazed at the blue, cloudless sky from where she lay in the bed. Birds soared in and out of her view. Yet their beauty could not distract her from the pain in her stomach. She could not decide if the knots in her gut were nerves, excitement or fear. Maybe it was even all three.
James was gone. He had whispered in her ear that he had to run some errand earlier that morning, kissed her forehead and had left. Charlotte had fought against waking. The sun had not found its way into the world then, and she was not ready to face it either.
Now she wished he lay beside her. Tomorrow she would be waking in her new home in France and he would be greeting the morning in England. It seemed impossible that they would not be together, but it was a step towards an end. It was a step towards a peaceful life together.
She dragged herself from bed and ran the shower. She stood gazing at her pale, tired appearance in the mirror and tried to imagine what her new life would be like. Clambering into the shower, she sighed. Her muscles trembled with tension. She let the hot water scour her skin. Closing her eyes she tried to think of a life without cameras and journalists. A normal life, where people would have to ask her name and where they would not presume they already knew her.
She turned off the water and slipped out of the shower. She wrapped a towel around her body and retreated back to the bedroom to get dressed. As she did so, she threw the windows open and listened. The birds sang as they soared through the air. She could hear the distant mumble of voices from the streets far below. It was a noise almost lost against the din of the city. Honking horns and revving engines made themselves heard too. The world below continued on, without little thought to the superhuman children enclosed in the city.
Charlotte shook her head, dismissing her thoughts and busied herself with getting dressed. She heard the door to the suite open as she dragged her hair into a heavy braid.
"James?" she called, leaving the bedroom and closing the door behind her.
"No sweetie – it's just us," Caroline said, her blue eyes crinkling at the corners.
Charlotte forced a smile as her parents and younger brother, Julian, stood watching her with happy expressions. Caroline hugged Charlotte, as she always did. Charlotte thought sometimes that it was a habit just to prove her daughter was actually there.
"I didn't expect you this early," Charlotte said trying to hide her sudden panic.
"Don't worry," Andrew grinned, as if reading her mind. "We're not about to whisk you away yet. We were down in the foyer. Seems to be quite a hubbub. That Mr Ramsey, and the others... Mr Fiennes and Mr Smith are in an absolute tizzy over something," he sighed. "They recommended we come up here and keep out of the way".
"Hope you don't mind," Caroline rushed, her cheeks blushing.
"Not at all," Charlotte smiled.
"Your room is huge," Julian commented, inspecting the suite. He was only eight, with large, inquisitive blue eyes and a mop of dark hair falling below his ears.
"Where's James?" Caroline asked.
"I don't know," Charlotte frowned. "He had to do something for Fiennes... or was it Maxwell? Maybe it was Ramsey... I can't remember. I was half-asleep when he left. I expected him back by now". She paused chewing her lip. "You didn't see him?"
"No - nobody was around downstairs," Andrew replied, his brow furrowed. "Even the press weren't crowding the doors today".
"Can I go onto the balcony?" Julian asked, already opening the door.
YOU ARE READING
Feared
Science Fiction'Play the game, she thought, remembering the only three words that had helped her to survive at Kingston. Only back then she had known the game, she had known what they wanted her to be, what they had wanted her to do - this man was different. She d...
