Third In Line

Chapter Forty Eight - Homecoming

The lock on her door took several tries before it finally clicked and let her in, so long had it been since she'd lived at Amner that even the locks had jammed up. The rest of the house was sparkling, kept to palace standards by the hired help that checked in on Amner when they were away, but they didn't check on Ellie's room. She'd kept it locked since last Christmas, the one time she'd exerted what little influence a young princess had over her parents' staff to keep them from disturbing her room.

It was like a sandstorm when she walked in, the door and draft of fresh air kicking up a years worth of dust and debris that floated around in the sun's rays like a swarm of flies. It was a sandstorm that threw her into the past, to when she was a ten year old to be exact. Even the clothes on the floor were still there, but Mum would probably wash them ten times before she let her were them again, or she'd just burn them. They were smaller anyway, and more childish. It had only been a year, but staring at her dust covered scrapbooks and stepping over her kitten covered jumpers, Ellie realised how much she could change in one year... even if nothing major had happened.

The sloping roof above her, the ledge by the window that she'd covered in cushions and stuffed animals, the handstitched duvet that Carole had made for her. It was her cosy little room, her home for the first eight years of her life, but after that it just seemed to get a little bit smaller every time she came back.

But Its still mine. My space. The beginning of my story.

Slowly she cleared away the clothes that covered the floor, revealing a carpet that hadn't seen the light of day in months. When she was done, the carpet was the cleanest thing in the room while her washing basket was the dirtiest. It only made room for her new clothes to find a place on the floor, in her cupboards and drawers, on the bed, on the desk. She pushed aside ten year old Ellie's clothes in the wardrobe and hung up her new things. It was hours before she was fully unpacked, had cleared away most of the mess and, at her parents insistence, had the room smelling like fresh air was flowing through once again.

I suppose I could have let them at least clean it, but they'd no doubt move stuff around, bin things they thought unimportant. I couldn't trust them to keep it as I wanted it.

She sat on her bed of cushions beside the window, looking out across the never ending expanse of fields and farmland that was on their doorstep. The grass outside looked glossy and gleaming, still damp from a recent shower. She always loved waking up in the morning and sitting there, gazing at that view that never changed. It always made her feel special, just as much as a royal balcony in the centre of London, or the gilded golden bedposts of her palace bedroom in Kensington.

"Hey, country girl." Her father called from behind her. The way he was leaning against the door frame made it obvious he'd been watching for a while.

"Hey, country boy." She smiled at him, turning back to her window.

Her Dad came in and sat down on the cushions next to her. "How many times have I walked by your door and seen you staring out this window?"

"A lot I bet" she answered.

He pointed to an empty hill in the distance. "They've cut down a couple of trees on the hilltop over there. You can see Flitcham much better now."

She followed where his finger was pointing to the southwest, to the small country town of Flitcham that was still mostly hidden amongst several hills and rises. The trees used to block the view of the town from her window, but now you could see more of the little cobblestone houses and thatched roofs.

Ellie clicked her fingers. Will furrowed his brow and stared at her until she explained with an awkward smile. "It's like my life switch, I turned it from urban to rural."