Collection of Older Works

Flashbacks of a Fool: Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

Fluttering her eyes open, Annabelle was greatly confused.  Comforting warmth and softness enveloped her, as did the singular soothing sound of crackling fire.  Wriggling her toes, she snuggled further into the bed that molded her sore body, knowing one thing with absolute certainty; she was not in her own bed chamber. Her own were much darker and swamped by a bitter dampness. And heavens, the bed. Burrowing further into the cloud she lay on, Annabelle clearly remembered the bag of rocks her old mattress exemplified as it offended her body each and every night.

Drawing in a slow breath, the fresh scent of lavender filled her nose. Turning toward the soothing smell, a lovely arrangement of lavender and hydrangeas adorned the side table which ushered in added detail; she was not at Melbourne House.  Mrs. Melbourne wouldn't ever permit fresh flowers be spent on the likes of a servant, especially not Annabelle. But that being the obvious case, where in heavens was she? The last she could remember was-

Lord! Her breathing hitched. Shrouded memories floated about her head, some of dark carriages and cliff sides and-and running through the woods in the dark and...Nathaniel, Yes! Nathaniel had saved her from Lockley...Hadn't he?  Perhaps it had all been a dream? Yes, because if indeed all her recollections were of a sound mind, then that meant that Lockley was dead. Moreover, it also determined Nathaniel knew fully well who she truly was...

Annabelle groaned, irritably closing her eyes once more; all the questions being entirely too much on such a weary mind. There were other details to be sorted first, most importantly being, where on bloody earth was she?

Supporting her weary frame on one elbow, Annabelle attempted sitting up.  A sharp piercing pain stabbed her side, thrusting her back upon the bed, a loud cry penetrating the stillness.

 The door opened-

"Miss!" an exasperated voice shrieked, "Are you mad?!"

Gripping the bed linens in excruciating pain, Annabelle closed her eyes waiting for the paralyzing pain to subside. Little by little it diminished until but a blistering tenderness remained pulsing under her right breast. Surfacing once more, she noted an unfamiliar flushed face fussing above her.

"You mustn't move in your condition miss!" the older woman with bulging brown eyes reprimanded. Lifting the tussled blankets back over Annabelle, she adjusted the pillows beneath her head to encourage a more lifted position, "Doctor says you mustn't be allowed to move till he's had a proper look at you-"

Annabelle inwardly sighed, not having any disputes with the Doctor's orders. Her last attempt at sitting left her head whirling in the foulest of ways, an accompanying nausea looming near.

The strange gray haired woman continued, "Wish to get me dismissed do you? It was clearly stated you were to want for nothing."

"Clearly stated?" Annabelle echoed confused, her spinning head finally finding center, "Stated by whom? And where am I? And-and who are you? And what happened--" the abundance of questions leaving her winded.

"Now, now dear," the maid shook a frail hand in the air dismissively, "you'll tire yourself before you've even given a proper breath." Walking around the bed, she poured Annabelle a glass of water from the pitcher beside the lavender vase, "My name is Clara," she smiled kindly, "and I've been your nurse for the past two weeks."

Bloody hell, two weeks?! Annabelle's eyes widened but before voicing her shock, Clara shook her head solemnly and continued, "Dreaded condition you were in. Bruises and gashes everywhere," she shuddered "Oh the horrors you must have suffered you poor child. But no harm will befall you again." She smiled compassionately, patting Annabelle's crossed hands, "You're quite safe here."