The Fifth Wife

11. Boardgame

Katherine Howard POV

I wake up and realize that Anne isn't jumping on her bed. I turn around to see her still fast asleep. Maybe I should jump on my bed... no... she'll hate me if I do... I quietly get up and go to the washroom to change. Afterwards, I walk downstairs to the living room. To my surprise only Parr is awake yet. I walk over to the couch across from where she's sitting and turn on my phone. After a while, Parr notices me and says,

"Oh, hey Kitty."

"Hi," I say back. Parr turns back to her book and I go back to my phone. We stay like this until Jane comes down to make breakfast.

"You're both up early!" She says seeing us in the living room. I nod and walk over to her.

"Do you need help?" I ask as she starts getting things ready. She shakes her head and says,

"I'm good, thank you for asking though!" I smile and sit down at the table. When we're all done eating Catherine surprises everyone by saying,

"I have an idea for today!" I look over at her as she continues. "There are a bunch of board games in the little storage room, we could play some." Everyone agrees and Anne volunteers to go grab some of the games.

"Kitty do you want to come with me?" She asks. The storage room is a small room under the stairs. It's very dark and messy. I don't like the dark... but Anne will be there. I shrug and Anne smiles as she leads the way.

"There aren't lights in here yet so we have to use flashlights! Like we're on an adventure!!" Anne says smiling. I shudder but take the flashlight and follow her. It's very dark in the room, but luckily the board games are close to the door. "Which ones do you think we should take?" Anne asks squatting by the games.

"Um... them all..." I respond quietly

"You okay? You sound kinda weird," Anne asks looking over at me.

"Huh? Yeah... I'm okay," I say, focussing on the light from our flashlights. Luckily Anne doesn't question me anymore and grabs the board games. I quickly run out of the storage room and wait for Anne to come out as well. She hands me the games and closes the door. We walk into the kitchen and join the others at the dinner table.

"How about we have an early lunch before we play?" Jane suggests. The others agree and we all eat before picking out a game to play. After much discussion, we decide to play a game called 'Say Anything'. We each ask a question to the group and everyone has to write down their answer and then we vote on who's answer is best. It's Catherine's turn when the trouble starts.

"If I could change something in my past, what would it be?" Catherine asks. Anna scribbles something down really fast and throws it on the table. Her board says 'Anne moving in'. I laugh quietly but freeze as I see Anne staring at the board. She wipes her board and starts writing something down. After a minute she throws her board into the table. It says 'Henry regularly sleeping with 5 other people'. Catherine stares at Anne, and Anne smirks back. Anna's response ends up winning the round, but Anne and Catherine aren't paying attention anymore.

"Actually Anne, I'll have you know it was only 3 people. You must be getting it confused from when he was with you!"

"Knowing Henry I highly doubt it was only 3, Catherine! I mean he tried to sleep with me like 10 times before we were married!!"

"You may not understand what an actual marriage is Anne, but some people RESPECT their partners!"

"Well it's obvious he didn't, isn't it!?"

"It's not like he didn't sleep around on you!"

"Not as much as he did with you!"

"Oh yeah... cause you didn't stay alive long enough for that!! And if I recall correctly YOU got killed because you were sleeping around on him!!"

"That's not even true!!"

"You still got beheaded."

At this point I run out of the room, feeling the tears streaming down my face. Without thinking I run to my old room and curl up on the floor. It's okay... they were just arguing like usual...

3rd person POV

Anne gasps and Catherine clasps her hand over her mouth, as Kitty runs from the room. Tears start welling up in Anne's eyes as she puts her hand up to her neck. Jane walks over to Anne and gives her a hug, looking disappointedly at Catherine.

"It's okay Anne... you're safe," Jane says to Anne. Anne nods slightly, hugging Jane tightly. The two stay like that, with Catherine sitting watching, until they hear Anna say,

"Where's Kitty?!" Jane looks around and notices that Parr is also gone.

"Parr's missing as well..." Anna runs upstairs followed by Jane, leaving Anne and Catherine alone.

"I... I'm sorry Anne... although it wasn't completely my fault, I shouldn't have said that." Catherine says quietly. Anne looks at her and shrugs.

"I... guess I shouldn't have attacked you like that..." She says looking down.

"Do you think we could try to get along? Not like friends or anything! Just for the sake of the others..." Catherine asks

"Um... I guess... just for the others!" Anne says nodding, then she holds out her hand to Catherine. Catherine looks at her and shakes it. Neither notice the both of them blushing as they touch.

Katherine Howard POV

I hear someone walking around upstairs and collect myself when I hear a knock on the door.

"Come in..." I say quietly, expecting Jane or Anna to walk in. Instead, Parr walks in and sits in front of me. She doesn't say anything, she just sits with me quietly. After a couple of minutes, I hear Anna yelling my name. I sigh and stand up, putting on a smile. Parr and I walk out of my old room and find Anna walking down the hall.

"There you are! Why are you with Parr?" I don't want to seem weak... but I swallow and say,

"Just needed some quiet... Parr found me." Anna nods and I follow her and Parr back to the living room.

"There you are! You okay?" Jane asks coming over to me.

"Yeah, I just needed some quiet," I explain. I sit at the table in my usual spot and notice that Anne and Catherine ended up sitting next to each other. Instead of fighting they both just kind of ignore each other, or act cordial when they do interact. After dinner, we all just head up to our rooms and try to fall asleep, which proves quite difficult as I think back to the argument.