Lost (Parrlyn)

Chapter 14

A week had flown by.

I thought Anne would never stop crying.

She was almost swimming in buckets of her own misery and depression each day as the endless flow of tears continued to flow down both of her cheeks. She hardly slept, but stayed up all night hugging her knees and moaning. The usually bubbly essence that flowed around her had gone, and was replaced with a lethargic, moody, depressed and broken woman inside.

The rest of the family barely spoke after that. The silence was unending, deafening almost. It was something everybody in the household heard all the time, and everybody was too afraid to break it by saying something that would upset us all.

The only audible sounds I heard each day were the sounds of Jane coming back and fro from the shops to do shoplifting or SFOP duties, or it was Anne's sobs.

I sunk down onto my sleeping bag and I curled up in a frightened ball, feeling sick to the stomach of everything and everyone.

The Police had no luck in finding her. They searched everywhere, basically everywhere they had access to, but she was no where to be seen. They stopped searching after five days and moved onto more 'important' matters. Or so we were all told.

So I tried calming my mind down with meditation, like I usually do. But I couldn't focus on my inner core and mind, because Anne's sobs would crash me back down to Earth with a bang, reminding me that taking deep breaths wasn't going to find Lizzie.

I wondered at some points, if running and fleeing this family would help them all recover from their grief, but afterwards I thought against it.

They all had done so much for me, and it seemed almost rude and ungrateful to run off and purposely break our string of contact that we had between one another. I had done enough damage already.

Anne sunk down beside me onto the sleeping bags, her sobs wracking her body so much that she began to shake. I tried to drown her out by filling my thoughts with other random, unnecessary stuff, but I could still hear her sobbing away beside me, as clear as day.

I don't know what made me do it. Maybe it was the fact that she was Anne Boleyn. Or maybe the fact that I felt lonely. Or even possibly her heart breaking her sobs sounded. I don't know and probably won't ever know.

I turned over so I was facing Anne dead in the eye. She looked up reluctantly, only to give me a blank and empty and cold stare, which still scarred me to this day. I screwed up all of the lasting courage I had inside and I seized her hand tightly, as if it was made of glass and I didn't want to drop it.

To my greatest relief, she didn't resist. All she did was stare into my eyes, like she was searching for something. Something that was gone, and wouldn't come back.

'Anne....' I whispered, uttering the first word we had all spoken within a week. Anne's face almost shot to life at the sound of her name, and she looked up at me, her eyes wide with interest.

'Anne.....' I whispered again, edging slightly closer towards her. She didn't recoil, but she carried on eyeing me with that some intrigued look.

I took another awkward shift forwards until our noses were only one centimetre apart.

'Cathy...... What's happening?' She croaked before she was interrupted by another wave of tears. I reached up a hand to gently brush them away, and I gently ran my finger along her jawline. Then I gripped the sides of her face, enjoying the sensation and feel of her cheekbones. They were soft and so smooth, reminding me of the new bars of soaps that you'd find in the stores.

I was gaining confidence as the seconds ticked by. I played with her hair for a bit, feeling the silky brown locks brush against my finger tips, enjoying each moment. The corner's of Anne's mouth twitched slightly as I accidentally booped her on the nose, and due to the fact that she was no longer crying told me that, she was enjoying this almost as much as I was.

'All I know Anne...' I replied, in a hushed whisper, 'You're going to be safe along with your family, and we're going to find Lizzie. I'm sure about it.'

She locked her pinky finger onto mine, tightening her grip around my pinky until I let out a small wince in pain. She giggled softly, and snuggled up against my chest.

I didn't remember drifting off to sleep, but I remember waking up and glancing down at Anne who was fast asleep on my chest. I saw the rest of the family asleep some way across the room and I grinned, glad that they didn't invade both mine and Anne's privacy.

'Hope you slept well, Annie bean.' I whispered into her ear. I didn't receive an answer which made me smile even more. She had had her first proper sleep this week, and I was thankful that sleeping next to me had done the trick.

(I gave you a happy chapter. May I have my kneecaps back?)