Freedom

She pressed her face up against the glass; ignoring the mist her breath created; she was too intent on watching the couple on the grass. They wandered together by the huge chestnut tree that dominated the grounds. The man was of average height with dark, curly hair, broad shoulders and a dark countenance. His dark skin and stern face contrasted with that of the woman who walked by his side. She was a small, obscure creature dressed plainly and soberly in a grey dress, her mouse brown hair was tied back in a modest bun. Her skin was ghostly pale and coupled with her child like form she had an elfin appearance. As if she wasn't quite of this world.

She was clearly distressed, they halted and she turned towards the dark man, even from a distance it was easy to tell she was crying. Bertha Rochester watched as her husband pulled the small frame to his own, and pressed his lips on hers. Still the woman struggled and pulled free, he sat and they carried on their animated conversation, he took her into his arms again but they separated. The man turned to the moonlight and the woman studied his face, his cheeks were flushed and agitated as he waited impatiently for the woman to say something. At last she spoke, a smile broke across her face as she flew into his arms and kissed him passionately. Bertha also smiled, for months she had waited for this day but it hadn't come without some regrets.


Bitterly Bertha remembered she had met the dark man she now called her husband. Her childhood in the West Indies had not been a happy one and she longed to be free from the family that treated her with contempt. Her family had been cursed with a disease of the mind, for years now Bertha's mother had been incarcerated in a mental asylum. They all knew that Bertha was going the same way.

She sought her escape in men; her antics where famed throughout Spanish Town for men marvelled at her beauty, she brought shame upon her family. A wealthy English family were seeking a bride for their youngest son, they knew what Bertha was but he didn't. He was not to know until it was too late. Her dowry would be handsome for her father would do anything to rid himself of her. This arrangement suited both parties, it did not matter what their offspring thought of the marriage.

She was nervous, she was never normally nervous but this man would be different. This was the man she would spend the rest of her life with, to her he was freedom and that was all she had ever wanted. She entered the room and lifted her eyes to his in a seductive manned, they were bright, brilliant and coal black; but they too told of a haunted past. Her beauty had captivated him instantly, Bertha smiled to herself, he would be an easy conquest. She was never allowed to be alone with him for he was never to get a hint of what she was, what she would become. She pitied him because he was good and kind, before long the evil inside her would crush any gentility in him. Just as it was crushing her.

He was different from the others, he flattered her shamelessly but his intentions were pure. Before long they were married and the evil began to take over. She had never loved him but the poison in her veins made her violent, it would take over and she would fly at him. Her nails would claw at his skin and her teeth would snap at his neck, he was strong but he could not over power her without sustaining any injuries. The sight of the blood she had shed and the scars she had given him would cause a pang of guilt when sanity once again reigned supreme.

Still he was kind and gentle; she hated herself for causing him so much pain; she abhorred the evil in her soul. He awoke to her character and the reality of her condition; she watched his face crumple with the pain of betrayal and the realisation that he was bound to a madwoman for life. She watched as he flared with anger when she laughed at him because he could never have the loving wife he craved; but still he did not turn on her. He bore the pain and did not lay a finger on her even though the evil in her had driven all his love away.

Her madness drove her to seek comfort in other men; each new one brought a different sensation that brought a few moments of forgetfulness. Again and again he caught her with them for she did not try to hide her infidelity; again and again she drove the spear of hatred deeper into his heart. He shouted but that only drew the madness out, with passion and rage she attacked him. The poison had turned him into every man in her life that had wronged her. The father who hated her and beat her, her coward brother who did not protect her, the men intoxicated by her beauty who did not see her as human. He was none of these things but still the anger poured forth, the evil was in control and she could no longer recognise his goodness. In her calm hours she saw him deteriorate, his brilliant eyes dulled by alcohol and his body wasting away from the stress she caused.


"Come away from the window Bertha, the master will be angry if he sees you." The voice of Grace Poole brought her back to England, back to Thornfield. She was possessed more often than she thought clearly as the madness grew in strength. Grace has also changed in the ten years of being Bertha's gaoler, alcohol was her release and the evil caused Bertha to escape the prison and experience the freedom she craved whenever Grace had a drop too much. Her mind was imprisoned by the evil, her body was imprisoned by the room and her past was imprisoned by her dark memories.


The dark man had taken her away from the heat and the humidity, the rain that came down in torrents. Gone where the tropical storms that awoke the poison with their noise and colour. Here there was only grey. Grey skies and the drizzle that went on and on, damp seeping into every nook and cranny. When the sun shined it banished the grey and replaced it with green grass and blue skies that dazzled the eyes with their simple beauty. They calmed the beast inside of her, but time made it grow stronger, it was no longer pacified by the grey, green and blue. It burned white hot and angry, filling her mind with red, yellow, gold and orange. A fire inside her. Fire became her obsession and she steadily grew more and more dangerous. For hours she would stare into the hearth, the flames that mesmerised her reflected in her eyes. He would stay well away from England, away from Thornfield, away from her. Every so often necessity caused him to return, he would whirl in and out like a thunderstorm, hurriedly seeing to his business. Leaving unrest in his wake.

Then a soothing presence arrived in the house, Bertha felt the grey again, it cooled the fire inside her and calmed the beast. She watched the small, grey woman as she tended to the child in her care; she had transformed the cold house by filling it with warmth and affection. He returned in a blaze of anger but soon it was doused by the grey woman, he noticed the change made by one so small. Again the evil grew stronger and overpowered the grey; it rose to the surface once again. The dark man and the grey woman grew close, brought together by the loneliness and pain they shared. Bertha watched happily as love grew between them, she had hurt him for long enough and the grey woman made him happier than he had been for a long time. From a distance it was plain to see the emotion they struggled to hide from each other, the grey woman did not recognise what she felt but the dark man did.

The beast saw Grace fall victim to her gin and the anger boiled through Bertha's veins, her eyes were clouded by a red haze. She stole through the night into the dark man's room; the evil smothered any of Bertha's compassion. Her obsession consumed her and she watched the flames devour the bed where he lay sleeping. She turned and fled, the poison had been appeased by the brightness of the fire and its scorching heat. Bertha regained enough control to wake the grey woman and she passed her door, she would dampen the flames. Control the damage that Bertha had caused to the room just as she was repairing the damage Bertha had done to his soul.

The dark man stormed into her prison, his nightshirt dripping water onto the carpet, his eyes were burning. He had no words for Bertha; instead he turned towards Grace who had been roused from her stupor by his violent entrance. He did not shout for he knew that would only excite the evil that lay dormant. He hissed some threats into Grace's ear and her face grew pale, then he snatched the half empty bottle of the table and returned to the grey woman.

In the morning he was gone, the light left the house with him, the grey woman wandered the grounds alone looking pale and wan. He returned with others who dressed in bright, expensive clothing, they all wore smiles but there hearts were impure. One woman had raven black hair and olive skin, Bertha saw evil in this woman. She would not do any good. She clung to the dark man's arm and Bertha hissed with jealousy, not for herself but for the grey woman. In the grey woman she saw purity and strength, everything Bertha could never be. In the scarlet woman she was vanity and selfishness. The meek, plain woman and the proud beauty fought a silent battle for the dark man. One wanted his riches; the other only wanted his love. They embodied the two elements of Bertha that struggled for control of her mind. The scarlet always won.

The dark man left and a carriage came, bringing with it a sense of evil and a sense of home. Bertha grew wild, she howled round her room, the presence of the new comer pushing her insanity to dizzying new heights. Darkness fell and the poison sensed the new one draw closer and closer to her room. She howled and screamed at it to go away, to escape from the madness that claimed her. It did not heed her warning, the door opened and her brother entered the beast's lair. Bertha begged the monster that had control of her body to let her brother be, he was weak, a coward.

The fear emanating off him only served to drive the beast into a frenzy, it tore across the room and pounced on him. Again Bertha screamed at the insanity to stop but it would not listen, instead she howled, trying to form the words to tell him to flee. It was too late. She ravaged him with her teeth and a knife she had kept hidden amongst her possessions. The red of the blood that gushed from the wounds reminded her of fire and the beast grew more and more excited as it tried to get at her brother. It made her drink in the ruby red liquid, it stained her lips and teeth as she spoke in the voice of the evil. The hot liquid poured down her throat into her body and the beast inside her cried for more.

Her husband burst into the room and helped Grace in her frantic efforts to pull her off him. They succeeded in tying her to her bed while the monster inside her roared. He dragged the unconscious man out of the room and retreated downstairs where the anxious guests had gathered after hearing their cries. He retuned with the cooling grey presence and she tended to Bertha's brother, the creature returned to her core as the grey woman next door spread her soothing balm over the insanity. Grace saw she had returned to herself and untied her, the evil that remained snarled and rattled the door; it wanted to kill the grey that kept it under control. Like Bertha it longed to be free.

Soon the grey woman had gone, leaving the scarlet woman alone and unhindered, she simpered and flirted but the grey woman had already won the dark man's heart. The scarlet woman saw that his affections could not be won and raged, a plain, grey, poor woman had defeated the beauty and conquered his heart. Soon she left Thornfield with the other guests, all the while Bertha watched. The dark man wandered amongst the gardens alone and lonely, lost without the grey woman who was so dear to him. The day she returned brought a smile back to his brooding face, they radiated delight at being in each others' company once again. Bertha too rejoiced in her return, the grey soothed the evil that had grown angrier in her absence.


Now they had finally given into the emotions that filled them, giving happiness to each other when they had once been so sorrowful. They ran inside as the lighting flashed and the thunders rolled; the bright, white forks that tore through the swollen clouds and the deafening booms that accompanied them; awoke the monster in Bertha. It roared.

Four months later Bertha crept through the house, Grace had once again succumbed to alcohol and the evil made its escape. She held a candle and she entered the grey woman's room, the hot wax dripped onto her fingers but the poison had control and it did not care. The grey woman was gone and it was free, Bertha remembered the last time she had been in this room, the grey woman had been there then. Grace had told Bertha the dark man was to marry the grey woman and Bertha had to warn her.

She had watched her sleep, the beast tried to take control and kill her but it was unable to overcome the grey. Bertha wanted the grey woman and the dark man to be happy but he was tricking her and she had to know. She had opened the wardrobe and found a wedding dress, distracted she pulled the veil over her own face and looked into the mirror. The beast looked back at her; it had destroyed the beauty and left the insanity to shape her face. Then Bertha had seen that the grey woman was awake and she tried desperately to warn her. She had ripped the veil in two to show her the marriage could not go on as she was not able to form the words. She jumped on the two halves to reinforce the meaning, but the light streaming in from the window only showed fear and confusion in the grey woman's eyes. Bertha turned to leave and in one last desperate attempt to let her know she extinguished the candle in front of her eyes. Two days later the grey woman had left.

Now the beast flung the candle onto her bed and laughed as is saw the heat and light spread. It ran to the leads and listened to the commotion down below; this possession was different. It was more powerful than it had ever been before, Bertha and the evil worked in perfect harmony.

All her life Bertha had longed in vain to be free, when she would never be able to. She watched the dark man's despair after the grey woman's departure and knew he longed to be free too. He wanted to be free from Bertha, to be free to marry the grey woman who he truly loved. Bertha knew what he suffered, she would not inflict the same pain she had felt all the life on the only ones who had been kind.

She would not let the fire take her life, that would be letting the scarlet in her win for the last time. She would die on her own terms. Suddenly she heard the dark man's voice call to her, her mind screamed at him. She told him leave before the fire took him, she was doing this for him and he did not understand. But she only howled. Quickly she climbed onto the battlements, the sooner she was gone the sooner he could escape. Again he cried out but Bertha did not listen. With one act she could free them all; she leapt from the roof into the night sky. As she fell she was finally free, she broke the chains that enslaved them. Grace, the insanity, the dark man, the grey woman and herself. Her last thought was to hope that they would live to enjoy the freedom she had given them, the freedom she had always wanted.


A/N: Well as a few of you seemed to like this and wanted more experiments I decided to turn this into a collection of JE themed oneshots rather than publishing them seperately and annoying people with the amount of stories I have (I am addicted to writing and I always find people with a really long lost of fics really disheartening) besides if you like my experiments THAT much you can put it on story alert so you know when I post a new one, you can even suggest some if you want (I'm guessing you probably don't) anyway enjoy! and please tell me what you thing (it doesn't take long)