The rocking of the carriage made me nauseated. Although I was seated I still wanted to support myself with my walking stick. I knew I shouldn't have gone into town today, judging from my unhealthy behavior this morning. I cant renounce now, because of the way I asserted Sebastian to let me come along. That would only make me sound debilitated and doltish. I found myself gazing down at the floor, trying to surmount the pain of my throbbing stomach. I hunched over and cocked my eyes shut.
"Just a little longer..." I kept telling myself. My body grew hotter and hotter. I began to breathe heavier. The carriage came to a thrashing stop. I perched my body upwards, suddenly able to conceal the murderous pain I had been feeling.
"My young lord," Sebastian said, lifting his hand out so I could exit out the carriage. "Sebastian, I would prefer to stay in here, if that's alright." I was hoping my unwellness wasn't showing, and that I hadn't stuttered. Sebastian smiled, "That's quite alright, master." He didn't argue or ask questions, I was relieved. Perhaps he assumed it was my casual laziness.
After he closed the carriage door, I felt something lift from my shoulders. I brought my legs upon the leather seat and applied pressure onto my stomach. What was happening? My gut felt like it was tearing apart. Now I wanted Sebastian more than ever. It hurt too much, I couldn't handle it. I felt my eyes begin to sting, and I broke down. My tears and spit was soon pooling on the leather seat. I yelled out in pain, I didn't, and couldn't, hesitate to think if I was disturbing others outside. My stomach now couldn't be relieved with pressure – and I thought I was going to die. I was terrified. Now I couldn't move at all. I sat there, my mouth was drying up and I was crying loudly and uncontrollably.
"Excuse me! Is somebody inside of here? Is everything okay?" A voice with a concerned tone rang through the cracks in the door. And with that, the door was then thrown open. At first, I was scared of what I saw. A lady with snow-white twig matted hair and a ratty dress rushed over to my body. I was so embarrassed. The leader of the Phantomhive family was now doubling over in pain and was being medically assisted by a bum.
"Oh, dear. Does your tummy hurt?" She tried to make eye contact with me, although I was extremely dizzy and beginning to hallucinate. She got on her knees and ruffled through her dress, and found a handkerchief that was surprisingly clean. She carefully wiped off my eyes, which continued to wet even after she wiped them dry. "Whoa. This eye...It's discolored." She said as she removed my patch. She only looked at it for a second, and continued to wipe off my face.
"Are your folks around?" She lifted me slowly by my shoulders and tucked me into her chest. I moaned a little, trying to say no, but she must've thought otherwise. "Then do you know where I can find them?" I nuzzled into the crook of her neck, only trying to sleep. I heard her giggle as she began to stroke my hair. What was I doing? I don't even know this person! I calmed myself down, and felt myself grow tired. She continued to caress me, which grew comforting, but was also very discomforting. If someone saw me sleeping on her? Would she get in trouble? My tiredness ceased me of all thoughts. And I gave in. I was going to fall asleep in a strangers' arms.
I cringed at the light that was peering through the carriage window. I was amazed at how much better I had felt. As I was about to rise, something was holding me down. The lady. There she was before me, sleeping but with her eyes slightly opened. I slowly rose myself onto my elbows. I was frightened to wake her up. I sat up and removed her arm from my backside. Surprised, she woke up with a gasp. "Ah – I'm sorry..." I said, avoiding looking at her in case she was angry. "It's okay! You look so much better!" She encouraged. I looked down and blushed. "I-I'm really sorry for what I made you do." I said, looking curt. She smiled and gave me a pat. "It's alright! I just didn't want you to get hurt!"
I allowed her to continue to cuddle me, only because that is the only thing she seemed to want in return. "Young lord?" Sebastian's' muffled through the closed door. "Sebastian. Come in" I said. The girl who was holding me dearly gave an expression of fear when Sebastian was allowed inside. I quickly made eye contact with Sebastian when he entered the carriage. "Excuse me...Master?" He said, pointing to the girl that was sitting next to me. When I cocked my head in that direction, what I saw there wasn't the girl, but rather a snow-white feline, curled up, licking her paws. "Master, can you explain?" He wasn't as unhappy as you'd expect, considering the fact that she was a cat.
"I don't even..." I started, but I didn't want to rat-out this shape-shifter and I didn't speak any further. Sebastian held her in his arms with joy, and began to cuddle with the precious feline. She meowed in return. But before their eyes, the white Persian wondrously transformed into the white haired girl who basically saved his life.
The two stood in awe, the girl waiting to be released from Sebastian's grip. "Sebastian." She said, assuming that it was his name, "Can you let me go?" Sebastian slowly put her on the floor, remaining silent. "Young lady," Sebastian began, "Could you do the favor of introducing us to yourself?" He asked with as much politeness as possible.
"My name is Alice Young. I helped this boy because he was suffering." She said, quite boringly. Sebastian's eyes jolted to Ciel. "Master, you should have told me..." I nodded, with some guilt and unhappiness. "Guess I'm leaving now?" She headed for the doorway. I was startled by her sudden leave. "Wait!" The volume of my voice surprised her. "I would like to invite you to stay in our manor..." I only said that to cover up the fact that I wanted to know more about her...and that I would sort of miss her kindness. She gave a sincere smile. "I would love to." She clasped her hands together in delight. "I suppose you need help retrieving your things?" Sebastian asked. "Well," She began, "I don't really live anywhere, nor do I have 'things'." She looked at her feet in shame.
I picked up her head. "All the more reason for you to come with us."
When they arrived at the mansion, Alice managed to ignore the gloomy outlook and was able to admire the size. "This house is so big!" She grasped onto my arm in delight. "Oh! I can't wait to get inside!"
The house was decorated so very neatly, not only that, it was clean, and it smelled good. She flew around trying to get to know the place. "Ciel, this is just so lovely!" She threw herself into my arms and gave me a hug. Next, she gave Sebastian a hug, which left me in some confusion. Sebastian was uneasy by the gesture of 'thanks' he was given.
Me and Alice were sitting in my study, which is where I was asking questions about her.
"I understand that you can change your form, correct?" I asked her.
"Right" She nodded. "I am assuming you can only change into a cat." I was hoping, at least. "No." She said, she began to take it a little more seriously.
"What do you mean, 'no'?" I asked in concern. "I can be a dog too." She said trying to smile, or treat it like a joke. Great. Wait until Sebastian finds out. "You see," I was interrupted in thought as she began, "At a young age, I will say 6 or so, I was introduced to a magic my mother practiced." This was beginning to disturb me. "She said that I couldn't tell anyone, or the devil would get me."
As frightening as it sounded, I kept in mind that I made a contract with a devil myself. "When I was 8, hypnotized people. Then I usually killed them for pleasure." She mumbled most of her sentence. To top it all off, she was beginning to cry because I could hear her voice cracking up. "I did a lot of things were I worshiped Satan. And I felt myself become one. A demon, I mean." She began to sob. "I-I killed a lot of p-people...for no r-reason..." I showed little to no remorse. Which made me want to punch myself in the face.
I didn't know exactly what to do, so I toppled around my desk to get to her.
She reached out for me, her eyes pouring with tears, grabbed onto me and pushed me onto her. Her arms were firmly attached to my waist. Her grip on me went loose and she cradled her head in her hands. "I'm-I'm so sorry." She said wiping away the corner of her eye with the palm of her hand. "I don't want you to feel bad." She looked at me and smiled, "Come here, Ciel." I lowered himself into her arms. She was surprised at my cooperation. Excluding that, she grasped me and hugged me back. I sunk into her lap, which she encouraged.
"Ciel..." She whispered. I felt my heart racing. My face was turning hot. She lifted her head and supported it on my shoulder. "I love you very, very much!" She snuggled into my neck. At first, I took it seriously, but eventually I realized that she meant in a motherly way. She slowly let go of me, allowing me to get back to my seat. The red in her eyes left a sign that she had been crying. Although she was obviously sick to her stomach, she forced herself to smile. Suddenly, our miserably sad moment was then interfered with a light knock on the door. Slowly, it was opened by Sebastian, peering his concerned face through the opening.
"Young master. Is everything alright?" He slowly rolled in the tea cart, pausing for only a second to look at Alice, who was reclining sideways on the chair, panting. "Whatever is the matter?" He said, arranging the tea and cakes on my desk. When she didn't respond, Sebastian keeled over and smirked. "Did my young master do something to you?" He sneered. I could tell my face turned bright red by the flash of heat I suddenly felt.
"I-I did not, Sebastian!" I fidgeted. Sebastian only smiled. Still leaning over her, Alice poked roughly him in the chest. "Be nice." She said, firmly ignoring his glare. He lifted his body from hers, gave her another look, and exited the room soon after.