Alone in the Darkness
Alone
Chapter I
By nerdwitch
It was a no extraordinary day for Anna. Lying to her bed, she's looking at the peacefulness of the outside world through her window. Her maid must've opened the windows while she was asleep. The blue sky makes her relax and the morning wind blankets her fragile body.
"I'm surely missing all these things when I'm gone..." she whispered.
She heard some chirpings of the robins in her windowpane.
" I wish that my next life would be like you, my friend...no cold walls and floors will lock me...no ailment will stop me from living...I'll be like you...flying in the sea of sky...enjoying the freedom you're having..." she murmured in her bed watching the robins as they kept on chirping and wiggling their small body.
Her self-thinking was interrupted by the knocks on the door. She positioned herself to sit.
"Come in" she said.
"Good morning, my lady." Jeanne greeted as she popped her head from the door and walked straight at the left side of Anna's bed carrying a tray of food.
Lady Anna raised an eyebrow, "Jeanne, how many times have I already told you to stop calling me like that? You are my friend and friends don't call each other in that sort of way."
Jeanne smiled and bowed, placing down the tray on Anna's lap. "It's been 16 times now, my lady. And as long as I remained as your personal assistant I am willing to call you in that way, Lady Anna. Otherwise, if you make yourself stronger and perhaps try to go out of this mansion, you won't hear anything that you don't like to hear."
Lady Anna looked at the windowpane with a face of sadness...
"Before that happened, I'll be gone for sure. I can no longer hear you calling me ' Anna ', Jeanne" Anna told her.
"But my lady, things gonna be alright for sure. Just look at the positive side of life. Surely, the light of hope will give you the strength and courage to face all these trials that just comes along your way." Jeanne stated.
With a heart that's full of hopelessness, Lady Anna answered, " I can no longer see the light, Jeanne...no longer...the walls hide it from me...the cold wind blankets me with doubts and fear... There's no more left for me...no more..."
Anna looked down, staring at the food that she doesn't feel like to eat. She feels helpless...she feels that she's all alone in her battle in life...she neglected that she was born on this world...she feels that no one cares for her...no one...
"And who said that's no more left to you?"
Lady Anna and Jeanne looked at the door and saw Eliza; Lady Anna's personal nurse was standing there...smiling...
Eliza continued herself, "Lady Anna, the world is round, you might be experiencing several heartaches and pains right now but don't forget that the world will go on turning..." She came near to Anna's right side bed. "This time may not be yours but sooner or later your time to enjoy life will come unexpectedly, without any banner, without any wakeup calls...so please, Lady Anna...don't give up that easily."
"Eliza..." Anna whispered.
"Miss Eliza, thank goodness you came!!" Jeanne ran towards Eliza's side.
"Jeanne, Kino said that she needs you in the door entrance." nurse Eliza told Jeanne.
"Ok..," Jeanne said," Lady Anna please eat your breakfast. Just ring the bell if you need something."
Lady Anna just nodded her head and Jeanne left the room.
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Kino was giving instructions to the other maids as Jeanne entered the scene.
"Madame, Miss Eliza said that you need me here" Jeanne said politely.
Kino finished first her instruction before facing Jeanne. After the maids were gone, Kino looked at Jeanne from head to toe, "The young master will arrive an hour before now. I want to make sure that everything will be alright...you need to be here before he arrived."
"Young master? And who may that be?" asked the puzzled Jeanne to herself. "I never heard of anyone paid a visit to Lady Anna since I started working here."
"Madame is she a relative to Lady Anna?" she asked curiously to Kino.
"He is Lady Anna's cousin. I don't want you to linger around while he is here. Do you get what I mean, Jeanne?" Kino stated
"Yes...I understand Madame"
"You're a good girl, Jeanne. It's just that I don't want anyone here get involved with the family." Kino explained.
Jeanne nodded, "I know Madame Kino. Maids and other servants are not allowed to have any affairs with the family and their relatives. That's a rule."
Satisfied already from what Jeanne said, Kino passed through to Jeanne.
"Madame, what do you want me to call to young master?" Jeanne asked immediately before Kino takes a further step.
Madame Kino stopped and halfway faced Jeanne, "You'll call him 'Master Lyserg'."
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In the meantime, Eliza was checking Lady Anna's temperature and blood pressure.
"So how come you didn't even touched your breakfast, Lady Anna?" Nurse Eliza asked.
Lady Anna lowered her head. "I don't feel like eating. I'm not hungry." She pushed the tray aside.
Eliza took away the tray in her lap. She started questioning her about what she feels. "Have you felt any dizziness these past few days?" She finds a chair and scrabble her notes.
Anna laid her back on the bed. She thinks for awhile..."perhaps in the morning."
"And?"
"Only in the morning."
"Are there any pains or something you feel?"
"My back aches."
Nurse Eliza continued questioning until she finished. "That's all I need to ask." as she arranged all her things. She smiled at her, which she was given a smirk in return. "I'll be seeing you later, Lady Anna."
Anna faced the left side of the bed in which the window can be seen. Still, the blue sky was still there, the morning wind was now a soft air; the robins were gone..."how can I be one with nature? Is death the easiest way to be united with them?" she asked herself and then she remembered something. She turned to look back to Eliza who was already to go. "Where's Faust?"
Eliza turned her head to her, "He's on his way here. Your housekeeper just has to tell him something...is there anything you want?"
Anna shunted her head and turns her back on Eliza. The nurse shrugged herself and head out the door.
So Faust will be here any minute now...
He'll be telling me that any day now...no...only hours...
I'll be leaving...I'll be dead...
I'll be leaving this dreadful place...!
Anna chuckled a little...
I'll be meeting my mother...
My mother that I've never seen before...
She held a tight grip on her blanket...her mother that she never seen before...not even on an old picture will do...she was been in the care of her old nanny since she was born...no motherly care that she experience except for the love of her nanny...her father was working in and out of the country...no fatherly affection was felt by her...all was take charge by her loving nanny...
But things are meant to last.
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FLASHBACK…
It was a rainy evening when she kept on looking inside the house for her nanny. She wanted her to read a fairytale for her. She kept on looking in every room...in every corner...but no nanny came. She called her name inside and out, but no response was heard. She asked every servant, every maid...but all she received was a sad look on their faces not even a bit of their voice was let out...Until she end up to ask her housekeeper about her nanny.
"Where's my nana?"
"Young lady, you need to rest now."
"I said...WHERE IS MY NANA!!" she yelled impatiently at Kino.
"Young lady…your nanny...no, it's not a good thing to tell to a child. Young lady, sleeping time has already arrived. Go to your room now or I'll tell it to your father that – "
"I don't care whether you tell this entire damn thing to my father or not!!! All I need to know is where is my nana!!!"
"Young lady, calm down. Ok, if that's what you need to behave yourself. Follow me."
Kino had no other choice but to show Anna her nanny so that she won't show her bad temper. They arrived in a room where there were still other maids and servants who were all weeping and comforting each other. She didn't care what the reason of their sorrow is. She followed the trail of her housekeeper in a small bedroom. In the bed was her nanny...she ran towards her thinking that she was just sleeping...
"Hey!! Wake up nana!! You haven't read me a story. Wake up!!" Anna moved the body of her nanny. She didn't receive any response from her. But she still continued to wake her up. "You mustn't sleep before me...hey wake up! Nana!!" she stomped her feet.
"Young lady...your nanny...she had passed...she..." a maid sobbing from tears can't continue what she wanted to say.
"What do you mean that she had passed?" she turned to the maid. "Did she try to find a new job and was been qualified?"
Kino placed her arms around Anna firmly. "It means that her time had just arrived to leave us, young lady. She'll be staying in a place where peacefulness and happiness reigns. Where all things are beautiful and people are tend to be so kind and friendly and all..."
"No! That can't be!! When she wakes up, I'll tell her that I won't allow her to go...she'll be here!! She won't leave us!! Never!" She pointed out.
"No...she's already...dead."
"Dead…?" she froze from her feet. "That can't be! She's just...just..." tears now running in her cheeks...she just can't stop from crying. She holds her nanny's hand, its cold...colder than ice. She felt that her world sunk in a vast ocean and she couldn't bear what she had heard...what she see..."Everything was just...just a nightmare, yes! A nightmare! I'm just dreaming all of these things because nanny hadn't read me a story, right Kino? Tell me!!" Still tears continue to roll down.
She looked at Kino who's weeping. She's still holding her in her arms. "Young lady, this...isn't a nightmare."
Anna's world began to fall..." NOOOO!!!!"
Her nanny died from heart attack that no one even knows that she had one. The burial took place when the sun arises. Relatives of her nanny came and immediately disappear after the burial.
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Anna came back from reality when she felt a hand touched her forehead.
"Hmm...Temperature is fine. Still normal."
She faced him and said, "What took you so long?"