Chapter 1. The Wardrobe
Charlotte P.O.V.
Bombs. Bombs have ruined my life; they have scarred me for life. They took everything I loved away from me, my home, my friends, but most of all; they took the lives of my family. I can remember the day those dreaded things destroyed me, mentally and physically, like it was last night. Wait, it was last night.
~Memory~
I was peacefully lying on my bed, not bothering the world at all, reading my favorite book, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin, when I felt a small tremor run from the floor boards of my room and into my body. I looked around, confusion etched into my face as I tried to figure out what had happened, but as soon as it started, it ended. I shrugged my shoulders and turned back to my book, only to drop it a second later when an even more powerful tremor shook the house, causing dust from the ceiling to fall. Coming in through my window, was a bright orange light, the window shattered and an ear drum murdering sound.
"Charlotte?! Charlotte, where are you?!" My dad's British voice called down the halls, but I could barely hear if with all of the noise that was coming in through my window.
"Dad? Mum! Morgan!" I yelled, my hands pressed firmly to my ears trying to block out everything around me .I tried to stand up out of my bed, but a powerful shook wave was sent through my room and I collapsed onto the floor. My door burst opened and Morgan, my brother older by four years stood in the door way, ash was covering his body, making his usual black hair look grey. "Morgan, what's happening?" I asked him, trying once again to stand up and walk over to him. I got three steps before an even more powerful shock wave from the past two causing parts of the ceiling to start cracking.
"Char, we have to get out of here! We're being bombed!" What? Bombed? I knew a war was going on, but I never knew that they would try to hit London. "Charlotte, quit staring at me and come on, we need to get to the bomb shelter!" Morgan yelled at me again, walking into my room and grabbed my arm, dragging me out the door. But as soon as I was out the door and Morgan was about to come out the door the whole room collapsed with my brother in the room.
"NO! Morgan!" I sobbed trying to run back to the door way, but some one grabbed my waist and tugged me down the hall, away from my room, but worst of all, away from my brother. I turned my head, trying to see who was dragging me, but my used pure white hair got in my face; now my hair was covered in black and grey ask, making me look like a raven.
"Charlotte, stop fighting me, we have to get out of the house! It's on fire!" My father's voice said in my ear, once I heard this I stopped fighting him.
"But dad, Morgan's in there." I told him, turning around to face him.
"Sweetheart, Morgan's gone. We need to find your mother and get you out of her before the house collapses on us!" Dad yelled at me. I turned back to look at my used to be room and brother, but all I saw was bright orange flames licking up everything in sight and they were coming closer to us at a fast pace. I followed him out the door, but right before I was about to follow dad out the door, I was shoved in front of him and out the door.
"DAD!" I yelled turning around on my knees looking back at the place I once called home, but it was now just a large, one story house that was engulfed in flames. I stood up on my feet and attempted to run back into the house, but someone grabbed me and hefted me over the persons shoulder. "PUT ME DOWN, MY FAMILYS IN THERE, I NEED TO HELP THEM!" I screamed, pounding on his jacket covered back, but the person didn't react or flinch to my punching his back. "Please, they're all I have." I begged, tears starting to roll out of my black eyes.
"Miss we can't do anything about your family until we get the fire on your house out." The man told me, setting me down on the ground. I looked up at him and I saw he was wearing a mask and a very heavy looking outfit, I could only guess that he was one of the firemen. I nodded my head sadly, knowing that he was right. I sat straight down on the ground, not caring that I was still in my night dress.
~End of Memory~
Three more tears slipped out of my eyes as I thought of what they found in the house once they put the fire out. One tear for each of my family member's souls, yeah, Morgan, mum and dad all died in that bombing. "Excuse me?" A boys voice said, I turned my head away from the window and looked at the door way. In the doorway stood four people, two boys and two girls; the eldest was a boy, he had beautiful golden hair, bright blue eyes like when the sky is perfectly clear and he looked about fifteen years old. Behind him stood a girl most-likely the same age as me, her long black hair was to her elbows, her bright green eyes stared at me with a disgusted look as if I were some disease, but I guess I am one with my long unnaturally white hair and dark black eyes.
Another boy, no older than 12 stood behind them tugging the last girls hair. His brown hair stuck out of the hat he had pulled down to his ears, his chocolate eyes glistening with delight as he continued to pull at the smallest girls brown slightly curly hair. She wore a hat as well, but she didn't have it as low as the other boy, whom I guess was her brother. She looked up at the boy with the same brown eyes as he has, as well as skin tone and face.
"Are you sitting with anyone else in here?" The boy with golden hair asked me politely; I shook my head "no" and turned my head back to the window, watching the passing scenery, not wanting to talk to anybody at the moment. "Would you mind if we join you?" The boy asked me another question, but I gave no different answer, I shook my head.
"Peter, I don't like this girl." One of the girls, the older one I think, whispered to the boy, who seemed to be Peter, but it seemed like she wanted me to hear it.
"Why?" I wanted to ask the same thing, if she doesn't want to talk to me, why should I talk to her?
"Do you see what she looks like? No one has white hair like hers, and she eyes… they're black, all out black. I just don't trust her." Tears started to form in my eyes and they all threatened to fall over; I tried to keep them contained in my eyes, but they all started to pour out. I scrunched my eyes together, trying to prevent my eyes from flooding out, but it only made it worse. I opened my eye that was looking at them and stared at them out of the corner of my eye. They were still there.
I than did something that I haven't done in over 12 hours, spoken. "Well than you're going to have to get used to me, since we're going to be living together." I sobbed out before I buried my head into my knees, visions of the last moments I had with my family members flashed through my mind. I heard the door click, saying that it had been closed. I thought that they were gone, but when I heard the squeak from the seat next to me, I knew that they haven't left. Something started to tug on my sleeve where my location form was hanging, but I didn't look up at the person who was pulling, not wanting all of them to see me at my weakest point.
"Well Susan, you have defiantly made a first impression to her." Peter commented from the seat next to me. "You know, you're going to have to apologize to her, since she is going to live with us at Professor Digory's home." Peter continued. "Are you Charlotte" He asked me, I gave him a small head nod but nothing else.
"Told you she was a freak." The girl who didn't like me, Susan, muttered from across me. When this reached my ears, a sob escaped my mouth.
"Susan, stop. We don't need another Edmund." Peter said scolding Susan.
"Hey." Another boy's voice entered the conversation; I guess it was Edmund since his name was mentioned in Peter and Susan's conversation.
"Charlotte?" A small girl's voice asked my name, "Why are you here?" I lifted my head up and looked at the person in front of me; she was the smallest girl that Edmund was picking on. When she asked this dagger stabbed me in the heart deeply and then ripped a piece out, the piece that loved my family. I didn't answer her and promptly put my head back in my knee, taking deep breaths trying to stop my sobbing.
"Lu, leave her alone, we don't need to bug her more than she needs it." Peter's voice told the little girl standing front of me. After that, no words were spoken between anyone, but I felt Susan's eyes never leave my body.
-
All throughout the train ride, I hadn't taken my head out of my skirt covered knees. I was about to dose off, when I felt the train shutter to a halt jolting me back into consciousness. Someone gently placed their hand on my shoulder shaking it lightly. I brought my head up and saw Peter standing over me, with the other ones not in the room, "This is our stop." I nodded when he told me this and stood up. I stood up; I stuck my hand up above my hand and grabbed the handle of my suitcase from the rack above my head. I stepped out of the compartment after Peter and I followed him down the long dark corridor of the train until we came to a small door that lead out into the blinding light of mid-day. Peter stepped down and walked over to his three other siblings who were waiting for him at the other end of the wooden station.
I felt all of their eyes on me as I hopped down from the train with a large leap and walked to the opposite end if the platform. I plopped my back pack, full of nothing but a book, a pair of cloths and then the rest was air, down near the edge and then I sat next to it, my feet hanging over the edge, the tips of my shoes were touching the dirty beneath me. I heard the breaks of the wheels release and the train started to roll away. 'Well there goes my last chance the get away from the Pevensies.' I thought to myself. I heard a high pitched, familiar screeched of a Red Tailed Hawk. I brought my hands up to my mouth and made a similar noise to the one the hawk just made. It looked down at me and then it turned into tight spirals down ward towards me. It extended its legs and claws out as it came within five feet of my out stretched arm. Most people would freak when a bird of prey is speeding towards you with his claws looking ready to poke your eyes out, but dad taught me how to perfectly hold, care, and anything else to care and fighting with hawks when I was ten.
In a flash the hawk was on my arm, his claws wrapped around my forearm perfect. I don't think this is a wild hawk, since he looked well feed, well groomed and no hawk knows how to grab onto some ones arm without ripping it to shreds. And for the first time since my parents have died, I smiled. "Hello there pretty boy." I said to him in a calm, quiet and raspy voice, petting his soft neck feathers. Under my finger, I felt a rumbling sound, almost as if he was purring. I looked at him feathers, his talons, and his basic body size and then I determined that he was a young Red Tailed hawk, only a few more months until he was a fully-fledged adult hawk. "What's your name?" I asked him and he let a small screech from his yellow curved beak. "How about Morgan?" I said this and he let out a high pitched screech that sounded happy. He ducked his head under my chin and he rubbed his soft head under it. His head suddenly snapped up and looked behind me; me released my arm and took off in large spirals. I looked behind me and saw Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy all looking at me in amazement.
"Was that just a hawk on your arm?" Peter asked, grabbing my arm to inspect it.
"Yes I did." I said rudely and ripped my arm out of his grasp. I then heard a horse nicker and wheels bumping along a dirt road. I turned my head and I saw a chestnut coloured horse pulling a black leather buggy up the brown dirt road. In the driver's seat of the buggy was a woman who looked about fifty or something like that, her hair , that looked like it used to be blonde but now it had many streaks of grey running through it, was up in a tight bun and hiding in a hat. As the buggy neared, she pulled the horses reigns and the buggy slowly coaxed to a stop.
"Are you the Pevensies and Miss Fay?" We all nodded and she looked at us with a disgusted look that said 'Why are these dirty monsters going to be running around the spotless house I live in?'
"Yes we are ma'am." Peter answered for us all; she nodded her head then gestured for us to hop into the buggy. I was the first to hop up into it. The leather creaked underneath me when I sat down on it, I put my backpack down at my feet and then felt the seat sink from some else's weight. I looked over at the person who was going to be sitting next to me, and I saw Susan. She smiled at me when she saw I was staring at her, but I wasn't going to fall for her tricks. I grabbed ahold of Mrs. Macready's seat and I hefted myself to my feet; I set my foot on the edge and I leaped on the saddleless back of the horse. He flinched a little but once he looked back at me, and saw who I was, he seemed to be okay with me being on his back.
I turned my body and looked behind me, everyone was staring at me and Mrs. Macready had one eye brows raised, but she didn't say anything. "This is going to be a long ride." Mrs. Macready muttered in her slightly Scottish voice. I shrugged my shoulders at them, a smile grin on my face and then I turned back forward. The horse did a U-turn and then he started to go the way that he came from. I was fully aware about the fact that I was in a skirt, but I have a pair of shorts on underneath them, so it didn't really feel weird to ride saddleless. I leaned down on the horse's neck; I could feel his strong muscles contacting and such under my cheek.
"Hi beautiful, what's your name?" I asked rubbing my hand up her large neck, I felt something small, circular, and smooth run across the tips of my fingers. I furrowed my brow in confusion; I gripped the chain in my hand and brought it up to my face. There was a tag like thing in the center of the chain and a name was inscribed into it. "Strawberry. It fits you well." I whispered to Strawberry the horse, my eye lids growing droopier by the moment. And then the next thing I knew was that I was asleep.
I didn't dream about much, actually, I didn't dream about anything, which is weird since I have such a crazy imagination that's always active. I woke up sometime later, my head resting against someone's warm body. The persons arm were supporting my back so I didn't fall backwards and then his or hers other arm was underneath my knees. I kept my eyes closed so that they wouldn't drop me when they saw that I was awake; "You, the other young man, and this girl," When she drawled out girl, I was guessing she was talking about me. "Will be sleeping in this room. Then the other two young ladies will be down the hall." Mrs. Macready said this and the sound of a door opening could be heard all the way back in London, man that door needs to be oiled. The person who was holding me walked forward, probably into the room.
"Ed, put her back pack next to the bed over there." Peter's voice said, so Peter was carrying me.
"But I want the window bed." Edmunds voice whined at him and I had to hold back a laugh.
"No, you will sleep in the bed next to mine, so that Charlotte can have her own space." As Peter said this, I felt his body lean down, and my head lolled backwards. Peter's body was them quickly replaced with something else, something very soft. Peter's arms left my body completely; the rest of my body met a just as soft object that I was guessing was a bed. "Come on; let's go help the other girls with their stuff." Peter whispered before their footsteps walked farther and farther away from me, than the door slammed quietly shut. I opened my eyes cautiously, above my head was a white ceiling, the walls were all covered with paintings, tapestries or anything to keep you from seeing the actual wall. I sat up on the bed and placed my feet on the ground; I stood up and stretched my arms over my head and took three deep breaths.
I walked over to the door and opened it. I peeked my head out to make sure that no one was out there and then I walked out of the room. I started to walk around the cold and quiet hallways, trying to find something to do. I came across a small stair well that lead up to three doors. I grabbed the first door knob, hoping that it would turn, but when the door didn't budge, I knew it was locked. I did the same with the next door and got the same result. But when I tried the last door, I was surprised that it opened, since I was suspecting that it would be lock like the others. I pushed the door opened and I saw a huge room, it was dusty, dark and empty. The only thing that was in the room was a giant object that was covered by a white sheet that was covered with a thick layer of grey dust. I walked into the room more and slowly over to the sheet; I reached my arm over to it and gripped the sheet in my hand, causing the dust to fly everywhere when I pulled it off. When the sheet hit the floor and the dust cloud faded away, I saw the only thing in the room other than me. It was a wardrobe.