Standing outside in the cold night air; observing the stars up above with nothing but a skinny cardigan to drape over her pale shoulders, Sybil's mind quickly wandered back to the time when she last gazed up at them. When she first realised that she loved Tom. She couldn't keep him out of her mind. When his last letter was handed to her at breakfast, she could almost feel his soft hands which had folded it up and sealed it so neatly. She could feel his affection for her emanating off the paper as she got lost in his words in the privacy of her own room (if she'd even attempted to read it at breakfast she was sure her parents would've enquired about the writer of such a letter that made her smile from ear to ear). But that was a month or so back now, and Sybil couldn't admit that she wasn't the slightest bit worried for him. Nevertheless, she didn't bother herself too much with such a question, as she knew he was strong enough to take anything life threw at him.
Sybil heard a twig snap behind her as she was standing outside in the darkness, gazing at the stars. She quickly rotated round on her right foot, only to see the back of a very familiar person walking back towards the house.
"Branson! I didn't know you_"
"No it's my fault entirely milady." He said as he turned back round to face her.
"Really, there's nothing to be sorry for." She paused for a moment before saying, "Come here for a moment," and ushering him near with her index finger. He came and stood right beside her.
"What are we looking at milady?" He whispered as he watched her gaze rise from his eyes to the sky above.
"Up there…Orion. See?" She looked at his bizarre expression as he tried to make out the constellation. It almost made her burst out in giggles.
"The one that looks like a wonky egg time?" He joked as he looked into her eyes.
"A wonky egg timer?" She couldn't hold the laughter in anymore and she burst out with a lung full of giggles.
"Well it does doesn't it? You got the bit in the middle where it goes in a bit and the two large ends!" Seeing her radiant smile lit up the darkness more than all the stars up above, and hearing her sweet laugh meant he had to do the same otherwise he would burst.
"See there is Orion, there he's holding a lion in his hand and a club in the other."
"Ah! Of course. Makes more sense than an egg timer I suppose." Sybil smiled at him again.
"The myth is that he fell in love with Merope, the daughter of King Oenopion. However, her father wouldn't give his consent for the marriage and he made Orion blind." As she finished the sentence, it dawned on her the reality of the situation they were both in, unable to say how they really felt.
"Can you tell what your future holds just by looking at the stars here?" He questioned her.
"Can anyone?" She looked at him with a sense of meaning to what she had just said. "Can anyone predict what will happen to them? Even based on probability and chance?" Tom felt uncomfortable under her gaze whilst talking about this clearly distressing topic, so he glance away momentarily to shake her beautifully hypnotic gaze. "But I know you can by reading the dead flies on the car windscreen."
"Ha! Can I now? Well that's be a first. I know you can predict the future from…the number on a policeman's uniform as you're being dragged away from the riot and into prison!" He smiled at her again, this time gently placing his arm on her shoulder for a moment.
"Is that what you think of me? Is that what you think I am?" She flashed him an inquisitive smile.
"No! Of course not, I mean, I think you're…" He paused before he said too much.
"Yes?" Sybil could feel her breath hitch and the craziest feeling in her stomach as she hung onto every word he said.
"Well, I think that you are…" He took a deep breath, he mentally prepared himself to get a slap in the face and spoke, "the mos_"
"Lady Sybil?" Anna called out into the darkness, as Sybil gave Tom one last smile before calling out,
"I'm coming!" and making her way indoors.
"Lady Sybil?" Anna was doing exactly the same thing. Sybil's flashback was broken as the same piercing call came flooding into her ears.
"I'm coming!" She replied before heading towards the house.
Later that evening when the family was in the middle of eating their traditional roast, Carson burst in with a telegram in hand.
"For you milord." He spoke with the most decorum a man of his age could manage after walking at such a speed. Robert carefully ripped open the envelope and read to himself. The whole table had gone silent and sat there expecting to hear what was clearly important news. Robert's head fell into his free hand before declaring,
"It is with great sadness that I regret to announce the death of Corporal Thomas Branson, the Royal Irish Regiment."
Silence. All Sybil could hear was silence apart from her racing heart thumping away beneath her chest. She couldn't stand it a moment longer. Without any warning, she jumped up from her seat, stormed out the dining room, ran up the stairs, into her room and collapsed on her bed before bursting into heart-wrenching tears and leaving everybody at the table in utter shock.
"Why in heaven's name would Sybil do something like that?" Robert turned to his wife.
"My darling, she's lost a friend. It's completely natural that she's in shock."
