Chapter 3! Not a cheerful chapter at all, but I promise things will cheer up in the next chapter.
Once again, don't own anything, and Elsie is debateable for reasons already stated in the previous chapter.
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"Keep on making the same mistake Keep on aching the same heartbreak I wish "If only..." But "If only...." Is a wish too lateā¦"
Cut Here - The Cure
Elsie had been back in London a week, and was becoming painfully aware of all the subtle changes in her Gran. She wasn't as active as she had been. She slept a lot more. She was so pale. And then she found blood on her handkerchief when she was helping Jenny around the house.
A few days later, Elsie and her Gran were having there elevenses, when all of a sudden, Gran collapsed on the floor.
"Gran?" asked Elsie. No reply. "Gran? Gran! Jenny! Fetch the doctor! Quickly!"
But by the time Dr. Haggard got to the house, Helen Kingsley was well and truly dead.
The funeral wasn't a very big affair, just family and friends. Margaret and Lowell spent two days in London, and in all that time, Elsie only left her room when she really had to, which wasn't very often since she had Jenny put the boiling water for her tea outside her door. She packed all of her things into two suitcases, along with a few things in smaller bags.
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It was raining when Elsie arrived at the Manchester house, and Elsie had been wearing the black hat she'd made for the funeral. Her red hair was somehow controlled, her head was kept down, and she was wearing all black.
She'd finished the purple spotted bowler while still in London, and would, hopefully, continue to make hats where she was.
Elsie spent most of the fist day staring out of window and knitting the second sock of the pair. She didn't eat much of her dinner, and spent the rest of the evening lying on her bed. Margaret didn't bother her, thank God.
The next day it was sunny, and Margaret suggested that Elsie go out to the garden for a picnic. Elsie saw an opportunity in this. She packed several dresses into the picnic basket, along with Gran's photo album, the necklace Gran had given her when she was small and the blanket she'd been found in.
She went to the back of the garden, wearing her black dress and her purple spotted hat. It was here that she spotted a white rabbit in a waist-coat.
Something compelled her to follow it, she was running through the thick forest cover, positive that her dress was getting ripped as she went. She saw the rabbit hop down a rabbit hole and before she knew what she was doing, she'd followed it in and was falling.
As she fell, Elsie saw a grand piano, a bookshelf, and a rocking chair. She had to hold her hat on her head as she fell.
When she landed, Elsie found herself in a dimly lit room, with all the doors open. (A/N: I thought that since the White Queen was back in power and since There was an important missing child being searched for, they would leave the doors open). She chose to take the big door, leading into white halls.
When she looked back, there was no doorway, instead there was a huge mirror, and she couldn't get back.
On seeing her reflection, Elsie couldn't help but jump. She was paler than ever, her lips were bright pink and the gap between her two front teeth was more noticeable than ever. Elsie decided that since she already looked insane, she might as well undo her hair.
"There," she said as she pulled the last pin from the tight bun in her hair, "I think that goes very well with this look."
She couldn't help but look around herself in amazement, Elsie was in the most amazing building she had ever seen.
She was looking at a large statue of a chess piece (a knight) when a woman walked round the corner and saw her.
"Um, miss?" she asked, obviously shocked.
"Oh!" Elsie jumped. "I'm so sorry! I'm not supposed to be here, am I?"
"It's fine, you startled me, is all. What's your name?"
"Elsabeth Hightopp, but everyone just calls me Elsie. And you?" The woman could only stand there, utter shock written across her face. "Ma'am?"
"I don't believe it! After all these years, you're finally back!"
"Back? What on earth are you talking about?"
"Come with me!" The woman grabbed Elsie's picnic basket and her arm and dragged Elsie along behind her.
After several twists and turns, they stopped outside a large white door.
"Now," said the woman (who's name was Ruth, as she told Elsie on the way there), "You are about to meet the White Queen, well, I suppose you've already met her really. But you were only a tiny baby at the time."
"Wait, what?! A queen?! Maybe I should sort out my hair first."
"Nonsense, she wont mind."
Ruth opened the door and Elsie heard her proclaim: "Presenting Miss Elsabeth Hightopp".
She then heard the smashing of glass and someone collapsing.
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Okay, next chapter is going to be WAAAAAAAAAAAY more cheerful than the past few chapters J
