Chapter 3: A Rose for Emily
A/N: So it's been a while. (Because my mom took away my computer..) And during that time, I kept thinking maybe this story was bad but I got a lot of great reviews and now I'm happy! So here goes Chapter 3!
Barkus scowled as he ripped the dusty curtain back to its place, making the room dark and dingy again. His mind was spinning, it was her. Really her… He thought he had killed her. No wait, he HAD killed her! He had made sure! And yet there she was, walking and laughing with that scum of a person. He now knew that he either had to kill that scoundrel off, or run away. Although running away didn't seem like a bad idea, Barkus's pride took the better of him. He grinned an eerily creepy smile, forming his fingers in a steeple. He knew just how to make it look like an accident.
Meanwhile, in the Van Dort mansion Emily spun a tall tale of where she had been all this time. "...looking for him, but alas I realized I would never find him. So I left and came back home." She wiped away what looked like to Nell a tear of sadness when really Emily was angry. Her emotions were taking over and she had to excuse herself from the room and she rushed to the farthest room.
Emily quietly forced the great wooden doors shut behind her and picked up a pillow, screaming silently into it. She heard the clicks of footsteps and then a few knocks.
"Miss Emily, are you alright?" She heard Victor's muffled, soft voice through the doors.
"I'm fine!" Emily called back and sat down sobbing. Victor opened the doors and awkwardly bounced back and forth on his feet. His mother had made him come down here but he insisted he had no idea what he was doing. Somehow, with her, he did. He picked one of the dried, sweet roses from a vase and gently sat next to her.
"I told you I was perfectly fine," she snapped harshly.
Victor jumped at her tone, but then eased. He twirled the flower between his forefinger and thumb, the momentum making some of the pale petals fall to the floor. She watched him intently, slowly calming down.
" I'm quite sorry. About what happened to you, I mean." Victor finally said after a time of silence.
Emily shrugged and sighed. "Some things happen for reasons unknown. This was one of those moments."
Victor nodded politely and stood up, walking towards the piano. Emily gasped, not knowing it was in here. She must not have seen it in her rage. She watched as Victor sat down and warmed up his fingers. Sour and Soft notes flowed out of the instrument, and Emily laid on the couch and stared at the ceiling. Music swirled around her head and into her ears as she nodded off to sleep, the familiar sounds of Downstairs flooding her dreams.
Victoria paced back and forth, waiting for Father to arrive when her father steps in. She jumped at the sound of slamming doors and dropped her eyes to her father's level. "Victoria my dear! Your mother and I have excellent news!" He waddled in, Lord Barkus behind him. Barkus walked around her father and snatched her hand into his and kissed it. Victoria pulled her hand back quickly as if his lips were venomous fangs. A vague look of disgust crossed over her face but it disappeared just as fast as it came.
"You're to marry Lord Barkus in a fortnight. You hear me young lady?" Victoria's mother snapped as she clacked into the room. Victoria gasped and sputtered. "W-What!? I absolutely will not!" The three argued on and on and as it came to a close, Victoria grew much more fearful as Lord Barkus became much more smug. He knew they would never let their little girl marry some twat like Vicky*.
Victor sat there in his study, looking out the window to Victoria's. He could see that she and her parents were in the middle of an argument, which was a common sight. But oddly, he then saw Lord Barkus. He was looking straight at Victor with a menacing grin. Chills ran down his spine. "I wonder what that was about?" He asked himself as he got back to work in his journal, completely oblivious to what his unknown nemesis was planning.
