Chapter 10: The Winston Cottage

The cold wind persisted as Emma made her way through the scattered refuse. Some lopsided apartments greeted her view. She narrowed her eyes. A tiny bulb glowed at the end of the passage. Shining radial light lit up a part of the modestly tall wall lying on the opposite side. "Ah... that should be it..." She quickened her pace.

Nothing had changed over the last three years... the broken flower vase, with its mud spilling out, lying unperturbed on the floor beside the door, or the dusty window with one quadrant missing and the matching shards littering the ground, or the cobwebs that decorated the corners of the windows and the door, more thickened with age, or the skewed nameplate that hung loosely above the bulb reading "The W nst n Co t ge" with the 'i' and 'o', lost over time and 't' and 'a' en route to fading away into the background.

Emma stood before the door, the same as she had stood three years ago. Only this time, there was no Rebecca beside her. She lifted her hand... hesitated... her mind was still feverish from the rekindled memories of this world. She bit her lower lip. "There is no turning back... come on hand... move a little... the 'you' now can manage anything... come on... just a little..."

Meanwhile, two sparkling ruby eyes descended stealthily on the wall, introspecting the human in the front. The tail, swayed furiously in the air, as the animal crouched comfortably on all four legs. 'Meow...'

Emma, startled, spun around to face the unexpected company. While doing so, she lost her foothold and 'Thud!' she fell on the door. The knob popped out, the hinge came off and the moldy door came crashing to the ground, with Emma partially resting on it. 'Aaahhh...' a cry escaped her mouth...

After a brief period of 10 seconds, which seemed like forever to Emma, the still dark interior suddenly came to life. The light flooded the hallway and a grumpy little woman came rushing to the scene, her stifling night gown and oozing blobs of flesh flailing haphazardly behind. Tiny heads peeked from above the staircase, hushing among themselves, having awakened... not by the sound of the door crashing but by the footsteps of the old woman that sounded like mad elephants out on a rampage. "This is bad... " Emma muttered, still unprepared to meet the old woman.

'Jesus Christ!' The old woman swooped in like a falcon on its prey and straightened Emma by her elbow... 'What have you done, you demon kid? Have your parents never taught you the difference between knocking on the door and knocking the door itself?' shrieked the hysterical woman. Her voice exploded into Emma's ears as she gently swiped the droplets of spit that fell carelessly on her cheeks. 'You know it is a crime to break into someone's house, don't you? I could get you arrested for this... look at what you have done...' rambled on the old hag.

Emma grieved at the unexpected turn of events. She had definitely not planned on getting shammed on the day she had decided to come back to this world. Not like this at least...

"Damn that cat!" Emma looked at the wall. There was no cat.

'Hey... hey.. I am talking to you. Are you deaf?' The woman pinched Emma's ear. She scowled at the woman. Enraged, the woman slapped Emma's cheek. She fell to the ground.

'How dare you! How dare you scowl at me? Who do you think you are? The princess? Where are your parents? What are you doing here at this time of the night? Spill the beans or I will call the police!'

'Please... ' begged Emma, her pale cheeks turning crimson. 'Please don't call the police... '

Pleased with the reaction, the woman softened her expressions. She spoke again, feigning a gentle voice. 'Are you an orphan?'

Emma nodded.

'Where do you come from?'

Emma was silent.

'Not that it matters anyway... lonely dogs like you can always find shelter in sacred places like this...' continued the woman, scrutinizing Emma from top to bottom. 'I could give you shelter if you like... and not call the police... only...' she paused, narrowing her twinkling eyes that were dripping with cupidity.

Emma looked up anxiously, tears streamlining her lower eyelids.

'Only if you are willing to give me your dress and that necklace as payment for the damage...' snickered the old woman.

"Holy Crap!" a voice screamed inside Emma's head. She had been so caught up with the situation, she had completely forgotten how greedy that twerp had been. She was devastated. She helplessly looked around for excuses. Nothing came to her mind. "Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Why has it turned out like this?" she clutched her locket tightly.

'I will... I will... work hard and pay for the damage. Could you please... let go off the locket? It's... it's a family treasure...' She slyly looked at the demanding older woman, praying she had convinced her.

'I will definitely have you work for me and pay for the damage. That goes without saying... The locket... you see... is just a meager compensation for giving up on the Police... There really was no choice for you, young lady, from the moment you walked into this door. Now that you say, it's a family treasure... I want it more than ever... ' the old woman smiled wickedly, baring her gold tainted teeth. 'So be a good girl and hand over the locket and the dress...'

Emma was in a pinch. Things had really gotten out of hand. She was supposed to be the one to have had the upper hand, according to her plan at least... but this... this had no where been in the scope of her predictions. It was an utterly hopeless situation.

In a very slow motion, Emma undressed. Once the gown plopped to the ground, she moved her reluctant hands to unfasten the locket from around her neck. "Rebecca... I am sorry... I am so sorry... I should have been careful... Please forgive me... I will bring you back... I promise... I promise" Silent tears wet her face.

'I don't have all day, missy...' screamed the woman and yanked the necklace away. Emma was horrified.

The old woman looked admiringly at the trinket that had unpremeditatedly fallen into her hands. She scooped the dress off the ground and giving one glaring look at the shivering Emma and disappeared into one of the rooms.

Emma, utterly shaken with disbelief, stood in the hallway, clothed with just a knee high petticoat, staring into the empty space. Hushed giggles from the staircase, directed at her, finally brought her conscience to the present situation. She gradually looked up to meet those mean pairs of eyes that were tugging and pulling at each other to stay out of her view.

While she was distracted by the noise upstairs, a stinking patched up linen came flying at her face.

'Drape it on and settle upstairs. Since you woke me up in the middle of my precious sleep, you won't get anything to eat as punishment. Be downstairs by sharp 6:00 am in the morning. I don't fancy excuses. If you are even a minute late, you won't get your morning breakfast as well. Understood?' screeched the woman.

Emma nodded. She pressed the piece of cloth tightly to her chest, her face partially buried in it.

The woman disappeared back to her room again.

Short music was heard as the minute hand struck the restricted space between the digits one and two and the hour hand shifted gears to crawl out to three.

Emma stood still. Her face still buried in the linen. Her shoulders heaving slightly as she flowed her tears into the cloth piece.

After 5 whole minutes, Emma flipped her head back and strode till her hands felt the balustrade. She closed her eyes and breathed out till she had emptied her lungs. She turned and looked at the spot where she had stood crying a few minutes ago and waved goodbye. The light in her eyes dimmed further as she bid farewell to the last bit of her innocent self that was beaten out of her that night. She clambered up the stairs with her failing strength, reminding herself of the purpose of her survival with each laboured step she took.

That woman was definitely on her list... and so was the cat...

Atop the spires of the tallest church in London, black feathers rustled in the wind, as a laid back shadow tilted it's head to face the starry night. The ruby eyes shone profusely, deepening the crimson in them. "Beautiful..." exclaimed the voice, shaking with excitement. "Incredibly... beautiful..." A sated grin stole it's place, revealing a tiny tinge of white canine.

A/N : What in the world was wrong with that cat? How did it even get on top of that wall? What were its intentions?

Just kidding! I believe most of you have already figured out about the cat. Was just trying to spice up the narration. Eventually realized I am terrible at it. Anyway, for this series, this is my first time narrating after a Chapter's ending.

Hope you like this Chapter. I am hoping to come up with more interesting plots here after. Praying things turn out well. Anyway for now, please read, enjoy and share your heartfelt reviews... Good or bad, they will definitely help me come up with better plots. Stay tuned until the next Chapter! ^_^

Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroshitsuji or the characters described by Yana Toboso except my OC.