Disclaimer: I do not own or profit from this. Only plot and OC's belong to me
Chapter 19: Remembering, At Last
Abigail made it home later and snuck in so as not to wake anyone. Her head had barely touched her pillow when she felt being pulled in. It almost felt like drowning, she couldn't catch her breath, and couldn't get her bearings. The fact her dreams and visions were never like this outside her death day frightened her.
'You KNEW!' The accusation was hurled, sharp as a knife.
'I made a choice, would you rather I had chosen to sacrifice you?'
'What about when the time comes? You know they are coming, you have seen it just as I. Yet you do nothing! Have done nothing!'
'So Henry was nothing!? I did it for you! He would have chosen it if he knew. He would have willingly died for you if asked.'
'Why do any of us have to!? Why not stop it when it first began, when they first turned to Remembrance? We all just sat and did nothing.'
'What did you expect us to do?' the voice sneered.
'We saw. You and I. This hangs on both of us.'
'No. You may have seen that, I have only seen this,' he lied. 'I try to do something and you despise me for it.'
'My husband's death was help? How does that help any of us? Help me or my child? Any of the next generation? Any of the four motherless daughters now hiding in the woods where even their uncles do not know of their existence?' she challenged. He stubbornly refused to answer. 'Tell me this, when they come for me, will you help then?' once again she was met with no response. 'So Henry's sacrifice was in vain. Goodbye, Charles.'
'Goodbye, Charlotte,' the brother said as he watched his sister walk away from him for the last time.
She gasped and woke up. She stumbled into the adjoining bath and splashed water on her face. When that didn't work she jumped into the shower with the water as hot as she could possible stand, and still she had the chills. "Oh God," she muttered as she couched on the floor of the shower. "What did they do?" she sobbed.
It came back suddenly, so sudden that she would have collapsed if she wasn't already on the floor. That last little bit during her death day appeared clear as a bell in her head, as if she had experienced it for herself instead of only through another's eyes.
Visions swarmed before her, never ending, always chasing her. She fought against them, but couldn't wake up. WAKE UP! She ordered herself, but no matter how hard she struggled she couldn't force herself into the real world, away from the visions.
Days, hours, years, she wasn't sure how long they haunted her. Something occasionally poured down her throat but it burned rather than soothed the dryness of her throat.
She didn't know how, or when, but she finally woke up to her own sanity. No visions, no hauntings of things to be. She discovered herself in a cell on the floor in the hay. Men grabbed her arms. "Don't try anything," the biggest man said as they dragged her out and into the center of the town.
"No!" She yelled and tried to struggle. She shook her head as she screamed and realized her hair, once long golden locks, had been shorn. "What are you doing? What have you done to me?"
"No less than your kind deserve," People yelled out. She tried to block out the obscenities that people were yelling at her.
"Charles," she whispered under her breath. When she tried to escape off the platform someone slapped her and she saw stars.
"Do you Charlotte Bennett of the Danvers Family repent for your crimes?" the holy man asked.
"I repent nothing, nor do I forgive," she sneered.
"May God have mercy on your soul," he said.
"May the Devil take yours," she shouted out making the town gasp and call for her death. The moment before the fire was lit seemed to stretch on forever and she saw, clearly for the first time in days, what would happen, what had happened.
Remembrance, Rosemary, Eleanor, and Hope had all cursed and condemned their brothers but also themselves. She could spare herself, her brother, her daughter the pain, but as the executioner came nearer, and Charles was no where to be seen, the hate, the disappointment, the sense of betrayal that Charles knew this would happen and had done nothing was to strong to overcome any other feelings.
"What my sisters did before me I solidify. May he who chose Power over blood be forsaken by that which he craved most! May the Power he craves so much become his blood, and let it curse and forsake him as he has left me here cursed and forsaken!" She said quietly so only she, the wind, and the Power could hear her.
An image of her baby, the child she held for only a moment but had a pull on her heart unlike any other person this earth, appeared in her mind. "Blessed Be, my love," she whispered.
When Abigail came to, the water was freezing so she used a bit of Power to warm it back up. She crawled to the corner of the shower and just wept. "What did they do?" she asked again. She wasn't sure what to do, if she even had the strength to leave the shower.
"Damn you Charlotte and Charles," she whispered. She knew it wasn't fair, each of the brothers and sisters had made their own choice, but just knowing what would come to pass and still making that choice! It infuriated her like nothing else and the mirror in her bathroom exploded, shards of glass flying everywhere.
She tried to calm her breathing but it didn't quench the desire to hit something, or explode something. She had a crazy idea of calling Caleb just to reassure herself of something. She wasn't sure what, perhaps that he wasn't as cold, callous as his predecessors. Their predecessors.
"Abby?" a voice called out from the other side of the door and she recognized it as Sarah's.
"Yeah?"
"Are you alright? I thought I heard an explosion?"
She peered out and saw the glass laying everywhere. "I'm good," she mumbled but the door opened anyways.
"What happened?" Sarah asked worriedly. "Are you alright?"
"Uh-huh," she said, still numb and mixed up about everything.
"I'll get a broom," Sarah decided, not sure how she could help, or even if Abigail wanted help. She just couldn't stand to see any of the sisters in pain or trouble. She wasn't sure why, they had only been friends for a few months, but she felt close to them. Almost as if they had known each other for years.
"Don't bother," Abigail said and the shards of glass flew up and reformed the mirror.
"Nice trick," Sarah said and Abigail laughed.
"At least the power is good for something," she muttered, still in the shower.
"Do you want me to get a towel? A drink? One of your sisters? Reid?" she asked.
"No, I am just going to think," she said and laughed at the absurdity of the whole situation. "I'll leave the shower soon, I promise," she said.
"If you need anything let me know," Sarah said kindly. She had become accustomed to strangeness around anyone with The Power so using the shower to think didn't freak her out. At least not to much, she amended.
True to her word, Abigail only wallowed a little longer in the shower. She turned it off, dried off and used the Power to dry her hair. She walked into her bedroom and lit the fire in the hearth. The house had heating so no one really used the fireplaces except in the parlor, but she wanted to indulge herself this one time.
She sat and watched the flames dance around. "Blessed be, my ass," she said. She was determined to figure out a plan, she felt this need to do something. They had to figure out how to break this curse, bring Chase back to sanity, and, hopefully, live happily ever after.
They had a lot of work ahead of them.
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Sorry it took so long to update. I ended up cutting this chapter in half because the second half was being difficult (more specifically, Chase was being difficult). So, hopefully I will get him all straightened out and we will see him next chapter!
Special thanks to A.Sam (Ah,I am so glad you like the characters and story! And no, I don't mind people telling me to hurry with updates. I do it too :) EvilAngel (Thanks!! and thanks for always reviewing!) AnAngelwithnoname (no prob! sorry for the delay in updating!) shadowwolfdagger (Thanks Tala! And Thanks for always reviewing!) MischiefLover (I am trying to do something like that for the rest of them later, hopefully after this next chapter sorts itself out) and Susangel (THank you! I am glad Faith/Tyler is also popular! And there will be more interaction between the families, now that all the romantic relationships are established)