Chapter Twenty Five: Drunk
~~ I gasped awake, breathing heavily and frantically searching the area around me, hoping the night beforehand had been some terrible dream, alas, I was wrong. I still laid in grass with my dresses covering me. Shakingly, I stood and glanced down at my dress to find that half of it, the half I laid upon, had a green tint to it due to the grass; sighing I quickly readied myself in another dress, cleaning myself up as much as was possible. I laid my suitcases against the house, taking what little money and items of value I had and stuffing them into my pockets, I walked away, destined for the bank.
I was given funny looks as I walked into the bank; I told them who I was and what I was inquiring about and I was instantly pushed into an office with a nice woman with chocolate coloured hair, turquoise eyes and a slender frame, with an amiable smile imprinted upon her lipstick. "Are you alright, honey?" Was the first question she asked me. I gave a long sigh and shook my head, digging my teeth into my lip to prevent tears. She stood and pulled a curtain before a window, so no wandering eyes could see inside.
"Tell me what happened, dear" she said and I completely broke down; I told her of everything, pausing every once in a while, for I babbled so fast I forgot to breathe!
"...I love him, my Captain, I really, really do, but he won't believe me and he wants nothing to do with me now...I have nowhere to go, so, I came to ask about what happened to all of the money mother and father had stored up for the house." I said and the lady gave a long sigh; tears were now in her eyes as well.
"Sweetie" she began. "Your mother and father knew they were going to move to Jamaica, so, they had all of their money transferred into an account for Raoul de Chagny because Raoul promised that he would take care of you and your parents." She explained, my brows furrowed.
"But...why didn't they just sell the house?" I asked, the woman shrugged.
"They never told us why, we figured it was a personal decision."
"Is...is there any way of getting the house back? O-Or getting the money back?" I asked, clenching my hands together in hope; tears dripped down the woman's face now and she bit her lip, shaking her head.
"No, dear, not unless you and Raoul are married." She said and I fell back, allowing my back to hit the back of the chair, I rubbed my face and wept again, my entire life was crashing down around me and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
"What am I going to do, madam? What am I going to do?!" I cried through sobs, gasps, and coughs; she ran around her desk and enveloped me in her arms, crying with me.
"Sweetie, I would take you home in a heartbeat, but, I have three little ones of my own and my husband and I can barely make ends meet as it is. Your best shot now is to go back to one of them on your knees and beg or, or break back into your home and make the best of this for now, until you can get a job or live with a friend." She explained, she grasped a few tissues and helped me clean myself up; I sniffled, how could this be happening? How could any of this be happening?
"How...how is this real?" I blurted out, sniffling; she sighed and kissed my forehead.
"Life...life is cruel, dear, life is so cruel and I hate that you're learning it at such a young age, but, maybe, maybe something worse was going to happen." She said, and I blew up.
"Like what?" I yelled. "Nothing, absolutely nothing is worse than this!" I added, standing.
"You could be dead." The woman said, I shook my head.
"No, madam, that would be a blessing." I whispered, a few more tears fell off of her long eyelashes.
"You must've really loved him" she said, playing with my hair, I nodded.
"Yeah...I was...I was at the point that I was going to give myself to him...but...it seems all of that means nothing now. For I am a liar and he will never love me like he did before." I whispered and the woman shook her head.
"No, no! Oh, he loves you, he still does! That's why he's taking this so...hard, it's because he loves you that he's suffering and causing you to suffer too." She said, this made no sense to me in my sleep deprived, grief stricken state.
"Love is strange" I whispered and she nodded, patting my shoulder.
"That it is, now, go, get going, go to a friend's home or something...it's your best bet before you lose all dignity."
"What dignity?" I hissed quietly as I left her office. I walked out of the bank, with, it seemed, all eyes on me. Was it obvious I had been crying? Did...did I appear like a prostitute?
Why were they all staring at me? I broke into a run and ran all the way back to my home, collapsing beside the house and curling into a ball, hiding my face from the outside world in fear of being made fun of.
I must've laid like that for hours, for my legs began to cramp and my fingers froze where they laid, however, as I gasped for breath I felt a small tap on my back; wiping my eyes I turned to see a little boy, no more than nine, standing before me with a paper in hand. He was dressed in a big coat and a little tuxedo with a miniature top hat sitting atop his head; I blinked in surprise, who was this child? "Are you sad?" He asked sincerely, hiding the paper behind his back and I nodded. "Why?"
He asked, I smiled and told him the man I loved didn't love me back, and my home got taken away; the little boy's face turned two shades whiter and he threw his arms around me, hugging me tightly. "Don't worry, madam, it'll get better from now on, there's always tomorrow." He said, and I couldn't help but tear up at the child's words; after a long hug he let me go and gave me the paper, it was blank with a large, yellow sun smack dab in the middle of the paper with a smile upon its face. "This'll make you happy, madam, mommy always draws it for me when I'm sad, and it makes me happy." He said, smiling; I pulled him close and kissed his cheek, thanking him.
He tipped his hat to me and ran away, no doubt to join his family once again; I sniffled and laid the paper beside me, I couldn't help but smile at the poorly drawn sun!
** Apparently, I had fallen asleep again for I was woken by laughter; I gasped and sat up, glancing around to see that, a little ways away, men were cackling as they left a bar. I sighed and realized my thirst, so, standing, I brushed myself off and stuffed the drawing in a suitcase, turning and walking to the bar. This bar reminded me of the one in Tortuga! Fights broke out regularly and scandalously clad women laid all over the men; teasing them. I sat at the bar and struck up a conversation with the bar maiden, which didn't last long, she had a job to do and I bought a drink.
After hearing some of my troubles, the bar maiden made me one of the strongest drinks she could, she smiled to me and told me to be safe before I began drinking it, and, the best part? She gave it to me free of charge! I began getting groggy when I finished half of the drink, and couldn't speak clearly or walk, really at all, by the end of it! The following events I'm only piecing together from memory and eye-witness accounts. Apparently, a man grasped me around my waist, a man who looked as if he shouldn't be in a bar, a posh man.
Raoul.
Raoul took me out of the bar and walked me back to his boat, I don't remember what was said between either of us, I only know that Raoul had to end up carrying me. He carried me into his room and laid me down on the bed, going to his closet and rustling around, at first, I didn't realize what he was doing, until he was almost finished doing it. He had taken out a dress and was pulling it over my clothes. "Wa...what 'ya doin' 'aoul?" I asked, my speech fully impaired.
"Dressing you" he said, lifting me off of the bed and pulling the dress farther up my waist.
"..In what?"
"A wedding dress"
" F'er what?"
"Our wedding" he replied, slipping my arms through the arm holes and sitting me back down upon the bed, focusing on my hair now, fluffing it with his fingers.
"We're gettin' hitched? Bu...but...I don't wanna! I don't 'ove you!" I whined; Raoul huffed, grasping a brush and running it through my hair.
"You will learn to" he said, yanking the brush through my knots. He yanked me to the left too much and I fell back, upon the bed, giggling.
"I...I wan' my Cap'n...my Captain..." I said softly, grinning at the thought of him and closing my eyes.
"No, you don't, you don't know what you're saying, now shush, darling, let me fix your hair." Raoul said, pulling me back up to him and smiling at my appearance, he kissed my forehead. "You're the most beautiful bride" he said, leaning forwards and kissing my cheek; I groaned and fell back.
"I no wan' get married, I wan' sleep." I said, rolling onto my side and burying my face in the mattress, Raoul sighed in frustration.
"Listen, honey" Raoul began, sitting down on the bed and touching my leg. "We need to get married, now, so we can have a wedding night, so we can buy your house back and live there happily together. Okay, lovely? The faster we get married, the faster we get your home back." He explained, I rolled onto my back.
"'Aoooouuuullllll" I groaned, sighing. "I don' wanna get married! I don' wan' get married, I don' wan' get married!" I yelled, wailing like a child. Again, Raoul sighed in frustration; he laid down next to me, his face an inch or so away from my own.
"Will you at least allow me to kiss you?" He asked, smiling comfortingly; I blinked slowly, my eyes were heavy and I distantly remember the feeling of wooziness.
"Where?"
"Where ever you want, princess." He said, caressing my cheek, his smile spread. I yawned.
"I tired, 'aoul."
"I know, angel, I know." He replied, he scooted forwards and just brushed his lips against my own, kissing my cheek before standing and lifting me from that side of the bed, to the normal way people sleep and elevated my head. He walked around the bed and climbed in beside me, laying his arm around my waist and sighing happily, pulling himself close to me.
** I woke, once again, for the third time that day! This time, however, I was vomiting up anything I could've dreamed of eaten! I fell off of the bed and coughed, gasping for breath as tears stung my eyes and my throat burnt from the stomach acid. A freezing hand laid on my shoulder as I held myself up on all fours, staring at the contents of my stomach; I trembled and felt I would collapse any second. My head swam and a headache pounded the back of my cranium; I groaned and moaned in agony, allowing the freezing hands lift me off of the floor.
The hands lifted me back up, laying me down upon the bed, only to see my Captain standing before me, a cold rag in hand. He wiped my mouth and turned to the vomit, sighing and walking to his door, yelling out of it for much more than just a rag.