As I read a lot of fantasy and some horror novels, the idea of making Bonnie's nightmares more "real" came to me already some time ago.
I hope you will enjoy it, although I haven't seen a lot of horror stories related to GWTW. Because English is not my first language and it is actually the first time I translate my story from Polish completely by myself, I will appreciate all reviews!
Since the fateful night when Bonnie woke up in a completely dark room, no discussion with Rhett about her nightmares had been possible. He decided that she would fall asleep in his room and there, with the lights on, she would sleep until morning. Scarlett had tried several times to convince him that the idea was childish and that Bonnie should sleep with the other children. Each time, however, it either ended up with an outburst of Rhett's anger or him coldly cutting off the conversation.
Thinking about that always made Scarlett angry.
I don't understand why she pays so much attention to her nightmares. After all, every child is afraid of the dark and God knows that sometimes I was also afraid of falling asleep alone when I was Bonnie's age, but I had no choice and after some time I got used to it.
At that moment it occurred to her that not so long ago she would wake up screaming at night, absolutely terrified of the constantly recurring nightmare. She quickly pushed the thought away. With sudden embarrassment, she recalled how on such nights Rhett comforted her by stroking her hair and hugging her.
Just like he comforts a four-year-old child.
Embarrassment turned to anger when she realized it.
Oh, how wicked he is. Surely, he was doing all this just to be able to laugh at how weak I am. Now he's also doing all the fuss about Bonnie's nightmares to show what a bad mother I am.
Frowning angrily, she tightened the reins of the carriage in which she was riding. She stopped right in front of one of her sawmills.
It was a rainy day, and the trampled ground in the driveway turned to cold mud that was squelching under the wheels. As Scarlett got off the carriage, she inattentively let go of the hem of her dress, which she was holding to keep her clothes from getting dirty, and now there was a wide muddy streak across the blue fabric.
Scarlett just gritted her teeth when she saw this.
Oh, if I were a man, I'd be cursing like a sailor now!
Somehow, she made her way to the wooden building that housed a warehouse and a small sawmill office. She found Ashley inside. He pored over his desk, bent over papers and ledgers. Usually, the sight of his fair head cheered her up for the day, but this time she felt vaguely irritated.
Great balls of fire! I hope he has filled this book well for once. It's always so confusing that later I have to spend hours correcting it.
„Oh Scarlett, it is you! „
Ashley, as soon as he saw her, jumped up from behind a wide, heavy desk. He helped her take off her dripping coat. Scarlett wished she could take off her shoes too because, after a few steps in the mud outside, she felt they were completely soaked.
What a terrible day, she thought, but as she saw Ashley's softly smiling face in front of her, her mood improved a bit.
„I just came to check how Gallagher treats prisoners. If I hadn't visited the sawmills every week, he would have starved these people to death and sold the food himself at double the price."
For a moment she thought it sounded like she was explaining herself. As if she needed other reasons to come to the sawmills than to see Ashley.
Thankfully, Ashley didn't seem to notice.
He quickly took a chair for her and he sat down at the desk again. Scarlett carefully smoothed out her wide skirt as she sat down. Though blue didn't suit her as much as green, she still looked as pretty as a picture, and her light blue gown had been tailored accordingly to the newest cut, straight from Harper's Bazaar.
She looked cautiously at Ashley, hoping he would notice how pretty she looked today. But he looked at the ledgers again thoughtfully and said:
"Scarlett, I'm so glad you came here. I have a problem with these books since this morning, would you please look at them? You know you've always been smarter than me when it comes to bills ..."
Scarlett took one glance at Ashley's careless notes to find that they were so confusing that correcting them would require rewriting them, which she would have to spend at least three hours on.
She thought she would burst into tears of frustration in a moment. She closed the account book and tucked it under her arm.
"Don't worry about this, Ashley, I'll take care of it at home," she said and put on her coat quickly. After a short farewell to the surprised Ashley, she went outside.
The rain was pouring down just as it had been a few minutes before, but she made her way to the outhouse, where Gallagher's office was, ignoring the fact that she was splashing mud on her gown.
Why do I need a nice dress when Ashley doesn't even notice it anymore, she thought. She suddenly felt very resentful, just like at that barbecue at the Twelve Oaks when Ashley ignored her and only cared for Melanie.
She talked with Gallagher no longer than with Ashley. The Irishman had been motivated by Scarlett's recent threats, that if he ever starved the prisoners, he would release him and write him such terrible references that no one in all of Georgia would take him to work.
Less angry, but still frowning, she got into the carriage and drove back home.
The sight of her mansion, even in such rainy weather, made her feel better. The sight of this house was not as comforting to her heart as seeing Tara, but it made Scarlett think of all the money she had after marrying Rhett. And that was undoubtedly a pleasant thing.
While Pork was escorting the horse and the carriage to the coach house, Scarlett entered the house.
The drumming of rain against the windows and roofs, so loud outside, inside turned into a deep, unidentifiable noise.
The heavy door closed behind Scarlett and she stood in the empty hall, dripping water. Walls covered with red cloth and dark brown walnut furniture caused the whole house to be a bit dim even on sunny days. Now, with much rain and in the afternoon, the whole house was covered in shadow. It seemed deserted, as was often the case. Scarlett would never admit it, not even to herself. It was true, however, that such a house was too big for five people, even if three of them were small children. Sometimes, when Scarlett sat over her bills, she thought she was all alone at home because the size of the building drowned out all the sounds of talking between the children and Rhett.
This time, too, there was such silence that for a moment Scarlett wondered if Rhett had taken the children and gone somewhere.
She took off her coat and walked slowly towards the dining room. She sat down at the table and draped her coat over the back of the nearest chair. For a moment she silently admired the almost baroque splendor of her own home, the sole purpose of which was to remind others and herself of how rich she was now. This time, however, she did not feel as much joy at the thought as usual.
She felt like drinking a glass of cognac. She walked over to a squat wooden cupboard with bottles of various types of alcohol and glasses made of cut glass. She looked back nervously (she imagined how much Rhett would joke if he found out she was drinking) and, taking out the bottle, began to pour the alcohol with a sure movement. The sound of the cognac pouring into the glass was the only sound apart from Scarlett's breath and the hum of the downpour outside. Scarlett listened to the silence deep inside the house, and at one point she found her own heavy breathing strangely disturbing. It seemed to resonate in the empty dining room. She had a weird impression that it wasn't her breathing, but someone else's, someones who was standing close to her.
She held her breath for a moment to make sure it was hers.
I'm acting like a silly goose, she thought.
She let out a breath. Picking up her glass, she turned to face the empty dining room, feeling that she didn't want to turn her back to the dim space. She was feeling as though someone was staring at her.
She rebuked herself for being stupid again.
They all really had to upset me today. I act just like Suellen and Careen.
Even though Scarlett was, at least once, a believer in her very childish, sometimes even heretic, way, she was never superstitious. Years earlier, in Tara, she and her sisters used to sometimes sit around Gerald, who would tell them chilling Irish stories of ghosts and ghouls. Gerald himself seemed to sincerely believe in them, despite his pragmatism, and he would end each story with a sweeping sign of the cross. Back then, Ellen O'Hara used to throw him a rebuking glance and say:
„ Mr. O'Hara, I am not sure if such stories are appropriate for girls „
Then she would gently lead the three sisters to the bedroom, where, after saying a long prayer, she would put them to bed.
But she had never distinctly forbidden Gerald to tell these chilling tales, nor Scarlett, Careen, and Suellen to listen to them. Scarlett remembered how some nights in their shared children's bedroom, at the sound of a distant dog howling Suellen and Careen would tremble with fear, convinced that it was a Banshee walking around Tara.
Scarlett would have just snorted then and wrapped herself tighter in the covers. She knew that Gerald's tales, although giving a pleasant shiver down the spine while listening, were all made up.
Now, too, she just shook her head at her stupidity. Again, this time, glass in hand, she sat down at the table, and after a while, her thoughts drifted to the sawmills and Ashley and his ledgers.
She sipped her cognac slowly, and as she finished her first glass, she got up to pour herself another. The rain was still hitting the windows, but suddenly Scarlett seemed to hear the hall floor creak as well.
It must be Rhett! He will laugh at me mercilessly if he sees me drinking!
Panicked, she reached the sideboard and quickly began to put away the glasses she had taken out. Stuffing the glass onto a shelf, she knocked the cognac bottle with her arm. Before she could pick it up, an alcohol stain appeared on the shelf of the sideboard.
„Great balls of fire!"
She swore, because the sound of footsteps was getting closer and closer, it seemed that in just a second Rhett would enter the dining room.
Feverishly she looked around for something to wipe the stain of cognac away. She was desperate not to let Rhett discover she was drinking. Finally, not caring about anything else, she grabbed the hem of her dress and wiped the stain with it.
I've already got her dirty flashed through her mind as she quickly closed the glass door of the sideboard.
The footsteps were closer and closer, and Scarlett leaned her back against the sideboard, hastily arranging the folds of her dress so that no wet stain was visible.
The creaking of the floor was now the only sound that broke through the sound of her heart pounding surprisingly fast. She started to feel unfounded fear.
Suddenly Scarlett realized it couldn't be Rhett. Rhett had never walked this loud; he had a step as light as an Indian despite his huge stature. And the footsteps Scarlett was hearing grew louder with each passing moment. Eventually, it began to sound as if that someone that was walking into the dining room was hitting the floor with all their might, at a slow, steady pace. The stomping grew closer and louder, and Scarlett, in a panic she did not understand, pressed her back against the sideboard, her hands clenched tightly on the dress.
As the footsteps seemed to be coming just outside the dining room door, they stopped unexpectedly. Scarlett stood for three seconds, unable to move, listening carefully.
And suddenly she shook off that paralyzing fear. She broke away from the sideboard and screamed angrily, though still trembling with emotion:
„ Who the hell is here?!"
Silence answered her, so she strode out of the dining room, expecting to see Rhett with an ironic smile on his lips, mocking her in the moment of terror.
She looked around, but the hall was as empty as when she had entered the house. Again, nothing was heard except the rain.
If it was Rhett who wanted to scare me, I will not forgive him, and if he still teases me ...
„ Mommy!"
Bonnie's gleeful exclamation made Scarlett flinch in fear and surprise. Bonnie and Ella were climbing clumsily down the wide stairs leading to the second floor. Rhett followed, clearly surprised to find Scarlett home.
To be continued...