Love and Grief Everlasting by Kathleen T. Emerson
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, Disney, Natalie Babbitt, and Scholastic own it all. I do own a Tuck Everlasting video as well as a book but I don't think that counts.
Summary: I think Winnie did the right thing by living the "life unlived" but I was watching my video and got this idea so I wrote this story. In my version of the story, Winnie's parents died in 1918 during the worldwide Spanish influenza epidemic. Overcome with grief, she decides to drink the water and wait for Jesse to return. During the years that pass she begins to understand what Tuck and Miles tried to tell her about living forever. Will Jesse find the same Winnie he left or will she have changed too much for them to find the love they had?
Part 2
Treegap, Maryland (I've already explained why I placed Treegap in Maryland but if you need a reminder it is because that is where the movie was filmed.)
Winnie sighed. She had been in Treegap for six months now and no sign of Jesse. Not even Mae, Tuck, or Miles. People were beginning to suspect something was wrong with her, other then her "grief" over her dead husband. She needed to leave. "But what if Jesse comes and I'm not here?" she wondered aloud.
"Did you say something, ma'am?" The servant, Antonia, asked, coming into the room with the afternoon tea. Some habits were hard to break and afternoon tea was one Winnie had never been able to give up.
"No, Antonia. I was just thinking how I need to be going back to New York soon and getting my affairs in order there. I am thinking of going to Europe this winter. Perhaps to Paris." Winnie explained, longing to tell someone, almost anyone, the truth.
"I've heard Paris is quite lovely in the winter. Perhaps a trip abroad will be just the thing for you! Have you been abroad before?" Antonia asked, nearly forgetting her place. "Mrs.Jackson" was the nicest lady she had ever worked for and seemed to have a way of drawing her into the conversation although, for servants, that was a society blunder.
"I have been abroad once before, about ten years ago. I went with my parents the year before they sent me to a finishing school." Winnie said, grateful for not having to lie for the first time in six years.
"My younger sister, Grace, was sent to a finishing school six years ago. Which school did you attend?" Antonia was curious, maybe at times too curious. She had a way of dragging the truth out of anyone and everyone which Winnie was at times rather afraid Antonia would be able to drag the truth out of her!
" I was sent to the Misses Walker's School for Young Ladies. I never enjoyed it there."
"I've never heard of that school. Grace was sent to a school in Riverboro. She seemed to enjoy it, at least she graduated with the best honors in her class." Antonia sounded very proud of her younger sister.
As the afternoon wore on, with only Antonia for company, Winnie felt more alone then she had ever before. She wanted Jesse. She had been back to the spring every day since returning to Treegap. She remember their wonderful times together, her first and only kiss with him, learning to swim under the waterfall, dancing before the campfire, climbing the "Eiffel Tower" with him, and learning his secret. The secret of the spring. Winnie had never told anyone the secret and never would, not to the day she died. Jesse had said he'd love her til the day he died. Since neither of them could die, the secret of the spring was kept within her for eternity and, she hoped, Jesse would love her forever.
Time was ceasing to exist. Winnie was beginning to understand what Tuck and Miles had tried to tell her. She had understood the summer she turned fifteen, and didn't drink the water for three long years. But her parents' deaths had changed her mind. Not even Tuck could've talked sense into her grief stricken mind then. Jesse was the only reason to live so she drank the water of the secret spring.
"Jesse, Jesse!" Winnie was running through the forest, calling his name. "Jesse, where are you? I came back! I'm waiting for you! Jesse! Jesse!"
Suddenly, Winnie woke up. It had all been a dream, she wasn't in the forest. In fact, she was in her bedroom. "Oh, Jesse." she said, crying into her pillow. "Where are you? I can't stay in Treegap anymore. People are beginning to suspect something. But I don't know where to find you!" Winnie cried herself to sleep that night and many nights after.
"Yes, that bag is mine, so is the trunk. Oh, be careful with that box, it's filled with my grandmother's china." Winnie was going to Germany. Telling the men at the train station where to put her belongings helped keep her occupied and to keep her mind off Jesse. She ferverently hoped that he'd be in Germany. He had once mentioned he loved Germany so what better place to run to then a place you loved? Or, as Winnie was thinking, to a person you loved.
Winnie sighed as she looked out the train's window. So much had changed in the ten years since she had been to Europe. The Great War had destroyed a good deal of Europe. So much change! But not her, she would never change. Or could she?
It took me a while to figure out how to write this chapter. I know most people wanted Jesse to be waiting for her but then what would be the point of the title? I do plan on bringing him in sometime soon though just not sure when. I'm hoping to have one or two chapters for each decade so at some point this will be a rather long story. Oh, and I don't think Jesse ever actually mentioned Germany but why not? He said that he and Miles went everywhere.Katie :) Thanks for the reviews so far!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, Disney, Natalie Babbitt, and Scholastic own it all. I do own a Tuck Everlasting video as well as a book but I don't think that counts.
Summary: I think Winnie did the right thing by living the "life unlived" but I was watching my video and got this idea so I wrote this story. In my version of the story, Winnie's parents died in 1918 during the worldwide Spanish influenza epidemic. Overcome with grief, she decides to drink the water and wait for Jesse to return. During the years that pass she begins to understand what Tuck and Miles tried to tell her about living forever. Will Jesse find the same Winnie he left or will she have changed too much for them to find the love they had?
Part 2
Treegap, Maryland (I've already explained why I placed Treegap in Maryland but if you need a reminder it is because that is where the movie was filmed.)
Winnie sighed. She had been in Treegap for six months now and no sign of Jesse. Not even Mae, Tuck, or Miles. People were beginning to suspect something was wrong with her, other then her "grief" over her dead husband. She needed to leave. "But what if Jesse comes and I'm not here?" she wondered aloud.
"Did you say something, ma'am?" The servant, Antonia, asked, coming into the room with the afternoon tea. Some habits were hard to break and afternoon tea was one Winnie had never been able to give up.
"No, Antonia. I was just thinking how I need to be going back to New York soon and getting my affairs in order there. I am thinking of going to Europe this winter. Perhaps to Paris." Winnie explained, longing to tell someone, almost anyone, the truth.
"I've heard Paris is quite lovely in the winter. Perhaps a trip abroad will be just the thing for you! Have you been abroad before?" Antonia asked, nearly forgetting her place. "Mrs.Jackson" was the nicest lady she had ever worked for and seemed to have a way of drawing her into the conversation although, for servants, that was a society blunder.
"I have been abroad once before, about ten years ago. I went with my parents the year before they sent me to a finishing school." Winnie said, grateful for not having to lie for the first time in six years.
"My younger sister, Grace, was sent to a finishing school six years ago. Which school did you attend?" Antonia was curious, maybe at times too curious. She had a way of dragging the truth out of anyone and everyone which Winnie was at times rather afraid Antonia would be able to drag the truth out of her!
" I was sent to the Misses Walker's School for Young Ladies. I never enjoyed it there."
"I've never heard of that school. Grace was sent to a school in Riverboro. She seemed to enjoy it, at least she graduated with the best honors in her class." Antonia sounded very proud of her younger sister.
As the afternoon wore on, with only Antonia for company, Winnie felt more alone then she had ever before. She wanted Jesse. She had been back to the spring every day since returning to Treegap. She remember their wonderful times together, her first and only kiss with him, learning to swim under the waterfall, dancing before the campfire, climbing the "Eiffel Tower" with him, and learning his secret. The secret of the spring. Winnie had never told anyone the secret and never would, not to the day she died. Jesse had said he'd love her til the day he died. Since neither of them could die, the secret of the spring was kept within her for eternity and, she hoped, Jesse would love her forever.
Time was ceasing to exist. Winnie was beginning to understand what Tuck and Miles had tried to tell her. She had understood the summer she turned fifteen, and didn't drink the water for three long years. But her parents' deaths had changed her mind. Not even Tuck could've talked sense into her grief stricken mind then. Jesse was the only reason to live so she drank the water of the secret spring.
"Jesse, Jesse!" Winnie was running through the forest, calling his name. "Jesse, where are you? I came back! I'm waiting for you! Jesse! Jesse!"
Suddenly, Winnie woke up. It had all been a dream, she wasn't in the forest. In fact, she was in her bedroom. "Oh, Jesse." she said, crying into her pillow. "Where are you? I can't stay in Treegap anymore. People are beginning to suspect something. But I don't know where to find you!" Winnie cried herself to sleep that night and many nights after.
"Yes, that bag is mine, so is the trunk. Oh, be careful with that box, it's filled with my grandmother's china." Winnie was going to Germany. Telling the men at the train station where to put her belongings helped keep her occupied and to keep her mind off Jesse. She ferverently hoped that he'd be in Germany. He had once mentioned he loved Germany so what better place to run to then a place you loved? Or, as Winnie was thinking, to a person you loved.
Winnie sighed as she looked out the train's window. So much had changed in the ten years since she had been to Europe. The Great War had destroyed a good deal of Europe. So much change! But not her, she would never change. Or could she?
It took me a while to figure out how to write this chapter. I know most people wanted Jesse to be waiting for her but then what would be the point of the title? I do plan on bringing him in sometime soon though just not sure when. I'm hoping to have one or two chapters for each decade so at some point this will be a rather long story. Oh, and I don't think Jesse ever actually mentioned Germany but why not? He said that he and Miles went everywhere.Katie :) Thanks for the reviews so far!