The first chapter is pretty short. Chapter lengths will vary and so will the update schedule. This is still in the works of being completed.
Chapter One
Emily
Her brother has been sad these last few days, and Emily wasn't sure what to make of it. She knew her brother very well, and he in turn knew her just as easily, but this time she had no idea what had befallen her brother.
Emily had heard him murmuring late in the night, and occasionally leaving their shared bed, not returning for hours. She worried for several reasons: Winter was approaching, and it was dreary and cold most nights; the wind wailing like a mourning mother, piling frost early in the season, leaving it to glitter as a thousand diamonds in the dawn's light. There were things in the woods that moved like shadows, waiting for vulnerable prey, wanderers who trailed aimlessly. Emily worried about things she did not want to think about.
Sometimes, the girl would hear sounds under the bed, knowing it was her brother, Jack, prowling the floorboards as if he were the Boogeyman. Emily thought it was stupid of him; to reach a place where things go bump in the night. But he always emerged safe and sound, perhaps a little solemn.
The whisper of parchment would catch her attention, as she feigned sleep, the soft cracking of a book's spine loud in the silence. The shtick of a match being lit for the bedside lantern was almost deafening, and many times Emily feared she'd been caught from a slight hitch of her breath.
The whispers are what intrigued her the most. Jack would mutter, murmur, and laugh with such fondness it seemed alien. Emily wondered what had happened to cause Jack to care so lovingly for someone else other than her and their mother. At first Emily thought he had an imaginary friend or he had gone mad, but she was wrong. Jack did not have many friends; considered he was too childish for friends that were maturing rapidly and growing into fine gentlemen and women. Despite the improper nature, he played with children many years his junior, initiating colossal snowball fights, building snow forts, and ice skating on the pond in the woods during the winter. And in turn creating stick forts in those same woods, tending to various chores even if they were unsuitable for a gentleman like him, playing as pirates with handcrafted wooden swords, and telling stories over the fires in the warmer months.
Jack's compassion for the one person Emily did not know never lessened the sadness that consumed him, dimming the light in his big brown eyes, his smiles weakening and becoming less gay. Emily watched as he fought for control, fighting to keep himself composed. But finally, he could keep the facade up no more.
It was a moonlit night when Emily returned to their little cottage in time for the nighttime bell to ring, signaling curfew. The bonfires were kept lit, lifting embers into the starry sky. Stepping through the doorway to her and Jack's bedroom, Emily stopped short, startled and alarmed.
For Jack sat at the window facing their bed, moonlight splashing his hunched form onto their bed, paling the pretty colors of the quilt their mother had knitted for them. And there he wept, sobbing quietly. Emily knew she had intruded on a private moment, but she had never seen Jack, her fearless and star-bright brother, cry! Tears as clear as pearls dripped to the wooden floor, splattering with naught a sound.
"Jack?" She whispered.
Gasping, her dear brother jerked up from his confines of trembling limbs, eyes wet and puffy. "Emily?" His sad, sad eyes glittered in the beams of dim light, like a pirate's shiny jewel.
"Why dost thou cry?" Emily asked, stepping forward cautiously. Seeing he did not argue her approach, she stepped closer until she was level with his head, in his sitting position on the small chair.
Jack wiped futilely at his eyes. "'Tis not for thee to knowth."
Tentatively, Emily put her tiny hands onto Jack's knees, covered by the sleep shift he wore. "I hast seen you struggle for days, big brother." She told him. "I watch and listen as you hide things from us. I know not what thou dost, but I do know it is eating up your soul. Shall you tell me?"
The young man stared at her, eyes flickering as he studied her face. He swallowed several times, clearly debating whether to tell her or not. His hand grasped hers and tightened gently. A breath was taken and he finally spoke.
"I believe I have fallen in love." He confessed softly. His voice sounded as if he were telling her a great and terrible sin, whispering his misdeeds to the Reverend in the Church.
Emily could do nothing but listen.