Epilogue: Forever Changed
Time went by...
Marie-Christine returned home from the forest, and after having told her parents of what had befallen her there, Phillipe was hunted down, and hanged in the Town Square the following day.
Seven years passed.
The dreams returned to Marie-Christine after having fallen in love with, and married the local blacksmith's son, Olivier; soon becoming pregnant with his child. During the nine months in which she carried the child, her thoughts constantly returned to Phillipe, and her mind began to slip-- the seriousness of what had occurred in the forest seven years earlier reaching its boiling point, and taking its toll on her life. She became distant-- cold; her eyes lost their sparkle, and her face became pale white; her once beautiful cheeks deprived of color.
Sometime during the month of May, shortly after her nineteenth birthday, she gave birth to a healthy boy, and before naming him, slipped away into a deep sleep from which she would never wake again.
Olivier is said to have taken his infant son to England after his wife's death, but sources cannot say what became of him without some doubt and speculation...
Marie-Christine's mother soon committed suicide the following year, while her father was left with the now seven year old daughter, Isabelle, whom he soon sent off to live with relatives on the other side of town...
Marie-Christine's death affected her sister tremendously, and although no one at the time could foresee it, without knowing it, Marie-Christine partially influenced the series of events that would eventually lead to her sister's demise...
To be continued in:
Snowfall