I hope you can forgive me for being absent for so long! I've been visiting my friend at her country house with unspeakable Internet conditions. Since I'm back home now, I'll try and be more active when it comes to this story. :)
Lynn opened her eyes in the dead of night, and was greeted by an unsettling silence. There was a dim light from the window and it helped her make out the indistinct outlines of the furniture in the room. For the second night in a row she'd awoken to find herself in an unfamiliar room, only to be reminded yet again that she was not in her own home where she'd had to share a room with all of her three siblings. She was, instead, in Blanche Hudson's house, earning her wages as a personal maid. The fact made her feel all fluttery and proud every time she thought of it. "Personal maid" sounded so… personal. So important.
Regardless of what Lynn had first thought Miss Hudson would be like, she was instead a lovely and kind woman. Perhaps it was because she'd seen so many of her pictures, but Lynn felt like she had known Blanche Hudson for a long time. She was just so easy to get along with and so good to talk to.
As she lay awake in bed, Lynn completely and blissfully forgot what she'd thought had woken her, until she heard it again.
"Jane!" It was barely a name, but rather than that it sounded like an agonized cry for help.
Lynn shot out of bed with speed she had never believed herself capable of. Grabbing her robe from the chair next to the bed, she dashed out of her bedroom and into the gallery.
The cry came again, only this time it was more desperate and yet a lot quieter.
Ripping open the door, Lynn burst into the dark room and looked over to the bed she could hardly see in the shadows. Muffled sobs came from that direction, and no matter how little time they'd known each other, Lynn felt the sudden and powerful urge to go to Blanche and simply pull her into her embrace.
"Miss Blanche?" she asked in a small tone, ready to leave if the woman in the bed should tell her to. But instead new words of fright and pained desperation sounded. Lynn's ears caught words like, "Stop… Please… Oh, Jane, don't…" And in a quick reaction to the woman's distressed sobs, Lynn rushed over to the bed.
"Miss Blanche!" she called as she sat down hastily on the edge of the bed. Switching on the bedside lamp, she came face to face with a Blanche Hudson whose expression was contorted in agony, and whose eyes were squeezed tightly shut.
"Wake up!" Lynn tried again, reaching out for the sleeping woman, taking her by the shoulders and shaking her to save her from her nightmarish delusion. "Miss Blanche, wake up!"
Blanche's eyes shot wide open and in them Lynn saw such wild, animalistic fear that she was momentarily tempted to take off herself. It seemed to take Blanche a few moments to recognize Lynn, but once she had, she pushed herself up and swung her arms around the younger woman's neck, clinging on to her like a drowning man clings to a piece of floating wood.
Lynn responded instantly, pulling her closer to herself. A curious warm feeling filled her and she felt like a mother comforting a frail and scared child.
Blanche's sobs didn't die down for quite a while, but once they did, Lynn lowered her back to the pillows and turned off the light.
It was too painful to look at Blanche's tearful and horrified face. No one deserved to feel so frightened in their own bed, in their own home. In addition to the deep sorrow she felt for Blanche, Lynn felt a boiling hatred building inside her for Jane Hudson. There was nothing, absolutely nothing, she thought, that could make her forgive Jane for doing what she had to her sweet, fragile and kind-hearted sister.
Pushing the wheel chair out onto the sunlit terrace, Lynn looked over the small backyard of Miss Blanche's house. It had obviously not been taken care of in quite a while, but nevertheless, it was a nice way to get out of the house.
Blanche sought out her hand behind her shoulder as she'd grown accustomed to doing in the last five days, the time Lynn had been with her. And knowing very well what that delicate hold on her hand meant, Lynn walked over to the other side of the wheel chair, and like she'd done ever since she was a little child, sat down on the floor. That way she could look up at Miss Blanche, the way that she deserved to be looked at.
Blanche was smiling. "Thank you for bringing me out here," she said, squinting her eyes in the sun. "Jane almost never did. I've missed being outside."
As Blanche tilted her head to meet the bright afternoon sun, Lynn pondered over her words. And the more she thought about them, the more she became astounded with Blanche. Lynn felt like she couldn't keep it inside her any longer.
"Miss Blanche, I admire you," she burst out, suddenly breaking the comfortable silence between them. Blanche looked down at her in delighted surprise. "I mean, after everything you've been through, everything your sister has done to you, you're still so kind and so lively. And you never even mention how much you hate her! I mean, if I'd been through what you've been, I wouldn't be able to stop thinking about it. I can't even stop thinking about Jane Hudson. Boy, am I glad you were finally able to put her away." She finally stopped when she realised that instead of the sad or perhaps hurt expression she'd been anticipating, Blanche's look was one of sheer anger.
"Stop it, Lynn!" she ordered much louder than she usually spoke and definitely in a much more heated way. "Just stop it!"
Taken aback by Blanche's fierce tone and exceptionally displeased frown, Lynn leaned farther away and tried to somehow make herself smaller under the other woman's fiery glare.
For another ten seconds or so, Blanche continued to stare at her young maid, enraged thoughts racing in her mind. She had tried her best to shield herself from all the negative opinions the public might harbour for Jane, but to hear it from her sweet and considerate Lynn was awfully disappointing. Finally, Blanche averted her gaze from the girl's shocked face, and took a deep breath to calm herself.
"Lynn," she eventually said in a small, even tender manner, "you didn't know Jane. You must never talk like that about people you don't know. What happened between me and Jane is completely our own matter. I'd like for you not to worry your young head about it. And I don't want to hear you speaking of Jane that way ever again." She looked at Lynn with sharp suspicion that made her look a whole lot more frightening than she'd have wanted. "Do I make myself clear?"
Instantly, Lynn nodded, the stunned expression never leaving her features. Blanche considered telling her she was not mad at her, but abruptly decided against it as it might have prevented her message from sinking in. And so, Blanche turned to look over at the old eucalyptus tree that swayed in the gentle wind and looked completely different from down here than from her barred window.
Minutes passed in silence and Blanche begun to feel warm in the insistent sun. But Lynn hadn't said a word and Blanche concluded she must still be in shock from her outburst earlier. Finally, Blanche turned towards the younger woman again, and found to her great surprise that Lynn had been watching her.
And with a single tear rolling down her cheek, Lynn whispered, "I'm sorry, Miss Blanche. You must really love her."