Ariana3000 - Thank you for the review, I'm glad that you like it.
Disclaimer: I don't own "The Patriot", Elizabeth and Christine are mine.
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VII. All That You Left In Me
Elizabeth knew that she loved Tavington, but she also knew that she couldn't tell him. It would be pointless, he would probably throw her out on the corridor like he did with Joanna. That man had no feelings, but it didn't change the fact that Elizabeth loved him. She didn't want to think about that he would get rid of her. She didn't think of tomorrow, she only thought of today, the time she had with him.
But it didn't last long. It ended about a week after Joanna's death, on one early autumn morning. Elizabeth was already at the door when Tavington stopped her.
"Elizabeth, don't come tonight. Don't come anymore at all, for that matter." He said, standing with his back to her, dressing himself, his voice cold and casual. Elizabeth knew what this meant. It was the end. He would find himself another girl to entertain him at night. And what would Elizabeth do? Would she become as bitter like Joanna and take out everything on the girl that will take her place? She didn't know, but she didn't promise herself that she wouldn't. She loved him and love changes people, for better or worse ones. It depends how they are treated by it.
"Yes, Sir." Elizabeth replied and walked out of the room. She knew that she was now truly alone. When she came back to her room, tears fell from her eyes. There won't be anybody she could go to now. Her sister had a new life without her and it was better that way. Her mother was dead and most probably it was Tavington that had killed her and burned Elizabeth's plantation down. She only never wanted to think about it. He was a bastard, but she loved him.
Elizabeth knew, that she would forget her pride and beg at his feet, if he would only take her back. But she knew it was useless. He would throw her out like trash, like he did with Joanna. And what would she do? Steal a vile of poison like Joanna did, drink it and cry herself to an eternal sleep? No, at least not yet.
She wouldn't sell herself to anyone else, she wouldn't be able to. She had some money left as with Christine gone she didn't spend so much. Also, after they took Joanna's body, she found a money bag under one of the pillows. She knew that Joanna left it there. On purpose or not, Elizabeth decided to keep the money, since she knew that Joanna had nobody close that might need it more. Elizabeth would survive, for some time at least.
During the next days she didn't eat much as she barely could force herself to swallow anything. Her throat was tied in a knot.
The days were getting shorter and colder, mist covered the land more and more often. It was the beginning of October. On one cold, foggy morning Elizabeth went out for a walk. She wanted to get some fresh air, but she didn't want to see anyone and at this hour most were still asleep.
Elizabeth didn't know for how long she walked and didn't care for that matter. She was on some meadow, when she saw something lying by a lonely tree. Her barely still alive curiosity made her go and get a closer look. It was a middle-sized dog, that lay curled up into a ball under the tree. It was very skinny, dirty and had a piece of rope around its neck. Elizabeth took pity on the animal, it reminded her too much herself to care about being bitten.
She kneeled beside the animal and gently petted it on the head. The dog woke up immediately, but it only let out a silent squeal. There was fear in the animal's eyes, but it didn't move.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt you." The dog gently whacked the end of its tail, not having strength to do more. Elizabeth let out a sad laugh. "You look worse than I do." She didn't want to leave the animal to its own fate. Elizabeth somehow felt like she was looking at herself when looking at the dog. She just couldn't leave it. It seemed a bit like a desperate try to not be alone. Elizabeth was sick of being locked up in those 4 walls with only herself. "Will you let me carry you?" The animal didn't protest when Elizabeth picked it up. The dog was very light although his size – her size as Elizabeth found out later.
She managed to slip into the house with the dog unnoticed. Fortunately the residents were either still asleep or haven't returned yet from their 'job'.
Elizabeth laid the dog on the bed and cut the piece of rope off her neck.
She named the dog Pearl. As Elizabeth noticed after washing the dog, it had many grey hairs on her head and body, clearly stating that she was old. Pearl turned out to be not only old, but almost completely blind. Elizabeth didn't know how she managed to survive this way by herself. It didn't take much time, two days, for Elizabeth to get emotionally tied to the dog. She decided that if Pearl had not much life left before her, she would make that time the best for her as she could. After all, Pearl was now the only one she had left. Elizabeth didn't think of Pearl as an animal, she was like family to her and she loved it like family. The last one of her family she had left.
She slept with the dog in bed under the covers. She didn't want Pearl to be cold since she didn't have to be. She wasn't homeless anymore. Pearl followed Elizabeth everywhere she could and Elizabeth spent almost every minute with her, so the poor animal wouldn't feel lonely. Elizabeth knew the feel of loneliness too well, and she didn't want Pearl to suffer it if she didn't have to.
Unfortunately, the dog didn't have much time left as Elizabeth feared. Not much more than a month after Elizabeth found her, Pearl died on her hands. Elizabeth cried harder than ever before in her life. She lost the only true friend she ever had. The only person in her life, that returned the trust and love given to him.
It was still dark when on the next morning Elizabeth buried Pearl under the same tree where she had found her. She took a knife and carved out her name and date of death on tree beneath a simple cross, also carved out on the trunk. Elizabeth didn't care what someone would think if they knew or what blasphemy she committed in the eyes of the church. This dog gave her more than anyone else in her life and deserved more than anyone else she ever met. She won't just bury it like a piece of trash and forget. Pearl didn't deserve that. She was the only one that didn't reject Elizabeth in any way. Her mother and she never were close, her sister constantly criticized her and the man she loved emotionlessly told her to go and not come back. This dog was the only one that Elizabeth had feelings for and wasn't rejected by.
After burying Pearl, Elizabeth went further in the direction she was walking in on the day she found the dog. She just walked straight, not paying attention to anything, not thinking about anything.
It was the beginning of dawn when Elizabeth reached a meadow that was somehow familiar to her. Everything was still covered in morning mist, that made it hard for Elizabeth to see where she was. She continued to walk further, until she understood what this place was. It was the very same meadow, where over a year back she and her friends met the Gypsy woman that told Elizabeth her future. The girl let out a sad laugh at the thought, how right the Gypsy woman was.
Elizabeth knew, that if she was here now, the remains of her parents' plantation must be somewhere close. She looked around, trying to remember in which direction to walk. Elizabeth looked at the sun rising in the east and remembered that her plantation was also build with its front east. She started walking west and not much later she was standing before the ruins of what once was her home.
Only the stone part of the house was left, except for a few burned boards that didn't rot. The place reminded Elizabeth of a cemetery, the cemetery of her life. The mist that surrounded it and the trees around that blocked much of the rays of the rising sun didn't make it better. It was dead quiet, not even a bird singing.
Elizabeth wondered why she hadn't died with her mother on the day, when the plantation was burned. The time that she went through after it, gave her nothing but suffering. True, she had tasted love, but more of love's bitterness than happiness. Why did she live then? Her life turned to ashes along with this house on the day it burned. She turned away from her burned home.
Suddenly she remembered what her grandfather had once told her, in the library of her destroyed home.
"Even if you loose everything, you can always try to rebuild what you've lost." He told her, while holding her on his lap. She was 10, maybe 11 years old then. "Most people give up when they loose something, because they think they won't be able to get it back. But how can they know that if they don't try? Remember, nomather what will happen, the sun always rises and with it comes another day."
The sun finally had risen, embracing the ruins of Elizabeth's home in its autumn light.
Elizabeth turned around and looked at the burned house when it was no longer covered by a half-darkness.
The End
Grey skies above fields of ash
Cold winds blowing through endless deserts
I hope for a ray of light
But none can breech the cloudy wall of led
I hope for a drop of water
But none falls from the rainless storms,
That march through over and over again
That is all you left in me
Thunder echoing over horizons of dry earth
That is all you left in me
Grey skies above fields of ash
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Well, that was it. If you liked it PLEASE REVIEW, if you thought it was crap, review and tell me. I'm working on a sequel to this story. For those that are wondering Tavington and Elizabeth would meet again in the sequel. But if the sequel will be posted depends on the number of reviews for this chapter and story from now. Constructive criticism would be appreciated.