Everything was confusing.
Everything no longer made sense.
She entered into a new pace of life. It was dark and lonesome. She did not know how to cope. It was so different from how she had started, so far from the gaiety and beauty of a life that no longer belonged to her, but belonged to the person she once was. And so she locked her bedroom door, together with her and her emotions. Shutting out the world and its miseries.
She spent her entire time during her parent's funeral crying in her room.
Even shunning out the relatives who wished to see and comfort her.
She felt abandoned. That sinking feeling of despair consumed her like some cancerous growth. The long nights melted into days, one after the other. It was the darkest period of her young life. She no longer spoke to Rose, she became cold and sullen. She would barely eat and rarely uttered a word. It was like a part of her died and went into the earth, never knowing if she could live life the way it used to be.
All her parent's relatives arrived in their home on the day of the burial.
She kept her bedroom door locked.
There were so many voices. Loud and noisy, their clattering tongues like a hive of wasps against her ear. She wanted them all to just shut up!
She could hear them talk all the way up in her room.
"I hear the little one is taking it quite hard," Said, one woman.
"The poor dear. From what the governess told me, the little girl kept her door locked the whole day since yesterday." Said another woman.
She could hear a third female voice enter into their conversation, "That's true you know. I haven't gotten so much as a peak at that child. Seems she wants to be left alone rather badly."
"I can't blame her."
Esme felt dizzy as she listened to them. Their voices spinning in her head like flies. She wanted them to go away. She wanted them all to go away.
If only they would go away.
The burial was to be held at the local cemetery at precisely four in the afternoon.
Esme laid there in her bed. Angry and incredibly depressed. She did not want to move. She felt as if the sadness in her heart was going to suck her inside out.
She knew Rose would knock on her door sooner or later.
She was right.
"Esme? Esme, sweetheart. Its-time." Rose said quietly. Listening to the door for any sign that Esme would respond.
Esme knew exactly what time it was for. It was time for the earth to devour her parents whole, and she'll never see them again. Ever.
"Esme?" Rose knocked again gently.
She'd give them all an answer.
She picked up the first thing her tiny hands could reach. The little porcelain rabbit on the nightstand.
She threw it haphazardly at the door, followed by a loud bang and crash.
"Let me alone!" She screamed.
Rose knew it was no use. If she forced it, Esme would only become more upset than she already is. She looked at the door one last time before leaving.
The burial would have to take place without her.
Esme laid on the floor. She could hear the house was starting to empty. The funeral was starting. She pressed her ear harder against the carpet and kept on listening till the house was completely silent. No voices. No chattering tongues.
She was wearing a little black dress, with black ribbons. Her hair was in a wild mass of curls. She sat there in the center of the room; the light flowing in from the windows like gold dust.
She cried again.
"Mummy? Daddy?" She softly whispered into the empty air.
Nothing.
They were not coming back. But she could still hear them, hear their voices in her head. And she would cry harder, begging, pleading to be held and to be comforted from a world so cold and unforgiving.
She fell asleep on the carpet, facing the door.
A few hours later, she could hear Rose knocking on the door. She was saying something about dinner. Esme didn't bother open her eyes, she didn't bother even responding. She just wanted to sleep.
And so she did.
It was raining. The sound of the thunder crashing outside was what awoke her.
Esme did not know what time it was.
Only that no light ever dare touch her eyes.
She had a notion it must have been early dawn.
She stirred from the cold ground, she could hear someone knocking from the downstairs front door.
Rose was in the living room, setting the table. She desperately prayed that Esme would open the door and eat something. Her health was going to be fragile at the rate she's going.
That child has barely eaten the past week. The brunette governess placed some scrambled eggs and hot rolls on two large ceramic platters, when she heard the same knock at the doorstep, louder this time.
She wiped her hands on her apron and proceeded out of the dining hall and into the foyer.
She grasped the brass doorknob and pulled the door open. There was an elderly man wearing a black bowler hat standing outside. He seemed to be carrying a package. He had beady black eyes, white hair; tall and somehow thin, with bushy sideburns. His coat was dripping from the rain.
"Yes, may I help you?" Rose said.
"My name is Eugene O' Hara, Madam." The old man replied, in a croaky voice.
"What is it that you want?" Rose asked.
"I come from London, madam. With orders from my Mistress Clementine to take her granddaughter and bring her back to London."
"Clementine? You mean Esme's Grandmother?" Rose said, stepping back to let him in.
He walked past the threshold as he took off his hat.
"Allow me," Said Rose as she helped the gentleman take off his hat and coat.
She watched him enter into the foyer.
"I believe I don't quite understand her request, sir." She said as she hung his coat.
"You see, Mistress Esme's father wrote his mother before-" There was a fraction of an awkward pause,
"...Before the unfortunate incident...He wished for Mistress Clementine as legal gaurdian of his daughter." Eugene O' Hara replied quietly.
"I see."
"She wished for her granddaughter to be brought back within today."
"Today? That's too soon, sir. The child just went through a teribble ordeal, she hasn't even eaten yet."
Rose could not simply make an instantaneous decision. It was going to be a sudden change for Esme. Too sudden. She's barely coping with the recent loss of her parents. And now, moving to London with her grandmother?
"I'm sorry sir, you can't take her today. Too much has happened, she needs time to undersand what is happening. And she will definitely need more time to adjust to the idea of living with her grandmother. This is all happening too soon."
Eugene's old face contorted into a thoughtful expression. "If this were any ordinary circumstance madam, I would have been inclined to agree with you. But I'm afraid the decision does not lie with you. I have my orders, and I have to obey them."
Rose knew there was no other way.
"Very well. I'll show you to her room, please follow me." She said as she turned on her heel and started out of the foyer and towards the large staircase.
"Now, mind you. Esme is going through a period of extreme depression. The child won't open her door. So, you'll have to be rather persuasive." Said Rose as they climbed the stairs.
"I think I'll manage, madam."
They took a right down the hallway and went straight ahead.
The latter found themselves standing outside her door. Somehow unsure with how to approach the simple matter of communicating with the child.
Rose raised a hand as she knocked on the door.
"Go away."
Was the answer they heared from inside.
Both adults looked at each other and knew that this was going to be no easy task.
A/N: Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed this Chapter. Keep them reviews coming. ;) I deeply appreciate each and every one of you for taking the time to review. So thank you my darlings. :) Another Chapter will be up shortly.
God Bless!
