Just like John had foreseen, Henry's mother showed up to express her displeasure. It was not pretty. "Your son savaged my boy!" the woman said and pointed an accusing finger at Daniel. He peeked out from his room, Hazel hiding behind him. "He should be locked up! He's clearly dangerous and a bad influence!"
"Get out, you crazy old hag!" John roared, "I've already punished him plenty! Maybe you should spend some time educating your own child instead of telling others how to do it, aye?"
She looked at him in disbelief, the anger obvious in her face. "Henry is greatly injured, you bastard! And you're telling me that I need to bring up my child?!"
"If he was a bit more of a man he would not have let himself get beaten up by my son! I'm not going to discipline him for defending himself, Eleanor!"
Henry's mother did not appreciate John addressing her by her first name. "How disrespectful! Your whole family is deranged!"
Daniel found it strangely funny how Eleanor allowed herself to declare his family deranged as she was barely even able to stand on her own two feet due to the alcohol abuse. The hunched back, thin hair and deformed face did not look very sober at all.
"I've had it with you! Go bother someone else!" John said. The veins in his neck were visible.
"This is not over, John! If that brat lays a hand on my baby again, I'll have him annihilated! I'm warning you!" Eleanor shouted furiously, making all kinds of violent gestures with her hands.
John dismissed her, "Yes, I think we all understood that! Thank you for stopping by!"
Eleanor continued yelling curses at Father, even after he had closed the door. Daniel was confident that at least five minutes passed before she finally gave up and went home. He still stood in the doorway to his room as John headed for his. When he started ascending the stairs, the boy peeped, "Thank you, Dad."
There was no reply.
Henry didn't show up in school for a week. Daniel hadn't even realised that the hit had been so critical. He had just aimed for Henry's head and he had hit the temple. Was it possible that he could have caused Henry brain damage? He didn't want to think about it, already feeling guilty enough as it was. His classmates didn't seem as worried, though.
"Daniel!" the other boys had yelled, "Come play with us!"
Daniel felt speechless, even a little nervous. He didn't know how he was supposed to handle this new fame that had come over him. "I-I can't," he told them, "I have to work." After a while of various excuses of chores and work, the children gave up and everything went back to normal. Daniel was invisible again, and he found that he liked it better that way.
Eventually Henry came back to school and he definitely wasn't happy about what had happened. Daniel was relieved to see that Henry was all right, but soon the relief was replaced with fear. Everyone in class could sense the anger radiating from the bigger boy. No one wanted to go near him aside from his usual pack. Already the first day Henry was back in school, he grabbed Daniel by his collar.
"I bet you feel really smart, huh?" he said. His voice was dripping acid. "Don't think that you're safe now. I won't forget this, Wilkinson."
Daniel did not feel neither smart nor safe. He was terrified. He already knew that Henry Bedloe wouldn't forget, he didn't feel the need to be reminded. If he thought that his place in school was bad now, it would certainly get even worse.
Summer was finally just around the corner. John was still working a lot without letting Daniel come with him. Daniel knew that he was still angry about the incident with Henry, even though it had been a few months now. He didn't blame him; he himself felt bad about it. If he was his own father, he also would be disappointed – though surely not as aggressive about it.
Daniel had worked until dinner time at the miller's. The sun was still up when he returned home. He walked in to find Hazel, not in her bed, but in the kitchen trying to prepare dinner. He nearly had a heart attack. "Hazel!" he exclaimed and ran to her, "Why are you not in bed? What do you think you're doing?"
Hazel seemed overwhelmed, but gave him an innocent smile, "I'm cooking dinner!"
Daniel frowned for a moment, then placed his hands on his hips. "Dinner? When did you learn to cook?"
"Please, Danny, let me do something!" she pleaded, folding her hands, "I never get to help out! I don't want to just lie around in bed all day, that's all I do! Look, I'm getting chubby!" She pinched her cheeks.
He couldn't help himself from laughing and sat down by the dinner table, "You've always looked like that, Hazel."
She gave him a look of disbelief, then crossed her arms with a pout. "You've always thought I've been fat?"
He shook his head, still chuckling. "You're missing the point. You need to recover from your illness."
Sadness draped her round face. "But it's boring…" She gave him her best puppy eyes, her lips pursed. How was Daniel supposed to resist that?
He thought about it for a while, then said with a gentle smile, "All right, you can help me out with dinner. I'm sure Dad will appreciate it."
Hazel lit up and clapped her hands. "You think so? I'll make a tasty dinner for Daddy!" she said and quickly turned around to continue what she was doing.
Daniel stopped her in her tracks. "But you're only going to do what I allow you to!" he said and took the knife she was about to grab.
She pouted, but complied. "All right, then!"
Hazel enjoyed herself a lot, Daniel could tell. She was chattering more than usual and that was saying a lot, considering that she didn't really have an outdoor life to talk about – but Daniel didn't mind. Nothing was better than seeing Hazel this elated. She was radiating, glowing, just like the morning star in the fairy tale. Maybe he could allow himself to forget that she had an illness just for a short while.
Daniel let Hazel wash the vegetables, but he would not let her near a knife or the stove, so there really wasn't much for her to do. She seasoned the meat and made sure herself that it tasted just as she thought it should. Nothing should be less than perfect. She had Daniel taste the beef. He couldn't bring himself to tell her that she had put too much salt in it, so he just forced a smile and told her that it was excellent. That happy expression on his sister's face was worth more than all the money in the world.
He never knew it would make such a difference to actually let Hazel out of her bed. Thinking about it, it really couldn't be healthy for her to be locked up like that. Maybe he should reconsider his method of caring for her. But then again, which other way could Daniel be sure that she was resting? He would just have to save these moments for whenever he had time to look after her. She wasn't going to have another seizure while he wasn't there to take care of it, that was for sure.
The dinner was ready within an hour. Hazel was proud of herself. Daniel made sure to feed her a lot of compliments to further increase her good mood. Now everything that was left to do was wait for their father to return home.
The sun had started to set by seven o'clock. John should have returned home by now, but he still hadn't showed up. The siblings had laid the table and sat silently around it with an empty seat between them. Almost an hour had passed and the conversation between them had stalled. Hazel asked for the third time, "When will Father return home?"
Her big green eyes held an expectation that Daniel wasn't sure he could meet. He sighed, "I don't know, Hazel... But it should be any minute now."
She just nodded and returned her gaze to her plate. She started poking the vegetables with her fork.
Hazel wasn't so chatty any more. The glow she had emitted before had faded. Just an hour earlier she had been laughing and playing around with her older brother, but now she was quiet.
Daniel looked at her. "So... What have you been doing today?" he said.
"Nothing," she mumbled, "I'm not allowed to move out of my bed."
He paused shortly, considering what he had decided with himself earlier. "You can get out of your bed," he said, frowning, "Just ... don't move around too much."
Hazel didn't answer. She had her gaze fixed on her food. It had been forty minutes, and John hadn't come home. The food was getting cold.
Daniel knew why Hazel was so forlorn. She had finally done something useful, and John wasn't here to see it. He didn't return home to eat the food, she had gone out of her way to make for him. He wasn't there to appreciate her.
He hesitated for a bit, then said, "... Let's eat, Hazel..."
Hazel nodded silently and began digging into her beef. He wanted to console her, but he already knew that he wouldn't be able to. Hazel was fragile. Daniel might have learned to live with John's neglect, but he feared that she never would.
Serena had a lot to tell. As soon as she and Daniel saw each other again, she told him everything about the girls from her school that bullied her. Daniel hadn't expected her to be that miserable. The other girls taunted her, pulled her hair and called her all kinds of dirty names – they even shot nasty insults about her family not being English. Daniel understood why that would be very hurtful.
She had tried talking to her older sisters about it, but they had just told her that she needed to push through. Apparently they had had it just as hard, if not worse due to their fathers not being part of the upper class society. At least Serena's father was a wealthy industrialist who held some kind of authority despite not being English.
Daniel had a hard time keeping track of Serena's large family. What he understood was that her mother was Chilean and she had immigrated to England some twenty years ago. She had four children with three different men, whom she had all been married to; her first husband had died, the second had ordered a divorce, and Hilmar, an Icelandic businessman and Serena's father, was the latest one. He himself had one other son, whom he had had with his deceased wife, but he was apparently residing in Iceland. Shortly after her death, Magdalena Lawrence, formerly da Silva, and Hilmar Thórsson met.
She cried her heart out and Daniel felt stupid. He had urged her to tell him all about it and promised he would be there, but when she finally confided in him, he just felt awkward and didn't know what to say. He simply patted her shoulder. This didn't console the poor girl, it just made her crave even more of Daniel's attention. He complied, hoping that his presence could be of little comfort to his friend, so he stayed out of the house a lot. Luckily, John didn't notice as he himself was working most of the time, but it did affect one other person.
The sun was shining ever so brightly outside, just like it did every summer. Hazel sighed, wishing like so many times before that she could go outside and play with the other children in the village. She hated staying in bed all the time. It was boring. Summertime was always the worst because the weather was so lovely; it seemed to mock her. And then there was that other reason, the one she could never dream of admitting to – Daniel spent all his time with Serena at this time of the year, so Hazel almost never saw him.
She climbed out of bed and pulled a box out from under it. This was the place where Daniel kept all of his history books. She picked one of them and opened it. It was definitely more advanced than the fairytale books. There was more text and the words were longer and harder to read. Hazel got back into her bed with a deep frown planted on her face.
"A-an...cent... Egypt so-city..." she mumbled, trying to make sense of the title. She looked at Mr. James. He was sitting still beside her, just watching over her with a patient and kind expression on his face.
"Can you read this to me, Mr. James?" she asked, "It's too difficult!"
"Of course, Hazel, I'm always here to help you," he answered.
Hazel pouted. "That's not true."
Mr. James' smile disappeared and he gave her an apologetic look. She fixed her gaze on the book again. "Tell me a fairytale, Daniel."
Mr. James didn't answer. Hazel felt her eyes become watery and bit her lip. "You always forget about me now."
"I love you, Hazel," Mr. James said. He didn't move.
"I miss you, Daniel," Hazel sobbed. She wiped the tears away, but they wouldn't stop running. "I know you deserve to be happy. But I miss you. Mum is gone, and Daddy doesn't care about us. You're all I have. But you have forgotten about me." Her shoulders were shaking.
Mr. James didn't respond. He sat lifelessly beside her, just watching over her with that patient and kind expression.
This was the only way Hazel could vent out her emotions. She couldn't tell Daniel James Wilkinson how she felt, but she could scold Mr. James. He wouldn't get hurt.
The treetops in the Blean let in the sunlight, creating a warm and bright atmosphere. Daniel and Serena had placed themselves in the clearing on the soft grass. Daniel enjoyed this place. It was so peaceful and idyllic. He turned his gaze to Serena. She had been very quiet today. It was quite the change from how much she had been talking throughout the summer so far; she had told Daniel anything that she could think of, not holding anything back any more. Had she run out of things to say?
Daniel couldn't really tell if he minded or not. It wasn't so much annoying to him, as it would probably be to many others. This way she wouldn't notice that he didn't really have anything to say that would comfort her. But he had never believed Serena to be so caught up in herself, though. She hadn't even asked how Hazel was doing.
Serena raked up some straws from the ground. The silence wasn't comfortable. Daniel could tell that she was thinking about something, something that did not sit well with her. "What is wrong?" he asked.
She looked up at him with an expressionless face. "Nothing," she said, "Should we go into the city? It is boring out here."
Daniel frowned, not believing what he heard. "You know we can't do that, Serena. What if anyone sees us?"
"Why does it matter so much to you?" she scoffed and threw the straws back onto the grass rather aggressively, "Do you not want to be seen with me?"
He didn't know what to say. He would have thought that Serena would be more cautious about their meetings than him. "Surely you don't think that you're an embarrassment to me?" he said with wide eyes.
"It seems that I am!" she said, looking at him. "You always make such a big deal about us being seen together! Are you afraid that your friends from school are going to tease you because you're friends with a girl?"
"What? No!" Daniel blurted. This was getting really difficult. Why was she being so hostile?
"All right then," she said and looked away. She crossed her arms.
Daniel didn't feel comfortable. He had never experienced Serena like this. She used to seem so selfless and kind, but right now he didn't like the way she was behaving. He didn't want to fight with her. "Serena..." he said and put a hand on her shoulder, "Look at me."
She ignored his request, but he noticed her trembling as he touched her. He sighed and continued, "I did not mean it like that. I'm sorry."
"You just never talk to me," she said with a shaky voice.
Daniel tilted his head in confusion. "What? I have been talking to you all summer."
"That is not what I mean!" she exclaimed and turned towards the older boy again, "You always just listen! You never respond and you never tell me how you feel! I feel like I am confiding in some lifeless doll!"
Daniel remained silent. He felt tired.
Tears welled up in her eyes. "I am sorry, too..." she whispered, "I feel like I am burdening you, and your silence is just further confirmation of that to me... It feels like you are ashamed of me or find me annoying..."
He instantly regretted the thoughts he had had about her just moments earlier. He never knew that his lack of response was the reason why she had become so sensitive. "I care about you, Serena. I would never feel ashamed of you. I was just trying to protect you."
Serena was quiet for a moment before she said, "Maybe you should not be so overprotective. It can make you blind to how the people you care about are feeling."
Daniel pondered what she said. How could he be blind to how she felt just because he wanted to protect her? He couldn't imagine how caring could cause harm. He didn't let her know that he dismissed her advice, though. "I'll remember."
Serena kept silent for a bit. Then she said, "It would also be nice if you would tell me what is on your mind once in a while."
"There is nothing to tell," Daniel said.
"I refuse to believe that you are just a blank slate, Daniel!" she said with a high voice, "I know you! You must be thinking about a lot of things. You always seem like you are lost in your own world."
Daniel started fidgeting with his shirt. "I believe I have always paid you a lot of attention, Miss Serena. It's some of an insult to me that you say I seem lost in my own world."
The change of the way he addressed her alarmed Serena. "Daniel, do not call me that. We are friends."
Daniel didn't answer. He didn't want to look at her.
"I am sorry, Daniel. I appreciate your attention. I know you are very patient. I just mean..." She trailed of, her voice getting thick again. "You don't open up to me..."
Those last words became nothing more than a whisper. Daniel still didn't look up. He kept his gaze fixed on his shirtsleeve.
Serena looked at him with tearful eyes. "Do you not want to be friends any more …?"
Daniel finally looked at the young girl again. He moistened his lips and said, "You are hurting me, Serena."
"I am sorry," she said, a single tear drop running down her face. Her brown eyes were sparkling somehow beautifully from the salt liquid.
He put his arms around her and pulled her into an embrace. "I will never let you go. You are my friend." Serena broke down and cried into his shirt. It was a relief to the both of them.
The evening sun still offered a bit of warmth, but the winds were picking up. In the far distance of the meadow several hills could be seen waving their way through the landscape, and the sun lowering in the horizon filled the sky with pretty violet and orange colours.
Watching the sunset with Serena was one of the things Daniel enjoyed most about the summer. Sure, they had just had a fight, but they had made up again. He wanted to just forget about it, and he was positive that Serena felt the same way. She looked dreamily at the beautiful sight. "What are you thinking about, Daniel?" she said softly.
"That the sunset is very lovely."
She lay down in the grass and turned towards him. "Tell me why you always become so nervous when we watch the sunset together."
Daniel's jaw tightened. He thought that she hadn't noticed. He swallowed and looked at his hands. He had never told anyone. No one knew besides his sister and father. "I…" he said hesitantly, "I am not very fond of the dark."
Serena gave him a weird look. "What do you mean?"
He took in a deep breath. This was harder than he thought it would be. He had never talked openly about it before. It felt like he was about to admit to something he had been denying to himself his whole life. "Something happened... And I became disturbed," he mumbled, "So I don't like the darkness any more."
Serena sat up beside him. "You mean that you are afraid of the dark?" she said with astonishment.
Daniel felt like a fool. Maybe it had been a bad idea after all. "If you put it that way..."
She didn't answer right away. The longer he waited for her to say something, the more anxious he grew. Did she think of him as a coward now? Would she laugh? Would she walk away? Daniel closed his eyes.
A whole minute passed before she spoke, "Then why do you always stay and watch the sunset with me?"
He shrugged. He didn't really feel like humiliating himself further.
Another pause, but then Serena put her arms around Daniel's neck. His eyes shot open in surprise. "It must be really hard," she said, "It means a lot to me."
Daniel remained stiff, trying to grasp the situation. She pulled back with a bright smile, "I am afraid of spiders!"
Daniel looked at her with wide eyes. He had not expected this kind of response. It felt like something heavy had been lifted off of his chest. A small smile formed on his face. "Thanks," he said, his voice a soft murmur. They both turned their gaze back to the sunset. Serena comfortingly put her hand over Daniel's, letting him know that she would be there when the darkness arrived.
A little distance away at the outskirts of the Blean, a curious someone was hiding behind a tree, observing the scene. They couldn't keep their secret forever.
John had run out of beer once again. He scowled; why did nothing about his life seem to work out? He didn't ask for much. He just wanted the pain killers, that was all. He fumbled in his pockets to find the keys. The artisan had gone home to stock up on his alcohol again. It didn't occur to him even once that he might not run out so fast if he didn't drink several bottles a day. That would be ludicrous to think!
He was about to open the door to his house as a voice stopped him, "Mr. Wilkinson! How nice to see you!"
John turned around, only to be met with the sight of his plump neighbour, Mrs. Phillips. Her round face was red, her hair was orange and her dress was burgundy. John couldn't stand such vibrant colours.
"Oh... Good day, Mrs. Phillips," John mumbled and turned to try and open the front door again – but Mrs. Phillips did not take the hint.
"How is the business? You rarely move out of your studio now, so I've heard. Is the demand high again?" she chortled and padded the big dog beside her on the head. To John it seemed like even the dog was tired of that sickeningly good mood.
John restrained himself and reluctantly said, "No, it is not."
Mrs. Phillips' smile disappeared and she gave him a sympathetic look, one that John found to be very infuriating. "Oh, it'll come, I'm sure! You have so many beautiful sculptures!"
"Yes, thank you," John said and tried to remove himself from the conversation, once again to no avail.
"By the way, I was wondering how your daughter is doing?" she continued, not noticing John's annoyance at all, "I haven't seen her around for a long time! She usually helps me out with my work on the farm, the sweet girl."
John looked at Mrs. Phillips with a frown. He hadn't known about Hazel helping out around the village. He always thought that she was completely useless. He gritted his teeth and mumbled, "I don't know."
He didn't give Mrs. Phillips the chance to answer this time. He opened the door rather aggressively and slammed it behind him. Mrs. Phillips looked at the door with wide eyes, surprised by John's manners. She knew that he was a tempered man, but this was very rude. He didn't even know about his own daughter's health!
Daniel spent his thirteenth birthday with Serena as per usual. She had cookies for him, but no books. She said that she had gotten into a lot of trouble last year because of money that had disappeared, so she wanted to be a bit more careful this time around. Unfortunately she had to leave early, so Daniel found himself walking home through the village before dinner time. He had a lot of cupcakes with him, though. Serena had given him the basket to share with Hazel.
As Daniel walked home, he reflected on his relationship with the upper class girl. It had somehow developed this summer. They had talked about intimate things, subjects Daniel had never touched on before. He felt that he was closer to her now, and he wasn't sure how he felt about that. He didn't want to give Serena the wrong impression. It seemed like she wanted to get closer to him. He appreciated her as a friend. He didn't want to ruin their friendship. Hopefully she didn't misunderstand his intentions.
The small house appeared in the distance. It didn't take Daniel long before he finally arrived home, and he put the keys in the lock and opened the door. He picked up on the choked rasps at once. He didn't even bother to kick off his boots – Daniel ran directly for the bedroom he shared with Hazel. He pushed open the door and was met with a horrifying sight.
Hazel lay on the floor, her whole body completely pale and her lips a violet colour. She grabbed onto her chest and stared at nothing, making rash and spastic movements with her limbs. She was choking, and a broken bottle of laudanum lay beside her while the ceramic inhaler was left on the bed.
And then there was the blood. The blood running down her chin. Her whole mouth was coloured in red, and there were stains all over the white nightgown. She looked like a ghost.
"NO!" Daniel yelled and fell down to his knees beside his sister. He grabbed onto her waist and tried to pull her up. Hazel kept vomiting blood, and Daniel's white shirtsleeves were soon a deep red colour, too. He frantically reached under his bed for the box where the laudanum was stocked. He didn't have time to fetch a spoon, so he simply removed the lid and made Hazel drink directly from the bottle.
But Hazel's body resisted. Merely moments after she swallowed, she threw it all up again. Tears ran down her face. What was he going to do? If Hazel couldn't keep the laudanum down, he wasn't able to help her!
Daniel grabbed onto Hazel and carried her to her bed, giving her a cloth she could cough into. "Hazel, don't worry! Stay here!" he said panicked, his eyes blinking.
Hazel wasn't able to answer. This seizure was really serious. Daniel had never experienced the laudanum backfire like that. He couldn't do this alone.
He shot up to his feet and ran out the house towards the Canterbury town centre. He needed Doctor Tate.
Tate was still there when John returned home a couple of hours later.
Daniel knew that Doctor Tate would be in town; he had a schedule in Canterbury that lasted from mid July till early August. Through the years, Tate had grown quite fond of the lad and his efforts concerning his sister, so despite them not having a lot of money, he wanted to help the poor children as much as he could. He only spent a few minutes packing a bag with the most important medicinal instruments before following Daniel back to his house.
He had stopped the vomiting and choking, but Hazel was now crying hysterically and kept whimpering about how much pain she was in. It broke Daniel's heart. When he heard the front door burst open, his breath caught in his throat. He had managed to keep John from knowing about Doctor Tate, but what would he say now? What if he sent the physician away, yelling about not having money to pay for his services?
Hazel stopped sobbing. Dread was obvious in her face. Daniel knew that she was just as worried about how John would react as he was.
John noticed the commotion in the bedroom at once and walked in. "What is going on? Who are you?"
Tate stopped what he was doing. "I assume you must be the children's father. I am Doctor Tate," he said.
John glanced at Hazel, then at Daniel. "What happened?" he growled.
Daniel swallowed. "S-she had a seizure," he said quickly.
"A very serious one at that," Tate added and continued preparing his gear. Hazel strained herself not to cry. She stared at her father. The tears had dried her cheeks.
John said no more. He observed the Doctor for a while, then just walked in and sat down on Daniel's bed. Doctor Tate picked up a large jar from his bag. It was filled with something large and obsidian and dense looking. He also placed a small container beside Hazel on the bed.
Daniel noticed the liquid in the jar move. "What is that?" he asked.
"This will get rid of the bad blood," Tate said and started removing the lid, "It's a very time consuming procedure – and usually also very expensive. But I'll give you a discount." He grabbed some tweezers and reached into the jar. That was when Daniel realised that the contents of the jar wasn't a liquid.
Doctor Tate placed the animal onto Hazel's bare chest. She whimpered as it bit onto her and began sucking. Blood started to trickle from underneath the leech. Tate placed the container so it would catch the blood.
Daniel looked at his father with doubt in his eyes. John didn't say anything. He simply observed the Doctor. He noticed Daniel's eyes on him and said, "Don't worry. This will be good for her."
The young boy was surprised to say the least. He turned to stare at the bloodsucker again. Hazel grew tired. The marks on her chest slowly disappeared as her whole body paled. Less than an hour later she fell asleep.
"All right, Doctor," John said as Tate packed his things, "Tell us what is wrong with her."
The physician fixed his glasses. "Let's move out into the living room. We shouldn't disturb the patient." Daniel followed John and Doctor Tate out. He placed himself beside his father to hear what the Doctor had to say. Tate pondered for a while, seemingly in doubt about how he should say it. At last he decided on just putting it out on the table. "Your daughter is dying, Mr. Wilkinson."
The air became chill. It felt like the blood in Daniel's veins turned to ice.
John didn't respond right away. "Are you sure?"
Doctor Tate sighed, "Her condition has become very critical. This was an extreme incident. Unless she starts getting treatment on a regular basis, I do not see her live to become an adult."
Daniel's jaw tightened. He fisted his hands.
"And how much is the regular treatment?" John said, though not sounding very hopeful.
"I can give you a discount, as I mentioned earlier," Tate said, "But she will not be able to get the treatment from me unless she is relocated to the London Infirmary, and that will also require a fixed expense."
"How much is it?" John repeated, his voice low. Daniel knew that his father was losing his patience.
Doctor Tate remained silent for a moment. "4 pounds," he said, "A month."
Daniel's heart dropped all the way down to his stomach. They would never be able to afford that.
John nodded. "Thank you, Doctor," he said. He followed Doctor Tate out of the door and closed it after him.
There was silence. John stood by the door, not bothering to look at his son.
Daniel stared at the front door for a moment. Then he turned around and went into his room, slamming the door behind him.