"Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents." Ella bolted up from the reclined position she found herself in, startled by the sound of a gruff stranger's voice. What was she doing lying down? She was sitting a minute ago. Why was there a stranger in her room? When did it become dark? And what was that strange crackling sound?
She turned her head toward the sound. She barely had time to realize that she was staring at a real fireplace, a real crackling, roaring burning fire inside it when another voice spoke. It...no, she, sounded kind of whiny. "It's so dreadful to be poor."
Ella looked around her, as her brain finally started catching up with all the input it was being shoved. She was no longer in her room. She was surrounded by strange girls. She was somewhere she never seen before. She had no idea how she got here. and everyone was dressed like they were from Victorian England or something. Bella would be thrilled. Great, she was surrounded by Bellas.
Panic set in when she remembered her twin, and she looked around for her with sudden intensity. She spotted her and breathed a sigh of relief. Then she blinked and looked closer. Bella, well, that was her face, but she was dressed like her simself. And Bella was staring back at her from the bench by an old-fashioned piano where she was sitting, with wide, staring eyes.
Nearby, as though from far away, the voices kept speaking. "I think it isn't fair for some girls to have plenty of things, and other girls nothing at all!" One said in a demanding manner, as though stunned that one as pretty and worthy as the speaker clearly thought herself as, was not among the ones with 'lots of pretty things.'
Ella looked around her again, carefully this time. She quickly counted five girls, counting her twin. And all of them were wearing the long dresses of the characters in the...the..She blinked. In the what? It was on the tip of her tongue, but she was starting to have trouble recalling the word. And the realization filled her with a rushing sense of dread. Forcing herself to take a deep breath, and calm down, she focused on the last person who spoke. A tween was sitting at the foot of the couch where she was laying down, her hands folded primly in her lap, and every gleaming blond curl was in place. The first speaker, was a tall lean girl, laying on the ground before the fire. Every limp of her was moving, as though longing to be up and about at something, yet her face, so full of angles in the light from the fire, was tired, as though she wanted nothing more than for the rest of her to stop it's twitching and let her rest. The second speaker lounged in a big chair nearby, her hands full of yarn, and her face full too, of discontent.
Ella blinked stupidly at them and jumped again as the last girl, the one who she really hadn't observed closely beforehand. "We have Father and Mother and each other."
She said it so sweetly, yet so wistfully as though she was secretly hoping that if she kept saying it, it would be enough, that it got Ella's wandering attention. The girl was sitting right beside the prone tall one, busily sweeping the hearth as they spoke.
"We hadn't got Father." The first speaker said, sadly. "And we shall not have him for a long time."
This was crazy! Ella dropped back on the couch. The couch that she was sure was not there a moment ago. With the girls that were not there a minute ago. In a room that was not there a moment ago. She closed her eyes, and covered her face with her hands, and wondered idly if she was sliding into madness. She didn't understand how she got here. She should be in her room! Her room?
She blinked and frowned thoughtfully. Her room? Was that where she was? What did her room look like again? And why is she thinking of some kind of game? What kind of game was it again? She was starting to feel the need to scream. It was like her mind was being wiped clean with a sponge, leaving it blank. But the mention of Father twisted something in her gut, and she found herself speaking. "Yeah, for as long as this war anyway."
War? what war? Where was she? What was going on? What happened to her before she found herself here? With a sigh, she sat up and swung her feet to the floor. There was one thing she still remembered, and she had to see if her twin was real. She had to see!
Yes, Bella was still there, wonderfully familiar, wonderfully tidy, wonderfully...Bella! She stood, and started walking toward her. There was a spot of normality in her presence. And she instinctively started toward her as a drowning person would hurry toward a life preserver.
"you know the reason Mother proposed not to have any presents this Christmas was because it is going to be a hard winter for everyone, and she thinks we ought not to spend money for pleasure when our men are suffering so in the army. We can't do much but can make our little sacrifices and ought to do it gladly. But I'm afraid I don't." She added, with a sigh and a look of consternation on her face as though she was ashamed of the fact that she was unable to do what her Mother wanted.
Ella found herself clinching her teeth in sudden frustration, as she sat on the ground beside her twin. Bella's calmness was soothing Ella's frazzled nerves. Still, she really wished that Meg would stop preaching and fussing for once. Wait...Meg? Who was Meg? As though she was reading her sister's mind, Ella felt Bella's hand squeeze her shoulders reassuringly. Or was it to restrain hasty words? Knowing Bella, it was both. She shook her head in a futile effort to clear it, as the voices continued relentlessly.
"But I don't think the little we would spend would do any good. We each have a dollar. And the army won't be much helped by us giving that. I agree not to expect anything from Mother or you, but I do want to buy Undine and Sintram for myself. I wanted them for so long!" The first speaker said earnestly.
"I wanted to spend mine on new music." Said the wistful one, staring down at the fire as though to hide her expression.
"Good idea, but I believe a new journal would suit me better," Bell added, causing Ella to turn and stare at her in undisguised amazement. Bella glanced at her, her own expression was unreadable. But the loud one saw Ella's and laughed, amused by something. Ella expected her to demand who she and Bella were, or cause some kind of row. But She only said playfully. "What's the surprise for? You know Bella is too practical to spend hers on something frivolous like music! Even if that's what she wants most! Bella, get your music and be happy. We will be able to make do, with paper somehow for your everlasting studying!"
"I...I'm not surprised," Ella said, somewhat lamely in her own ears. To her hearers too, it seemed. The loud one made a rude sound, and the blond shrugged and tossed her curls. "Well, I shall get a nice box of Faber's drawing pencils. I really need them," she said in a decided manner. Ella, to her surprise, found herself speaking as though her mind had a mind of its own. And that mind knew where it was. "You really think you need the most expensive drawing pencils on the market, Amy? you can get more for your dollar by settling on a cheaper kind."
I would thank you for keeping your thoughts to yourself, Miss Ella March." Amy...Amy? said decisively, with a scornful sniff. "Unlike you, I am a true artist, and know better than to get anything cheap."
Ella frowned and stood to walk to the other side of the room, where a mirror stood, with unconscious familiarity. It was like she knew without knowing her way around the room. As time passed, the room became more and more familiar to her, and the other place that she thought she remembered grew fainter and fainter. With the familiarity of the room, came more and more knowledge of everything and everyone in it. But the rush of information was starting to cause her head to throb painfully.
She knew her name was Ella. Her twin was Bella. She had an idea that the loud one was, hmm, Jo? The blond was Amy. she didn't know why she was so sure of that, except that she called her that and Amy didn't correct her. But she didn't even remember what she looked like before she looked at herself in the mirror. Soft brown eyes, an oval face, with long brown hair. Literally, she looked exactly like her twin Bella, but without the calm, that was her twin's customary expression. Everything felt so unreal, that she firmly expected to wake up at any moment.