Preface-
In the dark morgue it was easy to see the nurse's dismay. She was beautiful; the fallen angel in the dreams of every man, the one that creeps in the back of the mind causing a low from the realization it was actually only a dream.
I remembered her well; it was only ten years ago that I mended a broken leg for her. She had teased herself about being a tomboy, and when I asked why she had fallen she responded "I must be putting on weight, or I'm not as good a climber as I thought" she had laughed.
Now she was twenty-six and married. I had only heard rumors of her abuse, but now after hearing of her attempt at suicide I wondered if they more than that, if they were true. Was that what caused her to jump, Could she have not lived another day under his brutal care?
I sighed, "Esme, what have you done?" she was surrounded by her own blood; I listened to her slow beating heart, like it wouldn't give up. It started to get slower and slower, she had fallen from a tree, and what had I done, fallen after her? I was overwhelmed by the compulsion to act, could I? it had been so long since I had felt like this.
Chapter one-
I remember running in the fields of London, when there were actually enough fields to run in. Over time it had just become a place for business and buildings, with large companies setting up shop wherever they could.
I and my greatest companion of the time, Elaine would race, she was faster than me, which at the time drove me mad, even imprisoned in skirts and corsets she could run like the wind, blowing past me time after time.
"Loser!" she teased, jogging back to where I was standing in front of a large Oak tree. I smiled, she was a year younger me at seventeen, radiant as the sun itself shining like a thousand diamonds in the caves of Africa. "What are you staring at?" she asked, trying to see from my eyes, back then I would have believed she could; now she was just a fading memory.
"This tree, I remember it growing up, it's so huge now…" I looked up, it had grown so tall you could hardly see the top without being blinded by the sun.
"I remember it to, it was a tiny little thing wasn't it?" she sunk down and sat against the trunk, closing her eyes. I looked down at her, she was so beautiful! Her glowing skin and shiny blonde hair, I didn't think anyone could captivate me so much as her.
She opened one of her eyes and smiled happily up at me, I had leaned against the trunk above her. Everything was brighter with her around. That was one of the happier days of my human existence, of course a great deal of them revolved around her.
However that winter she fell ill. We didn't know what it was that had hit her, now I can only think it was the flu or a cold. I was on my way to visit her, she had begged for my company earlier in the week. It wasn't that I minded, just the very thought that she was deathly ill chilled my bones to the marrow. Her father was sitting on the front steps toying with his fingers, I instantly knew what happened.
We had been in a drought, and now it seemed the rain had been reserved for this day. With the sight of the clouds that morning I thought things would turn around, what I didn't expect was for them to get worse.
"The way I see it she passed in her sleep, she was already stone cold when I went to check on her this morning, I cant believe she is gone, my daughter…." He whispered, hunching his shoulders in grief. I placed a weary hand on his shoulder, "You can go see her son, I might warn you, her mother has gone mad, she wont sit down, she just keeps sweeping" I nodded and opened the front door.
I could hear her mother sweeping in the kitchen, humming tunelessly to the beat around her. As I slowly made my way to Elaine's room I was cautious to what I knew I would see. Her pale, lifeless body, I would never see her shining blue eyes again. That thought unnerved me, I almost turned and ran the other way, but I knew if I didn't get it over with now, I wouldn't be able to keep myself together at the funeral, so I turned the knob.
The room looked the same, except for the girl lying in the bed. She was exactly what I pictured, only maybe, less horrid. A small smile played on her lips, always the one to smile! Elaine had a gift for seeing the good in things, and letting it overpower whatever negative anyone else could find. Even in death! She never saw death like we did, to her it was an escape, the time when you let go of the trivial events and trials of life. She was almost to peaceful, it was more than I would have asked for, to know that she was okay with this.
"Well, I figure you can't protest, so I think I'll speak to you a while"