Tales of the Alternate Universe
Chapter Fourteen: Flanna's Drastic Return
Two Years Later…
Her hands clutched themselves together while she swung her body back and forth on her heels. Her dark mourning garments were starting to maker her feel quite uncomfortable and the silence of her deceased uncle's study was getting her bored. Flanna flinched quietly at the sudden touch of her father's hand, making pressure on her shoulder with its weight. She looked up at his face innocently, receiving a disapproving glare from him in return. The red-haired girl stopped balancing her body and stood firm and stern like her father wanted, sighing in resignation when he wasn't looking.
Her green eyes drifted through the room, resting on the many bookshelves that covered the study's walls from time to time as she stared at her cousins' bored faces. They were also wearing black suits and fancy leather shoes in the memory of their father. Flanna shook her head, fighting to repel a series of resentful thoughts from her mind. Deep inside she felt that they had received a well-deserved punishment, but thinking in that way made her feel like a heartless jerk. She wouldn't allow herself to be as low as Big Destiny and his gang.
An impatient grunt flew out of her throat when Flanna turned her sight back at the old skinny man who was sitting at her uncle's desk. He had been reading and analyzing a bunch of papers and documents in a low voice for two hours while her family listened attentively. The light of a golden candelabrum flickered on his grim-looking features as he gathered all the paperwork and faced the waiting family around him. Flanna noticed an odd hint of excitement on her father's features after the man announced that he was ready to read her uncle's last will and testament.
"I Magnus Hacksworth IV, do hereby make, publish and declare this to be my Last Will and Testament. I declare that I am of legal age to make this Will and of sound mind, and that this last Will and Testament expresses my wishes without undue influence or duress."
Flanna covered her mouth to drown a loud yawn beneath it, getting a burning pinch from her father in consequence. The girl frowned in annoyance, rubbing her aching upper-arm while she tried to find any sense in her uncle's complex writing.
"I therefore, hereby declare that all property, real or personal, tangible or intangible (including saving accounts in any bank), which is registered or held, at the time of my death; shall pass by right of survivorship to my oldest son Francis Hacksworth in co-ownership with his brother Thomas Hacksworth. Though, if he and his brother as well as any other person who shall become entitled to receive property under this Will, is still a minor at the time the distribution is to be made…"
"Does fourteen count as minor?" Flanna murmured to herself while she rubbed her half-open eyes.
"Shhh…! Be quiet, will you? You have to be twenty-one or older to inherit anything!" Thomas whispered in annoyance. "Everybody knows that!"
His younger cousin simply rolled her eyes as she folded her arms in reply.
"…I authorize my brother, Ignacious Hacksworth V, as my Personal Representative, to receive such property as custodian for such minor…"
"As you may already know," the old lawyer said after clearing his throat. "your dear brother, father and uncle asked for a long-term space of two years in order to give his sons the time to become of sufficient age before his testament was read, in order to give them the chance of becoming the beneficiaries of all his valuable possessions…"
A wave of disappointment seized Francis and Thomas' features, knowing that the time given by their father was not enough to let them become adults. His death had been way more premature than he could have expected. A seventeen-year old Francis and a sixteen-year old Thomas wouldn't be able to earn their rights as legal owners of their father's fortune. Everything would pass to their still-unemployed uncle and his annoying daughter.
Thus, the lawyer announced that Mr. Hacksworth was the legal owner of his brother's possessions, leaving a pleased Ignacious, a highly envious Francis and Thomas, and an extremely bored and confused Flanna behind.
x+x+x+x+x
Later that night, Flanna woke up violently from one of her strange recurrent nightmares. The red-haired girl panted heavily, feeling that she was running out of air at the memory of her odd dream. She saw herself surrounded by a snowy landscape. She tried to move forward but a crystal barrier stopped her from doing so; that same barrier hindered every movement that she'd try to carry out. Flanna would only feel the cold, encasing her body and even her very soul with an icy layer. In a moment, she found herself trapped, her mental illness instantly summoning her biggest fear and impeding her ability to breathe. She couldn't hit the ice, she couldn't scream, she couldn't save herself. She was frozen…
Cold… The intensity of the cold in her dream was so strong and real that Flanna would always wake up shivering and chattering before she choked inside her ice cage. Flanna embraced herself, longing for some warmth to help her calm her nerves down. She hated the cold just as much as being trapped. It was an unbearable sensation for her. When her hands failed to provide her some kind of heat, Flanna reached out for her blanket and covered her shoulders with it, throwing her body into her fluffy bed. It didn't work. Her muscles wouldn't stop shivering. The red-haired girl then snuggled into her pillow, trying to think in something else.
The summer sun… a lit chimney… Miss Tea Hanks' apple pies… Those were things that would always bring a brief feeling of warmth and happiness into her mind. Hot cocoa… My red scarf… Finn's bed… Flanna flushed, hiding her face under her blankets. She had only thought about that because of the night in which she sneaked inside Finn's bedroom and yanked him out of bed, asking him for help to stop the Destiny Gang after they had attacked Miss Tea and hurt Mr. Gibb.
Flanna remembered that she was exhausted and could barely keep herself on her feet. She had been running the whole night, with the autumn's cold freezing her cheeks and draining her stamina faster than usual. Finn noticed that she was about to faint and stopped her fall, offering his bed and covering her body with his blankets, even though she was probably the last person he wanted to see at that moment. Finn let her rest while he went outside to the cold in search of some useful items for their mission. Meanwhile, she silently enjoyed the warmth that his body had left behind and blushed at the smell of his scent, pervading the blankets as if he was cuddling there with her. Flanna hadn't been able to drive him out of her mind as she tried to get some sleep that exhausting night, two years ago.
Now she wished that Finn could actually be there with her, providing his warmth to her cold body, helping her feel safe after those terrible nightmares would tore her dreams down almost every night. She longed for a place in his arms, where she could rest her head on his chest and fall asleep, listening to the beating of his heart. Flanna touched her cheeks and noticed that they had turned somewhat hot just because she was thinking of that farm boy. It was weird how the distance had strengthened her feelings for him instead of diminishing them. The red-haired girl felt a little embarrassed of admitting it so openly to herself, but she wasn't afraid to feel that she was falling for him anymore.
She slowly began to forget about her terrible nightmares as her memories of Finn replaced the pessimist thoughts in her mind. Flanna pulled the drawer beside her bed open, feeling the necessity to re-read one of Finn's letters, hoping that his caring words would help her fall back asleep. Flanna hadn't seen him in two years. She hadn't even kept a photo of him, but she had a very clear image of his appearance in her mind. However, the boy had mentioned in one of his letters that he had stopped cutting his hair a long time ago and it now reached his waist.
It didn't matter though, his white bear cap would always keep his blonde hair hidden from the rest of the world. Still, it made Flanna wonder how much could he have changed in two years. He was probably taller now. Perhaps all that farm work had bolstered up and marked his muscles. His skin had probably been tanned due to countless hours of growing whole grains under the sun. And the fourteen-year-old sighed in delight, imagining Finn as a strong and handsome young man. Perfectly normal for a teenage girl with a crush. She felt her cheeks blushing again. The red-haired girl couldn't believe that she was investing so much time in her old rival again. Flanna decided to get up for a glass of water, maybe that would help her ease all those tingling feelings that tickled her stomach like rushing butterflies inside her.
Flanna stepped out of her bedroom into the dark hallway of her new residence. She could have just asked Peter Butler for it, but she hated to bother him so late at night after all the hard work that he always does for her. Carefully as a warily mouse, the young Hacksworth made her way into the big kitchen and opened the sink to fill her glass with the precious transparent liquid. The water was gulped down her thirsty throat in an eager manner, emptying her glass almost instantly. Flanna decided to get a refill. She watched the water splash inside her glass, when the silence of the night was suddenly brought down by a couple of grim whispers, coming from a nearby room.
Curiosity took the best of her and the red-haired girl forgot about her midnight drink to spy on those strange voices. Flanna reached the room, and noticing that its door was locked, she crouched down and peeped through the small gap between the door and cold ceramic floor.
"Thomas?" the girl whispered, recognizing her cousin's feet because of his always-untied shoelaces and focused all her attention on his conversation with the other person in front of him.
"I just can't ssstand it, brother!" Francis' voice growled. "It wasss all plotted by our pathetic uncle…! I can asssure you that! Our father'sss death wasss no sssuicide…!"
"You mean that…" Thomas sounded more afraid than furious in comparison to his older brother. "Our father was k-killed… by our uncle?"
"But of courssse, fool! Isssn't it obviousss?! What reassson did our father have to commit sssuicide, huh?! Why would he end hisss life ssso recklessly, leaving usss alone?!"
There was a brief moment of silence before Thomas dared to reply, "I guess…you're right…"
"WHAT?!" Flanna yelled, not being able to stand more of their horrendous commentaries about her father. Her hands covered her mouth in vain shortly after her angry scream.
Francis slammed the door open and locked his furious eyes with Flanna's astonished ones as she got back on her feet. Thomas followed him outside and gasped in surprise, noticing the young girl shuddering in anger before him and his brother.
"What are you doing awake, foolish girl?!"
"Isn't it obviousss?! Ssshe wasss meddling into our personal buisnesss, brother!" Francis kept glaring at Flanna, "What are you planning to do now, huh? Acussse usss with your murderousss father?!"
"My father is not a murderer!" Flanna assured in Mr. Hacksworth's defense. It wasn't possible for him to do such an atrocious act after all his brother did for him, when they lost everything they had because of the Destiny Gang.
"Humph! Of courssse he isn't…" Francis hissed sarcastically. "Thisss isss sssurely a profitable sssituation for you, isn't it?! All of a sssuden my father decidesss to kill himself and you two end up getting all hisss fortune!"
Flanna clenched her fists and stepped closer to her cousin in a menacing way. "You're insane!" she screamed, "You two are just jealous 'cause you aren't old enough to inherit your father's possessions…! T-that doesn't give you the right to blame mine for his death! Your father simply killed himself!"
"SSSHUT UP!" Francis yelled, slapping her with his heavy hand. "YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING DO YOU?!"
Flanna fell onto the cold floor, feeling a stinging pain in her cheek. Her fingertips brushed the soon-to-be inflamed spot, revealing the sparkling blood that was now staining her hand. She quickly looked back at her furious cousin and noticed him looming towards her. Francis could have killed there if Thomas hadn't stepped in.
"Francis, no! That's enough!" his brother cried, holding his arm with all his strength, giving Flanna some time to runaway from there.
The red-haired girl went towards her father's bedroom, seeking for his comfort. She couldn't find him on his bed. Flanna overheard an excited laughter coming out from her uncle's private study. The frightened girl pushed the door open softly and glanced at her drunk father, celebrating merrily with a bottle of champagne in his hand.
A tear rolled down her hurt cheek, causing its wound to sting even more as Flanna closed the door and stumbled towards her bedroom. She tried to think why would such an honorable man like her father would commit that kind of horrible crimes against his own family. Was it for money, power, or a simple human instinct of survival? She couldn't find the answer.
All she knew was that she couldn't stay in that house any longer. Flanna needed to escape towards the only place where she knew she'd finally find some peace, at Finn's side…
x+x+x+x+x
"B-but… Miss Flanna… are you sure about this?!" Peter Butler exclaimed in astonishment as the fourteen-year old girl placed a saddle on her father's finest polo horse.
Flanna, who was now wearing the most comfortable travel outfit that she could find in her closet, remained stern and silent for a moment. She mounted the black steed's back and handed her loyal butler a letter.
"You know where Miss Bonnibel's residence is, right?" the girl asked as the cold breeze blew her long russet hair behind her. "I want you to send it there, please…"
A weak smile graced her lips as she waved good-bye to the short man beside her and her feet hit her horse's sides, causing the magnificent beast to kick the air with its front hooves and release a powerful neigh, to then disappear along with his red-haired rider in the dark of the night.
Peter Butler sighed in concern, wishing her the best…
x+x+x+x+x
Finn Mertens dropped his little brother's feeding bottle after listening to his ex-teacher's happy announcement. The sun shined on Miss Bonnibel's golden curls as she repeated the exciting news for him once more.
"It's true Finn…!" the young woman smiled joyfully. "It seems that her father let her take some vacations and granted her a few days to stay with us like in the old times!"
The farm boy picked up the bottle without even caring to clean the dirt of the teat, and jammed it inside the mouth of the baby that was crying in his arms as he tried to feed him, sitting calmly at his home's front yard. A faint blush painted his cheeks with red, thinking of Flanna and how much he wanted to see her.
"I-I can't believe it…" Finn stuttered in astonishment. "Flanna is coming…!"
Update: Grammar checked and corrected.