Hey, Nukia here!
My summary is still bad, I think I'll change it later when I get a feel for The Wammy House Memories and understand where my plot is going. This fanfiction is a side story to Beyond This Love.
I wrote this chapter pretty slow, I had one of those very lazy writing moments and my laptop broke! So I couldn't write anything for a while, I'm not feeling the love right now for my writing and I'm hoping it will pick up soon. I'm still new to this style of writing, I worry each time I post up a chapter because I keep getting guest hate for some reason o.o It's been happening since I began rewriting my fanfictions...
But thank you for the reviews ( even if there is just 4 ), favorites and the alerts! Also to the unknown people who read my fanfictions, I promise it will pick up at some point! If you don't like it, then don't read it.
Chapter 5!
I walked slowly into the kitchen as I yawned, it had just turned 8am and I didn't have to go to school today. The public school I normally go to three times a week had two teacher training days, but it was okay I guess because it meant I had a four-day weekend. But I still had to get up early so I didn't disrupt my sleeping pattern, my Aunt Thora wouldn't allow me to have a lie-in unless it was the school holidays or if I was really ill. I sat down at the kitchen table and sighed to myself, the back of my leg still hurt a little. It had nearly been a week since that strange boy had thrown his jar of jam at me, I didn't tell my Aunt or Rose what really happened and just told them that I had slipped on the bridge when I was collecting leaves.
" Good morning my love!" I heard Rose say as she placed my breakfast down in front of me. " Your Aunt will be down in a while, she is taking you with her on one of her business meetings today. I hear it's with Mr Wammy, you and your Aunt have been invited to a charity event at the Wammy House. You'll be able to wear one of those lovely dresses your Aunt as brought you, doesn't that sound exciting? "
" Do I have to go?" I asked.
" Of course! You're Miss Havisham's plus one, it's your job to keep an eye on her handbag well she is socializing with very important business contacts. Also you've got to keep a check on how many sherries she is drinking well she is there, they go straight to her head..." She cheerfully replied and placed a tablespoon down by my bowl. " You'll only get bored if you stay here with me, I've got to clean your Aunt's study and bedroom today. I'd rather being going to a fancy charity event than cleaning this old cottage from top to bottom..."
" I'd rather stay here with you instead and clean the cottage..." I sighed.
" Don't be a party pooper Elizabeth, it's all been arranged for you to accompany your Aunt..." She smiled, she brushed down some of hair and kissed the top of my head. " You'll be fine, I bet your little friend A will be there. He can give you the grand tour of the Wammy House, it's a very large and beautiful building with many old antiques and the estate is just stunning in the Summer!"
" I've already visited the Wammy House with my Aunt a few months ago, I didn't like it much there..." I yawned and picked my spoon up from the table. " It smelt funny and the food they service to the children there is very sweet, I'm surprised none of their teeth haven't fallen out yet. I also heard some screams coming from the floor above A's bedroom when I last visited him, it frightened me..."
" It's all in your head my dear, I'll get you some hot tea..." She smiled.
I ate some of my breakfast as I watched Rose putting the ingredients she used to make the porridge back in the cupboard, it can't be all in my head because A heard the screams too. I know A told me about a new boy who was staying in the room above him, I wonder if the screams I heard belonged to him or maybe a ghost. I tapped my spoon against my bottom lip and looked over at the kitchen's window, I wonder if the Wammy House is haunted? I gave Rose a smile as she place a cup of tea next to my bowl and looked up at her.
" Rose, do believe in ghosts?" I asked.
" Maybe, why do you ask?" She smiled.
" Well, the last time I visited The Wammy House I swear I heard some eerie screams coming from the floor above A's bedroom!" I replied. " They weren't playful screams like you sometimes hear when children are playing, they sounded more like frightened screams and there was crying too!"
" Oh? Maybe you heard one of the many spirits that haunt the Wammy House, I doubt Mr Wammy would let any of the orphans under his care be mistreated..." She said softy, she walked over to the kitchen's sink and put her yellow washing up gloves on as she looked over her shoulder at me. " That building is very old after all, I bet if those walls could talk they would tell you so many interesting stories. I heard it was used as a hospital in World War II before Mr Wammy established it as an orphanage, I bet if you asked A nicely he would help you find some history records on the building in the library they've got at the orphanage. It would pass some of the time well Miss Havisham is socializing or you could both go on a ghost hunt around the building, now doesn't that sound fun!"
" I don't think I want to go on a ghost hunt with A, I'd rather explore the library though!" I smiled. " Do you think Watari would allow me to visit the library well my Aunt Thora is at the charity event?"
" I don't see why he wouldn't let you, Mr Wammy is a lovely gentleman after all!" She replied. " Maybe you could ask him about the screams you heard, he's been living in that old building for over 50 years now and I bet he knows that place better than anyone who lives or works there. But with an old building like that it could have just been the wind or very creaky floorboards, you may have imagined it..."
" I wasn't imaging things, I really did hear someone screaming!" I sighed.
" Okay then my love, if you weren't imaging things then it could have been a bird of some kind or the spirits of Wammy House..." She laughed slightly as she picked a dirty dish from the draining board. " Now eat your porridge before it goes cold! You've got to go and take a bath before lunch time, the charity event starts at 2:30pm and you've got to be ready by 1pm on the dot for when the chauffeur driver gets here! It's a half an hour drive to The Wammy House, so just make sure you're ready by then for my sake... "
" I don't think the Wammy House is haunted, but I did hear the screams and A heard them too!" I said and spooned some of my porridge into my mouth. " He told me that it was a new boy they had to keep isolated from the other children who lived in the orphanage, he also told me that the boy was a violent lunatic with sociopathic tendencies which makes him hard to con..."
" Pish posh!" She interrupted. " I think A was pulling your leg my love, now eat your breakfast before it gets cold. I would also appreciate it if you would stop all of this talk about ghosts and an isolated boy, your Aunt will be down soon. I don't think she would want to hear about haunted buildings and eerie screams well she is reading her morning newspaper!"
" Okay, do you think I could watch television for a while after breakfast?" I asked.
" I don't see it being a problem, just keep the volume to a low-level so you don't disturb your Aunt..." She replied.
" Okay..." I nodded.
I stared at my refection in my dressing table's mirror, it was after 12pm and Rose insisted on helping me get ready for the charity event. I sat still as she brushed through my hair, she carefully put my red silk headband in my hair and walked over to my wardrobe. I watched her going through my clothes hanging up in my wardrobe, I shook my head at her a few times when she showed me different dresses. I jumped down from my dressing table's stool and carefully put a pair of pale white tights on.
" You can't keep shaking your head at me young lady over each dress I show you! Now what about this one?" She asked, she held a plain dark green dress up in front of her and smiled. " This one is nice, it's very smart..."
" Can I wear my blue dress with the rainbow brooch on it instead? I asked.
" No Elizabeth, you've got to wear something smart and plain..." She replied and took another dress from the wardrobe. " Oh look! It's the tartan dress Miss Havisham brought you for your birthday, I think it's about time it got an airing and had a chance of being worn just the once. What do you think?"
I made a disgusted sound as I stuck my tongue out of my mouth and shook my head at her, I didn't like the dress that my Aunt Thora had brought me for my birthday. It was a knee-length black cotton dress with a green tartan hem and a giant green tartan bow on the back of the dress, I swear my Aunt thinks I'm a little kid still sometimes.
" I don't like that dress, the collar on it makes my neck itch..." I sighed.
" I think you'd look very smart in it, it's this dress or a black bin bag..." She smiled.
" I choose the black bin bag!" I laughed as I jumped onto my bed and quickly stood up on it. " At least a bin bag won't aggravate the back of my neck!"
" Don't be silly, you're wearing your tartan dress now after that little outburst..." She smiled and took the tartan dress from the hangar. " I bet your Aunt would love to see you wearing it just the once, now get down from your bed and get changed into your dress!"
" Okay..." I sighed.
I jumped down from my bed and let Rose help me put my tartan dress on, I guess I could tolerate wearing it just this once for my Aunt Thora. I grabbed a pair of my black patent buckle shoes, I quickly put them on and picked my little dark green handbag up from my bed. I had put some lollipops and cookies in my purse in case I felt hungry later on, I heard food at the Wammy House didn't taste very nice at times. I quickly left my bedroom and went to sit in the living room with my Aunt, she was wearing an elegant long green dress with a brown coloured fake fur coat. I sat and watched her fanning herself until the chauffeur came to collect us.
It wasn't long before the car pulled up outside of the Wammy House, I looked through the car's window and watched some children run out of the entrance of the building. I saw Watari walk out of the building with a small group of children, I watched him talk to a young boy as I got out of the car with my Aunt. I held my Aunt's hand as we walked over to the entrance of the building to meet him. He led us into the building and insisted in escorting us both to the event's hall, he told us about a new venture he was planning to undertake in the next few weeks as he walked with us along the corridor.
I sighed to myself as I let go of my Aunt's, I didn't really pay much attention to the conversation my Aunt and Watari were having and decided to turn my attention to the beautifully tiled floor of the corridor. I put my finger tips to my lips as I silently counted the triangles on brown tiles, my thoughts went back to what I spoke about with Rose earlier about the screams I heard when I was with A. I wonder if Watari believes in ghosts, I guess it wouldn't hurt if I asked him. I looked up at my Aunt as I took hold of her hand again and gently tugged at it.
" Excuse me Aunt Thora, but may I ask Mr Wammy a question?" I asked.
" Seeing as you asked so politely, then you may ask him your question..." My Aunt replied as she fanned herself. " Make it quick though, we were in the middle of discussing his venture..."
" Okay..." I nodded and let go of her hand. " Mr Wammy, do you believe in ghosts?"
" Elizabeth! " I heard my Aunt half yell as she gently tapped her fan on the top of my head. " Mr Wammy does not want to be asked extramundane questions, now apologize!"
" I'm sorry Mr Wammy..." I sighed.
I cupped my hands together as I continued walking down the corridor with my Aunt and Watari, I hate when she scolds me in public. I sighed to myself and looked at the framed paintings on the wall as I played with my fingers, Rose was right about Watari having a lot of art work around the building. He even framed some of the children's drawing which brightened up the corridors, I looked into a few classes as I walked past them and stopped when someone made eye contact with me from the last classroom of the corridor. I tilted my head slightly as the boy gave me a creepy smirk, I bit at my bottom lip as I recognised his smirk. It was him, the boy who threw his jar of jam at me on the bridge near my cottage.
" Elizabeth, please do not fall behind!" I heard my Aunt call.
" I'm coming!" I yelled.
I quickly followed after my Aunt and caught up with her as she entered the event's hall with Watari. I looked around the hall, it was decorated with colourful paper decorations and flowers stands filled with white roses. Each table was set out ready for the dinner courses, there were bottles of wine on fancy wooden tea trolleys and crystal wine glasses being placed on each of the tables.
I was sat at a table with my Aunt Thora and a few other of Watari's guests, I didn't really know anyone sitting at the table with us. I listened to them all talking amongst each other about their businesses and fundraising ideas they were working on well they ate the food courses that were placed down in front of them. I sighed to myself as I broke my prawn salad sandwich in half, it was just after 4pm now and the evening was dragging. The table had emptied quickly after dessert, the guests from our table had gone to mingle with other the guests. I took a small bite out of my sandwich and scanned the room for my Aunt, she had decided to go and talk to a few new charity advisers.
" I want to go home..." I muttered to myself.
" Don't we all, I'd rather be hundred miles away from these party-less people..." I heard a familiar voice say from next to me. " But it's an important yearly event, what can we do about it?"
" Hello A, you took your time..." I answered, I turned myself around on my chair to face him and gave him a smile. " Do you want to go and play cards in your room?"
" Not right now, but I'm here to save what's left of your sanity! Do you mind if I sit here next to you?" He asked as he pulled a chair away from the table. " I've got to mind my P's and Q's so Watari says for the evening, but these kind of events make me nervous..."
" I think my sanity left me about an hour ago, this charity event is very boring..." I sighed.
I rested my chin on my hands as I watched A sit down at the table, he glanced around the hall and turned his attention back to me as he leant back in the chair he was sitting on. He was wearing his normal baggy black jeans and white t-shirt with his favorite denim jacket. I gave him a small smile as I twirled a piece of my hair around my finger, he pulled his knees to his chest and licked his tongue out at me.
" The Lucky Charm's Leprechaun just called, he wants his dress back..." He quietly laughed.
" Excuse me?" I asked.
" Your dress, he wants it back..." He replied.
" What about my dress?" I asked.
" Never-mind, you never seem to get any of my jokes..." He smiled.
" It's because none of your jokes are ever funny..." I smiled as I sat up straight on my chair. " My Aunt Thora brought me this dress for my birthday, I don't like it and it's itchy..."
" I know she brought it for your birthday, but it's hideous!" He sniggered slightly and took a chocolate flavoured cream cake from the silver cake-stand in the middle of the table." But why would you wear something like that to a charity event?"
" I'm wearing it because Rose told me to wear it for being silly, I told her I would rather wear a black bin bag than this dress..." I replied. " But I know it's not pretty and it makes me look like a stupid little tartan troll, but I don't want to hurt my Aunt's feelings because she does a lot for me..."
" I already knew you looked like troll, but you don't have to broadcast it to all of the guests!" He smirked.
I watched A take a big bite out of the chocolate flavoured cream cake, he licked some of the cream away from his top lip and leant back against the chair as he stuffed the rest of the cake into his mouth. I looked over at my Aunt and watched her talking to a young dark-haired woman wearing a beautiful blue dress, she hasn't even been back to check on me once since she left the table. I turned my attention back to A and saw him stuffing another cream cake into his mouth, I wonder if he would take me to the library if I asked him.
" A, will you take me to the library please?" I asked.
" Why? I'm happy just sitting here keeping you company and eating all these cream cakes for a while..." He replied with his mouth full, he sat up straight and took another cake from the cake-stand. " I don't really want to sit in a stuffy old library when these delicious cakes are begging me to eat them all! This food is way better than what they service in the cafeteria at lunch time, I wonder if there is any of those fancy sandwiches left that I saw when I came in here?"
" Please A, I really want to go and explore the library..." I pouted. " Just for half an hour, then we can come back and eat some more cream cakes!"
" Alright!" He sighed. " But you've got to get hold of some of those fancy sandwiches before I take you anywhere, I know there is a tray full of them on a table near the main entrance of this room..."
" Okay, I'll get you some fancy sandwiches..." I nodded.
I grabbed my little bag from the table, I slid from my chair and looked around the hall. I nodded to A as we walked together over to the table where he saw the sandwiches, I carefully picked the silver tray up from the table and quickly left the hall with him. He took a few of the sandwiches from the tray, he ate them as we walked together down the corridor and turned left into another corridor.
" Do you think anyone saw us taking the sandwiches?" I asked.
" I don't think anyone noticed that we even left the hall, they all seem busy anyway with the talking and mingling..." He replied with a mouth full of food. " Why do you want to go to the library anyway? It's not the most interesting place in the building, I could take you out back to the cemetery if you want and show you some strange gravestones I found behind some bushes yesterday..."
" I want to do some research about the Wammy House, I was told that the building was used as a hospital during World War II..." I answered.
" Who told you that?" He asked.
" Rose, she said it would pass some of the time well my Aunt is socializing..." I replied.
" Alright, I guess it would be interesting to research that subject for a while..." He smiled and took the silver tray from my hands. " But I'll warn you now, there is a lot of dust in some parts of the library. Most sections are off-limits to most of the children who live here, I for one can only access some parts of the library with adult supervision. But I think the books about the Wammy House's history maybe kept on the second floor of the library, I'll check the booking system before we go up there just to be sure..."
" Okay..." I nodded.
It wasn't long until we got to library, it really was a big place. There was a metal spiral staircase in the middle of the room and a colourful medium-sized arched stain-glass window behind an office desk, this library was just beautiful. I've never seen so many books in one place before, I looked over at A as he placed the silver tray down on a table and made his way over to the office desk with a computer on it. I took a book from a section called Celtic science, I walked over to the table and sat down on the floor next to one of the chairs as I opened the book. It was about how the Celts were more advanced than the Romans in some scientific and economic aspects. I turned a page in the book and place my bag down on the chair as I continued to look through it.
" Here we go!" I heard A say as he sat down next to me. " I've only found two volumes about the Wammy House, but it's a start..."
" Thank you..." I smiled.
" Why do you want to look up the history of the Wammy House anyway?" He asked.
" I just thought it would be interesting to learn about the building..." I replied, I picked one of the volumes up from the floor and opened it. " Does the library have any death records available?"
" Whoa there SJ, that's a bit morbid!" He chuckled.
" I didn't mean it in that way silly, I just wanted to know who as died here when it was a hospital..." I said quietly. " Do you remember those screams we heard that day when we were playing in your room, do you think it was a ghost instead of the boy you told me about?"
" This place is not haunted, I don't know who's put that idea in your head..." He smiled.
" Rose said the screams could have been spirits, she didn't believe me about the screams we heard..." I sighed. " She told me that I could have been imaging things and that Watari would never mistreat any of the children at the orphanage, is that true?"
" Of course, he wouldn't hurt a fly!" He replied.
" That's good, I hate when flies get squished..." I giggled.
" Did you hear that?" He asked.
" Heard what?" I asked.
" I could have sworn I just heard the floorboards creaking from upstairs part of the library, I think I'm going to take a quick look around the library in case it's Miss Joyce. She's the librarian here, she likes knowing if there is people in here well she is working and she also doesn't like food in the library..." He replied, he got up from the floor and picked a book up from the table. " Wait here, I won't be long..."
" Can I come with you?" I asked.
" No..." He replied.
" Please, I don't want to be left down here all by myself!" I sighed and chewed at my bottom lip. " What if it isn't the librarian?"
" I don't know, scream really loud maybe..." He chuckled.
" That's not funny!" I frowned.
" You'll be okay here for a moment by yourself, I won't go far..." He smiled.
" What about the sandwiches?" I asked. " What if we get into trouble for having them in the library?"
" Don't worry Elizabeth, I'll deal with Miss Joyce if she's here still..." He replied, he took a sandwich from the tray and took a big bite out of it. " She likes me anyway, so just don't move and I'll be back in a jiffy!"
" Okay, just hurry up!" I sighed.
I watched A walk over to the metal spiral staircases in the middle of the room, I got up from the floor and listened to his footsteps on the steps as he quickly ran up the staircase. I picked the Celtic science book up from the floor and walked over to the book section I got it from, I better put the book back in case it is the librarian. I carefully began to put the book back in it's empty slot on the bookshelf and stopped when I noticed a pair of crimson eyes staring at me through a gap in the bookcase.