End: Chapter Two:
4:30am.
Patricia sat in silence, her tea cup firmly set between her hands. The tea was probably ice cold by now, but she hadn't noticed. She was too focused on the couple sitting opposite her. They could feel her stare upon them, but Miss Plum and Mayhew were comfortable, regardless of the looks they were receiving. It wasn't the first time the living had come in to contact with the living dead. They kept distracting themselves by engaging in conversation with Victor and Emily. Christopher had fallen asleep in Emily's arms – much to her delight – and he continued to sleep as everyone sat and talked over tea.
Mayhew and Miss Plum knew they had to return to the Land of the Dead before sunrise. But the present time was so precious and they were having too much fun – despite the odd looks Patricia was giving them.
When she had come round from fainting, Victor had walked her in to the kitchen, sat her down and explained everything to her. How they were friends, how Emily and he had known them previously – but he chose not to mention that Emily was dead at the time. He merely said that they met the couple when he and Emily first met. He spared any large details, because he didn't want to lie too much to Patricia.
She had agreed to remain calm, and then proceeded to put on the tea. Minutes later, Emily entered the kitchen with a sleeping baby in her arms and the deceased couple slowly followed her. Patricia had remained calm, smiled politely and accepted Miss Plums hand to shake. Despite the blue skin, she was particularly warm and she was always smiling.
Of course, Patricia had delighted over the sight of little Christopher. Considering the guilt she had carried on her shoulders for the past year, this was a breath of fresh air. Their son was finally home and Patricia was ecstatic to share in the glory of it.
Now, here they were. Sitting round the kitchen table, tea cups in front of them, chatting away – all except Patricia. She continued to stare.
"Dawn is approaching, my dear. We'll have to leave soon" Miss Plum said to Emily, taking another sip of her tea. It was stone cold now, but she enjoyed the gesture of drinking tea like she was still alive and breathing.
"I wish you could stay longer" Emily pleaded.
"Us too. But rules are rules, and Elder Gutknecht does not like it when rules are broken, particularly between the living and the dead." Mayhew explained.
"So, you cannot be seen during the daytime?" Victor puzzled.
"Indeed. The night time is acceptable, for some reason. The darkness conceals us, and no one is around at that time. It is a safer option" Mayhew said.
"I suppose" Emily sighed, looking down at Christopher and smiling at the sight of him.
"Back in his mothers' arms. Where he belongs" Miss Plum nodded firmly. Then she wondered:
"Does he have anywhere to sleep? A cot or cradle?"
Emily's smile dropped at the thought. She hadn't thought about that for a second.
"Oh…I'd almost forgotten…we…his cot was too badly damaged when he disappeared, we had to throw it out."
"True, but…" he began. He glanced over at Emily, smiling weakly.
"There is another option. Shortly after we moved in to this house, my mother insisted that everything that belonged to me was escorted over. To make some room for more leisurely activities they wanted to take up. And when she said everything, I mean everything! Books, clothes, paintings, furniture, photo albums and old memorabilia. Including my baby items. Mother knew she wasn't having another child, but she was resourceful and hated the idea of throwing out a decent and expensive cot, so she placed it in the attic. It was moved over here with the rest of my possessions during our honeymoon. It's in the attic right now. We'll fetch it down, dust it off and Christopher can have it." Victor nodded, smiling. Emily was in blissful shock.
"Really?" she beamed. But then she thought. "What about clothes? Toys? I threw it all out when he'd…gone. I was too upset, I wasn't thinking straight."
"And thankfully, I salvaged the stuff before it was lost forever, and put it with the rest of the stuff in the attic. They toys are in perfect condition, but he will need new clothes, he's grown a lot."
Emily was stunned, silent in her shock. How amazing was her husband?! And yet she wondered: "Why?"
Victor took his time to respond.
"Because…he'd barely been in our lives for two months. Then he was taken and all of a sudden it was like he had never existed. Like we were wiping the slate clean. You started throwing out his belongings and I couldn't bear the sight of it. So I got hold of them before they were taken away and stashed them away in the attic. So even if he never returned, a part of him would always be with us. Even if we had more children, a small part of him would've always remained with us. I hope you…" before Victor could finish his sentence, Emily had planted her lips on his in a passionate embracing kiss.
"You understand" Victor finished when she pulled away.
"Could you be more perfect?" Emily smiled.
"I can try" Victor teased, kissing her once more.
"And what about food? What will he eat?" Miss Plum asked. That was when Patricia broke from her 'spell'.
"I can cook some vegetables and mash them up for him? That's what my parents did for me, and what I did for my daughter. Carrots, potatoes, peas. And I can go to the market later today to collect some more fruits" she said.
"Alright" Emily nodded, surprised to see that Patricia had finally spoken up. "Sounds like a plan. But he's asleep now, so we don't have to worry until he wakes. We'll have to get the cot down now. As much as I love holding him in my arms, I need my sleep too."
"Alright then. I'll give you a hand and then we must be on our way, really" Mayhew said, rising from his seat.
"Thank you" Victor smiled, getting up from his chair and directing Mayhew through to the hallway, in the direction of the attic upstairs. Leaving the women together, Miss Plum smiled at Patricia who weakly smiled back.
"Sorry about earlier" Patricia murmured.
"About what?" Miss Plum asked.
"When I…when you arrived. I should have been more polite and understanding. Rather than…faint like that."
Emily smiled weakly as she gazed back at Christopher. Miss Plum giggled slightly.
"Oh dearie, it doesn't matter. I've had worse greetings since becoming like this." Miss Plum gestured to the entirety of her body, indicating the blue skin, bones and decaying clothes.
"Really?" Patricia raised an eyebrow.
"Really. The first time I appeared to a living being, they ran away from me. Started screaming 'the dead walk the Earth', running from their houses and in to the streets. I was worried they would start fighting back. Some of them had weapons."
"There was more than one person?"
"It was the whole village. Every living person, including the children. I only came up for a celebration." That was when Emily's heart dropped. She knew what Miss Plum was talking about. Her wedding.
"What was the celebration?" Patricia asked. At that point, Emily looked directly at Miss Plum with wide eyes, shaking her head ever so slightly. Miss Plum saw. Emily didn't want her nanny knowing she was a regenerated corpse.
"Just a family birthday party" Miss Plum shrugged. Emily smiled in return, a virtual thank you. Miss Plum winked in return, Patricia didn't notice.
"The cot is down and in our room. I'll dust it off soon" Victor said, making an entrance back in to the kitchen.
"And we really must be going, dear" Mayhew appeared behind Victor, urgency in his voice. "Dawn is on the horizon and I've seen a few people already out on the streets."
"Who's out at this time of the morning?" Miss Plum wondered.
"The market stalls mostly. And a few residents like to take a morning stroll, they like the fresh air" Emily explained, gently rocking Christopher.
"Never-the-less, I hate to spoil the joy, but we really must go. Elder Gutknecht won't be too happy if we cause any attention" Mayhew rubbed his hands together.
"Oh, what would it do?" Miss Plum joked. "It's happened once already, how badly can they overreact this time?"
Emily saw the funny side, considering the last time the dead were amongst the living was her (failed) wedding. Victor saw her smirk, and casually smiled in return, knowing what she was thinking about. But his smile was interrupted, by a shrill scream nearby. His smile turned to worry as everyone heard the ear-piercing cry.
"What on Earth?" he mumbled to himself. Miss Plum's smile dropped, Emily looked around trying to locate the scream. Her head turned towards their front door.
"It's coming from outside" she said.
On her words, Victor and Mayhew ran out the kitchen to their front door, stopping short and looking past the curtain to see outside. It was still fairly dark, the sky filled with dark blues and passionate pinks and purples but the sun was slowly peaking above the horizon, a gentle way of saying the day was about to begin.
Miss Plum and Emily – still holding Christopher – came running up behind the men, trying to see what was going on outside.
"Sounds like someone's in trouble" Miss Plum commented.
"What is it? What's going on?" Emily asked, placing a hand on Victors shoulder.
Victor was frozen on the spot, his eyes glued to the horror he saw unveiling before him. He had seen so many strange and unusual things – the living dead, corpses reanimating back to life, talking spiders and maggots, skeleton animals and magical ravens eggs that transported you between two worlds – but this was new.
And it was the most horrific thing he'd ever seen.
Authors note:
Sorry for the delay, guys. I've been meaning to post this chapter for ages, but I started a new job in the summer and I was swamped down with it.
Hope you enjoy it! Next chapter coming soon! :D