Chapter Four
Amelia worked for another five minutes before she threw her pen down with a sigh, suddenly feeling drained. Deciding she had a craving for a piece of cheesecake she jumped up and left the room, remembering about the young guest she had. Amelia headed up the stairs and knocked on Constance's bedroom door.
"Constance love?" Amelia said after knocking a few times "I'm coming in" Amelia said worried she wasn't able to answer as she was unwell. She opened the door and saw Morgana licking her paw lying on the bed, Morgana side eyed her briefly then went back to cleaning herself.
Amelia closed the door, satisfied Constance wasn't there. She wasn't overly worried as she wasn't as far as she was aware a danger to herself. Amelia headed to the dungeon, telling herself she will save Constance a piece of cheesecake and give it to her later.
Amelia opened the kitchen door, as she entered she heard a gasp and Constance jumped and looked at her in shock, before she froze, an apple clutched in her hand, as she stared at her wide eyed.
Amelia looked at the woman and saw she was very much experiencing the freeze response in fight, flight, freeze, fawn. She was completely still and staring at her wide eyed and mouth agape.
Amelia took the opportunity to think through what had caused it and then realised the thing that had changed in the scenario was the apple. She clearly had a bad past, and she was wondering if she was worried about the consequences of stealing food or eating without permission. The headmistress knew it would take a long time, but right from that moment it was important to reassure her nothing bad was going to happen.
"It's okay love you can have that, you don't have to ask" Amelia said gently. When Constance just kept staring at her in shock, as if scared to move in case she turned on her, Amelia kept speaking.
"Are you hungry?" Amelia asked her. Constance nodded so softly, Amelia would have missed it if she hadn't paid attention.
"Why don't I make you something proper to eat, you need something more substantial than just an apple" Amelia said. When Constance still didn't react, Amelia only spoke again, not knowing how to break her out of her trance.
"Go and sit down, I will make you something" Amelia said, she knew she was old enough to do it herself but she wasn't sure how much she knew about cooking or preparing food, as it appeared it had been restricted at points.
Amelia walked furthur into the room, causing Constance to finally move and back away from her.
"Go on love go sit down, it's okay" Amelia said watching her in the corner of her eye as she walked slowly to the table and sat herself down, watching Amelia intensely the entire time.
Amelia looked around in the cupboards and found a tin of tomato soup, she thought as the quickest thing that would be appropriate.
Minutes later, with the soup cooked. She served it up in a bowl and carried it to the table where the teenager was sat. Constance who hadn't spoken since Amelia entered and had stared at her the whole time, now moved her vision to the bowl of soup, but made no attempt to eat it.
"Best eat it whilst it's still hot" Amelia said.
"I'm afraid I can't" Constance said.
"Why not love?" Amelia asked her wondering if she should have asked if she even liked soup first.
"I don't have any money left to pay for it" Constance sighed "What exactly do you want me to do to pay for it?" she asked her.
It was Amelia's turn to stare at her. The poor kid, not only did it appear food had been withheld but if she wanted it she was charged in god knows what ways if she had no money. It was no wonder she was so frightened as to what was going to happen.
"I don't want you to do anything, or money, I will never charge you in any way for food, eating is vital to a healthy wellbeing and I don't charge anyone for doing that, you are able to eat whatever you want, whenever you want here without asking and you will never get in trouble for doing so" Amelia explained, she knew she wouldn't believe her for a long time, but she had to start saying it now so she knew.
Seeing the girl looked to scared to try the food even with the reassurance, as if Amelia would change her mind and attack her the second the food touched her lips, Amelia decided to give her space.
"Oh I have a very important letter to write, I will be in my office if you need me love" Amelia said trying to act casual and not like she was making an excuse to leave. She headed for the door and walked out.
She held back for a minute, looking through the window of the room and saw Constance looking around as if a monster was going to jump out at her before she finally dared to try the soup. Eating a spoonful and nothing bad happening seemed to fade her worries slightly as she started eating more. Amelia smiled and headed away from the kitchens, remembering her cheesecake, but she would wait as it was much more important Constance ate.
Half an hour later, Amelia entered the kitchen again and saw Constance jump from the sudden sound of the door opening, but she calmed down after a second and Amelia was glad to see she had eaten the soup.
"Thank you Miss Cackle" Constance said rather shyly, Amelia noted.
"You don't need to thank me my love, I am glad you enjoyed it" Amelia said before she walked to the fridge and pulled out a rather large piece of cheesecake. She cut it in half and handed Constance a plate.
"I am sorry Miss Cackle, but what is it?" Constance asked staring at the cake confused.
"It's cheesecake, I do rather enjoy them, but I would like for you to share some with me" Amelia said.
"It is unhealthy correct?" Constance asked raising her eyebrow.
"Yes, but we all need a little treat now and then...maybe you can call it a congratulations for getting the job" Amelia said, wondering if she was still going to outright refuse.
"I don't understand" Constance said looking confused.
"What don't you understand Constance?" Amelia asked her confused.
"Why would you share your food with me?" Constance asked with a hint of suspicion in her voice.
"Because I like to share and provide a little kindness" Amelia commented as the youngster just stared at her amazed, as if sharing something like a dessert was fascinating.
Amelia put a bit of her half on her fork and ate it "It is very delicious, even if it is not very good for you" Amelia said watching the teenager in the corner of her eye. Eventually she put the tiniest amount on her fork and tried it.
"I suppose it is not unpleasant" Constance said trying to get used to such a sweet food. Amelia smiled warmly.
"You can finish that piece if you wish" Amelia reassured her. Constance smiled softly.
Later on that evening when Constance had asked if she could go to her room for a while, Amelia headed to the library and looked at all the books about supporting someone suffering from the fight, flight, freeze and fawn response and food insecurity. As not only a teacher but also headmistress, she of course already knew about the subjects, but she thankfully had not had any of her students suffer with the issues for quite sometime so felt a little rusty and wanted to make sure she was supporting her the correct way.
She spent a couple of hours reading up to get as much information as she could about all the issues her young teacher seemed to be facing, and was glad to see she had started on the right track and not made it worse for her. She read it could take months or even years to build enough trust in a situation that these things are no longer an issue. Amelia sighed but understood, she could tell that Constance didn't trust her actions, and was expecting a bad thing to happen, but the books said with enough love, patience and kindness, she could start to improve.
"I don't understand Morgana" Constance said sitting in her room "She gave me food, for free, she said she didn't want anything and didn't get mad at me for stealing it, and even shared it with me" Constance said stroking her cat's silky black fur. "I do not know what to make of it" Constance admitted. She felt much better now she wasn't starving and had a full stomach and didn't feel dizzy, but that meant she could think about the days events and she still did not understand Amelia's kindness.
Her kindness was terrifying to her and Constance honestly felt like panicking up and leaving before her bosses real plan could be exposed, but something deep inside her stopped her and she didn't know what it was.