Chapter 18- Stone Cold
Scarlett’s ill health didn’t stay with her, soon her mother and father too came down with the poor health though her mother was recovered fully not even one week after she fell sick.
Her father however was bad, he had fits and fevers daily and Scarlett was kept away from him when she was eventually let out of bed herself. Her mother blamed her for her father’s condition and claimed that he would die but as Scarlett never saw him she could never see how true her mother was.
Doctor Freeman took to visiting almost daily though Letty missed noticing this as she was mostly busying herself enjoying the outdoors (now turned white from the mid December blizzards) which she had been missing for a month. However she was always seen leaving the house wrapped in coats and furs with gloves and hats provided to stop her from getting a chill, she no longer rejected stockings and socks although they always returned ripped and laddered which sent Gladys muttering of spoilt brats and wastage.
One particularly bitter pale day Scarlett was sitting at the dining table eating her breakfast alone (Her and Nate had been inseparable since their violent behaviour caused them both such pain though Nate still did not like to come downstairs where anyone else might be) when her mother burst through the door all of a twitter with excitement.
‘Your father is healthy enough to move from his bed and Doctor Freeman says he recommends him some fresh air and movement!’ Scarlett placed her fork neatly on the table and smiled at her mother.
‘That is good news.’ She commented lightly. ‘Shall I be in for luncheon to mark the occasion?’ Agnes’s eyes lit up at this idea.
‘Of course! A family meal.’ A family meal? Scarlett thought to herself, what kind of charade shall this be exactly? And for whose benefit? Agnes’s expression lightened further and she declared ‘Why! He shall be fit as a fiddle in time for Christmas!’
‘He shall be fully healed in five days time?’ Scarlett asked, though her shock was not at the idea of this but instead at the care Agnes seemed to be exhibiting for her husband.
‘Why ever not? I should not like to be a widow! I should sound older than my years! And if he is well in three we can ask over the Bradfords! Oh how I shall love this Christmas! If the occasion is jolly then I don’t see why Lewis should not propose to you! Oh I am so happy! My world could be so completely solved in six days time!’ I I I! Does she have no concern for anyone else? I now see that she only wishes father well for her own sake! Selfish wretch.
‘Indeed it could.’ Scarlett murmured as her mother practically waltzed out of the room. She reached to pick up her fork again and stared down at her plate of neatly cut fruit for a few minutes before throwing her fork down with such a temper that a crack split the plate in two but the girl barely noticed as she clanked out of the room.
The next five days followed with no spectacular event as all that occurred was Agnes’s oblivious selfishness got worse and worse and Scarlett tried so hard to be at her father’s side as his condition grew worse and worse. By the Christmas day, which Agnes had promised to be her own haven, the poor man was hot and cold with fever whilst wincing constantly from pains in his head, ears and throat.
Even so Luther was downstairs to witness Gladys in her best maroon silk frock, Clara the cook above stairs with an anxious gaze on her plump aged face, Emerson looked more fretful than ever about Luther’s health, Agnes making herself stupid with mulled wine and Scarlett biting her lip until blood mingled with her red lipstick whilst casting worried glances at both her parents. The black faced family had not been invited to the celebrations but they were usually content enough to stay together in the small stone gatehouse whenever they could.
Thankfully the Bradfords had not been invited either, as this would have driven everyone but Agnes over the edge but Agnes proved herself to be equally as tiresome as the two potential guests put together. She left the room at regular intervals and came back wide eyed and dim-witted, giggling and tripping whilst being convinced that no one suspected her ridiculous abuse of powders. Luther sat with a creased forehead next to the wireless listening intently to the fuzzy voices that floated from it. Eventually Scarlett couldn’t take it anymore and stood up and walked to the door forgetting how her mother got when under the effect of cocaine.
‘Where are you going?’ Agnes snapped.
‘I feel tired’ Scarlett said gently. ‘I just wanted to have a rest for a while’ and to speak to Nate, I need his presence, this combination deprivation and hellish company shall have me mad any minute! ‘I should be no more than an hour.’ She smiled pleasantly at her mother and continued to place her hand in the door handle.
‘No!’ Agnes shrieked. ‘It is Christmas and we shall be a family!’ Scarlett narrowed her eyes at her mother.
‘We have not been a family for nearly two years now Mother. You made sure of that when you cast my brother from our previous house in such a careless and loveless manner. So why do you think that one day that is set apart from all others due to a name should suddenly change the status of our bonds?’ Scarlett’s voice was calm and honest but the three remaining staff drew in their breath and bit their tongues as Agnes’s forehead creased and she proceeded to throw her glass at the wall just above Scarlett’s pretty head.
‘Bitch!’ She yelled with the hottest temper we have yet seen apart from that of Scarlett herself and of course Nate. Luther then decided that he could stand no more and so shakily yet defiant stood and made his way slowly to the door himself whilst Emerson walked between the two ladies, staring at them with blatant disbelief and disapproval and went to help the master.
‘I hope ye are both ‘appy!’ He cried. ‘You have disturbed Mas’er Crawford with your tantrums and have tain’ed a joyful occasion. Ha! Joy is not for this place!’ At which point Agnes waved Emerson away and laughed.
‘Shut up!’ She cackled ‘You say nothing and know nothing, tend to your master and remember your place!’ Scarlett sent one last glare to her mother and followed Emerson out of the room though she took the back servant’s stairs up to her room rather than the main ones, she did not want to speak to her father. She let the door creak open, the room seemed a little darker than usual but that was probably due to the outside surroundings being so white and bright with freshly lain snow. Nate was lolling across a settee in her sitting room, staring at the beams and twiddling with his thumbs.
‘What was the degree of the disaster this time Letty?’ She grimaced.
‘It was rather terrible. I said that I felt that we have no family here, in front of my parents and the servants.’ Nate made a noble attempt to hide his smile and did not do a half bad job at this feat.
‘I would insult you but I rather fancy that your vulgar mother must have provoked you somehow.’ Scarlett sighed and put a hand to her forehead. ‘Your family is becoming predictable to me, I am just glad that I could never call it my own.’
‘It is hardly a family.’ Nate finally tore his gaze from the ceiling to look at Scarlett.
‘You do feel guilty for these declarations don’t you? Even though your mother has been too terrible to you for too long?’
‘I feel guilty for ruining my father’s day when he had made the effort to force himself from bed despite his ill health. I do care for my father, he has always been good to me. And I suppose I always did take that for granted as I branded him and my mother as similar even though truthfully they are not.’ Nate took hold of Letty’s hand.
‘Then go and apologise, he is the best person in this house. He should not hesitate to forgive you and will respect you for your commendable actions.’ He said kindly. Scarlett smiled, squeezed Nate’s hand and left the room. She played out different versions of the conversation that was about to happen in her head before she reached the landing, imagining him smiling and telling her not to worry before moving onto more humorous subjects.
‘Father?’ Scarlett tapped on the door lightly, but there was no reply. ‘Father?’ she asked again. ‘I came to apologise, for my behaviour earlier. I did not mean those things I said!’ slowly she tried the door handle and walked into the room. Her father was lying in bed, wrapped in more than a dozen different kinds of blankets with the fire roaring. He lay very still, he was probably sleeping. Scarlett knew that she should probably go but something pulled her forward to speak with the middle aged sleeper.
His face was set strangely, one could not tell whether the man was smiling or not though he was clearly the epitome of indifference, as he always was. Scarlett could not help but smile, he always so peaceful and loving though his speech never never marked it. He did not love her as a father would love a daughter but as a distant friend that one might never lose touch with. Scarlett kneeled at his bedside and shook his shoulder, he felt cooler than a normal person and his head lolled suspiciously. He did not even stir.
‘Father?’ Scarlett asked again but there was still no response, she grabbed at his wrist and felt for a pulse but she found nothing. Growing desperate Scarlett tried to pull the man into an upright position but his body slumped against the pillows lifelessly, she hugged him tightly with her ear against his chest waiting for a heartbeat that never came. She wept and shuddered with inward pain until she fell into a dark haunted sleep.
Soon she was awakened by the door opening forcefully and she looked up to see Emerson standing in the doorway holding a brown glinting bottle and a tarnished silver spoon. He saw Scarlett’s eyes starry with tears as she turned to gaze at him.
‘He’s dead!’ she managed to utter. A gentle sob escaped her before she spoke again. ‘He is dead!’ She shrieked as she grabbed at her fathers shirt, her head bent over him as she suffered. She grew oblivious to everything that happened around her, she faintly heard footsteps and people rushing around. She heard people agreeing that Doctor Freeman should be sent for though there was nothing that he could do now. She heard felt hands trying to prise her own from their grip on her deceased father and then eventually someone lifted her and carried her to bed where she huddled in silent pain, after a while Nate joined her and sat by and held her hand until the sun rose as in her head played out different versions of the conversations that would never happen.
Chapter 16- Missing Letty
‘Are you alright dear? You’re looking a bit peaky. Maybe you shouldn’t spend so much time out of doors.’ Audrey offered helpfully. Nate watched from the shadows of the room as Scarlett smiled and shrugged delicately. She was looking much thinner than usual and had bags under her eyes from either being unable to sleep or having fits of tears deep into the night. Her pretty duck egg blue silk dress was draped around her thin frame elegantly and the rings on her fingers kept sliding down her knuckles. He sighed and leant his head back against the wall, how he wished she would eat something! She was making herself stupid and so weak with hunger, beggars ate better than she did some days. But no, Letty would not eat or stop crying so long as an engagement with Lewis Bradshore was likely. She would much rather waste away than see a wedding day with him.
‘Don’t worry about me Audrey, I’m perfectly alright! But maybe I should stay indoors more, even if they do declare it mid-spring it is quite bitter out there at the moment and I shouldn’t like to come down with the flu!’ Olivia came up then, dragging a less than enthusiastic looking Fletcher. ‘Oh! Hullo Olivia, Fletcher. It is so good to see you!’ She gave each a kiss on the cheek and he hoped that she would not receive the same comments on her ill health that she had been given fifteen times before. Each time it was more genuine that Scarlett was slowly killing herself.
‘Scarlett! Darling!’ She gave her a hug before drawing her gloves from her hands and passing them to Fletcher who was holding their coats. ‘A maid was over in that direction could you take our coats to her? Thank you!’ She chirped to Fletcher who seemed relieved to leave her side.
‘How is Vincent?’ Scarlett asked politely. It was only out of politeness Nate reminded himself as a jealous burning built up inside him, how could a child like her make him want to cry when she showed a care for anything other than he?
‘Very well I believe, and how are your parents? I hardly see them these days!’ Olivia returned, picking a glass of white wine off the returning Fletcher, who seemed to stare in fascination at the front of Letty’s bodice. Nate closed his eyes and held his breath, don’t ruin this for her! Just stay calm and out of sight. He can only feel lust not love nor hate.
‘My parents are very well in fact…’ But he never heard what she had to say as she was distracted by something in a window. ‘Did you see that?’ She asked suddenly.
‘See what dear?’ Olivia turned towards the window to see what on earth the girl was going on about.
‘Did you not see him? There was a boy at the window!’ Letty insisted to every ones sheer perplexity, she rushed to the window and opened it all too hastily. An angry icy wind blasted through the window, sending her carefully organised hair into its natural disarray. The party silenced and her parents threw disapproving looks at their daughter until Audrey (Olivia’s older, richer, childless sister) joined her in squinting into the obscurity until she pointed through the gloom.
‘There!’ Audrey declared. ‘I definitely see a shape! A runaway guest do you think?’ then she lowered her voice. ‘It could be Violet and Vincent, pray go and check for me and bring them back. It would give Olivia and Delphia a fit each to hear of them together in such a manner.’
‘I shall go fetch them back’ then turning to the surrounding guests she said ‘I shall not be a moment, continue enjoying yourselves.’ Before taking the cloak that Gladys held and hurrying out into the grounds to catch the shape.
It took hours for the gathering to remember that Scarlett had not returned and in that time it gad turned out that all the invited were present- including Violet and Vincent it transpired.
‘Not back? It has been over two hours!’ Agnes screeched at Emerson, the bearer of the bad news. ‘It is nearing eleven O’clock! Not to mention that it is storming out there! All manner of things could have happened to her! Oh gosh! She shan’t be ill! Let her not be ill! The Bradshores are staying again in two weeks!’ The whole party jolted with shock as the front doors slammed shut, Violet ran to the door but came back saying that there was no sign of Scarlett and it must have been someone leaving, Luella probably, as no one was sure where she had gone.
‘Letty!’ Nate’s roar echoed through the grounds though distorted by the vicious tempest which battered everything it could reach. His hair and clothes were stuck to him and he could barely see where he was, let alone where he was going but he struggled on. There was no way he was going to lose his Letty, not like he had lost Marie. He had barely left the drive and he was shuddering with the cold, not that it could kill him. ‘Letty!’ He searched his mind for inspiration for where the ludicrous girl could be. She would not have gone to the stables, if it had been daylight she would have gone to the heath, but it was pitch black and not even Letty was so silly.
He skirted around the lake but there were no footprints in the logged mud so she had not come out to drown herself. He found the chapel cold and silent, the aviary empty and flooded whilst the moors were hollow. All the while he called and called, not relenting when his throat burned from the pain of it as he knew that this was a fraction of what the pain of permanent division could be. How ungrateful of her presence I have been! Why is it when she could be dead that I think of how I love her! Oh Letty! What should I do if she is died? I shall spend eternity torturing myself!
‘Scarlett! Letty! Darling fool! Come home! Come home!’ He stumbled through the few cultivated gardens staring with sad eyes for his love. It took him near another two hours to find her whilst the efforts of the rest of the party were useless. Eventually he found her collapsed with bloodied hands and feet in the porch of a summer pavilion that was surrounded by weeping buddleia and strewn leaf skeletons. Without thinking he grabbed her from where she lay and shook her in his arms, her head rolled and her eyes were not even half open but her heart had a weak beat. Her thin gown was soaked through, her hair was destroyed and tangled like pondweed. ‘Letty, what happened!’ He felt her frozen bloodied hands and gasped at their stiffness. He ran back to the front of the house and lay her down on the doorstep before rapping on the door with all his might. Soon the doctor came to the door and with the help of two maids they had her in her bed in a clean nightdress with her hair just damp rather than soaked through.
‘She has a temperature, a fever and when she wakes I wouldn’t be at all surprised if she were delirious. She will need to rest for a good few weeks and for gods sake keep her indoors!’ The doctor had said whilst scribbling in a notepad and handing over the names of medicines that could help to her parents. ‘She will recover, its not life threatening but watch those cuts and grazes, god knows how she got them!’ Nate sat with her slumped body until she had the strength to waive an eyelid and then the other. It took a while for this to happen, it was almost light when she was able to mutter hoarsely.
‘Where am I?’ She asked staring round with discontented eyes which eventually settled on Nate with an oblivious stare.
‘Your room, Letty.’ He murmured, his voice was so stiff with tired. The girl blinked and stared down at her hands.
‘Oh.’ Nate snapped awake and inspected her face.
‘You don’t know who I am, do you?’ He asked leaning towards her a little out of curiosity and she frowned.
‘No, should I? You do look funny in those strange clothes! Are you a stable boy?’ Her eyes were bright from her teasing though her skin was so pale, so frail, stretched too tightly and thinly over her body.
‘You do know me! I am Nathan Heath! I am Nate!’ Letty’s composure was lost then as she set about cackling at her mild practical joke. Nate glared at her before getting up and striding out the room, letting his loves laughs turn into cries of self pity at her own pain and ill health. The cruelty they set upon one another shall not end in happiness.
Chapter 14- The prayer
Scarlett was on her knees, begging for forgiveness for once, rather than just laughing off sins without any guilt. Her forehead rested on her clasped hands as she knelt at the crucifix in the Height’s own tiny chapel, her elbows resting on a low dark wooden bench and her knees, grazed and bleeding, rested on the ragged stone floor. She reasoned with god through clenched teeth as water battered the tiny building from all sides. Her teeth were clenched not because she was angry but because she would not sob, not for this monster! Maybe she should see herself in the mirror a moment and notice that she was more a fiend to mankind than a friend also. But no Scarlett was far too arrogant and self serving to do anything that would not benefit her directly in an instant.
‘Oh Lord, I have sinned! I have lost my soul and I am out of wedlock and further the thief of this object had fallen from your favour but was not accepted by Lucifer either! Oh I know not what to do but I cannot marry Lewis for it would not do for either of us and my soul could not survive if it were to be taken from Nate or the Heights, we have grown together these past few months. Nate is my home and no one should be taken from their sanctuary but the Heights and I are one! Both of us together a pair of objects kept encased in Nate’s favour, love and hatred! Like two daggers forged and destroyed in perfect unison we shall never belong to anyone but the person who is responsible for these peaks and valleys in our lives. Nate! Oh Nate! How I hate him as you do Lord but love him more than I could love either you or Christ! I respect him more than both my earthly and heavenly fathers!’ Then a sob escaped her and she clenched her teeth harder and dug her fingernails into her own skin and kept her prayers silent as oddly cool blood began to dribble from her knuckles to her wrists.
The fool stayed pleading with the heavens for what must have been hours until a strong hand grabbed the back of her coat and flung her back against the sandstone pews. She shrieked at the pain as she crumpled to the floor.
‘Praying?’ Nate spat at her in disgust. ‘You hypocrite! What good should it do now? He won’t answer pleas from such a vile reprobate! You waste your time, foul miscreant!’ He did not sneer as Scarlett expected him to do, not that he could see his beautiful face clearly from underneath her selfish tears. Instead he lifted her caringly from the ground where he had placed her and inspected her crimson hands before kissing them gently. ‘There there, Scarlett, do not cry. If you were to be married to Lewis I should kill your parents to bring you back to the Heights. Then if you are still good to me I may even kill your husband, and free you from your guilt, if you even have the ability to suffer from an emotion such as this. And so through a show of hatred I confess my love once more for you, Scarlett. You should be grateful for what I should do to keep you here!’ Scarlett nodded and smiled sadly as he washed her hands in holy water from the alter.
‘Maybe if I were to marry Lewis I should bring the Heights down with me and take you from here to his house. A little suffering further may do you some good, though I love you so that harm to you would be harm to me. Ah! How I hate love, it is an emotion that was made to create madmen I should think.’ Nate smirked at this and dried her hands on his shirt. Then he put his strong arms around her and drew her close so gently as if she was the most precious object that had ever graced the earth. There could never have been a stupider pair.
‘Now Scarlett you would only do yourself harm as pulling down the Heights would have no effect on me as my foundations here are stronger than the buildings. I am more of a home to you than it, so you would always return to me. Yet you would have no shelter from the gales and storms of my temper. So you shall only hurt yourself, see?’ Scarlett nodded again and then closed her eyes, the pains of all her injuries finally spreading through her at once, but she was at peace here in his arms.
‘Why did you come here?’
‘You weren’t in the house, skilfully keeping away from your mother I expect? She’s inhaling white dust as a distraction from boredom again, the state it gets her into is quite ghastly.’
‘I know, I’ve had to put up with it since I was a young child. She says it was Jarred’s behaviour which led to it but…’
‘She is a liar then, like you. A family trait.’ He smiled at the discovery of another weapon to use against the girl. A silence followed until she eventually crushed it.
‘Nate’ She breathed almost silently but she knew he could hear. ‘Tell me about Marie.’ Nate stiffened but didn’t show any kind of awkward emotion when he responded to her.
‘You only ask because you are jealous.’ Oh, he could never resist an opportunities to criticize or mock.
‘Jealous? When I am with you and she is not? When you love me more than you could ever love her? That is an unfair judgement!’ Scarlett did not realise that by protesting the statement she was only showing weakness.
‘A true one though.’ He was on the verge of laughing with joy, oh how he loved to irritate!
‘How so, Heath?’ She asked bitterly, already resenting the impending answer.
‘Because I could never hate her but I hate you almost as much as I love you, Heathen.’ He was quiet as he spoke, calm and tired sounding, but still fighting to keep that smile from his face.
‘Tell me about her.’ Scarlett asked again, her voice still sounding sweet and innocent, masking the stubborn brat beneath. Nate sighed and pulled him and the girl down onto a cold stone pew for the story telling session.
‘Marie King was seven years old when I first met her. We met at church, she was always at church, always praying, she loved her god more than anyone.’ He muttered the last part bitterly into Scarlett’s dark hair. ‘She was like an angel with pale skin and blond hair and so beautiful; everyone said we could pass for a couple of twins. My Aunt and Uncle were still good to me at this point and encouraged our friendship and eventually arranged with Marie’s parents, who were not very wealthy but entirely respected, that we should marry on Marie’s fourteenth birthday. The wedding was a great show and Marie came to live at Eloise Heights that very day, poor girl was unaware that her parents were told to stay away and that she would be forced to live with me in the attic like a servant rather than rightful lady of the house. Soon we were assigned roles; she was a scullery maid and I was to be a stable boy, we worked hard as we knew that if we did not the punishments would be severe as they had already cut me off from my fortune and taken nearly everything I owned.’ He shook his head and clenched his teeth before adding. ‘Alistair was a bastard, he killed Marie’s dog in front of her because she spilt water accidently. That creature was all she had left apart from me and she loved it dearly, I remember how she wept and cradled the bloodied corpse to her chest as its head rolled. She was such a gentle soul and just smiled and promised me everything would get better, everyday she would wake up and announce that things could not be any worse for us and so we should feel lucky. She did her work all through the day and was charming and caring, even to Jane, Milton and Alistair, which made them even more jealous and spiteful. The last thing they wanted was to see us happy. You can imagine how they were when they realised she was pregnant, it was devastating to them that we might bring up our own family, even in the confines of an attic.’
‘What did they do when they found out?’
‘Jane could not conceive herself so she flew into a jealous rage and beat Marie so awfully, She then declared that she would take the child from us and raise it as her own and it was to never know that we were it’s rightful parents.’ His eyes clouded over and his arms tightened around Scarlett. ‘It never worked out like that, Jane’s conduct grew worse and worse and Marie became depressed and then fell to illness once she reached her sixth month of the pregnancy. She did not last long after that, I remember how amiably she smiled as she died in my arms in the middle of the night. Jane found me still holding her the next morning and yet again became psychotic with rage, claiming that Marie had died willingly, on purpose, to take the child away from her.’
‘What nonsense, Jane should be the one walking the earth with torture always on her mind!’
‘She is in hell, with the rest of them. I am sure of that.’ He cleared his throat and continued with his story. ‘Jane then proceeded to demand that her physician remove the babe from Marie’s corpse, but of course the child was already with her mother above our heads.’
‘It must have been terrible for you.’ Scarlett murmured when the pause grew to long and she felt she should say something. But instead of crying, or agreeing he just looked at her with a confused expression on his face.
‘No. It was the best thing that ever happened to me. The worst part of it was that I felt so jealous of them for being able to escape. It was my jealousy that turned me bitter, and one day yours will ruin you too.’
‘Rosalind was your daughter then?’ Scarlett changed the subject as she did not want to talk about herself, for once.
‘How did you know her name?’ He whispered, his temper brewing already.
‘I found their grave, with the headstone.’ She tried to make her tone soothing but it hardly worked.
‘Tell me, has there ever been a time when you did not interfere with and terrorise the dead?’ Her mouth dropped open a little in shock as her beautiful face began to contort in sudden hot anger.
‘Fine! Maybe I shall cease to do so at all. See how you like it Nate!’ She sneered at him, meaning every word, as she rose from his lap and marched towards the chapel doors, though he was before her in an instant.
‘If you expect for me to beg you I am telling you now it shall not happen. I grew tired of these little power games that you insist on playing with me when I first gained the upper hand, when we first met and I regret to inform you that I never lost it.’ He had retrieved his hold on her once again and had her pressed up against a stone wall, his hands grasping firmly at her delicate shoulders. ‘I do love you Scarlett, don’t spoil it.’ He kissed her gently on the lips, in a way that made her head spin even though it was so brief she was not even certain that it had actually happened. ‘Now be a good girl and mind your own business, you have enough of it.’ He released her and was gone, leaving Scarlett trembling with fear by herself in the cold, sparse chapel.
Chapter 12- Split Personalities
Gladys pushed forward the heavy door, it seemed to almost push back, attempting to refuse the two girls entry to the less than welcoming sitting room. The wood panelling surrounded them and the two windows (the only light source, which made the room rather dark despite the size of them) were being engulfed by heavy crimson velvet curtains.
‘Miss Scarlett here to see you madam.’ Gladys bobbed a quick curtsey and rushed out, laving Scarlett alone in her front room with this stranger. Agnes looked up from her magazine and shifted her neatly tucked legs slightly to the left.
‘Ah! Scarlett.’ She trilled. ‘We are having guests tonight, Lord Abram Bradshore and his son, Lewis. You have not met since you were children but I think you and he should make a fine pair so please be charming. Besides’ She took a gulp from a brandy glass before continuing ‘his father’s health is beginning to fail so soon he shall have a fortune that will even exceed what you shall one day have.’ She laughed and gestured for Scarlett to sit.
‘What is he like as a person?’ Scarlett inquired as she sank into an armchair and stowed her legs in a similar fashion to her mother. Agnes shrugged unhelpfully and offered Scarlett a brandy which she refused.
‘How should I know? I have not seen him for a little over a decade.’ Agnes twittered on. ‘Hand me my cigarette case please darling? Oh and the matches! Thank you dear’ she said stuffing one between her lips before lighting the vile article and taking a long drag, which was exaggerated by the dimness of the room. ‘Just be delightful to him. It would please us all to see you with such a rich suitor!’ Scarlett smiled weakly.
‘I will do as you ask but I would like to know his character better before-‘
‘Before what?’ Her mother suddenly snapped. ‘It is not your choice dear!’ Scarlett looked up in shock and Agnes’s expressions softened in the grey light as she tried to explain. ‘You are, as I once was, all too innocent. You are a woman in a man’s world, Scarlett. We are not made for happiness and we do not marry for love like novelists believe. We marry in order to give us security and as it is the only option we have to better ourselves!’ Heated tears pricked at Scarlett’s eyes.
‘What if I never intended to marry?’ She inquired in a choked voice.
‘And end up the subject of evil idle gossip like Luella? I think not! I’d prefer you to marry for love than not at all. At least you could not be branded Scarlett the harlot then.’ She said the word ‘love’ with scorn, as if talking of unicorns or some other mythical subject.
‘Don’t worry yourself; I intend to marry at some time. But I do not know whether I am a little young at the moment.’ Agnes waved away the remark and her daughter.
‘I shall not worry, you are a good child Scarlett and have always acted well. Unlike your brother, and I hope such a severe punishment shall serve as an example to you. After all we do only want what is best for you.’
‘I know Mother, may I excuse myself? I have letters to write before the postman drops by in an hour as well as other tasks to busy myself with today.’ Agnes nodded with Scarlett’s speech and gestured for her to go as she took another drag from her cigarette and drank the last of her drink. Scarlett stood and turned to pace towards the door as a serving girl walked in carrying a silver tray with white powder arranged in rows on it’s surface. Agnes’s face brightened as Scarlett’s fell, her mother’s habits disgusted her and the maid’s willingness to feed her this vice was simply grotesque.
On her way out of the room she saw Gladys lurking by the front door, Scarlett was quite sure that she had some sort of special relationship with the postman. She walked up to her and lent to ask in a low voice.
‘That girl who took that tray into my mother, what is her name?’
‘Melissa, Miss. She seems a little proud of her post if you ask me.’
‘I didn’t ask you Gladys, but I dare say she is.’ Scarlett carried on in her low tone. ‘Melissa you say? Well, I am going up to my room to write letters now, alert me when the postman makes an appearance would you? We have special guests tonight so I have not the time to go out to town.’
‘Of course, Miss.’ Scarlett smiled and took to the stairs, her mind distracted with removing the girl from the house and talking to Nathan of these new demands. Or Nate as he had referred to him his past two weeks out of spite, though he had quite warmed to this new nickname and if Scarlett did not know better she would insist that he did in fact quite like it.
‘Letty, where have you been?’ He asked exasperatedly. ‘You finished breakfast nearly twenty five minutes ago and we planned an amble so I can show you more of these lands. Well? Have you no apology? Probably not and I should have known! You are a rude creature!’
‘Rude? Am I really?’ Scarlett asked in a panic, hoping she could live up to her parent’s expectations in the evening and somehow purloin Lewis’s heart, or soul. It did not matter which.
‘Since when did you have a care Miss Letty?’ He laughed and took her hands to drag her into her own murky sitting room.
‘Since I realised that I cannot exist as a savage forever Nathan. Now please tell me, am I really very rude?’
‘Nathan?’ He looked hurt as if her half an hour absence had stolen her personality from her body. ‘Fetch your shoes and I shall wake you from this civilized slumber, it is unnatural and I won’t let it control you much longer.’
‘Nathan, Nate, Scarlett, Letty! Of what significance is what we are called, they are all the same object so what does it matter? And what is such a trouble with being civilized?’ Nathan groaned in frustration before breaking the first thing that his hands came into contact with in his fit of resentment- which this time happened to be a crystal pitcher which spun glinting shards across the black stained oak floorboards.
‘Miss Scarlett?’ A muffled maid’s voice called up. ‘Is everything alright up there? Would you like for me to tidy that for you?’ Letty crept closer to Nate and bent down so she could meet his downcast eyes and her face split into a smile before laughing out loud.
‘There! Nastiness amused me!’ She took a pair of black pointed leather boots from the floor and begun to lace them in a hurry. ‘Rouse me from ladylike beliefs if you must but I must siesta further later, be warned.’ Nate’s gaze did not move from Scarlett but he did not react to her retreat. She huffed like a brat and sauntered closer to him with her right bootlaces still trailing, she reached up to touch his lips and the contours of his gentle face before leaning in close enough to kiss his cheekbone. All her troubles earned her was a single blink. ‘Nate! Do not be so awkward you are wasting our time!’
Suddenly the statue grew animated and snatched Letty into a turbulent embrace followed by a beautifully suffocating kiss which left his love close to collapse but rather than allowing her a second to recover he brought her down stairs and out of the house, still fastening her coat as she skipped into the cold.
‘Miss Scarlett? Miss Scarlett!’ She heard Emerson’s angry calls chase her through the spinney as she went. ‘You had better be going to a place with purpose! If you get lost I shall not hear of it young lady!’ Nate laughed and pulled her through to the other side of the trees.
‘Oh!’ was all Letty could manage when she was faced by a never ending sea of purple bell and ling heather, decorated here and there with patches of gorse, moss, herbs and whortleberry. His grip on her hand tightened and they smiled at one another. ‘It is so full and yet so sparse! So like the sea! It can be turbulent, calm, so lovely and so hateful!’
‘Is that ourselves you are describing?’ Nate enquired with glee in his tone.
‘I suppose I could have but I was referring to our desolate counterpart.’
‘It is not so barren, there is a tree here somewhere. I used to identify with the lonely soul. Shall we find it for you?’ she giggled like she would have in her schoolgirl days had she been happy enough as Nate and her ran hand in hand like ravening aborigines.
The tree was dead when they found it but it was still intact and beautiful enough, truly a landmark in the otherwise violet landscape. Letty leaned back against it and the dirty bark formed blemishes across her pale green dress and grey coat. Not helped by Nate keeping her against the offending sycamore so his lips could graze against hers.
It was so bitterly cold as the white clouds obscured the sun to nothing more than a faint silver disk through the layered clouds but the two were kept happy by the others inane chatter and silly actions that they must have stayed stood at the one spot for close to four hours.
‘Will you come to bed early tonight Letty? It is these times when my soul tears when you are even a few floors below me for too long.’
‘No, we have company tonight, a lord and his son are coming to visit.’ Letty attempted to keep her voice light.
‘And pray what is the purpose of their visit? Is it so pressing that you cannot conjure illness or a better excuse to force yourself to bed early?’
‘Yes it is I am sorry, I wish it were not so but I cannot contort my parents plans.’ She whined. Nate picked up the desperate tone in her voice and eyes her suspiciously.
‘This is not just about not being able to leave this gathering prematurely is it Letty?’ he whispered. ‘No, there is something on your eyes telling me that much. What is it? Oh! God! It’s shame! Guilt!’ He laughed cynically. All the anger and vengefulness that the day had removed from him returned. ‘Come on! What is it? Explain this!’
‘It seems my parents are trying their hand at match-making. This young man who is stopping for dinner may marry me if I look and act well, however if I do not make him love me than I shall lose my home and family.’ Scarlett was only just begging to realise how small her own aviary actually was and how solid the bars that held her were.
‘They would disown you?’
‘They have already done so to my brother.’ She murmured downheartedly. ‘So why should they hesitate to do the same to me?’
‘If you really believe that they could be so fickle why do you stay? They cannot love you as they should.’
‘Ha!’ She laughed scornfully. ‘And where could I go? What could I live on? My reputations would be ruined and my life would be impossible to salvage!’
‘So.’ He muttered sinking to the floor staring up at Scarlett. ‘How would you expect me to be with this? With you going out to be someone else’s wife? Do you think that I should leave and let you move on with it? Stay and make you guilty for the sin? Treat you as dearly as I thought you were once worth until I cannot stay by you any longer?’ A sob broke from Scarlett.
‘You cannot leave me Nate! I live for your deathly breath on my face and silent heart against my own chest.’ Nate just smirked.
‘What does this mean exactly Scarlett?’
‘I have an irrational and illogical love for someone who by god’s laws I could never have!’
‘But you do not obey god, you obey me. Which changes things as I may always have you in a way no one else could mentally.’ He paused as Letty silently kneeled down next to him. ‘But physically I should have an obstacle and not just my own mortality. I shall have to contend with a man that one day you could call husband for you when I already own you and love you.’ He chuckled darkly at how unsound it all was.
‘I shall always love you the best no matter what your competition is.’ Nate picked a twig of purple flower from a low bush and tangled it into Letty’s dishevelled hair.
‘I will stay… but I will not stop my passion, I shall not refrain from inflicting pain upon you as punishment for your sin. I just hope and pray and beseech the lord with all my heart that this man is the foulest, most diabolical and cruel persecutor! For if this was answered in my favour I know I should be happy…’
Chapter 11- Crescendo
There was an awful creek that echoed through the room as the door resisted the force of the tiny girl who proceeded to push it open. She whirled over the marble floor like a hurricane and spun elegantly in a circle seeking a hiding place. Her face lit up as she saw an antique piano to the far right of the room, the opposite side to the windows. She crawled underneath it and curled up amongst the pedals waiting to be found. She couldn’t help but giggle every so often at the immaturity that the light mood of her and Nate had brought about. Eventually her error- leaving the door open- led to her love stepping heavily and slowly towards her hiding spot. The door to this room was never open, it was another room that lay unused but traditionally should have brought happiness with it. Letty had learnt by now that she was not supposed to enter rooms with shut doors but this knowledge didn’t stop her from doing it despite her fear of the butler.
Letty was too awkward to be caught in the traditional way and so instead jumped at Nate from behind the instrument and made a frightful noise, though luckily he caught her and lifted her in his arms so they were almost close enough to kiss.
‘You found me!’
‘I never lost you Letty’ He grinned making her laugh again. He glanced at the piano that stayed to one side and raised his eyebrows. ‘I never thought you could play! How long have you been hiding this?’ he draped her across the bench and circled the instrument in a kind of awe.
‘The only thing that has been hidden is the piano, for I have no hidden talents, besides this contraption was hidden from me as well as you. Before our game I had no knowledge of it though I can guarantee that it is for ornamental purposes only.’
‘Not any more’ he laughed sitting himself down before pulling her into his lap, he leaned forward and whispered into her ear ‘For I shall teach you Miss Crawford. What should you think of that?’
‘I should think that you shall have a problem with the lack of sheet music and then my ignorance as to how to read it.’
‘So your fine education does have gaps in it! No matter, here give me your hands!’ she lifted them and he took hold of them before forcing them to hover above the ebony and ivory keys, gently he positioned her fingers and started to press them to the keys strategically in order to form chord sequences and the most beautiful sounds. Scarlett was too distracted by the feel of his hands controlling hers to take in or learn where he was forcing her hands to fall. They were both silent for once and apart from their hands and the occasional twisting to look into one another’s eyes and smile shyly before turning back they were still too.
Their peace could not last forever as two dogs skittered across the floor and barked at their delicate efforts. Letty laughed and slipped one of her hands from under Nate’s in order to pet one of the beagles, who jumped back and barked with its tail wagging. She scowled at the creature and huffed, disinterested since it would not obey her. She returned her hand to Nate as he was more than happy to give her his attention though the dog begun to investigate the pair which earned it a swift but sharp shove from Letty’s foot. The two little monsters howled and barked and Letty’s heart caught in her throat as the heavy thumping foot steps of Emerson came towards the ‘music room’. Nate snatched their fingers from the keys and tore the both of them from the piano to the window.
‘Miss Crawford! Are ya in’t music rum gul?’ he growled as he shuffled towards them. ‘Ya shudn’t be in thur! The Masta wul ave a fit! Out out! Ya Fatha’s wurkin!’ he jabbered on from down the corridor as Letty’s shaking fingers ripped themselves on the window latches as she pushed them open, causing the antique glass to rattle from their old lead fixings.
The bitter air blew in as Nate threw himself through the window and then reached to help Letty after him. She grabbed onto a tree branch in order to help her pull herself out of the room into the open air. It felt fantastic to be outside, to be wild once again. It was as though she could finally breath once more, as if the whole time she had been cooped up inside she had been suffocating. As she continued to haul herself out the growling fool had caught hold of one of her dainty booted feet and tried to drag the girl back into the house.
‘Ey! Whut are ya doin! Back inside! Miscreant! Wretch!’ she struggled and kicked as Nate stook staring in horror at the Butlers treatment of his young mistress.
‘Aah! Let me go! Let me go! You said you wanted me out! Aah! Ow, no…’ Letty whimpered and screamed as her leg was scraped against the coarse rusting iron window frame again and again and she felt her ankle begin to bruise from the harsh contorting grip. He made a series of strange sounds which seemed to be laughter, he was laughing at her pain, which caused Scarlett to sob even more uncontrollably. Eventually she managed to kick Emerson in the shoulder which sent him falling to the floor and her being allowed to fully remove herself from the building. Her screaming had ceased and she lay whimpering instead as a steady flow of blood oozed from the heavy grazing and scrapes on her bare leg. Nate grabbed her hands and pulled her up, urging her to run as she cried out and sobbed from the pain of her injuries. It took twenty minutes, double the normal time, for them to make it to the edge of the lake and collapse together to stare at the break grey-brown water.
Nate stared at her bloodied leg and freshly stained boots with that look of horror still stuck there. Eventually it moved to give her a sympathetic glance before looking forward and presenting her with a fact.
‘It’s the same leg you kicked the dog with.’
‘So? What relevance does that have to anything?’ Letty snapped, lying on her back in the mud, her eyes watering at the sting still. ‘Stupid animals shouldn’t be allowed in the house anyway.’ Nate smirked.
‘Such sophisticated words Letty.’ She rolled onto her stomach and smiled.
‘I know’ she breathed as she stared Out across the grassy lands, her hair blew in her face and her bloodied leg was waving in the air as she kept it from skimming the rough ground. He leaned over and kissed her lips softly before letting his thumb brush the misplaced hair from her face. She froze in shock as he leaned in and kissed her again, it took her a few seconds to react to the blissful sensations but kissing him back seemed to flick some sort of switch inside the two of them as their calm collision of lips turned almost as savage and primal as their personalities. By the time they broke apart Letty was on the verge of collapse and was somehow in Nate’s strong arms with her legs wrapped about his waist. Her fingers traced his face as she smiled sweetly. ‘You kissed me.’
‘Properly.’ He returned.
‘Did I act properly?’ she asked looking up at him from under her lashes.
‘God no.’ he laughed letting her stand for herself.
‘Then why did you kiss me?’ Letty asked her eyes bright with excitement and passion.
‘I didn’t, I kissed the heathen in your eyes.’ He brushed her hair back out of her face and leaned in to kiss her again.
‘That was me you saw there.’ She smiled and stroked the delicate, almost transparent, skin under his eyes.
‘I thought so…’ he returned. ‘I love it, so I must love you I suppose.’ Letty laughed. ‘And what of your mind and heart? Tell me how they think and feel?’
‘My mind feels numb as my heart once did as it lay dormant for so long. Yet now it feels warm and overwhelmed. It is so astonishing, astounding even to feel love and hate in such measurements together for a single soul, the one that is needed in order to complete your own.’ Nate smiled, a real smile that reached his deep, endless, rich eyes. Just to see that expression on this man’s face made Letty’s chest pound with the force of her beating heart. It made her happy to see him content, a new feeling for her.
‘Quite an eloquent speech. Now for something more primal.’ He grinned but Letty pulled away as he tried to kiss her and ran laughing when he tried to grab hold of her.
It is strange how so many people lead a kind of double life. Scarlett Crawford and Letty are two very very different people. Scarlett is refined, yet a bully who abuses her authority in her house but is sweet, lovely and indeed loved by everyone who graces her beautiful presence. Letty on the other hand is a girl with little control or authority over anything. She is the girl running over the sparce scrub land, her mid length skirts stained with grass, mud and blood. She is the girl who laughs so loudly and allows the countryside, the house, the ghost to bend her character and educate her in ways common sense could not. She could be loved by but only a few as she is selfish and wishes for the control that she could only have as Scarlett Heath.
Chapter 9- A Jealous Angel
Time passed at an alarming and the weather grew worse as their tempers grew shorter. They begun to move on from being unsure whether they felt dislike or tolerance towards the other to their pure denial of love and insistence of hate, in between their joint acts of savageness- whether they be in the name of fun or fights. Scarlett spent her time attempting to overturn Nathan’s hold over her but his mental and physical strength usually resulted in her defeat unless she managed to strike the right chord. But even then he would not allow her to win; he would merely withdraw until the next battle, which would usually be bloodier.
Nathan kept to his word and stubbornly hoarded one side of his bed each night, the two would fall asleep hissing curses at one another and awake in a similar fashion. Whilst Nathan slept alongside Scarlett she did feel safe and calm, though he infected her with vicious nightmares which made and tears seep from her eyes each time she awoke. If these roused her then the two would huddle together, sweet talking one another with false promises of forever. During late October, the weather calmed- and the two were in high spirits with tangled hair and bright eyes from running wild in even wilder surroundings- a much more effective haunting came in Scarlett’s sleep.
This one was of a much darker nature than those she had had before. It felt as though she had awaken, and a face stared down at her, like Nathans had near forty nights prior, again fair with a half starved complexion. However this time the creature was female, her eyes gaunt and lifeless as firelight danced off them making them appear as glass dolls eyes whilst casting her face into more demonic shadows. Her expression had begun soft as she put a finger gently to Scarlett’s lips to motion that she should not speak. She remained peaceful for a while- long enough to have a lengthy stare and evaluate Scarlett’s appearance at least- though when her mouth finally moved Scarlett could not help but wish that it never had.
‘Scarlett?’ The voice was full of sadness and beauty. Scarlett nodded slowly, hypnotised by this inhuman being that was so lacking in spirit and personality. ‘How could you torture an angel?’ She shrieked though raw pain emitted from the thing it had no spirit still, no belief in the words falling from her lips (and to Scarlett this was the most lingering thing of all). ‘Not just by loving my husband but by hating him too! Harlot! You deny your emotions, but you shall cause injury to each other soon enough! I loved him all!’ she moaned ‘Yet here you lie! Next to him like his whore! Though he treats you like a lover and an enemy!’ Scarlett heard a baby begin to wail somewhere and through tears of guilt and self pity she tried to see around Marie after the child in question. ‘Rosalind… shhh’ Marie tried desperately as its screams grew loader. ‘Scarlett you will suffer! The lord could never forgive you! You have sinned too far! But you cannot stop!’ Marie cried now, the baby was too hysterical and rain begun to batter the windows as Scarlett was thrown from this alternative hell into Nathans shaking arms.
‘Scarlett! Wake up and stop screaming!’ He hissed still shaking her shoulders roughly and then she started to sob.
‘Nathan! Oh Nathan! I am a sinner!’ He pulled her against him and held her there as she sobbed.
‘Indeed you are, it is a relief to know that you realise that you have gone wrong! Maybe you might salvage yourself after all!’ She shook her head.
‘I would not be bribed into heaven by any promises from even god himself! I would want to walk the earth with you rather than wait with sorrow for friends less gilded who will never come! I would never be an angel or resident of that holy purgatory!’
‘Scarlett? How could this edition of nightmare affect you so? Drive you to such demonic thoughts! I would have thought you would have grown immune to them by now!’ She smiled weakly at him and tried to settle back against the pillows but he sat upright and held her firmly in place. ‘What was it this time?’
‘Nothing Nathan, just the house filtering its curses into my head. Do not worry so.’ He raised an eyebrow, though it was hard to see in the dull light supplied by the fireplace.
‘Do not worry so.’ He echoed spitefully. ‘That is all I ever do! It is the last part of human nature left with me! So do not you dare take it away!’ He pulled Scarlett closer to him and her head fell against his broad chest, she listened to the silence of the cavern. No heartbeat, no rush of blood, he was just an empty shell. He sighed and put a hand to his forehead after she did not retaliate. ‘I am sorry, I shall not fight you tonight.’
‘Why?’
‘Why?’ he asked taken aback. ‘Can’t you just take my kindness as an honour and leave it there? Why must you probe into every detail?’
‘Because Nathan Heath, I know your nature! You are wild and irksome! You find little more pleasure than poking fur or fighting with others! Especially ones you can control.’ She ended her miniature speech in a dark voice as he couldn’t help but laugh in the same sinister tone. He ran a few fingers through her long chestnut hair before kissing the top of her head.
‘My dear Scarlett, sometimes I think I love you more than I hate you. I always hold you so dear to me and through my own egocentricity I feel that I should always keep you here. No matter whether you wish it or not.’ She smirked and put her arms round his neck as he leaned down and brushed his lips against hers.
‘Yet you will never kiss me properly.’
‘When you act properly I shall kiss you properly.’ He played with the frilled cuff of her graceful white nightdress.
‘What is acting properly then? Define it for me and let me understand so I may decide whether or not I wish to behave accordingly.’ unruliness is my true nature, I shall not be bent back to order and compliance by anyone! She thought scornfully, however determination cannot always help a girl who is so insecure yet fickle with emotion and all.
‘Decide?’ He laughed. ‘Scarlett you have no choice in anything!’ She sighed and pushed him away.
‘Find me a new name! For I am sick of Scarlett! I hear it a thousand times a day being shrieked in aguish by thirty different people!’ she muttered whilst Nathan tried to seize an opportunity to tease and annoy.
‘Letty then!’ his voice was still full of amusement and anticipating a shove or impending argument.
‘Nate then!’ She relied, not bending to his will, his mouth opened then closed it again, a pretty sight of confusion as Scarlett blinked her crystal eyes with innocence and sweetness.
‘Hark! Pet names! How neat, how disturbing! We act closer than our allotted ranks allow!’ His sudden laughter melted as quickly as it had been built and he pulled the sheets around them and declared ‘Letty! Let us hence to bed! For it is late and tomorrow night there are plenty more points to prove. Night Letty, night.’
Chapter 8- Not a Dream
‘Scarlett? What on earth happened to your neck? It was as smooth as porcelain last night and now this morning it is decorated with bruising! You shall have to cover it with some powder or something. How did it happen?’ It was morning and a spirit filled fog had delimited the Heights and its grounds, though it was only the beginning of September that day.
Scarlett neatly put down the knife she was using to spread marmalade onto her toast and pointed at one of the dogs that was lazing next to the hearth.
‘It was one of those awful creatures!’ Scarlett cried with feeling. ‘Came into my chamber and attacked me! I am bruised all over from the brute! They should sleep outside otherwise they shall murder us all in our beds!’
‘Come now child.’ Luther said soothingly. ‘The weather is too harsh for that, how about we see for a stronger bolt for your chamber door? That should rectify the problem.’
‘It shan’t take away that nasty bruising Luther! And that is the majority of the damage that was done!’ Agnes was almost scolding with her harsh tone, but she dropped it in an instnt to continue with another matter, that obviously concerned her more. ‘Now, Luther has to go to the port today and I am going away to Exeter for a dress fitting. Will you be quite alright here alone?’
‘Port?’ Scarlett’s brow puckered with miscomprehension.
‘Yes port, he has a meeting with some American, wants to buy the business.’
‘Oh! No I should be quite alright here thank you mother.’ Scarlett replied brightly, though inside she was quivering with fear as last nights happenings, dream or not she wasn’t sure (although the bruises seemed enough proof), had only proven the horror stories that her parents were so oblivious to.
You are probably unaware of what they mean by ‘the business’ and as Scarlett is so disinterested by any ones affairs but her own she is unlikely to mention it again, so I shall to help you understand a little further. Agnes Crawford come from old money and owns a vast fortune where as Luther Crawford is what is known as a ‘self-made’ millionaire. This is they only way he was graded worthy of Agnes in fact. He made his fortune through owning a passenger shipping company by the name of North Star Crossings (the only route they take is from London to New York). He began the business with his father and two brothers, all of which unfortunately perished in a terrible storm which took down one of the company’s biggest ships and all its passengers. The company is still popular despite this costly accident and continues to profit well. However the Crawford’s have made their fortune and see no reason to maintain it further and are so looking to sell it to an American fellow by the name of Theodore Atkinson –known as Theo by the Crawford’s, his close friends and family- who is willing to pay a considerable sum to own it.
Breakfast was eaten in silence from this point as the Crawford do not actually have much in common with each other apart from the fact that thy happen to be in the same family. Scarlett soon grew bored of eating and went upstairs to write her letters. She had got no further than ‘Dear Gillian, This place is so ghastly! You would not believe…’ then she heard the slam of the front door. She slipped a pair of lace up boots (leaving them unlaced as she was the lazy sort) on to her tiny feet and then took a heavy wool cloak from a hook on the back of her study door and pattered down the stairs. She was met at the bottom by Emerson who was grumbling under his breath in gibberish, Scarlett managed to pick out that he was tired of Agnes and her strange ways, rolling her eyes she whirled the cloak around her shoulders and fastened it.
‘Going out Madam?’ he asked loftily.
‘Just for a walk I think Emerson.’ Scarlett replied sweetly.
‘A walk? Aye! Be wary where ye be walking! Always be wary around here. There never be a more terrifying sight than this place in haze miss! You’ll never know who’s behind ye!’ Scarlett blinked with confusion, though her mind gave her pictures of the grave she had found on her last outing. Marie and Rosalind. Not a Mary but Marie and Mary were so similar that it may have been possible that Luella had been mistaken with names.
‘Excuse me, Emerson? You don’t seem to be making much sense, are you alright?’ She asked, trying to keep her voice pleasant.
‘There are things out there ye would rather not see Miss, hidden in heather or deep in heath. Ye ought to be vigilant! Though it’s probably worse in the house, it changes people! My grandfather always said so but I never believed!’ Scarlett’s face was still a mask of mystification. ‘Some of the other servants are changed! Full of hate and they don’t know for whys! I say get out before ye are bound! Get out! Out!’ Scarlett’s puzzlement turned yet again to horror she flew from the hall to the white unknown.
She decided to head for the stables, though today was not riding weather, not unless she was stupid, she would like to pay the horses a visit and there would be some shelter for her at the end of her ambles. She started stumbling blindly through the thick fog, looking for some sort of clue as to where she was going. This attempt shows only how awfully dense the girl could be sometimes. Scarlett could have been walking for over an hour before she realised that she was on the moors and lost, looking about her she tried not to panic, she could not see Eloise Heights, but she could not see the lights of the old farm cottage either! With no landmarks to go by she continued to walk until she could see an odd dark shape in the distance, assuming it could be the Heights from a far distance she wandered uselessly towards the shape. However as it grew closer she saw that it was much to small to be any sort of human dwelling and her cheeks spread with red with embarrassed even though there was no one about to witness her mistake. Despite it being far from what she wanted she walked towards the building, openly curious at what it was. As she approached she saw rusted wrought iron bars and empty cages that stood twice as high as any man, her imagination ran wild with what these giant cages could be used for until she discovered that at some point it was an aviary, now lifeless, empty and falling apart. She pulled once cage open and walked inside, still not knowing what drove her to do such things.
Emerson is right, the house does things to people! They become horrifically unreasonable. As soon as this thought passed through her brain a tall mans figure passed through the fog and stopped in front of Scarlett. He reached out and held one of the twisted iron bars and looked down peculiarly at Scarlett, as if to ask what on earth she was doing. Not that she would have an answer.
‘Hullo, it seems you were not a dream then.’ Scarlett said without emotion to the figure, he stooped a little so he was at eye level with Scarlett.
‘No, not a dream. How do you feel about that?’ Nathan asked, his blonde hair damp with the vapour that hung in the air.
‘I am not certain, though maybe I should be taken away and locked up as it is clear that I am losing my sanity.’ Nathan laughed and shook his head.
‘Why are you stood in this cage Miss Crawford?’ It was the question he had really wanted to ask from the start. Scarlett looked up at him sullenly.
‘I feel like I am stood in a cage permanently Mr Heath. So standing in one in a non metaphorical sense does not change my mood or feelings from the norm in the slightest.’
‘What makes you feel like that then?’ He was smiling now, laughing privately at her strange ways.
‘I am trapped and by so many things! By my social status as it holds me up high in a vice that is so tight I may not breathe and I am kept out of reach from the company I crave. Also by my family, if I do not act accordingly I shall be cut off like my dear brother was and in turn my reputation shall be ruined. Then of course by this house, it keeps me from those I loved in London.’ Nathan nodded and reached through the bars to take one of her hands.
‘What lower class company do you miss, Crawford?’
‘Societies ways has left me friendless! I would just like a friend with which to speak and hold common ground!’ she gripped at his hand gently.
‘Such confessions to a stranger! You must be desperate for attention! I both pity you and find your situation some what amusing! Think me insensitive for I cannot help it!’ The girl scowled and thought about slapping the boy around the face. He retracted his hand at her change of expression, though he had infuriated her she still wanted the security of his hand holding hers. ‘Aw! How now! You were so very pretty until you warped your face so! There! A smile! What an improvement once again!’
‘You seem to find pleasure in the displeasure of others Heath, why is this?’ He smiled.
‘It is simple! Because so many people found pleasure in my displeasure, which is why now that I can cause fear and displeasure to others I cannot help but feel happiness, and this is because when I am inflicting this pain upon others I do not feel pain myself which is a rare thing indeed.’ Scarlett shook her head and stumbled from her cage to the outside, free. Though she felt no such thing as freedom, and she never would.
‘Why do you choose to haunt me? Why not the servants? Why not my parents?’
‘I did not choose it, You are just the only member of the house who does not overlook me! Others know of my presence but chose to look past me as though I am a piece of furniture, where as you see me for what I am. And for some stupid reason, you seem drawn to it.’ He pointed to her as she found herself advancing towards her supposed spook.
‘Maybe so, even I am not sure of the level of truth in that statement.’ Nathan snorted. ‘No need to be rude.’
‘You act higher than your rank Miss Crawford, just because I choose to be polite to you, and the heavens barely know why, there is no reason for you to treat me as a serf! Especially when you are a guest in my house and sleep in my bed no less!’ Scarlett was shocked at his quick temper, unless it was her mother, people around her usually doted on her for her beauty and elegance! Never shouted at her for her arrogance and selfishness! Though Nathan never shouted, he never needed to, his negative whispers stung worse than any shrieking.
‘Your bed? You are dead! Why should you need sleep?’
‘It is something to do to pass the time. But I am warning you now, if you choose not to quite my bed and chamber then neither shall I!’ Scarlett laughed at this.
‘Is that a threat? That you should sleep alongside me?’
‘I should like to see the guilt in your eyes on your wedding night! It would serve you so for laughing now!’
‘I shall not be made fearful or culpable by a man who the whole of humanity seems to overlook!’ Nathan stopped laughing now and his face clouded over as the fog seemed to be clearing, he grabbed her arm and drew the girl towards him, his immense strength made her struggles pointless.
‘Shan’t you? Then why do you shake? You may claim that fear does not enter your language but it is so plain in your face! Miss Crawford, we are sharing residences for now, you may sleep where you will but I am taking my chamber back! And I shall not vacate for any reason or take any responsibility for my actions. If you want life to improve you should be sweeter to me.’
