Chapter 2 : Aftermath

"Hold her feet up ," two maids talking,"Is the towel in right place?"

Tik tok tik tok

"She is still not taking anything ,she is spilling all the milk ."

"Pass a napkin."

Tik tok tik tok

"You must ensure that the little lady takes the dose carefully and regularly, its not just about her physical injury ,she just had a traumatic experience-"

"Enough show the doctor out."

Tik tok tik tok

Its not like I am sleeping . Truthfully I can not sleep. But I can pretend to . And it's better this way . I don't have to act oh-so-horrified, oh-so-pitiful and look at these gross human noses with hair and blackheads.

Tik tok tik tok.

And I find a nice way to avoid inhaling the pungent onion smell. After the doctor is out ,I simply stop breathing ....

Honestly, why would I need to breath .

"I thi-think that the little lady isn't breathing ," there are shouts again , I sigh in annoyance.

"You must have seen it wrong Clair ."

"Uh."

There are whishphers around the room .

"Honestly, I knew something would happen when they brought in a gypsy."

The glass crash somewhere in the castle ,"WHITE ! BRING ME WHITE!"

There is shouting again.The other maids leave in hurry , leaving the old Clair. She must be the nanny.

"Look at you making troubles even when you are sleeping ," she whishphers , not in a low voice .

I sit up quietly .She must have seen my shadow move ."Don't tell me that you are hungry again ."She sounds annoyed .

"Are you supposed to talk with a child like that ?" I wonder .

SLAP!

The next moment she is hugging me , choking me like she wants me dead .

Another maid has turned up at the door, "Clair ,hurry ,close it ! Mistress is on the way ."

"Yes ,yes."

The moment has she locked the door , the banging has started ,"WHITE ! ARE YOU THERE ,DARLING ?"

Clair walks at the corner of the room comfortably and wraps herself in a blanket and lies on the sofa .

"I KNOW THAT YOU ARE IN THERE ."

The screaming , the shouting and everything outside doesn't seem to move ClSnif,"Sleep ," she tells me ,"That's how you can look bright in the morning ."

I lie down and stare up , the bells and birds are hanging from the roof , nobody seems to have cared to clean them .

I start humming lowly , just like a low sing of my breath .

"Widows in grey skirt ,

Red ribbons for little girls

Flowers and there are just flowers

When you bid them bye ,White lilies for my bed and for my poor poor child"

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Sniff , sniff .....

"My child ?"

Sniff ,sniff ,sniff ..

"Widows in grey skirt ,

Red ribbons for little girls

Flowers and there are just flowers

When you bid them bye ,White lilies for my bed and for my poor poor child"

The sob continues and constant music for my humming .

And I am sitting under a pine tree. The sunlight is warm here , I can hear the bell from far away .

I can see the brown house from here . Clair the , old nanny snoring , it looks gloomy from here .

"My child ?," I call out to the little girl sitting at the other side of the pine tree .She is wearing the pink skirt splattered with blood .

"How scared must you have been."

She doesn't answer , weeping in her own sorrow . The tree is decorated with beautiful lights and bell but none of them are sparkling . They look dusty . It took me a moment to realise that it's a Christmas decoration .

"Waiting for someone in a Christmas must have been sad ."

Cool breeze blow in our small medow , I gulp in the air , it's so delicious , filled with aroma of flowers .

"Mommy didn't come back ," the child speaks for the first time , her voice hoarse from crying .

"What did your mother use to call you ,child ?"

"Suzunanne ."

"That's a beautiful name, dear ."

"Mommy called me Suzu ,too ."

I smile .

"Little lady , get up ," Clair is picking me up ,"You can't keep the doctor waiting ."

"Is she up ?"

"Just now !," Clair gasps .

I open my eyes to see a woman standing at the door , she is so tall that her head keeps touching the door frame , she has red hair and wearing a red dress .

"Mommy ?"

"Did you dream of your dead mother ?," the woman's mouth pulls at a corner , obviously she is not Suzanne's mother , I have just been confirming it ..

"Little lady let's greet your aunt properly ," Clair tells me coolly .

I keep sitting , smiling to myself .

"She looks fine to me!," the aunt huffs , combing her red hair with fingers .

"She was stabbed at five places ma'am," the docter informs her ,"It's a miracle that the child is not dead ."

"Clair , just make sure she doesn't go to west building anymore ," the aunt walks out ,"I just need to buy more chains , where is my White ?"

I realise that this is the woman who has been shouting last night.

"Is she going to bring that thing back ?"

"Last night , Mistress went to find that thing ,I have heard that the coach man had it left with the old horse carcass ,it was not dead."

"Devils don't die easily, we need to burn that thing on a stake," one of the maids shivers ,"It has bewitched the mistress ."

"Let's get you up little lady ," Clair doesn't take part in the conversation , she has my face wiped and changed my white long under dress , it has been the only thing I have been wearing .

Clair leaves the door open , not bothering .

I sit there listening to all rumours . The mistress of the house has gone mad after bringing in a gypsy slave, drowing in alcohol and seemingly piled up debts....

I crawl out from the bed , the maids outside the room don't seem to notice , I don't remember how to use the legs and hands properly .

I walk sometimes on my kness, sometimes my palm, sometimes the elbow , until I am to the window , the wind is cool on my face, I giggle as I slowly plop myself outside.

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"What would you want to do , child ?,"I ask.

The boy lies before me in chains, he opens his eyes , one eye purple and swollen , other eyes is covered with blood .

I am amused. It is the first time an Adam's child isn't making me throw up , it has been never like that .

I touch his bruised lips, bashed nose, he groans in pain ,I don't think that he has the strength to answer.

" How is it you?, " I croon softly ,"You are the first one to summon a 'Mother', do you know that ?"

Tears tickle down his ruined cheeks ,he looks young , sixteen ,maybe ?

"Shhhh," I brush his hair , covered with sweat and blood .

"Wa- water," he begs .

I smile ,"I am not supposed to show kindness ."

He huffs , like it's painful to breath .

I take his face, bewitched by his purple eyes , it's light shade like a field of lavender, they are filled with horror and despair .

World must be changing ....

"Child ," I whispher to him ,"What are you ?"

His eyes close like a child would fall asleep in a lullaby , the smell of blood is drowing in the smell of death .

That's when I kiss him.

'Death , pain go away ,

come again at another day ,

Little children want to play ,

come again another day .'

This rhythm is nostalgic to me , a children song twisted and turned , it is my favourite .

It reminds me of lying on a cold snow with gentle blue fingers touching my face .

I open my eyes. The boy is looking at me, dazed , it takes him a moment to jerk back like an animal would from the fire.

I keep smiling , giving him the time he needs to try and find out that he can not actually run away from this room .

The door is locked.

We can hear the maids and servants outside . He opens his mouth to call for help and then he stops . He grits his teeth , finally looking at me .

His face is filled with absolute disgust and horror ,"What do you want ?" but his voice is smaller than I thought it would be..

"What do YOU want , child ?," I point out the obvious .

He pauses , I can see him calculating , hope rising and breaking inside him like sea waves on a beach ," Is that true then ?"

"Yes ," though , he is not the usual customer .I suppose it still works since he has got me out.

He kneels on the floor , I can see he has completely drenched ," I am sorry ," he admits , his head bowing down ," I can't - I have committed enough sin already ."

"Child , look up"

"If you want my life as a payment -"

"Child , your honesty and goodwill - have they led you even somewhere ?"

When he looks up , his face has gone cold ," Can you take my life ?"

"But that will be ending your misery ."

"But that is what I wanted in the first place , when I called for you ."

I have seen this a thousand times , they do wish for it when they call me .

It's like it is their fault .

"I can not take life of my summoner ."

I watch patiently , " So you tried to run away again last night ?"

He moves , the chains clatter ,"I-," and here I was wondering a child slave like him , where did he find all those chains to hang a corpse for me.

That's when the door bursts open and Suzu's aunt walks in , and I am covered in the shadows and the back of the door .

She is barely dressed up , she looks like someone who has just woken up , she reeks of alcohol, and sweats and something more unpleasant - she gasps looking at White ," You are fine ! I thought that I killed you !," she throws her arms around his tiny body .

White looks at his master like he has looked at me , a demon.

She carcass es his face ,"You are an angel , my angel ," she coo es ,"It is true then ! What they say about you that you can not die."

There is a different kind of light in her eyes , and White is looking at me , like a pork on a wooden table with a knife at it's belly .

The lady yanks a chain which seems to choke White , like a collar and she throws away her dress , pressing her huge feature at the top of him.

White , who is sixteen , malnutrition has his ribs poking out of his skin, his purple eyes dull in the darkness of this cold room which is filled with the smell of blood , and metals with strange tools all over the place . With a woman twice his age , sitting on him.

After all , there is more than one hell..