Post by narumei on Mar 12, 2008 3:29:52 GMT -5
Chapter 4
Enter Grace
Nathaniel rode home hard, pushing Noah to the absolute limit. Noah, understood that something was wrong with his master, although, being a horse, he didn’t know what, and didn’t protest to the hard ride home, pushing himself on with all his might in an attempt to comfort his best friend. Nathaniel stomach tightened with cramps with every stride and he winced from the sharp stabs. He welcomed the pain, though; he wanted to be punished for breaking his sister, for, although he didn’t want to admit it, it was he that finally broke through the many barriers surrounding Abigail. Abigail had always been strong and had suffered insults so harsh that many men would break down upon hearing them, but absolute rejection from her family had caused her to finally weaken. Nathaniel knew nobody as strong as Abigail, and he knew the things that she had to put up with, while she was only fourteen. When he remembered that she was so young, he nearly wished he could die, for Abigail acted far beyond her years most of the time. She acted five when she was going through his room, frantically searching for clothes, but when people in society sniffed at her in public and cut her at dances on the few times she’d been to nice places, she brushed off the hurt with a wave of her hair, and just turned in the other direction. When her mother continually berated her for every little thing she did wrong, she stood up to her, explained her point of view, but still did as she was bided. And when her father stopped being her friend, she made others, with the horses or with the help. For a fourteen year old, she had lived through Hell. For no one can help being who they are, but Abigail tried. Lord knows, that she tried. It was only the past week that she had started acting out. Nathaniel realised that it was just because she was trying to find herself, and upon nearing her fifteenth birthday, thought that she would be treated as an adult, allowed to make her own decisions. When she found out otherwise, she snapped. Nathaniel groaned, remembering how rebellious he was when he was fifteen. Every child goes through that stage. Why didn’t he see it before? He let out a roar of frustration and leaned in closer to Noah. He was sore, tired and parched, and he was sure that Noah felt the same way, yet he couldn’t slow down. Not yet. He had to keep going, he wanted to forget the look on his sister’s face, the single tear that she shed in her efforts to appear nonchalant. I’m not Abby, I’m Abigail. That was what she had said. Nathaniel realised that it wasn’t just a name. It was an identity. By shedding the name Abby, Abigail was giving up her childhood dreams and ways, and maturing into an adult, earlier than her time. Abigail was someone that he didn’t know, an entirely altered person that he would have to become acquainted with. He closed his eyes and sunk his head into Noah’s mane, trusting that Noah knew where he was going. They continued the same pace until they finally arrived back in the stables where both horse and owner through themselves at the water trough, taking fervent draughts of water. After a while Nathaniel pushed himself back too kneeling by the trough and collapsed on the grass, engulfed in misery. Noah walked up to him and nudged him gently with his muzzle. When Nathaniel didn’t respond, Noah whinnied softly and collapsed next to him. He rested his head down next to Nathaniel’s and closed his eyes. They both lay there for hours, Nathaniel too depressed to move and Noah too worried to leave his master’s side. The hours past and Nathaniel only vaguely heard the chef calling out to him for lunch. He didn’t want to eat; he thought he would throw up if he did. The clouds in the sky passed by slowly with the hours, and neither horse nor human moved. When the sun started to disappear over the house and the stables were thrown into darkness, Stan emerged from the house.
“Master? You’re going to catch a cold like that. You had better go inside.” He said, his features mingled with concern.
“Leave me be.” Was all Nathaniel said.
“But, sir-”
“I said leave me BE!” Nathaniel yelled.
“Right you are, good night sir” Said Stan and he hurried off. Noah put his head up and snorted at Nathaniel, telling him off for being so rude.
“Noah! Leave me alone!” With great effort, because his muscles had stiffened from lying with out moving all day, Noah got up stamped his feet by Nathaniel’s head and cantered off to his stables. “Go ahead, I don’t care.” Was all he said to the horse.
**
Abigail collapsed on the single bed in her room. It had been an extraordinarily long day, after Nathaniel had left, the footman, Bruce, picked her up and carried her to Lady Maxine’s room as she was entirely too far gone to walk herself. Bruce put her in an overly large plush green chair which matched the colour of her dress almost exactly. Maxine’s maid forced smelling salts under her nose in an attempt to revive her. She pushed the maid weakly away and sank into the chair. It smelt strongly of roses and an unfamiliar musty smell. When she next opened her eyes, there was a small table in front of her on top of which sat a cup of steaming tea and what looked like a slice of sponge cake. Abigail sat up slowly, trying not to disturb her already shaken nerves. She reached for the tea, and looked around for sugar.
“Two sugar’s right?” Abigail turned and saw a very pretty girl who looked about the same age as her perched on the end of Maxine’s huge bed.
“Um, yes. How did you know?” Because I know the type of girl you are. The sugar’s been taken away, but don’t worry, there’s already two in there.” Abigail looked into the tea, as if the cup held all the answers she was looking for.
“Thankyou. But, wait, how did you know what I wanted?” Abigail felt like she was repeating herself but her head hurt too much to care.
“I just know. Don’t ask me why, because I don’t know.” Abigail nodded slowly, “I’m Gracelia by the way, but everybody calls me Grace. I’m fourteen, same as you, right?” Abigail looked up painfully,
“Look, I’m sorry but who are you?”
“I just told you! I’m Grace.” Grace said, indignantly.
“Yes, I know that. But who are you? Where is Lady Maxine?” She elaborated.
“Ohhh. I understand now. I attend this school too. Ma just fetched me because apparently we have all of our classes together, so she thought that we would become good friends. Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too.” She said, with as much of a smile as she could manage. “What time is it?”
“It’s about 2:30.” Grace said, looking around the room.
“WHAT?” Abigail leapt out of the chair but quickly found two hands on her shoulders, easing her back down. Grace’s hands were small but strong and the pushed firmly against her shoulders until she had sunk back into the chair.
“Hey, you hit your head pretty hard, you should stay still.” Abigail looked up in surprise, and then winced at the pain at the back of her head.
“What do you mean “I hit my head”?” Abigail asked. Grace looked at her with confusion,
“Don’t you remember?” She asked Abigail.
“Evidently not.” She almost snapped.
“When you were outside, after your brother left, you fell and hit your head on the stone steps.” She explained. “You’ve been semi-conscious all day.”
“My brother? Nat? Nat was here?”
“The tall dark haired one, yes? He was here. He made you cry. Don’t you remember?” Grace was really worried; Abigail could see it in her eyes.
“No, I don’t remember him being here. But, I am at Lady Maxine’s Academy aren’t I?” Grace smiled in relief.
“Yes you are. This is your first day here. You arrived at around 10:00 this morning. That’s about when you hit your head.” She told Abigail. “Your name is Abigail, isn’t it?”
“Yes, I’m Abigail. But what do you mean he made me cry?” She asked
“Well, I’m not too sure about it all; I didn’t really hear most of the conversation. But, he asked you to come back home, and he kept repeating “Abby”. It was “Abby” this and “Abby” that, and you told him off. You told him not to call you Abby anymore. That’s about when I left, but when I turned back, he was gone and you had fallen over.” Abigail mind reeled as she struggled to remember it. But it was hopeless; she couldn’t even picture what Nat might have looked like, or how he got here. She gave up, burying her face in Grace’s arm, which was still by the chair. “Hush now, it’s alright, I’m here.” She cooed quiet words of comfort to Abigail. Abigail tried to cry, to let her hurt stream down her face, but the tears wouldn’t come.
**
Abigail awoke with a start and stared around, she was still sitting in Maxine’s room but the light in the room looked different somehow. She heard hushed voices just outside the room and strained to listen.
“She doesn’t remember at all!” she put the voice together with the girl she met earlier, Grace, she thought.
“What, she doesn’t remember anything?” The easily recognisable voice of Maxine squeaked out.
“No, of course she does. She doesn’t remember her brother being here, or anything that he said.”
“Well, that is a pity, but I may be able to work that to my advantage.” She said,
“Ma?”
“Well, some things that he said may make her go back to being rebellious when she finally is accepting her life.” Grace made a little noise of acknowledgement. All of a sudden Lady Maxine burst through the door. “Miss Abigail! I’m so glad you’re awake. How are you feeling? Any better, pet?”
“Lady Maxine, I’m so sorry for being such a bother!” She exclaimed
“No! No, not at all, I’m just worried about you, dear. And remember, you must call me Ma.”
“Yes, sorry, Ma. I’m fine, my head just hurts a little.” She said.
“Oh, I’m so sorry about that, Pet. But glad to hear you’re feeling better. I hate to trouble you further but I really do need that paper work filled out before the end of today. If you’re feeling up to it, perhaps you could fill them out now?” Abigail nodded in assent. “Wonderful!” Maxine exclaimed. She dropped a huge pile of sheets on the table in front of Abigail. She stared at them with dread.
“I have to read all of that?” She asked, her voice sounding very high to her.
“Yes, and fill out the bits about yourself. Don’t worry, it won’t take long, I promise.” Maxine reassured her.
“She’s right you know, it looks like a lot but it only takes about an hour.” Grace’s head popped in the room, and she was grinning from ear to ear.
“Oh, Grace! You nearly gave me a heart attack!” Lady Maxine exclaimed. Abigail smiled up at Grace.
“Why, hello there, Miss Grace. Have you done this before?” Abigail asked
“Yes, when I first started here. I’ve already been here for a year and a half.” Grace said, with a smile
“Oh, do you like it?” Abigail asked, Maxine let out a loud cough of warning, Grace grinned.
“Yes, I do. Very much.”
“Miss Abigail, Grace is one of our scholarship students. She is one of four currently attending.” Maxine told her.
“Oh, congratulations Grace.” Grace shrugged and said behind her hand,
“The test isn’t very hard.”
“Grace!” Maxine barked. Grace grinned and dashed out the room. Maxine uncharacteristically rolled her eyes. “That girl. She’s a very sweet. I do love her dearly. She’s an orphan; her parents were very rich but died in a house fire. She has a fortune, but doesn’t come into it until she comes of age, when she turns 21, or when she marries. So we housed her to protect her from men who may prey on her for her money.” A new feeling of respect rose up inside Abigail but she didn’t know how to express it. Maxine turned and smiled at her. She then carried a quill and bottle of ink to the table and set them down in front of Abigail. Abigail sighed and looked down at the first page. It was a basic information page asking her her birth date, age, name etc. She gripped the quill and dipped it into the ink. Then at the top of the page, next to ‘name’, she wrote in perfect cursive, Abigail Marie Bryan.
Now, at 7:30, having just finished eating dinner in Maxine’s room, as she was still too unwell to leave the room, Abigail lay on her bed. Her head was buzzing with all the information she read on the many many forms she had to read. Her wrist felt like it was broken from writing so much. She had to write down allergies, likes, dislikes, whether or not she was prone to sickness, relatives, pets, favourite things to do, things she hated, food she liked, food she wouldn’t/couldn’t eat. Hundreds of things about herself that she hadn’t even thought about before then were written down for Maxine to see. Abigail hadn’t been comfortable with writing down everything about herself, but she was too tired and confused to protest. After what seemed like ages, but was actually only an hour and a half, Grace came back to talk to Abigail about life at the Academy, then they both had dinner with Maxine.
Abigail looked up at a knock on the door. She said weakly for the person to enter and a maid with curly blonde hair came in, looking as happy as a lark. She curtsied to Abigail and said,
“Well, hello there, Miss Bryan. My name’s Cynthia, but most everyone calls me Cynth.” She explained, “I’m to be your personal maid while you stay here. My room’s just to the left of yours,” she said, pointing, “if you need somethin’ during the night, don’t hesitate to jus’ pop in and see me and I’ll fix you up a treat milady.” Abigail forced a smile onto her lips and glanced at Cynth.
“Thank you very much Cynth, but please call me Miss Abigail, or Abigail if you like. Miss Bryan doesn’t suit me.” She said darkly, she didn’t want anything to associate her with the Bryan’s.
“No, I suppose it doesn’t. Someone much older would need that name.” Abigail laughed, Cynth completely missed the point of what she was saying, but Abigail was grateful.
“If you don’t mind, Cynth, I would dearly love to take off this wretched dress. I’ve been wearing it for about ten hours now and it’s starting to hurt.” Cynth jumped to help her.
“Right you are. I can see how wearing a dress like this might be annoyin’ after a while. I’m glad that I’m a maid and can wear something so simple.” Abigail raised her eyebrows. She had never heard anyone say that they liked being a maid. She only ever heard their jealousy of rich people. Abigail liked Cynth immediately. Cynth came over and started working the latches and ties on the dress, finally managing to pull it off Abigail until she only wore her pale white underclothes. Cynth went to look through Abigails trunks.
“Ah, here’s your night-dress, Miss Abigail, and a righ’ fine one it is at that.” She handed it to Abigail, who pulled it on quickly. “If that will be all then, Miss Abigail, I’ll go off to get ready for bed now.”
“Goodnight.” She called after her. She sank onto the bed, without getting under the covers and fell asleep within five seconds.
When Abigail woke the next morning, she forgot where she was. Letting out a lady like squeal, Abigail turned herself over so quickly that she fell out of the bed. Landing on the floor with a dull thump and a weak moan, Abigail closed her eyes tightly, trying to block everything out. Her head was pounding ferociously and her hip smarted where she had hit it.
“Damn, damn, damn.” She whispered to herself, sounding all too much like her brother. She slowly got up putting a hand to her head. She gasped when she felt a huge lump on the back of her head. Then she remembered everything that happened the day before. “I’m making a habit out of this.” She said to herself.
“A habit out of what?” Abigail screamed again, whirling around to see the very pretty girl standing at the door to her room, her head cocked to one side in confusion, her brown hair flowing down her shoulder on onto the fabric of her plain blue dress.
“Oh, Miss Grace. You scared me half to death.” Abigail sighed. Grace grinned,
“I do that a lot. Now, what are you making a habit out of?”
“I beg your pardon?” Abigail asked. Grace rolled her eyes,
“When I was at the door, you said to yourself “I’m making a habit out of this”. What do you mean?”
“Oh, just that this morning I couldn’t remember the day before and yesterday morning I couldn’t remember the day before that either.” Grace looked at her like she was mad.
“I think there’s medication for that.” She said, and they both laughed.
“No, I’m sorry, I think I just must be very stressed right now.”
“And so you should be. Lady Maxine told me about why you’re here, I hope you don’t mind.” Abigail felt a second of hurt and anger that Grace had been told, but forgot it when she saw Grace’s politely inquisitive face, her eyes wide with curiosity.
“Yes, well, I just don’t know what to think anymore. What time is it anyway, Miss Grace?”
“10:00 o’clock, Miss Abigail. Good thing it’s Saturday, you might be able to sneak some breakfast from the cooks. You’re a bit late getting up, don’t worry, you’ll soon get used to it. Now put on a dress and let’s get some food. Its just Grace by the way, not Miss.” Grace added kindly.
“Ok, but you must call me Abigail. Never Abby. Just Abigail. Anyway, I’m not sure what one wears on a Saturday here. Could you please help? My luggage is over-” Abigail stopped when she saw that all her suitcases and trunks where stacked neatly in a corner, empty.
“Um, your clothes are here.” Said Grace, standing by a very large wardrobe, holding the door open to show Abigail’s clothes hanging neatly.
“How on earth...?” Abigail started but Grace cut through her words with a laugh.
“It would be your maid. She must have done it yesterday while you were with Lady Maxine.” Abigail tried to remember the night before, and realised that when the maid brought her her night-dress she came from the wardrobe and not from the pile of trunks. Grace whistled low and long. “You have a lot of clothes, don’t you?” Abigail looked up.
“Hmm, I suppose so. I don’t even think that’s all of them.”
“You don’t even know? I’m sure Ma’s told you, but I’m actually quite wealthy,” Grace said, as though boasting. “But, I don’t get my money until I’m older. I only have about five dresses. It looks at though you have hundreds, Abigail.” Abigail looked intently at Grace as she went through Abigail’s clothes. She couldn’t imagine not being able to buy things that she wanted. She was embarrassed and ashamed that she had taken so much for granted. She thought back to all the times she fought with her parents over nothing. Here was Grace, who didn’t have any money, parents or even basic clothing, but she was so happy, so full of energy and life. Yet, she acted so young, Abigail was perplexed, she thought that living such a life as she had would make her more mature and act beyond her years, she was like a small child in a candy store. Grace removed a dress of the palest pink, with white trim and buttons. She went to the full length mirror and held it up against herself.
“My, Abigail, this is the most stunning dress I have ever laid eyes upon. Where did you get it?” She asked, her voice conveying all her awe and desire for the garment.
“Oh, I think that one was a present from my mother, so I’m not sure sorry. Do you really like it that much?”
“Abigail, it is beautiful. I love it, you should definitely wear this one.” She said. Abigail frowned in concentration and walked over to Grace who was hopping from foot to foot in delight.
“Stand still for a moment would you. That’s right, stand up tall.” Abigail stood next to Grace, both of them staring into the mirror. “You’re my height aren’t you? And you’re about my size. Try it on.”
“No, Abigail, I couldn’t. It’s too nice.” She said, pushing the dress at Abigail. Abigail pushed right back.
“What are you talking about? You told me yourself that you are rich. You need to get used to wearing finery, don’t you think, Grace?” Abigail asked. Grace bit her lip and looked at herself in the mirror again. “Go on.” Grace grinned.
“Ok, but only because you insist.” Said Grace
“That’s right, I insist.” Abigail didn’t need to help Grace take off her dress as it was so simple that after two latches and one bow, Grace could simply pull it over her head. Grace tossed the blue dress aside, as if it was a rag and started to pull on the pink one. She got one arm in and half her body before she said to Abigail, embarrassedly,
Enter Grace
Nathaniel rode home hard, pushing Noah to the absolute limit. Noah, understood that something was wrong with his master, although, being a horse, he didn’t know what, and didn’t protest to the hard ride home, pushing himself on with all his might in an attempt to comfort his best friend. Nathaniel stomach tightened with cramps with every stride and he winced from the sharp stabs. He welcomed the pain, though; he wanted to be punished for breaking his sister, for, although he didn’t want to admit it, it was he that finally broke through the many barriers surrounding Abigail. Abigail had always been strong and had suffered insults so harsh that many men would break down upon hearing them, but absolute rejection from her family had caused her to finally weaken. Nathaniel knew nobody as strong as Abigail, and he knew the things that she had to put up with, while she was only fourteen. When he remembered that she was so young, he nearly wished he could die, for Abigail acted far beyond her years most of the time. She acted five when she was going through his room, frantically searching for clothes, but when people in society sniffed at her in public and cut her at dances on the few times she’d been to nice places, she brushed off the hurt with a wave of her hair, and just turned in the other direction. When her mother continually berated her for every little thing she did wrong, she stood up to her, explained her point of view, but still did as she was bided. And when her father stopped being her friend, she made others, with the horses or with the help. For a fourteen year old, she had lived through Hell. For no one can help being who they are, but Abigail tried. Lord knows, that she tried. It was only the past week that she had started acting out. Nathaniel realised that it was just because she was trying to find herself, and upon nearing her fifteenth birthday, thought that she would be treated as an adult, allowed to make her own decisions. When she found out otherwise, she snapped. Nathaniel groaned, remembering how rebellious he was when he was fifteen. Every child goes through that stage. Why didn’t he see it before? He let out a roar of frustration and leaned in closer to Noah. He was sore, tired and parched, and he was sure that Noah felt the same way, yet he couldn’t slow down. Not yet. He had to keep going, he wanted to forget the look on his sister’s face, the single tear that she shed in her efforts to appear nonchalant. I’m not Abby, I’m Abigail. That was what she had said. Nathaniel realised that it wasn’t just a name. It was an identity. By shedding the name Abby, Abigail was giving up her childhood dreams and ways, and maturing into an adult, earlier than her time. Abigail was someone that he didn’t know, an entirely altered person that he would have to become acquainted with. He closed his eyes and sunk his head into Noah’s mane, trusting that Noah knew where he was going. They continued the same pace until they finally arrived back in the stables where both horse and owner through themselves at the water trough, taking fervent draughts of water. After a while Nathaniel pushed himself back too kneeling by the trough and collapsed on the grass, engulfed in misery. Noah walked up to him and nudged him gently with his muzzle. When Nathaniel didn’t respond, Noah whinnied softly and collapsed next to him. He rested his head down next to Nathaniel’s and closed his eyes. They both lay there for hours, Nathaniel too depressed to move and Noah too worried to leave his master’s side. The hours past and Nathaniel only vaguely heard the chef calling out to him for lunch. He didn’t want to eat; he thought he would throw up if he did. The clouds in the sky passed by slowly with the hours, and neither horse nor human moved. When the sun started to disappear over the house and the stables were thrown into darkness, Stan emerged from the house.
“Master? You’re going to catch a cold like that. You had better go inside.” He said, his features mingled with concern.
“Leave me be.” Was all Nathaniel said.
“But, sir-”
“I said leave me BE!” Nathaniel yelled.
“Right you are, good night sir” Said Stan and he hurried off. Noah put his head up and snorted at Nathaniel, telling him off for being so rude.
“Noah! Leave me alone!” With great effort, because his muscles had stiffened from lying with out moving all day, Noah got up stamped his feet by Nathaniel’s head and cantered off to his stables. “Go ahead, I don’t care.” Was all he said to the horse.
**
Abigail collapsed on the single bed in her room. It had been an extraordinarily long day, after Nathaniel had left, the footman, Bruce, picked her up and carried her to Lady Maxine’s room as she was entirely too far gone to walk herself. Bruce put her in an overly large plush green chair which matched the colour of her dress almost exactly. Maxine’s maid forced smelling salts under her nose in an attempt to revive her. She pushed the maid weakly away and sank into the chair. It smelt strongly of roses and an unfamiliar musty smell. When she next opened her eyes, there was a small table in front of her on top of which sat a cup of steaming tea and what looked like a slice of sponge cake. Abigail sat up slowly, trying not to disturb her already shaken nerves. She reached for the tea, and looked around for sugar.
“Two sugar’s right?” Abigail turned and saw a very pretty girl who looked about the same age as her perched on the end of Maxine’s huge bed.
“Um, yes. How did you know?” Because I know the type of girl you are. The sugar’s been taken away, but don’t worry, there’s already two in there.” Abigail looked into the tea, as if the cup held all the answers she was looking for.
“Thankyou. But, wait, how did you know what I wanted?” Abigail felt like she was repeating herself but her head hurt too much to care.
“I just know. Don’t ask me why, because I don’t know.” Abigail nodded slowly, “I’m Gracelia by the way, but everybody calls me Grace. I’m fourteen, same as you, right?” Abigail looked up painfully,
“Look, I’m sorry but who are you?”
“I just told you! I’m Grace.” Grace said, indignantly.
“Yes, I know that. But who are you? Where is Lady Maxine?” She elaborated.
“Ohhh. I understand now. I attend this school too. Ma just fetched me because apparently we have all of our classes together, so she thought that we would become good friends. Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too.” She said, with as much of a smile as she could manage. “What time is it?”
“It’s about 2:30.” Grace said, looking around the room.
“WHAT?” Abigail leapt out of the chair but quickly found two hands on her shoulders, easing her back down. Grace’s hands were small but strong and the pushed firmly against her shoulders until she had sunk back into the chair.
“Hey, you hit your head pretty hard, you should stay still.” Abigail looked up in surprise, and then winced at the pain at the back of her head.
“What do you mean “I hit my head”?” Abigail asked. Grace looked at her with confusion,
“Don’t you remember?” She asked Abigail.
“Evidently not.” She almost snapped.
“When you were outside, after your brother left, you fell and hit your head on the stone steps.” She explained. “You’ve been semi-conscious all day.”
“My brother? Nat? Nat was here?”
“The tall dark haired one, yes? He was here. He made you cry. Don’t you remember?” Grace was really worried; Abigail could see it in her eyes.
“No, I don’t remember him being here. But, I am at Lady Maxine’s Academy aren’t I?” Grace smiled in relief.
“Yes you are. This is your first day here. You arrived at around 10:00 this morning. That’s about when you hit your head.” She told Abigail. “Your name is Abigail, isn’t it?”
“Yes, I’m Abigail. But what do you mean he made me cry?” She asked
“Well, I’m not too sure about it all; I didn’t really hear most of the conversation. But, he asked you to come back home, and he kept repeating “Abby”. It was “Abby” this and “Abby” that, and you told him off. You told him not to call you Abby anymore. That’s about when I left, but when I turned back, he was gone and you had fallen over.” Abigail mind reeled as she struggled to remember it. But it was hopeless; she couldn’t even picture what Nat might have looked like, or how he got here. She gave up, burying her face in Grace’s arm, which was still by the chair. “Hush now, it’s alright, I’m here.” She cooed quiet words of comfort to Abigail. Abigail tried to cry, to let her hurt stream down her face, but the tears wouldn’t come.
**
Abigail awoke with a start and stared around, she was still sitting in Maxine’s room but the light in the room looked different somehow. She heard hushed voices just outside the room and strained to listen.
“She doesn’t remember at all!” she put the voice together with the girl she met earlier, Grace, she thought.
“What, she doesn’t remember anything?” The easily recognisable voice of Maxine squeaked out.
“No, of course she does. She doesn’t remember her brother being here, or anything that he said.”
“Well, that is a pity, but I may be able to work that to my advantage.” She said,
“Ma?”
“Well, some things that he said may make her go back to being rebellious when she finally is accepting her life.” Grace made a little noise of acknowledgement. All of a sudden Lady Maxine burst through the door. “Miss Abigail! I’m so glad you’re awake. How are you feeling? Any better, pet?”
“Lady Maxine, I’m so sorry for being such a bother!” She exclaimed
“No! No, not at all, I’m just worried about you, dear. And remember, you must call me Ma.”
“Yes, sorry, Ma. I’m fine, my head just hurts a little.” She said.
“Oh, I’m so sorry about that, Pet. But glad to hear you’re feeling better. I hate to trouble you further but I really do need that paper work filled out before the end of today. If you’re feeling up to it, perhaps you could fill them out now?” Abigail nodded in assent. “Wonderful!” Maxine exclaimed. She dropped a huge pile of sheets on the table in front of Abigail. She stared at them with dread.
“I have to read all of that?” She asked, her voice sounding very high to her.
“Yes, and fill out the bits about yourself. Don’t worry, it won’t take long, I promise.” Maxine reassured her.
“She’s right you know, it looks like a lot but it only takes about an hour.” Grace’s head popped in the room, and she was grinning from ear to ear.
“Oh, Grace! You nearly gave me a heart attack!” Lady Maxine exclaimed. Abigail smiled up at Grace.
“Why, hello there, Miss Grace. Have you done this before?” Abigail asked
“Yes, when I first started here. I’ve already been here for a year and a half.” Grace said, with a smile
“Oh, do you like it?” Abigail asked, Maxine let out a loud cough of warning, Grace grinned.
“Yes, I do. Very much.”
“Miss Abigail, Grace is one of our scholarship students. She is one of four currently attending.” Maxine told her.
“Oh, congratulations Grace.” Grace shrugged and said behind her hand,
“The test isn’t very hard.”
“Grace!” Maxine barked. Grace grinned and dashed out the room. Maxine uncharacteristically rolled her eyes. “That girl. She’s a very sweet. I do love her dearly. She’s an orphan; her parents were very rich but died in a house fire. She has a fortune, but doesn’t come into it until she comes of age, when she turns 21, or when she marries. So we housed her to protect her from men who may prey on her for her money.” A new feeling of respect rose up inside Abigail but she didn’t know how to express it. Maxine turned and smiled at her. She then carried a quill and bottle of ink to the table and set them down in front of Abigail. Abigail sighed and looked down at the first page. It was a basic information page asking her her birth date, age, name etc. She gripped the quill and dipped it into the ink. Then at the top of the page, next to ‘name’, she wrote in perfect cursive, Abigail Marie Bryan.
Now, at 7:30, having just finished eating dinner in Maxine’s room, as she was still too unwell to leave the room, Abigail lay on her bed. Her head was buzzing with all the information she read on the many many forms she had to read. Her wrist felt like it was broken from writing so much. She had to write down allergies, likes, dislikes, whether or not she was prone to sickness, relatives, pets, favourite things to do, things she hated, food she liked, food she wouldn’t/couldn’t eat. Hundreds of things about herself that she hadn’t even thought about before then were written down for Maxine to see. Abigail hadn’t been comfortable with writing down everything about herself, but she was too tired and confused to protest. After what seemed like ages, but was actually only an hour and a half, Grace came back to talk to Abigail about life at the Academy, then they both had dinner with Maxine.
Abigail looked up at a knock on the door. She said weakly for the person to enter and a maid with curly blonde hair came in, looking as happy as a lark. She curtsied to Abigail and said,
“Well, hello there, Miss Bryan. My name’s Cynthia, but most everyone calls me Cynth.” She explained, “I’m to be your personal maid while you stay here. My room’s just to the left of yours,” she said, pointing, “if you need somethin’ during the night, don’t hesitate to jus’ pop in and see me and I’ll fix you up a treat milady.” Abigail forced a smile onto her lips and glanced at Cynth.
“Thank you very much Cynth, but please call me Miss Abigail, or Abigail if you like. Miss Bryan doesn’t suit me.” She said darkly, she didn’t want anything to associate her with the Bryan’s.
“No, I suppose it doesn’t. Someone much older would need that name.” Abigail laughed, Cynth completely missed the point of what she was saying, but Abigail was grateful.
“If you don’t mind, Cynth, I would dearly love to take off this wretched dress. I’ve been wearing it for about ten hours now and it’s starting to hurt.” Cynth jumped to help her.
“Right you are. I can see how wearing a dress like this might be annoyin’ after a while. I’m glad that I’m a maid and can wear something so simple.” Abigail raised her eyebrows. She had never heard anyone say that they liked being a maid. She only ever heard their jealousy of rich people. Abigail liked Cynth immediately. Cynth came over and started working the latches and ties on the dress, finally managing to pull it off Abigail until she only wore her pale white underclothes. Cynth went to look through Abigails trunks.
“Ah, here’s your night-dress, Miss Abigail, and a righ’ fine one it is at that.” She handed it to Abigail, who pulled it on quickly. “If that will be all then, Miss Abigail, I’ll go off to get ready for bed now.”
“Goodnight.” She called after her. She sank onto the bed, without getting under the covers and fell asleep within five seconds.
When Abigail woke the next morning, she forgot where she was. Letting out a lady like squeal, Abigail turned herself over so quickly that she fell out of the bed. Landing on the floor with a dull thump and a weak moan, Abigail closed her eyes tightly, trying to block everything out. Her head was pounding ferociously and her hip smarted where she had hit it.
“Damn, damn, damn.” She whispered to herself, sounding all too much like her brother. She slowly got up putting a hand to her head. She gasped when she felt a huge lump on the back of her head. Then she remembered everything that happened the day before. “I’m making a habit out of this.” She said to herself.
“A habit out of what?” Abigail screamed again, whirling around to see the very pretty girl standing at the door to her room, her head cocked to one side in confusion, her brown hair flowing down her shoulder on onto the fabric of her plain blue dress.
“Oh, Miss Grace. You scared me half to death.” Abigail sighed. Grace grinned,
“I do that a lot. Now, what are you making a habit out of?”
“I beg your pardon?” Abigail asked. Grace rolled her eyes,
“When I was at the door, you said to yourself “I’m making a habit out of this”. What do you mean?”
“Oh, just that this morning I couldn’t remember the day before and yesterday morning I couldn’t remember the day before that either.” Grace looked at her like she was mad.
“I think there’s medication for that.” She said, and they both laughed.
“No, I’m sorry, I think I just must be very stressed right now.”
“And so you should be. Lady Maxine told me about why you’re here, I hope you don’t mind.” Abigail felt a second of hurt and anger that Grace had been told, but forgot it when she saw Grace’s politely inquisitive face, her eyes wide with curiosity.
“Yes, well, I just don’t know what to think anymore. What time is it anyway, Miss Grace?”
“10:00 o’clock, Miss Abigail. Good thing it’s Saturday, you might be able to sneak some breakfast from the cooks. You’re a bit late getting up, don’t worry, you’ll soon get used to it. Now put on a dress and let’s get some food. Its just Grace by the way, not Miss.” Grace added kindly.
“Ok, but you must call me Abigail. Never Abby. Just Abigail. Anyway, I’m not sure what one wears on a Saturday here. Could you please help? My luggage is over-” Abigail stopped when she saw that all her suitcases and trunks where stacked neatly in a corner, empty.
“Um, your clothes are here.” Said Grace, standing by a very large wardrobe, holding the door open to show Abigail’s clothes hanging neatly.
“How on earth...?” Abigail started but Grace cut through her words with a laugh.
“It would be your maid. She must have done it yesterday while you were with Lady Maxine.” Abigail tried to remember the night before, and realised that when the maid brought her her night-dress she came from the wardrobe and not from the pile of trunks. Grace whistled low and long. “You have a lot of clothes, don’t you?” Abigail looked up.
“Hmm, I suppose so. I don’t even think that’s all of them.”
“You don’t even know? I’m sure Ma’s told you, but I’m actually quite wealthy,” Grace said, as though boasting. “But, I don’t get my money until I’m older. I only have about five dresses. It looks at though you have hundreds, Abigail.” Abigail looked intently at Grace as she went through Abigail’s clothes. She couldn’t imagine not being able to buy things that she wanted. She was embarrassed and ashamed that she had taken so much for granted. She thought back to all the times she fought with her parents over nothing. Here was Grace, who didn’t have any money, parents or even basic clothing, but she was so happy, so full of energy and life. Yet, she acted so young, Abigail was perplexed, she thought that living such a life as she had would make her more mature and act beyond her years, she was like a small child in a candy store. Grace removed a dress of the palest pink, with white trim and buttons. She went to the full length mirror and held it up against herself.
“My, Abigail, this is the most stunning dress I have ever laid eyes upon. Where did you get it?” She asked, her voice conveying all her awe and desire for the garment.
“Oh, I think that one was a present from my mother, so I’m not sure sorry. Do you really like it that much?”
“Abigail, it is beautiful. I love it, you should definitely wear this one.” She said. Abigail frowned in concentration and walked over to Grace who was hopping from foot to foot in delight.
“Stand still for a moment would you. That’s right, stand up tall.” Abigail stood next to Grace, both of them staring into the mirror. “You’re my height aren’t you? And you’re about my size. Try it on.”
“No, Abigail, I couldn’t. It’s too nice.” She said, pushing the dress at Abigail. Abigail pushed right back.
“What are you talking about? You told me yourself that you are rich. You need to get used to wearing finery, don’t you think, Grace?” Abigail asked. Grace bit her lip and looked at herself in the mirror again. “Go on.” Grace grinned.
“Ok, but only because you insist.” Said Grace
“That’s right, I insist.” Abigail didn’t need to help Grace take off her dress as it was so simple that after two latches and one bow, Grace could simply pull it over her head. Grace tossed the blue dress aside, as if it was a rag and started to pull on the pink one. She got one arm in and half her body before she said to Abigail, embarrassedly,