I
Lavender and Viridian
Several Months Ago
Joaneveive kneels on the floor beside her bed, body wracking with sobs. Her knees have been pressed against the old beech floorboards since sunset, and dawn is already well on its way.
The wood next to her is mottled with tears, some dry, some fresh. She thinks she must run out of them at one time or another, but thus far they continue to flow freely.
She sent her cousin out of the room; she couldn’t bear to let Maud see her so, and she certainly would not allow her parents to so much as glimpse her.
“Tomas,” she croaks. “Boone.”
Her sobs turn to wails and she presses her face unrelentingly into her blanket, muffling the sound as best as she can.
Joaneveive cannot control her body as it heaves, her heart as it pounds a hole into her chest, nor her lungs as her breathing becomes shallow. She holds her breath, wishing for her wracking sobs to please, please cease, but they will not because she knows it is a temporary solution. She knows if she suppresses the sobs, they will well inside her body instead, and shatter her from the inside, and she cannot and will not, despite her state, let that happen.
She cries herself to sleep slumped against her bed, her knees rubbed raw, and she will do the same every day until months later because she lost two people so, so very dear to her.
(**A/N: Mmhmm. Really short updates. I guess it's almost like a third person, jumbled, diary way of storytelling. There will be chapters, but I think three or four at the most. At least that's how I hope it'll turn out. Within the chapters will be little subchapter sections, sorted by seasons. Charcoal and Cerulean is a season. So is Lavender and Viridian. I'll leave it up to you guys to figure out which they represent.
We're still in medias res but hang in there! You'll figure out what's going on in a bit.)
YOU ARE READING
The Whipping Tree
FantasyA beech tree stands creaking, groaning, but never moving. Even when the wind blows, the branches do not stir. It is barren of leaves, all days of the year. Some say it once was alive, that it basked viridian in the spring, offered shade in the summe...
