Another Paradise | T Shelby

THIRTY THREE - A NAÏVE MISTAKE

It was a rainy Monday in early January when Blair lifted the iron knocker and tapped it against the door three times, taking a small step back though being sure to stay underneath the porch to avoid getting wet.

One million years felt like they passed when in reality, a glance at the gold watch on her wrist showed that only thirty seconds had ticked by before she heard the lock click on the other side of the wood.

The door creaked open slowly and Blair composed herself, plastering her face with a false yet convincing smile that pained her cheeks to hold.

"Blair! Gosh, I didn't expect to see you!"

Blair wasn't sure she had ever seen Frances smile quite as brightly as she did then. Her eyes warmed quickly and her cheeks turned a blush pink from almost grey, her soul seeming like it was coming back to life before her eyes.

Ushering the younger woman inside, Frances' smile didn't fade as she shut out the cold with a loud thud of the door, the sound echoing around the house eerily.

"Would you like me to fetch Mr Shelby? I think he's in his study."

Blair quickly shook her head, "No, thank you. It's the first day of the term, that's all. I'm here for Charles' schooling. I know I probably should've called ahead."

For a split second, Blair saw the light in Frances' face dim ever so slightly. She knew that her friend and colleague had been filled with hope that a family were to be reunited at her sudden arrival, though that was sadly not the case.

Truthfully, it had taken Blair a handful of days contemplating her decision before her sister finally convinced her that she couldn't possibly survive losing Thomas for a second time, as well as losing Charlie. And so, even if it was just as his teacher, Blair had decided to return to the house she once called home.

"Oh he'll be thrilled, Blair, just thrilled. He's finishing his breakfast now, I'll send him in once he's done."

Blair nodded and made her way through the house to the room she taught Charlie in, placing her bag down on the table and shrugging off her coat.

His drawings and paintings were still pinned up on the walls and a chalkboard had been recently cleaned, free of dust. Books were neatly arranged on a shelf next to the door and the draped emerald curtains that covered the lead-paned windows were pinned back with velvet and brass hooks, allowing the dull morning hue to flood the room.

She cleared space on the table and set out a handful of books, taking a wooden tray of pencils out from a sideboard on the back wall and sharpening the blunt ones, perched on the edge of the table with her eyes fixed on the raindrops trickling down the window.

A sudden pounding of footsteps didn't give Blair much time to prepare for the sound of the door slamming against the wall behind it, followed by the wind being knocked from her chest when Charlie threw himself at her.

The way Blair felt her soul crumble into a million pieces at the force in which Charles hugged her was perhaps the most painful thing she'd ever experienced. It was worse than any heartbreak and worse than any death, having an innocent heart caught up in something it didn't deserve was complete torture.

She dropped to her knees and held the boy against her chest, slowly feeling her neck grow wet with tears from his eyes as he clung to her, his arms squeezing so tight she almost had to tell him to let go so she could breathe, though in that moment, she'd rather have gone without air.

"Where did you go? Why did you leave home?"

Blair's bottom lip quivered as she held Charlie's tear-stricken face in her hands, feeling herself continue to break more and more as his innocent eyes looked to her for answers she couldn't give him.