Bonds Throughout Time

Amelia - Secret Diary

The echoing of the gunshot rings through my ears as I sit up in bed, startled, and covered in sweat. I take a minute to catch my breath, even though my heart is still racing and pounding hard against my chest as the words that Lady Cordelia said to me come back to mind.

I race out of bed to switch the light back on and sigh in relief when I see that my backpack is still in the same position that it was in when I set it down the night before when I went to sleep. Grabbing my bag I place it on the bed beside me and move things around until I find the journal that my uncle gave me.

He never did tell me much about the journal, other than that it was a family heirloom and would choose its successor much like the wand chooses the Wizard in Harry Potter. But all I know for sure is that I didn't start having these weird dreams until my uncle gave me this stupid book. I've never opened it before because I thought that my uncle was being silly like he always is, but if this last dream is indicating differently then maybe... Just maybe my uncle had been serious for once.

I hesitate but ultimately decide to finally open the journal. Holding my breath I wait for something to happen, for the ink to blot upon the old worn but ultimately empty pages, but after a moment still nothing happens. I think back to the warning that I was given and think hard about the cryptic message.

"If the woman in my dream is right and you are the key to everything then it seems that I have to keep you safe," I say to the closed book in my hands. "I promise to keep you safe but I can't do that if you don't trust me in return. I can't protect you if I don't know what I'm trying to keep you safe from."

In my head, I'm beating at my consciousness for talking to a book and waiting for it to respond to me. What is wrong with me?

As soon as I finish speaking and thinking though the journal opens on its own and black inky words spread throughout its pages in beautiful calligraphy that I can't help but admire. If this is a journal from one of my ancestors, who also claims to be a Lady, then it's no wonder her penmanship is a work of art because she was a well-educated woman.

I'm not able to get far into the journal tonight because sleep is wanting to take me away again but from the first entry, I can already see that Lady Cordelia is in an unhappy marriage because she must have a child to pass on the Earl title too and her husband is an ass. She speaks of what she does to entertain herself throughout the day and speaks of family heirlooms that her father wants her to pass down through future generations even though she believes them to be 'horrid ideas.'

Without realizing it, I fall asleep ready Lady Cordelia's diary. Thankfully none of its pages are wrinkled or dented because of my carelessness in the morning. I gently place the book back into the safety of my backpack and make sure that I have everything before leaving the hotel.

Once I'm outside I take in a deep breath of fresh air and enjoy a moment of its pure, clean smell before making my way over to a local coffee shop. As I drink my hot coffee, that somehow warms my bones from my intense dream the night before. I think about the dream again that I had the night before. Was it just that though?

Was it only my overactive imagination playing tricks on me?

I take another bite of my muffin before undoing my backpack from the seat beside me and taking out the old diary. To my surprise, all of Lady Cordelia's entries are still on the page, and without intending to I start reading more of her letters in her journal. 

It's curious though, the words that she's using while writing. It almost feels like she's writing to me directly, somehow through time, but that's ridiculous. There's no way that she could have known her diary would survive this long in time, through so many years.