Crimson Peak fanfiction

12. Lucille

Holding Thomas felt like heaven. Being in his arms was like coming home after being lost. And the only thing I could do was laugh. Surly Thomas thought I had lost my mind, yet I couldn't stop the sound from bubbling out.
"Sweets, are you alright?" Thomas asked as he placed his hands on my shoulders to get a better look at my face. "Are you crying? Whatever is wrong?"

"I'm not crying, I'm laughing. I'm overwhelmed, I'm feeling so many emotions, the only thing I can do is laugh," tears of joy beginning to stream down my face. "Give me a moment to collect myself." I turned from Thomas, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket as I did so. Wiping the tears from my face, I breathe in deep collecting myself for the discussion that was necessary. "You said you were only pursuing Edith at your sister's behest, why?" Turning back to Thomas, I could see many emotions cross his face.

"Yes, she believes that Edith would be the best option for a wife, she believes Edith will be easily swayed. That Edith's dowry would be suitably larger and more beneficial to building my machine. Lucille being the eldest, I've always done as she demands. She has a wicked temper, and I do everything possible to not be on the receiving end of her ire. She honestly can be the most terrifying person when displeased." Thomas began to ramble as he paste back and forth ringing his hands. Stepping in front of him, I grabbed his hands in mine trying to slow him down and show some comfort. I was shocked at how cold his hands had gotten in such a short period of time. When he held me just moments ago, they had been warm and strong. Now they felt like they might shatter at the slightest amount of pressure. "Please don't interrupt me, I must tell you everything." Thomas blurted out as I opened my lips to speak. "You don't understand what she has done, what I've kept silent about for years." Thomas wrapped his hands around mine as he pulled us to a couch in a dark corner, sitting downs as he gently coaxed me to sit beside him. "I suppose I should start from the beginning. With our parents. They were not loving, to us or each other. In fact they were very cold, father in particular was a vicious cold man. He took great pride in causing pain, be it to the staff, animals, his own wife. He used to beat mother near to death, on a regular basis. We learned very early on to stay quiet and hidden from him. We would hide in the nursery, up in the attic, so as to not draw his attention." Listening to Thomas, I couldn't help feeling a great deal of sorrow for them. " Mother was not much better, when father would leave for weeks on end, she would punish us for the slightest of transgressions. As she got older, Lucille would take the blame for my mistakes, mother liked to give lashes, and locking Lucille in the basement for days on end with no food or water. I suppose I looked up to her, she was so strong. Until she wasn't the Lucille I knew anymore. I don't know when it happened, but one day she was no longer the sweet loving sister I knew. She was broken, twisted and dark." Thomas took a ragged deep breath, almost as if he were getting ready to face a great evil. " After father died, mother got worse. Lucille could no longer protect me from mother. I don't even remember what I had done, but the beating I received that day was particularly brutal. So brutal in fact, it knocked me unconscious. Lucille snapped. She took a large cleaver from the kitchen and used it to kill mother while in her bath. I woke days later to learn that she had been taken to an asylum for the criminal insane. She was only sixteen. I was found innocent, having been unconscious when authorities arrived. I was sent to a boarding school." Hearing that Lucille had murdered their mother, I felt a wave of an easiness roll over me. If she could do that to her mother, who knows what else she could be capable of.