Greek Tragedy

EP 04 | A FAVOUR FROM A DEAR FRIEND

   

EPISODE FOUR

'a favour from a dear friend'

     

    

I woke up with a start to insistent knocking.

Leon groaned, stuffing his pillow closer to his face. "Someone better be-"

"Don't even continue that sentence." I kicked his back lightly. "Go see what it is."

Leon grumbled obscenities under his breath before he flipped off the covers, marched to the door, and swung it. The light from the hallway lit up his face that looked prepared to fight until it melted into surprise.

"-Ms Oakley? What's wrong?"

I raised myself to my elbows, trying to rub the sleep off my eyes. What time is it? In the darkness of the room, lit only by the moonlight through the windows, my equilibrium tried to match up. I laughed at the thought that for a richly opulent room, there was no clock in sight. I could hear the grandfather clock from the hallway, more an ominous sound in the backdrop. It's tick solid and consistent, able to reach to any corner of the manor.

"- Elizabeth? At this hour? Alright, please– yes, yes, thank you, Ms Oakley. I'm sorry for disturbing your sleep, I will just wake Wendy up. Thank you."

My ears perked as the door closed. I snapped the bedside lampshade open and illuminated the worry on Leon's face as he re-tied his bathrobe with one part of his head cow-licked.

"What's going on? Did I hear Elizabeth's name?"

"Bath, yes. Put on a robe, darling. Ms Oakley mentioned the word emergency."

"Emergency?" That spelled me wide awake. Elizabeth's concepts of the world and people have always been a shade different, and I enjoyed that about her. One of her primary principles as a former nurse during the war, a part of her life story that still astounds me to this day, was that words such as emergency were not to be taken lightly.

Emergency meant every vowel it stressed.

I scrambled to get to my feet, plucking the bathrobe and tying it hastily. Leon had taken my house slippers and I found his glasses, cleaning it up quickly.

As I placed it on his nose, his forehead clenched. "Do you have any idea what this is about?"

"Not an absolute clue."

He sighed, brushing a thumb over the corner of my mouth while I blushed. "Then let's get to the bottom of it."

I have seen Castle Morningstar in many hours of the day. During the mornings where it casts a gentle, almost fairytale-like trance. Fog rolls in the distance, retreating to let the sunshine dance across fresh morning dew. During the afternoon, the air felt sleepy, like the entire world was drugged up in a haze where your body seeks the comfort of a soft cushion to sleep on. Even the bees have quieted their buzzing, the smell of the grass intoxicating.

Of course, the season changes these times, a shift of a cold or a warmer sunlight dancing through stained glass panes, but at night, Castle Morningstar was a menacing darkened creature, more awake than it ever does in the day.

You can feel its heartbeat.

Eyes in the shadows, a looming feeling of being watched... I've learned to keep a glass of water for myself in Leon's room, and to go to the bathroom beforehand with the intention of not having any excuse to roam the halls at night.