Dark Halls, Stone Walls (Hiatus InDef)

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Fine, if I can't go into the hallway, let's try talking to her again. I opened the washroom door and tiptoed inside.

I stared at my reflection.

"Hello?" I whispered to the mirror, "It's me, are you still there?"

Nothing happened.

I tapped the glass, but it remained solid. "Can you let me in?"

Silence.

"Please," I begged. "If I'm not allowed to stay in my own head, then I need to remember as much as I can before the Trial of Truth."

I glanced at my finger, where to my surprise, there wasn't a gap between my knuckle and my reflection where there would normally be one.

I gave my reflection my best annoyed expression. "You know, there's supposed to be a space between our fingers if you were a normal mirror, right?"

We stared at each other for a long moment before one of her lip corners ticked upwards.

"I saw that!"

She mimicked me perfectly, expression and everything, but I could tell she just wanted to play with me for some reason.

With nothing better to do, I danced and waved my arms around until my reflection finally put her hands on her hips in my peripheral vision. I snapped back to the mirror, only to find her perfectly copying me again.

We went back and forth like that until she finally groaned, "Okay, okay, I'm listening, just stop!"

I grinned. "What do you know about Prince Mark or the family in general?"

Her eyes lit up. "Ooh, Princess Janice has me over for lots of private tea parties! She's such a doll to listen to, be it through gossip or future plans for the Kingdom!"

"What kind of gossip?"

"Well..." She continued to unload a bunch of small but interesting bits of information about different individuals. I listened closely so that I could remember when I eventually woke up.

Duke Loller's family has loads of rumors spreading about them because of their mixed children and are generally viewed unfavorably, despite being so high in ranking. Eight children in total including girl triplets, the rest are boys of varying ages. All the boys are rumored to either be heart-breaking gal-gatherers or blood-mongering half-humans with no vampiric bloodlust, and the girls look so far apart from their mother that it would seem that they were from an invalid coupling. The couple themselves looked loving on the outside but that didn't stop a maid from mentioning aloud that they were struggling financially.

When I asked her why one of the girls wanted to speak with me, she shrugged, "A letter? Didn't get one. I'm only from a specific memory set, so maybe it happened closer to the wedding?" She continued on as if I'd never interrupted her.

Then there was Countess Arachina who married up from being a Baroness. Her family came upon the title 'Baron' as a branch family that was left over after the main family was either killed in the Great War or stepped down for other reasons, like wanting to travel and whatnot. She supposedly dresses like she's a Marchioness, but doesn't know how to act like a Baroness, much less a Countess. After two years of marriage, there's no baby in sight.

Then there was Baroness Willow, specifically, her younger sister that debuted in public 'not that long ago' with Viscount Harlow escorting her. It caused quite a stir, apparently, because she went on and on about this fact for a good ten minutes, detailing everything she heard about it.

"Good riddance!" She huffed. "They're both insufferable. Little Willow is barely seventeen and she's acting like she can hold a candle to me just because she had my former lover... honestly, women like her are just... ugh!" She sighed. "She's always acting like I'm her competition so one day she had an attitude problem with me, so I lost my cool a little. I told her that a glass of wine is her only enemy and then she smacked me across the face! Of course, I couldn't slap her back, so instead I told her that everytime he mentions spirits, that she should be wary because he everytime he holds her, all he's thinking about is holding a bottle of whiskey. She is his second beloved, never his first, and ought to discard him at the earliest opportunity."

I let out a whistle. "That's harsh."

"It's true! I didn't have to warn her but it was the only grace I was willing to offer her... though I guess I needed an outlet for my frustration towards her and said it unkindly." She hesitated. "Anyway, that caused a bit of a ruckus. Viscount Harlow's family isn't pleased with me for obvious reasons as is, but started taking petty jabs at me whenever possible. It tends to roll off my back nowadays."

I closed my eyes and allowed the information to settle as different clips of movies played on the insides of my eyelids in no particular order. They weren't as well defined as I'd hoped, but the concept of them were still there and filled a part of me that made me feel less hollow.

I suppose it's the same as not remembering every little thing from two or three weeks ago, I concluded. This is the best I'm probably going to get for the majority of my memories.

"Anything else?"

"Grab a chair, I've got way more to talk about!"

I did just that—though the wooden stool in the washroom's closet was small, it was enough for me to see my reflection as I sat and listened for anything else that could be useful to me.

Lots of social things, not many familial matters, which she was keen on avoiding even though I assured her that I knew what 'mother' did.

"I want to talk about things that are light. It's... easier, you know?" Is what she said.

Still, I listened, allowing parts of me to become less empty as each moment passed.

Author's Note:

Sorry for the short chapter! I type out two chapters in 4000-ish word blocks and try to cut them as evenly as possible, but it just didn't work this time without Chapter Twenty-Eight being spliced up weirdly :(

Also, I know I'm early, but Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy Kwanza, and so forth! What are you all doing for the holidays this year? 

I'm working, but I'm planning on having hot chocolate and chicken broth throughout winter, and that's enough for me LOL! 

Don't drink and drive if y'all end up going to a bar, especially since roads get icy this time of year. Have fun, but not too much! See y'all in the next chapter!