Greenbriar Manor

Daydreams and Dreadful Departures

Mari and Mabel woke up at the exact same time. Half past five in the morning. Mari was sleeping in the library again. Her mother had left in the middle of the night and said she would not be coming home for a while. She was supposed to mind Fran but she felt abandoned. Brooklyn would not pay attention to her when she started to ask questions. She saw him walking into Daniel's office with a stern look on his face as if bracing for bad news. Would the Manor let all the Grey's who were not children leave? She had begun to have flashes in the night. A broken horse figurine. A scream in the distance. A bright light and a loud noise. Even her doll seemed different. There was a small fleck of porcelian that was not as clean as it had been at one time and no matter how many times she had attempted to clean it and polish her doll like new the dark spot stayed. That is how she had begun to feel about their home. A dark spot on the day. Maybe it was time for her to ask Daniel what would happen if their parents never came back. Would she ever grow up? Would Brooklyn always spend so much time looking longingly over the gate here and never actually returning to school. She could not imagine that it was good for her brother to never have friends his own age. Ingrim and Mack had flourished this summer and had begun to bring school aged kids over for projects and pick up games of soccer and badminton. It almost seemed as if Brooklyn no longer wanted their attention at all. How long had he been searching for friends only for them all to one day abandon them, 

She thought of Fern and her horse book. She went into the library and opened the last page where she so long ago had stuffed a hopeful letter to find a friend of her own. No one had replaced her cousin. Where was Bridgette and Brittany? Mabel was here but she was no playmate. She kept hiding in the attic and chasing the boys around the yard. She was a real tomboy. Mari flipped to the last page. A photo fell in her lap. For a moment the world swirled around her. It felt familiar but how could it? It was her cousin and another family friend. She saw the little girl...then the doll. It looked exactly like her own. The doll that her brother kept hiding from her over and over. What did this mean?  She turned the photo over in her hand. 194- was a scrawled pencil mark in one corner. She tried with all her might to remember a time when she was with children her age. Before Mack and Ingrim. Before Fern. It felt like looking through a glass dark with paint. What was she unable to remember? When was Bridgette coming home from Vermont? Why didn't Mabel know her? She threw the book on the ground and stormed towards the attic. If it was secrets Mable wanted to find she would help her. Just before she opened the ladder she saw someone peering around a corner in the hallway of the old maid's quarters. A figure as small and lithe as she was. A figure with dark hair  She ran as fast as she could to the end of the hallway. In the doorway to her cousin's old room was a bright light. It blinded her as she got close to it. She looked up to see her cousin eyes like cat eye glass and her face a dull white palor covered in sap and dirt. She dropped her doll. Bridgette had returned. She waved her hand sadly as she came face to face with her past. She had waited all this time to see her again only to realize that getting your wish often meant dreams had to die. Bridgette gestured to the bright room. A question. A fearful look between them. When one comes home the other must go. She had never left before. Bridgette thought of all the hours they had played hide and seek in these halls. She remembered the ribbons and the dolls they so loved. She grew sad thinking of all the wasted years Mari must have had sitting here waiting for her to return. Then she realized...she did not remember why she had never seen her cousin come home before. Mari had been the quiet child and Brooklyn the best brother. A secret  they all carried was who would stay and who had already gone. Brooklyn kept Mari's hope alive and Daniel allowed it. But Bridgette knew that kind of dark cold pain. She would not let her cousin feel it anymore. She guides her hand through her cousin's tiny locks of hair. Mari shudders as the spell of the Manor magic is replaced with a truth too seering to speak. Bridgette showed her Vermont. Brittany and Vera's house not sharing the dark secrets that kept her. She plays her an alternate life. Then when Mari is satisfied she grabs her hand and shows her the truth that Brooklyn has so long been keeping from her. She is home but it is time to go. A Greene for a Grey.