Conflicting Hopes

Chapter 2: Time will find its way

Chapter 2

Fifteen Years has passed…

“Hey little girl! Wake up! Don’t be such a sissy and get up!” demanded the manservant. It has always been like this on mornings; the manservant trying to wake up Edeleiss, while she continues lying down even if she has to be dragged. She does not want to be told what to do. She’s always been stubborn. Probably a trait she got from her mother.

“Get up will you!!!” shouted the manservant while pulling her ear. “Ouch! Ouch!” responded Edeleiss, “you don’t need to – “. The manservant pulled Edeleiss by the ear towards the kitchen. He shouted directly to her ear,” You really are testing my patience you stubborn child!”

The manservant pushed her towards the sink. “If only you are as beautiful as your mother, then I would be very happy to serve you! Now! Clean the dishes!” the manservant shouted at her and then banged the door close.

“Whatever the tree is, so is its fruit. So that proves that I am beautiful,” she told herself. “You don’t have to pull my ear just to tell me I’m beautiful you know,” she mumbled. She sighed. She really doesn’t like doing chores for that man, but she liked to wash the dishes because there is a small hole near the sink which her eyes can fit it. The hole has the best view of the forest outside and the falls. So if she is to choose, she’d rather wash the dishes. But of course, she wants to do it without anyone telling her to, because that makes it harder to do.

When Edeleiss is younger, she has wondered if the expanse of the world is their house. She has always wondered about it ever since. The manservant who introduced himself to be her mother’s friend always disappears through that banging door. At first, she thinks that, perhaps, it is just a natural thing.

But her curiosity piques her, so she follows the manservant to find out. Not later, she finds out that he is going somewhere, somewhere outside this house, beyond the world she knows.

Then she tries making holes on the wooden walls that creates the boundary between her ignorance and that world. Then she has discovered the window, it has bars and locks, but she has found a way to open it. That is when she really realized that the world after all is not as dark as their home. It also has those green swaying things. Just what do you call that? Trees?

“How can he deprive me of such beautiful sight? Oh! Just, how much have I missed in my fifteen years of living in this house?”

When the manservant knows of her discovery, he becomes angry. But he knows that it is very unreasonable to hide it to the child. You can never hide the smoke in your hands. Time alone will reveal it on its own. He has to make her into a great witch, so what is the point of hiding the world to her, or rather, hiding her from the world. So, in the end, he allows her to have the window, but not without the beating and flogging.

Edeleiss has learned not to cry when she is being beaten and flogged, because she has discovered that the manservant becomes happier when he can hear her cry. Of course she does not want to make him feel like he wins. It will just show him her weakness. In life, she has realized that one should not show his weakness, because it will only cause one’s downfall. Just like what she was in for the fifteen years of her life. The manservant knows that she is ignorant and afraid, so he uses it to manipulate her in doing things for him and to continue threatening her. But, that is the end of it.

 “I will no longer show him that I am afraid or threatened of him, nor will I show any emotion of pain during his beatings!”

The window has always been her company. She always watches the blue and the white things floating in the air. It entertains her very much. But, still, her curiosity piques her to see what’s below the window. Though what she only see down below are just clouds floating, but she is perfectly sure that there is something under the window other than the clouds, because she can see shadows. Just then, she tries throwing stones down.

She can hear no sound, which probably means it is deep. So she tries throwing heavier objects. She still can’t hear a sound. It really excites her.

She suddenly becomes very curious of the world outside. Suddenly, she does not want to just watch the trees sway, but to feel it. She wants to feel those flowers. She already knows that she can’t get down there to get those, so she has to get it without getting down. But she knows that it is impossible.

There is one day when she is standing beside the window, she is very mad at the manservant. She only pleads him to get her something from where he is going. But he has refused and has given her beatings.

So, she has planned to throw his most precious stone outside. She is very hesitant. Because, she knows what will she become of, ashes, if she is to do such thing. But of course, she should show him that he cannot go easy on her.

“You are really going to regret for not heeding to my request…”

Just then, she has slipped the ring from her hand. It almost fell, but she has caught it, not with her hands! She does not know how it happens but, it just feels like there is a string connecting her and that ring. It is her mind and the wind.

That’s when she has learned that she can do magic. But of course she will not tell the manservant. It is her only ace.

From that day on, she starts getting leaves from the trees. Then she tries getting something heavier, fruits, then getting birds. At first she tries roasting birds just like how she saw the manservant roast meat. But of course, he will not let her use anything he owns. So she tries eating them raw. But she does not like how it tastes. So, just out of the blue, she tries creating fire with her hand. Who knows, perhaps she can. She does not even expect she can lift things with her mind, perhaps she could …

Sooner, when the manservant does not let her eat anything, even the leftover, so she has tried roasting the birds she spot and devour them, without leaving anything that will serve as an evidence that she does eat something.

“Let’s see if you can ever starve me like this!”