Snow and the Wishing Well (Fallen Tales series)

Chapter 52

Chapter 52
Justin
I found Sarah in the library, staring out the floor-to-ceiling window. She seemed to be in a trance. With her arms folded, head tilted and slightly swaying, she seem oblivious to everything around her. Her eyes didn't look like they were looking at anything in particular, just unfocused and looking out in the fields of Locksley's Manner and the small village.
I smiled and silently walked over to her. Wrapping my arms around her, I rested my head in the crook of her neck, giving it a quick kiss. She groaned, dropping her own head on mine.
"What are you looking at?" I asked her.
She shrugged, pulling on my arms tighter.
"It's beautiful," she stated in a soft voice.
She seemed so lost and sleepish. It made me wonder just how long she had been in here. We stood in the fading light of the sun, staring out the window. On the horizon were the dark thunder clouds coming towards us. It felt weird for us to just be standing there, in each other's arms, after what we had been through. After Pa and mine's conversation yesterday, I felt it was important for me to tell her all my memories in this room.
I slightly shifted us two steps to the left, and pointed to the coffee table.
"That's where I tripped and hit my head on the corner, I had a bump on my head for three days," I then shifted us, another two steps, "on that pedestal, there used to be a vase, before Blake and I knocked it over when we were playing catch. We thought that playing in the library was a better option than playing outside," I said pointing to a dark wooden pedestal between two bookcases. Now, it held just a simple photo of my parents. When I heard her chuckle, I shuffled us three steps more.
"Over there, I saw Ma and Pa fighting. Ma got so angry with him that she threw an antique crystal-glass jug at him, missed and hit the edge of that book case. There's a chip in it too. They had been so shook, and Ma had been so grateful that she hadn't hit him that they totally forgot what they had been fighting about."
She giggled a little harder and I watched a grin form on her lips.
"Do you think we'll be like that?" she asked.
I smiled, slightly squeezing her.
"Oh yes, I think we'll have plenty of jug throwing moments," I said trying to imagine it.
"Well, you better watch out, I'm a good shot."
I chuckled, twirling her out of my grip but never letting go of her hands.
"Oh are you now?" I teased.
"Yes, so you better have plenty of jugs lying around."
My heart started to pound as I realized what she had said. She hadn't seemed to realize, but I had.
I took her arms and guided them to my shoulders as my hands made their way to her hips.
"So that means, we're staying?" I asked, unsure of the question.
She pulled me in closer to her, allowing me to rest my head on her shoulders again.
"I don't want to take you from your home, but I don't want to leave without you," she confessed, "So I will stay here, as long as it's safe."
I pulled back slightly, cupping my hands over her cheeks.
"It is safe, Sarah, you will see. This is the safest place for us," I told her pecking her lips.
She smiled, her eyes flicking between my eyes and my lips as her fingers curled at my hairline.
"I hope so."









Sarah
I was having another dream. Unlike the others, I was completely aware that it was a dream. I didn't know how I knew, but I just did.
I walked into the sitting room. There were balloons everywhere, tied to strings, stuck onto the furniture, floating in the air. There was a banner across the bookcase that read HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH!.I frown, remembering it has my seventh birthday. The first one that Victoria came to. Just as I started to remember that day, the door opened. It was like I was a spectator, watching everything out fold in front of my eyes. Father had me on his feet, walking me in with his hands over my eyes. I was giggling, that giggle when you're too excited to do anything else. Though I could see it happening, I remembered how he held me so tight, trying not to let me fall.
"Are you ready, Sarah?" he had asked me. I saw seven year-old me nod as a smile spread across her face. I felt a lump in my throat and tears form in my eyes as I watch the little girl jump for joy at the sights of the presents.
"What one can I open first?" she asked, running to the biggest one. I found myself giggling at the memory.
"Which ever one you want?" he had said, "Ohh, open the big one."
I laughed at his enthusiasm.
"Keegan!" it was Victoria's voice.
I barely even remembered that. I guess the excitement of the present had taken over my seven-year-old brain.
"In here Victoria!" Father had called out.
"Oh, there you are," she said appearing from the hall.
She wore a light purple dress, very low cut, with her dark hair pulled up high above her head. How could have my father fallen for her? He pulled her into his arms. He went in for just a simple peck, but her lips wanted more. I turned away feel like I was intruding on their moment, though I didn't approve. It quickly ended, with her pulling apart from him. As she walked towards seven year-old me, she walked straight through me. I felt cold and I shivered. It was like I was a ghost, looking at my own memory.
"Hey, Sarahy," she said patting my head, and crouching down at me, "Wow a Barbie."
She turned her head toward Father and smiled a wicked smile, as if tricking him into something by using me as bait. The way she pattered my head and talked to me as I was an object or an animal. I was just a door for her. If she could open me then she could open the door to my father.
I heard a clap of thunder, making me jump out of my dream and back in Justin's bed. I hadn't realized that I had been screaming till, I felt Justin's hand between my shoulder blades, his calming voice.
"Shhh, it's just thunder," he told me, gently rubbing my back.
It was only then that I started to hear the pouring rain, and see the lighting behind the curtains. There was another clap of thunder making me jump just as high as I did the first time.
"Were you having a nightmare?" he asked, knowing how my night memories worked.
I shook my head, as I sniffed. I wasn't crying, but I felt like I could have.
"No, it was just a dream, o-or a memory. But it was like I was a ghost watching it."
"What was the memory?" he asked me.
"Just of my seventh birthday, first one that Victoria was there for," I told him, trying to think about every little detail of the dream.
"What happened?"
I shrugged, "Nothing much, really. But I noticed how they were together, Father and Victoria. Like it was just one big show, for both of them."
"I know you probably don't remember much about your mother," he started, "But was he like that with her, your father I mean."
I shrugged, trying to remember. When your five you don't remember beyond your toys or your movies. I tried to focus on as memories I had of the two of them as much as possible but I just couldn't.
"I don't know, every time I think of them, my brain is taken over by memories of Victoria."
He let out a breath, brushing his thumb against my cheek. I curled into his arms, listening to the rain outside. He kissed my neck in the loving way that I always loved. A way that told me that I was loved. Something that I haven't felt in years.
The rain felt like my life. Pouring out in front of me, in dreams and in memories. Slowly, slowly the thunder taking down the sky that held all my hopes. How long will the storm go for? When will it end? When I give up my birth right? When Victoria is dead? Or when everyone that is left in my life is dead and buried?