WUTHERING NIGHTS: A Wuthering Heights Teen Fan Fiction

WUTHERING NIGHTS (chapter sixteen: Escape)

Chapter Sixteen

Escape – Present Day

   ‘Breakfast!’ Greta called to the inhabitant upstairs. Heath was hurriedly dressing and came bounding down the stairs looking like a much younger man with his riding boots in hand, ready to go out.

   ‘Not going to the office this morning?’ Greta asked as she handed Heath his coffee which he hurriedly gulped down.

   ‘I’m going riding, if the stables are still standing.’

   ‘Well, the storm stopped about a week ago, but it’s been raining ever since so I’m not sure it’s the best weather for riding. Mud everywhere.’

   ‘It’ll be fine,’ Heath assured her. ‘Oh, I see we have a visitor.’

   ‘Yes…your, er… niece, Katarina. She seems to have become quite fond of her cousins.’

   Heath looked at Greta blankly. ‘Where are they?’

   ‘They’ve left already. Katarina and Linus went out to find props and attend a dress rehearsal for the play. What are you getting yourself into Heath?’

   ‘Nothing I can’t get out of. She has a right to know her cousins. They have a right to know her.’

   Greta raised an eyebrow. ‘This isn’t more…vengeance, is it Heath? Because, you know, you already fought that war.’

    ‘Did I Greta? I’m not so sure.’ Heath, in a rare show of affection (he was in a surprisingly good mood this morning), leant over and pecked Greta on the cheek.

   ‘Don’t worry so much Greta. It’s time I had some more young people about me. The place seems a lot sunnier this morning.’

   ‘Oh, you and your “young people”, Greta smiled. ‘You don’t look a day over twenty-six. I wish you could give me the secret to your eternal youth.’

   ‘You don’t know the half,’ It was a strange comment, Greta thought, since Heath had shared his secret with her long ago.

   The wind had flattened the heather outside. A slight trick of sunlight shone across the park turning the other side of the field gold.

   Greta shrugged. ‘Trying to stop Heath getting involved in something he wanted had been almost pointless, from the time he was a little boy.’ She wrote in her journal. ‘I knew I could do nothing to persuade him against his plan…’   

    Twenty Years Ago

    Kate crept into Hareton Hall when it was way past dinner the night Heath had proposed to her. There was lightness in her step as she moved upstairs to pack her things. In the dark, she heard breathing. At first she thought it was just Frances, who had fallen asleep soundly on the couch but it was also her older brother, Harrison. He flicked the switch on above the couch and all of the chandeliers shone at once, creating a halo above Kate’s head. Her brother stared at her menacingly from the corner of the drawing room.

     Meanwhile, Heath was delayed. He’d taken the horses to the stables to wash them down.   Kate dodged Harrison and wandered over to pat Hinton’s head and carry him to his room. He was curled up asleep in a lounge chair with his puppy and she hesitated to wake him. Hinton was always content to play with his animals. Today it was a new pet, but as often he picked up a lost kitten outside in the garden and took it inside to feed. There were always small creatures that found their way into Hareton Hall and Hinton’s menagerie.