Catastrophic Bliss (On Hold)

Chapter 3

Esme was grounded. Okay, well, not exactly grounded; just ordered not to leave the house by her mother until they got back. Selina and Robert had gone away for a week on a series of business meetings – well, Robert had, Esme wasn't sure what Selina had gone for. To make sure that Esme had no chance of leaving the house (or so they thought), Selina had installed Isabelle Hatfield into one of the spare bedrooms to act as a full time guard to watch over Esme. Selina really should have known that leaving Isabelle in charge of anyone, especially Esme, under orders she didn't like, wasn't a particularly good idea.

Her grandmother was a mystery to Esme. Isabelle was a mischievous by nature which she had somehow managed to hide from her parents until the day they died – something Isabelle put down to the acting classes her mother made her take. Esme had attempted to figure out how this had managed to work and had even asked her own mother for acting lessons to test a few theories but had been denied the opportunity. The mischievous side to her grandmother was now coming through as the pair sat in the living room with the home phone cradled in Isabelle's hands. In the silence of the room Esme heard each button being pressed which was followed by the dialling tone once the green button had been pressed. It didn't take long for the call to be answered.

"Selina! My lovely daughter in law! Just who I wanted to speak to!" Isabelle greeted cheerfully. "I'm sorry to interrupt your little holiday but I need you to give me permission to let Esme out of the house. I need something from the shops." There was a pause as Selina answered. "I hurt my leg" Another pause. "You know very well Jay can't go! He's at his friend's house." There was a shorter pause. "No, I am not calling him! Esme is sat here bored out of her mind because you won't let her out the house! It's child cruelty, Selina!" Esme leant back in her chair and closed her eyes. She had the growing suspicion that Isabelle's plan wouldn't work and from the answers Isabelle had to give her suspicion was almost confirmed. "The servants don't know which I like best, Esme does!" Esme heard the angry babble from her mother and sighed in defeat. Isabelle slammed the phone down on its stand with a huff but when she looked over at Esme she winked with a mischievous look in her eye.

Selina had also installed a sort of alarm that alerted her to whenever someone opened the door. A phone by the door was there for her to ring to see who was trying to leave or get in. Isabelle stood by the phone, ready for it to go off whilst Esme rested her hand on the door handle. At her grandmother's signal, she pushed it down and a few seconds later the phone burst into life. Isabelle answered it. "It's just me leaving."

"Are you sure Esme's not the one leaving."

"Esme's in her room. I think she's calling Samantha."

"She better be."

"I don't see why you're so against her leaving anyway." Isabelle said.

"I don't want her to get into trouble."

"She won't get in trouble."

"She might."

"Do you really not trust your daughter?" There was no answer to that and Isabelle took that as a yes.

"Do you really need to go?" Selina asked.

"I need my soup and I don't trust the servants as far as I can throw them which, at my age, isn't very far."

"So long as Esme is inside the house I suppose it's fine."

"Even if it's not I'm still going for my soup." Isabelle said, a hint of disgust in her voice. The phone clicked and everything was silent again. "I sometimes wonder whether your father was in his right mind marrying her." She put the phone back where it belonged. "I sometimes wonder whether I was in the right mind myself, letting it happen."