Little Lady

Chapter 8

Paula stopped to take a deep breath and compose herself. "Milady," she said in a calm tone. "It's the Phantomhives. The Phantomhives are all dead."

The Phantomhives are dead. Auntie and uncle are both dead. Ciel, my cute loving fiancé is also dead. All the times I spent with him, all preparation for this very night, wasted! All for this night, all because of this night! I, don't know what to do anymore. It's getting darker. So dark, I can't see anything anymore...

I opened my eyes a bit to see Aunt Ann and my mother talking in my room. I must have been sleeping and they're here to wake me up, right? It was just a nightmare, right?

 "She'll be alright, let's just give her some time." Aunt Ann said with a smile. "Thank you very, very much Ann! What would we do without you?" Aunt Ann gave her a smile, "I guess I'll be on my way now, take care." She took her handkerchief and turned to leave, silently crying onto her hanky. Did being praised by mother make her that happy she wanted to cry? Was it all a dream? If it is, what am I doing here? I should be at Ciel's birthday party!

"Mother, what are we doing here? We should be heading to Ciel's party! We're late!" She looked at me wide eyed and tears started welling up in her eyes. She blinked her eyes and held my hand firmly. "Elizabeth, the Phantomhive house is in flames. The men are trying to distinguish the flames and are looking for any survivors." Mother tried to hold my hand tighter, but ended up sobbing loudly and wiping the tears off her face with a handkerchief. I started tearing up, the crying is getting louder.

Mother hugged me to try and stop both of us from flooding the room. I hugged her back and that was all we did; Crying up a storm while trying to stop crying up a storm. I wonder if Ciel, Aunt Rachel and Uncle Vincent are alive? I wonder how father and Edward are doing out there?

The crying simmered down and mother wiped my tears and her's. "You should get changed now Lizzie. Should I get Paula?" She stood up and brushed her dress. "No thanks. I can get dressed by myself today." I took a handkerchief and wiped the excess tears off my face. "Make sure to wear black today." She went outside and I can hear her silent cries through the door.

Mother doesn't want to show weakness in front of me. When she was crying with me, I knew she was suffering more than I was. For a strong and capable woman like her to be breaking down, in front of her daughter, that's something I'd never see in another hundred years! Uncle Vincent and mother had the best sibling relationship. Mother accepted Aunt Rachel when Uncle Vincent married her and she became like a sister to her. Ciel and I were engaged before we were born, the three adults planned it. Mother and Aunt Rachel were very excited about it! When the tragedy last night happened, my mother lost part of her life she can never get back. She lost two of her great friends and their son. After a year of mourning, they'll find me a new fiance and we'll be okay again. I hope.

I went to the closet and took a corset that was easy to wear. I'm still in the clothes I was supposed to wear last night, the pretty light blue one. It's a shame I didn't get to use it, but that's the least of my worries. The last time I wore black was at Baron Burnett's death. He was a good husband, but I dreaded that dark day. Aunt Ann was pretty sad and we all had to wear black for a month.

I put on the slip-on corset and tied the strings. The only strings in the corset are at the top and bottom it doesn't need to be too tight since I have no plans for today. I looked back at the closet and reached for the back part of the closet, where the black clothes are. I told Paula to hide all the clothes that aren't cute at the back.

I grabbed the cutest black dress, a short black dress with two small white bows on the side and a big white bow at the back. It wasn't exactly cute, but it's kind of cute for a black dress. I tied the bow at the back and went to the shoe cabinet to get matching shoes for the dress. I only have two pairs of black shoes but that doesn't matter. I took the first pair and wore it, a simple pair of high heeled shoes.

Maybe I should send some relatives a letter to pass time. It's been quite a while, I should tell them how I'm doing, that will make me feel slightly better if I let some of the sadness out. Who should I write to though?