"Checkmate!" Ida cried out, clapping her hands together triumphantly.
"I don't think I'll ever get the hang of this stupid game." Katie grumbled, hopping down from her tall stool.
"But you won against Dad, remember?"
Ida, however much she was attempting to console Katie (who had always been a sore loser), her smug expression never left. She had wiped the table in that game of chess.
"Yeah, but that was because he wasn't concentrating! He was worried because he left the door unlocked." Katie responded, brushing her hair out of her face with more aggression than was necessary.
"Yeah well, you still won." Ida comforted, still stoked at her win.
"Whatever." Katie shrugged, swiping up the dirty glasses that had once been filled to the brim with Eggnog. They clinked loudly when she began stomping to the kitchen.
When she returned, Ida had devised a plan. Fortunately for her, Katie was a great deal less irritable than before and looking much like she was on the verge of apologising.
"Do you think Mama will let us go to the park? It's right across the road, I'm sure she wouldn't mind." Ida blurted, her brown eyes swimming with enthusiasm.
"There's no chance she'll let us, she hates us going outside."
"Yeah, but maybe this once she will. She said one day we could go the markets! This couldn't be too bad!" Ida continued, determined to remain optimistic.
"Give it a shot. If she says no, don't say I didn't tell you so." Katie declared, although she allowed herself to nurture the small seed of belief that had began growing.
Ida scampered off towards the study where her mother usually locked herself up in. Knocking on the door, Ida fidgeted as she waited for it to open. Finally, the hinges rattled and Marissa peered out.
"What is it, darling?" She asked, quizzical towards Ida's demeanour.
"Can Katie and I go to the park? I promise I won't let anything happen to her!" Ida asked, twisting her hands together in anticipation.
Opening the door fully, Marissa crouched down to Ida's eye level.
"You know the rules, Ids, don't you?"
"Yeah, but I thought that just this once—"
"It's dangerous out there, Ids..." Marissa exclaimed, her brown eyes brimming with fret.
"But it's just across the road, Mama... please?"
"We can set up our own playground in here! It's safer!" Marissa compromised.
"But we want to feel the leaves and the sun... we were tiny when we went out." Ida attempted to persuade Marissa, knitting her eyebrows together pleadingly.
"No, Ids. I'm sorry, maybe in a couple of years..." Marissa trailed off.
"Please, Mama! I just want to—"
"No, Ida. You know the rules, do you need to copy them out again?"
"No, Mama..." Ida murmured, crestfallen.
"Good. I'm sorry sweetheart, I just don't want my beautiful daughters to get hurt!" Marissa smiled sweetly, stroking Ida's cheek.
Nodding sorrowfully, Ida turned on her heel and dragged herself back to the games room.
"She said no..." Ida mumbled to Katie, who looked deflated herself.
"Well, what did I tell you, Ida-Dida?" Katie caught herself feeling disappointed, and mentally vowed never to get her hopes up again. "It's my eleventh birthday tomorrow, though, so don't be down for too long!" Katie added, in an attempt to switch the subject.
"Woo." Ida muttered unenthusiastically, twirling a finger around.
When that didn't work, Katie racked her brain to think of another way to cheer Ida up.
"So... do you want to play another round of chess?"
↜↭↝
"That's it, go to your room!" Marissa's shrill voice cut through the air like a knife through butter.
Ida sniffled and clambered up the creaky staircase, slamming open the door and landing heavily on her bed. Tears trickled sluggishly down her cheeks, leaving trails in their wake.
Drawing in a shaky breath, Ida ran a hand through her knotted hair. Deep down, Ida knew she shouldn't be so upset about her fearful mother, but she had dreamed of grass in between her toes and the sweet scent of flowers for so long, that she was desperate for taste of the outside.
Gazing sorrowfully around her small room that reminded her of a cell, Ida wiped under her nose. How long was she expected to live in this cage of a home for?
"What did I do?" She murmured tearfully to herself, completely at a loss as to why life had dealt her such a terrible hand of cards.
Leaning back until her head hit her pillow, she stared listlessly up at the ceiling.
The fan hummed, the ceaseless noise lulling Ida into a trance. Her eyelids drooped lower and lower, curtaining her brown eyes, as her breathing slowed to a rhythmic beat.
Soon enough, the ten year old had fallen asleep, her troubled thoughts swirling into strange dreams. Later that evening, Marissa had approached Ida and Katie's shared bedroom, half-afraid that Ida had caused ceiling fan to spin off, consequently ending in a catastrophic incident.
However, she was pleasantly surprised to see Ida peacefully asleep.
But what she didn't know, however, was that this would be the final serene dusk in the Bell household for a long, long time...
YOU ARE READING
Silver Bell | Ginny Weasley
Fanfiction"I don't believe it, this can't be right!" "Well, unless you want your daughter to remain stuck inside her home for the remainder of her teenage years, I suggest you should." • The Bell sisters had been locked away from the outside world for years...
