I See You

Two

           

Daylight blinds me as my eyelids flutter open.

Around me, the world no longer looks as cold nor as bleak as it had done last night. Instead, it strangely looks as it had done when I had been here with Elias. Beautiful, and bustling with life.

The light of the rising sun reflects off the morning dew that has settled on the berries. I recognise their deep red colour as I sit up and remember Elias telling me never to eat them. A small smile grows on my face as I recall his dramatics of death...him falling to his knees with his hands clutching his throat. It makes me wonder whether his death was of a similar manner. I'd like to hope not.

The lack of emotion on my part causes me to wonder whether my feelings for him were true to begin with, or whether I was simply obsessed with the idea of love. A love like that written by Shakespeare, or Austen.

Father, of course, had always despised my reading of such stories. 'Just silly tales.' He always said. But father had never believed in the idea of love, the logistics behind arranged marriages seemed to make much more sense in his mind.

The breaking of a nearby fallen branch brings me out of my nonsense thoughts. Of course I loved Elias. How could I not?

"Miss Brae?" A loud, deep voice shouts into the trees. "Is that you madam?"

I swing my head around, faster than I ever knew that I could. My mousy brown hair whips my face from the speed, but I don't feel it. I put it down to the cold causing a numbness in me.

My eyes flash towards the man at an unprecedented speed. As soon as my eyes land on him, I recognise his large figure and bushy moustache.

"Good morning, Sir Barnaby." I respond boldly.

He breathes a sigh of relief before approaching me as fast as he can, stumbling across the undergrowth, making a nearby rabbit scamper away in the process.

With one strong movement, he clutches my arm and pulls me to my feet. Not that I needed the help, I feel as strong as ever.

"Miss Brae, the whole village has been searching for you all night! Are you alright?" His face turns white as he looks me in the eye, seemingly beginning to panic. "We must get you to the hospital right away. I'll call for my butler to bring the carriage round."

"No, no, Sir Barnaby. I assure you I'm quite alright." I begin to dust myself off and pull twigs off me that were stuck to my tights. I have always told mother that tights are simply impractical. "No need to worry Sir. It's not a far walk for me to get home."

His head shakes frantically. "Definitely not Evelyn. Just look at yourself. Skin pale and cold, eyes bloodshot like I've never seen before. What happened to you yesterday?"

I bring my hand up to my neck, where the excruciating wildfire had spread within me. I feel nothing.

"Something happened to your neck?" He questions whilst peering at my neck, down his nose and over his glasses his gaze spread. "Goodness me! Come with me, quickly now."

Confusion drowned my thoughts. What could the cause of the unbearable pain have been?

"Sir Barnaby, whatever is the matter?" I say as he pulls me back out of the forest at which, to him, seemed like a fast-pace. The morning sunlight burns my eyes as we exit the cover of the trees and enter Sir Barnaby's forecourt. I'm forced to use my hand to shield my face.

"VICTOR!" Sir Barnaby suddenly wails. "GET THE HORSES READY, BOY!"

I shrug off Sir Barnaby's hand which was gripping onto me tightly. "Excuse me Sir. What is going on?"

He turns back to me in a panic, eyes darting from one area of my face to another, scanning every inch of my body. "Nothing you should worry about, dear." He states in an unconvincing manner. "It just appears as though you have been bitten by something. Don't worry, we'll get you some help."

I step back, becoming more confused as I quickly jump to conclusions as to what happened to me last night. '...skin pale and cold.' He'd said. '...eyes bloodshot like I've never seen before.'

I feel my eyes widen in horror as my mind races. I'm still unsure of a lot of things, but I am sure that I need to get out of here.

"EVELYN!" Sir Barnaby shouts from behind me as I begin to run.

I can hear the upheaval of gravel behind me as Sir Barnaby begins to attempt to run after me, but my newfound speed means that I'm uncatchable. I take a quick glance behind me and realise that I'm already several of hundreds of yards away from Sir Barnaby and his butler, Victor, who had just come running out of one of the outbuildings.

I turn back and face where I'm headed. Home.

Usually it would take Elias and I around ten minutes to race back to my house when we had been berry picking in Sir Barnaby's grounds. Today, however, I find myself arriving home only around a minute after I'd begun running.

Quietly I sneak into the house, hoping that my mother and father would be out looking for me. They are.