Once Bitten, Twice Shy

14

Anne was bored. Everyone was busy doing their own thing and had sent her off when she asked for something to do. Anna and Kat were building a Lego Eiffel tower, and apparently didn't trust Anne enough to let her help them, Jane was cooking and Aragon was reading out the instructions for her. Again, Anne wasn't trusted for such a precarious task, especially not after the last time. So she went to find Cathy, hoping maybe she'd have something interesting to do. However, when she knocked on the door, and entered after receiving no answer, she didn't find the usual perfectly tidied room of Cathy Parr.

"Cathy?" Anne could see the girl's feet poking out from inside the wardrobe. "Are you okay there hun?" She emerged looking dishevelled, and Anne couldn't help but laugh.

"Can you help me?"

Anne pretended to think it over. "Well... I am really busy today... But I guess I could give you a hand."

Cathy rolled her eyes. "Thankyou." She grinned.

"So what's up?"

"I lost my book." She whined pathetically, looking like a small child. Anne laughed again and knelt beside her peering into the messy wardrobe.

"Well where did you last see it?" Cathy glared at her, Anne throwing her hands up in defence.

"Sorry, yep, stupid question, please don't kill me!"

Cathy laughed and dragged a box out of the cupboard, followed by another and sent Anne to go look around while she searched them. They continued on for a while, completely demolishing Cathy's room - though she thought Anne was doing more damage than good; but they had no luck.

"Is it in here?" Anne's head popped out from under the bed as she presented a baby blue box. Cathy looked up from rummaging through a draw.

"I don't know have a look." It was half a millisecond later that she recognised the box and remembered what lay inside it.

Time seemed to stop as Cathy's eyes widened in shock. She had discovered a couple of days after her appearance that a lot of her belongings from her previous life had been stored in her room, various family mementos and gifts and books lay under that bed, but she hadn't felt the need to look through them.

However, that one item held so many memories; memories that she had no recollection of until this moment. Cathy could feel the fear building in her chest, her eyes glazing over, guilt opening up a pit in her stomach and swallowing her whole. She watched as Anne's hand lifted the lid, watched the look of confusion flash across her face as she picked up a single letter, froze in place as she tried to open her mouth to speak, justify herself, say anything to salvage the bond she'd created. But no words came.

Anne's eyebrows furrowed, and Cathy could see the cogs turning in her mind as she processed what she was seeing. She had never told her about this particular part of her life, nor any of the other queens. If truth be told the thought hadn't crossed her mind once, and she cursed herself over and over again for not remembering sooner, for not trying hard enough to salvage her memories, possibly then Anne wouldn't have felt so betrayed by what she would learn in the next few minutes.

Boleyn's mouth opened and closed, then opened once more and stayed there. She blinked and read the envelope for the second time, shifting her gaze to look Cathy in the eyes.

"This is from Elizabeth." She stated flatly. "W-why?" It seemed she hadn't quite processed it yet, but one look at Cathy's expression told her everything she needed to know. Parr tried to speak, but She had already torn the top of the envelope before she could get a word out. She watched in horror as Anne's eyes sped over the paper. She had never seen someone's expression change so quickly, and the hurt and anger that replaced the previously happy face of Anne Boleyn made Cathy feel sick to her stomach. Once more she looked Cathy in the eyes, though this time they were full of pain and confusion and a hint of rage.