Secrets of the Night

Chapter 8

It was dark in the room, pitch black in fact. And complete silence covered the whole Cornwall Estate. It was no wonder though, since it was just past midnight and the only person awake was Willow. She had just gotten out of bed and tip toed over to her dresser. Nearly without a sound she opened the bottom drawer, where her father's clothes were still hidden away.

She could hardly believe that it had been nearly 3 years since she had gotten them from the attic. Even since then she would sneak out the house and off the grounds every once in a while. Whenever she felt the need of freedom.

By now putting on her father's old clothing had become a routine. She knew exactly what to do, unlike the first time she sneaked out at night. Oh she would never forget how she had struggled at every little thing that night. But it hadn't been surprising, since all of this had been foreign to her back then.

Willow remembered how she nearly fell over twice when putting on that pair of trousers that she was pulling up her legs right now again. She had lost balance and had stumbled into her dresses, which caused quite a loud noise. She remembered standing there in the dark, holding her breath for what seemed like forever, hoping that she didn't wake anyone. But no one woke and so she continued the dressing process a little later.

It had been really hard to get dressed like a man the first time. Sure, Willow had known how those clothes looked when someone was wearing them, but putting them on in complete darkness and without making a sound had been a whole different story.

Now this whole process was so familiar to her. There was no fear of getting caught while getting dressed in men's clothing anymore. That fright had been replaced by excitement for her nightly excursion.

After Willow had finished putting on her boots, there was only one thing left to do. She twirled her hair up loosely and then hid it under her cap. And she was done. Willow had never seen herself dressed like a man at daytime, but she was quite sure that one would be able to tell that she was in fact a girl and not a man, if it weren't for the darkness, hiding away all the right details. But then again she would have never taken the risk of sneaking out in the broad daylight anyways.

Willow tip toed over to her door, by now managing to open it without a sound. She stepped out into the dark hallway, being careful to sidesteps the creaking pieces of wooden boards on the floor.

That first night, when she had sneaked out for the first time, she had nearly had a heart attack, when she had stepped on one of the creaking pieces of wood. She had been so sure that someone must have woken up and found her. But no one had. And she had stepped on pretty much every single piece of creaking wood in the whole house that night.

Still one could never be too sure and Willow had quickly figured out, where to step and which wooden boards to avoid. She was proud how good she had gotten at sneaking around the house really. It made her feel like that thief from the book she had read all those years back. If she recalled correctly his name had been Robin.

By now she loved the quietness of the house at night. It had scarred her the first few times sneaking out, but now she enjoyed the peaceful silence. She wondered if her mother ever walked these hallways at night. Would she have been someone to do something like that?

Willow knew that they were similar to each other in a lot of things, but she would never imagine her mother sneaking around these very same hallways at night. But it would definitely be possible. Her mother had been her age once too. Maybe she had felt just as imprisoned here as Willow felt now.

Her mother must have loved the Cornwall Estate though. Willow had spent a few more afternoons up in the attic and looked at some more of her drawings. A lot of them showed the house and gardens in a variety of different angles. Then again it was possible that that was just all that her mother ever got to see, because she had been trapped here just as much as Willow was.