Forsaken

by Jennifer Julie Miller

  Backing away, he was afraid he couldn’t stop himself from wanting more. He needed to leave her side because of the sun, but he was also worried she would wake up in worse shape than she was in last night. “Rage, protect.”

  Rage jumped up on the bed, laid his head on her belly, and tucked himself into her side.

  Lucas was making his way to the back of the house when he hears the front door open. He immediately flashed to the foyer. “Oh, Dear Lord in Heaven, I hate it when you do that, My Lord.”

  “Forgive me Mary; it has been an eventful night. I’ll keep this short. Emma has torn her stitches again; you will need to check them. She is having night terrors apparently. I also informed the girl that she has a job here with you and I have set a few rules for her to abide by if she plans on staying here.”

  “Would you like me to move the girl to one of the servant’s quarters?”

  “Absolutely not! I want her right where she is! She will need some day dresses though, for everyday wear.”

  “Yes, My Lord, I will make sure she has all she needs. That’s why I stopped in this morning to check on her and bring her a light breakfast.”

  Lucas noticed the small basket in her arms. “Thank you, Mary! I know you don’t hear that very often, but I do appreciate all that you and Sam do around here. Oh, and Rage is with her right now.”

  “Me and Master Rage will be fine, My Lord. I didn’t forget to bring him a snack.”

  Chapter Eight:

  Needing the comfort of things unchanged, Lucas heads downstairs, the girl weighing heavily on his mind. He crawls in the bed, the darkness soothing his weary body and mind. He sends his spirit out immediately and found the sound of three heartbeats. Rage, Mary and then his Emma, she was going to be trouble and he knew it. Not only because of her past, but because his kind was extremely possessive, and in his mind, she was already his.

  The sun was bright in the sky. He could tell by the pull on his body to sleep. Lucas closes his eyes and sinks into a deep slumber until his mind suddenly awakens, but his body stays unresponsive.

  ∞∞∞

  He suddenly hears the sound of little feet running and there are giggles all around him. Turning he watches as a beautiful, blond girl runs past him, but he had never seen her before. She couldn’t have been more than five or six. Feeling strange, Lucas looks down seeing his own hands, small and pale in the daylight, but these weren’t his hands.

  I hear the girl call for me and another dream consumes me once again. “Come on Emma, I have something to show you!” We sneak out through the garden doors and hunker down behind the shrubs when some of the adults get near us. We were both holding our hands over our mouths, trying to hide the sound of our laughter. Nothing was any funner than hiding in plain sight from the adults. The barn door was open just enough for us to slide through. I followed Kat to the end of the barn and through a hole in the bottom of one stall. “Where are we going, Kat?”

  “Sushhh, be quiet. If they hear you they will run away again. I found them this morning when I went riding with Mommy.” I watch as Kat climbs over a pile of hay. She wasn’t worried about her dress at all. I pull mine up and away from the dirt on the floor. I only had two dresses and Ms. Ione told me, I had to take good care of my things or she wouldn’t give me Kat’s stuff anymore. Kat had lots of pretty things, so I always tried to be good because I wanted to be able to play with them too. She stops in front of me and I hear a little whimper as she picks something up. It was a small white and black puppy and it couldn’t have been very old at all, “Here hold this one; there are two more hiding down there.”

  I reach out and take it from her. The first thing I notice is they all have longer snouts than any other puppies I had ever seen. Kat picks each one of them up and put them on top of the hay. They were all different colors, white with black, a pure gray and a total black besides a small white tip on its ear. Kat pulled out some pieces of meat she had stolen from the stew on the stove. We took turns holding each one of the puppies while feeding them little pieces of meat. They were all half starved and so little. “I wonder where their Mommy is.” I asked Kat.

  “Maybe, she left them like your mommy did you.” My heart hit my throat. I pull the puppy in my arms close and rub my chin on top of its little black head. I know Kat, didn’t intentionally say that to be mean. Everyone knew that I didn’t have a Mommy like all the other girls. But, Ms. Ione always made the other girls be nice to me anyway. She let me play with her daughter and she even sent me to school. I was very lucky the day she found me. I have grown to love her and Kat very much.

  “You don’t have to be sad, Emma. We will be their Mommy and take care of them now, just like my Mommy does us. I'm glad you don’t have a Mommy honestly because no one can take you away from me. You will get to stay with me always. We will be friends forever. I promise I will never leave you like she did.”

  I smile back at her and we put the puppies back in their hiding spot, tucking the hay around them so they would stay warm through the night. Then we sneak back up to Kat’s room. Ms. Ione came in as we were playing dolls and scolded Kat about getting her dress dirty. She got both of us undressed and into out nightclothes, then tucked us into our beds before she read us a bedtime story. I sleep on a cot at the foot of Kat’s bed, but I don’t mind it at all because it’s warmer down here next to the fire.

  There were days Kat couldn’t come with me to the barn, she was busy learning Lady Things. So, I had to find ways to sneak out each day. The puppies were growing so fast and they gobbled up anything I could find to feed them. They usually heard me coming and would be jumping up and down wanting to play. That’s what got them caught. The little black one I called Blackie, was play fighting with the little gray one that I called Ghost when one of the men found them in the back of the barn.

  Me and Kat had snuck in and were hiding in one of the stalls, waiting for the guys to leave when I heard a small yelp. “Oh, no,” I hear her whisper to me. We watch through the boards as the guys head towards the last stall. Then we heard him tell the other man that they would have to get rid of the puppies.

  We waited until the men left then went straight to the puppies that had been playing loudly. Blackie must not have heard me approach because when I reach over the haystack to get him, he bit me on the hand. I jerked back and almost dropped him. I put him in my lap then reached over for the white one. I think this one was a girl because she was quite a bit smaller than the other two. Kat got Ghost out and was feeding him a small piece of meat when Blackie reached out with his paw trying to take it away from her, scratching her hand in the process.

  “Owe,” I heard her say. Ghost had hunkered down in her lap trying to get away from Blackie. It looked like the other puppies were scared of him.

  I picked him up, the bite on my hand suddenly throbbing. “Young man, that’s enough of that, you always get your share. We don’t bite and scratch, you be good.” He whined and rubbed his nose against me. “I know you didn’t mean to my beautiful boy. Now be quiet the rest of the evening. I will be back late tonight to move you out of here. I would be heartbroken if something happened to you.” He snuggled in under my chin. I wanted to take him with me so bad, but I knew they wouldn’t let me keep him in the house and already I could tell that Kat liked Ghost better. So if any of the puppies had a chance, it was him.

  Kat wasn’t feeling well that evening and so we both went to bed early. I woke up in the middle of the night, with Kat leaning over the bed staring at me.

  “Emma, get up. You have to get up and move the puppies”. Kat reminded me as I was walking out of our bedroom to bring a pillowcase to carry them in. She was very smart about things like this. I struggle to get out of the bed. I was hurting all over especially the bite on my hand. I finally get dressed and stagger to the barn. Gathering each of them up and gently put them in the bag. I didn’t realize how heavy all three of them would be together, they had grown alot.

  I was panting by the time I got to the old
chicken coop. We had decided earlier where to put them for a few days. I put the old pillowcase down on the ground and pulled them out one at a time, loving on each one of them as I went. “Blackie you’re the biggest so you’re in charge, I will be back tomorrow with some yummies.”

  I was feeling so sick that I barely made it back to the house. I crawled up the stairs, knowing I was ruining my sleeping gown, but too sick to care. I needed to tell someone, but I was scared they would notice that I had been outside. When I finally staggered in the room I hear Kat call my name. “Is that you Emma?”

  “Yea, it’s me, Kat I'm really sick.”

  “Come up here with me out of that old floor. If Mom says something I will tell her that I was scared and asked you to sleep with me. Did you move our babies” she whispered?

  “Yes, they are in the chicken coop now. They weren’t real happy about being moved, but I’ll go out early in the morning and check on them.”

  “Emma, I wonder what we got into that made both of us sick?”

  “I don’t know Kat, but I hurt all over.”

  “Snuggle under the covers closer to me. We will watch over each other tonight, until Mommy comes in the morning. Promise to stay here, ok?”

  “Ok, I pinky promise,” I remember someone picking me up the next morning. “Come on Miss Emma. Let’s get you into your own bed before Mrs. Ione sees you here.” Then I hear her in the distance, yelling for someone to “Get the doctor now. Emma has a fever, and Miss Katherine has vomited all over herself.”

  I don’t know how long I was asleep, but when I finally wake up. I see Ms. Ione sitting on Kat’s bed crying. Mr. Ione was standing behind her staring over her shoulder, no emotions of any kind showing on his face. I try to speak but nothing comes out. I know I'm going to be in so much trouble for just lying around. I try to set up when a woman comes over and gently pushes me back down.

  “No honey you have to rest.”

  The next few days, I see only flashes of things, but I never hear Kat’s voice again. The very next time I awaken, was to find myself in a strange room. I sit up slowly, looking around. I hear voices but they seemed so far away. “Where am I and where is, Kat?” I thought to myself. A woman comes through the door as I start to stand up. It’s the cook, from downstairs.

  “It’s about time your lazy ass finally got out of that bed.” She said, cruelly to me.

  “Excuse me ma’am, but I think there has been a mistake. Where am I and where is Kat?” I notice that it comes out as a whisper and I'm suddenly shaking all over, something was terribly wrong.

  “What do you mean where is Kat? She has been gone for days now, how unfortunate for you that you survived.”

  I must have had a very confused look on my face. “Ok, idiot, I'm only going to explain this to you once. Both of you girls got sick at the same time. No one knows what the cause was, but it took Ms. Katherine quickly. You suffered for days too, but you somehow survived. Ms. Ione couldn’t handle the pain of losing her only child and you were a constant reminder of what she lost. So, she put you down here. Now you’re my problem. The life you knew is over, now you will live in the real world. A girl with no name wasn’t fit to be around Ms. Katherine anyway. I’ll give you today to get on your feet. Tomorrow begins the rest of your life.”

  I fall back into the bed, sobbing. My very best friend in the world was dead and Ms. Ione threw me away when she didn’t want me anymore, just like my own mother did. What Hell does my life have in store for me now?

  I have been cradling my hand all day. It has a constant ache in it. I look down at the small red places healing and remember the puppies I locked in the chicken coup. I manage to get up and make my way outside. Feeling stronger with each step I took. I finally get there hoping that the puppies were safe, but no happy yaps meet me at the gate. I crawl inside, “Come here little ones it’s Me.” instead of finding them, all that is left is a bloody pillowcase.

  I cry out when I realize I have lost everything upon awakening, my best friend, my home, my safety, and the pups. The curse of my life was once again in full swing.

  ∞∞∞

  Lucas could feel her emptiness soaking through his final thoughts as the dream started to end. He didn’t know whose memories were whose at this point. He had similar memories of his own, of how he found Rage in that old Chicken coop. Rage had eaten the other two pups to survive. He had been locked up in that cage for days and he was trying to chew his way through one of the fences when Lucas had come upon him. He was in a complete rage yanking and pulling on the fence that had him trapped. That’s how he got his name, Rage.

  Lucas knew immediately, he was a Wolf-Hellhound because of his red eyes and the ghostly image of something bigger hovering around the small puppy. It took a few weeks for the wolf to make up with Lucas. The hound had constantly tried to get back to the manor on the other side of the valley. So, Lucas had to keep him locked up during the day until he finally stopped trying to run away. They had been together ever since. No wonder Rage was so torn and protective of Emma. She had taken care of him when he was little, but he was also the reason Emma and her friend got sick. Lucas didn’t know how little Emma survived a bite from a Hellhound, but she did. And he would never tell her that Rage was the reason she had lost her best friend or the reason her life had been torn apart. Rage would be heartbroken and an upset Hellhound is a dangerous animal. It’s best she doesn’t know.

  He sat up, weary from another sleepless night. This is when he noticed the silence in the house. Sending his spirit outwards he finally finds them outside to the north. Tracking their steps he knew they were in the family cemetery. Last night she was terrorized and now she is out traipsing around the grounds of the manor.

  Chapter Nine:

  It’s not quite daylight yet, and this is the first time in days I have woken up feeling more like myself. There is a dull ache in my side, but I don’t feel sore all over. My hand is on top of Rage. He is snoring lightly while lying with his head on my stomach. The only other sound in the room is the wind blowing against the windows outside. I take the time to actually look at my surroundings. I'm in the biggest bed I have ever seen. It could easily hold up to four people; its dark grey in color with the deep red curtains hanging off the bed’s canopy. Its details and carvings are exquisite. Matching curtains hang from ceiling to floor windows, two of which have dark red velvet window seats. In one corner of the room, there is a large wardrobe and a matching vanity. The vanity is covered in little bottles that sparkle in the morning light. The warmth I feel in the room is coming from the large fireplace in the middle of the room that’s covered in gray and red marble. Two velvet chairs face it. Even in Ione Manor I never saw such luxury. The sun peaks its way through the curtains, just as I hear a knock on the door.

  “Emma deary, are you awake, can I come in?”

  “Mary?” I ask cautiously.

  Mary pushes the door open. “Good morning, don’t you look so much better today. Lord Rydell said you had a bad night. I was rather worried you had taken a turn for the worse.”

  “Oh, Mary I'm so embarrassed! I awakened startled. I have had this same dream since I was little and it still terrifies me after all these years. The dream is always the same while I'm being burnt alive. The feeling of heat creeping up my legs is so intense. Then, right before the flames reach my skin. I wake up screaming once again.”

  “Dear heavens, why would you dream of that, child?” Mary turned to look at me.

  “I don’t know, but I fear this is how I will die. Lord Rydell and Rage found me hiding in the closet and I have no memory of how I got there. Lord Rydell tried to put me back in the bed, but I was so scared I wouldn’t let him go. I was rather clingy last night which is so embarrassing now. I know he sat with me in front of the fire for quite some time, but I don’t know how long. I think there are times my mind goes fuzzy on purpose.”

  “Honey, we all have different ways of coping. And, I wouldn’t worry about the Lord much. If you had been a bo
ther, you would have known it. He also said your side was bleeding again, so let’s get a look at it before we get you into a bath this morning.”

  I stare up at Mary with scared eyes. “Do I have too?” Rage must have felt me panic because he immediately opened his eyes and looked up at me.

  “Some rules I would let you break deary, but a bath isn’t one of them. Now, I know you have your reasons for wanting to stay dirty and I'm just going to assume it is because you’re scared to be noticed, or even to be appealing to the eye, but honey, there is nothing in this world that could possibly hurt you here, especially with Master Rage watching over you. Surely you have noticed how protective he is.”

  I reach over and pull him closer, the weight of him welcoming instead of overpowering. “Rage reminds me of a little black puppy I found when I was a child. They both have the same small white mark on the tip of their right ear. I had actually forgotten about that puppy until this morning.”

  “You seem sad, what happened to the puppy?” Mary asked.

  “I don’t know exactly. We knew they would kill the puppies hiding in the barn, so I snuck out one night and hid them in one of the old chicken coops. I couldn’t return for a few days. I think I got sick or something and when I did it was too late. All that was left of them was some blood on the ground. I never tried to have a pet again after that.”

  Mary just stood there looking at me with sad eyes. “Emma, I hope one of these days we can replace all of this hurt with something else. You’re too young to be sad. Your life should be full of dreams and laughter.”