Gifted

by Campbell, Jamie

  “Perfect,” she squatted down and took Charlie’s hands in her own. “You must treat him like a king tonight. He will not want to marry you if you are disagreeable. You must show him how lovely you are. You must show him how desirable you are. By the end of the night he has to burn for you. Do you understand?”

  “What am I to do exactly?”

  “Talk with him, play with him. Pretend he is a cat and you are the mouse. He should yearn to catch you so he can devour you. It is the women’s place to be desirable, yet just out of reach. Do you understand?”

  The sound of horse’s hooves could be heard from outside. The woman turned away to hear better.

  “He’s here. I will go and greet him. You must follow in a few minutes. Remember, my dear child, you must do this for the family. I will see you downstairs.”

  A sense of fear and dread crept over Charlie’s body. She couldn’t understand what the woman was talking about. She knew that, in a few minutes, she would descend the staircase and enter the foyer. She would be introduced to a man she was expected to seduce. All the time wearing a mask of pleasantness she didn’t feel underneath. He may be charming, he may be awful. She realised she didn’t even know how old he was. The small fact she did know was that he was important. The family needed her to be charming, they needed her to make him fall in love with her. How a young girl not even fully mature yet could possibly work out how to do that, was beyond her.

  Her greatest fear was not that night and meeting the man that may become her husband and benefactor. It was all the nights after. Would be take her away from her family? Would he care for her? Would he treat her no better than a serving girl? All these thoughts and many more swirled around her mind. She felt nauseous and stared at the closed door. She wanted to lock it and never leave the room ever again. She would stay there until she was old and not desirable to any man any longer. They may bang on it and try and coax her out, but it wouldn’t work. She would stay there until the day she died.

  With every passing minute, her fear grew until it covered her entire body. She was motionless. Her sensible mind told her to put one foot in front of the other and walk out the door. Her heart told her she didn’t want to. The panicked voice that was screaming in her head drowned out the sensible one. She softly closed the door and sat on the bed. She pulled the butterfly clip out of her hair and threw it at the dressing table. It hit the mirror and fell onto the table top. Tears started to well in her eyes and run down each cheek.

  There was a knock at the door. She froze. Her mind raced with ways she could possibly leave the room. She even considered jumping out the window. She was only on the second storey, it’s possible she could make it. Then she could run away. Run into the forest and live amongst the animals. Anything was better than staying there right now.

  The knocking grew louder and turned into thumping. The tears were coursing down her cheeks in a constant flow. Her nose was starting to run. She sat down on the edge of the bed.

  “Go away,” she yelled out.

  The thumping didn’t stop. She pulled her legs up onto the bed and rested her chin on her knees. She wrapped her arms around them and hugged her legs to her chest. She was curled up in a tight ball. She would stay that way forever, no-one would ever bother her again. They could all just go away because she wasn’t going to move.

  The door burst open and the man she had thought to be her father entered. His face was red with anger. He stomped over to the bed and stood directly in front of her, glaring down with eyes that were wild. She didn’t raise her face to look at him. She kept her eyes looking straight ahead, pretending she was anywhere but right there in that moment.

  She felt a sudden sting on her cheek and was knocked over on to her side. He had slapped her with his open hand, right across her face. The force of it had left her stunned.

  “You get downstairs straight away. There will be a lot worse than that if you don’t,” he threatened before leaving the room again. He slammed the door behind himself to make sure she got the point.

  She sat upright again and cradled her cheek in her hand. It was burning now, like someone had poured boiling hot water down it. Her tears were cooling as they slid towards the floor. She slowly stood and looked at herself in the mirror. There was a pink outline of a hand across her face. She picked up a compact and dusted powder over her cheeks, wiping her tears with a tissue first. She replaced her hairclip. She couldn’t get it like her mother had it, but it would do. She took a deep breath and stood in front of the door. She carefully let the breath out and opened it, walking down the corridor like a condemned woman walking to her death.

  * * *

  Charlie was awoken by a kiss on the lips. She opened her eyes and saw Blair looking down into her eyes. She felt like she’d only just fallen asleep. She flicked her gaze onto the alarm clock. It was already eight o’clock in the morning. She wanted more than anything to roll over and go back to sleep for another few hours. But she didn’t want to dream again.

  “That clock’s wrong. It can’t be morning yet,” she moaned.

  “Come on and wake up. Don’t you remember what today is?” Blair didn’t move from his position on top of her.

  “Tuesday?”

  “It is indeed Tuesday. What happened two years ago today?”

  The memory came back to Charlie, she couldn’t believe she had forgotten. “I don’t know. I think some goofy guy asked me out on a date. I felt sorry for him and he was kind of cute so I said yes. Plus, it was getting late in the night and I didn’t have any other good offers.”

  “You have no idea how much liquor that guy had to drink to get enough courage to ask you out. It took me days of stalking and preparation to walk up to you. I went to do it a few times before that night but backed out at the last minute.”

  “I didn’t know that. You are so cute. For what it’s worth, I would have said yes every single time. My best friend, Ruby, had already pointed you out as a possible eligible bachelor. We’d done some ground work ourselves.”

  “So, I have planned this momentous occasion of our anniversary. First, we will have breakfast. Then, we will take a ride down to the hardware store to pick up some wood for the green room window.”

  Charlie laughed and interrupted. “This is all sounding very romantic.”

  “I haven’t got to the good stuff yet. For lunch, we will have a picnic out in the fields. There is a beautiful big oak tree out there that just beckons for picnickers to visit it. Then, the afternoon is at our leisure.” He kissed her and rolled over to his side of the bed. He excitedly picked up his clothes for the day and rushed down the hall to the bathroom to get ready. Charlie smiled, shaking her head. She got her clothes ready and joined him in the bathroom.

  After breakfast, they drove into town and collected the wood Blair needed. It was a perfect day to be outdoors. When they returned home, they had gone straight to the green room to get the repair work out of the way. Charlie waited patiently while she held the wood in place for Blair to nail in. The room was still cooler than the rest of the house, but not nearly as cold as the previous day. They had both felt apprehensive about spending more time in the room but it couldn’t be avoided when there was still work to be done.

  When Blair was satisfied the wood needed some time to dry, they packed a picnic of sandwiches and biscuits and headed outside. Cate and Rahni had gone grocery shopping and had a few errands to run, so they had the estate to themselves. They walked through the backyard and out to the field beyond. It started off as a flat grassy table that gently rose to a small hill. Sitting right atop was the oak tree Blair had spotted. It stood on the hill like a lighthouse would stand on an ocean peak. It must have been hundreds of years old to have grown so grand.

  It took them ten minutes to reach the tree. They had taken their time to enjoy the weather along the way. A gentle breeze whispered past them to keep the temperature cool from the shining sun. Blair pulled a blanket from the basket he was carrying and spread it over the grass. T
hey sat down and started emptying the contents of the basket. Charlie handed a bottle of champagne to Blair for him to open. He poured two glasses.

  “To two happy years together!” He raised his glass and toasted.

  “To many more of them to come.” Their glasses clinked together before they took a sip.

  They ate their sandwiches and indulged in the chocolate biscuits. With their stomachs satisfied, they laid together on the blanket staring up at the widespread branches of the oak tree. The sunlight filtered through in places. It reminded Charlie of her dream and being buried alive. She tried to push the thought out of her mind. Blair was with her this time, nothing bad could happen.

  It was difficult to stay awake. The warm weather and full bellies combined to make it almost impossible. Charlie was fighting the urge to close her eyes when she noticed something on the tree trunk. Something was carved on the side of it.

  “Look at that,” she pointed.

  “Didn’t Harold say something about a tree having things engraved on it?”

  They stood to have a better look. Carved deeply into the greying brown tree trunk was the inscription: EL ER. Charlie ran her fingers over it, it was roughly carved.

  “ER has to be Elizabeth Reign. Harold said something about it being connected to the Reign family,” she said as she continued tracing the letters. “I wonder who EL is?”

  “A secret lover maybe?” Blair offered.

  “I can’t imagine Lady Elizabeth having a secret lover carve something so obvious on her husband’s estate. She couldn’t have been that stupid.”

  “Well, EL is first. Maybe it was a secret crush that someone had for her. He could have carved it here in the hope she would see it and know about his feelings.”

  “Aw. That’s so romantic,” Charlie cooed. “I can picture the poor forlorn man standing here and looking at the house. He would be yearning for his dearly beloved Elizabeth. He would just stare at the windows, praying for a mere glimpse of her.”

  “He burned with lust so much he angrily carved out the inscription. To hell with the consequences. If Lord Richard saw it, then they would duke it out to the death. He would fight for his lady love.”

  “However, there is another possibility. Eve had the same initials as her mother. Maybe EL loved Eve Reign. Before we get too carried away, I think it would more likely be the daughter that someone was lusting after.” Charlie was thrown back to her memory of the dream she’d had about the tree. If it was Eve making her experience the nightmares, maybe the tree held some significance for her.

  “Good point. I think I would choose the young, supple daughter rather than the stately mother any day. It could be the same scenario though, except a generation younger.”

  “EL definitely isn’t Thomas Reign so we can discount him as the lustful Romeo. She must have had someone else after her. How sweet young love is.”

  “Hey, we’re not too old to remember young love,” Blair grabbed Charlie around the waist and planted kisses all over her face. She squealed with laughter.

  “Someone might see us, young Mr Bennett.”

  “Then we’ll go inside. I plan to remind you exactly what young love is all about.”

  “So we will be writing ‘I heart you’ all over our school books then? Maybe sneaking a quick kiss in the closet?”

  “Something like that.”

  They packed up the picnic and headed back towards the house. On their way upstairs, they checked to make sure Cate hadn’t arrived home. The coast was clear. They almost ran up to the blue room and dived into bed. They were lost in a tangle of arms and kisses for the rest of the afternoon.

  * * *

  “It’s getting late,” Charlie commented, noticing the sun was setting through the window. She was curled up underneath Blair’s shoulder, locked tight next to him. He was lightly stroking her arm as it lay across his chest.

  “Hmm,” he replied, gently nuzzling her hair.

  A noise from the ceiling interrupted their peace and quiet. In unison, their eyes gazed upwards. They froze, listening.

  “It sounds like footsteps,” Blair said.

  “Why would there be footsteps in the attic? You have to use the ladder to get up there.”

  “Maybe a possum has worked its way in there.”

  “A possum wearing shoes?”

  The noise was undeniably footsteps now that it was getting louder. They were moving all around on the ceiling above.

  “Let’s go take a look,” Charlie unravelled herself and put her clothes on. Blair followed after hesitating. He would much rather just stay there for the rest of the evening.

  “We’re going to need the ladder. I’ll go get it. Be back in a minute,” he slowly walked down the stairs and disappeared around the corner. Charlie was left standing underneath the manhole in the ceiling. The footsteps were still going. She hoped he wouldn’t be too long and moved towards the stairs. She didn’t like the thought that whatever was in the attic could come through the access hole at any time. The stairs could act as a quick escape route for her.

  A few minutes later Blair appeared with the ladder from the back shed. He lugged it up the stairs and positioned it underneath the manhole. Charlie held onto the bottom rungs while he climbed up through the hole. When he was safely sitting on the attic floor, he turned around and gripped the top of the ladder. Rung by rung, Charlie slowly followed him with trepidation. She stepped onto the floor and looked around the room. Blair stood and did the same.

  The footsteps stopped the second Blair had opened the manhole cover. It was an eerie silence that now filled the attic. Their eyes took in the entire room. A few days earlier they had left the attic completely clean after hours of working on it to get it that way. Now, there were objects scattered right across the floor. Charlie went over to the closest one and picked it up. It was a hairbrush. She moved on to the next one and picked up a hand mirror.

  “These are from the chest,” she stated. Blair went straight for the chest they had left in the far corner. The lid was closed. Having removed the lock, he opened it.

  “It’s empty.”

  Looking around the room, Charlie remembered what Melanie had suggested. She summoned her courage. “Is anyone here? We don’t want to hurt you. Can you give us a sign that you’re here?”

  “What are you doing that for?” Blair asked in a panic. “We don’t want to encourage them to come here.”

  “Shh, the psychic told me to. It will be okay.”

  The room was silent. Charlie continued to collect all the items. She found the book and the dress. Eventually, she found the bookmark as well. They were all spread around the entire room. It made sense now that the footsteps hadn’t been following a set pattern. Exactly why or how they had done this, she couldn’t determine.

  She carried all the items and returned them to the chest. Blair closed the lid again. They stared at it for a few minutes, almost expecting them to jump out again. When it didn’t move, they looked at each other.

  “Now what?” Blair asked.

  “We need to move the chest. I get the feeling that if we leave it here, we will be back up again before nightfall.”

  “Where do we put it?”

  Charlie thought for a moment. “In the green room.”

  “The green room? Why there?” Blair was confused.

  “I don’t know. I just think it belongs in there. If this is Eve’s chest and her belongings, then it should be in her room.”

  Blair didn’t argue. He picked up the chest and carried it over to the waiting ladder. He put it on the floor while he climbed halfway down. Charlie awkwardly handed it to him and he carefully made it to the floor. It only just fit through the access hole. She followed straight away, not wanting to spend any time in the attic on her own. They crossed the corridor and opened the door of the green room. Charlie shivered as she entered, it was freezing cold going through the door.

  Blair looked around the room for a good place to put the chest. Charlie pointed
to a spot at the end of the bed. He bent down to put it on the floor.

  “Is that better?” He asked.

  “I think so. I think that’s where Eve wanted it to go. I don’t think she likes the attic very much.”

  “So you really think these are her things?”

  Charlie nodded her head. “They have to be. Alice made a comment on the dress, remember? Plus, the mirror is inscribed with the initials ER. I would bet my life on the fact they used to belong to Eve.”

  “Something really messed up happened in this house, didn’t it?” Blair commented sombrely.

  “It sure did,” Charlie agreed.

  They left the chest and walked out of the room, making sure the door was closed behind him. As soon as they were in the corridor, they noticed how the temperature was so different. The hallway had a pleasant warmth to it whereas the green room had been like a refrigerator. Blair made a promise to himself that he wouldn’t go back into the room unless it was absolutely necessary.

  They heard the front door open and footsteps downstairs. Cate’s voice rung out a few minutes later, declaring to the house they were home. Charlie and Blair hurried downstairs to help her with the groceries. The three of them unloaded the car and put away the food items in the pantry. It was a nice piece of normalcy after being in the attic.

  When the telephone rang, Charlie volunteered to answer it. She extracted herself from the pantry and hurried to pick up the receiver. In her mind, she was praying it wasn’t going to be another one of the dead lines they’d been experiencing. She was tired of answering the phone only to have no-one there.

  “Hello?”

  The male voice on the other end of the line made her sigh with relief. “Hello. Is that Miss Lane?”

  “Yes it is. What can I do for you?”

  “My name is Justin. I’m from the Department of Commonwealth Development. You placed an application for some property records?” He spoke very formally.

  “I did. The records were for a property in Pickerton.”