Home is Love and Pain

The children had been gone for not more than six hours and Dorothy already felt the apartment had become cold and empty. Sir Arthur was really mischievous too and tagged along, which left her behind and alone.

Maybe she should have just agreed to Red's invitation to let her go with them. But even if she did, she knew she would just slowed them down.

It sucks to have been cursed a short life.

She stood up from her favorite lounge and walked towards her room. Her slippers flopped as she went on her way, a slow tap, tap, tap, tap.

She opened the door to her room but decided to take a look at the one adjacent to hers. Red's room. Now it wouldn't be much of invading her privacy but she just wanted to check whether the room was clean or not.

The door to Red's room had been left ajar. She must have forgotten to lock it as they had gone back and forth towards the living room to get their gears ready this morning.

Red didn't actually stayed with Dorothy all the time. She had her own apartment, the one left behind by her parents, which was nearer to Floruchna. Coincidentally, she had placed a job there after she had dropped from school.

When her parents had died, Dorothy was the only one left strong enough to take care of Red. Euphemia, her sister, had gone lethargic ever since her husband died and the couple dying didn't help her mental state.

The room was dark, pitch black, and felt so eerie without Red in it. Dorothy switched the fluorescents on and she had to cover her eyes as the lights flashed.

The four corners of Red's small room welcomed Dorothy like it always did. Neat, well-organized, and smelled like jasmine. Red always used the same shampoo when she comes over. Just like her mother used to.

Despite that Red inherited her father's built and physical appearance, her eyes, attitude, and mannerisms were exactly same of Lilian Springfield. Even down to the things they loved and hated.

They both loved to eat. Lilian was a big-eater, she even beats Charles all the time in buffets. They were neat freaks. When her nephew would drop a single chip on the floor, Lilian would engage into a full front attack on him and his bad habits.

They are so feisty. Charles and Lilian fought so much Dorothy even thought they wouldn't last a month of their marriage. But they did last longer. If only they could have lived longer too.

Despite Lilian being human, she was very much interested into the lores and everything supernatural. It didn't even take her a year to realize her husband had hidden the fact that he wasn't entirely human.

She had a knack for magic as well. It was like inherent in her, like she was faey as well. The spells she makes are just so natural to her and Charles adored her even more.

The two were inseparable. Yes, they fought like cat and dog but they were each other's best friend. Now that Dorothy thinks about it, Red and Archer reminded her of how Lilian and Charles used to fight.

Whatever one said, the other would retort and fight back.

Dorothy grinned and giggled a bit. She wonders how things will turn out between the two. It would be really interesting, knowing that Red being a queen candidate would mean she can't have any relationships.

"Ahh… as her grandmother, I will need to talk to Red about that sooner." Dorothy thought out loud. She wouldn't want what the Canes had suffered be experienced by Red.

Being banished was one thing, but the Faey Court was merciless. Before judgment, you would be subjected to a series of interrogation that could sometimes lead to insanity.

Red didn't have much memory of her parents since she had been orphaned at such a young age. But Dorothy remembers it vividly. Euphemia was still alive at that time Lilian and Charles died on a plane crash, and it broke her heart.

A month later, she died on the same day her husband did the year before.

Dorothy turned to look at Red's bedside table. A picture frame of her as a little girl, no less than two year-old and carried by Lilian and Charles, was displayed. They had such beautiful smiles.

The old lady's heart ached for the loss of such wonderful souls. If only she could have done anything to stop that plane crash…

A slight breeze blew from the tiny window and Dorothy glanced to see that Red had forgotten to close the rectangular portal to the outside world. She peered through the window and saw the bustling night streets of the city.

The scent of summer wind joined the sweetness of the room's smell. She noticed the birds had took shelter under the neighboring tree beside Red's window and Dorothy could hear their little chirps.

She sighed once more and closed the window.

It was sunny outside just a few hours ago, a beautiful day to have a short walk and exercise her aching old joints. But she knew she couldn't risk the walk for the enemy might have tracked them down by now.

She didn't want Archie's efforts to be in vain.

Just as she had turned to get back to her own room and close Red's door, an eerie blast of wind hit her that sent chills and her hair stood on its ends. Where did that wind come from?

And then she felt it.

She felt a sudden urge to run away and yet she couldn't move even the tiniest bit. She had stood frozen just as she exited the room. Definitely something wasn't right.

There was a slight movement from the lounge and Dorothy slowly turned her head. Cold sweat dripped from her forehead despite the humid summer conditions.

To her right, she saw the fireplace burned. It wouldn't have been an issue if the fire was the normal yellow-orange to red tinged fire. No it wasn't normal at all.

The fire was black.

Stark black like the kind you see from crude oil spills. There was a sudden tap on Dorothy's door like something sharp and the whole room turned plain white.

Rather, Dorothy's vision became clouded and then turned all white.

It was as if she had been blinded by something. She stretched out her hands as she felt the walls that separated the two rooms she was in the middle of. The wallpaper was cold and damp in her fingertips, like mold suddenly grew into it.

She made slow-paced steps, one foot at a time and heard something break. It sounded like it came from the kitchen based on the direction the broken sound came from.

Dorothy Cane then bumped into something soft and realized she had already walked herself to her favorite lounge by the fire. She fumbled for the basket below her chair and grabbed a knitting needle.

Whatever entity that had entered her apartment, no matter how helpless nor how useless it was, she wasn't going to go down without a fight.

"Where is the child, Dorothy Cane?" a low guttural voice spoke behind her. It sounded like an animal hungry and in search for prey.

"What do you want?" she replied as her hands shook.

"You know what I want banished faey." The voice continued. "Do not play coy."

Dorothy would have replied but then she felt a sudden pain pierced through her and she gagged as something passed inside her stomach. Liquid spluttered from her mouth and drenched her dress.

Everything turned dark for Dorothy.

"You have angered the darkling deeply Dorothy Cane. The child will follow soon enough."