10

Izabelle couldn't figure out what was happening. Was it a glitch?

She thought again, but the result remained the same. The mirror showed her the space next to her. She raised her head and wondered how that could be. She turned around but could see nothing. Hear nothing. She gave up thinking he was there even though a pang in her heart said otherwise. The seating she sat on was enough to seat two and there was only empty space around. This room was like a thinking room. A table in one corner and some seatings. Large windows lined up to one side and a fire place sat nestled near the seating.  It was probably the smallest room in the manor but quite comfortable. Some weird marks scared the walls but she paid them no heed.

"Toby?" She called out loud but was answered with nothing but the deafening silence and the darkness that she has been accustomed to with her stay in the wretched Manor.

With a small sigh she gave up her thoughts of Toby thinking of it as a glitch. She wished to see her father next. He was her favorite person on the planet and she wondered how he took the news of her staying.

This time, without any glitches, the mirror obeyed. The image of the room dissolved and an image of the day and her father's room in the old house formed.

Izabelle wondered if the Lord had done something to get them their old house back. She would have to talk to him. She did vaguely remember something about gift in the carriage.

A coughing broke her line of thoughts and also her heart.

Her father, an elderly man with whitening hair and wrinkles, lay on the bed with a blanket wrapped around him and looked like a man on his dead bed.

"Father," She whispered putting her hands on the mirror. Her eldest sister chose the moment to come in and say the same thing.

"Father, are you feeling better now?" Giselle asked quietly. With another round of soft coughs, her father sat up. Gisele ran up to help him sit against the head of the bed and tugged the blanket up. She looked quite concerned.

"I am getting a little better day by day," He said in a tired voice Izabelle couldn't recognize as his. He was always so cheerful. Even when he was tensed. How had he come to this?

"You need to stop worrying father. Izabelle.. I know she is smart. If she was here, you would have been fixed up and ready to do any work without even breaking a sweat. That girl may have had her head stuck in a book but she was also really resourceful. " Gisele said with a sad smile as she sat next to the old man. Her eyes held a pain and it broke Izabelle's heart to see her like this. They had their sisterly quarrelling moments but no matter what, people love their siblings best. Belle had always looked up to her sister for all she could do and tolerate. If not for her, Barbara Edwards would have been way harder on Belle.

"It's all my fault. She is trapped in that stars forsaken Manor and it's all my fault. " Her father said painfully as he held his head up and closed his eyes. His hands grabbed Gisele's and pressed tightly as to make sure that his other daughter didn't vanish.

"No father. You need to stop cursing yourself. Relax. Lay down. Gilbert is practicing with the returned army man, Gaston. With the help of the town, we will get her father." Gaston, that must be the man her brother was fighting with. He reeked arrogance and had hurt her brother. He didn't seem like the kind of man to do things without a motive. Izabelle didn't feel confident about his so called help.

Belle had never seen her sister so determined. Never. Not even when mother tried to get her an old Lord as a suitor. Stars, was that a heck of a determination then. Mother just wanted her to have a reputed suitor and Gisele wouldn't marry an older man like him. The rukus she had created was the most rebellious she had ever been.  Gisele was a gentle submissive soul otherwise. Just like their mother the ideal lady of the society.  Ofcourse their mother did not know of her mom lady like moments.

Izabelle looked above sighing slightly. She wondered if she would ever be able to hug her elder sister again. She wondered if she could get out of this Manor and marry for love. She wondered if she would live long enough to see her sister marry and have her niece or-

A slight laughter filled the air and sent chills down her bones. The temperature went down a few degrees and before she could think more about it a knock interrupted her train of thoughts.

"Miss Edwards? Would you like to head back now? " Becka asked. Something in her voice made Izabelle suspicious. Had she heard the creepy voice too? Was it just a part of her imagination? Last time she had imagined such.. Oh Toby..

"Did you hear that? " Izabelle voiced her question.

"Hear what?" The old maid asked confused. Izabelle frowned and ignored the voice as a hallucination from all the tension.

"Yes. I would like to be back now Becka." Izabelle said putting the mirror down and shaking off all the paranormal ideas her brain was coming up with. She really needed to stop reading. This darkness and all those stories about adventures and unexpected phenomenons were making her go crazy.

"Good because Lord Willington wanted you down for a dinner with him."

*

Love,

Princess_arielanne