"Over a Book" [MODERN HAMLIZA]

"You forfeit all rights to my heart" Chapter 22

Day three.

It's been three days since Angelica and Eliza had arrived at the cottage. The house was busy and loud during the day, and eerily silent in the night. Eliza rarely got good sleep, and Angelica was never seen without Eliza, apart from a few occasions.

One of which would be now, where Eliza had slipped from the living room where everybody was spending time together, and ran outside into the garden.

It was messing with her. Head pounding, an ache constantly throbbing in her chest, she sprinted to the familiar oak tree and climbed it. She climbed as high up as she could go, hoping to hide and stay there for the rest of her life. She just wanted to get away.

The constant noise exhausted her more than she'd imagined it would. Being around people was tiring. Her cheeks hurt from forcing a smile all day, when all she wanted to do was curl up and sleep for eternity. She didn't feel like crying anymore. But she didn't feel like doing anything else, either.

Digging her hand in her pocket, she fished for her phone, and opened it to only one new notification. Alexander.

She'd not blocked his number, still. She'd not gotten the courage to.

He constantly messaged her updates everyday on how his days went and how his friends were doing, including Peggy, though he wasn't as close to her as he used to be because of the breakup.

Though she never responded, Eliza did somewhat appreciate the messages. She knew she needed to move on from the cheating bastard - she really did deserve better, but she couldn't help but cling onto him. Onto any small hope that he'd be better, eventually.

This new one was simply about how he'd not slept that night at all, and how he hadn't eaten. She wished she could tell him to eat. She wanted to curl up beside him and rest in his arms. A burning feeling rose in the back of her throat, choking up her senses. She swiftly turned her phone off and placed it back in her pocket, staring up at the sky through the leafless branches.

She knew Angelica wouldn't come looking for her. Not since she was stuck in a room full of their siblings and their father. Eliza would be alone for about an hour, at the very least, where she'd then be forced to come down before the sun would set.

It was cold in the tree, but she preferred it.

Day four.

Eliza swung her leg back and forth, hoping the shutters behind her wouldn't give away her position. She sat on the window ledge, one leg propped up so that she could rest her chin on her knee, the other dangling loosely off of the edge.

She was playing hide and seek with her siblings, only they all thought this window was locked, so nobody ever bothered checking it. She'd learnt that when she was young. Peggy and Angelica could never find her - she never told them where she hid, either, so she'd always keep it a secret.

The window opened out to the courtyard below, but the ledge was large enough so that she could sit quite comfortably.

And, now she knew that she'd not get caught, she could sit peacefully and breathe in the fresh air.

The sun was just beginning to dip below the horizon, streaks of golden threading and weaving through the pale blue abyss as though it were a carpet, being knitted with each string of light. Blankets of auburn rays, striking the ground below, just barely tinging Eliza's pale skin. She sighed heavily, listening to the birds sing their choruses of melodies, the seemingly never-ending harmonies that rung through the air and bounced in her ears.

It was peaceful out here. She'd stay for hours if she could.

It was quite cold on the window ledge, but she preferred it.