Of Blood And Bracelets

EIGHT-Merry meetings & Courtyards of stone

Chapter--Eight | Merry meetings and Courtyard of stone

October 10th, 2014.
Elizabeth's home,
Woodford.
•Elizabeth•

Looking at herself in the floor length mirror she sighed. Where she once used to see a happy-go-lucky girl who took everything with a smile, she only saw a ghost, a reflection of what she used to be. The lines of her face seemed sharper, more defined and her eyes had grown hollow. They lacked the sparkle they once held and her skin had grown paler, more so than usual.

"I wonder what my mother will say when she sees me?" Elizabeth wondered with a sigh as she sat on the edge of her bed. She knew that she would find out soon enough. But she couldn't really bring herself to care. Her encounter with Beatrice earlier had given her some hope but that didn't change the fact that she was still nowhere closer to finding her friends.

She laid down on her bed wondering when it would all end. At times it didn't even seem real. It seemed as if she was watching a play, a story being played out. If Elizabeth could have her way she would stay in her room. She really didn't want to attend some dinner but she knew her mother would drag her down stairs.

She heaved herself off the bed and started towards the door, turning to look at her 'wall of memories' as she switched off the lights. "Where are you? All of you?" She asked staring at the photos that once held her friends. She shook her head once, knowing that they couldn't answer and that it was up to her.

"Elizabeth! What's taking you so long?" Her brother Jason shouted from downstairs.

"I'm coming!" she replied grumbling under her breath. She stepped out of the room and peered into the first floor hallway. It was pretty much empty with both her parents and brother downstairs.

She started down the stairs, taking slow deliberate steps, Stopping just before she reached the bottom. "Elizabeth hurry up! They are going to be here any second!" Her mother said as she bustled into the main hallway. Spotting her daughter she squealed. "Oh Elizabeth! You look gorgeous!"

"Mother!" Elizabeth complained as her mother started fussing over her.

The sound of a car stopping reminded her mother of the expected guests. "They are here! Hurry Elizabeth you join your brother in the lounge!" her mother ordered. Elizabeth's father also came in and smiled at his daughter. "You look lovely my dear." Elizabeth only nodded and hurried into the lounge where her brother was watching a football game.

The fact that her changed appearance wasn't noticed by her parents seemed odd to Elizabeth. At all rates her mother should have noticed the bags under her eyes. She hadn't been sleeping very well the past few days from fear of nightmares. They were always the same: A dark hallway underground with doors to the right and a staircase leading above.

She shook her head to get rid of the vivid dream. "Hey Lizzy! Wow I think I might need to threaten that young rich nephew, eh?" Jason said as he winked at his little sister. Elizabeth just rolled her eyes but her retort was interrupted by a deep voice from behind her.

"And why should the young rich nephew be threatened?" said the voice. Elizabeth cursed under her breath and gave her brother a death glare as she slowly turned around to face the speaker.

She had to tilt her head back as he stood about a foot taller than her. He had dark hair that was kept a bit long and his features were sharp and aristocratic. A small smile lit up his otherwise stern expression. But the most stunning feature were his eyes which were like sapphires, sharp and piercing.

But suddenly before Elizabeth could stutter out some form of greeting, the scene changed. The room seemed to tilt and instead of the living room in her home, she found herself standing in a courtyard of stone. Large walls reached up to the sky behind her, casting a dark shadow on the inhabitants of the castle. Many faceless people surrounded her but everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. A cold wind raised goosebumps on Elizabeth's skin but it didn't seem real.