Ruler

Chapter 26

                                                  Enid

"He loves me," I pick out a petal. "He loves me not," I pick out another petal. "He loves me," another one gets picked. I do this a few times and reach the last petal.

"He loves me not."

I throw the stem onto the floor that falls alongside five other daisy stems that I picked apart, trying to see if Elias loves me or not. All of them ending on the one no one wants.

I walk back inside, up the stairs, and into the room I'm sharing with Elias. He's laying on his stomach with his legs all tangled up with the duvet, still sleeping the day away.

I sit down next to him and poke his cheek. I don't know but his face is really soft and squishy. He stirs in his sleep slightly but still stays asleep. I want him to wake up so we can do something together.

Maybe we could go fishing but then again, I don't like fish. Do we even have a fishing rod? Does Elias even like or know how to fish?

Maybe we could do some gardening? Elias is really good at gardening, I mean he made a whole flower field for me. I never knew someone could love me as much as he does.

His eyes slowly peel open and he small smile rests on his lips as he look directly into my eyes. "Good morning," he says.

"It's not morning anymore. It's the afternoon," I say, slightly laughing at his confused expression. He looks over at the clock that rests directly across our bed, the one that reads 2:33 pm.

"Oh, sorry. I overslept, I didn't mean to. Have you eaten breakfast or lunch yet?" He says sincerely as he looks back over at me.

"Oh, no. It's okay. You were tired and I didn't want to wake you up. I haven't eaten yet, I wanted to eat together because I don't want to be with your father and brother by myself." I look down at the mattress before looking back at Elias, only to find a guilty expression on his face.

"I feel bad now. You must be starving, don't worry, I'll be really quick." He gets out of bed and into the bathroom. He comes out 5 minutes later with his clothes on. He takes my hand in his and walks with me down the stairs and into the dining room.

The only person on the table is Silas, talking to a maid. When they both see us coming their way, the maid quickly rushes out the room while holding an empty, silver platter close to her chest. Silas clears his throat before gesturing to the seats infront of him.

Elias and I sit down together before he digs into his food, while I pick at it slightly before putting it into my mouth. Silas looks at us warily before carrying on with his food.

He looks over at us from time to time again. Eventually, Elias finishes his food while I've only reached halfway through mine. I don't want to keep him waiting so I just stop eating. I push the plate slightly away from me while Elias looks at me curiously.

He lets out a small sigh before bringing my plate back towards me, picking up the spoon full of food and lifting it up towards my mouth. "You don't have to worry about me waiting for you, just eat, I won't say anything," he says in the most gentle voice possible.

I open my mouth and he pushes the spoon gently into my mouth and taking it back out. I swallow the food as he continues to feed me until my plate becomes empty. I smile at him as he takes my hand in his again, taking me to the garden. He leads me to a swing that's held by thick pieces of rope, hanging down from the branches of tree.

I sit down on it while Elias pushes me. I used to love going on the swing back home, my mother used to push me on it while Vivian would run around, Stefan holding James' small body close to him. We used to be such a happy family but Stefan had to go and ruin it. I shake my head of these thoughts, I'm here with Elias now, no need to ruin these precious memories I'm making with him by thinking about Stefan.

"Can I ask you something?" Elias asks me, still continuing to push me. I hum in response, telling him to go on.

"That swing you have back home. It has initials on it, I know one belongs to Stefan but who is the other person's?"

I look down at the floor, "that one belongs to my mother, Isabelle Crimson." I decided to take my mother's last name because I don't want my name to define me as my father's daughter but yet, as the daughter of my mother. I don't like to be accociated with him.

"Oh, well, she had a very nice name." Even though I couldn't see his face, I know he had a smile on his face to try and make me happy instead of sad when remembering my mother.

                                                  ☆☆☆ 

After meeting all of Elias's cousins, I've finally made my way home, in Europe. I enter the familiar Palace doors to see none of the usual staff there that are usually walking around but I thought nothing if. Maybe they were just in another part of the Palace?

"I'm going to James quickly," I inform Elias. I walk up the stairs, down the hallway, and knock on James's door.

He doesn't answer, which is quite weird since he always opens the door. "I'm coming in." I open the door and I'm met with an uncomfortable cold atmosphere, the still air in the room slightly making me scared for no apparent reason.

I look around the room to see nobody here. I look at the desk that sits beside his bed, a notebook rests upon it, it was left open with both pages filled up to the very last line. I decided not to read it and just close it without peeking inside, leaving it there.

I look at the door that connects to the bathroom to see its slightly ajar, water drenching the carpet that was below the door from the bedroom floor. I walk over to the door, opening it slightly more with my fingers. The door creaks as it opens up even more until it shows me a scene that I wish I could forget.

The water under my feet and that was drenching the carpet from the bedroom was from my brother. The bathtub was so full that it was leaking all over the floor but that was the least of my concern. My only concern was my brother, who was now laying lifeless under the water.

His lips were blue, his body completely still. I stand there frozen while my brain finally processes what was happening. I fall onto the floor beside the bathtub, I reach into the freezing water and try to pull his body out, crying hysterically while doing so.

I manage to pull the top half of his body out while I hold him to my chest, trying to get him to wake up. I caress his hair like how a mother would to her child. 

The tears that run down my cheeks only increase more when I realise that there's nothing I can do to bring him back, he's gone, forever.

He's dead.