If Only |Work In Progress|

The beginning of the end

Catherine's perspective

I hear a crash and then a cold gush of wind, I spring up and run downstairs. One of the windows latches had broken open, I look to the clock on the wall, 1:42 am. I let out an exhausted sigh, then behind me I hear a meek voice, "Catherine? Is everything okay?" I turn to see my younger brother and sister stood there trembling, "Yes, yes, just this window broke." I say looking at the window and back down at them, their pleading eyes looked so scared and afraid. "It's okay, just run along to bed." I say kneeling down to their height, putting my hand on my brother's shoulder as if to reassure everything's okay. "We're scared though.." My sister, Marie says in a shy voice. My brother, Ben nodding his head to back up the claim. I let out a tired groan. "You two may sleep with me, you head along up there." I say standing up to my full height, "I'll be up in a few, I need to cover this window so no snow will get in." I say turning away from them, I hear them run off upstairs. I grab a cloth and poorly cover the open window, I step back for a moment to take a look at it. "Good enough for tonight." I say groggily, I slowly walk up the stairs and into my room. Ben and Marie are sleeping comfortably taking up all the room on the bed, I sigh and decide to sleep on the floor.
Later that same morning I'm woken up by the sun in my eyes and two very energetic children, I get up and stretch. I slept horribly, I head downstairs to start breakfast, as I'm cooking Marie comes down and says, "Catherine, Mommy doesn't feel well." I feel a wave of anxiety rush over me, "Watch the food." I bark at Marie, I rush up the stairs and through my mother's door. "Are you okay, Mom?" I ask nervously, "I'm only hungry, there's nothing wrong." She replies looking me I the eyes, I let out a sigh of relief. "I'm working on breakfast, it'll be done soon." I say smiling, she smiles back and I head back downstairs. I finish my cooking and feed everyone and send Ben and Marie off to school, now I'm left with the task of fixing the window before someone gets hypothermia, but I'm no handy man. I get to work though, not very good work, then all of the sudden I hear someone call out to me from outside, when I look to see it's the neighbor boy, Henry. "Need any help, Miss Kirk?" He calls out, I think for a second. "Uh-yes please actually." I shout back at him, he comes over and helps me. After he's done repairing the window I say, "Oh, thank you, how may I ever repay you?" I say with a small smile, then he gets this grin. This mischievous grin, "One way you can repay me if giving me your hand in marriage." He says in a flirtatious voice, I hesitate for a second. "No, Henry. I'm not interested, thank you." I say in a stern, but polite voice. His grin turns into a scowl, "C'mon, Catherine, I'll be able to support you and your family. You'll never have to work a day in your life." His scowl forms into this pleading look, "Your mother and siblings would be taken care of perfectly, trust me." He begs, I think for a second knowing that he could take all my troubles away, but I'll never truly love him either. "N-I'll think about it." I sigh in a defeated manor, his cocky grin returns. "That's a good girl." He says in that flirtatious voice again which sent shivers down my spine, not in a good way. "We both know you'll come to your senses." He says grabbing his things and leaving, he leaves shutting the door behind him. I lean against the kitchen table and sigh. "It'd be best for me to marry him." I say to myself out loud, "He's rich enough to sustain us, maybe he could pay for better health care for Mom." I groan in defeat, I decided to go get groceries for supper. As I'm walking through the shops picking groceries as I go I spot a flier, "Servant needed at castle, free health care and will be payed $10 dollars a week." My eyes lit up when I saw it, I rushed over to the flier and read it more, "Interview dates: Dec 1st-Jan-1." I read it again and again, "That's tomorrow!" I exclaim out loud, I rush home and tell my mother. "Mom, Mom!" I rush into her room panting, she looks up at me from her book. "I'm going to a job interview at the castle tomorrow." I finally say after panting for several seconds, her face lights up just like mine did. "You are?!" She exclaims sitting up in bed, "Yes, it has good pay and free healthcare!" I say walking over to the side of her bed, she smiles at me. "Wish you luck." She sighs happily, I notice how she looks tired so I take that as my sign to go."Bye, Mom, love you." I say quietly exiting her room and heading downstairs. The rest of the evening was kind of a blur, I cooked dinner put Ben and Marie to sleep, checked on mom, put all the lights out, and went to bed myself.