Authors note: the above pictures are what I imagine Georgina (left) and Elizabeth (right) to look like.
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"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past" – F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby.
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I do not know much about the world, except the fact I wish to cease my existence in it. No point of the day brings me any condition of joy, happiness or even makes the corners of my mouth turn up in a way that indicates that anything made me happy. Mother was worried about me when I told her this. She looked at me and said, "My dear Elizabeth, you do not know what happiness is until you search for it in the right places."
I said nothing. I stood up, walked up to the door frame, and turned. She was staring at me, a single tear falling down her face. I thought about going back to comfort her, but I just turned and walked up the stone steps, each step sending a rush of cold through my bare feet and up the lower half of my legs. I got to the top of the stairs and stopped. I crouched and leaned down towards the stairs and looked through the crack of the living room door. I slithered down the banister and I sat at the top of the stairs watching her. She wiped a tear from her eye, stood up and slowly walked to the telephone. I sat up straighter and craned my neck to hear.
I heard Mothers long fingernails tap against the table as she picked up the phone. I leaned forwards as much as I could, listening more intently. Slowly, something that felt like a finger poked the bottom of my back. I jolted upright, biting my lip to make sure I was silent, so mother did not know I was there. The finger made its way up my back. There were 2 fingers, then 3,4, until there was a whole hand gripping the back of my neck. I was terrified, and as I turned my head slightly, the terror melted away.
"Wh-" Ida, our housemaid started to talk, but I grabbed her hand and pulled her down to the step I was on. I held one finger to my lips, then gestured to the gap in the living room door. Ida silently sat down next to me, placing a key on the step. She leaned up to my head and whispered. "Who do you think she is calling?"
"Doctor Allen." I said, sighing.
She gave me a sympathetic smile.
"Come with me." Ida extended her hand and took me down the stairs. She whisked us silently past the living room and out of the front door, closing it quietly. We ran out of our front garden and out to the pond. She walked in front of me, pulling me towards it. She walked too far, and her foot went down into the wet mud.
"Goodness." She moaned, trying to pull her foot out. She let go of my hand and I walked around her and grabbed her ankle, trying to pull it out. We both pulled, easing it looser and looser, until it finally came loose and we both fell, falling back onto the mud. I scrambled up, looking down at my muddy dress.
"Mother is going to kill me." I said, looking up at Ida. She looked at me, then looked down at her foot. We both glanced at each other once more, then started to chuckle. Ida's hand moved away from her forehead and down to her ankle. Her eyes widened, then moved towards the mud. Something glistened.
"No!" she yelled, darting forward, and searching through the mud.
"Ida? Are you okay?" I asked, walking towards her. She pushed me away as she pulled something out of the mud and shoved it in her pocket. She stood up and looked at me, moving her hand over her pocket to protect it.
"Ida, what is it?" I walked further towards her. She started to step back, and she slipped on the mud again and started to fall. I grabbed her arm and yanked her back onto the grass. We both fell, and I saw the thing in her pocket fall out onto the grass. I scrambled, tripping over my dress and reaching for it. I snatched it, as Ida tried to do the same. I sprung up and stepped back from Ida, looking at what it was.
