Lost Secrets

Chapter 1

            Ciel and Arthur had begun every day as they always had: breakfast at 5:00 a.m. They were always silent, it seemed, as the time of Amelia's death date a year ago approached nearer and nearer. Ciel had always hated the silence from his brother, but understood. As he had fallen in love, himself, with a lovely young woman named Delilah.

            He had no idea how his brother could have felt when she had died from smallpox. They had created a cure, of course. However, they could not get it in time. She had three days before the inevitable fate befell her and took her home; heaven. She had died at 6:53 a.m. on September 17th, 1856.

            He had hated to see the pain his brother suffered and did not want him doing anything drastic, so he had made sure to keep a closer eye on him while he was at home with him. He had seemed to be out of it for a while now; maybe two months. Ciel was perplexed as to what he should do and often asked his fiance for advice. It was rare to ask a woman for advice unless you were a young child, but he had done so anyway.

            Bringing Ciel from his thoughts, Arthur spoke for the first time in weeks. "Do you believe that I will go to heaven, Ciel?" This question had startled Ciel and his heart began to pound against his muscular chest. You see, his occupation was a blacksmith, so it was inevitable that his body would be the way it is; he took really good care of himself.

            "Brother, are you all right?"

            "Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" he had questioned quietly, almost to the point where even Ciel could not hear him.

            "J-just wondering 'cuz I'm worried. Anyways, yeah. I do."

            At that point, Arthur had made eye contact for the first time in months with his brother's gray eyes, pleading for hope that his brother was telling the truth. He then brought his gaze down, yet again, staring at his half-eaten plate of flap jacks.

            Any time Ciel was around Arthur, he had felt so lonely. There was nobody to talk to, so what was the point of even pretending that he had somebody else living in his own house? He had felt sympathy for his brother and understood that Arthur needed time to grieve, but he had wanted somebody to talk to in his home. That was why he had decided it was time to propose to Delilah. He had understood that it was selfish, but he had felt he needed somebody to talk to other than his customers.

            As Arthur just eyed his food, Ciel finished and stood to clean his plate. The two had believed that slavery was immoral. They were one of the few people that lived in the South that believed this.

            When he came back, he asked, "Why don't you speak anymore?"

            Baffled by the sudden confrontation, he had quickly raised his head and didn't know how to respond. "I understand you're devastated, but you need to talk to someone other than our customers during the rare times that I'm out doing something."

            "I-I..." Arthur did not know how to respond. He had not spoken a lot since his wife had passed, but when he did it was always a great surprise. Even then, however, he would, at times, forget how to speak properly.

            Ciel sighed as he realized that he would not get a response from his brother. He had then changed the subject and told Arthur to hurry and that he will be at the blacksmith's waiting for him.

            Arthur stared intently at his flap jacks as his brother left. He had faintly heard the door slam behind his brother after a few seconds. He sighed out with relief, having held his breath until his brother was surely out the door.

            "I'm sorry, Ciel, but I can't do this any longer."