The Ghost's Diary 👻 ✓

54. A Wilting Flower

A brow of mine rises at the his sudden change and the sentence's certainty. He really seems to be be sure of my going there.
"Yep, and it went swimmingly."

Notes of Mary's lament find their way into my ears, and I shove them away before they can make me cloy my insides again.

"What do you wish to do next?"

The same brow still remains arched. "You ask as if I have a choice."

"There is almost always a choice, Lindsey; we humans sometimes cannot find it.

"What lies ahead is not at all wonderful."

"That's an understatement, really."

One hand that lies on my hip falls as I reiterate,
"Look you two, this is our family we're talking about. Or what's left of it, anyway."

The clock rumbles beside me, just as my arms wrap around my chest and my arched brow relaxes; though, my gaze remains transfixed on the new words scribbling themselves.

"Very well. Though, you still need to know why the gender of one child and birth order changed."

An eye of mine screws itself half shut as I add,
"You said you didn't know at the manor."

"I did not know then, and I am grateful for that.

"This information is better with only you knowing of it."

My chest exhales a deep breath, just as I catch sight of the same yellow object I saw before. It disappears after a few seconds.

"All throughout history, female birth has never been grey.

"It is either black or white;
It is either considered as a damnation or blessing.

"I think that is the reason of the variation."

"What does that have to do with it?"
I wave a hand, while cringing a bit at the 'damnation or blessing' part.

"Everything.

"In 1890, there were two brothers and one sister. The sister died, while one brother became immortal for the moment.
Isabelle's death damned and sealed the fate of the future Knightleys.

"Ever since then, no other woman was born into the Knightleys after Clarence, Matthew's daughter. Even Clarence's birth was possible because she was born before the curse.

"Our family has been plagued by the untimely deaths ever since, Lindsey.
Primrose, Fitzwilliam's wife and Matthew's daughter-in-law, died of childbirth.
Christopher and Amelia, your grandparents, also died before their time, along with your parents, Charles and Jennifer.

"As for the birth order, things complicate from there.

"First, the boy is born and two blessings follow suit: meaning that 'glee has returned' or 'past mistakes have been rectified.'
Yours and Kathleen's births were a blessing for the Knightleys, but a damnation for Meredith.

"Here, I only theorise:
Meredith wanted both you and Kathleen to die at the night of the accident, but 'fate' came in and Kathleen became a ghost and you are still alive and healthy."