Just a Girl

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Two

 It was just about nightfall when they got to Wellington. Winnie had pushed little William to his maximum, by having him not stop the whole walk there. They looked both relieved to see their hometown, but for different reasons. William just wanted to get back to his sister, while Winnie just wanted to feel at home again.

 “Do you know where you are going?” William asked Winnie, and she nodded her head yes. She really didn’t know what to expect from this. Was Beatrice even going to recognize her? Or was she just going to pretend she didn’t know her?

 The streets were more crowded than they normally where. It was so different to be on the streets. Winnie hadn’t even set foot out of the castle in months.

 The people were surprised to see her too. It wasn’t very often that you would see someone who was taken away come back to their hometown. Usually they would move to another town. It was considered a shameful act to come back to a town that you were taken out of.

 Winnie kept walking past all of these people, ignoring their glances and glares that they gave her. Winnie smiled at William; he was so cute and happy, practically running to his home.

 William’s home was closer to the outside of town, where the least wealthy lived. It didn’t take them very long to get there.

 “This is the one!” William said, running over to his house, going to turn the door knob.

 “William, wait please. We do not want to scare your sister by barging in.”

 “But it’s my house.” William complained, but reluctantly waited for Winnie and then knocked on the door.

 “Hello?” Beatrice answered, cowering slightly behind the door.

 “Bee!” William screamed, running into his sister’s arms. Her face lit up.

 Winnie saw one of her arms, and it had bruises all over it. “Beatrice,” Winnie said, meeting Beatrice’s gaze.

 “Winnie?” She asked in utter disbelief, slowly standing up to examine Winnie for herself. “You...? How…?” Her words were filled with disbelief.

 “I came to bring him back,” Winnie said, trying to keep her composure.

 “Bring him back from where?” Beatrice asked, and stepped out of the door way to let Winnie come in.

 “We just came from the king’s castle.”

 “Why was he there?!?” Beatrice exclaimed clearly unaware of the fact that he had become a servant.

 “He was sold to the king to be a knight.” Winnie explained.

 “What? That is absurd! I left him with one of my good friends. There is no way he was a slave. This cannot be my William.” Winnie did not say anything. “William, who were you with when you were sold to the king?” Beatrice said, turning to William in disbelief.

 “I was with Aunt Catherine.” He said quietly, still wandering aimlessly around the house.

 “It cannot be,” Beatrice mumbled to herself. “But thank you, Winnie, for bringing him back home. Please, come and sit.” Beatrice said, offering her a seat on the couch.

 “I have missed you. It has not been the same walking through the center of town and not seeing you, your family, or your home.”

 “I have missed you too.” Winnie said, examining the house. The couch that they were sitting on was tan, and the walls were a cream color with a few pictures here and there. The kitchen branched off of the room that they were in, and a small table and chairs was set up. There was a small hallway and then a bedroom. It was a nice sized home for the location.

 “What was it like?” Beatrice asked, bringing Winnie back into the conversation.

 “It was pretty bad at first, but then it got better. You wouldn’t expect half of the stuff that is true.” Beatrice smiled and laughed, kind of looking a little bit off. “Is everything ok?” Winnie asked, concerned.

 “Well…I…no,”

 “What’s wrong?” Winnie noticed the bruises again and knew that it had a lot to do with the bruises and how she was getting them.

 “William, honey, it is time to go to bed.”

 “Do I have to?” William whined as he rubbed his eyes.

 “Yes,” Beatrice said, and scooted him off to his room. She got him settled in his bed, and walked back out to Winnie.

 “It is just that, well, I don’t even know how to start. My mother and father died a few months ago, and they never really had a lot of money to begin with, but with them gone I surely did not have enough money to take care of a home, William, and myself. No woman can possibly get a good job, but I had to take care of things. So I became a prostitute. Winnie, I had to,” Beatrice said, looking at Winnie as though she was going to judge her.

 “You honestly think that I am going to judge you?” Beatrice put her head down. “I have been through some crazy things to, and you have to do what you have to do. I would never judge you.”

 Beatrice smiled thankfully and continued on. “Well the last few customers that I have had were rather rough with me,” She motioned to her bruises. “But I couldn’t keep William in the house with all of this going on, so I asked my mom’s sister, Aunt Catherine, if he could stay with her for a while. She was always trustworthy to the family and my mother’s most trusted sister. I just cannot understand how this happened. I have finally enough money and I believe that I am going to be getting a real job soon, so I have nothing to worry about for the moment. I was going to go get William too. Good thing I didn’t and you brought him to me or some problems were going to arise.”

 Winnie smiled curtly, sneaking a glance out the window, seeing how it was almost nightfall. “Do you have a place to stay tonight?” Beatrice asked.

 “No, I do not. I was supposed to be walking back to the castle, but it took me longer to get here than I thought.” Winnie said truthfully. She just wanted to get back to the castle to see how Mary was dealing with Trevor and to make sure he was ok. Also, she really wanted to see Edward. She had been thinking about him non-stop the whole walk to William’s home.

 “Well, I don’t have much, and clearly not something that the castle could offer you, but I have this,” Beatrice said, leading Winnie into the room that she had taken William into and gestured to the mattress that was lying on the floor.

 “You didn’t…?” Winnie asked, and Beatrice laughed because she knew exactly what she was talking about.

 “No, Winnie that is a safe mattress.”

 “You always have to make sure,” Winnie said with a laugh, and laid herself down on the mattress.

 “Good night,” Beatrice said to Winnie as she got in bed next to William and curled up next to him.

A/N

I hope you enjoy this chapter! Only 3 left to go! Also, I'm sorry that this was short. It was kind of a filler chapter :)