On The Other Side Of Life

Part One: Introduction

Esther and Will. A perfect pair they were. Esther was a thin like a sparrow and had a black bird's nest of hair tumbling to her waist. Her blue eyes were deeply set into her pale, lifeless skin which resembled Dresden China greatly. All year she wore summer dresses, due to her parents neglective behaviour.
Her brother, Will was two years older. He had fair blonde hair that was trimmed with garden tools. He too was thin, but he had some muscles, making him look less pained and stick insect like. He wore the gardeners old trousers and shirt looking unkempt and unruly. His old leather shoes had worn away, leaving flapping soles.

Esther, a neglected eight year old, slid down her bannister. The bannister was recently polished, but as she lacked manners, Esther found great joy in sliding down this massive slope. However her excitement was short-lives, with a thud she landed on the harsh floor, causing tutts from the servants. Leaving her to scramble up, she ran to find Will.
Will lounged in the large bay window, swinging a broken pocket watch to and fro. The light shone onto his, rather greasy shall we say, hair. As a ten year old, he felt it unnecessary for any authority from anyone.
"Will?" Esther said, holding the door cautiously.
"Yes..." he replied, looking out of the window, onto their overgrown grounds.
"There's something outside, in the garden,"
He nodded and looked at Esther "Oh yes, let's ignore them. Father and Mama won't be pleased if we bother them.
"They're never pleased..." Esther shrugged.
"Anyway, go entertain yourself," Will said. He had learnt this abrupt tone from his father, while Esther took the meek, abiding traits from her mother.
Esther knew Will was wise with his words and that he could manipulate her, as easily as she could count to ten. Esther, however, appeared to be a slight girl, unknown to the household that it was her, in fact, that killed the old governess after a row.
She ran through the hall, a room once wallpapered, now peeling out; the oak floorboards splintered, quickly covered with a ruby coloured rug. The silk curtains had been faded by the sun and cobwebs lingered around. The family had aquired an odd collection of ornaments and furniture: a few broke chairs were hurled in the hall for some decoration and one painting, of a female figure and a lamp, haunted Esther.
Esther used to skip down the halls but now she ran, dodging the large decorations. The kitchen was merely better, mismatched chairs and a rickety table. The counters were chipped and worn, stained with old food. In it, sat Miss. Miss worked for the family for as long as they could remember. Living without her seemed impossible, she cooked and cleaned the rooms that were used. She did some gardening and some house maintenance.
"Esther?" She said "Want some tea?"
Esther nodded. Miss was the only person in the house that truly cared for her, each night she would put Esther to bed while Will ran ruckus around the house, causing pain for the rest of the solemn staff. "
Miss passed a cracked mug to her, with sweet tea in it. Esther sat there, swinging her legs under the table.
"I saw someone outside the window,"
Miss chuckled "Did you dear?"
"Yes, I did, two girls, they were wearing odd clothes. I promise they were!" Esther protested.
"Well, if they choose to knock then we'll see. You're parents won't be pleased at all though..." She sighed, when the parents got angry, the whole house knew and lived in terror.
"They are never," she replied, sipping her tea while thinking.
Miss stood up. She was a frail woman, with wispy blonde hair. Her ragged dress was baggy and draped over her massively. She took the cups and saucers, then proceeded to put them in a sink of warm water.
"Esther, the gardener's gone to get you something from the shop," Miss said in her Scottish accent.
"What? What is it?" Esther pleaded.
"I believe it's a new dress and a cardigan, he wouldn't say exactly but he said he was going to the clothes shop. He mentioned some new shoes as well. I do hope he gets the right size. And he got something for Will as well,"
Esther smiled, finally new clothes. Her summer dress was at least two sizes too small and her only cardigan was mauled by a fox when it was set to dry.

The gardener came back, with two shoeboxes and several paper bags. "Es? You there?"
"Come through," Miss said. He laid the shoe boxes on the table and opened them. "Right these black ones are for you Esther, I think I got the right size but-"
"David! Take the shoes off the table! We have enough bad luck as it is!" Miss panicked.
David ignored her "As I was saying here are your shoes, I also got you two dresses, some socks and a cardigan. If they're not the right size at least they'll be clean,"
Esther opened the bag to find one teal striped dress, one gingham pink, a grey jumper and some socks. She ran off to get changed. She handed the dirty pile to Miss.
"Bye David!" Esther waves before skipping off.
She ran up to the West Wing of the house. The stairs were rickety and the banister was broken. As she thudded up them, her mother met her, wearing a nightdress although it was at least four o'clock.
"What are you doing Esther?" She drowsily said, holding her cigarette.
"Going to play the piano Mama,"
Her mother, Penelope, stared at her before turning on her heel and going back to her room.
Esther continued to the music room, to find the, out of tune, piano waiting for her. She started to play it, making a simple tune up. She heard her two parents arguing, who happened to be step siblings. Madeline, the servant came in. "I think it's best if you stop, Miss Esther, your parents wouldn't like it,"
"No! I won't. Don't tell me what to do!" She screamed.
Madeline had little patience, although she wasn't even twenty yet, so bundled Esther up before stomping down the stairs. Esther continued to hit her and scream.
She then threw her onto the chaise lounge before walking off.

The shining sun glistened on the silver knife. Esther shakily held it, grinning her pearly teeth to herself. Smirking, she looked at her reflection in the knife. It was the largest one in the house, used very rarely, often when her father was in a rage.
The warmth of the sun was dying, it became darker and darker, due to it being winter. Esther was wise to this. She took a match and lit a large candle, proud of herself. Happily she rotated it around, thinking and considering. Why would a little girl have a knife? Only she knew.
She crept back up to her room and changed into her nightdress. It was a large cotton one, passed from one of the servants to her. She lit another lamp and tiptoed out of the room. She went straight to Will's room.
"Wake up!" She hissed, almost spitting in his ear.
He woke up startled, "You ready?"
She nodded, the light flickering in speckles around her face. Will slid out of his duvet and sighed. The feeling of doubt overwhelmed him. So much, he took the knife and threw it out of the window. He couldn't do it.
Esther ran off to her room, annoyed but tired. Now her main mission was to sleep. As a very tired child, sleeping was important.
She slipped under her silk duvet, covered with dirty patches, and slept.

Madeline walked in, before the sun had even shone through Esther's room. She shook the thin covers. "Wake up, hurry up. You need to get ready Miss, we have little time!"
Esther practically fell out of bed, "What? What do you want?"
"No time for explanations, get up!" Madeline said, getting stricter.
Esther abided and got up. Promptly she got dressed, into her new dress. She proceeded to run down the rickety stairs while her mother watched, then rushing down too.
Another servant grabbed Esther and ran outside, to the car. Will was waiting smugly in the car and Esther was promptly shoved next to him.
"Where are we going?" Esther asked. A flash of worriedness glistened in her eyes. She looked helpless.
"I dunno, Father got angry but it's not different from the norm," Will shrugged. With a screech of the breaks they were off. The road was cobbled and bumpy, very bumpy. The two servants and the two children went crazy, bobbing up and down.
Esther looked solemnly out of the window, thinking. Steam built up on the window,  she started to draw with it. However this was interrupted by the slap of Madeline "No, you can't do that! I'm not cleaning it!"
"Fine," She sulked.
They approached a large house, well what Esther thought was a house. There were happy women looking out the windows, looking after all different children.
"What is this?" Will enquires, not looking up from his book.
"It's an... orphanage, a place where children stay. This is temporary, your parents have business to do. It'll be a week at the most," Madeline shrugged.
A young woman, maybe twenty, opened the door and helped the children out. She smiled and smiled took Esther's grubby hand, "C'mon sweetie. You need a wash,"

She led Esther up a winding staircase, with a smooth banister, before taking her into the bathroom. It was a light pink room, smelling of soft roses. There was a large bath tub, filled to the brim with rainbow bubbles, the kind that enchant small children.
Esther sat in the bathtub, looking out of the pristine window. She saw Madeline hand over a wad of notes and then said goodbye to a woman.
Within fifteen minutes, the water was cold and she was fully clean, wrapped head to toe in plush towels. The woman spent no time getting Esther changed and then led her in, clean handed, into a hall. A hall full of smiling children. They all sat over warm mugs of tea, plates of colourful food and large cakes.
Other people, Esther's first thought. Happy people. Any people. Only knowing a handful of people has an effect on people, perfectly shown with Esther. She stood, looking scared but again fascinated by all these new people.