No one spoke for the next thirty minutes.
Susan sat over there seething at Peter while glaring a hole in the floor boards.
Peter was trying to think of a way to resolve the solution, calmly and adult like.
Edmund didn't care, he just didn't want to get yelled at by Peter.
Lucy was just sitting there quietly, she always caught herself staring at the girl next to her, Arabella, Lucy recalled Peter telling everyone.
Arabella sat there, her eyes squeezed shut, tears leaking down her face. She couldn't believe her luck, with that girl just looking at her and instantly hating her. 'What did I ever do to her?' Arabella kept thinking that phrase and answers to it, but none of them matched up.
The train screeched to a halt, the conductor running around, yelling what stop they're at, hollering that the kids better get off now or wait another ten hours, without food or the bathroom.
"We 'oughta get off guys, it's our stop." Peter stood up as he commanded his small family, grabbing his luggage from the overhead and watched as his other siblings did the same and shuffled out, Susan, glaring daggers at him as she left. "Arabella, we gotta-um-go." Peter turned to the young girl, who was already standing up and grabbing her bag from up top.
As Peter left, he listened to the white headed girl behind. She was making almost no noise, besides her minimal sniffling, she was as quiet as a mouse.
Stepping off the train, Peter turned to the train door and held a hand out to Arabella, wanting to be the kind and courteous and not appear to be a blonde Susan.
Taking his hand, Arabella stepped down from the high train. Mumbling more to herself, she gave him a thanks and curtly walked away, to the opposite end of the small wooden train station of the Pevensie family and promptly sitting on the edge, staring out into the road.
"Peter we really should-" Susan began, but Peter quickly shushed her.
"Susan, you can just keep quiet. You are going to have to suck up your pride and get used to her because most likely she is going to be staying in a room with you and Lucy, so get used to her. At least learn to stay in the same room with her without yelling insults at her." Susan looked away from her brother and he nodded, pleased that he got her to shut up.
Everyone sat there, the train long gone now. Now they have to wait for their new caretaker to come and pick them up.
The Pevensie's had small talk, very small talk. In other words it was just Edmund complaining how it was taking too long.
Arabella sat on the edge, her eyes shut, and a small smile played her lips, the wind kicking her hair, their fingers pulling at her hair, trying to pull her with them, away from her pain. Her ears just listening to the nature around her.
The wind tickling the trees leaves, the bird singing their beautiful songs, a distant river danced over the rocks in its bed, bees buzzing to the tune ever present in their head as they lead others to the flowers. But something stood out in the symphony of nature, something off beat.
Clip clop. Clip clop. Over and over again. contrasting the tempo of the song.
Opening her eyes, Arabella glanced down the dirt road, she caught a glance of a strawberry colored horse with white stockings coming this way. Behind him bumped a leather buggy, and sitting atop the coaches seat sat a displeased old woman.
"Whoa, whoa." The woman beckons her horse to a stop and Arabella rises to her feet, all the Pevensies standing beside her, also hearing the horse drawn carriage.
"Pevensies and Nox?" The woman sat above them, her face having that look of 'These urchins are going to destroy my perfectly ordered house.' stuck on her face.
Everyone nodded and she couldn't help but notice the small amount of luggage they carried. "Is this all?"
"This is all we have ma'am." Nodding, the woman, who Peter called Mrs. McCready, jerked her head towards the empty buggy behind her, praying silently that they could understand hand gestures.
Arabella, her father doing those to her all the time, understood and jumped up into the buggy, choosing the the corner seat facing McCready's. Everybody hopped in behind her and took their seats. Peter in between Lucy and Arabella. Edmund facing Lucy opposite her and Susan with her back to McCready, facing Arabella.
Seeing who sat in front of her, Arabella averted her eyes towards the wooded area around her. As natures song picked back up, this time with the horse's steps in sync, it turned into a lullaby.
The smoothish rumbling of the now moving buggy along the dirt road and the animals singing to her, how could Arabella resist a good nap? After all she hasn't slept in the past day. Leaning her head back, Arabella shut her eyes and instantly fell asleep.
Images danced across the closed amber eyes. dreams some would call it, but a memory to her.
A small white single level house with black shudders stood on the corner. Inside at the kitchen table sat a man with brown hair and deep blue eyes, his eyes, covered with glasses, scanned across today's newspaper.
His wife stood in the kitchen, her black hair pulled into a pony tail, her grass green eyes glimmered as she cleaned off the dinner plates, the dimples her husband always loved seeing were visible on her cheeks as she smiled and hummed a tune.
In the living room, a boy laid on his stomach trying to attempt his homework. His blue eyes glossed with confusion, his hands running through his pitch black hair, like his mother's. He didn't want to call his dad over again, but he really needed help with his maths homework.
And tucked away in her room, with her white hair laying everywhere across her bed, her amber eyes gleamed in joy as she read over the lines of her favorite book of all time. Pride and Prejudice. The smile permanently attached to her lips, unbeknownst to her, would be gone in just a few short minutes.
In other words, a normal evening for this family. Until...
The Arabella look alike continued on with her book, she glanced up quickly when she felt the floor shudder. But when it went away quick, she only assumed that it was just her older brother, Remus, rejoicing at finally understanding how to do his homework.
Returning to her book, the amber hued girl couldn't help but mutter at Elizabeth to not trust Mr. Wickem. But of course the story continued on track, with Elizabeth falling madly for the evil man.
Arabella's twin would never finish her book, however, for a rumble ran through the house, causing it to utter and groan. The whitenette jumped to her feet, dropping the book on the ground. A siren began whining, successfully telling everyone who could hear it that London was being bombed.
"Bella!" A voice called out to the young girl, who apparently was named Bella. Before she could answer, another shock wave hit, shaking the house so much to cause the dust that had been apparently glued to the ceiling to fall to the ground.
"Remus!" The girl called back, she ran towards her door, she looks drunk trying to run and keep upright at the same time.
"Bella get out of there!" Meeting half way, just as Bella got to her door, it durst open, revealing both the raven haired brother of the young girl and a house engulfed in flames, her room the only room untouched. "Bella quit standing around! You need to get out of here! " Remus gripped her arm and yanked her in front of him, leading Bella out her door.
The young girl looked around, her face having just been smashed into the floor. How did she get here? Looking around, Bella noted the flames eating the walls alive, and beginning to attack the floor. "What?" She pushed herself to her knees, her head groggy from her sudden fall.
"Arabella Cornelia Nox! Get off the floor and out of this house!" A man's booming voice hollered at her, apparently her full name being Arabella, Bella being a nickname. Slowly, she looked up, her eyes latching onto the figure standing over her, his eyes burning with a fiery passion.
"Dad." Arabella breathed out, her voice quiet and tired, the smoke affecting her.
"No questions, just get out of the house!" Pulling his daughter to her feet, he began to shove her towards the back door, the one closest to their location.
"Where's mum and Remus?"
"I will get them as soon as I get you outside." The man roared over the fire. This was the last time she would ever hear his voice.
Arabella felt herself coming out of her sleep. A gentle hand on her shoulder moved her back a forth a few times before she clinked her eyes open. Looking around, she tried hiding the dazed and confused feeling she felt coursing through her as she tried remembering where she was.
"Hey, it't just me," looking over to the voice, Arabella met the eyes of Peter, who held his small suitcase in his hand, her equally small bag tucked under that arm as well as he pulled away from waking her up. "We're here."
Nodding her head as she got out, the young Nox girl followed Peter into the house where the rest of the Pevensie family and the house keeper were waiting for her. "Please keep a better sense of time around here, we have no big clocks to remind everyone when supper begins, and it begins with or without your presence." The older woman glared down her nose at the small children in front of her, not too thrilled about having all of their grimy hands running around her house and leaving the once spotless building not so polished.
Mrs. McCready continued to give them a brief tour of the house, pointing out where they could and could not go, the latter part of the house was far more numerous that the former. "And this," she said with a quick turn on her heels, causing the five of them to swiftly stop to prevent Peter from running into her, allowing however for Edmund to smash his nose into his elder brother's back, "is where you all will be staying. Boys on the left, girls on the right, three beds for the girls, two for the boys. Dinner begins at six, don't expect to be meeting Professor Diggory anytime soon, he has been very busy with the war and all." And with that, she once again spun around, her skirts billowing around her feet as she walked away and vanished around the corner, leaving the children alone for the first time since the train.
Filing into their rooms, Arabella waited for the two girls who were now her roommates to claim their beds before she took possession of her own bed. Noticing that the bed closest to the door was the one left vacant, she placed her luggage back atop it and opened it up. She moved a few of her pieces of clothing around, placing her shoes under the bed, her dresses remained folded and into the small trunk at the end of her bed along with her skirts and blouses next to them in the wooden box. Lucy and Susan both walked out of the room and went into their brothers' room next door before closing that door behind them, effectively locking her out of the family meeting.
Not that she really wanted to be apart of this family. Too dramatic and whiny.
Arabella placed her luggage bag under her bed and took her leave of the room, shutting the door behind her and began her own tour of the house. She only had to hide behind two tapestries to escape Mrs. McCready, those years of playing hide and seek paying off as she learned to be as silent as a mouse. She grimaced at the fond memories she had with her family and gently rubbed the small object in the pocket of her skirt to calm her hurting heart before moving on.
The white-haired girl continued her wandering spree for another few minutes before she came across a empty and rather dusty hallway, nothing lined the walls or gave any indication that these floors had been walked on for months. Trying one of the doors out of curiosity, she found it both locked and the door handle was so dusty it left her hand grey when she pulled it back. Arabella wiped her hand off with a short clap of her hands and walked further down the hall, not bothering with trying any of the doors.
But...
She stopped at the last door in the hallway, feeling like...it was almost calling her as she moved to pass it by. Stepping forward, she tried the door handle, this time allowing her inside, though no less dusty than the other one she tried. She pushed the door open with a resounding screech, further proving how long it had been since anyone visited this part of the vast house, and she stepped inside before shutting the door behind her.
Arabella began peering around the room seeing how empty it was, but before she could see everything and nothing that was in the room, her eyes landed on the massive figure that loomed behind a white cloth against the far wall of the room. She stepped forward, finally looking over to the walls, shuddering at seeing the numerous dead flies laying belly up on the window ledge, and decided to turn back to find out what was hiding behind the now grey and dust covered sheet.
Gripping the grimy piece of cloth, Arabella ripped the fabric away from being a cover and took a step back to avoid being hit by the dust cloud that flew into the air. "So much for a spotless house." She muttered between coughing one of her lungs out from dust inhalation, the youngest Nox gasped at the sheet size of the wooden wardrobe looming over her, its magnificent glory finally unhinged and set free from the confines of the sheet.