Okay people, this is very rough and edgy so im sorry. I just wanted to get it up asap! I hope you can excuse the mistakes and enjoy! :D
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Chapter Thirteen: Mother.
Nathaniel and I ran for what felt like hours on end, passing people so fast we couldn’t see their faces. It was like they were all a blur, everything was just a blur of colours through my eyes and that wasn’t just because of my tears. My heart ached in my chest and there was nothing I could do about it. What I wanted was to be in Alexander’s arms and let him hold me, like the other day before we visited the palace; to maybe listen to his heartbeat whilst I catch my breath again. Was that too much to ask? Then I remembered that Alexander was dead.
I felt so full of dread that I wasn’t even sure why I was trying to get away from my psychopathic father; I should have let him shoot me. It wouldn’t kill me but that sort of pain would be better than how badly my heart hurt. Is this how it feels to lose someone you’re in love with? Are these suicidal thoughts right for me to feel? I know that the only way to kill a witch is by burning them, that’s how mother was killed…should I do that? It sounds mad but that’s what I really wanted to do right now. The thought of Alexander, dead, made me want to just give up. Give up moving, give up breathing and give up living all together. This world would not be the same without him. Whilst we were running I thought several times of how I should just stop but I didn’t. The promise I made was the only thing that kept me running. No more heartache, no more hurt Mercy, I told myself over and over again. I will have him back someday.
That chanting to myself kept me going till Nathaniel grabbed my hand and pulled me into a narrow pathway between two houses. He gently leant me against the wall and asked me breathlessly, “Are you okay? Did your father get you?”
I hadn’t a breath left in my body left to answer him. My vision of him blurred and black spots began to appear until all I could see was black. It was like nothing held me to the ground anymore, I felt myself floating away, like my spirit was being drawn from my body unwillingly. I felt like life was being drained from my body and I could no resist the pull. I fainted.
When I woke up, I found I was not in that alley Nathaniel pulled me into. I was in a near empty room, on a bed of straw that wasn’t exactly very comfortable. Cautiously, I sat up and them immediately felt pain on the right temple of my forehead. I felt softly were the pain was and winced slightly and felt a slight bump.
“Ouch, that looks very sore.” Commented a voice. I turned to see Nathaniel sitting at a corner of the room on the floor.
“How did I get here-” I started to ask Nathaniel but he shook his head and got up.
“I carried you here since you passed out from exhaustion. I figured that you might need a place to say with your …you know. And also Alexander being…well…you know.” He laughed nervously and I managed to force a smile on my face for him. He was taking everything extremely well.
I did need a place to live. I needed a job or someway of income if I was to support myself now I’m on my own. I had no one left in this world to help me, I have to get some independence.
“Thank you Nathaniel,” I said.
“Your welcome. This room isn’t much. We’re a very humble family so the sleeping arrangement,” he pointed at the pile of hay I was laying on, “is a little rough but we will sort that out soon.”
“I...there would be no use for that. I’ll be out of your hair soon.”
He gave me a expression that said, ‘explain please?’
“I’ve been…a bit rude to you in the past and I don’t think I could stay here and interrupt anything.”
“But its fine, seriously you need somewhere to stay and live till you can get back from this tragedy.” Tragedy? More like tragedies. So many events have gone wrong so far in my life all at once – being disowned then having my fiancée killed. I can’t dump myself on someone else. “Look, just stay for….a week and then go. I don’t know where to but at least It’ll give you time to come to terms with things.”
I agreed with him. Maybe a little thinking time would help me.
Nathaniel brought me a large basin of warm water and a fresh dress from his mother’s wardrobe. I bathed alone in the room and got into the clean though dull white gown. When I was descent he came back in with some food but I did not want to eat anything. I sat with Nathaniel for a little while, just listening to our slow breathing and decided I had no desire to do anything else with this day so I curled up into a ball and half buried myself in the hay.
“I…I have to go and feed my horses, I won’t be more than an hour…unless you want to come?” he asked me.
“I don’t want to be alone.”
He gave me an encouraging grin and helped me up out of the hay. Nathaniel must have taken me across the village and to the countryside because within five minutes of walking, we arrived at the stables.
Nathaniel unlocked the stables and set to work feeding the horses.
I couldn’t help but wonder off and find the horse Bella. “Hey girl,” I greeted her and began to stroke long nose. Her coat felt like velvet under my skin and I enjoyed stroking her. It felt soothing – when I brushed her coat it was like all the feelings I had melted away for a little while.
“Whenever you want to ride her you can,” Nathaniel said, startling me a bit. “She really does like you.”
I nodded and gave the graceful creature a scratch behind the ear, causing it to neigh contently. “May I feed her?” I asked Nathaniel.
He nodded and handed me a small sack of oats. And I held it as Bella dipped her muzzle into the sack and ate. I couldn’t help but smile at the rate she was eating – did Nathaniel starve her all day?
I brought her muzzle to my lips and gave the creature a kiss. She neighed happily; she liked me.
Nathaniel sighed behind me and I immediately moved a few steps away from the horse. “Sorry.”
“No, no its alright. I should get used to it,” he gave me a shy smile.
I liked Bella, she felt so…different to me. When I stroked her I felt like I had no problems or care in the world. Almost like I was free of everything for the while and that made me feel good.
Now my hands were off the horse, I felt the feelings of despair rush back to me as if they never left.
“You can ride her sometime, maybe not today but anytime really.” I didn’t answer. As much as I liked Bella I did not feel I deserved to go horse riding. How could I have fun at a time like this? Nathaniel must have seen me go to the brink of tears and quickly blink them away so said, “I promise I will not get jealous and slap Bella again.” I chuckled once for his sake and Bella grunted and pushed him backwards a little with her nose.
“I’d love to.” Wrapping my arms around Bella once again, I felt the misery being pulled out of me once again and I was lost in a place where nothing bad happened in my life. Where no one had gone insane, no one innocent persn’s life was taken away from me and I didn’t have my love killed. It felt okay to think about Alexander – I thought of the good times without getting upset; like when he first kissed m and when he first held me in his arms and how I felt when he told me he loved me. Why was this life so cruel to the people around me? Even though I felt no sadness with my arms around Bella but I still had the little voice in the back of my mind telling me as soon as I let go, the pain will come back. No matter how long I clung to the horse, it would not erase the past and the fact that bad things had happened. There was no use trying to hide the fact behind my tears and empty promises. There is no spell to bring a person back to life, my father had searched for one many years after mother died but he could not find one. I wanted to bring Alexander and my mother back, but it would be impossible.
“Nothing is impossible Mercy darling, hope is the key,” My heart began to beat furiously against my chest and I released the horse and stumbled back onto the hay covered floors of the stable. It couldn’t be, it can’t be!
Nathaniel must have heard the voice as well because he called out, “Who said that? Who goes there?”
“There was no answer.
“Mercy let me help you up,” Nathaniel offered trying to pick me up off of the ground but I told him to stop. I listened intensely to the sounds around me. The birds chirping, the other horses breathing contently and the gentle breeze was all I could hear – nothing else.
“It was probably my imagination,” I told myself.
“It couldn’t be, I heard that voice as well,” Nathaniel commented.
“Oh Mercy, stand up won’t you please? God knows what's crawling about in that hay,”
The voice came from Bella. I looked at Nathaniel, “Bella talks?!”
He looked just as confused as I did, “yes but never in that voice, her tone is a lot rougher usually,” he told me. “It’s like she’s softer with you…like she knows you.”
When Bella spoke I felt a cold chill down my spine. This could not be! It was impossible!
The impostor’s voice was exactly the as Bella’s but…different. It had that hint of pure kindness that racked thousands of memories in my head. The image of me when I was five flashed by in my head quickly. It was me running through a field of crops, being chased by a person with that same voice telling me it was lunch time. I saw another image of me, a little older and with longer hair at the age of six sitting on a woman’s lap whilst she brushed my hair. Then, I saw another image of woman whispering ‘I love you’ as she kissed a seven year old Mercy goodnight. So many things are real and are possible in this world but I never thought this could happen. It was my mother – my mother was in Bella the horse. It was her, I knew it was really her.
“Mother.” I said in awe.
“Hello my angel.”
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I'mma leave yall with your questions and that, lets just say that there's going to be a lot of....events in these final chapters ;))
Hope you liked!
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Monique <33