Maaria's POV
The following day, we were all in the attic until we heard Cory shouting about something, which caused me and Christopher to go see the twins along with Cathy who was behind us.
"He's trapped! Do something, don't let him die! I want him to be my pet." Me, Christopher, and Cathy walk over to Cory and Carrie, indeed a mouse was trapped but Cathy had a disgusted look on her face.
"Cory, just don't touch him." Carrie looks at me while Cathy said this.
"You're mean! You won't let Cory have anything." I sighted and looked at Christopher who looks back at me.
We allowed Cory to keep the mouse so Christopher helped heal the mouse in the bathroom downstairs using a few kits and we watched as Christopher brings over the mouse and gives it to Cory.
"I'm gonna call him Mickey." We all smile and I looked at Cory.
"Careful, be gentle. He's still fragile Cor'."
"Don't worry, I'm gonna take good care of you. I promise." I smile at Cory while Christopher smiles at me and back.
Later on the day, we sat in the attic. Cathy was fixing her ballet shoe on the bed, the twins were playing with their play house and Christopher and I were reading my book about the two lovers in Fair Verona on the couch. That was until the door opens and we see Mother.
"Sweeties! I'm sorry I was gone so long, but I have wonderful news!" I closed my book and remained silent. Christopher looked mad, while Cathy and I had a suspicion look on our faces.
"Is it Grandfather? Is he dead?" Cathy asks and Mother looks at her, ridiculous her.
"Oh, Cathy, don't be so morbid," She looks at us and continues,"Do you remember I told you about my Father's attorney?" I looked over at Christopher as he answered.
"Bart Winslow." Christopher answers slowly, giving me that sense of suspicion even more.
Oh god, tell me she didn't do what I think she did.
"Well, we've grown closer over the past year, and we got married." And she did it. Oh my god....what is going on in her mind?! Have she even gone mad yet? She married her Father's attorney.
"What?" Me and Cathy exclaimed in a state of shock.
"When did this happen?" Christopher asks, still remaining calm.
"A few months ago. That's why I was gone so long. We just got back from our honeymoon in Europe. Well, I thought about you the whole time. I even got you these beautiful presents." I noticed how Christopher was now becoming furious and I placed a hand on his shoulder but he brushes me off.
Now this is what I'm scared of, a furious Christopher doesn't end well. It's not like we have seen Christopher furious, just a funny feeling I have.
He stands up as Mother comes to him with a red bag in her hand, I stay on the couch observing the scene that's folding in front of me.
"You were wrong to go away. To stay away for so long. I don't care why." She takes his hand and tries to soothe him.
"Try to be happy for me. I loved your Father, but he's gone. I need someone to love, and someone to love me. When you're older you'll understand." I moved next to Cathy and watching the scene broke my heart as Christopher debated with Mother for the first time.
"We are older, Mom! Look at us. I'm not a kid anymore! And Maaria, Cathy, do they even look like a little girls anymore?" He gets furious and Mother tries to dismiss the topic but touching his face and chuckles dismissively.
"I know your gonna love Bart," She takes out a magnifying glass from the bag,"I got you this magnifying glass, it's an antique." And that's when it all blew away, where it all began.
"You said we'd be up here for one night, then a few days, a month- IT'S BEEN OVER TWO YEARS, MOM! You think your presents are gonna make up for what we've lost? What we're losing?!" He takes the magnifying glass and throw it aside of the attic, shattering the glass.
"You have no right to talk to me like that. You agreed to stay here until my Father died. I said that I would take care of you, and I have. You have food and books and toys, and a TV set!" But how does that mean anything? We're still locked up in an attic! We live in an attic! We live in secret! How's that a life?! How's that even fair for the twins?!
I stood up and walked to the middle of where Christopher and Mom were, that now Christopher realizing she's not the Mother we grew up with, the one that would never keep her kids in an attic. The one that would love and cherish us, but now he realizes that she's gone and he doesn't recognize the women standing in front of him.
"If you can't have pity for us, think of the twins. Mom...they don't even know who you are anymore." It's true. Cory and Carrie think me and Christopher are their parent and not this plastic wealthy Virginia women standing in front of us. We don't know who she is anymore.
"I'm their Mother. I'm the only person who truly loves them." Lies! We all love the twins more than she does,"All along, I've only done the best I could." I scoff in disbelief. Yeah, right. By locking us up in an attic! That's the best she could do.
"If your ARE even their Mother, you would at least tell Bart about us but in this case, I am going to presume you haven't even told Bart about us. Have you? He doesn't even know we exist!" Mother looks at me and I had wanted to let my rage at her, while she gave me the worse face and insult she ever had for me and Cathy.
"I never could get anything past you, could I, Maaria? Cathy?"
She leaves the attic and I watched the women we once called Mom, leave us. Later on the day, we sat downstairs, Christopher was writing something while me and Cathy were reading different books while the twins play on the bed with their toys. Soon the door opened and Grandmother had something in her hand, a plate of something sweet. Cathy stood up and took the plate, smiling.
"Are these donuts?" I looked over at Grandmother and she had a worrisome look on her face as she took the brown basket.
"They're from your Mother. I wouldn't eat 'em if I were you. They're not good for your health."
The twins took some and so did Cathy but I didn't take any, don't have much of a sweet tooth myself. Christopher was looking out the window and I went up behind him to see what was he looking at. The deer was in front of the window and I smile a bit, but Christopher had a serious look on his face.
"We could escape you know. We could go down the roof again, with Cathy and the twins. I know they're scared before but if we just explained it...and we can time it out with the train." He turns around and looks at me, a look that I hadn't ever seen from him in the past few years.
"Don't you think I know that?" I sighted and crossed my arms across my chest.
"Then why are we still here? Christopher, all the money in the world is worth this. Cathy is getting thinner and thinner no matter what we give her to eat, and the twins, they need to grow up but they won't in this attic. We all need a normal life, Christopher, and this is not normal!" I explained, he shakes his head and sighs looking back out the window, I couldn't believe it,"You still believe Mom?"
"What choice do I have? Besides...where the hell are we supposed to go from here?"
I wanted to answer but gunshots were heard and I looked out the window, someone shooting the deer. A few more bullets and the deer was dead, gutted down. I looked at it in horror and tears were to escape. The door lock rattles and I move away as soon as possible. Grandmother came in with the brown basket and I looked at Christopher with worrisome.
"Step away from the window, boy." Christopher didn't move and Grandmother places the basket on the stand before continuing.
"My name is not 'boy'. It's Christopher." I shake my head slowly and tried not to let out a few tears.
"What did you say?" Christopher turns around, looking furious.
"I said my name is Christopher. The same name as my Father's." Christopher moves from the window to Grandmother who looked furious at him. My mouth was open once I realized what she had planned to do with Christopher.
"Take off your shirt, boy," Christopher doesn't move or takes off his shirt until what Grandmother said,"I will whip your sisters and both the twins, if you don't take off your shirt. Now!" She slams the whip on the end of the bed railing where Cory was sleeping.
"Maaria, go to the attic." I tried to touch his arm while I was passing by him to assure him everything was to be alright.
"Don't touch him! He didn't do anything wrong!" I exclaimed but Grandmother almost hits me with the whip and I move away from him, looking at Christopher with worrisome.
"Go!" He tells me, Cathy picks up Carrie while Cory calls me, resulting him from waking up because of Grandmother making so much noise.
"Maria." Cory says in a grumble voice lack to him waking up from the screaming that Grandmother was doing. I picked him up and then turned around to look at Christopher once more.
"Now. Take off your shirt." Grandmother tells him. He looks at Grandmother while taking off his shirt.
I looked at Christopher with tears that were threatened to spill onto my face. He looks at me nodding his head, assuring me that it will be okay. I leave the room feeling guilty and Cory holds onto me tightly, while we go up to the attic. By the time I had reached up, the sound of the whipping being cracked could be heard from up here in the attic.
Cathy and Carrie were sitting around the garden and I sat next to Cathy, placing Cory on my right side. The sound of the whip crack being repeated and Cory holds onto my arm while Cathy places her head on my shoulder and Carrie wanted to sit on my lap. The twins knew something was wrong, Cathy knew something was wrong because I had let my tears down my face, as much as I hated them seeing me like this, they provided the comfort I needed when I should be doing the same for them.
All three of them hugged me, as I kept hearing Christopher's painful grunting was being heard from up here in the attic. I let the twins hold onto me, hugging me. Cathy had her head on my shoulder and I tried to keep myself from crying or making a noise of me crying as the repeated grunts were being heard.
I am so scared. What if we lose him? What would we do? How would we escape? Everything felt so scary and surreal in the moment. The same moment, I had made it my own life job to make sure Corrine will get what she deserves and that the Foxworth name would no longer be heard by Virginia or any other country. Her name wouldn't be the same when people smell roses, it would be tarnished with the spoils of war.
Once the whipping crack sound was no longer heard, the twins stayed with Cathy but I assured them that it was okay to come down. With me leading them down from the attic, and I opened the door, seeing Christopher's back all bloodied up badly. Cathy put the twins in our shared bed, so that they don't see Christopher's back. I walked over to Christopher in silence and grabbed his hand gently to tend to his wounds in the bathroom.
I grabbed a towel and dampened it with water. Gently I tabbed on his wound and I could feel he didn't want to cry or anything, after the tension between us I started to speak up.
"I was so scared. I was thinking....what would happen if we lost you just like how we lost Dad? If something happened to you..."
"Don't worry Maria," He turns around and I placed the towel on the sink, as he looks at me,"I'm right here," He moves closer to me until there was a few space between us,"I'm right here." I looked at him and he gently leans in. Our lips touched and it was slow and gentle. We broke the kiss a bit until Christopher places his hand on my cheek, causing us to kiss once again.
I know that for the first time, in a long time, I had felt something good, something worthwhile, something I had to treasure forever and ever. For we were only kids in the attic.
<.>
The tension has broke, I repeat the tension has broke 🌸. Now I realize it ain't all sunshine and unicorns with a pot of gold but it always smitten me so. It's so beautiful, minus the relation, which doesn't bother me, it just makes me wanna cry, even though this is like a total cliché but in a good way 😢 it just so beautiful. I can not describe it anymore than that.
I really do hope y'all have enjoyed the seventh chapter. So leave a comment, vote for this chapter, and rate it on a scale of 1-10. Love hearing from y'all.
Wherever you are in this world, have a magical day/night, bye! ♥️