Ceaseless Agony

Chapter 4: A Whole New World

“Fleur? Fleur? Fleur, are you okay? I slowly opened my eyes, hearing the voice. “What happened, Fleur? Do you feel anything?” I looked at the old lady checking on me. “Where am I?” I asked. “What do you mean where you are? You’re in your house Fleur.. You collapsed while in the theater and that’s why we brought you home.” She said, looking at very concerned. “I am not Fleur.. Do you have a cellphone? Can I borrow it for a while? I need to call Mom”, I said politely to the old lady. She was wearing a vintage blue silk dress, her gray hair was tied into a bun and she was sitting next to me. The wrinkles on her face looked like she’s in her late 40’s. “Did you hit your head?” checking every inch of my head hoping to see an injury. “I’m fine I just need to call my mom,.” I said starting to get creeped by the old lady beside me.

The door suddenly opened and my body froze. The girl I was dying to see entered the room. “Laura?” my whole system was shaking and felt a whole disbelief I stood up immediately and hugged her. “Easy dear sister. We met a few hours ago and you’re squeezing as if I saw you two centuries ago..” she laughed and the old lady laughed too. Why is she alive? Am I dreaming? Or…. Am I dead?! “Am I dead too? What happened? Why am I seeing you Laura?” I asked without breathing, they both laugh so hard that their laughter filled the room. “You must hit your head sister! Why are you speaking such nonsense?” Laura said while still laughing, “First of all, you’re not dead, you’re alive and here at our house. Second, I’m not Laura. My name’s Clementine. I am your sister and most especially your name’s Fleur. It means flower.” She said, as pretending like a teacher giving lessons to her students. My head began to hurt, I can’t understand what’s happening; if I’m dreaming? Hallucinating or worse, dead. Everything seems so hard to process, I almost lost balance and they both immediately held my shoulder before I fell, the old lady gives me water while Laura’s face becomes serious as she’s checking me.

I can’t help but look at her face.. her brown eyes, her small pointy nose, her pale lips, her skin and brows.. it’s really her, it’s really my sister. I felt hot liquids on the side of my eyes as I stared at Laura. I couldn’t hold myself. I hugged her sobbing. She held my back, patching it gently. She was also stroking my hair gently, making me cry more. I missed her so much that I could hug her all day. If this was a dream, I wouldn’t want to wake up anymore.

I don’t know but I still can't process what is happening to me at the moment, but all I know is Laura’s with me. As long as she’s here, I know I’m safe. We are now heading somewhere and Laura—or Clementine-is holding me while walking. I’m wearing a gown. Is there a ball? A formal party? I don’t know if my mind can’t process at the moment, so I’m just going with the flow. I noticed that people are very different. They’re too ‘formal’ it’s like everyone is dressed up as if it’s the queen’s birthday. “Laur—Clementine, where are you going?” I asked her because I felt like we’ve been walking for ages and the old lady is still following us, I just knew that her name was Olivia, she’s a servant of our family and she’s been serving us since the marriage of our parents according to Laura. “We’re going to meet mom and dad, they went to Lord Phillip’s mansion after the play, they’re celebrating the success of this seasons’ harvest and not to mention their Son Bleu’s homecoming.” She explained.

We arrived at a big house—more like a palace to me, the place was jaw dropping. I was already shocked at the house we came from and that? This big place-house is making my mind blow even harder. It looks like hundreds of people could fit inside. “Did your feet ache from the walking we did?...” Clementine chuckled “The horse was sick and the chariot was broken, so I decided to walk with you.. because it clears your mind, doesn’t it? She said smiling, her eyes shined as the sun reflected them. It’s true that walking makes my head clear and peaceful and it made me smile to know that Laura remembered it.

We entered the gate and I saw a huge maze garden on the right side, it was filled with flowers like rose, daisies and the very noticeable one is the field of dandelions. There’s a large fountain in the center with an angel statue facing the gate and the water comes from the jar which the angel holds. On the left side, I saw a large field of tulips with different colors. We arrived at the front door where men dressed like the queen’s guard opened it for us. As it opened, a big hall greeted us; 4 hallways from left to right and a huge crystal chandelier was hanging above us. There were 2 stairways separating the first floor of the mansion. It felt like I was inside a movie where people in the 18th century held a ball.