Leaves crunching as her fast foot steps run after the very familiar built of a man. How she missed seeing him and spending time with him. It has been a while since the two of them did their hobby together. Somehow Lane couldn't remember the reason why, she knew father always made it a point to go hunting at least once a week. So how come he hasn't asked her for a few weeks already?
Lane knew that the answer was at the back of her mind but she just couldn't point out what exactly it is.
She continued to run after him but he was incredibly fast, not very much like the father she knew. She always out run him, so where does he get the extra energy?
"Father! Wait for me!" Lane tried to call out but the words just streamed in her thoughts. No words came out of her mouth and her throat felt parched. "Father! What is happening?!" A sudden blow of wind made her stop in her tracks. Her spine tingled even if she was wearing warm clothes. Soon her surroundings were filled with fog and she could barely see her father's outline beyond the mist.
"Father! Help!" She tried to call out again. But he just stood there- frowning.
Then the ground began shaking, she tried to hold on to something but all she could see is rectangle dirt hole that has been dug out for a casket. The shaking continued, it made her look around once again and her gaze back at the pit where she saw her father lying inside a coffin with his eyes closed. Then everything rushed back to her conscience, Father's dead.The shaking grew stronger until she saw herself falling into the pit and was awakened by a familiar voice,
"Lane, wake up, my god you have been sleeping since sundown yesterday." "What happened? Is something wrong!?" Vivian laughed at her reaction and started walking out the door.
"Be ready soon we are going to the Stillworth manor today, you don't want to be late do you, you little brat."She frowned upon Vivian's words. How could she be so mean at a morning like this?! Is it not enough thought that it is the day they would be leaving Mother and become slaves to some unknown family.
Lane grumbled and pulled the sheets away from her body, she stood up and looked over the bedroom window in her
nightgown to see the white snow covering their yard. She sighed- it was the perfect day to hunt for a fox when all of a sudden she heard a voice she has been avoiding all through out her puberty stage- Mother.
"Don't start today; I'm not in the mood. Start getting ready. It's bad enough I don't want none of you to go...Just please" She was frantically walking around grabbing some of the things they weren't able to pack and saw the thing that Lane dreads the most. A brush.
Mother quickly paced from one end of her room to her vanity mirror and quickly grabbed her. She made Lane sit in front of the mirror and started brushing her unruly hair. Trying to smooth it out and removing the tangles. Not even bothering to stop even if Lane was crying out in pain.
"Mother! Oww!!! Stop! Please..." But she was deaf to Lane's plea. Soon she was able to remove every knot in her hair and amazingly did a good job with Lane's hair. On top of her head was a beautiful head dress that would perfectly go with her dress. But her scalp was burning and Lane knows that the beautiful product wasn't worth the pain. She stomped towards her dresser and grabbed her dress. She hid behind her changing partition and started getting dressed when Clarisse came and pulled Mother away. She was glad her sister was there to prevent her from getting any more pain. But she had to pause when she saw the sadness in her sister's eye. It made her sad, Lane does think her mother is too much for making her wear skirts and almost pulling her scalp away but she'll definitely miss her. It is bad enough that Father died and they had to move miles away.
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Evangelaine stepped out of their mansion, looked up and took a final glance at the place she was born and grew up. She had every side and entrance memorized and soon she has to forget about them. She has to grow up and become a lady for her family. She needs to leave the old Lane behind and as much as she doesn't want to- she has to.
Being a maid is far less worse than having no house and spending the rest of their lives in poverty and in prison. Hopefully, the Stillworth's wouldn't be as bad as she thought they would be.
"Come on you two! The man is waiting, I am sure then Stillworths are as well." Vivian's loud tone has once again shaken her back to reality. Lane had to wipe a tear away and breath in cold air to clear her head before she turned her gaze towards the carriage and walked on. She didn't have the heart to say goodbye to Mother or everyone else would probably have to drag her dead body away before they can make her leave.
"Alright, alright! Sheesh, its not like we are off to fairyland Vivian!" She muttered under her breath as she carelessly got inside, not minding if her dress would get wrinkled. Clarisse followed suit and soon they rode off. The image of the Broke mansion slowly becoming small until it was no where in sight.
It was Clarisse who started making things clear and spoke about the first rules in their new lives. But there was only one thing that mattered the most so she asked away,
"I can still hunt right?"She felt Vivian cringe when she asked but she didn't care, she loved messing with her sister's mind as a revenge for picking on her most of the time. But Clarisse just smiled at her and continued,
"Alright you two, here's how it goes, I'll be watching over you and taking on responsibilities that was taken on, previously, by father. You two our my responsibilities as well and I don't want anything to happened to you or you getting in trouble with anyone at the manor because it will fall into my lap with a BIG thud. Literally! So I want you to listen to the head butler who is the head of taking care of the house. I hope you please do as he says and DON'T disrespect him. I know I'm mostly clear about what I'm saying and you know what's going down so I shouldn't have to explain anymore.", Emphasizing on some words, instructing and demanding what she was expecting of them.
Then the carriage came to a halt as a magnificent and even bigger mansion stood before them. The court was also covered in white and it didn't exactly help with the cold image of their new residence for the years to come.
"Oh boy, I hope they wouldn't be as cold as Vivian." She couldn't help but quip, she knew Vivian was staring daggers at her but she chose to ignore it as she stood beside her sisters.