Story: Memories (chapter 14)

Authors: Jdwheels

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Chapter 14

Title: Chapter 14 - Smashing the looking glass

[Author's notes:

Crash... smash!!!   Others will shatter everything.

Chapter rewritten.

]

Chapter Fourteen - Smashing the looking glass

 

 

Two days passed, two long days. It seemed as that time went by, the whole Vanstrom house was getting more and more uptight with the reality that the woman and the two girls were gon. Everyone from Mr. Vanstrom down to the lowest servant seemed to be walking on egg shells. It was not a great place to be at the time.

Mrs. Vanstrom finally did come home without fanfare early on the morning of the third day. It seemed from that moment on, the woman was in a very bad mood from the time she stormed into the house, her face never having any real expression. Things seemed to go downhill very fast from there.

Her Uncle seemed never notice the change of mood of the woman right from the start, obviously he was just glad that his wife and children were back at home safe and sound. Mrs. Vanstrom on the other hand seemed to just dismiss her husband at every turn, actually verbally sniping at him with surprisingly vicious words that were more than just curt before she simply stormed off to somewhere deeper in the house.

Susan’s cousins also were back, but seemed to also be in that same bad mood as well. Both of the young girls continued to whisper between themselves as was usual, but simply stayed close to one another, disappear up into their respective rooms for many hours at a time. When they did appear for short times for meals, they did not even looked at Susan or at their father as well.

Whatever had made their mother so angered and brooding, clearly it has seemed to also grabbed a hold of the two girls as well. Wherever the three had actually had went or what they had done while they were all gone, it clearly had been a trip that had offered up anything good. It was way to obvious to anyone that was around right from the first moment they had arrived back home, something had very much upset them all greatly.

Susan found the pattern of her three ‘new’ relatives ignoring her, was back in place once again. For Susan, that was still sort of hurtful, but she had resolved it to be a good thing. Aunt Nicolette could not dump her foul mood on her, if she was not talking to her... seeing the woman’s mood for what it was to everyone around them, it was a good thing.

Alice as well, also could not help but see the signs of the woman’s very dark mood any clearer, just by the change in her daily chores given her, now held the air of very lowly work. Every last task she was given, were such degrading tasks that a simple scullery maid would have been delegated to do. Wall, floors and cleaning out of chamber pots, along with other very displeasing tasks were just what she was given.

Resigned to what she was given for her to do, the young girl seemed almost scared in a way with how she was given the tasks to do. Mrs. Vanstrom was definitely on some sort of tirade, one that wen on all through that first day and which spilled over into the next day as well.

Unquestionably, Mrs. Vanstrom seemed to be so very angry or upset with everything and with everyone to the point of seemingly to be aggressive... and it seemed like her mood was going to not spare anyone that was in her path. Quietly, Alice did as she had ben instructed to do without balking.

Susan helplessly watched all of this happening right in front of her, and saw just how vicious the woman was being to Alice. In only being able to watch, Susan found herself to be way more worried about the girl than even Alice was of herself. Clearly, it seemed that it was Alice who was the main target for the woman, for some reason. It had started from the moment that the woman had arrived back home, and now it seemed to be escalating at an alarming rate.

Sadness along with a growing anger came along with a sense of helplessness flooded the young Smyth girl. Susan could only watch the brutal verbal attacks her Aunt was lashing Alice with. They were done with such malice and coldness, that is seemed almost like some bad waking nightmare as every word was heard. The young girl’s heart yearned to be able to do something to help Alice, but sadly she knew that she could do little deflect any of this for the young servant.

More than a few times over the next day and a half, Mrs. Vanstrom would viciously start to yell at the red head for any little thing that came up or went wrong. The woman called her so many vial and cruel names that Susan found she had no idea what some of them actually meant... but just from how they all were being delivered, Susan knew that those words were designed strictly to be hurtful and nasty.

Every word spat at the red head, seemed to be striking a chord inside the girl. Those venom fueled words seemed to slowly start to dim the life light in Alice’s eyes with every syllable the woman shot at her with ever increasing anger. It was written inside of those blue eyes she had.

To the young servant’s credit though, she never once reacted out of anger or defense of herself as the woman rattled on. Showing so much grace and poise while the woman verbally chopped at her with great severity, Alice seemed to very calmly take ever last word of it... and all in stride though. Outwardly to those who did not know her, it would have seemed that she was reacting to any of it. With a politeness that was almost too amazing for what she was getting from the woman, she would simply answer Mrs. Vanstrom to the best of her abilities while taking everything single thing that was being dished out calmly.

It was clear that the young red head was openly taking every ounce of the abuse for one singular reason... and Susan already knew that reason. It was clear that Alice was taking all of the verbal attacks that Mrs. Vanstrom lashed out with, and all just to make as little trouble as possible for Susan. This alone, showed the great love Alice had for The chestnut maned girl... and made Susan love her even more.

With the girl’s great unselfishness in taking such things, Susan desperately wanted to do something to help the girl, but sadly, she knew that she could not do anything. She knew the fact with her non-position within the family, it made her powerless to do a damned thing to even soften it a little for Alice, and that fact made her feel so helpless.

When days end finally would come, they were so glad that they could finally retreat up to the quietness of their attic room. In it’s quiet confines, they found the time to finally calm down with everything that was happening all around them. Bedtime was the only time throughout the entire day, that they could find that certain lost sense of calmness they each were needed so badly.

With being tucked away from the stress and strain that was running through this family like a wild fire whipped by high winds in... the girls seemed to become even closer. Unselfishly, they gave one another the comfort and support needed, and all while enjoying the calmness of the attic.

Alice’s and Susan’s growing love was the only thing that seemed to a constant thing for their lives at this point. It helped them both to have the knowledge that they would be thankfully delivered from all of this and going home after a time... that one shining thought made all of the other things somewhat bearable for them both. Even with that comfort of them leaving soon, Susan was one who had this overwhelming feeling of dread that still seemed to be looming in her mind. It was something dark and menacing that she was feeling was coming. It was a feeling that this was something that was beyond bad.

Alice seemed to be taking more of a optimistic view of the situation and kept Susan’s spirits up... but she too was seemingly starting to feel something was slowly coming in their future... but that was shrouded in a cloak of darkness, almost like a shadowy figure in a darkened city alley.

******

 

Morning had broke over the city, bringing dazzling bright sunlight down on the already bustling place in all of its glory. With not even one single cloud in the bright blue sky, This was signaling to all of the city’s inhabitants that this was going to be a day that would simply be glorious.

Slipping out of the grasp of sleep, Susan opened her eyes and found herself smiling right off the bat. Her first sight of the day was of the perfect face of the sleeping girl next to her. She sighed deeply with pleasure, as Alice looked so angelic while still was deep in the grip of her slumber. Alice’s light complexion shone in the bright sunlight that streamed through the window, making the pretty young thing look even more beautiful to her. She sighed again, feeling so happy just to be looking at Alice.

Laying very still in the confines of the large bed, Susan studied every inch of the girl’s sleek facial features for a few precious moments, letting her eyes trace ever small subtle curve of that pretty face laying next to her. Drinking in Alice’s face, she sighed deeply, welling up with such a warm feeling that started in her heart and continued to spread throughout herself.

" I am so lucky..." She sighed to herself, finding herself studying the girl’s face again. " That... I am."

Alice opened her eyes just then, and flashed a sleepy smile. The girl was now aware that Susan was laying there and looking at her. Noticing such a wide eyed expression Susan was sporting, it made her feel so happy that she was now awake enough to see it, and to enjoy it as well. She locked her gaze onto the deep browns of the girl, and could not help but to return the look with a contented smile of her own. When she got a broader smile back from Susan, she could not help but giggle a little.

Alice sighed with fulfillment, thinking to herself that this was the best thing ever to wake up to.... Susan looking at her like she was with the quiet stillness of the room holding them in it gentle grip.

" Good morning..." Alice half mumbled, giving her eyes a few blinks to clear away the cobwebs of the sleep.

" Morning..." Susan said back to the girl, her smile was as bright as the light that cascaded in..

The red head pulled her arm out from under the blankets and reached out her hand. She touched the girl’s face, watching the twinkle that came back from it. She snuffed and giggled a little as she made eye contact with her.

" This is a really great way to wake up ‘n’ face a day..." She chuckled, her own heart racing a little faster.

" I was thinking the same thing only a second ago..." Giggled back Susan, leaning her cheek into the girl’s palm.

" Really?" Smirked the red head, seeing the wondrous twinkle in those brown eyes that looked back at her.

" More than I could ever really explain..." Susan sighed back sweetly. " I look at you, and my heart sings with joy... but when I try and get those words out to you, they just seemed never to be right or enough... It seems as if there were no words that could really come close to explaining just what it is that I feel for you..."

Alice giggled and reached out her hand, laying it against the softness of the girl’s face. She studied the happiness that was now being shown on the face held in her hand, and her heart soared with a lightness as if lifted on the wings of angels.

" I’ve tried many times to find my words I wanna say... and every time, they seemed not to do justice to explain my love for you." She whispered, feeling a shiver go through her. " Right now... I just don’t want to get up right now because you are here... I am here... and I just want to hold this moment in time forever.."

" I know I don’t wanna either... but we have to..." Pointed out the brown haired young girl, putting her hand to rest over the nakedness of the gal’s breast... and feeling the heart that beat wildly inside. " What ever we feel, I hate to say this but...We just got to get ourselves up."

Alice looked at the wonderful girl beside her, still not wanting to leave the soft and very comfortable bed she shared with Susan... but the girl’s words also made the reality all too clear for her now.

" Your right..." Sighed the girl with a longing look, knowing full well that Susan was right.

The two were going to get up and make themselves start off their day, but both of them then suddenly froze exactly where they lay. Coming from the stairwell just outside of their attic room and the closed door, could be heard footsteps and rustling noises.

" Someone’s outside our door..." Said Susan, nervously.

" Yeah..." Said a shaky voiced Alice.

The each quickly clutched their parts of the blankets tightly around each of their own naked bodies with one arm and clung onto one other with the free one. They knew that there was no time to scramble out of bed and get dressed, because the noise was right at their door and it seemed like it was getting louder.

With a deafening crashing noise, the door suddenly flung open and slammed against the wall behind it with great force that it echoed through the room. A group of people suddenly piled into the room like ants at a picnic, causing the two very frightened young girl’s in the bed to jump and hold each other a little tighter.

The first person through the door was a very appalled looking Mrs. Smyth, followed by her equally distressed looking sister. Mr. Smyth was behind them both, his mouth falling open as he crossed through the doorway.

" Mother?" Gasped Susan, shocked to be seeing her mother standing there.

" Evil little Jezebel!!!" The woman screamed out, standing there for a moment looking at the two in the bed.

Mrs. Smyth crossed the space between the door and the bed in less time that it took to even blink. The woman’s posture seemed so ridged, but it was her wild glaze that was set on her face with was the most shocking thing. The two girls looked at the woman in complete horror, as their minds quickly came to identify each one of the people that had so suddenly crashed into their room.

The woman moved so quickly, that neither girl knew what she was going to do. Grabbing Susan by the back of her long chestnut tresses, Mrs. Smyth wrenched the girl away from the embrace with Alice. With a strength that was undescribable, the woman pulled Susan right out of the bed and onto her feet. The woman shouted something incoherently right into Susan’s face, shaking her for a moment, then she literally flung the petite young girl to the floor with such force.

Susan hit the wood floor hard, gasping hard as the force of it expelled every little bit of air out of her lungs. Winded by just how hard she had hit the floor, Susan tried to scramble away from the very outraged woman who had oddly turned her attention away and was looking in the other direction.

The woman lashed out again and smoothly let fly a vicious backhand blow that went right across the face of the second girl who had already moved on to her knees in the bed. Alice let out a sound of shock and as it the blow had landed solidly on the side of her head. The force of the blow knocked Alice straight out of the bed and sent her crashing in a heap on to the floor.

Susan was half way up on here knees when a harder slap across the face came from her Mother, sending her splaying down to the floor. She hit the floor as hard as the first time, a sickly copper type of taste was now quickly filling her mouth. The girl just laid there crumpled in a heap, trying to cover up her nakedness as she felt the humiliation grow inside of her.

The woman stood over her for a moment, looming like a giant as she glared down with disgust

" What have you done to me?" The woman screeched with all the force of a full gale storm. " You went against me and family whom have graciously taken you in like this... mocking what we have done for you and even going as far as to go against God himself, carousing in such a shameful wantonness of the flesh!" She snuffed and seemed to shake, while staring down at the girl laying at her feet.. " We take you in to our home, give you our name and offered up more than you could have ever dreamed of when you were that simple farm girl we plucked out of that wretched orphanage... and you end up thanking us in this way? By soiling the Smyth name like this?"

" But Alice an’ I...we love each other, Mother..." Stammered Susan, afraid of the wild look that glared down at her. " I love her..."

" You love another girl?" She sneered, looking right at Susan. " What in God’s good name are you talking about... loving this girl?"

" I do though..." Pleaded the brown haired girl, looking up at the woman who stood over her with hands planted on her hips.

Mrs. Smyth shook her head, and gave the girl such a look of being so flabbergasted with Susan’s heart felt statement. She made a face to show her total contempt, and seemed to be utterly disgusted with it all.

" Enough of your devil-tipped tongue of many sins, girl... this is truly an offence against every single thing you know of life and every word of God himself!" Spat the woman, not even hearing what the girl had said. " You have disgraced yourself and me by cavorting in such perversion with another girl... this is more of a sin than anything you could have done

The irate woman turned and glared at the red head who was still sprawled out on the floor on the other side of the bed. She shook her head in disgust, as the girl stared at her with out even blinking... once to cowing under her gaze.

" And you, you little Jezebel... you, Alice... have nearly utterly destroyed our family with this carnal act against nature... leading my daughter into a this sin filled thing, for your own pleasures ..." She growled, showing her rage in all of its fury. " We keep you on after your parent’s deaths... feed you, give you a place to work, let you keep the home we had so graciously had offered up to your Mother and Father... and then you end up repaying us by doing this?"

" It was not bein’ against you or nuthin’ like that, Mrs. Smyth..." Alice stammered, scrambling up to her feet to face the woman’s wrath head on. " My love that I freely have shown Susan... is a pure love that comes from my heart. I have fallen in love with Susan, and she has fallen in love me as well."

" Two girls cannot fall in love.. it is utterly wrong!" The woman screamed back, her eyes bulging wildly out as she glared at the young servant. " Never in my life have I seen such sickness in my life..."

" Is it not right for two people to fall in love? Is that not what God is all about?" Screamed Alice, stopping the woman’s fury.

Mrs Smyth shook her head, disgusted at everything that the girl was saying to her.

" That is against every thing you know to be right and true... have you not learned anything from your parents at all?" Said the woman, her eyes wildly glowering at Alice. " If they could only see you right this minute...They would be so horrified with your wanton actions, if they were alive to see you."

" You cannot tell me who to love, or how I should love!" Said a very defiant Alice, standing there boldly... still having not a stitch on. " I love Susan, and I cannot nor will I stop loving her."

The woman slipped around the bed so quickly, slapped the girl again with even more force than the first time. The girl amazingly did not fall like she had before, she kept her eyes locked on to Mrs. Smyth, her anger and defiance was clear.

" I work for you...You don’t own me!" Growled Alice, never once backing down from the woman.

" Not for long..." Snuffed the woman."

" Not... for long?" Asked Alice, her defiant look fading, as she looked at the woman.

Mrs. Smyth smiled, but it was cold and intimidating.

" I have already made all the arrangements for you to go and work far away from my God fearing family, you little strumpet." She said, locking her eyes on to those unwavering eyes of Alice.

" What do you mean by that?" Asked the servant girl, as she finally took a step back when the woman had spoken

" Simple, harlot... I had it all planned out, once I had been told of this disgusting tryst you have had with my daughter... planning it all just in case that this turned out to be true..." She sneered again, this time with a pleased look on her face.

" What are you going to do?" Said the girl, the first signs of being afraid creeping on to her face.

The woman gave a small sneer, and made sure to be staring right into Alice’s face as she stood there.

" I have made the decision to send you down to a place called Grandfield’s Point, a town located many hundreds of miles father down south, to work for someone down there... and then you will be away from our family forever."

The woman’s words hit Alice like a huge weight.

" So you are sending me away?" She said, realizing that she was losing the only home she had.

" For you, young Jezebel... If I could have the power to send you to the very bowels of Hell, it would not be far enough away to cleanse this abomination you have perpetrated on my family..." The woman growled, picking up the clothes of Alice’s and tossing them at her with despisement. " My decision will make sure that you are going to be as far away from us and away from Susan as I can ever do. This will be better for my family, so we can hopefully reverse this wicked thing that you have perpetrated on us."

" You can’t..." Stammered Alice, Mrs. Smyth’s words hitting her.

" You can’t do that, Mother!!" Called out Susan, overhearing every little part of her mother’s plans.

With a cold stare, the woman looked at Susan, no emotions even flaring in her look.

" We have to stop you from continuing to do this ungodly thing you have been lured into, Susan dear..." She said, breathing the words. " Hopefully you will change your ways when we will send you away to a catholic finishing school for girls your father and I already have picked out.... so you may one day, become more acceptable in God’s eyes... So Victor and his family can never hear about this sordid indiscretion, as long as we do not speak of this little sin ever again.."

Susan’s eyes flashed with hate at what her Mother had said. It was clear that her mother was planning to wed her off into the stuffy Banks family... and that perhaps had always had been the reason she had been adopted by the Smyth’s in the first place..

" You adopted me just so I could marry that boy...didn’t you?" Snapped the girl, as her mind connected everything.

" Not at first, but this came as an opportunity for our family to merge with the Banks, and it will lead into greater things for everyone... and you will end up having everything you could possibly imagine." Slowly said Mrs. Smyth, almost admitting to it all.

" This is all not right..." Shouted Susan. " You expect me to do that, all because you want it to be?"

" It would be the best thing that could ever happen in our family.... not this depraved and disgraceful acts of ungodliness you fell into" She snuffed. " Having a husband like Victor would be a blessing to our family, would it not?"

Susan was nearly feeling sick to her stomach, as the woman’s words shattered her soul with one large kick. Heartbroken, she looked at her mother, the look of total disbelief intrenched on her face.

" This was what you were going to do... All for a chance to make your family even more powerful?" Spat Susan, beginning to understand everything. " You cannot choose who you love... I have chosen Alice."

" You are apart of this family too... Status...That is how it all works, my dear, purely on your family’s standings in the community." Flatly put the woman, smiling. " It is a chance to become more than you would ever have imagined before we adopted you, and a far better thing than living in an immoral way against God himself as well."

" I told you that I did not ever like that boy... I love Alice, not that blowhard with a big nose!" She came back with, spouting each word with conviction. " You can’t force me to do anything..."

The woman’s face grew red, her eyes flashing with anger with Susan’s defiant ways.

" For the good of our family, you will go off to that school, become what is expected of you... and will entertain Victor whenever I say you have to... instead of this sickening and so depraved thing you seemed to have let yourself get into..." She spat, her eyes flaring red with every moment she spoke.

" You cant do this!" The girl pleaded, looking over at Alice standing over the bed from her.

" It has been all planned and settled on by your Father and I, and that is exactly what will be happening!" Firmly said the woman. "Now... Get your clothes on, for your father and I are going to take you back home this very minute!"

Coldly, the woman stared at the naked brown haired girl as she refused to comply and crossed her arms to set that. Mrs. Smyth’s face flashed back to a mask of pure anger towards her adopted child. She slapped the girl again, with even more force, drawing a trickling stream of blood to come from one of the girl’s nostrils.

" You are my daughter now... so I own you.... and you owe me your very life that I plucked from poverty and a life certain to end up toiling away on some farm as perhaps a simple farmer’s wife with many children... or living as a wretched sinner with some other girl!" She said, so matter of factly. " This is not in any way for even a lowly farmgirl to be... so I will have to make sure of your complete and utter acceptance to my rules with any means that I see fit to give."

Stunned by the revelation, Susan stood stone faced. She saw that the woman was dead serious about it all, and her happiness was now all but being trod asunder by this woman. She felt helpless, her mother her tormenter

Out of the corner of her eye, Susan saw another man dressed in a dark black outfit had come in to the room. Roughly, this man had started to pull Alice out of the room while she was still holding on to the blob that was her clothes.

" Let me go..." Alice screamed out, trying to pull herself away from the man’s firm grip. " Get your hands off of me!!"

The man never said one word as he started to drag the struggling Alice out of the room. The man seemed very determined, and had never gave the straining girl any chance at all to dress herself.

" Don’t do this!!" Screamed Susan at the top of her lungs, as her mother glared at her. " Alice!!! They cant do this..."

" Susan... I love you..." Called back the struggling red head, still being pulled out of the room. " Remember that I do love you!!"

" Ignore that trollop..." Said a firm Mrs. Smyth, stepping in front of Susan. "This is all for the better."

" Alice...!!!" Screamed out Susan back, her heart not knowing what to do as the man yanked her through the doorway.

A few seconds more passed, and the man had fully dragged the naked young servant girl out of the room, still spitting and yelling like crazy. Susan felt her tears come, as she could hear the continuing yet futile struggling Alice, who was clearly being pulled down the small staircase just outside of the room as she was forcefully taken away.

" You will come to realize your vial and so sacrilegious ways are wrong, and hopefully come to repent each of your sins." Said the woman, still standing in between Susan and the girl that was being dragged out.

" You can’t do this to me..." Sobbed Susan, her heart sinking in her chest as she could do nothing to stop what was happening. " You are taking the one person that I love in the world... away from me... an’ you think this is for my good?!"

The woman’s eyes flared again, and she caught the girl up by the scruff of her neck and pulled her almost right off of her feet. She leaned in to Susan, glaring right into the girl’s face with a cold stare.

" Watch me do what I have to do to save our family from a calamity that is your making... A calamity which very well could destroy everything we have and worked for, child!" Said her mother with a growl. " This thing you have done, is as evil as evil can get... This sickness you have inside of yourself, must be wiped away and your soul must cleansed from it all so you can become a true and proper lady... and then restore yourself to what it is to be a Smyth. You cannot throw away the gift that we have given you... the gift of a family that is better than what you had!"

" I knew this girl was nothing but trouble for you..." Came in her Aunt, with a almost hissing sound.

" It is done now..." She murmured back. " This sickness will be arrested here and now!"

" Yes... It is done." Said Nicolette, seemingly satisfied with it.

Collapsing to the floor on hearing her Aunt’s words, Susan began to sob inconsolably. She looked up at the two women with such a feeling of loathing that was building in her. It was a hatred that she had never felt before, all consuming. Susan glared at her mother, for the first time, wishing that she would die.

The woman seemed unaffected by Susan’s look, and stood defiantly looking down at her, giving her a small kick to her bare backside as the girl had started to slowly rise from the floor.

" Cover up your shame there, girl.." Said the woman, unaffected by the girl’s hard crying. "By the time we leave here to head back home, your little trollop will be gone from our lives for good, and you can start acting like a little lady once again!"

" You will never be able to own my heart..." Shot back Susan, through her falling tears. " Not you, Not Victor... not anyone!"

" I own you, little girl... that is enough." Smiled the woman, crossing her arms and standing still. " You will never embarrass me like this ever again, you can mark my words on that!"

Susan grabbed up her clothes, as everyone watched. She was now wanting to cover herself, as the reality of everything swirled in her mind. She dressed as quickly as she could, still crying so hard that her whole body was shaking.

She did as she was told with contempt for doing so, all the while her mother had continued to voice her disgust with her Susan, who seemed to care little that they had done what they had done to Susan.

She ignored the two woman to the best she could, her only comfort was the constant image she had of the pretty young servant. She felt her hatred now was lost, and her mind grappled with things.

" One day, as God is my witness..." She began to vow to herself over and over again while she dressed. " I will leave to find you, my precious Alice... find you and never be pulled apart ever again!"

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