"Telegram for Madame Elizabeth Eli," the boy piped. I smiled as I took the message from him.
"Won't you come in, my child?"
"No, thank you, Madame. I must hurry home this evening."
"Very well," I said to the adorable blonde child at my door. "Wait just one moment, I'll fetch you something for the journey."
I hurried to the kitchen and sliced a fresh apple pie. Grabbing a cloth napkin, I wrapped a slice and returned to the main hall. "Here, don't make yourself ill." A toothless smile lit up his drawn face as he turned to leave. "Wait!" I cried. I laid two coins in his hand.
"Gee, thanks, mum!" he exclaimed, eyes sparkling brightly. I grinned and took my telegram to the parlor to read it. The message took my breath away, and quickly turned my smile upside down. Husband and baby dead [stop] Do not return [stop] Fever rages [stop]
"NO!" I shrieked, tears quickly filling my eyes and overflowing. I dropped to my knees, feeling as though my heart had been torn from within my breast. The telegram fluttered to the ground as I sobbed and wrenched my clothes in twain.
"Madame!" Ellen gasped from the doorway The servant rushed into the room. "Madame, cease!"
I ignored her. "No!" I screamed. Ellen quickly took charge, shaking me to calm me. I struggled to free myself from her grasp, but to no avail. She crushed me to her ample bosom.
"Madame, you must cease this torment! What has happened?" She searched the room with her penetrating brown eyes. Her gaze fell upon the sheet of paper which lay beside us. I quivered as she brought it near.
"Oh, Mistress Elizabeth," she crooned, when she had read it. She again pulled me close, and stroked my auburn hair. My breath came hard and fast, as I tried desperately to calm myself. We sat there for the better part of an hour, then she took me to my chambers where I cried myself to sleep.
"Elizabeth," a voice boomed in the darkness of my mind. "Elizabeth!" I stirred in my bed. A knock pounded at my door. The final cobwebs of sleep shook from my mind as I sprang from my bed.
"Phillip?" I whispered. It was his voice I heard, the gruff, raspy voice of my deceased husband.
"Elizabeth!" The cry was so violent it shook the windows. I quickly threw on my robe of purest white silk and hurriedly unbarred the door. A gurgling came from the end of the hall. Thud, thud, gurgle, gurgle. Was it my own heart pounding, my stomach churning? Or... no, wait! Another sound joined them now... clank, clank, clank! came the unmistakable sound of a heavy chain being dragged across the wooden floorboards.
Did I dare cry out? I took a deep breath and willed my heart to beat at its usual pace. "Only a dream," I said out loud to no one. Supposing my nightmare out of the way, I turned to again assume the state of glorious sleep. I laid down, barely awake, when my anxious ears picked up the steadily growing wail of a hungry babe.
"Christine!" I gasped. I rose again, my heart now beating so hard against my ribs that I could barely breathe. For, as though to mask the baby's cry, came the gentle swish of fabric, followed by the original thud, thud, thud, gurgle, gurgle, clank. The fear in me made me begin to run the other way, but me mother's heart forced me to stop and go to my child.
I searched the room frantically, looking for my daughter. "Christine! Christine Galiana! Mother is coming!" There was no reply. The call ended as abruptly as it had began. I slumped in the wooden rocker, my mind clearing more with every tear that escaped my dark lashes. Christine was gone with Phillip. I would never see either of them again.
"Elizabeth," it came again, this time in the whisper of a summer breeze. I froze, all of my wits gone and replaced with terror. The sounds that I thought had ceased came nearer now, nearer, nearer. Still frozen, I clasped my hands in prayer. Thud, thud, thud, gurgle, gurgle, clank, swish, swish. Closer, closer, now as near as my own pounding heart.
I shrieked, and the noise seemed to stop. At the same time, an ice-cold hand touched my shoulder. Glancing out of the corner of my eye, I beheld a bony, white, jagged arm, frozen as with death.
"Elizabeth."
I turned, the blood surging through my veins like a locomotive. Utter blackness met me, unending darkness. I slowly raised my eyes farther, farther, until a blinding white light found my face, pounding from the hood of the dusky cloak. Staring into the light, I saw my husband holding my daughter. He beckoned silently.
"Phillip!" Whether I cried aloud or in my head I will never know. I stepped closer, closer. He embraced me, and all went black... forever.
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