Cornelia And Tobias - A Story

1, 2, 3 & 4

_{Part 4}

_IMAGE

_{– I hope you don't expect me to...
Gaby starts to speak, but gets interrupted by Helena.}

_{– Would you please listen what I have to say first? With an open mind. Just listen, and after that, decide what to do with the information I have given to you.
Helena leaned back and continued:
– In that year when I was born, my parents owned a mansion which used to stand on this property. I grew up to be a happy child surrounded with love. My parents would come running when they heard me cry. They would drown me with toys and give what I asked for. When I was six, a new bundle of joy came to us. My baby brother Fredericus, Fred was born. I watched over him like an owl, not allowing anything to touch him. Not even a mosquito. He grew up to be a very adorable boy and we enjoyed childhood most children would be envious about...
Helena paused for while.
– Then it happened one day... ^@macoolette
Helena paused again.}

_{– Am I now supposed to ask what happened?
Gaby also leaned back to her armchair and continued with a sharp and skeptic voice:
– Alright. I will ask you. I will play along. What happened in your story? What happened next in that fairy tail that you are giving me instead of the truth? Instead of the facts that you could tell me about this all.
Gaby waived her hand.
– About this house, about the voices we heard, about the man in the photograph, about the weird draft, about your devices, your app and the image that you call a map. About the lie that you claim to be my great... no, greater than great grandma. Not to mention this freaking burn mark that I have in my hand. Well fuck Helena. Fuckity fuck fuck Helena! Let me just grab a joint and get comfortable here. So please do tell me. WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED NEXT?}

_{Helena stared at Gaby for a moment. Then she started rolling her sleeves and said:
– You sound like me when I was younger. Well, not young, but younger than I am now. I understand that you are upset. And a bit stressed and angry.}

_{– A bit!}

_{– There was this one day that I will remember as long as I live. That day I started to keep a diary. Because of what happened to me and my brother.
Helena showed her hands to Gaby. She had similar burn marks in them.
– The day that me and my brother got our first burn marks. I was thirteen years old then. He was seven. That burn mark and every single one after that, until I was 16 years old, never faded away. I guess it was because I was so young.}

Part 5

– I wish you a good night my dear child. Sleep well.
Woman rises from the bedside, smiles to the little boy in the bed and whispers to the child carer beside the door:
– Thank you Alicia, tomorrow is going to be a fun day at the carnival and I think Fred will be very tired when we come back home. You have a lovely day off with your family.

– Thank you Madam. Have a wonderful day at the carnival too. Good night.
Alicia curtsies and leaves the door. The woman takes a last look at Fred sleeping and closes the door. She walks to the other end of the hallway, opens the door at the end of it and talks to the girl inside:
– You can stay awake for an hour Helena, but then you have to go to sleep. We have a long but fun day ahead tomorrow. And even thou you are already thirteen, you need to have enough sleep before it.

– Yes mama, I will go to bed soon, Helena answers and runs to the door to hug her mother and continues:
– I am so exited to see the elephants and the people flying in the air. I try my best to sleep, but I hope I am not too exited. If I can not help but to think of tomorrow and can not sleep, I will use my willpower to stay awake tomorrow.

– Yes Helena, the woman laughs and hugs her back.
– You do have a very strong willpower. Now goodnight! Your papa and I will be going to sleep soon too.
The woman shuts the door, walks the hallway back and down the grand stairs. As she is walking down the stairs, she glides her fingers on the stair handrails and smiles gently.

Photo: CC BY-SA 4.0 - Insaneworks

She passes a window where she quickly looks at her reflection, corrects her hair and dress a little. She continues thru the big hall to the study, opens the study door quietly and finds her husband sitting beside the fireplace, holding a whiskey glass in his hand. The woman walks in front of her husband, takes the glass, takes a sip, puts the glass on the table, bends over her husband and whispers:
– Dear Sir, what do you think of an early night in my bed?

– Cornelia? The man answers and raises his eyes.
– Are you sure? So soon after the miscarriage? It has been only three months.

– I am sure Tobias. God gives and god takes. We just have to accept that. God has also given you to me. And you are everything that an old girl like me could ever want. Love is a luxury, but you have given it to me. And two wonderful children whom both I love very much. Cornelia takes his hand, leans back as Tobias rises and puts his other hand on her waist.

– At the first moment we met, I have always loved your boldness and the fact that you are not afraid to speak out your mind and take what you want, although you are a lady from your fingertips to your lovely toes. And I think, if you truly were a god-fearing woman, you wouldn't be the bold lady you are, my love. The woman I want, who I crave for. And if we do not hurry, I am not sure we can make it all the way to your bedroom.

Cornelia rises her other hand to her husband's neck, sinks her fingers to his hair and whispers:
– I am not stopping you. The servants know better not to come here and Alicia has left home for the day. Now I have told Alicia to tie my corset differently for the past week. Different than usual. It can be loosened and taken of with only one hand, by pulling these ribbons, just under here...

Knock on the door interrupts Cornelia. She and Tobias reluctantly take a step back and turn towards the door. Tobias is about to answer, but before he has a change to say anything, there is another knock on the door and they hear Alicias tightened voice:
– Madam? Lord?

Cornelia and Tobias look at each other knowing that something is wrong, Cornelia can't help herself, takes few quick steps to the door and opens the door at the same time as she asks:
– What is it Alicia? What is wrong?
As the door opens she sees Alicias frightened face and a notebook in her hands.

Tobias comes to the door:
– Alicia, tell us this instant!

– Are the children here with you, Lord? Alicia looks at Tobias.

– No of course they are not. They know they are not allowed to come here. They are sleeping upstairs.

– Oh I am sorry to say but no my Lord and Madam, they are not. I forgot to give this old unused notebook to Lady Helena. Lady asked me to find it earlier. She told me that she wanted to start writing a diary^{@nyarlathotep} and tomorrow would be a good day to start as you are going to the carnival. I went to her room but she wasn't there. That is not unusual as I know she has a habit to visit Master Fredericus before she goes to sleep. But when I went to look for her in Master Fredericus room, I found that... Alicia takes a deep breath and instinctively presses the notebook tighter to her chest.
– I... They were not there. And I looked under their beds, inside the closets and the other rooms too. I run to the kitchen and to the attic, but the attic door is locked as usual. The windows are closed and I didn't see any steps in the peculiarly early autumn snow outside the doors. I... I can not find them anywhere Madam.
Alicia turns her desperate eyes towards Cornelia.

---

To be continued...

This story is published under the Creative Commons license CC BY-SA 4.0

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That's it! For now.
Now I need you.

Tell me where to go with my story. Give me a clue or a suggestion.

How?

Comment a short sentence or two. If you have no words, comment with a picture or a photograph. Or a link. Anything! Your words or someone elses. A photograph taken by you or someone else. You can comment more than once, but perhaps not more than 5 suggestions. Before 7 days has gone, I will choose one comment. Or more if I feel like it.

But I don't know what to say!

That's okay. We've all been there at some point. Interesting, but brain all empty. You can also upvote someone else who has commented this post. That may have an influence to my selection.

Important!

If you comment with someone elses words or image, please mention the source also. If you don't mention the source, I assume the words or the image is yours and I will credit you. Words: @[you], images: ©copyright @[you]. If you want to be mentioned in some other way, please attach the text and/or link.

Why?

Well, mainly for fun, but also because depending on what I like, you will be rewarded for your comment. Upvote, SBI, a little bit of STEEM or SBD.

Does the little grammarist inside you cry tears of blood when you read my text?

No worries! Feel free to correct my grammar! I encourage you to do that. You can also suggest something to be changed if you think things could be written better than I have done. Help and suggestions are appreciated. Really. Truly. :)
Why am I using – instead of " " in the dialogue? Answer. _{Because I want to. And because I'm stubborn.}

Yours,
Insanewords

P.S.
This photo is taken inside the Hatanpää mansion in Tampere. More info of the mansion at the end of this post.

Photo: CC BY-SA 4.0 - Insaneworks