The winter here was cold and did not seem
close to ending as Maxine Avrams explored the monstrous house. It took an extra week to get here because of
the huge snow drifts. They had finally
arrived yesterday afternoon. But today
was her first time really looking around.
Fires
burned in the marble fireplaces on each side of the entrance room. It was much quieter here than during the
train and coach rides, and it was much bigger than the small apartment they had
after Father died.
Her
sister, Emily, often told her of the big country house they had lived in when
she was small. She did not remember
much, and it scared her that her memories of Father were fading too. No longer did she remember the sound of his
laughter; only that he often laughed.
What color were his eyes? Were
they bright blue as hers were? If only
she had one of the photographs of her father, but she was required to leave all
the things she treasured behind. Mama
was afraid of offending her new husband.
“Are we truly to call him Papa?”
She whispered to her sister.
“Emm, please tell me it is not so.”
“Shhh. We will be respectable once more,
Maxine. Remember that we are to count
our blessings. We have a large house
again as we did with Father, we have decent clothing once more, and Mama will
not be so lonesome.” Maxine breathed
deeply, and stood straight and proper.
Emily, was older than her and always seemed to know just what was
expected from them for propriety’s sake.
A towering man came down the steps with their mother then. “It is nice to meet my two new
daughters.” He greeted, but she didn’t
like how he instantly considered himself their father. Was she expected to forget her own father as
if he never existed? Swallowing she
dared not let her thoughts be known. It
was not her place to speak against an elder.
“From now on you will be known as Emily Westing, and you shall be known
as Maxine Westing.” The man was looking
at her as if she should be grateful, but something about him made her knees
wobble. “You will never have to think of
the past again. Only the future is to be
thought about. We are all Westings, and
I am your Papa.” Maxine nodded her approval as she knew her Mama expected of
her, but her stomach jumped with fear.
She did not like this man that was wiping the memory of her father away
as if he had never existed. Still for
Mama and Emily she would be strong.
“Papa.” She repeated and curtsied as best as her
trembling legs would allow her. “You are
Papa.” She gave a side glance to her
sister. She was doing the same. At least she did not make a mistake this
time.
That night she crawled in bed with her
sister, and hid under the covers as her sister held her. “It’s alright Maxine. Things will be just fine now.” Emily’s voice soothed her until she could
fall asleep. If Emily was with her, then
it was maybe okay.
The next morning, Emily helped her dress,
and they quietly walked down the staircase to the dining room. Breakfast was already being served as they
both sat down at the massive table.
Maxine looked down to the table’s feet.
They looked like a beast’s feet.
Was there some kind of creature that lived here? Everything was so large and massive as if
made for a giant. Looking back up to her
sister, Maxine sat down on one of the chairs just as Emily did. She let no one see her fear. It would be alright, Emily promised. Emily never lied. If something went wrong Emily would protect
her. So, she followed what Emily did,
and took security in her sister’s motions.
The first two weeks passed without anything
overly frightening, and Maxine settled into the routine of following her
sister’s example. A tutor was hired for
Emily, and even during school hours Maxine sat quietly and listened. She learned some of the mathematics her
sister did, and she learned some of the words, but most of the time she was
given paper and she could draw. There
were times she would sit drawing for hours trying to make her picture as
lifelike as possible. On those days she
had no clue what the tutor was teaching her sister. The only thing she could think of was being
able to draw well enough to be able to draw her first father and her
grandmother whom she missed more each day.
If she could just draw part of true father’s face maybe the rest would
come to her.
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