Promises of Glory

“There’s an absence of thought in most people.”

-Michael Santagias

Pencil scratches were all that filled the giant, echoey room. Rhode wrote out letters with careful precision. It was odd for her hand to move in such a way. It was unfamiliar but something she felt she could get used to. She’d been practicing for weeks now, slowly getting better, until her letters looked just as good as the ones in the books.

A maid stood by her side, only one. Now, it seemed, after two months of only studying and doing things that didn’t draw attention, Alys had felt comfortable with pulling most of the maids off her, or maybe there was a different reason. Whatever the case, Rhode was grateful. Now only Isabelle remained.

“Isabelle is a human name,” Rhode brought up. The girl never spoke, an odd thing that seemed to push Rhode’s buttons. She’d never known someone who wouldn’t speak, everyone she knew spoke too much. Except Livinus, he spoke the perfect amount. Her perfect cursive strayed, a jagged line jutting down her paper.

She blinked. Alarmed.

“Maybe you should concentrate,” a timid voice said.

Rhode sent the maid a glare. The first thing she’d said in weeks and it’s sarcasm. “I don’t want to hear that.”

Isabelle nodded.

The girl went back to work, looping her l’s, dotting her i’s, and crossing her t’s.

That afternoon Rhode left the comforting confines of the house to explore the gardens once again. It was a shame she couldn’t see who was in the cellar, but there was a facade she had to maintain. Killing or ditching the maid wouldn’t support her role as a dainty child.

Theo turned the corner of a nearby rosebush just as Rhode walked outside.

Rhode ran to his side. But the boy immediately turned to face away from her.

“Theo?”

“Yes, madam?” He gave her a sharp bow, though his words were somber.

Rhode stood back, tapping her foot and crossing her arms. She looked him up and down. “What’s wrong with you?”

He didn’t meet her eyes, instead bowing his head slightly to the maid with a smile on his face. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“You won’t look at me.”

“I beg your pardon?” He asked.

Rhode tapped her foot, thinking over the words. “Well you don’t get it.”

Theo laughed, “No, that means I don’t understand, I’m not actually begging for pardon.”

The girl’s face heated up, she stumbled over her words, “I know that.”

The boy finally made eye contact with her, “I’m sorry, I just can’t face you.”

Rhode knew those words. Knew it from long ago. “What did you do?” She waited for a long minute. The clock in her head seemed to never run out of numbers, always something else between fifty-nine seconds and sixty. “What did you do?” she growled.

Theo shuddered, “I was the one that told the Mistress that you were out wandering the gardens. She knows I told you about the basement. I’m so sorry.”