His hand gripped hers as his eyes changed into a madman's, he gasped, “Trust no one but Roland, he has been with me for a long time. You need to get away from those people, your aunt and uncle. I have loved you always.” He exhaled softly and closed his eyes. “Tell her to come in.”
Hanna frowned, “Who?”
“The girl in the hall, I’m ready.”
She hesitantly rose, “I don’t understand, you’re speaking cryptically to me, you’re not explaining anything and I’m scared, I'm half naked.” She sighed realizing she was shouting, “I just don’t understand what is happening. I can't believe I'm standing in front of you with my clothes all ripped and all you can talk about is yourself. Nothing changes with you. ”
He shook his head still closing his eyes, shutting her out, “I don’t have any time left Hanna. She is being gracious allowing me a moment with you.” His eyes opened filled with regret, “I only wanted you to know that Roland is your only hope and that I loved you everyday. Everything else will be explained when I am gone. Your life is going to change Hanna and for that I am truly sorry. Please hurry I can't hold it.” The desperation in his voice frightened her.
She ripped her hand from him, “I don’t get any of this and by the way I know you never loved me. You left me when I was eight, with relatives you hated. You barely came to see me. You've always made me feel as if I were an inconvenience.” Her eyes burned, “That is not love father.”
She stormed away, ignoring her aching body and opened the door. Stopping suddenly she saw a tall beautiful girl with dark blond wavy hair and grey eyes standing in the hall. She wore high-heeled boots and leather pants with a purple silk blouse. She looked about Hanna’s age but older somehow, as if life had aged her using pain. She smiled but Hanna could see there was nothing inside of her eyes, her smile was a mask.
She walked past Hanna and sat at the chair with her father, “Do you want her here for it?” She spoke softly.
He nodded, “A promise is a promise.”
She nodded, “It is.”
He looked at Hanna, “I have loved you for hundreds of years, long before I ever knew you.”
He closed his eyes as the girl took his hands. She sighed as if a lover caressed her, she inhaled in ecstasy.
Hanna watched as he died in front of her, still holding the hand of the mysterious young woman.
Tears slipped from her eyes as she shivered, watching his exhale that seemed to go on for an eternity. It matched the inhale of the young woman. Hanna gripped the piece of paper he had given her, it was the last piece of him.
The girl rose looking at Hanna with glowing steel colored eyes, “Now you see what happens, remember the ancient reed, ‘Do what ye will but harm none’ and we will never have to meet like this again young Hyde.”
She was gone from the room before Hanna could comprehend what had happened, she knew better than to try.
She walked back to his bed and sat in the chair beside her father gripping the piece of paper. She waited for something to make sense.
Chapter Two: Dear Diary
“I’m sorry miss, your father was an amazing man.” She turned to see Roland standing in the hall looking heartbroken. His lower lip trembled as he spoke, "He will be missed."
She looked at her father, once more he had aged in death, but she could see the face that was his. She squeezed his hand one last time before letting go. She walked to Roland and murmured, “I’m sorry for your loss. Mine was minimal, I barely knew him.”
He nodded, looking as if he were going to lose control any second. “Shall I call and have your things moved here?” He asked looking hopeful.
She frowned, “Here?”
He nodded, “Yes, the manor is yours now.”
She grimaced, “My father isn’t even gone yet. I can't stay here.”
He nodded, “The coroner will be here any moment with an ambulance. The bed will go out with him and the room will go back to being the storage room.” He continued nodding, “I dare say miss when you see the study you will want some time to go over everything.”
The doorbell chimed causing Roland to nod suddenly, "Please excuse me."
She looked back at her father once more trying not to remember the good times with him. She wanted to remember how it felt to hate him. She wanted to let go of the paper and forget he ever existed.
He had left her all alone.
Hanna walked down the hall to the large over stocked kitchen and grabbed a glass of water. She wanted to think about herself, she wanted to know what happened to her. Deep down she knew she wouldn’t be able to bear the burden of anything else.
****
She didn’t know how long she had stood in the kitchen, staring at the cupboards, seeing pictures in the knots and grain of the wood. When Roland appeared again her feet ached. She didn’t notice him at first. She didn’t notice the tears that had streamed her face long enough to soak her shirt. She didn’t notice the heaving sound her throat made.
She did notice the shapes in the wood grains. She noticed a man's face laughing-tilting his head back, she noticed a dove soaring, she noticed a waterfall with logs below.
“Miss Hanna you need some sleep, your father always slept for a day or two afterward.”
She nodded, she didn’t know what afterward meant but she knew she needed sleep.
She let him lead her away. She let him help her up the huge Gone with the Wind staircase she had loved the first time she had seen it. She let him tuck her into the giant bed her father had bought her. She had sworn that she would never sleep in it only months prior. She had sworn that she would never sleep in the new house. She never wanted him to know how much she loved the house. As her face landed softly on the feather pillow sleep took her, before she stood a chance at arguing with herself.
She slept like the dead do, she dreamt similarly too. Her dreams were full of shaky images she couldn’t pinpoint and flashes of faces she knew all too well.
She saw Rebecca, her best friend in all the world sitting with her. She saw food, a car and a forest. But like everything else the vision seemed locked to her. It was as if a fog covered it all, only allowing small pieces to be revealed in a sudden flash.
As she became less exhausted her mind cleared, the fog lifted revealing the forest again. It was dark and thick. She didn’t know the forest, she walked through looking for something or someone. Her hands scratched moving the heavy branches, her shirt tore revealing her stomach. She ignored it, desperate to find something. She looked at her hands as they moved the branches. Each finger was coated in something thick and red. She looked again, trying to make her eyes focus but they would not.
The forest cleared in a small meadow making her panic. She was not alone, the meadow had someone else in it. She couldn’t see who the other person was, as they lie on the ground in an awkward position. She stopped running as she got close, she knew the shoes, bright green DC runners.
She screamed as she pulled her best friend into her arms. Thick red streams trickled from her mouth, eyes, ears and nose. The crimson was shocking against the powdered white skin. Her dark brown eyes looked up into the canopy above. She lay limp in Hanna’s arms. Hanna looked on the ground, horrified at the puddle of blood where her friend had laid. She screamed as loud as she could. She hugged the bloody body to herself crying for help. The trees surrounding the meadow seemed to grow into a wall, trapping her in. She rocked holding her friend and stroking her dark locks softly.
Suddenly she shot up screaming. She looked at her surroundings gasping for air. She was alone in her room. Her face and hair were soaked from the tears running down her cheeks. She shivered looking around, remembering the events that had taken place before her wretched sleep. She felt like a child opening a five thousand-piece puzzle for the first time and sitting on the ground staring at all the pieces wondering where they all fit. Her life had fallen apart.
Her door opened quickly, “Miss Hanna are you alright?” Roland entered looking deeply concerned.
She shook her head, “I don’t know.” She looked at the bed and frowned, “I need to go home.”
He shook his head, “No that’s impossible. They did this to you.”
She looked at him puzzled by what he said, but also frightened he could be right, “When you found me, did you find my friend?”
His eyes dropped to the floor suddenly, “It isn’t your fault, you mustn’t feel responsible. Until the elixir is completed you will not be able to control yourself when you change.”
Her mind reeled, “What happened to her?”
He smiled, “You need the other answers first, you can't start on a trail at the end.”
Worry filled her, “I need to know if she is okay? I dreamt she died in a forest.”
He nodded, “She did.”
Her heart dropped into her stomach, "She died?"
He held the door open for her, “There are clothes and towels, shower and change. All shall be revealed in your fathers study.”
"We need to call the police. Immediately."
His face looked as sickened as she felt, "No Miss Hanna, they know already. She was found days ago."
"How? How did this happen? I have to get to her family. Did I do this?" Her breath began to explode inside of her. The world surrounding her grew hazy.
He shook his head, "You must calm yourself. Most of all you must read everything Hanna, everything before I can even come close to that question."
She nodded feeling ill. She knew deep down she had had something to do with Rebecca’s death. Roland wasn’t telling her something, she feared that something.
Hanna shower and changed in a trance. She felt nothing. She knew she was lost in thought and fear. She grew increasingly afraid she would never come from the numb her heart seemed to be lost in.
She walked slowly feeling every step of the cold wooden floor down the stairs to the hard granite main floor. Unbeknownst too her, her father had planned for every single one of the footsteps she took.