"Lady Elinora, wake up"
The only maid Elinora had, Nancy, tried to wake her up in the night. She knew Nancy had no good news to tell her, but she could never have imagined how heartbreaking that news was.
"What is it, Nancy?" She tried to give her the courage to say it.
"My lady, something terrible has happened" her sobs wouldn't let her continue.
"Nancy, it's all right. Tell me, whatever it is."
"Lord Edmund is..."
Eleanor didn't need to hear any more, she got up immediately and went to her twin brother's room. When she didn't find him there she headed for her parents' office but again found no one.
"Where are all of them?" she cried out in her panic.
She didn't know where else to go, where to look for her family.
Eventually, she headed outside. And there she saw them. Father yelling at the servants and her mother crying and unable to stop.
She looked down and then she saw a cruel sight.
Edmund, her twin brother, lying on the ground, all wet. He didn't move or seem to be breathing, his face was calm as if he were asleep. Above him, a doctor was examining him, but his expression indicated that it was useless to try anything.
"Elinora, what are you doing out here?" her father finally noticed her presence.
"Father, what's wrong? Why is Edmund like this? What happened?"
"Go back to your room. You have no business here."
"No, I want to know what's going on here. Father, please tell me. Is Edmund...?" she didn't have time to finish her sentence.
Her father grabbed her by the arms. She was hurting but she wanted to know what happened to her brother.
"Elinora go back to your room now!"
She had no choice. She knew what would happen if she disobeyed her father. She returned to her room with Nancy, who followed her wherever she went.
"Nancy, what's wrong? Is Edmund really dead? What happened?" without wasting time she asked her maid.
Nancy was the only one that Eleanor trusted because she was the only one who treated her well in that house except for Edmund. She asked her once more, trying to hide her tears without success. But Nancy couldn't answer her from crying.
"Lord Edmund has had an accident. He fell into the pond and the gardener found him and took him out. He's been unconscious ever since... They even called the doctor but he says there's no hope for him..." Nancy sobbed again.
Elinora was listening but she was talking. She had stopped crying, all that was left of the first shock was emptiness. The emptiness of having lost a part of herself.
How can he be dead when until yesterday he was alive and well. He was laughing, talking, walking, running. He was alive. No, no! It can't be true. He can't be dead. He's playing a trick on me. That's it! There's no way he could have died so suddenly.
She didn't know what to believe. Her mind was fuzzy and she couldn't see what was going on around her.
That's why she didn't see her father who had come into her room and was calling her name. It was only when he approached her and began to shake her that she came to and came out of her thoughts.
"How dare you ignore your father? It's all your fault!"
Elinora stood frozen with fear and with her grief. She knew that, now, Edmund was no longer there to protect her.
"If you hadn't been born," her father continued, "everything would have been better in our lives. You should be grateful that we kept you alive."
Grateful? Why? I live locked up and separated from the world.
Her father was still holding her but suddenly let go without changing the look of disgust he was looking at her with.
"It's time you finally made yourself useful to this family."
"What do you mean?"
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