Willow had spent her morning reading. Because that was the only thing that could keep her mind occupied enough to not be thinking about tonight 24/7. But every now and then it still happened that her thoughts escaped the small island that the story took place on and slipped back to the somewhat near future.
When lunch time came around, Willow was told that her brother was out and probably wouldn't return till the late afternoon. She didn't mind having lunch by herself. If she were honest she even preferred it. Oh how she had come to hate that bone-crushing silence between her and Philip at meals. But there was really no way to avoid it. He wouldn't let her have her meals in her room by herself and he also wasn't keen on having a conversation with her.
But today she had the whole dining room to herself, the whole house even. In an instant a whole lot of crazy ideas about what she could be doing came to her head. She could run around the hallways like a mad woman. Break into her brother's room on the hunt for some hidden away treasure.
Willow couldn't help but wonder if he had anything like that at all. Maybe some cheesy love letter to a girl? As far as she knew her brother was not romantically involved with any girl, but who knows, he could be meeting up with someone right now. They might have a lovely little picnic in a park and then go for an afternoon stroll.
But Philip was way too caught up in his business affairs to bother with something like love. On the other hand, maybe he hadn't planned for it but it just happened. Like with Willow and Marcus.
As soon as Willow noticed what she had actually just thought, she stopped dead in her tracks. Could that really be considered love? They barely knew each other. They had only met three times and two of those times Marcus hadn't even known she was a girl. He still didn't know who she really was. How could she be thinking that this was love?
Maybe because she was constantly thinking about him? Because no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't keep Marcus from her mind for all too long. Thinking about what he was doing, when he wasn't meeting up with her. Wondering if he had enjoyed his hunting trip with his friends yesterday. Could he have passed that very spot where they met for the first time on his trip yesterday? And if he did, had it reminded him of her?
Shaking her head to get those thoughts out of her mind again, Willow tried to focus back on what she had originally been thinking about. What had that been again? Oh yes, right, all the things she could be doing while her brother was gone. She could sneak into the study to get some new books, as she was nearly finished with the one she was currently reading.
There were still some unread books left in the attic, but their number was getting smaller and smaller and it surely wouldn't hurt to get a few books from the study to read next. Not so many that he would notice of course, just, maybe two of three.
Willow would for once have the chance to take her time with choosing a book. Philip had stuck to the rule of not allowing her into the study ever since she barged into his conversation with Charles nearly three years ago. And so Willow had stuck to getting books from the attic instead.
But today she would have the chance to get some newer books from the study without having to worry about her brother.
Right after she had finished her lunch, she made her way up the stairs and towards the study. She would rather get the books right now because she didn't know when exactly her brother would be back and the last thing she wanted was to get caught. God, he'd freak out again on her. And for what? Nothing, absolutely nothing. He was such a stuck-up idiot. It wasn't fair that he had the study all to himself. But there was really nothing Willow could do about it, other than taking chances like this on the very rare occasions that they did happen.
Slowly walking down the hallway on the upper floor she was unconsciously trying to avoid any noise. Taking a deep breath, when she came to a halt in front of the door to the study, she turned the doorknob and millimeter by millimeter opened the door. There was no one there. Willow released a breath she didn't even know she had been holding.
Of course there was no one there. Her brother was gone and who else could and would possibly be in here. Everybody in this house knew to not just come into this room for no good reason.
A cheeky smile started to form on Willow's face as she was well aware of doing something that was actually forbidden to her. But to disobey this stupid rule of her brother's made her feel that sense of freedom again. And it was kind of fun to disobey him a little. She really was behaving like a lady whenever he was around. But every now and then, everyone needed a break. And right now that was one of those times.
Taking her time to read every single title on every single book Willow was strolling through the study. It was quite nice to have this room to oneself. She did understand why her brother wanted it all to himself. It calmed Willow's mind immensely just being surrounded by so many books. Every book a small world that she could escape to if she wanted or needed to.
Willow had chosen her first book and was now on the hunt for a second one. Pulling the nearest chair towards one of the bookshelves, so she could inspect the upper shelves as well, she was quick to climb up that chair. Sure in her gown it wasn't the easiest thing as her hooped skirt just didn't really fit it between the two armrests, but once she had decided on just letting it rest on the armrests it worked just fine. And Willow couldn't be bothered about her ankles being uncovered. No one was here to see them anyways.
In Willow's mind choosing a book was a bit like going treasure hunting. And she didn't want to just pick some piece of glass when she could have a diamond. She could really only take so many books so she had to choose wisely. But faced with the huge amount of books in the study, especially compared to the limited amount she was normally faced with in the attic, making a choice wasn't so easy.
Willow was just stretching her arm towards a book on her right, when she heard footsteps coming down the hallway. Well that would surely just be Thomas or Elise passing by right? The footsteps were getting louder and louder obviously getting closer and closer to the study, by the second and Willow was starting to panic. What if it was her brother? What if he found her in here?
Holding her breath and pressing her eyes shut she was praying that the footsteps would pass. The hammering of her heart in her chest made it hard to tell at this point if the footsteps were still getting louder or if they were already quieting down. But as another few moments passed by it was silent again. Releasing her breath Willow pressed her hand on her chest to calm her heart rate.
It must have been Elise heading off to her brother's room down the hall to clean it while he was still gone. And if Elise only now started cleaning that meant that Willow still had plenty of time till Philip would be back.
A confident smile back on her face, she once again stretched her hand towards the book and decided that this would be the one she would pick. It seemed to be about a pirate and Willow was always enjoying a good pirate story, so this could impossibly be a wrong choice.
Deciding that two books would be enough she climbed back down from the chair, nearly dropping over the hem of her dress. Willow was only just able to steady herself. "Stupid gown", she mumbeled quietly. She couldn't wait for tonight when she could put her trousers on again instead. They were SO much more comfortable.
Placing the chair back in its original place an all too familiar noise made Willow stop dead in her tracks. It was the soft creaking of the door opening behind her.
Spinning around in the blink of an eye Willow's big eyes met her brother's. For a moment neither of them said a word. The panic rising within Willow as the anger within Philip.
"Whatever do you think you are doing?" He demanded to know only a second later, full on screaming already.
Willow's panicked gaze was frantically searching for an escape route, but her brother was blocking the door and therefore her only way out.
"I... uhhh..." Were the only sounds escaping her mouth as she was still trying to figure out what to do or say. But nothing came to mind. It was rather obvious what was going on and Philip knew that just as well as she did.
"Haven't I told you to stay away from MY study?" Philip was fuming up again, making his way towards his sister.
"Y... yes" Willow stuttered out and started backing up, not wanting to be anywhere near her brother right now. It wasn't much later though when the desk stopped her from moving back any further. Unsuccessfully she tried to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat, as she looked up at her brother frightened.
"And why is it that you still cannot follow a simple rule like that?" Her brother yelled at her, closing up the little space that had been left between them.
Willow was trying to shrink back further into the desk, at this point too scared to look at him let alone speak up again.
Philip's gaze fell upon the books that were laying atop of the desk, where Willow had placed them previously.
"Books. Of course it would be books!" He exclaimed, picking them up and throwing them across the room, where they hit the wall and dropped on the floor with a thud only a moment later.
Willow flinched at the sudden movement and the noise that was followed by it.
"All you ever care about are books!" Philip yelled, grabbing ahold of Willow's upper arm rather roughly and pulling her towards the door.
"Ouch! Philip, you're hurting me!" Willow winced. Her upper arms were still slightly bruised from the other night and Philip's iron like grip happened to be at exactly the same spot.
"I couldn't care less!" He spat, his lips merely a thin line as he kept pulling his sister along with him. Willow was trying her best to keep up with her brother's pace so he wouldn't pull her arm out, but all she could do was stumble along.
In no time they had reached the door to Willow's room and it was then that she started to struggle against him. No, he couldn't lock her in. Not today. She wouldn't be able to sneak out tonight if he did. But her efforts were useless as she was physically way inferior to her brother. With one harsh push he had maneuvered her into the room and slammed the door on her, while Willow was still regaining her balance.
"You are going to stay in there and think about what you just did." Philip's voice was heard from the other side of the door as Willow heard the sound of the key being turned in the lock. "And if you feel ready to apologize by tomorrow morning I shall consider letting you out again."
"No!" Willow yelled, desperately pulling on the doorknob. "No, Philip! Please!" He couldn't. Not today of all days. But she could already hear his footsteps walking away from her room again. "Please!" Willow tried to yell after him, getting him to reconsider. "I'm sorry, please Philip!"
But he was gone. Tears were streaming down Willow's face. No.... He couldn't do that to her. Struggling to get enough air into her lungs as sobs shook her body, Willow dropped down on the floor in front of the door. This couldn't be happening.
It was half past eleven as Marcus was quietly making his way down the stairs to the kitchen. He had asked Edgar to prepare a picnic basket for him to take to their nightly meeting and leave it in the kitchen for him. And surely there it was, standing on top of the counter. Edgar had even thought of placing a neatly folded blanket on top of the basked that they would be able to sit on.
A smile was forming on Marcus' lips. Just a few more minutes till he would see her again. Grabbing a hold of the basket he made his way out the door and over to the stables. How different his equipment was today compared to the other night. Obviously there was no need for a revolver or rope tonight. Instead they would enjoy the lovely content of this picnic basket.
Marcus had made sure to leave a little early as he wouldn't be able to ride this fast today. He would have to hold the basket in his hand and had to keep it steady.
As he was making his way towards their meeting point, Marcus wondered if Willow would think this was too cheesy. He wondered if she would find it stupid or if she would be delighted. He surely hoped for the latter.
Was she the romantic type? The kind of girl that would be dreaming of her prince charming to show up on a horse to her rescue? The way Marcus had gotten to know her she was nothing like that. No, he was sure that she would be saving herself. She didn't need anyone to fight her battles for her. But just because she was very well capable of taking care of her problems herself, did that mean that she wouldn't enjoy a romantic picnic in the moonlight?
It wasn't so much different to what they did last time. The only difference was that there would be food to eat and a nice blanket to sit on this time. So the chances that she was going to like it were not too slim.
The closer Marcus got to the threshold of the Cornwall Estate, the more nervous he got. Multiple times he had to brush his hands off at his pants to avoid the basket from slipping off, due to the absolutely unreasonable amount of sweat that was forming on his palm. Why was he so nervous this time? What was there even to be nervous about? It would all be fine, nothing had changed since the last time they had seen each other.
And still to Marcus it felt as though everything had changed as he had realized that he wanted there to be more than just friendship. And just like that, there was so much more at stake.
Finally he had reached the brick wall that separated the Cornwall Estate from the woods. Only a few more moments until she would arrive, Marcus thought to himself, as a smile spread on his face once again. He couldn't wait to finally see her again. It had already been way too long!
Meanwhile Willow was laying in her bed restless. There were no more tears left in her to fall down her cheeks. Her eyes still felt irritated and dry. The soft gong of the old pendulum clock from the living room announced that it had turned midnight. Feeling drained of all energy Willow let her head roll to the side as her gaze wandered out the window beneath her bed. The darkness was oh so depressing to her at that moment. She was just about to turn her head away again as something caught her eye. The slightest shimmer of a light.
Slowly getting up from her bed, not ever once turning her eyes away from that light, she made her way over to the window. There it was in the woods just behind the Cornwall Estate, right behind the wall. It had to be Marcus waiting for her.
It broke Willow's heart that she wouldn't be able to be there. Oh, how disappointed he would be when he would realize that she wouldn't come. If only she hadn't gone to the study today. She had been so foolish to think that she would get away with it. To think that her brother wouldn't notice. To test her luck like that.
And now look what misery that got her into. Her right hand placed against the cold glass, Willow closed her eyes and in her mind apologized to Marcus. Hoping that through some miracle he would catch that apology she was sending his way. Hoping that he wouldn't think that she just didn't want to meet with him. Hoping that he could see, that she just could not come.
Her heart was aching in her chest. How could she do this to him? To leave him waiting there in the dark. And all she could do was standing here, wanting so badly to be out there with him. But there was no way. The door was locked. She had tried and tried to open it the whole afternoon and evening. She had even tried to pick the lock with a hairpin like they always did in the adventure books, but it hadn't worked.
The only other way out was the window she was standing in front of now. But it was way too high up to just jump out of. She couldn't rip her sheets apart so she could climb them down as Elise would notice in the morning and surely tell her brother about it. So there was no way to get out of that window without at least breaking a leg, if not her neck. She was locked in her. Trapped. Imprisoned.
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