"Grannie…" she stepped in but quickly backed away with realization. "Oh, you're sleeping, sweet dreams dear grannie" she closed the door and left. She had bought a handsome amount of stuff so she went to her chamber to show her all that. She placed it all on her own desk and decided to wait till she woke up.
She dozed there may be from restlessness or maybe from mental tiredness and when her eyes opened it was past evening and she was in her chair "It's strange that I dozed and grannie didn't come here and… and woke me up" her voice was sleepy.
Catherine's door was still shut as she had left it. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion and she went in. She was still lying on the bed in the exact same position. This roused floods of tension in Ophelia's mind. She ran toward her out of breath and put a trembling hand on her shoulder. She moved her hand but Catherine made no movement. Her lips went pale, she again moved her shoulder but the consequence didn't change. Ophelia held her hand and it fell straight on the bed lifelessly. "No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No" she repeated impulsively and checked for every possibility of Catherine being alive. "No, No, No, No, No, No. It can't be, God please No, No, No" water did play its part too, it flowed in endless streams "No, No, No" she could barely utter anything except this, sometimes the simplest of the things we do become the most difficult ones. She curled her arms around her and sobbed and cried and wept. Catherine did not move.
Two arms emerged and pulled Ophelia towards themselves, away from the dead. But she didn't leave her grandma, her only mother. They pulled her more hardly until all her power to resist drowned in the sea of despair. She was in someone else's orbit now. Someone taller than her, an arm covered her, it comforted her. She felt warmth from it. She experienced care from it like it said that I'll be there. If no one stays, I will. I won't ever leave you. She experienced a shield around her that reminded her that she was safe and that she doesn't have to worry. Her loud cries turned feeble, and closed eyes flowed and flowed on someone else's shirt.
With him, a sense shouted and shouted that he loves her no matter what, he loves her and it needed no proof.
She watched Catherine's face for the last time and turned away, these last times are excruciatingly bitter.
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Her bed was still with the same sheets which Catherine spent her last time lying on. Ophelia didn't change them intentionally. Those sheets and pillows still held her fragrance. It was empty in there rather the whole house was empty now. The leaving of one person can bring heaps of emptiness. The air held something missing, not the same as before. Long periods of silence surrounded the house. No one talked and days and days passed in desolation. That house turned into a prison for Ophelia. She couldn't get out of there. Catherine's death also affected Thomas deeply. He would spend hours and hours not doing anything just sitting on his rolling chair, staring at the wall. He grew weaker. Every time Ophelia knocked at his chamber's door he didn't respond. She was living with a walking dead body. No one was there to console her. Visitors from the town came to fulfill their duty at the funeral but not a single drop fell from her eyes. She became imbalanced that's the most precise statement. She would arrange and rearrange Catherine's closet for the hundredth time but won't get tired of it. Her only reasoning for this was that Catherine's dresses still held her fragrance, her feel. Ophelia wanted everything to remain the same as she had left it, as long as she could.
One day, after rearranging her closet Catherine's writing table drawer piqued her interest. All her intellect was brutally drained in those days perhaps that's why she never happened to open it. Her health was also suffering from continuous strain. She behaved as if she had found a key to a treasure. In that room, every place that was to hold things in it of her grannie was precious to her. The drawer was pulled again, it revealed its contents. There lay letters and a small box. She was surprised to see that box as she had never seen anything in her house like that before not even in her grannie's possession. Catherine must have hidden it somewhere. Something in it was holding her attention. As for the letters they were just some words written on a piece of paper but held magic in them. The first letter that she picked up was addressed to her father, she set it aside slightly disappointed. The other one was addressed to her she opened it and it stated….