"'To be or not to be...' as Shakespear once upon a time scribed in a play of his..." a youthful girl read aloud. The slight breeze, carried by the setting sun, moved a couple of strands of hair across her forehead. Sitting on a slight hill, by the trunk of a tree, if she was to look up, her gaze would have been instantaneously met by her house surrounded by the green of all the other trees and grass.
The scrunch of her brows suggested that she wasn't satisfied with the wording of her sentence.
"I don't like it..." she furthermore affirmed her thoughts to match the expression on her face. Turning for her small bottle of ink, she dipped the tip of her feather into the dark void. With that, she scribbled out the line that contained no appeal to her.
Then, spending a few seconds to think about what she was to write next, only then did she allow herself to continue writing. "My love for you... the way that I feel for you. To be alive again, I'd be ungracefully agonized by your beauty, knowing that I have no chance to be with someone like you. It must be better not to be alive, as through so, I wouldn't have the portrait of you stuck in my mind. I wouldn't have gotten to know you... I'd simply be... nothing.". She released a sigh, putting down her feather and now, with both of her hands, handling the page whose writing needs yet to dry.
Gazing at each word, a small smile appeared on her lips. "Better..." she muttered her content under her breath.
And just as she was about to continue, the calling of her name caught her attention. "Tamara!". Looking toward the familiar voice, she saw her sisters running her way. "Tamara!!".
And in the distance, the screaming of a train siren blared through the peaceful, late evening.
The youngest of the sisters, Ruth, led them to Tamara. And, upon reaching the tree on the top of the hill, that was when the second eldest of the sisters, Eileen, rolled her eyes at Tamara. "Writing, again?".
With Tamara's gaze moving to Eileen, that was when she let out a slight scoff. "You make it sound as if I am doing something unimaginable...".
Pursing her lips and raising her brow, Eileen went on to reply, "Did you hear me say such a thing?".
"No, but your face sure implied it," Tamara answered back.
"You know... You're going to waste your adolescence behind a feather and a page. And before you know it, you'd have a suitor knocking at your front door, requesting your hand in marriage. And then, not long after, children will come.".
"'Wasting my adolescence? Personally, I don't like the nonsense you're imposing on the way I spent my own free time," Tamara retorted.
Her words left Eileen quiet. She retracted her gaze down to her feet. "It's also that..." with Eileen beginning to speak, she caught Tamara's attention.
"What?... it's what?".
Eileen remained silent for a few more seconds, as if guilty for what she was about to say. But then, as if taking in a deep breath and straightening herself up gave her more confidence, she went on to say, "Whether you'd like it or not, Tamara, I am going to get married soon...". Here, she paused, thinking over what she was to say next. But with such thoughts, tears began to accumulate in her eyes.
All while Tamara and the rest of her sisters gave Eileen a strange look. "Do you have a suitor that we don't know of, Eileen?".
"You know that Mama and Papa will not be approving if that's to be the case, Eileen," the fourth eldest sister - Gertrude, only a year younger than Tamara, spoke out.
"No, no, nothing like that," Eileen returned words of reassurance. "It's just that... I-I...". She took a deep breath before continuing. "I heard Mama and Papa talking about marrying me soon... they are looking got a man worthy of my love...". And it was then that her tears reached their edge and burst their banks, finding a new course down her cheeks. "Though it'll be dear, I wouldn't like my only memory of you being here, under this tree, writing.".
And there, somewhere in her words, Tamara felt something in her chest, like a spear pierced her heart. She understood what Eileen wanted to say. Hell, she felt it, she felt her sister's words.
Without her notice, slowly, Tamara's feather fell out of her hand and onto the page in front of her.
"But if you wish to still remain here, then I am sorry for bothering you with such... 'nonsense'.". With that, Eileen turned before she took a few steps down the hill and out of her group of sisters.
"E-Eileen?..." Tamara called out, her eyes failing not to fill up either. Seeing that her sister hadn't heard her, she proceeded to stand up. But with such a swift and uncautious move, she caused her bottle of ink to topple over and spill all over her pages.
Initially, she didn't notice such. Instead, she continued her walk toward her sister. "Eileen!".
Turning to her name being called out, she saw the way Tamara's eyes were tearful. That in itself caused a small smile to appear on Eileen's face.
And then a gasp from behind Tamara caught her attention. Almost instantly, the smile on Eileen's face receded.
"Tamara! Your papers!!".
"What?..." Tamara's face turned pale as she turned. Then, she saw the pages being held by her second youngest sister, Agath.
Approaching Agath, Tamara took her ruined work back into her hands as she looked at them in horror. She was already on the edge of tears, but this caused her to go over the edge and start sobbing. "All my hard work..." she muttered under her breath as she brought the ink-drenched pages toward her face. Stopping when she could smell the ink.
But then, turning back around, she sharpened her gaze at Eileen. Once she began approaching her sister, that was when Eileen knew this wouldn't end well.
"This is all your fault..." Tamara whispered through the tears that streamed down her face. Then, raising her voice by a few decibels, she repeated what she said only seconds ago. "This is all your fault!!... If it wasn't for you I'd still have my work, whole. Unruined!". Her nostrils flared with anger and then, she threw her papers on the ground, right in front of her sister's feet before rushing past her and heading home.
Her sisters followed her, calling out for her name in the hope to make her stop her run. All but Eileen. She remained in her place, looking toward Tamara before returning her gaze down to the pages that were thrown at her feet.
---
Tamara rushed into the house and up the stairs to her room. And behind Tamara followed her sisters, each calling out for Tamara.
All the commotion caused both their mother, Anne-Marie, and their eldest sister, Abigail, to enter the hallway.
"Ruth??" Abigail called out right before she managed to climb the flight of steps. Seeing that Abigail had Ruth's attention, she proceeded to ask, "What happened?".
"Tamara's work was ruined by an ink spill. It all happened so fast, Eileen called for Tamara and then when I looked back to where Tamara was sitting, I saw ink all over her pages.".
After hearing such, their mother walked back into the kitchen. There, from the window, she saw Eileen, slowly walking towards the house. Her head was down with pages in her hands. Piecing everything together, she realised it was Tamara's work.
Behind her, the mother heard running up the steps as her eldest daughter joined her in the kitchen.
"It was all an accident I assume..." Anne-Marie spoke, breaking the silence amongst them.
"Regardless, accident or not, it'll take a while for Tamara to forgive her for this..." Abigail replied.
With that, Eileen entered the kitchen. Looking up, her gaze glanced at both Anne-Marie and Abigaile before she continued walking toward the hallway and up the stairs.
"They are sisters after all. Tamara has to forgive Eileen sooner or later..." Anne-Marie spoke as she continued preparing food, with Abigail being her helping hand.
Eileen stood by the door with her sisters, on the ground, surrounding her. She knocked on the door before calling out Tamara's name. "Tamara!... Tamara, please open the door!!".
"Go away!!" Eileen heard her response.
"Tamara, please!..." she replied. "Please... I am sorry. I shouldn't have... I shouldn't have said what I did to you. But, I need to talk to you, I needed to talk to you...".
"Leave me alone!!".
Behind Eileen, she heard someone come up the stairs. It was Abigail.
"Looks like she isn't opening the door..." Abigail muttered under her breath before knocking. "Tamara?... Tamara, open the door...".
It took some time, but eventually, with Tamara opening the door, the sisters rushed into her room.
Sort of like a sense of relief, Eileen couldn't help but break down into tears as she embraced her sister, Tamara. "I'm sorry... I am so sorry, Tamara..." she spoke through her sobs.
When she heard Tamara remain quiet, she slowly broke away from the embrace, only to find Tamara's anger still present on her face. "A simple 'sorry' won't return my work, will it?".
As a reply, Eileen remained quiet. "I-I know... and for that, I am very sorry.". Then, she paused. "But... if you'll allow me, I can help you try and restore your ideas... I'd at least owe you that much," Eileen added. Relief spread within the pit of her stomach when she noticed Tamara's facial features soften ever so slightly. "Would that be okay?" Eileen further asked.
And in response, Tamara nodded. "But... can... can you also teach me how to play the piano?".
To such a question, Eileen couldn't help herself but smile. It was only when she embraced Tamara once more that she provided her with the answer.
"Of course, I can. I'd love to.".