My Writing Space

Part One: Pictures

Reginald Du Claire Jr., or Reggie, as he preferred to be called, pulled up to the old manor house at around noon. Pulling his camera out of an old briefcase, he stepped out of the air conditioned car into the heat of the summer day. He walked along the front of the estate taking pictures of the grounds. While snapping pictures he took the time to mourn the house and all it held for so many decades.

            As he snapped pictures of the front gates and hedges, he remembered coming to the parties the family threw here when he was younger. As he wandered the outside of the grounds snapping pictures and remembering the place with fondness, a light music began to play. Just on the edge of Reggie’s hearing, almost as if it were a part of the light breeze flowing around him.  As a child he played here while his father worked for the old woman. As he remembered running through this yard, children’s laughter joined the music on the breeze. He could remember the smell of roses and Gladiolas drifting on the wind as they did now. The perfume on the wind mixed with a smell he found familiar, yet couldn’t place.

Turning toward the gates of the Greythorne family estates, he thought what a shame it was to tear down such a lovely old house with such history behind it. Such a pity an heir could not be found. The rest of the family seemed glad to be rid of the old "eyesore" as they called it. They were all glad that the "Country cousins" had finally died out.

Where the Blackthorne and Silverthorne branches sought control of the surrounding area, and achieved it soon after settling here. The Greythorne branch wanted nothing more than to be left alone on their small plots of land and in their small little area of the world. To them, the New World had given them the paradise they sought. Freedom to believe as they wished and work the land that was theirs and be rewarded for it. All was right in their world.

            Where the other branches of the family were intimidating and powerful, The Greythornes were humble and gracious. They always followed any family edict and threw lots of parties and gave to charity as the others did. However, the Greythornes were just as content to hold a large Bar-B-Que as they were to hold the cotillions that the other manor houses saw monthly.

            Using his families’ personal code, he swung the wrought iron gates open and heard the audible, almost mournful sigh of the seemingly ancient metal. It seemed almost like it regretted opening for him. Like it mourned Esther’s passing along with the rest of the community.  As he stepped forward and began taking pictures of the outside of the house, he noticed the need for a paint job. Something he thought of as odd. When the old woman had lived she was fanatical about the upkeep of her house. But now, just two weeks after her death, the house was in such a state of disrepair, it was hard to even imagine its former glory.

            As he stepped onto the porch, the house seemed to groan under his weight. He opened the front door and heard as well as felt a rush of stale air, as if the house itself sighed with his entrance. He had an odd feeling the house was tired. Like it wanted to be left alone with its grief.

He walked through the old house, snapping pictures. He could nearly hear the parties continuing in the houses memory. He could imagine the voices of various arguments and gatherings. As he wandered room to room, now and then remembering to take pictures, he could smell the various perfumes the house had known. Scents that lingered in rooms shut off from the passage of time. Almost see the family walk through its halls and rooms.

            Esther had shut herself off from the world outside, after one particularly bad argument with the main branch of the family. She claimed to need only her servants and those who still resided in her house. She claimed in her final years, that her family line all still lived with her and that she spoke to them daily. Reggie had always chalked it up to senility. But now, walking through this house all alone, he could almost feel their presence watching him.

            Standing at the top of the stairs, Reggie remembered Esther insisting that her ancestors walked these halls. The music grew louder and Reggie began to take quickly pictures of the rooms on the third floor. Finally, finished with this floor, Reggie reached for the attic access. As his hand grasped the rope and he began to pull, he felt a soft touch on his arm and his name called softly from behind him. Turning towards the voice, Reggie thought he saw the drape of a skirt flow around the corner behind him. With a sudden cold chill, Reggie decided he had enough pictures of a house that was about to be torn down and replaced by a strip mall. He headed down the stairs quickly and out the front door. As he exited the house and stepped into the warm breeze, the chill left him and he berated himself out loud for letting his imagination run away with him.

Closing and re-locking the front gate, he noticed that the houses corners sagged almost as if it were fatigued from the weight of its years. Reggie looked at the house, raising his camera for one more picture. Just to prove that it looked the same now as it had and hour before when he'd arrived. The music playing on the breeze picked up and a curtain moved from the upper window. Reggie dropped his camera, letting it swing from the strap around his neck. He quickly headed back to his air conditioned car and the reading of a will that no one cared about anymore.

Part Two: The Families

            Long ago, the family was just Thorne, but legend says that triplets were born that tore the family asunder. Three brothers who walked away from their families and their land, shunned as outcasts, rivals and criminals. The three brothers married, raised their families and lived near each other, keeping a close eye on each other; for fear that one would take what the other had. Thus was born the three families, ever vigilant, prosperous and wary. The three branches of the family, residing in the three different manor houses, where as different as the manors themselves.

The Blackthornes, the "ruling" branch of the family, were very public and spoke publicly for the entire family. All of their children became politicians, or public figures of some sort. The Blackthorne Manor had been built when the family arrived in 1601. It had been remodeled and added on to but the main house had stood in its spot for over 400 years. It was reputed to be the oldest building in this part of America. The entire family had branched from this house. , spreading through this area and into the west. Somewhere in the Blackthorne vaults were records of every child ever born with the Blackthorne blood. At least every child ever reported. It was the duty of every matriarch to keep track of these things.

In this Generation, the current Matriarchs of the Blackthornes were twins, the first born in their position in centuries. Many of the family considered it a miracle. The two of them ruled the Blackthorne Branch, and the rest of the family with it, as if they were of one mind. When Selena gave birth to her first child, a girl of course, the two sisters began her matriarchal training as soon as she could walk and talk. When Serena gave birth just six months later, also to a girl, there was never a question of who would be the next matriarch. Selena’s daughter was eldest, she would rule.

The Silverthorne’s, the "judicial" branch of the family, were nearly as public and they enforced the rules or edicts of the family’s traditions or wills. Their children becoming police, lawyers or other such enforcement positions. The Black Rose Manor had stood nearly as long. It had been built when the family branched in 1607. Like the Blackthornes, The Silverthorne’s settled near their family and spread just as quickly and prolifically. The Blackthornes made sure to keep just as close tabs on this branch of the family. The Rose Manor, as it is referred to, is a smaller and quaint place. It is nestled in its gardens and hedges. It peers out at the world from between the leaves of every plant that is known to grow in this region.

The Silverthorne’s too, were blessed with twin matriarchs. It was something that had never happened in that clan before. Never since the “great parting” had more than one set of multiple births happened in the same generation. Although they were nearly a decade younger then their Blackthorne counterparts, Adalia and Abigail ran the Silverthorne branch with as much efficiency and grace. They each had young children, nearly a decade after their Blackthorne counterparts, Adalia readied her eldest daughter for her role of matriarch, Abigail raised her young children as their matriarchs support, as was proper and traditional.

The Greythornes, the "country cousins", were never public, at least never in a good light. They always ended up in menial jobs and seemed for all intense and purposes to be breeding stock. The Black Haven Manor, now scheduled for destruction, stood in acres of farmland and gardens. The Greythornes came over as immigrants and sought out their distant relatives, hoping for help in settling a new land, wild with opportunities. In 1707, the reigning Blackthorne matriarch paid for the construction of Black Haven. She hoped to expand the family, as they had with the Silverthorne’s. The first of the Greythornes thrived, building nurseries and landscaping. Those who came after however, seemed content to merely work for their cousins and live as simply as the land let them.

Part Three: Mourning

            Calvin Du Claire pulled out Esther's will with a heavy heart. He had known Esther nearly all his life. His family and their law firm had served the clans for centuries. His son had been raised with the girls who were now the powerful matriarchs of their clan. He had worked closely with their mothers.  He had been raised with Esther, though she had been a few years older than he. She had always been a great beauty, right until the end.

            In Calvin’s teenaged years he was extremely flattered by the attention showed to him by the beautiful woman. They spent several years together as friends and companions. Calvin knew there was never a chance for anything lasting between them, their stations in life didn’t allow for it. However, just being with her, enjoying her sense of life, humor and beauty was always enough for him. When Esther traveled abroad for a year, as was customary at that time, she came back a changed woman; it was no surprise to Calvin. He, however, had the decency to wait for her return before asking his current girlfriend to marry him. Through out his married life and career he found himself often thinking of Esther, their time together in his youth, and the possibilities that could never have been allowed to be realized.

            Yes, Calvin knew he would miss Esther and her frank and down-to-earth ways. She had been an amazing woman and it was a pity the world did not hold more like her. He intended to stall as long as possible in the destruction of her house. Give the grounds and people around it a proper chance to grieve the loss of the hospitality so many were given there. He wanted to give himself time to remember the time he and Esther had shared there.

            Esther’s last wishes were simple. She wanted to be cremated and have a "decent wake". She wanted to "be present" at the reading of her will. Her ashes in their urn sat in front of her portrait. She was very specific with all the instructions. He was to wait a full two weeks before the reading of the will. The will was to remain sealed until the wake. It was to be read in the presence of the whole family. All that could be gathered. Esther spoke rarely and hated to repeat herself. And when she did choose to speak out in public, she liked a big room.

            Calvin was startled out of his thoughts as his phone rang. It would be Reginald, his grandson. Calvin picked up the phone and found he had to concentrate to keep his voice even. On the other end of the phone Reginald announced that the photos were back from the One Hour Photo and that the family had gathered at Blackthorne Manor as was family custom for memorials of any type.

The older man hung up the phone and began to gather his belongings. Wiping away the single tear that had formed, he paused for a moment at the door to his office, his private grief paralyzing him momentarily. After a few moments he sighed deeply, with a professionally blank face, he stepped out of his office and began the journey to the Manor. Esther’s last will and testament tucked safely into his briefcase with the deeds to her manor and estates.

Part Four: The Service

 The entire family had arrived, after a fashion, to the Blackthorne Manor. Cousins and relatives from all over the country gathered here, dressed and prepared to say good-bye to one of their own, as tradition dictated. There were professional camera crews to broadcast the funeral and reception to family members who could not attend.

As Calvin, his son, and grandson arrived, Serena nodded imperceptibly to the musicians. A mournful tune began to float softly on the breeze. Reminding Reginald Jr. of the soft music he had heard earlier at Black Haven. The three men walked together to the house and greeted the four women who stood on the porch waiting for them.

After saying hello and sharing tidings of grief, the younger twins turned and walked into the house together. This left the older set to their duties as Heads of Clan. It had been a long time since anyone had even heard of an entire line of the family dying without at least one heir. Much less is witness to it.  There was much to discuss with the lawyers before the will was read. Certain facts to be shared before announcements were made to the large clan that had gathered from all over the country.

Selena started immediately into the business at hand, discussing the arrangements that had been laid out by Esther. Making sure they had gotten everything right. It had been years since Esther had spoken to anyone aside from her attorneys and even then only the youngest of the three. Selena wanted to make sure she had all the details for Esther’s final rest before she announced them to the clan.

Serena sent for the servants to prepare drinks and start seating people. Offering seats and refreshments to the men, and drawing them into the shade of the porch and inner sanctum of the house itself. Then she began to discuss the tragedy of the manor with no heir, the plans that must be made and announced to the family, barring any surprises within Esther’s last wishes.

With all that was known exchanged and everyone fairly on the same page, the five of them walked together into the main hall. A huge formal dining room that could easily seat a full hundred people for dinner was now lined with over twice that. Everyone sat in neat little rows of black chairs. With Esther’s portrait sitting sedately in the front of the rows with a small silver urn before it, as if she presided over her own wake. Music played softly from another room.  Serena and Selena took their places in the front row, one on either side of the aisle and each sitting beside one of their Silverthorne counterparts. 

            The attorneys strode serenely to the small podium to one side of room.  There they took their seats and began to open briefcases and mutter softly to each other.            After a few moments, Reggie stood and cleared his throat. It was obvious that he was nervous in such a large crowd. But as Esther’s favorite he could not deny her final wish that he and he alone read her will to the clan. Holding the last will and testament high enough for everyone to see the intact seal, he ceremoniously broke it. As he unfolded it a few sniffles could be heard in the crowd.

Part Five: The Will

“I, Esther Marie Greythorne, being of sound mind and body, do leave this as my last will and testament. To my family, my Blackthorne blood, I leave you love to be shared among you as you feel it, as well as my music to be listened too as often as you can. To my other family, My Silverthorne blood, I leave you also my love; I will miss you all greatly. Also, my garden of roses that you all seem to love so much.

            And the rest of my estate I leave to my one living heir. I believe her name is still Magnolia, though she probably calls herself Maggie now. She is living in Virginia as I last heard. She was adopted 26 years ago, while I was away. She knows nothing of the family. It is my wish that she takes her proper place among you, as my heir. The daughter I owe the family. She has the clan blood and from the only picture I have you can see it in her features.

            I know that you will all be shocked by this and beneath the floorboards under my bed you will find a diary carefully hidden with the entire story. But this is my last will and testament. And I know my wishes will be followed. Family honor decrees it. My love to you all and I will see you all on the other side.

Esther Marie Greythorne"

Part Six: The Aftermath

            "What? How the hell is that possible?" Abigail Silverthorne harshly whispered a little too loudly to Selena who sat beside her. Selena returned her question with an angry glare and a heated whisper of "Not now, not here!" Abby bowed her head and visibly forced herself to calm down.

Meanwhile on the other side of the isle, Adalia and Serena were whispering to each other. Their lips barely moving as the spoke in short crisp sentences. Serena, already with a notebook in her hands, was taking notes in shorthand in her lap, trying very hard to look as if she were sitting still.

Selena flashed a quick looked at Calvin who looked just as surprised as the twins. With a quick nod, the funeral continued. Murmurs passed quietly throughout the group, but nothing loud enough to be made out by the crowd. The family stood to speak of Esther’s life, how she would be missed, and memories of her kindness and generosity.

Selena was the last to speak, having composed herself by then. She began with Esther’s influence on the clan, her sweet and gentle nature, and her wonderful humor. She laid out the details for the spreading of the ashes according to Esther’s wishes, letting the clan know they were to be spread in the gardens of all three estates, so that Esther’s beauty would always be felt through the roses she loved so much. And finally Selena assured everyone that the search for Magnolia was already under way. She implied deftly that she had begun searching for her two weeks ago when Esther had passed.

Serena rose at the end of the Eulogy and motioned for everyone to move outside to the back patio, where there would be refreshments and a remembrance book. That everyone who knew Esther was encouraged to leave a record of their memories with the family. Addie and Abby led the family outside as the older twins cornered the lawyers.

"Tell me you didn't know Calvin, it would be a shame for our families to part ways after so long." Selena whispered, anger seething from her voice.

"I didn't know Selena; I have never heard anything about it. . .  Ever." Calvin sighed, despair filling his voice. Tears barely concealed in his eyes. He was visibly trying to hold back his grief.

"Reginald? Reggie?" Serena asked much more politely than her sister.

Both the lawyers looked dumbfounded. They slowly shook their heads.

"She did say something about needing to hear the Magnolias this time of year, but that was three weeks before she died, she wasn't really coherent by then." Reggie looked from twin to twin, confusion on his face, almost as if he were asking if he had done wrong.

"It's Ok Regg; no one would have understood that. We only asked your grandfather if he knew because of the rumors that flew about the two of them so long ago. But I guess it is not important. What is important is that we find this Magnolia. We will search the house personally. You guys find the adoption records, as soon as possible. Enjoy our hospitality while we mourn the loss of Esther." Selena finished coldly and stormed away, leaving even Serena glaring after her, having to pick up the pieces of her twins anger again.

Serena sighed heavily, she walked out to the back where the family was assembled and announced that grief had overtaken Selena and she had gone to bed early. And the wake continued. . .

Part Seven: Magnolia

Maggie Johnson lived a happy life in a small town in Virginia. Her father was mayor and had been for years. Her mother ran the only florist shop in town. They had told her years ago that she had been adopted. At first she had been heartbroken, but had come to realize that her family had taken her out of love. Wanting a child desperately when they were told they could never have one of their own. Maggie had never attempted to find her birth parents, having decided she never needed to know a family who cast her aside and never looked back.

Maggie had shown from a very young age, the green thumb that seemed to be genetic in her birth families line. Because of her gift, her mother’s florist shop flourished. When Maggie turned 15 she began to work in the shop, by 18 she was delivering orders and had triple the business. She took evening classes for business management at the local community college. These courses took all the money her family had saved for her. But she knew that it was all she would ever need. Her life was planned very well.

When her mother retired she would run the shop. She would settle down and marry. She would have children and live in this small town the rest of her life. She knew there was more out there. She just never wanted anything else. There were opportunities for more money all over town. But the flowers meant something to her. She was drawn to them. Their beauty was all she required to make herself happy. She would continue her mother’s life when her mother left it. She thought someday of holding a position on the town council. But that was the extent of her grand dreams.

Maggie dated a few times, but she never found the right man. She was not concerned about it; he would fall into her lap when the time was right. Things happened like that for Maggie all the time. She had always found what she needed when she needed it. Things always seemed to fall into place for her. Her parents told her she led a charmed life. She had been popular in High School; she had always had men interested in her. But she never found anyone who fit into her life plan. She would find them when she was ready. She was convinced of it. So, she went on with her plans.

Maggie’s days were filled with joy. She woke in the morning, showered and dressed like everyone else. She went to work, where she did a job she loved and that brought others all day. Then she went to school to learn to do her job better. Then she went home and spent some time with her parents who loved her as their only daughter. They listened to the details of her day and she theirs. Then she would go off to bed in the house she was raised in. Sleep peacefully and warm. Then she would continue the same schedule the next day. Her weekends were filled with her friends and a few dates. Sometimes she would drive off to the nearest city for dinner and a movie with her friends. Her life was perfect and she never wanted for anything more.

Part Eight: The Accident

When the Blackthorne twins arrived at The Black Haven Manor, the house looked tired, like it had died when its owner had. The once perfectly manicured lawn was now overgrown with weeds and wildflowers. The grass was nearly knee deep. Selena glanced at the photographs that Reggie had taken two days before. Her face paled at the difference two days had made to the house. The corners sagged beneath the weight of the years. The porch had fallen to one side. The entire house lilted to the other. The paint was chipped and missing from entire boards. The windows were cracked and broken; some were sagging around the frames.  The front gate hung uselessly from its hinges, the two sides no longer able to connect and lock. Some of the boards from the fence were missing, some were hanging uselessly. There were boards that were cracked and broken. Some of the weeds were climbing the house, like hands trying to pull it underground.

Selena looked at her twin with confusion. Reaching out she took the pictures from her twin and compared them to the house that stood before them.

“What the hell happened to this place? There is no way it looked like this while Esther was still alive.” Selena asked, staring at the pictures.

“Maybe the rumors are true; the manors prosper with the families. Maybe this manor doesn’t know about the heir yet?” Serena whispered, trying to replace the edge of fear in her voice with an ounce of humor.

Selena looked at her disapprovingly as she walked toward the house through the rusted gate. The smell of wilting flowers wafted toward them from the gardens. Music, slightly off key, began to play on the breeze. The front porch groaned under the weight of their steps. As the twins opened the door of the screened porch the house let out a sigh. Stale air moved through the house with the opening of the door. Each step seemed to be a strain on its weary structure. Boards creaked and strained with each step, some breaking through as the twins walked through.

The inside of the house was worse for wear. The floorboards leaned and tilted. Some were broken in places, large cracks running along once polished hard wood floors. The cracks continued up once beautifully muraled walls, now they were flaking and worn. The twin stair cases leaned and the banisters were missing pieces. The second floor landing that overlooked the foyer was missing its banister and had obvious holes in its floor.

“We should find this diary and anything else useful, before this dump collapses on our heads.” The twins began to carefully step through the first floor of the manor. Serena’s head tilted slightly as if she were eavesdropping on a conversation. As she did, Selina shook her head disapprovingly and stepped onto the first step. The entire staircase leaned and groaned under the weight. Selena moved closer to the walls where the boards were steadier.

As the twins ascended the staircase, one at a time, a stronger breeze picked up outside. As it whistled through the weakened and cracked boards, a strange but faint music could be heard in that whistle. The breeze brought with it a strange yet almost familiar scent. Along with the music and perfume there was another noise, an occasional laughter or partial conversation.

Once they had reached the top of the stairs, the sisters stood looking in the two directions open two them. Neither of them had actually visited the upper floor of the house and therefore neither knew where Esther’s room was. Selena stepped forward and to the right and began to point down the left hall. As she opened her mouth to speak to Serena the laughter grew and the boards beneath her groaned loudly, cracking and whining. Serena stretched a hand to her in warning, only to feel it slapped away by unseen hands as her sister lurched forward as if shoved. The boards beneath her gave way and she disappeared from view. A child’s laughter followed her startled cry on the wind.

Serena edged toward the edge of the hole, expecting to find her sister on the floor beneath them. But as she looked down, she could see only the hole that went through the first floor and into the basement. She called for her sister and was answered with only laughter and a faint sob of pain from the darkness. Serena made her way down the swaying staircase, calling for her sister, trying to reassure her. As she stepped to the edge of the whole in the floor, she could hear her sister talking to something in the darkness. Selena sounded afraid and in pain.

“Selena, I am here, I am going to call the EMT’s to get you out of there. Don’t move ok?” Serena asked, hurriedly searching empty pockets frantically, searching for a cell phone that was not there. “Selena, I will be right back, I am not leaving you, just don’t try to get up ok?”

Serena ran back to the car, crying and grabbed her cell phone dialing 911 on the way back to the hole in the floor. As Serena called down into the hole, assuring her sister that the EMT’s were on the way, Selena began to respond. At first there were just the faint groggy questions that come with waking after unconsciousness. Serena began to call back into the darkness. But all she got in returned was laughter from the darkness that was followed by her sisters anguished and frightened scream.

As the EMT’s pulled the stretcher from the dilapidated house, Selena reach out and called to her sister.

“Serena, Find the documents, we must find Magnolia, Don’t leave here without the diary… we must … she must be found…” Then Selena lost consciousness again. Serena reluctantly followed her sister’s wishes and turned back to the house. She looked wearily at it as she approached the front porch steps. A soft breeze blew and the music picked back up and Serena shivered and wrapped her arms around her self, as if warding off whatever had attacked Selena inside.

Part Nine:  The Madness of twins

            Serena found a treasure trove of paperwork under the floor boards of Esther’s bed. There were photo albums, family trees of all three families, diaries of secrets and gossip, the proof to go with it all, and Esther’s diaries and own mementos in a separate box. Everything was lovingly cared for and stored in zippered bags and shoe boxes. Carefully labeled and dated in accordance to family and era. From what Serena could tell, the matriarch of the Greythorne line had been passing down secrets and rumors since they came to the Throne Valley. Serena surmised that these were how the Greythornes had managed to hold any power in the families all this time. 

            She filed the knowledge away for later use, thinking of telling her sister and her Silverthorne cousins to be careful what they said in front of the help. The entire clan hired the Greythornes, out of pity or tradition; they worked in every manor and estate in the valley. It was always assumed that they had no other motive than to be paid for honest work. Serena filed all this away in the part of her brain that had been trained to automatically calculate dangers to her family and clan businesses. However, her foremost thoughts revolved around rumors and gossip she had heard all her life and what proof Esther’s treasure may hold. Curiosity won out over common sense, as it often does, and Serena spent the week that her twin lay in the hospital in her own rooms, completely engrossed in family history and drama. She roused herself only long enough to see that Selina was made comfortable upon her return.

            Serena had, from a very young age, known that Selena considered herself the eldest and therefore matriarch. She was content to let her sister run the business and financial affairs of the clan and their own house. This was cemented when Selena produced a daughter before Serena. So when Selena came home from the hospital, Serena fell back into her normal routine of leaving things to her sister and became more engrossed in what she found in Esther’s room. The history of the family, from their arrival in the states and the founding of Thorne Valley, to the birth of the Silverthorne Matriarchs was recorded meticulously. The double sets of twins were recorded in a separate box, in a special diary, with notations and speculations of omens and portents. Their every decision recorded and questioned. Their personalities compared and contrasted by Esther, analyzed and dissected as if they were some experiment instead of the heads of clans with power and influence.

            In an outrage, Serena came storming out of her room for the first time in three days. Screaming for Selena she stalked the halls muttering to herself, still reading the journal. In the downstairs hallway leading to the back veranda (or to the study which Selena used as her office) the younger twin ran, literally, into a young nurse. The sight of medical personnel in her home was enough to temporarily snap the obsessed woman out of her thoughts, leaving her to stand there looking confused as the nurse asked if she was ok.

            "I'm sorry; I was looking for my sister." With a blink and a slight shake of her head, Serena lowered the journal almost protectively. "Who are you?"

            "I'm sorry, I thought you were told. I am Raylene, your sisters’ nurse. I will be caring for her while she recovers from the trauma of her accident." The young brunette spoke with a crisp efficiency that seemed almost judgmental, as she stood there as if waiting for more questions. When no more came she turned slightly and stepped around Serena and continued out to the veranda.

            "Wait!" The twin shook herself from the cobwebs that had taken root in her consciousness. "I thought Selena was fine, the doctors said she was going to be ok and they were sending her home." A mixture of confusion and anger flooded her as she followed the nurse out the back door. The nurse, intent on her duty, walked around the covered chair in front of her and began to speak to it as one would a child. Infuriated at the dismissal and by what she took for mocking Serena stormed over to the nurse, but the rebuke died early on her lips as the woman stepped out of her way, what she saw in the chair froze her in the aggressive stance she had taken.

            In the chair sat a babbling and wild eyed Selena, blankets pulled up to her chin, her hair flowing partially free for the first time since early childhood. It flowed in parts and sections as if someone had done it nicely and then pulled pieces out with random brush strokes once the hair had been perfected. Selena giggled secretively into the blanket in her lap, apparently amused greatly by the secrets she was keeping with whatever it was that only she saw hidden in her lap. Serena gasped sobbingly, looking to the nurse for some kind of rational explanation. She stood there listening to a questioning voice that sounded muffled by the rapid and raspy breath of someone close by and a thudding in her ears that she couldn't make stop. She saw the nurses’ eyes round in concern and her mouth move, but the frightened twin couldn't make any sense of what was happening. It was as if someone had thrown her world in a blender and hit puree. She laughed at the idea briefly, incredulously, as the world spun around her and faded to black.

            Serena woke in her room, a cold compress on her head and a fan going in the window. Down the hall she could hear the loud raving of her sister, half screams that almost made sense. With a heavy sigh, Serena threw the compress onto the side table and began to get up. A two week list of things that had been neglected ran through her head her vision blurred at the thought and she had to reach for the bedpost to steady herself. With eyes closed she fought hard to block out the yelling from down the hall. Once she had mastered her nerves and was able to ignore Selena, Serena calmly walked from her room and down the stairs. Once in the study, she began to assume the role of matriarch, comforted only by the idea of delving deeply into the clan history once she was done for the day.

            Selena laid awake all night crying and screaming for Magnolia. Questioning the air, screaming at anyone who came near her, demanding to know why she hadn’t been found yet. Where was she? Why wasn’t she home where she should be? The only pauses in her long ranting were filled with quite conversations with random inanimate objects. She gently explained that someone had failed her, and that she would set everything right. Then she would turn and shoot death glares at her twin before screaming again and raging at Serena about it being her fault and demanding that Magnolia be found.

            After the third day of her hysterics, Selena was kept mildly sedated. This only managed to set her whispering through the house. She would conspire with this item or that, babbling nonsense at everything from the house plants to the paintings that hung throughout the house. Occasionally she would fly into fits of anger when Serena ventured near her. She would fly at her twin with hands gripped like claws, scratching at her until the nurses finally could control her and put her in a sedative induced sleep. Other times she would just glare angrily and throw things at Serena as she walked past, calling out “Find her!” and using foul phrases that Selena had never uttered in her entire life.

            Serena’s only respite was found in the Greythorne journals and diaries. She quickly became obsessed with them. To the point that Selena’s daughter, Miriam, just 15 years old, had taken the responsibility of running the estates while her mother and her aunt recovered. Meanwhile, Serena had hired a private investigator to locate Magnolia. This at least quieted Selena for a while, allowing Serena to get lost once more in her books. 

            The private investigator had been instructed not to approach the girl when she was found. Serena wanted to meet her in person. She was after all the culmination of the only family secret never recorded. Serena had paid extra to have the PI only answer to her. No one else was to be spoken to about the case. She would handle all the details.

            While Selena withdrew more and more into her own little world, Serena became paranoid of any help offered by the other clans. She began to suspect everyone of looking for secrets and proof or wrong doing on the part of the twins. By the second month after her twins’ accident she had replaced the entire staff of the house with outsiders from neighboring counties. She preformed background checks to ensure that they had no family ties to the Greythornes or Silverthornes. She stopped communicating with either of the other families and eventually even her own family. Locking herself away in her own floor, much like Esther in her last days, Serena began to descend into a madness born of stress and paranoia.