Mr Night

Book 2: Chapter 9

-HER-

After Filth left, I sat in silence, listening to the noises of cheerful and drunk guests coming from downstairs. My heart was thudding in my chest, but I couldn't understand why. Was it because I was going to leave soon, or was it because I would quickly find myself alone with him?

This was making me anxious, but I couldn't decide why. After all, I had wanted to see him all this time. I was craving to see him, talk to him, and get closure from him. So why was I so anxious again? Maybe it was because I was tied to him now, and I would be more devastated if he rejected me again. There was no going back from here. It was all final.

I sat in silence for a while, collecting my thoughts and preparing myself to face him alone. I was afraid I would lose control if I found myself alone with him. There were so many emotions I had been trying to suppress all this time. I was afraid that all of it would come out if I were to see him. I felt like a volcano about to erupt.

It took me a while to get a hold of myself. I decided to leave finally. I could never prepare myself for this. It was better just to let it all out.

I got up silently and made my way downstairs. The house was empty, but all the guests were partying outside in the beautifully decorated garden lit by levitating enchanted lamps. I stopped momentarily and looked around for my father, but he was nowhere to be seen. I looked for William, too, but he was missing as well.

I contemplated going outside in the garden and searching for him there, but then I decided against it. I didn't feel like walking there in the wedding dress in front of all those guests. All the eyes would be on me, which was the last thing I wanted. All I wanted was to disappear, never to be seen again.

I found a servant and asked him about my father. The servant told me he saw my father leaving somewhere but couldn't tell me when he would return. I didn't have to guess when he'd be back. I knew he hardly cared about me to meet me for the last time before leaving.

Without wasting another second, I headed towards the back side of the house, where the familiar carriage was waiting for me. Filth was already on the horses, eyeing me curiously. My heart was fluttering in my chest when I saw the carriage.

This was it.

It took me a lot of courage to walk up to it, expecting him to be sitting inside, waiting for me. I could hear my heart pounding heavily as I slowly opened the door, only to find the carriage empty. It filled me with a sense of relief, but at the same time, it made me even more anxious.

"Where is he?" I asked Filth.

"He had to be away for some important business," Filth told me, trying his best to mask the bitterness in his voice. "Get in quick. It's a long journey way back," He added. I got inside and closed the door before Filth whipped the horses, and we were finally on the road.

Attending some important business on his wedding night was very much like him. However, it made me feel somewhat rejected. It was as if he was indirectly showing me that there were things out there more important to him than me... or maybe this was his way of avoiding me, to run from me.

Only he knew.

I kept thinking about it as I fell asleep for the rest of the journey, only to wake up in the middle of the night to Filth unloading my luggage. I sat up straight for a second, looking around me, fully alert.

"Get off. You can sleep inside," I heard Filth say as he took my luggage inside the house. I got off the carriage, hardly holding my dress up, not caring about the mud as I followed him inside the house. The house stood precisely the same way I remembered it the last time I was here. Nothing had changed about it, but somehow, a lot seemed to have changed.