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𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓝𝓾𝓻𝓼𝓮
IVONNE'S BEDROOM
April 10, 1912
A writer's mind is a vast plethora of alternate worlds one cannot comprehend at first touch. It never stops forming new ideas, new plots, and new characters in which they take inspiration from their own reality. Some may find this exhausting, but for Ivonne, she uses the full power of words to compensate for the lack of thrill her life gives.
The moonlight shines through the small, gold-engraved window, illuminating the room with its ethereal glow, creating a somber atmosphere. Ivonne, on the other hand, feels the opposite. Her fingers holds the dip pen with a sense of determination, furiously scribbling on her sketchpad as she squeezes every bit of inspiration out of her head. With her heart pulsing inside her chest, the young woman finally feels overjoyed.
A rapping on the door halts Ivonne's movement, turning to glare on the figure behind the door for plunging her out of her world. "Bon? Can I come in?"
Her eyes softens when she hears the familiar melodic voice of her older sister, Tabitha. Sighing, Ivonne opens the small drawer of her table and withdraws a bronze key, bracing herself from another string of questions that always come whenever a panic attack happens. "Just a moment!"
Tabby, as the Kline Siblings like to call her, is an angel in the brunette's eyes. Compassionate and kind to everyone she meets, helpful to those in need, a wonderful role model to her sisters and brothers, Tabby Kline is everything you wanted to be. Despite her job as a nurse in a prestigious hospital back in England, she never fails to give her time to each of her siblings, serving as a listener of their individual problems and adviser of some sorts. Her natural warmth is a trait some yearns for, and the reason why Ivonne feels a sense of calmness in her presence.
The first thing Ivonne sees is the smile of her sister as she opens the door to let her in, before looking down to what she is holding and soon follows suit. A glass of milk resides on the hands of Tabitha, along with a plate of few slices of butter-filled wheat bread. "Is this your new way of bribing?" She jokes, eyes twinkling.
Tabitha's pink lips widens to a grin, going inside her room and setting down the food on the table she was previously situated on, picking up one of her paintings that is angled on the wall. "You know me too well, sister. Is it working?"
"Depends," Ivonne replies, sitting down on her bed. "You did interrupt my alone time, though, which is quite intrusive."
"Oh, don't be silly. When is it not your alone time, hm?" says Tabitha, surveying the room lined with numerous paintings of both Ivonne's and other beloved artists with an obvious fascination. Approaching the porcelain-colored bookshelf, her slender fingers caress the spine of the books. "I have to say, your room is definitely a lot better than mine. Medicines, manuals, and a horde of papers aren't that pleasing to the eyes. A nightmare, honestly."
"Why do I get the feeling that you're stalling?" She asked. "And how'd you know I'm awake?"
The older lass only raises her eyebrow. "Are you really asking me how I know my sister, Bon?" Tabitha walks and joins her on the bed, before smoothing down her white night dress, and turning to Ivonne. "It's been hard for us, too, you know? Mother and Father's death. We merely differ in terms of coping with the loss, with me, as always, buried deep within my work and patients. Assisting other people in their health problems, trying to save and heal the sick, wishing to God no one is going through the same situation. Just to occupy myself."
Feeling a deep tug of heart, she averts her eyes forward and fights back the tears threatening to pour. "The future may not be clear, since anything can happen in a glimpse of an eye, but I promise you this. Everything will turn out the way it should be. Clear?"
Ivonne is watching her older sister the whole time and cannot help but to be filled with guilt and sorrow. Instead of comforting and being each other's shoulders to cry on, the young woman chooses to isolate herself and deal with the pain, alone just like what she is used to. It is better this way, she thought. However, she realizes that in a way she was being selfish, rather be an older sibling to the younger ones.
"I'm sorry, Tabby."
"Please don't be. I cannot ask you to force yourself out there, I would never do such thing. But," she pauses, their identical shade of eyes fusing through an understanding of what is running inside both of their minds. "I would very much appreciate if you at least try. We miss you after all."
The young woman sighs, plopping down on the bed with her arms wide open. "Fine, if you say so."
Tabitha grins once more and do the same, their heads an inch apart. The two sisters' identical white night dresses almost blend with the silk bedsheets, chocolate-colored mop of hair standing out among the sea of clouds. "Good girl. I'm guessing my little token of gifts did their trick?"
"I knew it," Ivonne laughs, smacking her face with a pillow. "I don't think people would take kindly to a lying nurse, they'll lose their wits!"
"They surely will. After all, their lives are on my hands; imagine me bluffing them? Horrendous!" Tabitha exclaims with a mocking gasp, before adjusting her body to lie on her left side, head on her palm. "Change of topic, I saw you've made a friend earlier."
Ivonne, still lying, stares at her in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Back at the poop deck! I may or may not have followed you after your episode, and then I came into the sight of you talking to someone." There is a mischievous glint in Tabitha's eyes. "A boy, to be exact."
The young woman rolls her eyes, pushing her giggling sister's face. "Oh God, Tabby, stop. He's no one! Just a normal stranger that I happened to have had a conversation with."
"What's it about, then?"
"That's none of your business."
"Well," says Tabitha as she smiles at her blushing sister, glad to have this moment with her, even for a short while. "What's his name? Surely he did give it to you."
"I didn't care enough to remember," Ivonne replies without a beat, shrugging.
She cannot hold it in any longer and lets out a guffaw. "You are such a brat! Are you being serious, Ivonne? It's a name, it's not that difficult to memorize!"
"I do know it starts with a J, though!" The brunette defends, before halting and glancing sideward, eyes crinkling. "Or an S, a T? Oh, maybe an R. On second thought, it's A. No, cancel that, an N. Definitely a G. Perhaps an E? Let's go back to R."
"You must feel quite smart for knowing how to spell stranger, hm?"
"Because that's what he is!" Ivonne says as she throws her hands in the air, then groaning. "I don't understand why it's such a big thing to you. I doubt we'll meet again anyway."
"Oh, sister," says Tabitha, messing her hair. "If I know something about the future, it's how unpredictable it is."
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