Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19

Aplate shattered from inside the kitchen, Leilah having dropped it as she heard Marina’s accusations toward her uncle.

Uncle Josiah stood in silence, his eyes growing skew from anger. Marina stood a few inches from him, anticipating his next words. However, no words followed.

A loud noise rang through the dining room, accompanied by a shriek from Nancy. Marina fell to the floor, her cheek stinging from the strong blow she had just received.

“Had my own uncle just slapped me?” Marina thought, putting a hand over the place where the blow had his her. She wiped the dripple of spit that exited her mouth, before standing back to her feet.

“You prove my words right!” Marina yelled, not caring if her uncle battered her to a pulp if it meant she could say her say. “You killed my father as well as the Duke of Darrington’s father out of greed and the longing for status! Now, you proceed to harm anyone daring to call you out, but today I will tell you. I will tell you that you’ve already ruined my entire life and I won’t allow you to so without finding justice! Even if justice doesn’t reach you in this life, I’m more than certain that it will in the next!”

Another sting rushed into Marina’s cheek, her view briefly turning to dancing spots from disorientation. Her vision still blurry, she neared him once again, not finished with her statement.

“We know you killed them, and we are most determined to prove it. I don’t know how or when we would, but I promise you we would! And then finally we could all live free from your tyranny!” Marina shrieked, her voice cracking from emotion. “You have harmed everyone near you! You can’t even allow Nancy the love she feels for the Baron! That’s because you’re nothing but selfish and greedy, caring only about what things could bring you money and destroying those who don’t contribute!”

Marina took a step back, out of breath from all the words she had yelled. She was much smaller than uncle Josiah, leading her to try to use her voice as intimidation. She hadn’t ever released her emotions like this before.

She knew well she might’ve ruined her life in the span of about five minutes, but it felt so good to get it all out- even if it may cost her life.

A storm of fury invaded Uncle Josiah; his face contorted with rage. Marina couldn’t help but see him as the visual version of wrath. His knuckled contracted, balling a fist. A fist headed for Marina.

Marina awaited the blow, knowing it might leave her injured for a lengthy period of time. She closed her eyes tightly and bit her lower lip in anticipation, but no blow befell her.

Instead, she saw a figure running swiftly from behind, a tiny fist crashing into Uncle Josiah’s jaw, causing him to fall onto his knees. A loud scream emerged from Charlotte, who ushered to the aid of her husband. Beside them stood a bewildered Leilah, clutching her sore fist from the blow she had thrown.

Marina’s eyes started to tear up as she watched Leilah’s tiny figure shake with both immense fear and anger. Leilah might have saved Marina, but Marina didn’t even want to know of the consequences.

Charlotte knelt over Uncle Josiah, grabbing his face and asking him if he’s alright. He looked confused, blinking his eyes rapidly as he tried to come back to his feet.

His nose was dripping blood profusely, trailing from his red-stained moustache onto his white shirt. He kept his eyes fixed on Marina.

“You wretch of a woman!” Charlotte’s voice yelled at Leilah. “What kind of audacity do you think you have!”

“Quiet!” Uncle Josiah yelled at his wife, causing her to whimper in confusion. He shot a sharp look over to Leilah, who had now begun tearing up in fear.

“Out, you witch!” he yelled at Leilah, who complied and started to run for her life. Before she left, she merely gave the most frightened look that Marina had ever witnessed. Marina’s own feet started to quiver, near the stage of fainting. What had she done?

“And you…” Uncle Josiah said turning to Marina. Marina took a few steps back, anticipating more hard blows. “You will rot before ever getting out of this house. Go to your room!”

Marina didn’t hesitate to run from the situation, knowing she was risking her life by staying a second longer. As she made her way down the corridor, it felt like she was floating. The adrenaline was saturated her entire body, making her a moving mechanism with no thought.

As she sat inside her room, the dread of what she has done had finally started to sink in, fully. If she had a button that could take her back in time she would press it- taking the blows thrown by uncle Josiah without a word. But now it was too late, she had already caused too much damage.

She briefly looked at her window, wondering that if she ran might she have a better life? But where could she possibly go, all she knew was the walls of Cromwell and the people within. The only exception was Griffin, but what could Griffin do for her?

She had no option but to sit and rot in her room, just like Uncle Josiah had said. She had ruined any chance of life she might’ve had, even if it was a life spent alongside the Earl of Windermere…

It wasn’t long before a Marina’s door burst open, the person not even bothering to knock. Marina instinctively thought it to be Uncle Josiah, on his way to harm her, so her fight or flight mechanism took the best of her.

“Marina!” a voice yelled, but Marina was already one foot out of the window with nothing but the clothes on her back. Yet, as the voice called her name, she recognised it to be Nancy. Marina stopped in her tracks.

“What have you done?! What have you done?!” Nancy hysterically repeated, tears rushing down her cheeks. Nancy was losing it, pulling at her hair with both hands.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t contain it anymore,” Marina cried back, stepping back into the room to near Nancy.

“Why would you tell him about Frederic?! How do you even happen to know about Frederic in the first place?!” Nancy cried, pacing up and down in an episode of hysterics.

“I’m sorry, Nancy! Can’t you see that your father is treating you poorly, you deserve more than a life controlled by him,” Marina said, grabbing her cousin’s shoulders in attempt to ground her, bring her back to reality.

“Don’t you think I know that? Do you think I’m not aware that my Papa can be horrid and vile? He barely wanted me, Marina! He wanted a son and I’m just another problem he wants to get out of the house,” Nancy cried, her hands gripping onto the wrists of Marina. Marina couldn’t help but feel that this had been the most personal interaction they had shared in months, despite both being in a state of despair.

“But we need to get away from it, Nancy. We can’t continue living like this, we simply can’t!” Marina cried, tears streaming down both their faces as they conversed.

“It’s not like we have any other options now, do we?” Nancy cried back, briefly removing a hand from Marina’s wrist to wipe her face.

“You do, not me. You can run off and be with Frederic, enjoy a life of true love,” Marina said, wiping her own tears with her free hand.

“It’s not as easy as you say! If I do so, my Papa would be sure to destroy not just me but Frederic as well!”

Marina looked into the tearful eyes of Nancy. There was undoubtedly anger toward Marina, but somehow her cousin needed someone to cry to more than she wanted to yell at her.

“Marina,” Nancy mumbled softly, looking down at her shoes, but still holding Marina’s one wrist.

“Yes, Nancy,” Marina whispered back, her voice shaking.

“Do you really believe that my Papa had killed your and the duke’s Papa’s?” she softly asked, her grasp on Marina started to loosen. Marina didn’t know what to say, but merely nodded. The nod caused Nancy to go into another fit of tears.

“I’m so, so sorry my dear cousin. That’s why I courted him in the first place, I would never have stolen a courtship for my cousin if it wasn’t with greater intention,” Marina said, gesturing for Nancy to sit on the bed.

“I didn’t even like the duke much,” Nancy managed to laugh through her tears. “I’m too in love with Frederic to be bothered by another man.”

Marina looked at Nancy with sad eyes, guilt feasting at her heart as she looked at what emotions she had provoked from both Leilah and Nancy by fighting with her uncle. No man should be capable of destroying an entire household like he had.

“Heavens, I didn’t think he might actually do it,” Nancy mumbled, causing her to continue her cry with larger intensity. The comment jerked Marina’s head over to her cousin in confusion. She remained staring at Nancy, not wanting to inquire too much while her cousin was in such a state.

“One night I heard him yell that he was going to kill your father, he had just come home from your father’s house I believe. I was shocked but brushed it off as another exaggerated emotion my father felt that would wash away. But it seems like it didn’t,” Nancy cried, the last spark she had left in her eye finally dying out.

Marina rubbed Nancy’s back in attempts to comfort her, but in her own mind she had become even more certain of her uncle’s crimes. Still- how could she prove it? Ask Nancy to testify that she overheard him saying he wanted to kill him? The judge would merely write it off as brotherly banter…

“I’m afraid, Marina. I really am afraid,” Nancy mumbled between her sobs. Marina continued her attempt to comfort her, but she couldn’t help but feel the overwhelming sense of fear within herself. It was unlike any fear she had ever felt before. A fear of what exactly her uncle could be capable of.

From deeper within the house, Marina heard a shriek echo all the way to her bedroom. It could only have been Charlotte’s piercing wails.

“Mama?” Nancy whispered, fear in her voice. She jumped to her feet, rushing to Marina’s doorway to get a better look of things. Marina wanted to follow in pursuit, but knew that showing her face would be like showing a red cloth to a bull.

Marina watched from the bed as Nancy’s head shot up and down the corridor, in search of a hint of what was going on. Marina could see the hesitation in Nancy’s movement, partially wanting to run to the source of the shriek, yet, partially to afraid to take a single step.

“What could possibly be going on?” Nancy whispered to Marina. Her tears were starting to slowly dry on her cheeks, but she remained in the state of distress.

“Your Papa would never hurt your Mama, would he?” Marina asked, fearing her uncle to have taken his anger out on her aunt.

“He never has, well, I don’t know of an instance he had,” Nancy said, shaking her head in denial. “He had never hurt any of us physically.”

Marina wanted to tell her cousin that uncle Josiah’s vile words were of equal strength to a hard blow, after all, Marina must admit that she found his slaps much more bearable than any word that had crossed his mouth.

“I fear I’ll cause more trouble if I leave to investigate,” Marina said, not even wanting to think of the consequences if she dared show her face again. Nancy shook her head profusely in response.

“Please, Marina, whatever you do don’t go near them again,” Nancy said sternly, warning Marina of any such actions. Yet, somehow, Marina felt guilty if she just closed herself off from the world while her family could be murdering one another. What if her mother gets caught up in the matter?

Just as Nancy was about to take her first step down the corridor, hasty footsteps could be heard approaching from down the corridor. Marina knew it couldn’t be uncle Josiah, his footsteps to dull and loud for them to sound like the ones she was hearing.

“Mama?” Nancy whimpered to the approaching footsteps. Marina was unable to see Charlotte from the position she was sat in, but feared her to be bloodied and battered.

“Are you all right, Mama?” Nancy asked, taking a few steps to centre herself in the corridor, yet one hand remained on the threshold of Marina’s doorway.

“Yes, dear, all alright,” Charlotte replied in what sounded like a fake tone. Marina noticed that her voice had a shaky undertone to it.

“What is happening?” Nancy asked, taking a few steps closer to her mother, Marina now having to guess their muffled words from inside her room.

“Oh, you know your Papa. He gets a bit angered, especially if it’s by the witch of a cousin you have. But go wash your face and leave for your room, there’s nothing to worry about.”

Marina sunk back into her bed, briefly thinking that if somehow, Griffin could be here- she might’ve felt better.