Original fic: Stories Old and New

[victoriaely.livejournal.com]

Title: Stories Old and New
Author: victoriaely
Rating: g
Notes: Many thanks to marf_the_river for helping me with my image and to heimedall for the support and beta read.




Jamie and Anna, being the youngest, went to bed first. Or better said, were taken to bed first. Anna was three months old and Jamie was a year and a half old and both of them were small and clingy and she could never shake the feeling they should be somewhere else than the old cottage where her family had been living since before she was born.

Setting her rag doll down, she moved closer to the old battered armchair in which her mother was sitting, holding Henry close to her, softly whispering as she read from the story book. Elizabeth knew the three stories it held by heart. She had heard them when they were read to Anna, Jamie, Henry and Claire and if she tried really hard, she could remember herself sitting in her mother's lap and listening to the story of a little white cat named Tabby.

Henry was barely awake, but he didn't seem eager to go in the bedroom. Sleeping in their mother's arms was far more comfortable than the bed which the three oldest children shared. He chuckled softly, making their mother smile. A soft thud made them look at the wooden table where they ate all their meals and the small girl who was sitting on it, holding two wooden balls and staring at a third one, which was slowly rolling towards Elizabeth.

She picked it up and went to the table, handing it to her younger sister.

"You should go to bed," her mother said softly, picking Henry up.

The seven year old girl nodded, frowning as soon as the door closed behind her mother. She always took care of them. She took care of her sisters and brothers, and sometimes even mum and dad, when they were too tired to do it themselves. Dad was out there, in the night, making money, and they were at home, waiting for him to come back. Elizabeth moved towards the door, looking outside through the window next to it. It wasn't raining anymore, but it was dark and cold and she quietly wondered what was beyond the trees, what money making machines were keeping her dad away from the cottage and herself inside.

The door opened with a loud creak and she quickly went outside, not bothering to button her coat. She started walking towards the trees, her pace quickening with each step. If she made it beyond the trees, she would know what the world was about and she could come home and she would like the old furniture and the creaking walls.

The trees smelled surprisingly nice, fresh. She walked quickly, trying to avoid the roots and twigs and rocks that were everywhere. Every once in a while she would miss seeing a branch that was at her level and start a small rain when she touched it, but it was okay, because her coat was big and warm and the cold water didn't get through.

After a lot of walking, she realized that the forest was big. She knew her father's job involved cutting down the trees and she found herself a bit disappointed that there was so much left to do. It felt like there was no limit to the forest and she briefly wondered if their cottage wasn't in some clearing, surrounded by the trees. If that was true, then her dad would have a lot of work to do. She closed her eyes, determined to keep going to see the world outside the forest.

A sudden, foreign sound made her look up. The leaves above her shook briefly in the full moon and a big rain drop fell on her forehead. She wiped it away, glaring at the sky. It wasn't fair for the only cloud in the sky to rain on her. She walked even faster, trying to ignore the raindrops that kept falling at smaller intervals. The next time she dared to look at the sky, she saw the thick clouds that promised a storm. Elizabeth frowned, wondering if the world would look the same through a storm.

Surely enough, the storm started a few minutes later. She had to close her eyes tightly so the water that dripped from her forehead wouldn't get in her eyes. She pulled the coat closer around her and stopped for a few moments, wondering what she'd do if the thunders came, too. Aligning her hands above her head, she dared to open the eyes and used the shielding to look around. The trees were as tall as ever, but somewhere to her right, she could see something else, a shape that couldn't have been a tree, and she quickly moved that way, suddenly very anxious.

She wondered if she should have looked around sooner, maybe the world had been right next to her and she hadn't seen it. The shape proved to belong to a machine. It was tall and odd, but it had a small room on top of it and Elizabeth quickly climbed inside, peering through its window at the world. A big tower was somewhere to her left and she saw the outline of a castle that must have been magnificent during daylight. There were webs and strange colors and no trees.

Elizabeth leaned back in the big chair that took all of the room and closed her eyes. In the morning, she would see the castle and she'd go back and tell everybody a new story, about a real castle that was just outside their forest.

Morning came too soon and with it a big hand that shook her out of sleep. A man looked down at her, smiling. "We looked everywhere for you," he said, before turning around and explaining something she didn't hear.

Elizabeth yawned and wanted to tell him he couldn't have possibly looked everywhere, when her father came next to the other man and took her in his arms. "What were you doing here?" he asked gently.

"Looking for the world."

Comments

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

i love this - it's really sweet and well written, and i like elizabeth's adventurous spirit and simplistic way of looking at things, because she's only seven and isn't going to have very sophisticated thoughts about the world. she's very cute.

[victoriaely.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much. It's the first time I actually posted an original piece and it's great to know you enjoyed it.