Finding Ytherielle: The Diary

Author's Note:

I decided to got back and look at all of the Ytherielle pieces I wrote and see if I could flesh them out a bit more. My original inspiration come from the prompt about picking up a diary and deciding whether to read it or return it. Here's one of the pieces I wrote

Finding Ytherielle: The Diary

Diary Entry:

June 24th

My dearest Confidante

The sun has set on the day and I have precious little time to inscribe the events that have unfolded before my very eyes upon your most revered pages.

The governess Katarina had us all toiling in the fields all day, removing the weeds from the communal garden.  

Gardening was a more desirable discipline than the usual birch that the Governess preferred. We all pulled out the weeds with vigor while Governess Katarina watched us with the cold eyes of a vulture waiting to feast on a discarded carcass.

“We must weed out all evil desires just as we remove weeds from our garden so that new life can grow”.

What an irony her words bely! While our garden is meticulously tended and the vegetables flourish, our spirits are slowly being crushed like grapes in a winepress with the coldness of a long and unforgiving winter.

The main glimmer of hope usually came near the end of every month when we received visitors from the household of the many Lords and Barons in our land.

Each month, they sent the Master of Robes to select some of us to be ladies in waiting.

How wonderful would that be, dear confidante! To be the lady in waiting for a Lord, living in the finest palaces! Dressed in luxurious silk and most of all, to be free from the shackles of our imprisonment!

Tomorrow is the day that the Master of Robes arrives from the House of Umber arrives and all of us worked even harder and longer than before, with a renewed urgency in our hearts. Little Charlotte was especially ecstatic, the ghost of a smile seeming to peek out from beneath her hood.

I smiled silently at her, having the same hope. Little Charlotte certainly deserved some happiness. I have often seen her walking through the long wooden halls, her head bowed and her usual cheery face red in from the torrent of tears. 

We all finished our work and lined up in front of Governess Katarina for inspection. Usually, she would find some small infraction that was .just enough for good birching, but today, she simply nodded her approval, her face a mask of impassivity.

I remember looking down as she approached me as my heart raced and wondered if I dared to look at her eyes and see what lay beyond. I dared not look at her, but as she turned, I caught a glimpse of her eyes and I saw red glowing embers within.

I canst tell if what I saw was true or if the constant laboring outside had produced a mirage. In either case, it has left me unsettled, so I had put pen to paper, lest any detail be missed.

The candlelight dwindles so for I must end our cherished time for now, dear one. Know that I treasure you always.

Love

Ytherielle.

*****

Jennifer yawned as she finished reading the first entry. She rubbed her eyes for a moment to relieve the strain and moved forward to turn off the fluorescent desk lamp and stood up and stretched.

Mel hadn’t come back from visiting her family, so she had the room to herself. She could keep reading if she wanted, but she felt the need to take a break.

She decided that she would make some hot chocolate in the kitchen downstairs instead. She grabbed a packet from her desk drawer, and a mug, grabbed her key and headed down the stairwell,

When she got down to the kitchen, she saw the unmistakable form of Phoebe reclining on the couch, twirling her curly red hair with her left hand and flirting on her phone with her right.

Jennifer rolled her eyes and shook her head wondering what Governess Katarina would think of such behavior while Phoebe giggled lightly and smirked at some comment she was hearing on the other end. She ignored Phoebe’s antics and set about boiling the water, when she saw a figure out of the corner of her eye. It was just outside the dormitory, seeming to float with the wind.

She left the kettle for a moment and opened the back door and looked. The night air blew through her face as the leaves rustled, but she saw nothing else. She went back into the common area, passing by Flirting Phoebe and went to the kitchen to find the tea kettle already whistling. As she poured the hot liquid into the cup, she suddenly heard a cellphone clatter to the floor, then silence... a sudden cold silence that seemed to change the atmosphere of the entire room.

Frowning, Jennifer went back to the common area and there was Phoebe standing in the middle looking downcast, her face red with tears that looked to have been flowing for the last hour.  

“Phoebe?”

The girl’s head hung down limply, her curly red hair hanging loosely over her face like some broken ragdoll from yesteryear. Jennifer watched as a tear fell slowly onto the tiled floor with a silent “plop"; sound that seemed to echo over a long hallway.  

Cautiously, Jennifer approached her form and knelt down to look at her face. Phoebe's face still remained covered by her hair

“Phoebe?”

“Who?’, the girl whispered through sniffles.  

Jennifer's eyes went wide as she stood up, wondering what to do. Shaking her head, she finally came to a decision and retrieved her own phone from her pocket and started dialing

“Okay, Phoebe. Stay right here. I'll call Maxine our RA and we’ll get you some help” 

Keeping her eyes on Phoebe, she spoke urgently. “Hey, Maxine?”, she said. “It’s Jennifer. I’m down here in the common area with Phoebe and she isn’t doing well. Can you come down please?”

A few minutes later a tall woman in her twenties came down the stairs and met with Jennifer. Her face was a mask of concern, her brow furrowing as she looked around the area and at Jennifer.

“So.. Jennifer. What happened?”, she asked shaking her head.

“Well, I was having a little trouble getting to sleep, so I came down to make some hot chocolate for myself. I saw Phoebe on the couch doing her usual thing, you know.”

Nodding, Maxine said “Okay. Go on”

“Well,” Jen continued. “When the kettle whistled, I poured my drink and then I heard the cell phone drop. That’s when I noticed Phoebe just standing there looking like this!” She thought about telling Maxine about the figure she saw outside, but thought it best to leave that out.

Maxine seemed to peer at Jennifer for a moment, tilted her head giving her a sideways glance. “Looking like what?”

Jennifer’s eyes narrowed. “Looking like….” she trailed off as she turned around. The room was empty except for herself and Maxine.

Maxine watched as Jennifer scanned the room in confusion. "She was here! She was right here! I swear!", she muttered, shaking her head again.

“Jennifer, Phoebe went away for the weekend. You can’t have seen her.”

Mouth hanging open, Jennifer stared at the empty room in disbelief.