Finding Elizabeth (11 page)

Although I have not been permitted to see
William, Annie and Rose are watching out for him. Annie tells me
every day of how he is doing. He seems to be coping with mother's
death. I am unsure what father has told him about me or if William
even knows I am still here. I am hopeful that he will come to his
secret room and I will be able to see him. I fear for his safety at
fathers hands and of his well being at having lost both his mother
and his sister at such a young age.

My days and nights are filled with nothing
but memories of the people I love. I have thought so much about my
mother and what I could have possibly done to save her, but I would
just drive myself mad thinking such things.

I wish that I would have escaped with
William, but father had shown to be a changed man after mothers
death. I should have known that evil can not change.

Elizabeth

Claire put the book on her bedside table,
her vision was blurred from the tears that now streamed down her
face.

Hurrying into the room Daniel quickly rushed
to Claire's side, "Oh my God, are you in that much pain? Did
something happen?"

Blowing her nose Claire said, "No, the pain
isn't bad. I was reading Elizabeth's journal. The abuse is so bad
that Phillip killed Olivia and then later he locked Elizabeth in
William's secret room in the attic."

With a puzzled look Daniel said, "He killed
her? Wait, What are you talking about, there is no secret room in
the attic."

"In the journal Elizabeth talked about her
and William going into the attic and he found a secret room.
Elizabeth thought it was just the attic space of the turret room.
For some reason it was closed off from the rest of the attic. And
she also wrote about how her father beat her mother so severely
that she died the following day." Claire said.

Daniel ran his hands through his hair,
"Claire I think you need to take a break from the journal. I can
see it's tormenting you to read it. Let me get your medicine, so
you can get a good nights rest. Maybe tomorrow will look
better."

"That's a great idea. I have something that
will help me sleep in the small pink bag that was in the bathroom
upstairs," Claire said.

Daniel found the bag in the bathroom next to
Claire's new bedroom and returned with a glass of water as Jen
entered the room.

"Jen can you help me change into a nightgown
please?" Claire asked.

"Please try to get some rest Claire and I
will see you tomorrow. I'm going to sleep on the sofa in the small
room off of the kitchen if that's ok. If you need anything just
call me. Jen are you staying in here with Claire tonight?" Daniel
asked.

They both nodded in agreement and with that
he was gone.

***

Claire slept anything but a restful sleep.
For the first time in a week she dreamt of Adam and the accident
and the child they had lost. She woke up at the sound of the crying
baby. Settling back down she drifted off again, only to dream of
the horrible things she had read about in Elizabeth's journal. In
her dream Elizabeth was calling to her, begging her for help.
Please don't leave me here she begged, please help me find my
baby.

Claire woke again to the throbbing pain in
her ankle. She tried hobbling to the bathroom, but just couldn't
get the crutches to work. She tried waking Jen, but it was no use.
I doubt a freight train could wake you!

Hearing the thumping sound coming from down
the hall, Daniel jumped up and was at the door to Claire's room
just as she opened it. She tried to take another step, but the
crutches fell out from under her as Daniel quickly steadied
her.

"Umm I was heading to the bathroom," Claire
blushed.

"I can help you. I will sit you down and
then I will step out of the room. Just yell when you are ready for
me to come back in," Daniel said.

Reluctantly Claire agreed, but it was an
emergency so she didn't have a choice. Thinking to herself after
Daniel sat her down, "This is the most humiliating thing I have
ever had to do!"

As Daniel picked her up he asked, "Do you
want to go back to bed?"

"No, I was just having nightmare after
nightmare, and of course with the baby crying err, the foxes
howling, sleep is no use," Claire said.

Daniel carried Claire into the small sitting
room and gently placed her on the sofa. He put a pillow on the
table, so she could rest her injured ankle, "I'm going to make hot
cocoa, would you like some?"

"Thank you, I would love some, " Claire
said, as she smiled at his thoughtfulness.

A few minutes later Daniel came in carrying
a tray of hot cocoa and cookies. He sat beside her on the sofa and
for the longest time they didn't talk, they just sit there in
silence.

Finally Daniel said, "Tell me about
Adam."

Thinking for a moment before she began
Claire smiled, "He was a wonderful guy. We met when we were in
junior high. His parents died in a house fire when he was just
eleven. Luckily he was staying at a friends house that night. They
had just won a baseball game and several of the boys wanted to have
a sleepover. After the fire he moved in with his grandmother who
lived across the street from me and my mom. At first he didn't like
it. Of course he missed his parents, but he also missed his friends
at his old school. But over that first summer Jen, Adam and I had
so much fun. We were just like the three musketeers. We would play
outside all day and when we thought we would die from the heat we
would beg one of our parents to take us to the pool. We spent most
every afternoon at our city swimming pool."

"Once we even tried building a tree house,
but we never could get it just right." Lifting the sleeve of her
nightgown Claire showed Daniel a tiny scar, "This is from a small
tree branch impaling me. After that we built a fort in the tall
grass in the field behind my house. The three of us played
baseball, well we tried to play. Adam would get frustrated and say,
"I knew girls couldn't play baseball, when Jen or I would miss the
ball. We all shared a couple of summer's like that, but as we got
older our time together changed. We still had a lot of fun, but
instead of playing games outside it was video games, roller skating
and going to the movies," Claire smiled.

With a look of pure bliss on her face from
the welcome memories Claire continued, "I will never forget the
first time Adam kissed me. It was the year I turned fourteen, he
asked me to our school valentine's day dance. He was acting strange
that night, and I thought it was because he wasn't used to wearing
a starched shirt and a tie. He tugged on his tie so much, it was
lopsided and the knot was no longer at his neck. We were standing
out front of our school gymnasium waiting for my mother to pick us
up, and he just reached over and quickly kissed me. After that
things just seemed to fall into place. We dated throughout high
school and then after graduation we both went to college at the
University of Arkansas. I of course majored in history, but Adam
majored in healthcare administration."

"What kind of work did he do?" Daniel asked
with interest.

"Adam loved people, and maybe because he had
been raised by his aging grandmother he chose to become a nursing
home administrator. He wanted to make a difference in the lives of
our seniors and he knew the best way to make a big difference was
from the inside. After he graduated from college he applied for his
administrators license and then he was hired by a nursing home in
our hometown. The resident's of the home loved him, but I think he
loved them more. He seemed so comfortable and happy when he was
there. I volunteered at the home where he worked and found that I
loved it too."

More for herself than for Daniel, Claire
continued, "We both lived in dorms the first two years of college.
Our junior year we decided we would get a small apartment off
campus. But our parents were not very happy about the thought of us
living together before we were married. We tried to convince them,
telling them we were going to be married after college. In the end
we all drove to Eureka Springs where Adam and I got married in a
small chapel. It was a nice wedding and I didn't regret marrying
Adam, but it wasn't the wedding of my dreams. Not that I wanted a
huge wedding, but something different. Maybe an outdoor wedding,
with Jen by my side as my maid of honor."

"Anyway, Adam and I moved into our apartment
and we both graduated within two years. Adam went to work and I
continued working part time toward my masters degree. For fun I
would go on treasure hunts with Jen to auctions and estate sales.
We would lovingly restore nice furniture, or paint and distress
furniture that was beyond saving. I loved spending the time with
Jen and it turned out to be a good part time job. I loved that I
had no set work schedule and it allowed me the flexibility to work
around my class schedule."

Unsure if she should continue on and talk
about the accident, Claire paused. She knew that Daniel wanted to
understand her, and without talking about the accident and
divulging what happened, she could not move forward. Claire had
known that the time would come when she would need to talk about it
for her own personal growth. Sure she had reflected on it many
times, but it was just not something she talked about with others.
Feeling the need to take a leap of faith she continued, "And then
last summer, Adam and I were going to a fourth of July party at the
lake. We had plans to meet Jen and her boyfriend. We were going to
barbecue and watch the fireworks."

Daniel quickly interrupted, "Claire, I don't
want you to talk about this if you aren't ready. I know it's still
painful for you and the last thing I want to do is cause you any
pain."

With a thoughtful smile Claire said, "It's
okay, I need to talk about it. I have never spoken about that night
with anyone. I want to be able to talk about it and I think it's an
important step in my healing." So she continued, "We were in Adam's
truck and we were heading toward the camp site. As we headed out of
town, we stopped at a red light. We were talking happily about the
barbecue. When the light turned green, Adam started to go, just as
a drunk driver ran a red light and T-boned us on the driver's side.
Adam's lifeless body was pinned in the truck for more than an hour
while the jaws of life cut away the crumpled metal." With tears
streaming down her face, Daniel grabbed Claire's hand and gently
soothed her while she talked. "I was thrown from the truck and
landed more than thirty feet away."

Taking a deep breath to steady herself
Claire continued, "Daniel, I was almost seven months pregnant with
my first child, a son." Daniel quickly pulled her in and hugged
her, but his thoughts were interrupted when she pulled away and
continued. "I was in a coma for three days. When I woke up in the
hospital, I knew the instant that I saw my mom and Jen. Adam and
our baby were gone."

"I was so distraught that I began trying to
get up, ripping at the various tubes that were there to help me.
The doctors put me into an induced coma for almost a week to give
me time to heal. My lungs were bruised, and I had several broken
ribs. I was battered and bruised from head to toe. While I was in a
coma, the doctors performed a c-section to remove my baby."

"When I finally woke up I was mad at the
world. I had missed the funeral of my beloved husband and son. I
felt anger toward the man who had done this, and guilt toward
myself. Maybe if I would have been wearing a seat belt the baby
would have survived. I began to question what kind of mother I
would have been. I was supposed to protect my baby, and I had
failed miserably. I spent the next several months going back and
forth between beating myself up and hating the drunk driver. I
needed to make sure the man responsible for taking my family and my
dreams of a happy life paid for his ignorance."

"Oh Claire, I had no idea about the baby.
I'm sorry all of that happened to you. But you shouldn't blame
yourself. There is no way you could have known there would be an
accident. I'm happy you feel comfortable enough to share this with
me. You know you can talk to me anytime you need to," Daniel said
as he lovingly stroked her hair.

Looking up they saw Jen walking into the
kitchen, "How long have you two been awake?"

Claire quickly wiped her tears, "I didn't
realize the sun had even come up, we have been up most of the
night."

After Jen started the coffee, she came and
sat across from them in one of the cozy chairs. Looking up at
Claire for the first time, "Oh my god, are you ok? Why are you
crying?"

"I was just talking about Adam and the baby,
but for the first time in months, I think I'm going to be fine,"
Claire said with a hopeful smile.

Daniel stood, "I think I will get more wood
to start another fire," and with that he walked out the door.

"Claire if you need me to stay I will. I
don't want to leave you," Jen said as she went to hug her best
friend.

Claire gently pulled away, "You have worried
over me and taken care of me long enough. It's time for both of us
to make a life for ourselves. Besides, you promised you would come
and visit often, and I am definitely holding you to that
promise."