I grabbed hold of my ankle as pain spread up and down my leg like a wave smashing against a rock again, and again. Small stones embedded themselves in the palm of my hand from the ground but they were nothing compared to the pain radiating from my ankle. Every slight movement, every slight touch and the pain would start all over again. It felt like my entire leg was on fire.

Aunt Matilda looked at me and smiled before slinking back to Grandmother and standing beside her. They both just stood there, smiling at me like they were enjoying my pain and from what Mother said, they most likely were. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to fight the tears but the pain was too much and I felt them slip down my cheeks and drop onto the collar of my dress.

A car engine approached us and through the tears in my eyes, I caught the nervous stares from Grandmother and Aunt Matilda. They still smiled at one another, but when the engine got closer they turned and walked away from the school. I imagined they were still smiling at one another when they left.

The engine cut out and I heard the sound of a door opening and closing followed by footsteps on the road. A shadow loomed over me and when I looked up, Marsh was leaning over me with his hat pulled low over his eyes and a look of concern plastered over his face.

"Was that who I think it was?" he asked.

"Yes," I muttered, still clutching my ankle.

"Can you walk?"

"I don't know."

"Come on, I'll help you." Marsh reached down and grabbed onto my forearms, wrapping his fingers around them to make sure he had a decent grip. "Ready? One, two, three."

He pulled me to my feet but I couldn't put a shred of weight on my ankle and just started to tip sideways before Marsh grabbed me. Even the slightest movement of my ankle caused the ripples of pain to return and I had a hard time even thinking straight. Whatever Aunt Matilda had done, I got the feeling that my ankle was more than sprained.

"Let's get you to the car, put all your weight on me and try to hop. You don't want to do any more damage to that ankle."

"Do you think Father will be mad at me?" I asked, gripping onto Marsh as he led me over to the car.

"Why would he be mad at you?"

"Because I didn't tell him."

Marsh opened the car door and helped me inside, handing me my satchel which I tucked under the chair. "The only thing he's going to be mad at is what your aunt and grandmother have done. He's not going to be mad at you."

"A historical precedent would suggest otherwise."

Marsh pulled a face and then walked to the driver's side and climbed in. He started the engine and we pulled away from the pavement and headed back towards the house.

Even with the pain, which didn't appear to be going away any time soon, the thoughts about how Father would react still managed to push their way through. He knew I had hurt myself when I left that morning, he wouldn't have given Marsh the ice if he hadn't. I knew that he would find a way to blame me for this even though Aunt Matilda had been the one to make it worse. Father wouldn't see it like that. I knew he wouldn't.

The pain didn't help to pop any of the anger bubbles and the more I thought about Father blaming me for what happened, the more bubbles formed. All of my emotions were at their pique, balancing the edge of the cliff and just waiting for something to push them over the edge. I knew that a confrontation with Father would do that; it would be the catalyst to all of my emotion and the thing that ultimately destroys me.

I chewed on my fingernails as we drove through the city, Marsh occasionally glancing over at me but he didn't say anything. All I could think about was what Father would say when he saw me, but even I knew that avoiding it wasn't possible anymore. Aunt Matilda had made sure of that. Maybe Marsh would be right and nothing would happen, but that didn't stop the thoughts and I knew they wouldn't go away until we arrived home.

"I would have been there to pick you up at the normal time," Marsh said.

"Why weren't you?" I furrowed my eyebrows and looked at him, welcoming any distraction from the pain and the thoughts battling it out in my head.

"Your father instructed me to pick up the rest of your family. He said he wants to finish the final goodbye to the house that you started on Sunday."

"Great, so everyone gets to see him mad at me. Again." I sighed and pressed my back against the seat.

"This isn't your fault, Miss Isabel, and your father is going to see it that way. Regardless of how the injury originally came to be, he will just want to help you. That is all."

"That's what my Uncle Matthew said."

"Perhaps you should listen and trust him. Just once."

I nodded my head a little and went back to chewing on my fingernails, watching the scenery change from the busy city to the calming country. The further away we got from any chance of seeing Grandmother and Aunt Matilda, the calmer I became. Although that anger still bubbled up, the trees and the birds in them somehow had a more calming effect on me than I realised before. I always felt better outside of the city.

We pulled up to the house a few minutes later and I sat in the car whilst Marsh parked and climbed out of his own side. He opened the door for me and grabbed hold of my arm to help me from the car. My ankle didn't feel any better despite being sat down and I still couldn't put any weight on it so Marsh grabbed my satchel for me and then wrapped his arm around my shoulder to help me hop into the house.

Through the window that overlooked the parlour, I could see Mother watching us, her eyes wide. I looked away and focused instead on making sure that I didn't fall over and ended up adding a secondary injury. Even with Marsh helping me, I still didn't feel all that steady on my feet. Before we reached the door, I took a deep breath to prepare myself for what was about to come. If the entire family had gathered at the house, I couldn't help but think the worst, especially after the conversation I had heard the night before.

Maybe that was why Father had gathered everyone. To tell them that he had decided to send me off to boarding school. It would be typical of him if they did.

The front door opened before we even reached it and I half expected Mrs Smith to be standing there, but instead, it was Mother. She looked at Marsh and then took over from him, helping me into the parlour.

"What on earth happened?" she asked, steering me over to one of the chairs.

"From what I saw, it looks like her aunt might have something to do with it. They were both there when I arrived and made what appeared to be a hasty getaway once they saw me," Marsh said.

"Honestly, those two need to be imprisoned for the way they treat children."

Father walked over to the chair and knelt down next to my feet. "Isabel, I'm going to need to know what you did and what your aunt did or I won't be able to help you." His tone was soft, almost calming, but it didn't help.

I said nothing.

"She tweaked her ankle on the stairs yesterday, or at least that's what she told me."

"Is that true?"

I nodded.

"And today? What did my sister do?"

I looked at Marsh but he shook his head. He hadn't seen it. "She kicked me."

Father nodded. "Right. Let's get that boot off."

"I'll get some ice," Marsh said. I watched him turn and disappear from the room.

"Come on children, let's give your uncle Robert some space," Aunt Charlotte said.

Aunt Charlotte collected the seemingly never-ending gaggle of children that made up my cousins and escorted them from the room with Uncle Jasper and Uncle Zachariah following. Only Mothers side of the family remained.

Father started to untie my boot, keeping a light grip on my heel so he didn't move it too much when he untied the laces. He undid almost all of the lace in order to manipulate it off my foot, my ankle became too swollen inside the shoe for it to be removed any other way. I squeezed my eyes shut at the jolt of pain that came from my ankle as he started to pull my boot off. Mother placed a light hand on my shoulder, but it didn't help matters.

Once he had removed my boot, Mother stepped in to remove my stocking for me so Father wouldn't have to. Even that hurt. When the stocking had been removed, it exposed the reality of the injury that had started off as a sprain. My ankle was swollen, double the size of the other one and perhaps a little more. The entire ankle area had become purple from the bruising and I found myself not even being able to look at it.

Marsh returned and handed Father the ice before making a quick escape, no doubt he didn't like the look of my ankle either.

"I don't think I've ever seen an ankle that colour before," Sebastian said from across the room. I looked at him and he just shrugged and smiled. If he was trying to make light of the situation, he had an odd way of doing so.

"So, this started as a sprain?" Father asked.

I nodded. "I think so."

"Did you put any ice on it?"

"Last night."

"That was smart." He reached out and slowly started to feel around my ankle, sending pain coursing through my leg.

"Ouch!" I exclaimed.

"Sorry, I just need to make sure it isn't broken. You're doing really well, Izzy. I've seen adults cry from a sprain before." He laughed before continuing to feel around my ankle. I bit my lip and squeezed my eyes shut to try and fight the pain, but it didn't work.

"It's alright Izzy," Mother said.

"I don't think it's broken. It doesn't appear to be anyway so you got lucky. This is a serious sprain and some awful bruising to the whole of your ankle. There's nothing to be done about it other than bandage it up to keep it steady and keep you off your feet for at least a week, if not more."

"But I can't miss the debate on Friday."

"You're going to have to, Izzy. I can't, in good conscience, let you walk around on that ankle in any capacity or you will end up breaking it. The fact you've been able to walk on it until now is a miracle in itself. If you walk around on it, then you could do yourself a permanent injury." Father placed the wrapped up towel of ice onto my ankle.

"No, you don't understand. Miss Reid set the debate for me, she even wanted me to invite you to attend. I can't miss it!"

The anger bubbles rose to the surface. One after another until it felt like my chest was full of thousands of small bubbles. It almost felt like I was a bottle of lemonade that someone had decided to shake up, with the bubbles threatening to explode out of me. My chest squeezed, my heart pounded in my chest. The room even swayed a little.

Of course, he wouldn't understand. He never understands. Why would I think this would be any different? The debate mattered more to me than anything else and Miss Reid had set the task for me, she had said so herself and no one was going to take that away from me. No one. Not Father, not Mother and especially not Aunt Matilda who had only done it to prove a point.

I scrunched my fingers up in the fabric of the chair, twisting it until it let out a slight squeaking noise. Across the room, Uncle Matthew looked at me and exchanged a glance with Aunt Lily. He knew what was going on inside of my head. He must have done. I did tell him everything after all. I watched him stand up from his chair and walk around to the other side of the chair, placing a hand on mine so I would stop scrunching at the chair.

"Izzy, look at me." I did. "Do you remember what I said the other night? About how talking can help deal with whatever is going on in that head of yours? I kept to my promise and didn't tell anyone what we discussed, but I think this has gone too far for you to keep it inside. Especially after you didn't tell anyone you injured yourself."

"No," I said.

"Come on, Izzy. No one here is going to think any less of you for whatever it is you have to say and I'm sure everyone here will promise not to judge you for it."

"He's right, Izzy. We're listening" Mother said. I looked around the room and caught everyone nodding slightly, except for Oliver who appeared to be somewhere else entirely.

"Your uncle is right, Isabel. We're here and we want to listen," Father said.

The bubbles burst.

"You? Listen? That'll be a first!" I glared at him.

"What did I do to make you feel this way?"

"What did you do? You're the reason Grandfather died!"

~~~

A/N - Chapter Twenty-Six is here and it's all about to come out now... Are you ready?

Questions! What do you think is going to happen next?

Comment below!

First Published - October 26th, 2021