As The World Became Dark: Prologue (Part 2)

Summer arrived quickly on the Worcs countryside. The cats of the Haddinger fields took shade from the smoldering heat under the long tresses of the willow trees. The young lord kept so many of them around to protect his vast store houses from the ravaging winter mice. A young woman, a maid to the lord, had no choice but to enter this hot grassland and greet the hungry felines. She carried a wooden bucket of slopped rancid meat, careful not to get her clean white apron dirty. As she bent down to pour the meal, she felt the hot sun sear her soft brown skin. She frequently turned around to catch a chance of a cool breeze gusting from the colossal Haddinger Estate. Finished with the task, she scurried back to the courtyard in time to see the maids carrying suitcases and boxes out the door.

 The young lord strolled out of the mansion with his lovely wife beside him. The madam wore a silky red petticoat that swayed with the waves of breezes, and a refreshing light pink overskirt that left her shoulders bare. Her bustles were lightly layered, so as to not induce an overheated bodice. The heat was too much for her taking, so she carried a small parasol on her shoulder, clasping the protruding bulge coming from her dress. Her once rosy complexion was now a pale white, due to lack of sunlight. The young lord did not stand for his wife to be in the heat long, especially being with child. He on the other hand took the sun on in daily routine.

This day was indeed not ordinary. Madam Haddinger was leaving for a vacation in the remote Maschuten countryside before she was due to give birth. The reason for her unexpected retreat was made unknown to servant staff, which supplied much air for imprudent gossip… The young lord escorted her to the cabbie car, but oddly without any intention of joining her. Two maidservants carried her luggage and baskets of fixings to the car. The madam was chauffeured by a young fellow, tall and skinny, who appeared to be in shy balance with the lord. The young maid eyed the chauffeur with an air of recognition, but she was unsure of time or place. She noticed the young man’s fixed gaze on the madam. As they approached the car, the young lord gave a soft, passionate goodbye kiss to his wife. While she situated herself in the passenger’s seat, she blew a farewell kiss to her husband and waved all the servants in the courtyard goodbye.

The young maid and the young lord watched as the cabbie car drove off to a distance, time stopping at its fading. All things came to a silence. Both looked up into the sky as it became a blinding white and then looked at each other as the world became dark…