The discovery of an Elmore's new self

The morning of December 12th at the Earl Elmore’s was an unusually sunny day. The Elmore family was conformed by the couple Lady and Lord Elmore, who had an eighteen-year-old daughter named Elizabeth. It was 8 o’clock in the morning, which meant it was breakfast time. “Good morning sweetheart. Did you sleep well?” said Lady Elmore as Elizabeth entered the dining room. “Not really, I had a nightmare. I believe it is because today is December 12th” responded Elizabeth with a frown on her face as Lord Elmore gave his wife a confused look “What happens today?”. Lady Elmore looked at him with disgruntled eyes and said, “The coach house with the music box thing”. 

Exactly two years ago, Elizabeth had woken up at midnight in a dark coach house with a music box playing a disturbing tune next to her. She remembers being terrified, especially because she didn’t remember what had happened or how she got there. Ever since, the young lady has had consistent nightmares every December. 

“Oh, yes… that” uttered Lord Elmore trying to apologize. Lady Elmore grabbed Elizabeth’s hands and said, “I’m sorry my love, we’ll fight this together”, she hugged her daughter and then added “Anyways, in happier news, we’ve got an invitation for tonight’s ball at the Blaine's. Surely Alyssa will be there, but make sure to talk to other ladies and gentlemen. Otherwise, you’ll never find a husband”. “Ahh. Again with that mom. I promise I have tried to be social, but some people are just boring” answered Elizabeth whilst taking a grape. “Not all. If you actually listened to people, you would’ve already found out that everyone has an interesting side, right Richard?” Lady Elmore looked at her husband in search of support. Lord Elmore stopped paying attention minutes ago, and when he realized Lady Elmore was talking to him, he swallowed a mouthful of food as fast as he could and said “Sorry, what were you saying?”. “Ah, nothing. Just be sure to wear your navy waistcoat for tonight’s ball”, Lady Elmore remarked. “Oh, the ball, um… I am not going to be able to accompany you because I have umm… business to attend”, said Lord Elmore. The room went instantly ghost-quiet, and Lady Elmore looked at him disappointed, “Unfortunately” he then added to break the silence. Finally, Lady Elmore decided to not make the situation bigger than needed “Fine, you do you”. 

After that night, both Elizabeth and Lady Elmore arrived at the Blaine's ball. Lady Blaine approached them with a smile. “And where is that husband of yours?” she said after welcoming them. “He couldn’t come because he was busy” Lady Elmore responded quickly. “I see”, Lady Blained said while sweeping them with her gaze, “Oh, and Alyssa is over there. If you want to blather”, she then carried on. Elizabeth looked at Alyssa and said “Yes, thank you” whilst walking away from her mother and towards Alyssa. 

Elizabeth and Alyssa had been best friends since they turned 14. She was the only person of her age whom Elizabeth enjoyed being with, and their bond strengthened after the coach house incident because Alyssa supported and lifted her spirits when Elizabeth was downhearted.

“Elizabeth! I’m so glad you came” Alyssa said, being enthusiastic. “Yes, me too” Elizabeth uttered, “Aly, I had another nightmare last night” she continued. Alyssa changed her excited face and put on a serious one. “Was it abou-”, she was interrupted by Lord Whales. “Ladies, I hope you’re having a lovely night. And Miss Elmore, would you like to dance?”. Alyssa looked a little jealous and Elizabeth answered “Um, I have to get some fresh air. Excuse me”, trying to avoid him.

Elizabeth ran to the garden and sighed in relief. She dropped one of her gloves accidentally, so she leaned in to pick it up, and when her gaze raised as she got up, she saw the same music box of the coach house in the dim distance. The sight of it made her feel nauseous and a strong headache followed just a few minutes later. Another voice was in her head, it was telling her to go. She walked unsteadily towards the main salon in search of her mother. But just as she stepped onto the first step of the stairs, her mind went blank. 

The next morning, Elizabeth woke up in her bedroom confused. Her mind started going in circles. “What happened? Who brought me here? Why was the brown music box there? Whom does it belong to? Is that person dangerous? They must be. I must tell Alyssa, maybe she knows something. After all, it was her house. But mom won’t let me out. What if I sneak away?” And exactly as she thought, she went through the back door and asked the carriage man to go to the Blaine's.

Elizabeth was about to arrive at Alyssa's house when she saw her on the street. She asked the carriage man to stop and open the door. She got out of the carriage and directed her voice to her friend “Alyssa! I need to speak with you”. Alyssa turned around to see Elizabeth “Well, good morning to you too”. “Oh, my apologies. I just wanted to know if you noticed anything strange last night?” Elizabeth asked. “Apart from the awkward and short conversation with Lord Whales, no”, Alyssa said with a mocking tone. “Ah, quiet down! I’m serious. I saw the same music box from the coach house in your garden!” Elizabeth declares, trying to get her best friend to understand the seriousness of the situation. However, her efforts were in vain because Alyssa then said “Do not agitate yourself Eli. I’m sure you were just a bit nervous, and you thought you saw the box, but it wasn’t there”. “Don’t you understand? The person who scared me and put me inside that coach house was at the ball!” Elizabeth yelled in frustration. “Calm yourself! You are being delusional. And now you have a more important and realistic problem to deal with: I have heard multiple groups of older ladies gossiping about your father. They are saying he cheated on your mom! Do you know what this means? If it’s true, and the rumor keeps spreading, your family will be in social ruin” Alyssa said, lowering her voice so that no one could hear. Elizabeth was stunned by Alyssa’s revelation. “What? It cannot be. I’m sure it’s a misunderstanding”. They exchanged bewildered looks and Elizabeth continued “Well, I have to go back home to figure it out. But thanks for telling me, you truly are my best friend”. Elizabeth ran off into the carriage and headed home.

Elizabeth entered her house unnoticed. She was ready to question her dad when she walked past her mom’s chamber and saw her crying. At that moment, she knew it was true. Her father had betrayed them. Nonetheless, she also knew another thing: she had to find the person who started the rumor so that she could make them announce they had lied. Otherwise, none of the members of the ton would ever speak to her family again. She knew how important her reputation was to her mother. But first, she had to have a proper conversation with her father. 

Lord Elmore was seated in the living room with sad eyes and clenched hands. Elizabeth sat quietly next to him and said “Why? Aren’t you happy?”. “Not completely. Things with your mother weren’t working”, Lord Elmore said. Elizabeth’s eyes started to be filled with tears “But you hurt her” she said, whilst looking deep into her father’s eyes, “you hurt me” she continued. Now, Lord Elmore´s eyes were also filled with tears “I know, that wasn’t my intention. Listen, you may never understand why I did what I did, but you must know that it doesn’t mean I will leave. You must know I will always be here for you. You must know I loved you from the moment I met you, when I held you for the first time”. “Dad, I love you too. But will you still live here?”. “No sweety, I’ll leave everything to you and your mother, and I’ll go to the countryside. But I’ll send the carriage for you to come whenever you want”. They kept talking about details, and Elizabeth was getting more frustrated every second. “You know Dad, it will take some time for me to forgive you because…” she said with a lump in her throat, “You broke our family apart”. Both Lord Elmore and Elizabeth sat on the couch in silence, contemplating the moment.

An hour later, Elizabeth went for a walk to clear her head. She was pondering on what her father said when she remembered it was promenade time. Surely, she wasn’t going with her parents, so this could be the opportunity to find out who started the gossip. Once she arrived at the promenade, she tried to interrogate people to see if they knew something. However, no one wanted to even look at her, and the ones who did, gaped at her with disgust. 

After numerous mal-humored encounters, Elizabeth saw a group of approximately 40-year-old ladies tittle-tattling about her mother. “I bet her husband left her because of her terrible abilities to arrange events”, one of the ladies said with a contemptuous tone. “Or maybe because of her ugly hair”, Lady Hughes said, which caused the other ladies to laugh. Elizabeth was furious. “Excuse me, just so you know, my mother has better hair than all of you combined” she argued. Lady Hughes didn’t take the comment nicely. “Oh, look who it is. The crazy daughter with the crazy parents. And I wanted to tell you to never come near my Lily again”. “Your daughter? I never come across her”. “Yes, sure”, Lady Hughes said, not believing her. “You didn’t have anything to do with starting the gossip about my father, right? I actually can’t believe you; how did you even find out?”. Lady Hughes gasped. “Are you insane?”. She looked back at the other ladies for support and said “I hope it is clear, don’t talk with my daughter ever again. I don’t know what you intend on spending all that time with her. Must I remind you? She is 10! So, if I see you near her, you will meet my lawyer”. Elizabeth looked tired of dealing with them. “Nice to see you”, she said as a goodbye. She walked away from them and went home even more confused.

As soon as she got to her bedroom, she hopped onto her bed and thought: “Lady Hughes must be the person who started the gossip. But why? It doesn’t make sense. And why did she say I was spending time with her daughter? I barely even know her. What if Lady Hughes was also the one who scared and brought me to the coach house? I mean, it could be. In fact, now that I think of it, she was out in the garden too when I saw the music box for the second time! If it’s true, maybe her daughter knows something. I’ll speak with her. Let’s hope she is more civilized than her mother”.

First thing in the morning of December 14th, Elizabeth headed to the market (where Lily Hughes is usually at 7 am). Elizabeth saw her buying a new quill and approached her immediately. “Good morning, Miss Hughes” Elizabeth greeted politely. “Oh, good morning, Anna! Look, my mom bought me this new dress. Isn’t it pretty?” Lily said cheerfully. “Um, it is. But Lily, my name is not Anna” Elizabeth said with a confused face. Lily dismissed her. "Oh, don’t be silly. You are always joking. That’s what I love about you”. After an hour of talking, Elizabeth realized Lily thought she was her friend named Anna. According to her, they had been friends for 2 years, and they hung out regularly. This information made Elizabeth fearful because it meant something was off. “I have to tell Alyssa”, Elizabeth said to herself. “Anna, did you say something?” Lily asked. Elizabeth was so deep into her thoughts that she did not listen to Lily and just walked towards the carriage. 

“Miss Elmore is here for Miss Blaine”, the butler said to Lady Blaine whilst Elizabeth entered the room. “Dear, Alyssa is not here. Still, I’m sure she won’t take long. You can wait for her in her chamber” Lady Blaine explained. The butler guided Elizabeth into Alyssa’s chamber and left. There, Elizabeth waited, until she got impatient and started looking around. She opened her closet because of curiosity and found the brown music box. Elizabeth felt like someone was squeezing her throat. A rush of emotions came; fear, betrayal, sadness, distress, and confusion, among many others. At that moment, Alyssa opened the door, and her face dropped at the sight of it. Elizabeth took courage and said angrily “Did you put me inside that coach house two years ago?”. Alyssa at first had kind eyes, but now that Elizabeth had found out, her eyes became evil as she stepped forward “Yes” she confirmed. “I drugged you and put you there to frighten you. Do not worry, I never meant to hurt you physically. I’m not that cruel” Alyssa continued. Elizabeth’s eyes were once again filled with tears. “But why?” she said. “Why? Because you always get all the attention from the gentlemen”. Elizabeth burst at her ex-friend's confession. “So, you did it for jealousy? You are absolutely crazy!”. “Maybe. Yet, you are too. You sometimes act like a 10-year-old and call yourself Anna. Maybe I am crazy, but you are a lunatic”. Alyssa assured with such confidence and hate that her eyes seemed boiling red. Such disclosure made Elizabeth flustered and troubled. She saw Alyssa with such contempt that she got terrified. Elizabeth ran as fast as she could until she was a few blocks away from the Blaine's house. She burst into tears and knew it was time to go home, time to get safe. 

“Dear diary,

Five weeks have gone by since I last spoke with Alyssa. Her betrayal, along with my father's, has made me feel upset. However, it helped me discover something else: I have multiple personalities. What does that mean? Not sure yet. But I intend to learn as much as I can about myself. Or about us. About Anna and me. I guess Lily was right, Anna is her best friend. At least one of us still has one. Turns out, Alyssa wasn’t the one who started the rumor. I was. Well, Anna was. I have been communicating with her for the past week through notes. At first, I couldn’t believe it, but now I enjoy getting to know her. She is dreamy, shy, and comprehensive. She wrote to me about how the night of the Blaine's ball she found out that our father was cheating, she told Lily, and Lily must have said something to her mother. That is how the gossip spread. That is why I went blank that night, because Anna was coming to the surface. I know she has come quite a few times because I sometimes do not remember events my mother said I went to. Anna really loves balls. But I’ve realized that she usually shows up when I get stressed. And at the ball, I got very frightened because of the music box. I am glad it all makes sense now. I am also glad father managed to get Alyssa into Bodmin jail. It was very difficult because her parents fought against it, but when your father has a higher rank than them, it becomes a reality. And finally, I published a paper on multiple personalities. It covers how I got it after a traumatic event and what living with it is like. <<I will always be here to protect you. I will not betray you>> was the last note I left for Anna. When you feel unsafe, a familiar hand to squeeze is all you need”.