Chapter 1: Rain and Silence
It had been steadily raining outside all day, and the grounds had grown quite mucky, but the sound and smell of the fresh fallen rain was soothing. I stood under the covered patio watching the dark clouds slowly move across the sky, and tiny droplets of rain bounced off the stone walk. It sounded almost like music trickling down, and the plants and earth were loving every moment. It was so peaceful just to watch in silence as I became lost in thought.
My name is Lucilla Louise Grey, Lucy by most. When I was little, my mother called me Lulu. I can remember her warmth and kindness. She had beautiful golden hair like the sun and a smile that could melt even the coldest of hearts. She was an amazing woman with a softness to her that pulled people in, and she had the biggest heart. Always so caring and emphatic of others. Just her presence could light up the room, but then she fell ill suddenly. My father and I had to watch helplessly as she suffered and slowly faded away. I was only six when she passed, and without her light in our lives, everything changed.
It destroyed my father to lose her, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He felt as if he had failed to protect the most important person in his life, and that thought process took its toll on him.
Master Athelstad Louis Grey is a very large, stoic man standing at 6' 4", and others cowarded beneath him. Dark ebony black hair brushed back, and stone grey eyes turned cold with his grief. He was in his youth and even today handsome as if his face was carved from stone. He doesn't seem to age. Just a white streak in his hair gives him away. I know my father loves me, but he has seemed to have locked his heart away after my mother passed as if to protect it from being completely shattered. He has a very intense presence that commands authority, and he has drowned himself in his work. A smile has not dawned his lips since the days of my mother, and I fear it will never return.
I live a very lonely existence, and sometimes I feel this tragedy stole not only my mother from me but both my parents. My father is rarely home, and when he is, he doesn't speak much, if at all. I know nothing of his work or my family. I know we are well to do as we live in a large manor pretty out of place and extremely remote. It has vast grounds surrounding it, and beyond that is thick forest. He has a full household of staff to run the place, but they rarely speak a word themselves. I busy myself with my studies and drowned myself in books to escape the loneliness of this place. Greystone Manor is as cold and barren as its name suggests, and I am nothing but a prisoner behind its gates.
I had come inside from the covered patio only when the cold had gotten too much to bare. Sitting in front of the fire, I must have accidentally fallen asleep in the golden yellow wing backed chair with the book I had been reading haphazardly on my chest. Suddenly, I was awoken by someone clearing their throat.
Griffin, the head servant of the household in charge of managing everything necessary for the manor to run properly in my father's absence, stood before me. Startled, I quickly adjusted myself into a more ladylike position in the chair, and with a surprised and questioning look, I raised my eyebrow and asked, "Yes, Griffin, was there something you needed?"
"Lady Grey, sorry to disturb you. Your father has asked me to inform you that he has returned home from business, and he has requested that you dress and join him for dinner this evening."
Almost in shock at the information that has just been revealed to me, my eyes widen, taking it in. My father is rarely home, and when he is, he has never taken such formal measures to make sure I have dinner with him. The outfit I'm currently wearing is very informal as I'm normally alone. I dress for comfort. I have my favorite pair of jeans and a oversized dark grey knit sweater on, and by the way Griffin announced that I dress I knew he meant to inform me it was to be a formal dinner with my father. A thousand questions and curiosities ran through my mind, but all I could do at the moment was answer Griffin with a slight nod and leave for my room.
I know Greystone is full of servants around the clock, but as I walk down the halls to my quarters, it's silent and dark. My steps echo through the seemingly empty halls. If it was possible for a building to be grieving and depressed this place would certainly pass as just that. The emptiness and silence only allow my mind more freedom to wonder as to why the change in my father's behavior and what possibly lay ahead for me at dinner.
