03 ~ May 1921

Blue was allowed to sleep as long as she needed. She was still frail and needed more rest than Rose. Whilst her sister didn’t look as if she was in much better health, she actually was.

Every morning, Rose would wake up and leave her to sleep quietly. The dark room with a condemned window was their temporary home. For her, it was filled with kindness and mercy from their friends, but from Blue too.

The sleeping face amongst shadows was the sweetest of sights for her, endearing to her.

Rose wanted to kiss her goodbye but didn’t want to risk waking her up doing so. She simply whispered it when she left.

Closing their room door behind her, Rose found the house empty once more.

The couple hosting them was trusting them sincerely, leaving the house open to them. They were already gone to work, before her.

Rose ate something frugal and left. She walked her way through the muddy town toward the shop. She picked the post and left without second thought. She simply was not ready yet to stay inside this place.

She made her way up to the meeting spot where some workers would find her. While most of the men she hired came every day from anther town, some managed to be there at the normal hour or even early.

Rose met up with them and travelled along them to the construction site every morning.

Somewhere emotional, she didn’t wish to leave the site unattended, even for the cleaning part.

She didn’t enjoy her current work and duties but proceeded anyway as seriously as she could.

The walk to the manor took same time, and some men were carrying heavy tools, not making it to work in ideals conditions. They had to do it anyway.

Rose was a little uncomfortable during these morning walks, being surrounded by strong men, but happily enough, none of them ever showed much disrespectful behaviour toward her. While most of them couldn’t care less about her and were rightfully only preoccupied by the work to do, some other were proper gentlemen.

Rose’s situation was uncommon, if not weird, and they could see it. They understood from the size of the burnt manor that she was from a rich family, from which she inherited the power and wealth. She looked altogether a bit lost and lonely like a widow managing things by herself. They didn’t pry, and Rose didn’t extend on her situation.

Rose managed the work rather well, leading the team when needed and arranging the logistic matters efficiently.

The tools the workers could find in the garden shed were at their disposal, lest they preferred to use the ones they brought along most of the time. Rose organised rapidly the supply of everything more they needed, buying in town at unfavourable prices. She even made the unexpected acquisition of a series of lockers for the construction or demolition site. So most brought tools could be left securely on site.

They could store tools and personal items for the time being. She also rented some heavy equipment to repair heir tools and ease the work. A small crane was built on site to help the work.

Sheds for storage were erected along the flattened garden for the upcoming construction materials.

The workers found themselves in an odd hut enjoyable working place. The sight was nice, the furniture and equipment were excellent, the pay alright and the schedules a bit lenient...

However the work remained hard and the boss, while looking a bit naïve, could be intransigent. Her authority was not to be challenged too much, and a few people heard her reprimands, or were dismissed abruptly.

But aside that, it was a pleasure to work for her.

During the end of the month of April, most of the damaged parts of the manor had been cleaned and repaired. Rose had watched over the development with a severe eye all along.

All the wreckage was being evacuated, laying room for reconstruction gradually.

~

The attic was gone; along with most of the third floor where a library once was. It seemed that not a single book survived the fire and ensuing abandon. On the second floor, the cleaning was almost done and the ground floor still was a little encumbered. The basement was yet not accessible for now.

The plan scheduled by Rose allowed for one month more to end the site clearing and restoration.

Then in June, they would be to operate the main reconstruction and hopefully by July to complete rebuilding the house.

If things took a longer time than expected to be done, at least they should be over by fall. But with the workforce available in town, things could only go fast. So long she could pay their wages, Rose wasn’t worried about resource.

Rose was at her fortune desk behind the house for now, taking care for a while about the posts and paperwork, but mostly doing the accounting and occasionally leading or ordering the team.

They were setting piles of wreckage and dirt out. Now that they also started to demolish the unsteady walls beyond repair, it created more rubbish to evacuate.

Regularly, Rose ordered for a waste management company to come and pick up the large amounts of it out of the property. That company had its hands filled with too much work lately and a small wasteland was appearing next to the town. From there, the materials were recycled or pumped down through the mines to fill the crevices apparently. As they were being closed, they also helped getting rid of piles of common construction wreck that littered the town.

Rose didn’t care either way on that topic, but some surviving widows were protesting in town about this lack of respect.

On that day, Rose was expecting the visit of an architect who was offering his services across town.

It was too early and she had no plans of the previous house at hand to start with, but she still wanted to see with him how the reconstruction of the manor could turn out.

Now that he had made work for half the town, and got rejected by the other half, only the manor was left to study.

For some reason Rose didn’t care to look for, he never came by.

Even if it was a little risky an enterprise to work without an architect, she would see about it later, if ever at all.

The water and electrical companies came by as well to restore their services. They would be rescheduled later when the work would reach an end to fully connect everything. The manor had a small modern station to rebuild too.

Rose was satisfied to see the plan evolving in the right direction and the work progress. But the days were long and tiring. She longed for the time when she could rest along with Blue. Rose found herself getting nervous at the start of days.

She was afraid that reality would abandon them if she let her guard down, if she ceased to work on all that or failed generally. She hardly found the time to reply to all the enquiries she received which were piling up in the garden shed and her desk drawers.

She was anxious about them and about everything. But most of all she was anxious about Blue and couldn’t help but worry as long as she didn’t arrive there...

Blue was recovering physically, but her mind was still troubled by strange memories and sorrow. Rose was comforting her as much as she could. Rose knew she was already helping a lot, but obviously wished she could do more. To be somehow powerful enough to heal all of her suffering in a blink, to make all her sorrow vanish in a word. The phantasms of power were only a response to her empathy.

She suffered as much as her sister, and wanted to see both of their pain gone as soon as could be.

Rose was anxious, because she couldn’t see how long it could take, for a wound like Blue had in her heart to heal properly. No matter how thankful she already was that Blue’s mind had recovered a seemingly permanent clarity, some deeper melancholia remained stuck to her.

How much time would it need for the scattered parts of herself to piece up and heal all together?

In her most depressed and worried times, Rose feared it would never happen. Blue would never become herself, one and only, full. The sad melancholy would never end, with punctual and unpredictable bursts of amnesia crushing her mind a bit more at each new occurrence. Blue’s sorrow would keep going on, eternally, as if she had never left the nightmare...

They would live this horror until they eventually died in misery...

Such gloomy thoughts were pulling Rose down, making her hands and legs shake a little nervously. Her heart was heavy and sometimes she wanted to cry how scared she was. She was slipping slowly when she was lonely, into despair. She could feel that gradual hopeless slip...

But then, Blue showed up. As if she always knew when it was needed, Blue always came to find her in time and enlightened her day once more.

When Rose was losing grasp, Blue always helped her, with her presence, her words and her affection.

Looking at her, walking toward her that morning too, Rose realised one more time how much she loved and needed her. They were helping each other, in a way or another.

Blue’s timid smile blew all unsavoury thoughts away. On a smaller and temporary scale, she was able to do what Rose wished she could fully give back.

Her mind more at ease and reassured, Rose smiled back and made way for her sister next to her.

The work was moving forward slowly, as much as they were.

~

After such a fall and long trauma, Rose was almost as wounded as Blue was, if not as much, or even more...

During sleep, Rose was the most restless one, often suffering bad dreams.

Blue woke up alone one more time. It was always a little bittersweet to find the bed warmth all for herself. She stood up, still drowsy. She was worried for Rose. Still going away so early in the morning, she was pushing herself too much Blue considered.

Blue dressed herself clumsily, still recovering her senses and thinking about Rose maybe doing too much on her own.

When Blue had lost her memories and forget both traumatic events, Rose had been very conscious, and looking desperately for her.

The suffering she went through looking for her was unthinkable.

The one who went across hell for her...

After all the pain she went through, Rose had been left drained and defenceless, and still was gentleness incarnate. Despite what she lived, she wouldn’t become bitter or aggressive on her. Rose’s very soul managed to stay the same despite the constant suffering and many wounds she had been through earlier this year.

Rose was an angel, almost too good to be true...

Someone so kind and brave she could make her cry the sorrow she held at once.

Blue was lacking words to express how mighty Rose now appeared to her, even under the bleakest of circumstances. But she was worried Rose was doing too much, and jeopardizing her own health.

Rose was pure, but wounded, hurt down to the deepest parts of herself. She needed to be protected and helped too, if not to have time and a place to rest. She couldn’t have healed everything yet either, and the way she worked gave Blue the feeling that Rose was trying to avoid some of this mending.

Blue wanted to ask her sister to sleep more, to eat more. She needed her to take better care of herself, for both of their sake. Blue would help by any means necessary, because she loved Rose at least as much as she loved her. It was that way since the beginning.

Within her puzzled memories, Blue was sure of one thing, there always had been a sincere love for her; one that survived every memory sorting. Since she was a baby, there always had been something kind between them. A mutual feeling that Scarlett and Elise envied almost naturally.

Blue ate her breakfast heartily and left.

She went on her way to the manor, alone on the road. She could daydream along the way.

Both of them were once crushed, when the house burned. Their bodies survived, but their minds were broken apart.

Her soul survived by breaking her memory down to small pieces, that took time to rebuild in a healthier way. Rose survived by gluing the conservative pieces of her mind together into searching for Blue.

Blue survived thanks to Esther’s miracle, while Rose survived because of her own stubbornness and thanks to her sister’s own survival.

By her awakening, Blue helped her sister to overcome the surrounding hell. Now, it was hers to help Rose recover from all the wounds within her. It started by going toward her every morning and spending the day along.

However, she needed to do some more from now on. The house, once crushed down was now being prepared for a future reconstruction.

Blue needed to do the equivalent for Rose, as much as she had in a way been doing for herself.

Since her awakening, Blue’s mind was slowly stabilising. Her memories and mental aptitudes were getting far steadier, after what a real reconstruction had begun. First of all, she was securing the basis, and so she would help Rose to do the same.

Clean the floor, make as much space as possible and secure the basis. Demolish the ruins left, make room for a new construction starting from pieces still good...

The idea was interesting, but what could Blue actually do to help, furthermore when herself was not yet fully stable?

Rose was exhausting herself for them, building herself up atop the leftovers of her wounded self in chaos. But how to help her more?

Blue was reaching the forest, pondering about that. She found little answers, but was not giving up yet.

Before she reached the house, she could hear the lively voices and loud sounds from the site.

She appeared in front of two men carrying what once was a stone step. They greeted each other briefly and continued on their own ways. Blue went across the strange wasteland next to the remaining wall facing south, and further to the rear garden. Rose was set beside the old shed.

Atop the graves of their family was a large pile of scraped metal and broken tools. None of them did care much about it, thinking they would put a proper tombstone later. They didn’t believe the dead could bother about what the living did, and themselves were not too preoccupied by their corpses comfort. For them both, what was left of someone dead was within their kin’s memories, and not the dead body.

As uncommon a consideration as it could be, for them a dead body was not a real remnant of the lost person.

Blue was happy to see Rose this morning, just like every morning. It was reassuring and sweet to be with her again. Furthermore, it had the same effect on Rose obviously; as her tired face enlightened upon seeing her.

Blue reached her, smiling unconsciously. Something crossed her wind, and without realising she was doing it, she put a kiss against her sister’s cheek. The workers passing by didn’t think anything about it as there was nothing unusual about that kind of greetings.

For them hoverer, it was quite rare and unusual.

Blue saw just afterward how surprised, if not downright shocked Rose was about it. Blue had caught her full attention and seized that chance to say something she wouldn’t forget.

B - Please Rose, rest today.

That was all she could come up with.

Rose maybe understood what Blue wanted really: her giving more time for her own real recovery.

She complied simply, still a bit taken off guard by the peck.

R - Okay... I will.

Even if Blue had asked something else, Rose’s mind was so shaken that she would not be able to do much for a little while. It felt as if a piece of dream had fallen on her head. Her morning wish had turned into a sweet feeling, but it left her paralysed for a moment.

They went for a walk straying away from the construction work for a while, where Blue could develop and explain what she had on her mind.

While she felt she was still on edge and weak herself, she had grown worried about Rose.

Rose admitted she had become complacent with her wellbeing lately and agreed to comply with Blue’s suggestions without second thought. She had noticed indeed losing a bit of her grasp about her needs, to focus too much on a work that didn’t require so much of her attention.

Rose on her side expressed the worries she had about Blue’s mental health in a kind and poetic way. They came more from exhaustion than anything else. She was worried that the fragments of her mind, lost in the Wolfram train would be trapped down there forever.

She feared that this melancholia would not end...

Blue was shivering but was able to hold one of her hands. Rose felt the soft pressure and understood what her sister was meaning by it, without a word. They were helping each other and had every reason to be optimistic.

The house was evolving, being prepared for a full reconstruction, and so were they. Slowly, they would recover, they were doing so already.

The house would soon be cleared down to its basement and foundation. The main work would then start.

Somehow, Blue & Rose were a little ahead of that schedule for themselves, and already so far.

~

The work went on, but it began onward one every other day with Blue overseeing the site instead of Rose. She had concluded this deal along a series of other arrangements with Rose, so she could also rest a little more.

Blue’s scars atop and behind her head were now unnoticeable. Her hair had grown sufficiently to hide everything. She felt a little more human since then.

On the mornings when Blue was heading out first to lead the work, she was the one leaving all the bed to the other. Rose would often be already awake already, but agreed to rest longer anyway.

And happily for both of them, but for different reasons, it became rare. Rose slept more easily with time.

On the site, Blue was not as efficient as Rose, but good enough so that no big mistake was done. She trusted her employees most of the time and could manage the basis of accounting for their wages.

She wasn’t writing as well as Rose did, so she left to her that part of the work, but could sort the posts, paperwork and agendas as well. Many banks were contacting them on a regular basis and left these exchanges handled by her sister as well.

In front of her, the last window frames were getting torn out. The walls remaining were getting tested thoroughly, and eventually a few more taken down. Their bricks still good were stored aside for the moment.

One day, before Rose’s arrival with the basket holding their meal, Blue was invited by a worker to see something they had found.

She followed him to the large kitchen now a shade of its past, where a passage toward the basement was finally cleared. She went down the stone stairs, a torch in hand.

The blackness was far stronger than she could recall as a child. That darkness brought back bad memories. Blue shivered, but her reason prevailed and she went down to the basement now finally cleared.

The area was outside of the time. The humidity level was high and the air was cold. The walls were more ancient than the rest of the house and looked almost as if they came from a medieval castle.

However, Blue was down there for something else than the walls or ground of bare earth.

That large basement was not smelling of burn at all and had been preserved from the fire. The many items and furniture stored here were in very good condition somehow. At worst it reeked of moisture.

Blue found decayed provisions, but mostly various furniture and chests filled with various things their family had stored there. One of the largest chests was filled with old letters which came from their parents’ younger days.

She felt a cold stream of air passing close to her neck when she turned back, as if a ghost whispered something behind her ears. Blue felt uneasy and took the time to breathe out and inhale again. As nothing else happened, she went out.

She asked the men to get everything out. They would store it all outside for the time being.

A few hours later, everything was up in the front garden. Rose saw the unexpected procession upon her arrival. Her heart felt a tighter clench when looking at these. Things were evolving, and they unearthed more memories to sort.

When she had found her sisters dead right after the tragedy, it was a place she had tried to reach, in vain, looking for Blue. Thankfully the next day she had found her trail heading into town and forgot about reaching the basement.

More of the house had collapsed after her departure and while she was away catching up on the cooling trail.

Since then, Rose had forgotten that all this was still trapped below the ruins.

A table and chairs they both had known before were set there for everyone’s lunch break now.

These pieces of furniture stored there would be put to good use for their new house, but it felt weird to see these remnants coming out in good shape, so suddenly and so long after the incident.

Rose had a bitter smile, a little uneasy but happy to see how more than Blue could have survived that night.

~