Ward of the White Worm

“Oh these stitches! They will drive me mad yet!” Motzy’s voice bubbled from somewhere close.

Olli rolled over, the sunlight made her eyelids red so she rolled over again. Her mouth felt greasy and her stomach empty. A thick blanket was laying over her and she wiggled forward a little, pulling the blanket off of her and sitting up. Only then did she open her eyes and blearily gaze out at the world around her.

The room was painted a light shade of blue, with a fireplace a few feet away from the end of her bed. The four poster bed itself was soft, with its dark blanket and less pigeon-scented pillows. Beyond the bed was a small desk pushed against the wall with three books laying on it, and beside that was a box painted white and gold. On her right was a small round table with a chair currently occupied by the very focused Motzy who held a bundle of fabric in hand along with a hand clutching a needle with white thread that seemed caught like a spider’s thread in the sunlight.

Olli was aware of a dull ache in her face, and that she felt a bit stiff. The first thing that came to her mind and out of her mouth was, “where am I?”

Motzy jumped in her seat, fumbling her needle and looking over at Olli with wide eyes. “Gracious, how long have you been up?”

“Uh-”

“I told him I would go fetch him when you wake up! Oh dear, I need to tell the kitchen girls that we need some more bread, oh no, I don’t remember if I finished the lacing either!” She got to her feet, moving the bundle of fabrice and her needle into one hand while with her other hand patted Olli’s leg. Olli could barely feel it through the thick blankets. “You wait right here, I am going to go fetch sir.”

Without further words, Motzy quickly left the room, her heavy steps thundering down the hall.

This left Olli alone in the room, but she had no energy to climb out of bed and leave it. In fact the more she thought about it, the more comfortable the bed felt. Her other bed was full of springs threatening to poke and stab her, but this one she could feel no such thing besides an occasional slight soft lump as if the material was being packed into one side.

She looked to the window where warm sunbeams reached into the room and over the bed. Dapples of soft warmth fell over her arms and hands. Long scraggly branches with tiny green buds at their tips scratched lightly against the window from the wind brushing over them. Gradually she began to feel there was something not quite right about the sunlight. There was some strange coloring to it.

Olli moved stiff slow legs slowly over the side of the bed, slipping off to the floor that immediately jolted her fully awake with its chill. Her knees buckled briefly, weak and unused, but she righted herself and made the uneven steps over to the window. She pressed her hands on the sill to keep herself steady, briefly glancing down at the wooden framing when her thumb rubbed against something. For some reason there was a small ‘2d tx.’ carved into it, and the wood had splintered a little from it. White curtains had been pulled to either side of the curtain, allowing her to gaze out to a large garden where grey stone paths snaked around in before reaching outwards to low moss covered walls where tall trees stood resolute against them.

It all described a lovely scene but the garden below was growing wild. Trailing creepers rushed over the grey stone path, hedges grew unwieldy and large, roots broke through the soil or cracked the stone from underneath. From Olli’s view she could see the entire garden and had to be, as far as she could tell (and few children were good judges of height or distance), quite large. Beyond the wild growing parts though she could see patches of brown and grey, where the plants were wilted things laying on the ground. But the state of the garden seemed only to match that of the trees beyond the wall. They were all similar to the tree outside her window, tall scraggly things. They looked like blackened skeletons despite the faint bits of green clinging to their branches, set against a sky that was the color of grey rainwater. She followed the sunbeams that fell into her room to find the sun outside.

Why did it seem so dim?

“Yes, yes,” a voice said slightly muffled from the door which then opened and allowed a cold breeze to come in. Olli shivered and quickly scrambled back to the bed, tucking herself into it. The two who walked in did not seem to notice she had been out of it at all.

She recognized Theodore, who was holding a watch in hand. The other man with him however was brown haired and slightly neurotic looking adult that could be matched to Theodore in age.

“What I was concerned about, with her recovery, is the sinistracardia. I would advise that any apothecary, physician, doctor, herbalist, wise woman, surgeon, medicine man, whomever you speak with be informed of this condition or else they might take completely wrong conclusions to her state,” the brown haired man said.

“I am perfectly capable of informing them, do not worry Mister Fredrick.” Theodore spoke before turning his head to catch Olli’s eye. “Ah, you are awake still.”

The other man, Mister Fredrick, moved beside Olli’s bed and offered his hand. “May I see your wrist?” He asked.

Olli shrugged and offered him her hand. She was still too tired to resist or do much else. Mister Fredrick held her wrist carefully but firmly, his first two fingers against her wrist. He pulled a pocket watch out from his vest pocket and was quiet for a moment before nodding. “Yes, her pulse has quite improved!” He said getting up. “I still advise avoiding any strenuous activity for the next fourteen days, but a gentle walk in the garden, preferably after the coldest part of the morning but before noon, with frequent stops, would be good for health until then.”

“Excellent advice, I will certainly take it into consideration,” Theodore replied in a strange tone of voice which did not say whether he actually approved or disapproved.

“I am always happy to help you, my lord,” Mister Fredrick gave a bow. “However, I do believe I must leave by tonight. Some of my other patients cannot be kept waiting for too long.”

“Of course, we must not keep Mrs Greene in suspense of her health, she only has so much to spare,” Theodore sat down where Motzy had been. “Tell Mister Burke you are leaving tonight. He will furnish a carriage for you, and do not hesitate to ask Miss Short for nourishment either. You will have a long ride ahead of you and it is best to do so with something in your stomach.”

“I thank you for your consideration, my lord.”

Olli glanced back outside, more interested in seeing if some birds passed than to listen to the adults conversation. A few fat crows or ravens fluttered by, but there was nothing else at the window worth her attention except…

The tree was gone.

She twisted her head back around to look at the adults, but Mister Fredrick had left and Theodore was looking at her. He spoke first, “so… I was told you were found wandering in a delirium by Mister Burke, would you like to explain that?”