Chapter 4- The Dubois

Blanche’s cars stopped before a vast mansion. The place’s magnificence struck Athena, and the place is a vast mansion; the entrance had a nameplate with bold italic letters, “The Dubois mansion.”

She stepped into the house to see that the place was filled with all the amenities that would be considered luxurious. Athena’s eyes widened at the chandeliers, lavish chairs, classic arcs, and beautiful rugs. Her parents had money too, but they preferred a cozy home to a lavish one. So, this is all new to Athena. Athena was still looking around when Blanche dropped her bags and snapped her fingers. Soon, a lady in her 30s came forward and started putting her luggage away.

Before the lady could turn around, Blanche began to speak, “Claudia, this is Athena, and…….” Blanche stopped, “What is the name of that pest you are holding?” Blanche asked.

“Cleon,” Athena didn’t like Blanche addressing Cleon as a pest, but she let it be because there was nothing she could do.

“They will be living here from now on. Show them the room, the one on the corner of the first floor,” Blanche ordered Claudia.

“Yes, madam,” Claudia guided Athena to her room. Athena began climbing steps, noticing everything around her; she must say everything in the house was highly alluring. She entered a room, but before she could look around, Cleon cried as a cue, letting everyone know his diaper was full. Athena put Cleon down.

The room was big enough for her and her brother. She thanked God that there were at least some people she could call her relatives. “How old are you, child?” Claudia asked.

“I am 9, mam”, Athena politely answered.

“You don’t have to call me mam, child,” Claudia smiled, which Athena returned with politeness. “What is the relationship to Madam Blanche?” Claudia took Cleon off her hands. “I will change him,” she told Athena; Athena nodded, letting Claudia do it.

“She is my mother’s sister,” little Athena responded.

“Oh,” Claudia let out as if she knew about it.

“And what about your parents?” Claudia folded the dirty diaper. Athena waited to see the disgust on Claudia’s face, but there was none. “Child?” Claudia brought Athena back to reality. “Your parents?” Claudia repeated.

“We were having a picnic, and they never woke up; they were all red,” Athena explained with tears in her eyes. She didn’t want to associate her parents with the word death.

“Oh, child,” Claudia ran to her side, hugging her. She understood Athena’s parents had died. She looked at the little girl with pity, but Athena smiled, which shocked Claudia.

From her first interaction with Blanche, the little girl understood that there would be no love given to her, and since there was no one to comfort her, she decided it was best to be stoic and mask her emotions with a smile. This would become her coping mechanism from now; she would have plenty of time to cry alone.

Claudia was about to say something when she and Athena heard Blanche yell from downstairs when, “Ask her to come down.”

Athena immediately ran downstairs, not giving Blanche a reason to yell at her. She stood next to Blanche, “Oh, you are here,” she eyed Athena up and down with distaste.

“So, there are a few things I want you to know” Blanche’s hatred for Athena was evident in her eyes and tone as she saw Athena as her sister’s murderer.

“I want you to work in this house; I will not feed your empty mouth if you act like a hoarder, I am not your mother, and I will never be,” Blanche crossed her legs one on the other. “Understood?” she yelled a little higher.

“Yes, mam,” she courteously replied.

“Work, in exchange for food,” Blanche leaned on her Louis XIII chair.

“Sure, mam,” Athena replied.

“You can go to school; while I won’t waste money on you, I can send you to public school, and Claudia will take care of your brother while you are gone,” Athena’s face beamed with light.

“She will not take care of him all day; your brother is your responsibility when you come home from school” this made Athena’s eyes go wide with happiness.

“You have no idea how thankful I am, mam,” she responded, her biggest worry was that she wouldn’t get to go to school, but looks like for once god had showed her mercy. Her joy didn’t last a second when a loud noise echoed in the room. Blanche dropped a vase on the floor so loudly that all the servants in the kitchen came running into the hall.

“I fucking hate people interrupting me” Athena’s eyes turned glassy, looking at Blanche’s anger. She nodded in acceptance.

“You will stay away from my son and daughter, okay?” she asked menacingly. Athena nodded vigorously. “Words” Blanche yelled.

“Ya…. yes, mam”, Athena’s voice croaked.

“Now leave,” Blanche dismissed Athena. “Oh! And one more thing, never wear those dirty shoes again” her disgust for Athena was visible in her eyes. “Murderer,” Blanche mumbled under her breath, but Athena heard it.

She went running back to her room and wiped her tears. She picked little Cleon up. “She is sending me to school, Toro. I will be a good girl, study well and become independent, and then we can move out and build a life for ourselves” she kissed Cleon’s little cheeks. The kid rubbed his nose in cuteness.

She bathed him and herself, putting him to sleep. The kid seemed more accustomed to their parents’ loss than she did; what does he know? He is hardly 2; she smiled at her brother; at least he will never see the pain, or he will never know what it is like to have something you so loved taken away from you. A knock broke her trance; she turned around to see Claudia at the door.

“You don’t have to knock, miss Claudia; you can come inside”; Athena moved to the side, letting Claudia in.

“I am sorry about her child; I have heard her always say how much she missed her sister and hated your father. I think she will not love you ever” Claudia didn’t want to break her little heart, but the child needed to set her expectations straight. She needed to prepare for whatever hardship it was that would come her way, it broke Claudia’s heart to say this because kids don’t have to worry about anything other than enjoying their childhood, but here she was, educating a little girl on how not to expect love.

Athena gave a gentle smile. “I understand Miss Claudia; she lost her sister too. I am happy that at least she gave me food, shelter and agreed to send me to school” her response stunned Claudia to the core. She is the most mature kid she has ever seen in her life. Perhaps loss taught her to be grateful. But what Claudia didn’t know was that Athena was always like this; she was always thankful for the opportunities and lessons she had learned.

“If you have your father’s relatives, I can contact them, child; maybe you will be better off at a place that didn’t give you hatred?” Claudia asked, rubbing Athena’s head.

“No, Miss Claudia, I don’t know. I have never met any of my father’s relatives,” Athena said with a smile.

Claudia wasn’t sure what else she could say to the child. Her courage baffled Claudia, she didn’t know how the child handled all of this, but she prayed that God would give her strength to navigate her troubles. Little did Claudia and Athena know that her problems were yet to start, and they would worsen.

After arranging everything, she did a one-over at the room; she placed little pillows on either side of her brother to prevent him from falling down. Evening rolled in, and she began to help Claudia in the kitchen; she did as few chores as possible. Not that she didn’t want to do the tasks, but Claudia wouldn’t let her. Every time she would try something, Claudia stopped her. “This is not for you child, I am here to take care of it”, she would say.

The older woman had a soft spot for the child. Be it due to pity or her helplessness, whatever the reason might be, she did have it. So, she would show her the ropes and how to do them but not let her do it.

Athena brought tea to Blanche when the two kids entered. One was around 14 or 15, and the other was her age. Both were beautiful. The two kids eyed Athena with indifferent expressions.

“Mommy,” the little girl jumped into Blanche’s lap, while the older boy retired to his room. Blanche hugged her daughter, kissing her on her face.

“Did you have a good time, little fox?” Blanche’s nickname shocked Athena. “Fox?” she wasn’t sure why anyone would name their little kids after a cunning animal.

“Yes, mommy,” Sophie smiled.

“Who is she?” a voice caught everyone’s attention. A man in his early to late 30s walked into the house. Blanche immediately jumped into his arms.

“you are home,” she chirped.

“Where will I go, honey?” he smiled at Blanche’s enthusiasm.

Rupert diverted his attention back to Athena, “Who is she?” he asked again.

“She is Iris’s daughter,” Blanche eyed Athena with much distaste. And the man looked at Athena, and his eyes widened in anger; she wasn’t sure why, but she knew that she had lined up another hater on her list. Athena had never seen someone as angry as he was. His emotions flickered in a second; he diverted his gaze back to Blanche.

“So, what is she doing here?” he asked without sparing a glance at Athena.

“There was no one to take care of them darling. So, I had to,” Blanche talked to Rupert as if Athena wasn’t there.

“Them?” Rupert raised his brow.

“Yes, honey. Her and her brother”, for some reason this enraged Rupert more than anything.

“I am not running a charity here, Blanche,” he threw his suitcase in the chair and loosened his tie.

“I know, honey, but I couldn’t let them die; if those letters I wrote to Iris came out, it could damage our reputations. Besides, this will get us in good graces with Blacks; you know we can use this to our publicity and win elections, they will be our once chance that seat I have always been wanting”, Blanche smirked evilly, to which Rupert nodded absentmindedly.

Athena had no idea of the topics they were talking about; she only cared about the roof of her head, the food in her stomach, and her brother.

Athena was about to leave for her room when Blanche called her, “Hey” the older woman seemed to have refused to call the little girl by her name.

“Yes, mam” Athena understood that it was her who was being called.

“Get Sophie some milk,” she ordered, and Athena returned with a warm cup of milk and placed it before Sophie, who just came down in fresh clothes.

“Who is she, mommy?” Sophie asked her mother, settling herself in the chair.

The girl had beautiful blond hair and blue eyes, the coveted features for any girl. She looked like little Blanche.

“She is my sister’s daughter; remember I used to tell you about aunt Iris?” Blanche threw a question to Sophie.

“Yeah, mom” Sophie looked at Athena with an impassive expression.

“She is pretty, and I don’t like it,” Sophie blurted out in hatred, stunning Athena. She had never experienced that amount of hatred in her life. The girl didn’t know how to react, “But I am prettier,” Sophie smiled to herself.

“Am I not mommy?” the little girl asked her mother for validation.

“Of course you are, honey. Nobody holds a candle to your pretty face,” she kissed her daughter all over. Athena stood there silently, waiting to be dismissed.

“Leave,” Blanche handed her cup to Athena, and she left the spot, walking into the kitchen.

"Thena,” Claudia called, “Don’t pay attention to them” Claudia heard everything happening in the kitchen, and little Athena nodded.

She retreated to her room and did her routines, putting her brother to sleep. Nights were when she felt the most sadness, her chores helped her to keep her mind away from the losses, but as the night rolled in, her sadness crept up her bones like a chill during a cold winter night. She tried her best not to cry, but aren’t children supposed to let their feelings out? Cry when they feel like it? Throw tantrums, be angry and sad as they like?

“I miss you, mommy, daddy; I hope you and daddy are watching me from up there” she looked through the window in her room up into the sky.

“I am in your sister’s house, mom. She is a nice person, I suppose,” she chuckled. “She is going to let me study,” she smiled to herself.

“You don’t have to feel bad about Cleon, mommy; I will take good care of him. He is our little bean, isn’t he?” she looked back at her brother, who was sleeping, unknowing about anything.

“He will always have me, mommy” she turned her attention back to the stars. “But if the sky answered prayers, there would be no more sadness on the planet, would there be?

“I am not ready to say goodbye, mommy. I don’t know how to take care of Toro; I am not you,” she took her mother’s photo out, letting her tears soak the frame. She wiped her hands over it gently touching her mother’s and father’s faces.

“You did everything, you loved us so much, but now I don’t know what to do,” she sobbed harder, “Please come back, momma, daddy, please come back,” she hugged their picture tight to her chest.

She didn’t know when she fell asleep, but she did. She held her parents picture tight. Claudia heard this when she came to her room to check on them. Her eyes teared up. She wiped her own tears and let the little girl cry for a while; maybe she needed this. She needed to grieve. She wanted to wipe her tears, but could she remove the pain? The pain of loss? The pain of loneliness, the pain of heartbreak? She knew grief couldn’t be shared, and everyone should carry it alone, their grief a burden in their own way.

As for Athena, her grief was like her ocean; it came in waves ebbing and flowing through her heart, burning it down to its last cinder. Sometimes it was calm as the ocean after a wrecking storm, and sometimes, she felt overwhelmed. Ultimately, she decided that all she could do was learn how to swim, as the little girl has yet to know that grief changes shape but doesn’t end.