Belle Adams' Butler

Belle stared at the bird that belonged to Lucas. It had spoken her name which meant it belonged to him. She was happy to see something she was familiar with. The creature that had been following Belle was one type of mighoul that stood behind her, staring at the bird. 

"You speak to food," it muttered under its breath and Belle ignored the mighoul for now. Stepping towards the tree where Lucas' bird Raven sat down on the branch, she spoke to it,

"Do you know the way out of this realm? Can you let Lucas know that I am stuck here," There was no sun and nor could she see any stars, to be able to count the hours or days of how much time had passed since she had entered the land of the dead. 

"Master Lucas was the one who sent me here," answered the bird flapping its wings from where it sat. 

Lucas knew? It made her wonder why he didn't come here himself but sent his bird to pass the message. 

"Is everything alright there in the land of the living?" she inquired, worried if Portia had done something which was why Lucas had noticed.

"Master is with the witch. I shall be at your service as Master is not able to make time," answered the bird that had Belle's mouth open. What was Lucas doing in the land of the living if he knew she was dead? Was there some kind of ploy that she was unaware of? She then realized there was no time to think about it. 

She said, "Take me to the house which resides here that is similar to the one that belongs to me in the land of the living."

The raven flapped its wings and started to fly. Belle took this as her cue and followed the bird by jogging. When she turned around, she noticed the mighoul was still standing there and she stopped, "Are you not coming with us?" she asked it and the creature quickly made its way to her. 

Belle and the mighoul didn't stop following the bird as they made their way past in a different path which was not the same as the ones they had earlier used. On their way, Belle wondered if Lucas had sent his bird after realising the person next to him was not her, but another part of her soul, Portia. 

She could only hope that Portia had not done something terrible in the land of the living. 

"What did Lucas say?" Belle asked the bird as she continued to follow it. 

"He said he had something to do which was why he asked me to seek you, Mistress Belle," answered the bird who was flying not too high from where she was. 

When they finally made it out of the forest, Belle felt somewhat relieved that they hadn't met any more spirits or mighouls or strange creatures. Not even the hellhounds had sniffed them. Making their way to the town, Belle reached her house that looked like an old mansion that was not intact like many other things in the land of the dead. The house was as she had last seen. The windows were broken, the entrance of the house didn't have a door. There were no trees or plants that surrounded her house like the one that was present in the land of the living. 

Stepping into the house, she turned to look at the bird when it spoke,

"I heard once Master Lucas say that Mistress Edith conveyed that there was a key in this house. You need to find it. I will go fetch master!" with another flap of wings, the raven had disappeared out of sight. 

Belle didn't know what that meant. There was a key here? There were no doors, what kind of key did the raven mean? 

Knowing the layout of the house, Belle started to look for this possible key that she could make use of. Far away from the house, she heard the cry of the hellhound that had her stop for a moment as it was spine-chillingly scary. 

She went through the closets, the cupboards that were broken but she found nothing. She didn't know where to find the key. The raven told her something it had heard from Lucas but no one would have known that she was going to die. It had been unexpected as she had thought that she would die only after the second star died but it seemed like there was an intervention thanks to Portia. 

She walked up the stairs after some time, her feet moving to her room and she pushed the door open. Stepping inside, she noticed how the bed which must have not been there was in place with springs and cotton that had come out to fall on the ground. There was a tattered blanket and an old pillow. 

Belle continued to walk to be followed by the mighoul who had been accompanying her since she had left the forest. 

When she found the dressing table where the broken mirror was, she noticed Portia had drawn things and people on the wall. Moving towards it, she saw how the drawings were made by using a piece of coal and there were three figures that were labelled with- mama, papa, Portia.

Belle pressed her lips seeing this.

She could tell that the drawing was made by a small girl and the number of time's mama and papa were written on the walls that looked like the little girl was desperate for love. Not too far away from the family, there was another figure that was similar to Portia's but this was crossed with red and at the top was her name- Belle. 

Portia hated her and Belle would allow her to hate her because somewhere she could sense the other soul's loneliness that she had to go through all these years alone. But then it was neither of the two girls' fault that one had been placed in darkness while the other one was in the light. 

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