Lorelei Asks, “What Happens Next?”

Chapter One – After the Rally, the Train of Memories

Riding through the rolling countryside of Germany racing toward the ocean, Lorelei sits mindlessly staring at her tasseled travel handbag as she vaguely remembers the specific details of the last several days. Her bruises are slowly changing various shades of discoloration on her arms, legs, and trunk. She places her hand beneath the base of her ornate hat. The lump on the back of her head is beginning to decrease in size. She glances at her reflection in the window and releases a thankful sigh that Charlie never leaves marks on her face when he is in one of his angry tirades. Upon more consideration, Lorelei recognizes that Charlie, being a proud man, does not want anyone to know what happens when he loses his temper. Above all else, he must always maintain his image. His future aspirations are far too important to him.

“But, this last time is different,” Lorelei scarcely murmurs to her mirror image and replays the events from her limited memory, adding the accounts she has overheard since the grave incident from the servants’ gossiping in the hallway outside her room at the Meyer’s manor. She asks herself, “How do I make sense of this? Oh, it is all so foggy.”

After sitting and swaying to the train’s rocking motion, Lorelei gives in to her fatigue and leans against the train’s cool glass and closes her eyes to assist with emerging logic from her sketchy recollections. She tries to pinpoint the trigger for Charlie’s foul mood. Thinking back, she determines that it all began in the afternoon at the political assembly. She believes that Charlie was prepared for his speech and would do well at the rally; although, and in a large part, his triumph normally relies firmly on his grandfather’s influence and position in society. During the debate, she, the ever pleasant, dutiful wife, serenely sat at her appointed station by his side. However, his opponent slowly gained the upper hand as the debate lasted longer than planned. In addition, his opponent’s benefactors confronted him with surprises later at the nobles’ reception. By the end of the evening, Charlie had one too many drinks to calm his nerves, and he mindlessly fell into the carriage after clinging to Lorelei for stability while trying to maintain his composure when walking from his seat at the reception to the carriage. The driver shook his head and helped Lorelei to her seat before closing and fastening the door of the carriage. With Charlie feeling annihilated by his opponent, they rode home in silence; Lorelei knew all too well that he would soon lose his temper, verbally and physically. Closing her eyes, she silently prayed for peace and protection.

Finally, the carriage ride came to an end when Charlie and Lorelei arrived home late in the evening. Once the footman helped her from the carriage, Lorelei planned to run to the safety of her room and lock the door. Instantaneously, the butler held open the entry door and watched while she quickly ran through the doorway and across the tiled foyer, which leads to the grand staircase. Not needing to look back, Lorelei knew from experience that time was of the essence. She heard Charlie’s wobbly stride increasing in speed as she hurried up the staircase. Suddenly, he grabbed her arm as she reached the top step, a few feet away from her room of safety.

While he excruciatingly twisted her arm, he turned her toward himself. She smelled the strong odor of alcohol still lingering on his breath and heard him begin to whisper dreadful words. With her free arm, she instinctively tried to protect herself from the anticipated blows that she knew were sure to follow.

After this moment, she cannot remember the details, just the sting of Charlie’s fist, his cruel words, and the sensation of rolling down the staircase and the utter blackness of it all…