The Nutcracker Bleeds (4 page)

She
raised her eyes to his, and to her surprise, he was at the wall again, tugging at
a shelf of dolls and puppets to pull them down to their doom. He was aiming to
commit further acts of murder.

“Please,”
she begged, but her words were unheard over the sounds of the wood of the shelf
cracking. Olivia did not know what to do. All her concepts of going to war to
defend love were hypocritical now.

Beneath
his firm insistence, the shelf gave way and fell, the dolls rolling off of it,
hitting their heads on a large chest before they collapsed on the floor, some
shattering. Olivia jumped up, surprised and shocked by the mass murder taking
place before her eyes. What was he trying to prove to her? What kind of devil
had possessed him?

“Stop
this!” she screamed, finally gathering the strength to stand up. “
Stop
!”

“Why?”
he demanded. “So they can keep you in this state? Tell me: why do these dolls
have your love? What have they done for you?”

The
girl could think of nothing to say. It wasn’t about what they had done for her,
it was what she could do for them. She was the only one who understood them. He
had no right to take their lives. They had done nothing to him.

“Leave
them alone please,” she asked. “Just leave.”

“Leave?”
he countered. “I’ll leave when you answer my question.”

His
angry eyes searched the room over, finally falling on the bed. She didn’t know
what he was looking at, and by the time she had realized what he was doing, it
was too late for her to stop him. He snatched up the nutcracker from the quilt
where she’d left him unattended.

No!

She
grasped at Todd’s arm, but he threw her off easily. Felling helpless, she stood
back, hiding her face behind her clasped hands in worry.

“Don’t
hurt him,” she pleaded, tears gathering at the edges of her vision.

She
was like a lovesick maiden who wished to reach out and touch the fingertips of
her lover’s ghost. Olivia longed for the nutcracker, though she’d only come to
have him a few short hours ago.

“Tell
me then,” Todd inquired. “What does he have that’s so special? So important–so
valuable that you would care about him more than me, Anne, your own family?
What
?”

When
she didn’t speak her defense, Todd wrapped his fingers around the nutcracker’s
leg, and he did not wait for her to protest. With a malicious snap, he broke
the wooden limb away, dropping it to the floor.

Olivia
screamed, putting her hands to her ears in sheer horror and lowered herself to
the ground. The wood snapping was as ghastly as a human bone in her mind,
because that was just the way she viewed it. Todd dropped the nutcracker onto
the floor, leaving her to stare at the broken toy. Quickly, she swooped to
retrieve him.

Olivia
looked down at the red liquid on her hands that only she could see. The blood
covered the nutcracker, dripping off of his detached leg.

4

Anne
stared at herself in the round mirror in her own room, smoothing her hair down
and looking for any evidence of tiredness around her eyes.

So
tired, Anne. Don’t you ever sleep?
She sent this inquiry silently to her
reflection, but received no answer.

She was
grateful for any moment of peace she had from Olivia, but even now, she could
hear muted voices from the attic room above. The girl was playing with her
dolls, no doubt, giving them voices in different tones. If Anne hadn’t known
better, she might have guessed that there were actually two people above her
having a conversation, but of course that could not be true. Olivia was secure.
She would not come out, and who would bother to visit her?

Fleetingly,
Anne let herself imagine the family downstairs, and how they would lounge about
now, truly enjoying the house, and certainly not being bothered by someone of
lower birth, such as herself. She was not invited to join them, and so all that
was left for her to do was ready herself to turn in for the night. Of course,
only after she had examined every pore.

Anne
found herself to be as decent as she’d been this morning, but she constantly
swore that Olivia would be the cause of premature gray hair.

Thinking
that, her mind wandered back to other things. What had Todd been on about after
dinner? What right did he have to be on her case about Olivia? He hadn’t even
seemed like himself. When he’d begun to talk about the girl, as if he knew what
was best. Anne knew Olivia–much better than she wanted–and the girl could not
be saved. Honestly, Anne would be pleased when Todd went back where he come
from–

What?
Her eyes shot
upward. It sounds of distress above. A whale of sadness and a loud crash had
startled her, thoughts ceasing as she jumped in her skin.

Olivia.
That was her only
thought, and it was enough to get her moving.

Anne
dashed from her room, feeling the key in her pocket as she took to the stairs.
She would have to admit that she had felt a short jolt of panic, followed by an
instant need to protect her charge, but she told herself. Now that it was false
instincts. She rushed to the girl because it was her job to do so, and that was
that.

Anne
reached the attic hallway, and hadn’t realized that William and his brother
author were following behind her until she burst through the door, where she
was confronted with the site she certainly hadn’t expected.

Broken
dolls were scattered all across the floor, Olivia was kneeling down in
distress, and there are with her was Todd. What was he doing? Anne was at once
ashamed and suspicious, but she made no accusations.

“What’s
happened?” William demanded from behind her, and she waited for either party to
give an answer.

“I
came to say goodnight,” said Todd, sounding shaken, “but she wanted me to play
with her, and when I told her I had to go, she started breaking all her things
and screaming like this. She’s gone completely mad!”

Anne
walked to Olivia, touching the girl’s arm as she stooped over one of her toys.
Anne could see that it was the nutcracker. She just received, his leg snapped
off.

“It’s
alright,” Anne promised the trembling girl, but without a hint of sympathy. “It
will all be alright now.”

“He’s
bleeding,” Olivia uttered, not seeming to hear Anne at all, directing her words
at Todd. “He’s
bleeding
! Look what you’ve done!”

The
young man did not answer, merely shaking his head as he watched her. She
quickly lost interest in him.

“He’s
a wounded solider,” she mourned quietly.

“What
the devil is she talking about?” asked Arthur. Anne would guess that they had
been smoking in the study when they’d heard the screams.

William,
more than a little embarrassed, gave a look of disapproval.

“I’m
sorry she acted this way, Todd,” he said. “Anne will calm her down. No need to
worry ourselves about it.”

He
ushered the others out of the room, turning back to Anne with a stern look that
she had never seen in his eyes before. She wanted to apologize to him, but she
didn’t get the chance.

“Take
care of this,” he commanded, and she knew he was serious. He wanted no more
outbursts.

Anne
looked at him a moment in surprise, blankly. How many times had he ever spoken
to her that way? His severity startled her, and she was suddenly reminded of
her place in this house. Their affair aside, she was merely here to work.

“Yes,
sir,” she relented, lowering her eyes as he left the room.

The
nurse looked at Olivia, who still watched the nutcracker doll sorrowfully,
clearly having forgotten about all the other broken toys.

“We
don’t like disruptions, Olivia,” Anne told her lowly. “Everyone is disappointed
in you.”

Though
it had been her sole intention to hurt Olivia’s feelings, the girl said
nothing.

“I’m
going to lock you in for a while now, and I don’t want to hear another word.”

Anne
moved towards the door, but suddenly Olivia jerked back to her, staring at Anne
with her watery eyes.

“Please
take him to be fixed,” she begged, handing up the nutcracker and his leg to
Anne. “Take him to uncle. He’ll fix him.”

Anne
sighed, wondering why she should even be bothered to do this. The girl’s
outburst had gotten her into trouble, but, if getting the toy fixed would keep
the girl quiet for the rest of the night and assure that William–
No, Mr.
Ellington
–was not upset, then it would be done.

The
nanny nodded, though still keeping her disapproving stare, and turned to go,
locking Olivia away in the silence with one final sentiment.

“Don’t
cut yourself,” she warned. “I’ll be back soon to clean up your mess.”

5

Anne
was flustered and dismayed as she left the attic room. Her mind was full of
reflections on William’s harsh looks and the disappointment in his voice. She
had one responsibility in this house, and that was keeping Olivia in line. If
she allowed the girl to act out like that, the Ellingtons would lose faith in
the idea that she could do the job they’d entrusted her with, and it would be
back to the gutter with her. She had to keep that control established, and this
was not the way to do it.

But
it’s odd. The whole thing is.

Olivia
was not usually violent like that, though she’d occasionally have a tantrum or
crying fit. This outburst didn’t seem right. Anne wondered, secretly, if Todd
had done more than what he’d said in wishing Olivia goodnight, but she decided
that this aspect was out of her hands. This didn’t affect her own situation, or
how William must have been thinking of her now.

I
just need to be sure that it doesn’t happen again.

As she
walked slowly down the creaking stairs, Anne observed the broken nutcracker in
her grasp, his body in one hand and his broken leg in the other. She had never
cared too much for toys herself. To her, they were what separated her from
Olivia. Anne lived in an adult world and Olivia did not. She had no use for
dolls–perhaps only because she had never been granted many of her own growing
up–but she had to admit that the soldier in her grasp was more than a little
bit interesting.

The
nutcracker was certainly not new in make, but he was masterfully carved. His
face was done with such detail and was smooth with polish. The long white hair
was of such high quality that she might swear it was from a human head. He was
anatomically correct, and every part of his decorative suit was meticulously
engraved.

He’s
almost real
,
she thought to herself, lifting him up a bit to peer into his hollow eyes.
Almost
real enough.

Weighing
his body in her hands, she turned her attention to the broken leg. Would Olivia
have done this, even in a fit of anger? She loved her toys more than anything
else.

Olivia
had said that he was bleeding, but as Anne peered down at him, she didn’t see
anything at all.

She
had almost passed the toymaker’s room before she had realized it, looking down
as she was. This room had always unsettled her, even more than Olivia’s, but
the nanny had never been given much reason to go inside, and that suited her
well. All the glass eyes watching her was one thing alone, but the pieces of
the unfinished toys disturbed her more. The heads without bodies, staring at
her…

Perhaps
he’s not even here. He could be downstairs.

“Did
you need something, Anne?” She detected the thump of the cane only after
hearing his voice, and she jumped in surprise. Euan had approached her–stringy
hair, crooked spine, and with a patch over one eye. Anne couldn’t see how he
didn’t frighten the children. He certainly frightened her. His one eye traveled
downward, and he was quick to notice the nutcracker in her grasp.

“Oh,
what’s happened?” he asked with a furrowed brow.

“I
don’t know. I wasn’t there,” Anne said dismissively, crossing her arms after
she’d handed over the pieces of the nutcracker “Can you fix it?”

Euan
stared at the broken nutcracker, and Anne thought she saw a mixture of sadness
and confusion on his worn face, but she could not trouble herself with that.

“Yes,”
he said finally–absently. “I’ll deliver it back to her later.”

The
man who seemed so old to Anne–though he was not much older than his brother
William–opened the door of his darkened room. Freezing air rolled out, but Anne
did not see inside before she turned away abruptly, and he pulled the way shut.

6

After
a while, once the house had quieted, Euan knocked twice on Olivia’s door before
he entered without admittance, using his key. He knew she wouldn’t protest, for
he knew he was always welcome here, even in her worst moods.