Isabella Marie

Isabella Marie

Based off of “Anne With An E”

By Aneya V.

Isabella was cleaning the floors in her orphanage. Her parents passed when she was only four, so a family friend took care of her for the time being. That was until the taker was hit by a train, leading to her quick death. Isabella bounced to another home that belonged to a man named Mr. Hammond, but the eight children that lived with the same house overwhelmed her. Isabella worked as a free servant until she was twelve. At that age, Mr. Kohen passed from a heart attack, so she was sent to an orphanage.

It was at Ms. Eden’s Home, where multiple girls were sent by their own parents who couldn’t take care of them. Isabella, however, was degraded because they thought her parents actually wanted her, unlike the rest of them with their own parents. For the next two years at Ms. Eden’s Home, Isabella was labeled a ‘ratbag’, or ‘vazey’, which to them meant stupid. It was the kids’ 19th-century language. As much as she wanted to make a friend at her orphanage, she couldn’t. No one wanted to be her friend or people were afraid of how they would be treated if they were seen with her.

Isabella glanced over to the playroom, finding the other thirteen-year-olds running around the area. She frowned at them. She wanted to be like them. She wanted to have friends.

“Hey! You need to scrub dishes! We need plates to eat off of, don’t we? You want us to starve to death? Do something right for once! You're more trouble than you are worth. Nothing but a despairing piece of trash!” a girl, Deliah, yelled at her. Isabella flinched, letting a scared yelp slip past her lips. There was a whining noise upstairs that they could hear. “Great. You’ve woken up the baby. Go before Ms. Lilith catches you!” the girl hissed, pointing at the stairs. Isabella was quiet but she obeyed, not bothering to dry off her hands from the wet cloth. She made her way upstairs, telling herself to just follow along with what she was told. Delilah was right. Ms. Lilith was going to yell at her.

Isabella mumbled something under her breath to calm herself down. She was tremendously fearful of Delilah ever since she was sent to Ms. Eden’s Home. How could she not? Delilah always followed the rules. She acted as if she was always in charge when Ms. Lilith was gone. Ever since Ms. Eden passed, the job was handed to Ms. Lilith and she would always leave, so Delilah would step up.

Isabella walked into the baby’s room and turned on the light. She put a smile on her face as she took the child into her arms, then exited the room. Isabella bounced the baby on her hip as she watched two twins run toward her, demanding to know when supper was ready. Isabella cursed to herself. She forgot to make supper for everyone.

“Did you milk the cow?” another girl, Laura, asked. She was Delilah’s sister, so you could predict how she acted toward Isabella. She was abusive, like her sister, but Delilah was more unpleasant, in Isabella’s opinion.

“Uh, no,” Isabella answered briefly.

“Give her to me! You’re lucky that Charlotte has been taking care of your chores,” Laura spat, and Isabella handed the baby over to her.

“You’re not going to tell Ms. Lilith?” Isabella asked. This was odd. The usual move was to get her in trouble, but why not now?

Laura pursed her lips for a moment. “Chores are still getting done. But only today. I’m sure Ms. Lilith would not tolerate this if she knew. Now, get downstairs. The cows will not be milking themselves, and supper will not be ready in time without another filthy kid helping. Go.”

‘Go’ had always seemed like an annoying thing for Isabella. After every conversation, it always ended with ‘go’ so she would do work. She found it irritating.

Isabella decided to stay quiet, again. She walked down the steps of the home and made her way over to the kitchen again, finding Charlotte wandering around. She approached the girl.

“Are you here to assist me in the kitchen, Isabella Marie?” Charlotte questioned, searching through the pantry.

“Uh, yes, I am. Laura sent me over,” Isabella informed.

“Please set the table while I finish up,” Charlotte said, and Isabella nodded. She walked over to the shelf, pulling a few plates off of it. She made her way over to the large dinner table, setting down a bowl in front of each seat. Charlotte and Isabella were a strange duo since Charlotte landed herself in the orphanage. They were the same age, but Charlotte was taken in a year after Isabella. Charlotte was known to not be friends with anybody. Not that she couldn’t, but she didn’t want to. In doing so, she had also been labeled a ‘ratbag’. Charlotte was distant. She didn’t always talk to Isabella, and when she did, it was probably just chores. But they weren’t close friends or friends at all. Maybe just acquaintances.

“Girl!” Isabella heard Ms. Lilith call for her. She spun around quickly, a bowl in her hands. She nearly dropped it but managed to hold on tight. “Pack your things up. You’re leaving for the train station,” Ms. Lilith said.

“I’m leaving?” Isabella asked, smiling. Someone actually wanted her. A family actually wanted her.

“Go!” Ms. Lilith yelled. Although Isabella was irritated with the word, she grinned from ear to ear. It was going to be the only time she liked it.

“Okay!” Isabella said, setting down a bowl on a plate before running upstairs.

Time Skip…

Isabella set on the bench at the train station. She held her suitcase on her lap while kicking her feet back and forth gently. She smiled. Isabella could just imagine the things that could happen once her taker would come. She was an imaginative child. She would plan the exact things she would do if she was ever adopted - and today was the day!

Isabella scooted across the bench, turning around to look at the man through the window. She noticed that he was reading a book, and she realized what book it was.

“I love Jane Eyre!” she gushed, smiling. The man looked up from his book. “Don’t you?”

He shrugged. “I have never met her.” Isabella slowly nodded at his response. “Are you sure you don’t want to wait inside, little girl?” he asked.

“Oh, no, thank you. I prefer the outside. It has more scope for the imagination,” she said. The man slowly nodded, finding Isabella to be odd. She scooted back to her spot on the bench and continued waiting.

A man rode on a horse, approaching the train station. He swung his legs off of his horse, then attached the rope straps to a hook on the wall. He then nodded his head at Isabella politely, making his way inside the train station building.

“Afternoon, sir,” he greeted the man, “I wonder if you can help me. Is there a-”

“Little girl?” the man asked. “You didn't see her on the bench? She's just outside. She wouldn’t come in. Strange thing.”

“But-”

“Said she preferred to sit out there because there was… what was it now? ‘More scope for the imagination’,” the man continued, “That was all. She's a case, I would say. I heard her talking to herself out there.”

“But I'm not awaiting a little girl,” the traveler informed. “It's a boy that I have come here for. Ms. Lilith was to bring him over from the orphanage for my sister and I. My name is Samuel Allen, my sister’s name is Sophia Allen. Sophia and I need a boy to assist me with work on our farmland. There has to be a mistake. I came for a boy,” he repeated.

“Ms. Lilith got off the train with that unusual scrap, gave her over to my charge. Said you'd be along for her now,” the man said. “Well, that's all I know about it. I haven't got any more orphans masked hereabouts.”

“I, uh, I don't understand.”

“Well, I'm sure the girl outside will be only too cheery to tell you every tiny detail of what happened. She's got a tongue of her own, that's for sure,” he said, then continued to read his book. The traveler glanced outside, and Isabella looked at him. She waved with joy, and he awkwardly grinned.

“Oh, boy,” he muttered to himself, leaning back inside the building. “I’m afraid we can’t take her in.”

“Oh,” the man said, looking down briefly. He felt bad for Isabella. To him, she seemed like a sweet and intelligent girl. He thought she could actually have a future worth something. “Shall I call up Ms. Eden’s Home, then?”

“I’m afraid so,” Samuel responded, taking off his hat for a moment. He stared at his hat, thinking if he made the right decision.

“Sir, I’m aware we’ve already went over Jane Eyre, but don’t you think Charlotte Brontë’s writing is just… awe-inspiring?” Isabella spoke, appearing at the window again. “It sheds light on everything that needs to be said and imagined! I can picture it all perfectly, don’t you think?”

Samuel pursed his lips, setting his hat back on his head. He wished the man a goodbye, then exited the building. Isabella waved to him with a bright smile on her pale, freckled face. She didn’t know he was the man who came for her, but she would know in a few moments.

Isabella turned to the man in the building as Samuel got back on his horse. “So, what’s your name?” she asked.

The man sighed, closing his book. “Arthur.”

“Nice to meet you, Arthur! I am Isabella!” the girl said, extending her arm through the window. “Isabella Marie!”

Arthur nodded at her, shaking her small hand. “Nice to meet you as well, Isabella Marie.”