Jane Bites Back_ A Novel - Michael Thomas Ford [100]
Jane shook her head and blinked to clear her vision. Her hands were tied behind her, and someone was standing over her, smiling triumphantly.
“Charlotte!” she gasped.
“Surprised?” Charlotte asked her.
“But you’re dead,” said Jane.
“That’s true,” Charlotte agreed. “But not dead dead.”
“The fire,” said Jane. Charlotte looked completely healthy, not a burn in sight.
“Yes, the fire,” said Charlotte. “That was a good try. Fortunately for me, our kind heals very quickly as long as nothing vital has been destroyed.”
“Jane, who is this?”
Jane gave a start at the sound of another voice. She looked to her left and was horrified to see Walter, Kelly, and Lucy all seated on the floor, their hands tied as Jane’s were. All three were staring at Charlotte.
Charlotte laughed. “Wasn’t it kind of them to come to your rescue?” she said to Jane. “All I had to do was wait.”
“Leave them alone!” Jane said angrily. “They have nothing to do with this.”
Charlotte cocked her head. “Really?” she said. “You see, I think they do. I think they have a great deal to do with this.” She knelt down so that her face was right in front of Jane’s. “Do you know why?” she asked.
Jane could feel Charlotte’s breath on her face. She refrained from suggesting that Charlotte might consider the use of a mint. “No,” she said. “I don’t know why.”
Charlotte leaned even closer, so that she was whispering in Jane’s ear. “I’ll tell you why,” she said. “It’s because they will be my revenge. I’m going to drain each of them while you watch. Then I’m going to set fire to this place and watch it burn to the ground, just like you watched my house burn with my family in it.” She stood up and straightened her dress. “Oh, and I want my dog back,” she said.
“You can’t do this,” Jane said.
“Why not?” Charlotte shouted. Her voice was filled with rage. “Tell me why I cannot have satisfaction!”
“You’re the one who was going to steal my book,” Jane yelled back. “You’re the one in the wrong here.”
“Details,” Charlotte said snippily.
“Who are you?” asked Kelly.
“Who am I?” Charlotte replied. “Who am I?” Her voice grew in both volume and indignation as she walked over to her captives.
“Violet Grey,” Jane said. “She’s Violet Grey.”
“The blogger?” said Kelly. “The one who didn’t like your book?”
Jane nodded as Charlotte’s face reddened. Kelly stared at her. “All this because you don’t like a novel?” he said. “Don’t you think you’re overreacting just a bit?”
Charlotte clenched her fists and stepped back. She closed her eyes and began to recite: “Women are supposed to be very calm generally,” she began. Then her eyes flew open and she pointed a finger at Kelly. “But women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts, as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags. It is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more or learn more than custom has pronounced necessary for their sex.”
“What does Jane Eyre have to do with anything?” Kelly asked her when she finished.
“It has everything to do with it!” Charlotte bellowed. She began to pace, striking her fists against her legs as she walked. “When The Journal of Words compiled its list of the one hundred best novels written in English, do you know that Pride and Prejudice was number twelve?” She stopped pacing and glared at Jane. “And do you know where Jane Eyre was?” she asked. She looked at the four of them in turn, but nobody answered her. “Number fifty-two!” she shrieked. “Fifty-two! Below that pornographic travesty Lolita!” She spat the title as if it were poison. “Below Huckleberry Finn! Below Ulysses. Have you ever tried to read Ulysses? Have you ever finished it? No, you haven’t. No one has. They just carry it around and lie about having read it.”