The clock in the living room chimed, signaling another hour gone. Outside of the closed doors and covered curtains, the world was oddly silent. Not a moment of excitement had even struck the city.

From inside of one home, a melodic tune began playing. Positioned in front of the piano, sat a young girl, just barely a woman. Seventeen years of age, her eyes glowed with every key stroke on the musical object before her.

She was known for playing the piano into the early hours of the morning and never wanting to stop. When her studies seemed to be going wrong, she'd pause and play the piano. The hum of each key calmed her momentarily.

After hitting the final note, she waited for any reaction. A voice behind her said, "That was lovely, Angelica." Eagerly she turned and faced her mother who had been watching her with profound interest the entire time.

Angelica didn't have the time to say thank you, much less give her a smile in return. There was a sudden pounding at the door. Startled, her mother rose to her feet along with her.

Taking her steps quickly, Angelica hurried to answer the door. Her mother followed her closely. The door whooshed open, to introduce a man with a panicked expression his face.

She hadn't ever seen the man before. He could have easily been new in town. But whatever his rank was in the social status of the town, the information he carried with him was vital.

Neither of the women could say anything before he cried out, "Your son has been shot!"

Angelica froze in the doorway, already sensing her mother weakening behind her. Her mother leaned closer to the man, over her daughter's shoulder. "Pardon?"

There was no reason to even repeat it. What the man said was true. But the now terrified mother couldn't accept it.

A door down the hall slammed open. Angelica hurried past her mother, just in time to see her father walking towards them. "Eliza, what-"

"Our son has been shot!" The grief stricken mother flung herself on her husband. He was surprised by both what she had said and her sudden embrace. The man in the doorway rapidly began explaining the situation.

Angelica was frozen in the hallway. Philip. She had warned him to keep his tongue firm and not get in arguments. She knew what her father was like behind closed doors and she never wanted Philip to be the same. Much less get involved in a duel.

Eliza wept on her husband's shoulder, trying to block out what the man was saying. Her cried became desperate, eventually forcing her to pry away from the embrace. She barely made it to the staircase before collapsing on her knees, sobbing more and more.

The man in the doorway impatiently cried to the family, "The bullet is causing him unbearable pain, he needs support at this very moment. A doctor is by his side, but he fears there isn't much time left for your son."

No. Angelica shivered at the words. She glanced over at her father, who had gotten pale in barely seconds. He stumbled forward than backward. There was a gasp that escaped his lips before he crumbled to the floor.

"Father!" She pushed past the man with the message, leaning down to him. To her relief, he had only fainted in shock. She pressed her hands to his chest, sensing a heartbeat.

From her spot on the staircase, Eliza looked up at the sudden thump. Her eyes widened, filling with more tears. "Alexander!" She leaped to her daughter's side, still sobbing into her hands. The one person she needed in this dark time had managed to faint. It only made her cry more, thinking of dealing with all that was to happen on her own.

Angelica grabbed her mother, hushing her. She too was shaking. Struck in the heart by the news of her brother, as much as she throbbed in pain, she told herself to stay strong for both of her dear parents. "He's only fainted, mother. In a little while he'll be-"

But at that second her mother let out a shrill cry of despair. Her arms wrapped around her husband, refusing to let anyone near him. All she could hear was a hushed, "Alexander, please." She was losing hope by the second.

The next fourteen hours of Angelica's life never seemed more dreadful. Clutching onto her brother's hand, watching his sweat stained face scream as the pain grew, all she wanted to do was erase the duel. She would never understand what led him to raise his gun.

On the day after her brother's fateful duel, he was pronounced dead. The moment that word slipped past the doctor's lips, her mother screamed and grabbed her son's limp hand, clinging onto her first born child.

Angelica backed away from the room, leaving her parents and siblings to mourn at his bedside. She couldn't stand another second of it. Her mind was spinning with endless things and began to make her feel sick. The last thing she remembered of that day was the sound of her mother's crying echoing around.

A week passed. Angelica listened day and night to her parent's arguing, until it grew to silence between them. Her siblings often went to her for comfort, but she also shoved them away.

Something had changed inside her when the news of her brother being shot emerged. Her body didn't feel right anymore, nor did her intelligent mind. She was afraid to share her troubles with anyone, so she kept herself locked away in her bedroom.

It wasn't long before her parents caught onto her change in attitude. No longer did they hear the sound of the piano, but only muffled sounds from her room. Their daughter didn't sleep much anymore either.

Eliza was growing worried. She couldn't lose another child. Angelica was seventeen of age, a smart girl too. Her life was seemingly going down the drain all at once.

As his wife began worrying, Alexander frantically tried to support his daughter. He contacted every doctor they knew. Trying to bribe her back into her usual self, he even asked a friend to send her some things, hoping it would brighten up her again.

All the loving attention he was feeding her was only making things worse. Angelica was becoming more unlike herself each day. There were times she couldn't even recognize her own parents or siblings.

The household had become darker than it had been ever before. Doctors often came to check up on the girl, only giving her parents their sincerest wishes. They didn't know how to make her parents feel reassured.

Angelica didn't let her love for music falter in the time her health was on the line. Sometimes there would be the sound of a key stroke on the piano or the sound of her singing upstairs. It was the one thing that was left of all she knew before disaster struck.

Eliza found herself watching her daughter from the corners of rooms, silently wishing that all would be normal the next day. Her daughter had been fine only months prior and was now the victim to an illness.

One afternoon, as she sat in the living room, knitting away, Eliza heard her daughter talking from across the room. She hesitated before looking up. At the piano, her daughter was faced towards the window. Though they were softly said, she could hear the words.

"Philip?"

Eliza rose from her chair, striding to her daughter's side. She rubbed a hand up and down her back, murmuring, "Angelica, your brother isn't here. Remember what-"

Angelica firmly replied, "Why do you keep saying that? Philip's with us." She tilted her head and smiled, as if remembering something the two of them had done.

Eliza backed away from her daughter. No matter how much the doctors told her it would all be okay, she couldn't believe them. She could sense the uncertainty in their voices every time they spoke. Her child, the girl she raised, was gone.

There was barely any hope left in Eliza. Time had passed and her daughter's condition progressed. From thinking her brother was alive, to barely recognizing her own father, the girl had completely changed from who she used to be.

Though her heart throbbed every night at the thought of her mentally ill child, Eliza kept praying. She had very little hope left, but she wouldn't give up on her daughter just yet. No sickness was going to take her child away from her. And she certainly wasn't going to face losing another child.

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .
A/N: If you're wondering if this is historically accurate or not, allow me to tell you it is. As shocking as it may seem, the second child of the Hamilton's experienced a mental breakdown after her brother's death, one she never recovered from. It's true, that she couldn't recognize people in later years and said her dead brother was still alive. Even while struggling with her mental illness, she was said to have stayed as kindhearted as she was before and her family cared for her until her death. This one shot is titled with her name, as its a point in her tragic story.