Burn In Violet

02: Old Hag

Chapter 2: Old Hag

“There’s no cage more deceitful than a cage made of love.” – Holly Esther.

*

The library was so large that Holly took a full five minutes to reach the door.

The irony! Right now I, the prisoner, am the only one able to open the door for my jailer. How about I return the favor and imprison her outside instead? Well… that’s one way to look at it.

Playing with her own thoughts in dry humor cheered her just slightly. She ignored the towering bookcases. The lantern flames danced vigorously each time she passed by them, tickled by the gust of wind brought by her swift passing.

Reaching a wooden door, she turned the knob and entered a hallway also bathed by the golden light of hung lanterns. Finally, she reached the rectangular panel that had been the only thing separating her from the entire world for more than a decade.

The panel looked like the outline of a door, except that it was a part of the wall. To it’s right was a red button with a label above it:

IN CASE I FORGOT THE KEY, AND CAN’T COME IN, USE THIS BUTTON, HOLLY. I TRUST YOU.

There was even a heart after “YOU”. She couldn’t help but to feel annoyed each time she read the inscription. That old hag and her manipulative psychology…

She pressed on the button a few times to the beat of the opening line of Rock a Bye Baby. She had to press it like that, or it wouldn’t open, something like a password. Tamaki couldn’t do that with her head.

And yes, that annoys the heck out of me too. Holly sighed as she heard the familiar hiss of the panel turning into a portal of light.

A small cowled figure with a hideous mask emerged, carrying a sack on its back, looking like a hunchback as it did. The mask had a lengthened nose, like a straight, wooden finger. A stranger looking at the figure would be reminded of either an elderly midget or a deformed child.

“Here,” Holly took the sack from the figure’s hand. “Where’s the old witch?” she asked.

“HOLLY!” Arms wrapped themselves around her and swept her off her feet. Holly found herself smothered by a forceful hug. “Guess-what-guess-what-guess-what? The book sales was amazing, it simply was!”

“Ugh,” was all Holly could say. She struggled to free herself. Her feet touched the floor and she found herself staring into the cheerful eyes of her guardian.

She was a head taller than Holly, with long straight hair the same shade of red as hers; a beaming, bespectacled face; and kindly eyes, the kind that would make anyone with dark secrets to turn their faces away in guilt. Although Holly often referred to her as ‘that old hag’, she actually looked young enough to pass as Holly’s elder sister.

“Emi…” Holly growled.

“I’m so glad to see you again!” Emi ruffled Holly’s hair with a hand. Holly quickly broke eye contact. The remark sounded sincere enough, but it made Holly feel a sneaking suspicion if her guardian actually thought of her like she was a kind of pet animal. But Holly’s slight frown only made Emi chuckle. Yeah, like how a little girl would chuckle seeing her pet cat’s stare of annoyance.

The small masked figure watched impassively at the two’s reactions.

“Oh yeah,” Emi put her hands on Holly’s shoulders. “Tamaki told me you had a dream again. Bee in your bonnet? Is something troubling you?”