Breaking Chains

The Two Cries

“Why are you even still here?” Indigo stopped writing the letter he had been composing and looked up at his brother. As usual his brother’s gratitude for Indigo’s devotion to family and selfless deeds overwhelmed him with blossoming feelings of affection and brotherly love.

“Shouldn’t you be in your cell?” Indigo asked. Normally, no brother would wish their blood to be locked up, but after waiting outside the room were his younger sister was being tortured, his tolerance was beginning to wear thin. Besides, they failed to reach any standard set for an average family.

“My question was before yours.”

“I’m watching over Celia.” Valentine glanced at the cold door where Celia was being subjected to her treatment. There were no scream, because Celia never screamed, but there was still pain and suffering. Pain had a stench and Valentine could smell it in the air, thicker than smoke and more putrid than the foulest corpse. All of it was Celia’s.

“A valiant job you are doing of it,” Valentine commented dryly.

“I’ve secured a safe haven for her. Remember that priest I mentioned?”

“The one you wanted to exorcist Sarah? No, we are not taking up the offer. You are a hallucination, end of discussion.”

“He doesn't judge.”

“I do.”

“She’ll be protected there.”

“Celia will never be safe, not alone.” There was truth to this. Celia had never been alone a day in her life. Growing up with servants and siblings, she had led a monitored life, always under watch. Then she was kept in White Haven, where her supervision was even stricter and not a day passed that wasn’t planned. Celia needed someone to tell her what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. Without someone to guide her, Celia would just sit in a room and rot away in her fantasies, and that was not living. The real danger was herself.

“What is your suggestion?” Indigo asked, open for suggestions. “The girl, Samantha?”

“She would be an acceptable guardian for Celia. Celia needs a healthy mind to tie her to reality and Ms. Crick needs a body to live though; you can see the potential.” It certainly sounded like a perfect match.

“Can we trust her?”

“She’ll make Celia happy and as long as there are stairs and hills in the world, she’ll be incapable of leaving Celia.”

“They’ll be bound to each other; that’s quite the commitment.”

“So is going through the painful experience of pushing a parasite out of your loins but women continue to have children.”

“What is the drawback?”

“Unfortunately Ms. Crick doesn't find the prospect as appealing as we do. She appears to have lost her will power.” That was to be expected. The woman had just gone through a very traumatic injury and had lost her ability to walk; negative repercussions were inevitable but no less of an inconvenience. “I was hoping this problem could be resolved through a meeting between the two.”

“An interesting theory but I’m not sure that will be sufficient.” One as broken as Samatha could not recover overnight.

“It will have too. I offered to kill her should it not.” Ah yes, his brothers default answer to any problem: if there is no solution then kill someone.

“That is not an appropriate course of action,” Indigo stated.

“She doesn't really wish to die; she just hasn’t found the motivation to live yet.”