Guard and Scythe

Where there are No Emotions

I awoke inside the metal cage had first been imprisoned in upon my capture. I didn't want to wake. Not here, trapped in this terrible cage, bound against my will in this torturous place. Not now, when all I wanted was to continue to sleep; to drift away and escape this reality in the only way I could.

"Trisnae?" a soft voice whispers from the other side of the bars. I lifted my head up, and saw Mickenna starring at me anxiously. "Trisnae?" she said again, her blue eyes clouded over.

I hadn't realized she had been wrapping my hands with a cool cloth. Her nimble fingers tied the knots of the cloth carefully. I did not want to see how bad the wounds looked. The pain was still intense.

Reese is standing close by my cage. Mickenna moves out of his way as he breaks the lock of the door with a chewed up bone, and helps me out from the cage.

"Why do they keep locking me back in there?" I ask them shyly, not looking into either of their faces.

Reese stood a head taller than me, but his sister's head was just at my level. He was standing so close to me, that she could nuzzle her forhead against mine. I can't help the compulsive shivers that instantly shoot up my spine. I manage not to step away in disgust, but only just.

"We all first came in cages. You haven't been with us very long yet little dolly," Reese says as if it was obvious. I give a slight "oh," and don't continue to persue the question. His answer still did not satisfy me fully.

"We were so worried about you Trisnae," Mickenna says taking my hands. I flinch back as a firey burn shoots through my wounded skin. "I-I don't want the pretty dolly to be hurting," she says, instantly dropping my hands again. I choke back the tears of pain welding up, and give her a nod.

From somewhere behind Mickenna and Reese, a sudden wail breaks into our standing silence. We all rush over to where Blane and Arny stood around Chip.

"We can't bandage his face."

"He's got to be in so much pain."

"At least mutts don't feel pain quite as much as humans."

"Oh shut up you idiot!"

We listened to the two bicker with each other. We were all helpless to help the dogboy.

Chip's face had been so mutilated by the acid, that almost all the skin had been burned. His face more resembled a rotting corpse than a boys. The dogboy wails in agony, thrashing around on the ground before us. His nails scrape at the floorboards till they turn purple and crack off.

"Poor Chip," Mickenna says remorsfully. The rest of us can't find anything else to say.

"Chip you idiot," Blane sighs softly, stroking his head, as the dogboy whimpers, hot tears burning into his ruined cheeks.

This has all become to much for me to handle. Every breathe I take feels like a burden, my lungs are made of lead, sinking me down into the floorboards. My arms begin to shake, and the room becomes so blurry. I could feel myself spinning uncontrollably. I cry out in panic, throwing my arms around my face, ignoring the burning pain I immediatly feel.

"NO! NO! NO!" I scream to nobody in particular. I just wanted this to end now. Why couldn't anybody just knock me out?

Mickenna grabs me harshly. I think she is about to pull me into an embrace, when her hand stikes me harshly across the cheek like a whiplash. She regards me with an expression of fury. I can see her, but I am not seeing her. Someone had split the world in two.

"Stop!" Mickenna hisses coldly. I whimper, and begin to sob. "Stop!" she tells me angrily again, shaking my shoulders hardly now.

"Do not cry, do not fall down, and let your emotions drown you like this! Think about the rest of us who have been living through this so much longer than you have! Do not forget that you have not even seen the worst of The Circus. Do NOT expect anyone else to treat you as kindly as we have!" she says, her voice sharp as knives. The words she attack me with repeatedly stab me.