A Pinch of Memories in my Bowl of Disaster

11 Motivational Speeches

The words sounded foreign. They didn't have a right to be coming out of my mouth. Uncle Howard killed my father. The thought kept invading my mind. I began to think the name Ichabod now. He had no right to be called uncle anymore, I was just too naive to realize it before. The more I thought about it, the more the name Ichabod sounded perfect for him.

Thinking of my father forced the tears to stream down my face. I never remembered much about my father. My mom despised the mention of my father, so I never asked her anything about him. I never had a special memory of him. It's actually ironic that the one memory I can finally pull from the back of my mind is of my dad being murdered. The word made me cringe. Murder. I hated the word. I always have. But the word never seemed as horrific as it did in that moment.

"He murdered him," I said a bit louder. I tried looking at Ayden, but my vision was blurred due to my watery eyes. I rubbed my eyes and wiped my cheeks clean, choking on my sobs.

"That son of a-" I covered my ears as Ayden muttered curse words. I knew that whenever he cursed, it was because he was outraged. And frankly, it wasn't good to be around him when he got angry. He finally stopped and approached me, wrapping his arms around me while whispering, "I'm sorry" in my ear.

"Wait, so you didn't know that he killed my father?" I asked in confusion.

Ayden's jaw tightened as he shook his head. "No. In fact, I don't know anything. All I know is that Ichabod wanted to kidnap you and, you know," Ayden paused, "kill you." He obviously felt uncomfortable saying the last part.

A new scary thought arose in my head. This thought sent me into a fit of terror. I broke away from Ayden's arms. It was my turn to pace back and forth across the cell as far as my chain would allow me to. When that didn't help, I sat on the floor and rocked back and forth. Ayden seemed afraid to approach me. The thought banged in my head. I touched my temples and could feel a heart beat. I had to let it out.

"Ichabod is going to kill me any day now, just like he killed my father."

Ayden took one step toward me. "That's not going to happen."

I buried my face in between my knees and wrapped my arms around my legs. My voice sounded muffled when I said, "Of course he will. I can recall the memory that Ichabod has been asking me for weeks. I might as well consider myself dead."

I felt Ayden's warm hands on my knees. "You're not dead. He won't kill you. All you have to do is lie about not remembering it," he assured me. I lifted my head up just high enough to meet Ayden eye to eye.

"I can't," I said, still weeping. "I'm a terrible liar! Uncle- I mean Ichabod- knows that! He's known me since I was a little girl; he knows my poker face."

"Then let's escape right now," Ayden replied.

I lifted my head completely. "What?"

"We can escape now. The cell door is open."

"But I'm chained to the wall."

"I can break it."

"What about all the men?"

"I can take them."

I shook my head, sweeping the tears and hair all over my face. "No. You can't. There are too many. It will be even harder with Ichabod and his powers." His powers. It sounded unnatural. It sounded like he was the most powerful man ever. Maybe he is. But he was also once my uncle. Key word: once.

"Daniela, we can do it," Ayden insisted.

I grabbed his hand. "Just let this go. Let it all go, Ayden. Not too long ago you wanted me dead anyways." I was surprised how calm my voice sounded. It was a little bit shaky from all the sobs, but for the most part it was almost soothing. This might not be so bad, I thought to myself. Maybe my death will be quick and painless. My thoughts were interrupted by Ayden.

"Shut up, Daniela!" he shouted. His voice wasn't loud enough for the men to hear, but it was loud enough to portray his anger. "Don't ever say that I wanted to kill you! I'm trying to help you now! Just don't give up on yourself." At this point he was furiously grabbing his hair as if he was about to rip it off. I flinched at his behavior. I'd never seen him so mad in my life. Then again, I hardly knew him my entire life. You get the point.

I had stopped crying. What was left of my wailing were small sniffles. I felt my eyes water once more, but I successfully fought against the tears.

Ayden walked again towards me. He squatted in front of me, grabbed my hand, and said, "I won't try to help you. I will help you."

I gazed at him, finally understanding what he was saying. I nodded.

He squeezed my hand. "I mean it, Daniela. Everything will be ok, I just need you to stay strong."

"Ok," I answered. It took him a while to let go of my hand. His was warm and sweaty. He seemed fidgety. He seemed… almost nervous for me. I realized that I really did need to stay strong. Not just for Ayden. Mostly for myself. I remembered my promise to Manu.

"Ok," I repeated, sounding more convinced this time. Ayden eased his grip on my hand.

"I think we can escape now if we just-" his words were cut off by the stomping of feet. It sounded like it was coming from outside.

"Ayden! They're coming for me now! We can't escape!" I exclaimed. Part of me was still strong, ready for the men and Ichabod. Another part of me was petrified. I wasn't ready to lie to Ichabod. I was still recovering from the shock of the memory.

"Relax," Ayden consoled me. "It's only lunchtime. Ichabod never comes till dinner, remember?" Remember. I was starting to get sick of that word. Correction: I was sick of that word.

"Ok." It seemed like that was all I could say lately. Ok. Yet nothing was really ok. So why was I saying that? I guess because I needed to trust that everything would be fine in the end. Trust is the only thing I could hold onto at that moment. Trust and courage.

Ayden dropped my hand and ran out of my cell. Before shutting the door behind him, I barely heard him promise, "I'll be back for you!" The door closed with a bang, and I was left alone.

<><><><><><><>Author's Note<><><><><><><><>

Sorry, it's a little short, but a lot happened in this chapter! I won't be adding more, it'll stay short :(