She would persevere

Chapter 27.75

"Lainy? What are you doing?" Adelaide grabbed Theodore and pushed him into her lap in the small cupboard and held him tightly.
"Why are we sitting here?"
"Be quiet Teddy! They will hear you! We can't let them find us!"
"Let who find us? Lainey you're scaring me..."
"I'm sorry Teddy. I'm sorry she took you. It's all my fault! I'm so sorry, Teddy."

Theodore no longer understood his sister. There was no one in the house, just who was she hiding from? She sounded scared to Theodore. He needed one of his brothers, but everyone was asleep and Ezekiel wasn't home.
"I'll be right back, Lainy. I'll save you!"
Theodore told her before wringing himself out of her grip.
Theodore ran up the stairs wide awake. He had to get someone for his sister. Running towards his mothers bedroom he saw a light on, on the other side of the hallway. Noah's office.
Noah was still awake, finishing up a taxing bit of work. Noah had contemplated getting a membership from the conductor to help him with this work that was just taking too much of his time away from other pressing matters. He had just shut off his computer and stood up when Theodore barged into his office seemingly out of breath.

"Theo? What are you still doing up at this hour?"
"Noah... Lai... help..." Theodore breathed out.
"Catch your breath and say it again, sweetheart." Noah bent down to his level.
"There is something wrong with Lainy, Noah. She is hiding in the kitchen. She talked about how someone was looking for her. Something is wrong, please help Noah."
Noah wanted to tell Theodore that he wasn't going to do anything, but Theodore grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the room before he could say anything.

Theodore had dragged Noah to the kitchen where they saw Adelaide shivering and holding herself, making her as small as she possibly could. Sweat was gracing her entire skin. Eyes wide open.
Noah scoffed. She was trying to scare Theodore, was what he was thinking.
"Stop this ridiculous act now, Adelaide!" Noah's voice boomed through the entire room, but Adelaide didn't acknowledge it. For she didn't hear it.

"Lainy. I brought help. Noah is here." Theodore started softly.
"Nono isn't coming, Teddy. Nono and papa aren't coming. They won't take us away. They want me to stay here, to learn my lesson. Nono isn't coming. Shhht we have to be quiet. They are still searching for us. They can't find us, we just have to wait for dawn."
Theodore heard the front door open and close. Right at the moment that Noah tried to drag Adelaide out of the cupboard she was hiding in.
The moment he did that, she started screaming. She held Theodore even closer to her body, trying to shield him even more from the world outside.
"GET AWAY!!!! Papa Salvami..." They heard Adelaide scream and cry out.

"What's going on here?" Ezekiel asked when he walked in.
"I have no idea Zeke. Something weird with Adelaide that Theo wanted me to help with." Noah sighed out.
Ezekiel walked around Noah to look at Theodore and Adelaide, but couldn't clearly see her face.
"Theo, can you move out of Lainy's arms so I can talk to her?" Theodore merely nodded his head and wiggled around so Ezekiel could look closer at Adelaide's face.
"Lainy it's me, can you look at me?" He got no response from her other than shivering and more tears falling. Her breathing started to become heavier.
"He's here Teddy!"
"Teddy, you have to run! Before they find you! It won't be funny when mommy sees you. She will hurt you Teddy! You have to run!"

Ezekiel couldn't figure what was wrong. Her eyes were wide open, not blinking once. Her pupils were dilated, which to him meant something was gravely wrong.
"Theo, she was responding to you, right?" Theodore nodded his head.
"Why would she respond to Theo and not us?" Noah questioned.
"I really hope it isn't what I think it is. But if it is, I might have to sedate her." Ezekiel replied. Ezekiel had done his research on night terrors including sleep walking after speaking with Rebecca.
"Theo, can you ask Lainy some questions for me?" Ezekiel asked, reciting the questions he wanted answers to. Theo nodded his head and repeated the questions to Adelaide.
"Lainy? Where are you?"
"We're in the attic."
"Why?"
"I'm hiding us."
"From who?"
"Uncle Tommy and his friends. They can't find us. He'll hurt us."
"Lainy, How old are you?"
"I'm Ten, Teddy."

Noah was utterly confused by the questions and answers that were given. Ezekiel was cursing. He took out his phone and called a number putting it on speaker. First attempt went to voicemail, so he kept calling till he got an answer.

"Hello..." A sleepy voice answered.
"Rebecca, it's Zeke. Lainy is having a night terror and I don't know what to do to wake her up."
"Oh no... Cherie.... She's had a couple of different ones over the years. Do you know which one she is in? Where does she think she is? What does she think is going on?"
"She's ten years old, hiding in the attic from so-called 'Uncle Tommy'."
"Merde!! That's the worst one..." Rebecca sniffed.
"Let me guess, she is hiding in the attic. She's behind boxes in her mind."
"Yes, Rebecca, what kind of night is this?"

"Wait till dawn, just till dawn..." Adelaide whispered over and over.
"It was the night she knew that man was coming and tried to hide in the attic, hoping no one would find her. She just had to wait it out till sunrise, because they always left at that time... But sunrise never came for her. He found her and dragged her down to that room to have his way with her. And even after they left, that woman proceeded to hurt cherie more and more." Rebecca was crying. Noah was shocked. He couldn't understand, couldn't comprehend what he was hearing, what the woman on the phone was trying to say.
"How do I get her to wake up? Please help me." Ezekiel asked her urgently. He couldn't see his Lainey like this. It was breaking his heart.
"Whatever you do, don't touch her, she will scream and cry even more because she will think she's been found. Shine a bright light on the side of her face from above. She will think dawn has started and the nightmare will end. She will immediately slump down so be ready to catch her. The next time she wakes up, she won't immediately know what happened. So I suggest you keep this quiet."
"Why keep it quiet? She needs to know about it, to try to find out what triggered it."
"I understand, but once she finds out she's had yet another episode, she will break down again. These episodes she has, she tries to control. Dr. Cavalli and Cherie have been trying for years to suppress them and she has been getting it under control, but something must have happened for her control to slip and with us not being there knowing every sign of it, no one was able to correct her mind. Therefore letting the episodes slowly take over. I wonder how long ago the episode started... For now do what I told you and I will call her in the morning, alright?"
"You got it."
Ezekiel looked back at Adelaide and Theodore while preparing his phone's bright flashlight.
"Theo you need to get out of the way, Lainy is about to fall back asleep."
"I can't, she's holding me too tight."
Ezekiel sighed. Noah still didn't fully understand what was happening but was able to help Theodore get out of Adelaide's arms.
Flashing a bright light on her face, the three boys saw her looking adamantly at it before smiling.
he eyes started to close.
"I survived..." Adelaide said softly before she slumped down and fell with her head out of the cupboard towards the floor. Ezekiel caught her head before it was able to hit the ground and breathed a sigh of relief. holding her in his arms he proceeded to go up to his room so she wouldn't be alone when she woke up. Noah proceeded to hold Theodore in his arms and brought him to his bedroom and said goodnight. Noah immediately went to Ezekiel for answers.
"What in the hell was that?"
"She had a night terror. A form of sleepwalking while having a nightmare. She has had a few over the years, they have become less frequent but not less fearful." Ezekiel said solemnly.
"How do you know this?"
"Because I ask questions, Noah. I care for Lainy and I care about her health. This is one of the reasons she didn't want to come back here."
"So that wasn't her pretending?"
"Noah are you pretending to be stupid or are you actually being stupid? This was not pretending. Lainy has not once pretended, has not once lied. Just because you don't want to see it, because you had already discarded her in your mind, when are you going to get it through that thick fucking skull of yours? You Rora was never fake! Your Rora never left, never lied. Her Noah did. I'm tired, please leave."