~*~
Sobs rack his body, but no one sees as he slides down the wall across from her cell. He will forever hate himself, despite the king's insisting that all has been forgiven--it hasn't, it can't be, because I'm still alive, and I'm still so useless, he thinks. I should be in there, locked in this asylum, because I'm the one who did this, me and me alone, because I stood by and did nothing.
Every night he is here, crying, because she is tortured and he can't save her. The demon, the darkness, the evil inside her...sometimes its words are like silk, and he can't tell if it's the one speaking or if it's his beloved. And not being able to tell the difference kills him.
Nothing, even after ten years, has changed.
---
Inside she is thrashing against her restraints, crying and shouting and hating--all of that evil, corroding her from the inside, destroying her beautiful naivety. The worse part is that she is still here, inside herself, watching through her eyes as this rage, this stranger, overcomes her, tells the man she loves all these terrible, hurtful, disgusting things. Why is he still here? Why hasn't he just given up?
You told me once that love, like pain, is regenerative, she thinks. So why is this taking so long? The love should have overcome the hate, the evil, by now.
But her love has never been strong enough. That's why she couldn't keep her parents from divorcing, couldn't keep her brother home, couldn't keep her other brother from suffering, couldn't keep her friend from leaving, couldn't do anything. That's why she had to watch her friends die, had to watch her brother stab their youngest brother in the arm and laugh, had to withstand the crippling pain that everyone was relieved to unload on her.
But no one knew that was what was killing her. No one except...
When I get out of here, she thinks, when I am whole and healthy and alive again, I will marry you. I will spend the rest of my life with you because you are the only one who has endured with me. I will make this up to you. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I love you. Though I have no right to ask this of you, please...please hang on.
---
I will take this pain, she thinks, watching the girl in the asylum. After all, you've groomed me for it. Tell the man I love that I will find him again. And tell them that I'll be back for their wedding.
They deserve this happy ending.
---
You'd be surprised, he thinks to himself--talking to her, even though she's lifestreams away--to see them now. He and her brother are getting along. Well, as well as the two of them can get along.
We are anxiously awaiting your return. But I know he misses you most of all.
We are all hoping that you two, too, will have your happy ending, even though you both say you do not deserve it. Hell, I never thought about a happy ending until it came up from behind. Maybe the same will happen for you.
Thank you for uniting them. They told me that they are forever in your debt.
~*~
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