Caged in Darkness (Caged #1)(5)

“Now, you’re right as rain. You’ll need to take it easy on that foot for a few days, but after that it should be just fine.” She examined me in much the way that I had examined her son a short while ago.

“Are you going to tell me why you were slinking around my house in the middle of the night, or do I need to assume you are a burglar?”

“No! I mean, yes I was slinking around your home, but no I’m not a burglar.” I offered a meek smile.

“Then what are you?” The voice came from the boy, Ash. He was still wearing that confused frown on his face, and I decided I didn’t like it.

I sighed. I wasn’t sure how to explain. What if they made me leave?

“My parents used to belong to your coven; Irena and Devon Cross. They’ve been hurting me, and killing people.” Maye drew a sharp intake of breath and with knowing eyes she smoothed my ratted hair away from my eyes.

“Don’t you worry about this, darling. You’re safe here. I’ll take care of everything.”

Maye nodded and smoothed back my hair to inspect my face. I wasn’t sure what she was looking for, but she had a pained look on her face. She made a small sigh, and whispered, “I wish I had known; a child. They had a child.”

Maye pinched the bridge of her nose and looked Ash in the eye. “I’m going to call a meeting with the others. I expect you to take care of this little bird. I don’t want to hear any nonsense about being tired either. If you hadn’t stayed out until well past curfew you would have had more rest.”

Ash winced. “Sure. Does this mean you’re going to forget that I got home past curfew? I think I should earn some points for good behavior here.”

Maye turned from the entryway to fix Ash with a stare that could kill, and left. Ash shrugged and turned to me “It doesn’t hurt to ask, right?” He then walked over to the corner of the room and lifted the lid of a woven chest. When he came back he was carrying two quilts. He tucked one around me, and curled up with the second in a nearby chair. When he said he would take care of me, I guess that meant he would stay with me the whole night. After several minutes of listening to his breathing quiet to a soothing rhythm, I fell asleep.





3: Surrogate





Third Entry: Safety





When Maye issued the council meeting, the adults from the surrounding houses gathered in the casting circle. Outsiders from nearby districts drove to Meadow falls and joined the coven to discuss my situation. The adults clustered together in the circle surrounding the altar. The outsiders revealed themselves as representatives of the sister covens. It was decided that my parents were a poison that needed to be eliminated, and the covens would band together to be the antidote.

That night Maye made certain my parents could never hurt another. She took me in and promised to never allow anyone to harm me. The expression on her face was heart wrenching. Her clothes were scorched, and she had a gash across her right cheek. She moved slowly, not due to physical exhaustion, but rather emotional drain. Her hunchback seemed to be tied to gravity; she was bent over as though a ghostly weight lay on her shoulders.

Maye closed the distance between us and encircled my shoulders to hug me. To others it would look as though she were comforting me, but she was the one who needed comfort. I would have preferred not to be touched, but I forced myself not to stiffen at the contact. This was the woman who had saved me. How could I deny her one moment of human comfort?

Part of me wanted to ask what had been done. Were my parents dead? Was it a quick death? Would they ever be able to hurt me again? It was difficult to imagine a life free of their constant abuse. I suffered the eternal fear that even if they were dead, they would find ways to inflict pain on me and those near me. Was it possible to wage war from the afterlife? I craved answers to these questions, but I couldn’t bear to ask Maye. I knew she was hurting and my questions would bring her more pain.

Maye became my surrogate mother, as she had already been for Ash. His parents died in a car crash when he was four. Maye, as his Aunt and closest relative, became his legal guardian. She was the only family he remembered. I wish it was that way for me. What I would give to slip into blissful ignorance. Unfortunately, my parents were a nightmare that was repeatedly inflicted on me in daylight and in sleep.

When I first came to live with Maye, I felt guilty that she and Ash needed to suffer my presence in their lives. They had a simple routine that they followed, and I barred their usual routine with my presence. Theirs was a beautiful home that I infected. They no longer had peaceful nights. The echoes of my childhood screamed through the hollowed essence of their home. They often came down to breakfast with false cheerfulness that was ruined by the ashen circles beneath their eyes. My nightmares plagued my dreams, and their wakefulness.

My bedroom was upstairs with a large bay window, and a bathroom that connected mine and Ash’s room. Maye originally gave me the guest room on the ground floor, but without any windows and only a single escape route, I panicked. Maye understood the unusual situation and switched rooms with me, for which I was grateful.

I quickly learned to lock both doors when using the facilities to avoid uncomfortable interruptions. My first week in my new bedroom, I casually walked into the bathroom as Ash was drying off from the shower. Rather than have that happen again, we both opted to be cautious. I knew the bathroom acted as a tunnel for the sounds that came from my room at night. My nightmares, which were in fact memories… must have affected him. To hear that pain, and only have a bathroom as a barrier between him and my taint must have been exhausting.