PROMISE ☾ ray

chapter 9

act 1
chapter 9 | in order to live

life is a fickle thing - you never know who's going to go.
blink, there goes your friend; blink, and there goes your brother.

[name]'s mouth went dry at what her eyes were seeing.

emma, lying limp on the forest floor, unmoving; norman, standing stiffly not two feet away from her; mom, kneeling down beside emma, a soft smile on her porcelain face.

norman... was being shipped?

'mom,' ray began after a long pause. 'what happened to emma's leg?'

[name] only noticed when he pointed it out. it looked reddish and bruised, tied up with a bandage and supported by a splint.

'it's broken,' mom smiled sinisterly. 'in fact, i was the one that broke it.'

alarm struck the other four silent.

'don't worry,' said mom as she cuddled emma into her arms. 'i broke it very cleanly, so it'll heal perfectly with time. but she has to stay in bed for a while. i'd say at least a month or two.

mom looked up with a thin grin.

'i hope she'll heal before your birthday, ray.'

ray seethed, his heart thudded in his ears.

'norman, make sure you hand over that bag over to me as well,' mom addressed him, voice the same as always.

norman hadn't spoken a word since they arrived. he looked whiter than he usually was, and his gentle blue eyes looked glossed over.

he didn't respond to this either, frozen in place.

oxygen failed [name], she couldn't take in any.

mom stood up, a silent emma cradled in her arms. 'now children, let's all head back to the house.'

the children stared curiously when they neared the house.

it was a rare to see emma hurt, much less see her immobile in mom's embrace. it was rare to see all the oldest kids huddled together behind mom too, keeping a large distance between them.

[name] completely forgot about her injured elbow with this unexpected mess. emma, with a broken leg. norman, about to be shipped out. their ropes, gone. the investigation, barely worth it.

did everything just go up in smoke?

mom carried emma into the house to treat her leg, leaving the group to hysterics. the other children followed her anxiously.

don spoke [name]'s thoughts, his head in his hands.

'the plan was to complete the investigation and prepare to escape soon, but what now?!'

'we'll make sure emma's leg gets better as quickly as possible, and we can make new ropes. we'll escape, and i'll make sure we do!' roared ray from his spot on the covered well.

there's no way he's letting his six-year-long plan going to waste!

'right now, the priority is norman,' [name] muttered from beside ray. 'his shipping is completely unexpected. didn't you say there'd be no shipments for the next month?'

ray cracked his jaw. 'i did! mom clearly lied to me. she already knew norman was going to be next!'

'but,' came gilda's timid voice. 'why norman, of all people?'

'yeah, it's weird!' don agreed. 'if higher scores equates to higher quality, shouldn't they be saving him for last?'

'exactly,' ray mumbled, kicking a bucket in front of him. 'it makes no sense. she eliminated krone, cut ties with me and broke emma's leg. all for the sake of staying loyal to HQ, by shipping norman out on time!'