A Tale Of Shadows (Wattys 2023) - REPLACED BY DIVINE ASCENSION

Chapter 7 - The Search

The first four months of Melinda's captivity hadn't passed as she'd expected. The days she spent in her cell were mostly dull, with occasional interludes of fear and melancholy, given that she had only one companion, and one who didn't like to talk very much at that. Her parents were in the room next to her, but she didn't visit them often because Patrick wouldn't let her. When she did visit them, all of them got a little bit of comfort, what with the hugs and loving words they all shared, but they couldn't spend much time together, and what little time they had was soiled by the fact that Patrick had locked them up, therefore their hope was feeble. 

She had lessons every morning, which would last up to three hours, after which she had breakfast, which was as terrible as the two meals that followed during the day. The way Patrick had treated her on her first night there had given her hope, but she quickly figured out what it actually meant - a false consolation he'd concocted for nothing more than his own amusement. It made her mad beyond belief, among other things. 

Given that she had nothing else to do during the day and that neither Patrick nor any of his followers could attend to her all the time, she made tons of plans on how to escape with her parents and Frank, with varying degress of success. She had to explore the house in order not to seem already defeated, after all. She made most of her plans during her first days, discarding most of them in her head almost instantly, realising that they held no chance of success. However, the only thing that mattered was that she'd made countless plans and that none of them were successful four months in, which visibly affected her.

On a night that seemed normal in the beginning, Melinda walked over to the window just as Frank was getting ready to fall asleep. Placing her right hand on its edge, she stared solemnly at the moon, as she tended to do, especially when she had a lot going on inside in her head, exactly like now. Perfectly round and magnificent, it floated serenely on top of the dark blue sky peppered with rows of stars, adorning her pale white skin with its nice, soft light. It wasn't disturbed by the snow nor the ice nor the thin black trees whose branches were blown harshly by the winds of cold, and she admired it for that. In its position, she could never do the same.

"Are you alright?" Frank asked, walking over to her with a slight frown on his face.

"Yes."

"Are you being honest with me right now?"

"Yes."

"Do you want me to leave you alone?"

"Yes."

Frank let out a heavy sigh. "Melinda... I've seen you refuse to tell me anything as you stare darkly into the distance at night for months now, and I didn't say anything because I didn't want to perturb you, but I'm getting genuinely concerned for your sanity. You say that I'm aloof, but even though you talk about trivial things quite well, you seem to be afraid to go deeper than that. You have terrible nightmares all the time, as well as memories you've never mentioned before, but I know of their existence because it's written on your face. I'm sorry if I'm bothering you,  but I simply wanted you to know that you can talk to me at any time if you're in a bad mood. I'll always be there for you."

Melinda snorted. "I'm perfectly fine, thank you very much. I've been handling problems of this sort for decades and nothing's happened to me yet."

He shook his head. "I knew you'd deny that you need help. You aren't used to talking about your problems, but you really should start doing that, you know? If you keep ignoring them like this, you'll lose your mind someday, I know it. I don't mean to pressure you; I just thought you'd want to keep that in mind."

She glared at him. "I never asked for your opinion."

He yawned. "I'd continue this conversation, but it's pretty late. Goodnight, Melinda."