Zeravia's Five

thirty

July 14th.

The dungeons in Zeravia had never felt colder. The silence was slowly chipping away at Eleanor and she had only been there for a day. Her eyes were puffy and red, her nose stuffed and her cheeks were wet from all the crying she had done. She had hoped so strongly that Gia would be able to resist Cassie's blessing before going through with William's plan, but her hope had proved to be useless. He had forced her to stare at the monitor until Tate's signal stopped. Until the irrefutable proof of his death had been shown to her. She knew he had done it to break her spirit and it had worked. All the what-ifs kept haunting every corners of her mind. She wished she had told him who he really was before he left for that mission. She wished she had told him she was his real mother. She wished she had told him everything, but more than everything... she wished she had been able to protect him and Alexis better.

Her daughter had died and now her son was joining her, but she was left all alone. No mother should see her children die before her, it was not how the world was suppose to work. It was unnatural, but it was her life. Twice she had to lose a child. Twice she failed to protect her children. The tears began to flow down her face again as she realized she had failed more than twice. She had failed with Isobel, Gia and Cassie. Maybe if she had raised them differently, Cassie would've been able to think about someone other than herself. Maybe she would've have been able to see other's pain instead of just her own and maybe she wouldn't blame everyone for her pain.

She had not even been able to bury Alexis. When they found her, she had been crushed by a building and all they could see was her arm sticking out with her raincoat. She never had closure and every time she thought about her daughter she wondered if she had felt pain or fear. She was all alone... she died all alone.

She would kill William with her bare hands if she had to, she would. Forgiveness was no longer an option for him. As soon as she would get the chance, she would kill him and destroy everything he cared about. The woman sent her fist against the hard rock walls and she repeated that multiple times, groaning in pain as her knuckles bled. A crow flew in through the barred up window of the cell she was in and she screamed, jumping up to her feet and backing into the wall. She stared at the animal, a hand up in front of her, but as she was stared back at she felt a feeling of familiarity. She slowly let herself slide down into a sitting position and she started crying again. The crow moved closer and tilted its head.

"He's dead! He's dead! Leave! He's gone!" Eleanor screamed at the crow burying her face into the palms of her hands.

She remembered all the times he mentioned the crows in Zeravia. He wanted to be friends with them and according to Gia, it had worked. The girl didn't know for sure, but she had mentioned crows helping Tate. She had surprised him talking to them during their travels. She hadn't said anything, but she knew Simon was also aware of it. She cried waiting for the crow to fly away again and leave her behind like everyone had. She couldn't blame the kids for not coming back for her, but she had hoped they would come back and save her from William's claws.

"Mom?" A voice echoed, it was a few feet away from her.

She gasped keeping her hands over her eyes. Her mind was playing tricks on her. Her mind was cruel. She shook her head and clenched her jaw.

"Mom... it's me," the voice paused and she slowly moved her hands away, keeping her head down.

Eleanor knew that the second she would open her eyes and look up, she would find an empty cell.

"It's Tatum," the boy's voice sounded a bit louder as she felt a hand on her shoulder.

Her head perked up when she felt the warmth of someone's hand, she opened her eyes and saw him. He was really there, but the crow was gone. Her brows arched and she shook her head in disbelief. She swallowed the lump that was seated at the base of her throat and quickly pulled him into a tight hug.