Three Worlds Apart

Chapter XXII, Evelina

I never thought I could feel sorry for a rogue.

Never.

But Amelia is different from the few I have met, she has the look of someone who has seen too much in too few years.

I wish I didn't think this way. I wish I could see her as something other than a living person, like I did before I met her.

It would be so easy that way.

Over the next few weeks Ashton gives Amelia a chance to tell him what she knows, everyday she refuses, everyday the cuts get deeper and deeper.

After Ashton leaves I wrap up whatever he has cut, her arm, her leg.

But it's a month after she arrives that my eyes are opened to Ashton's cruelness.

Samuel and I sit down with our lunches and start eating.

Actually, I start eating. Samuel picks at his food.

"What's wrong?" I ask. Samuel bites his lip and looks around the room to make sure no one is sitting too close, he doesn't want to be over heard.

"Remember that little girl that I am guarding?" He asks and I nod. "Ashton has been torturing her." My stomach clenches at his words. It's one thing to torture an almost grown girl, it is quite another to torture a kid. 

"What's he doing to her?" I ask, Samuel shakes his head sadly. I don't get it, he's always told me everything.

"I don't know if I should tell you," He says.

"Is she scarred?" I ask, Amelia will be. Is it not a crime to disfigure two beautiful girls? Why should they have this hatred pointed at them? What could they have done to deserve all they have and will suffer? Especially a child.

"No," Samuel whispers, "He never cuts that deep." His voice sounds hollow and haunted.

"What is he trying to get out of her?" I ask, "What can she know?" Samuel pushes some of his food around his plate.

"He's not trying to get anything out of her," He says. What?

"Then why-" I start to ask but Samuel cuts me off.

"Evelina he's trying to turn her to his side, turn her against her sister. He asks her a question everyday, if he doesn't like the answer he cuts her." Samuel looks so sad, I want to hug him but I can't. We aren't allowed to show each other affection unless we are married.

"How can he torture his daughters?" I ask, Samuel shrugs.

"They can't have done something bad enough to deserve it, could they?" There is no one to answer my question.

Samuel and I have never been like this, we have never had insubordinate. Just these thoughts could get us killed let alone this conversation. 

Finally Ashton decides that he has waited long enough. He has been 'patient' for as long as he could.

I stand outside the holding cell, I can hear his voice from inside.

"Amelia, I am not going to wait anymore." He says, a note of danger in his voice.

"Either tell me where Dawson is or I will scar you so badly that when he is brought before you, by me, he won't recognize the ugly, scared piece of shit you are." If I were the red haired girl belted down, I would have told him anything he wanted to know. But I am coming to realize that Amelia is braver, more selfless than I can ever hope to be.

She's a better person.

A better friend.

Amelia doesn't answer him. After a pause I hear her scream, her screams go on and on. Terrible, high pitched, I sit on the floor and clap my hands over my ears trying in vain to drown out the sound. My hands can not protect me from the scream that will haunt my dreams.

Finally her screams stop, she must have lost consciousness. 

Ashton comes storming out.

"Get up!" He barks at me, "Get her cleaned up."

I jump up and go into the room. I brace myself before looking at Amelia, one side of her face is bleeding, there is a gash from the top of her left arm down to her wrist, smaller gashes dot her right arm. Amelia's legs are covered and I can see no blood coming from them so her father didn't damage them.

Amelia is hanging limply from the belts that hold her to the board. Ashton must have cut her slowly, her injuries aren't bad enough to make her pass out otherwise.

There is a sink in the corner of the room, I take a cloth and gently start cleaning her cuts.

It must hurt her even in her current state of unconsciousness, she cries out in pain and then for Dawson.

What must it be like to love someone the way Amelia loves this Dawson boy?

"Dawson." She voice is hoarse and low, I wish there was something I could do.

"Dawson, go." Amelia's face is contorted with pain, I'm not sure if it's physical pain or mental. She isn't moving except for her head, it's swiveling back and forth. 

I finish bandaging her gashes. For some reason Amelia is still begging Dawson to go, I don't get why. Wouldn't she want Dawson with her? Except, if he were here it would mean he was being tortured. I don't know what love is like but I suppose that you want that person safe.

"Amelia," I say, would it help her to wake up?

"Amelia," I say again.

She opens her eyes and looks at me, "I always thought that there was nothing greater than a parent's love for their child," She winces, "I was wrong."

I never really knew my parents, I don't know if my parents loved me.

"Did you ever love him?" I ask, "Your father?"

Amelia doesn't hesitate, "I did." She shakes her head, "But he abandoned my mother, sister and I. He doesn't deserve that love."

"He's still your father." I say, "Besides what Ashton wants to achieve is right, he's treating you unfairly but I believe in what he is trying to do." I tell her.

"What do you mean?" She asks, "What's my father trying to do?"

Now this doesn't make any sense, she's a rogue. She's must know what her father hope to accomplish, she's trying to stop it. Isn't she?

"Surely you know?" I ask, "Your his daughter. That's why you got caught, wasn't it?"

Amelia frowns, "No, I got caught because he kidnapped my sister and killed my mother. I blew up the cave to save Dawson and my friends, I know nothing of his plans."

This shocks me, the only reason she is here is because she wanted to save everyone she loved.

"What does he plan to do?" Amelia's question brings me back to the present. Should I tell her? I shouldn't even be talking to her.

"Please." 

That one simple word forces me to tell her.

"He wants to take over the mortals," I tell her, "The strong should rule the weak." Even as I say it, I realize how fake it sounds.

Amelia rolls her eyes, "He's more daft than I thought," She says, "There is no way he can hope that that will actually work."

I shrug, "I believe in this cause." I say.

"Are you trying to convince me or yourself?"

Amelia's question is a good one.

Who am I trying to convince?