The Frills of Sanity

The F.O.U.L. 2

As the night got denser, the Orphanage turned tranquil. The chirps of the night birds and houls of the owls were the only sounds. What was in the surroundings, was the exact feel of the office of Mrs. Holmes.

Mr. Holmes sat in his boss chair, his arms rested on the glass table and his eyes closed. He sighed as if in an attempt to put off the tensions and the burden he could feel on his chest. He had lots of regrets... Regrets that he couldn't shake off no matter how bad he wanted them to vanish like thin air. He had witnessed far too many crimes and had caused number of deaths, though unintentionally.

He slowly opened his eyes  and fixated his gaze at his shoes. He seemed to be standing on the verge of falling apart. At times like these, he wanted his wife to somehow appear out of nowhere and take charge of this whole situation. Afterall, he was always uncomfortable when dealing with an emotional mess like one he had recently become or the one that was sitting in front of him.

It had been minutes of silence. While Hope was quietly mourning for the deaths her parents had caused, she couldn't shed a tear. Although she knew that all those sacrifises had a reason, she couldn't feel pain, anger or any other emotion inside... as if her heart and soul had died long ago and all she was left with was the robotic movements.

Despite her lack of expressiveness, all she wanted was to feel that rage... that fire... that passion for blood she had often witnessed in Scotty's eyes when she would talk about her parents' case.

Alexis' warm hands and her non-stop muttering brought her back from her thoughts. Hope slowly opened her eyes and lifted her head from the hold of her hands. She felt pity but disappointment more for Alexis when she figured that she had conveniently mistaken Hope's silence for sadness. Hope shot a cold glance at Alexis which made her stop with her words that very instant. She then swiftly shifted her gaze towards Mr. Holmes.

Hope cleared her voice which made Mr. Holmes look at her. Hope could read his eyes like an open book. He knew what questions Hope would be asking now. He wanted her to break him down..so bad that he would ramble out every secret that he had been keeping.

He knew that Hope was now ready... that He was ready...so much that he was willing to risk blowing his cover- the only thing he had spent whole of his life to win fair and square. Not to forget that the chances of finding his beloved wife were at stake. In frustration, he got up out of chair and started pacing towards the doors.

"You cannot possibly be done with your story, now, Mr. Holmes. Can you?" Hope's bluntness and coldness stunned him dead in his tracks.

He swiftly turned backwords and paced towards his armchair. "The story isn't made for children, Hope." It took a lot of courage for him to retort to Hope's coldness.

"When did she learn?" Hope asked thorugh her gritted teeth. This was her first and she had many more in line.

Mr. Holmes closed his eyes for a moment before shifting his gaze back at her. "Look... Whatever we did, whatever happened... we did not want you to overthink or to missunderstand. We concealed it all just to protect you!" Mr. Holmes attempted a head start to his defence while thinking about probable list of questions Hope would throw in his way.

"My question... is quite simple, sir." Hope spoke with anger in her eyes. When she saw no words coming out of Mr. Holmes, she slammed her fists on the table which caused a loud thudd and a crack on the glass. Alexis squealed with the thudd and pressed both her hands on her chest in horror.

"fourteen.. since she was fourteen..." were the only words Mr. Holmes could speak. He had seen Hope's tantrums. But this was something different. He had never seen her so angry... so desperate for answers.

He sighed before continuing in his now shaky voice. "We asked her to promise two things-firstly, that she will protect you from any truth and secondly..." Mr. Holmes trailed off while figuring out his chances of forgiveness once he discloses what he had done.

Hope was on fire now. It was difficult for her to process the revealations that had been happening to frequently, shaking up her core. "Patience isn't my virtue Mr. Holmes and you know it better than anybody else, don't you?" She walked past him and stood by the window glancing at the sky. "You don't need a reminder of my fire trick, right?"

With mention of that incident, Mr. Holmes gasped. He inhaled sharply and shook his head in negation. He shifted in his armchair and gulped. "I didn't think you still had that side. You were very violent back in the day, Hope. So... We asked Scotty to never mention anything even remotely related to CRIB, F.O.U.L. or even your parents."

Hope felt outraged. She could feel her anger bolting through her veins. "You monsters..." Hope leapt towards Mr. Holmes but Alexis stopped Hope just in time. Hope inhaled sharply before continuing, "Why? Mr. Holmes, why? Tell me, what did I ever do to you to deserve this?"

Hope felt devestated. All of a sudden she wanted to go away from the very place where she would feel extreme comfort for years. All of a sudden she felt as if she belonged nowhere... as if she had none in whom she could confide.. as if she had never had anybody whose words she could trust...

In pain, she fixated her sight at the floor. She paced slowly towards the doors and stopped for a minute before walking out."You killed her Mr. Holmes.... You killed Scotty." With these words she stormed out of office.

Mr. Holmes slammed his palms on the table. "There you go... Another tantrum, eh!", he muttered while rolling his eyes. He then glanced at Alexis who was stupified and glued to the chair. "Do you want any answers too...?" He asked her, sarcasam evident in his words.

"Yes..." Alexis reverted immediately. "Please. I am on the edge here."

"Oh... It was more of a rhetorical question, you know!" Mr.
Holmes cringed at the thought of dealing with another 'teen'. But when he saw how devastated Alexis looked, he decided to go easy on her. "Shoot... knock yourself out, kid!"

"I knew everything about CRIB since my childhood." Alexis glanced straight in his eyes. "Then why would she choose to keep this F.O.U.L. in dark? What's with this secret?"

"Ughh.. Cut her some slack, will you?" Mr. Holmes sighed while rolling his eyes and rubbing his forehead. " Look, we made a lot of enemies while working for CRIB. Back then your family was fine. Everybody's family was fine. But get this... Your mother's first job of F.O.U.L. and she looses her only connection to humanity and life!"

"Dad..." Alexis trailed off, attempting to digest this brand new information. For all theae years she was blaming CRIB for the death of her father. But this truth was way too brutal for her to handle.

Mr. Holmes watched her from the corner of his eyes. He could understand her confusion, her frustration and he pitied her. He walked upto her and stopped for a minute. He patted her on shoulder and inhaled sharply. "You girls should really stop steering the dirty waters!"

He walked past her and halted for a moment near the doors. "Good Night, Ms. Zane. Stay Safe!" He spoke his words with utter calm and then walked straight towards the hallway without looking back, his slim figure disappearing in the darkness.