Secrets | R.W

𝑰𝑽 - 𝑹𝑬𝑫 𝑾𝑰𝑵𝑬

❝ 𝐼𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑦 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑑. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑛'𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑐𝑟𝑦. 𝑁𝑜, 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑎 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑟. ❞

—⋆༻ ✦ ༺⋆—

Pain was the first thing Aelyn felt when she stirred awake. The pressure on her head enough to make the dark world beneath her eyelids spin.

She pried open her eyes as she heard something to her left. Slowly Aelyn turned her head and saw Helena throw away bloodied cotton swaps, her back towards the mutant.

They were in the medical room. Soundlessly Aelyn sat up from the silver table and looked around her. They turned off the mechanics in the walls. Her powers still flowing through her veins.

She looked back at Helena when she turned around. The doctors eyes widened and her hand flew back to the prep table behind her.

'Don't.' Aelyn pierced through Helena's mind with the command, which made the redhead stop in her actions. She was unable to move.

Suddenly Aelyn felt a warm drop leaking out of her left ear. She squinted her eyes as her hand went up to her ear. She swiped away the liquid that was running down. Blood.

"When I said to turn up the volume I didn't literally mean turn it up," she mumbled. She tried to get off the table, but as soon as she did a sharp, thrumming pain clawed at the inside of her skull.

"If you get up so quick the headache will worsen. I can treat you for it."

Aelyn pushed Helena's words aside as she continued to get up. Aelyn roughly wiped away the blood with the back of her hand.

"You've done enough. I can heal on my own."

She stalked closed to the woman and looked at the arm that was reaching back. Helena's heart threatened to fail with every step the mutant took. She somehow had forgotten how to breathe. But she looked as composed as ever at the same time.

Aelyn came to a halt mere centimetres in front of the doctor and leaned forward, close to her ear.

"Why are you alone, Red?"

Helena swallowed and looked at the young woman from the corner of her eyes.

"I was ordered to clean you up," she stated. Aelyn moved back and saw her signature smile on her lips. But it wavered slightly. Aelyn frowned and moved back.

Something was wrong.

She stepped back and flickered her eyes once more towards the prep table behind Helena. Her hand was reaching for the cotton swabs. Nothing sharp to be seen.

"Then you're not doing a very good job."

Aelyn leaned back against the operating table and let go of the hold she had on Helena's arm.

Helena slowly reached back to grab a few swabs and dampened half of them with alcohol. She was hesitant, but stepped closer to Aelyn and started swiping away the blood with a dry swab.

It was silent between the two for a couple of minutes, but then Aelyn heard her loud thoughts. At first they were silent whispers, but as soon as the mutant knew what was going on she opened herself up to Helena's mind.

'They are watching us,' she mentally voiced while she seemed to focus on the blood.

Aelyn watched her actions as a hawk while she answered, 'They are always watching.'

'Indeed. You will be send back to your room after I'm done here.'

Helena carefully tilted Aelyn's head to the right so she could press the dry pad against her ear to stop the bleeding. Then she moved on.

'You have to get out of here. Soon, there will be no more use in keeping you around. He wants you dead before sunrise.'

Aelyn bit down on her teeth as she process her words. 'Why are you telling me this?'

She looked up and saw Helena look back at her. It stayed quiet for a while as she removed the cotton swab and cleaned her ear with a damp one.

'I owe it to your father.'

That made the mutant think. What could her late father have done to change her mind? She owed him, she said? She was certain the woman in front of her didn't care enough to know if she lived or not before. Why now?

When Helena was done she put down the swab and stepped away from her.

'I hid your knifes under the mattress. The only way out is the roof.'

Aelyn blinked at her confession. She couldn't help but notice the beating of her own heart. After all this time, was she finally going to get out of here?

'He will find out. When he does, he'll hang you for this,' Aelyn said at last.

Helena smiled one last time before turning her back to the mutant once more. She walked towards the door and knocked on it thrice before it slid open.

The mutant didn't have to tell her twice. She had known her fate the moment her eyes fell upon her golden knifes. Maybe even before that, she thought to herself. Perhaps she had known her death was near the moment she knew who her father was.

'Good luck.'

Her heels clicked on the marble floor as she walked out of the room with a steady pace. Her wine red hair was the last thing Aelyn would ever see of Helena Talon.

Because that very night she was killed for treason.