My Ray of Hope

A Tragic Past

 I took a deep breath and started to collect my thoughts. When I did I breathed out and started talking.

"It happened on my eleventh birthday," I began, "I was coming downstairs from my room to join my parents," I closed my eyes remembering with the clarity as if it happened yesterday. "When I did, they gave me this necklace as a present," I reached for my neck to show it to them but I couldn't find it.

"Oh, is it this one by any chance?" Break asked as he placed his bag onto the table and began to roam while humming until he found what he was looking for, "Ah! Here it is," he said as he pulled a silver locket on a gold chain out.

"That's the one! But why do you have it?" I asked.

Break handed the necklace back to me, his sleeves still over his hands and replied, "When you passed out the other day, one of the maids changed you out of the dress you had on and put a clean one on. She also took the necklace off so you could sleep and wrapped your arms up," he pointed to my arms and I looked to see that my arms were still wrapped in their bandages.

"Oh," I responded as my cheeks slightly blushed from being told that a complete stranger dressed me.

"That's beside the point," Break said as he rested his head and arms on the table with a big smile, "why not continue Mia-chan."

With a small nod, I continued the story, "After they gave it to me and wished me a happy birthday, someone started banging on the front door. Being young and curious, I went to open the door, but my father stopped me. When he did, he told me to go upstairs and not come down. Seeing his genital eyes filled with seriousness, I obeyed. When I got upstairs, I heard a noise as if the door was broken down. After a few moments of silents, I heard yelling."

"Did you pick up anything that was being said Mia-chan?" Breaks smile was now replaced with a frown of uneasiness that I never seen on him before.

I looked at him somewhat shocked, but gave a small nod in return, "I got only bits of it though," I added.

"What did you hear?" Break continued with his questions.

"The only thing I can remember hearing was 'where is she' and 'she must disappear if we want to complete our goal,' " I answered as I turned to look at his face.

" 'She must disappear if we want to complete our goal,' huh?" Beak said in a quiet tone as if he is trying the decode what I said.

"Do you have an idea what that means?" I asked him.

"If you can tell me who said it, I might be able to tell you," Break answered then asked, "Can you tell me what these people looked like?"

"I couldn't see any of their faces because they all had red capes with hoods that covered them." I replied as I place my hand on my temples trying to recall every little thing that happened cause I never thought how these people looked mattered.

"Are you sure you're okay Mia-sama?" I heard Sharon ask after I placed my hand on my head.

"Yes," I answered right away, "I'm just trying to remember every detail to help explain what happened and answer any questions you both might ask," I added to explain the reason for my action.

"Okay. Just don't push yourself too much," Sharon said with concern.

"Don't worry," I said with a smile.

"Red capes you say," Break said as his brows started to knit and a shadow seemed to appear over his eyes.

"Do you know who they are Break?" I asked with hope-filled eyes as I looked at him.

"I might, but before I say, can you tell us what happened next?" he said in a serious tone as he got to his feet and made his way to one of the bookshelves and started studying their spines.

Seeing how unusually serious Break was, I continued, "Even though my father told me to stay put, all the yelling made me start worrying about what might happen so I slowly and quietly made my way back downstairs. When I got to the landing of the stairs was when I actually saw the red caped people. I tried to hide behind the wall that separated the living room and the stairs, but I was spotted," as I continued Break suddenly interrupted me.

"How did you know you were spotted?" he asked as he continued to look at the books.

"I know that I was spotted because the next thing that happened was one of the peoples' foot steps started coming in the direction of the stairs and when they stopped that person grabbed my arm. After they did the next thing I remember was kneeling in front of the hooded figures. As I stayed kneeling in front of the hooded people, I looked around the room to see if I could find my parents, but I didn't. I continued to look around when the person behind me holding me in place grabbed my hair and pulled my head back. Before I could fully register what was happening or ask any questions, one of the people in front of me took one of their gloves off and placed their bare hand on my head. The last thing I can recall was the person holding my head say, ' "Your very being is a sin," ' after that I was surrounded by black wings and found myself in the Abyss," I finished.

When I finished telling them how I got to the Abyss I looked at Sharon and Break. Sharons' eyes were unusually wide as she looked at me and Break was returning from the bookshelves with a black book in hand that was quite thin.

As soon as break rejoined with Sharon and me, he started to talk with his serious tone, "And how was it you were able to survive in the Abyss for seventeen years?"

"As soon as I was in the Abyss, a Chain started chasing after me. Scared and alone I, continued to run as far as my legs would take me. After running for some time, I saw a woman in white walking along side a giant wooden music box. Finally seeing another person I started running after her, but when I got to the place I saw her pace by, she was no where to be seen. Looking around the area once more before I continued to run from the Chain, I noticed a door on the back of the box. Thinking that that was where the woman might be, I went to open it. Oddly, it did, but before I stepped in I thought that it might not be a good idea to go in. I didn't have time to think about it thought, because I heard the Chains voice becoming louder so I went in with out a second thought. What I found was a room much larger on the inside than what it appeared to be on the outside. In it was a bed, blankets, shelves, dressers, some food, what seemed to be a small water spring, clothes, and a large floor to ceiling mirror. From the looks of the place it was once lived in but the original owner was gone for some time so that's where I lived since. I never bothered to keep track of time since it was so dark and all the clocks that I found were either broken or inconsistent at keeping time. Every time I wasn't tired I looked around for food and always returned with something even if it wasn't full of all the nutrients one wound need to live, but it kept me alive non the less and I got lots of exercise running from the Chains and I slept whenever I was tired. After the first, I dunno, year or so I just got used to the life i lived because I was happy to still be alive," I finished telling Sharon and Break how I survived for the length I did.

After hearing what I had to say, Break once more spoke in his serious tone, " Mia-chan, the last thing you said you remembered before finding yourself in the Abyss sounded a lot like what happened to Oz-kun based on what he told us."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, not knowing what he is talking about.

"The other day when you suddenly collapsed and after you were brought to your room, Oz-sama explained to us what happened to him on the night of his coming-of-age ceremony," Sharon said so I would understand what Break was talking about.

"He told us that after he said a vow to a clock that stopped moving a hundred years ago it started to move. When that happened, red caped figures entered the room that the ceremony was held. Along with the appearance of the caped figures Alice also appeared in both human and chain form. When she left one of them did the same thing to him as they did to you and said the same thing. Oz-kun also said he was in golfed by black wings before he found himself in the Abyss," Break explained even further.

"If those caped people are the same as the caped people that sent me to the Abyss, would that mean you might know who they are?" I ask, wanting to know who the mysterious people were.

"Yes. The group that was behind both incidents are members of the Baskerville family," Break answered.