The Death of Hope

Chapter Fourteen

Victoria stalked down the dark hall, moving with new-found purpose. Morning would come soon, and she would be trapped with the Monster once again. She closed her eyes and prayed that all would go well before pushing all thoughts but what she needed to do out of her mind. She crept towards Annabelle's secret room, knocking gently on the wooden ceiling separating them.
​"Annabelle, are you up there?" Victoria called quietly, waiting for a reply.
​"I'm here, Victoria, I'm coming." Victoria heard a soft scuttle, then the trapdoor opened and the ladder was lowered. She climbed as quickly as her exhausted limbs would let her, impatient to get going.
​"Annabelle, I need your help." Victoria could hear the desperate urgency in her voice.
​"Of course, I'll help you, what do you need?" Annabelle's trusting eyes seemed to stare into Victoria's soul.
​"I know your brother, Silas... Rip, he named himself Rip. He's helping me get Martha and the others out, and we need you also. He says... he says to tell you that he's coming at noon, and to have everything ready... I don't know what he means." Annabelle's face was blank, but Victoria could see that her mind was taking in all the information.
​"I'll help you, I know what to do." She turned to Victoria, straightened, then took charge. "You need to get The Leader into the Entrance Hall at exactly noon, can you manage that? Do whatever you need to do, we'll be ready."
​"Yes, I can manage." Victoria's mind was whirling. "What else can I do?"
​"Nothing. The Leader will come get you in..." She looked at a small clock ticking away on the small table. "Twenty-three minutes."
​Victoria tried to push the fear from her heart, but she couldn't. "Can I do something in the meantime?"
​"Victoria, he will find you, no matter where you hide. If you stay, you'll just get us caught along with you."
​Victoria knew that Annabelle was right. "Fine, see you at noon."
~~~~~
​Victoria waited, the clocks ticked, the seconds passing at an excruciating, slow pace. The Leader came, taunting and mocking her. Victoria ignored him, focusing not on him, but the clocks. Thirty minutes. Twenty. Fifteen. Noon came with terrifying speed as Victoria's dread grew stronger and stronger.
​Don't let fear rule you, use your fear to help others. Her mother's words filtered through her fear, calming her with the soft, gentle voice. On your mark, get set, go. Victoria sprinted away, leaving The Leader sputtering angrily in her wake. A small grin slid across her face as she ran. The pain came, hitting her like a battering ram. She stumbled, trying to keep upright through the blinding pain.
​"Come out, come out wherever you are, Victoria." The clocks ticked, taunting her as she lost precious seconds. She pushed forward, so close, yet so far from the Hall.
​Dots floated through her vision as Victoria's world began to spin. The Entrance Hall was right down the corridor, she stumbled forward, gritting her teeth against the pain. She could hear the guards chasing after her, coming closer with every faltering step she took.
​The door was so close, five steps away. Four. Three. The pain became worse and worse with every step she took. She was at the door. Victoria stumbled through, staggering towards the center of the room.
​A scream escaped her lips as the pain overcame her and she fell to the floor She saw Annabelle, hiding in a corner, and gave her a small nod before everything went black.
~~~~~
​Victoria lay alone, her hopes fluttering away on bloodstained wings. She forced herself to stay strong, to close her eyes and imagine that everything was going to turn out right. She knew in her heart that nothing would be okay. She let herself bleed, for her heart to shatter while her body stayed ever strong.
~~~~~
​She lay there, hiding herself behind a mask of false strength.
​"Victoria," The Leader hissed, careful to stay hidden in the shadows enveloping the room.
​"Go to hell," she spat, clenching her fists and squeezing her eyes shut.
​"I know what it's like to kill someone," he began, his heart pounding in his chest at the memories. "I know how it feels to have blood on your hands."
​"You know nothing except how to torture people in ways that will leave them eternally broken. You don't understand what it feels like to love, what if feels like to have that love taken from you and crushed by the hand of an unreachable demon. To have people die because you chose not to break, because you decided to be strong." She glared at him, her silver eyes and gleaming scars screaming hatred.
​You know all too well these things, my Prince. Her cursed voice came, the sound of love endlessly taunting him, always in his head, always out of reach.
​"I know these things all too well, Victoria." He closed his eyes and pictured her soft, smiling face. Her curls, her gleaming blue eyes. "I once had love, in another life. I had that love ripped away from me, but I understand. It was done with love, also. He only wanted the best for me, for me to grow, to become the man I am today."
​I trusted you with my hate, and you have used it to do such great things. Colette began again, bombarding him with her sweet words. Filling him with beautiful plans of perfect destruction. She must feel the pain that we felt, my love, or her life is worthless. She needs to understand, to know that what we have done is right.
​Callan couldn't handle it anymore, he ran, her voice screaming at him. He ran for the one thing that silenced the voices, for the one thing that broke the spell of lost love. Eloise.
​He entered the room, searching for his lighthouse in the storm. The moment she spoke the silence came, the peacefulness of her quiet words shutting the mouths of the demons in his head. His strength grew until he was ready, ready to take Victoria as his own.
Ready to earn her hatred with his carefully planned destruction.
~~~~~
​Once upon a time Victoria believed in happy endings, but not anymore. She watched, emotionless as her heart broke. She watched as they were caught, one by one. She watched as they fought to no avail. As they bled on the ground, waiting for their imminent capture.
​She watched as everyone she cared about was put in chains, and led off to await their death.
​No one had been saved, they had been condemned.