HUMAN SPIRIT

HUMAN SPIRIT; Ch. 23

/Author's Note: Sorry for the anti-climactic ending to this chapter. And please vote! I need them, too~/

There were some Witch Doctors in the prison, surprisingly. All of the faces except for those in his cell and the one opposite of him were unseen, practically invisible entities to him, with wary words and tremulous thoughts. The others didn’t speak much, and it was suffice to say that he and Moaning Meade’s cells were the silently-titled ringleaders of the Keeper prison. Esther told him this during the following afternoon, just after a pasty breakfast of unidentified yellowed mash and lukewarm tap water. Both sitting on the floor, cross-legged and equal, they talked.

“Everyone has their weapons of use taken away from them,” she said under a whisper. Finn recounted the fifteen billiard balls while consulting a corner of the room absentmindedly. This made him curious, and he returned his gaze to Esther, who held her mug of tepid water in both hands, expression apathetic and perhaps a bit scrutinizing.

“What’s your Token?” he asked. He had learned the word when tiredly eavesdropping on a cell about an hour earlier. She pursed her lips as if it was the only way to keep her mouth shut. 

“We don’t really talk about that here,” she explained, which made Finn frown in wonder and confusion. She redirected her gaze onto Leonard’s shifting body, causing Finn to follow suit, just to see him rousing. He groaned and grabbed his nose; it wasn’t broken, as Esther had examined, but they didn’t doubt it would hurt. Finn uncrossed his legs and used his hands to teeter over to Leonard’s side, who was contemplating sitting up. He had yet to really open his eyes and examine his surroundings, so Finn took advantage of this and began talking before questions arose.

“You’re in a Thief’s chambers,” he explained. While one eye was covered with Leonard’s hand, the other opened up, squinting, as if a sharp light were forcing it open. But there was no light, only blue darkness, and Finn felt empty words at his lips. What else could really be said? Leonard removed his hand from his eye and looked around with knit brows, completely still. Even Esther didn’t move, his haunting demeanor silencing her. “Leonard?” Finn beckoned. But there was no answer; Leonard was currently transfixed on some spot in the distance. Not like Lily’s gaze, but more-so a determined stare, as if he were berating something unknown within the middle distance. Esther’s previous subdued nature with Finn blew over at Leonard’s lack of correspondence, thereafter scoffing and standing up. She returned to the bench beside her, sitting next to the depleting cigarettes. It wasn’t open, but her hand was placed over the carton as if preparing to smoke at any given moment. Finn’s apprehensive, careful gaze on Leonard didn’t falter during this, and he simply waited for some sort of response. 

Leonard looked at him after a minute, and it was only then that Finn noticed the reddening of the eyes, the shine that indicated tears were threatening to break. But they didn’t, at least for a moment; Finn gulped and tried to hold his gaze, but couldn’t. There was a sense of failure staring back at him. Leonard, the person he was meant to save, had ended up in the basement despite his efforts.

Hours passed. Supposed afternoon was on the brink of becoming evening, and Finn’s aching chest wasn’t diffusing. There was still a sense of guilt, of failure. But Leonard couldn’t have known about Finn’s attempt, could he? It was impossible. So what had Leonard meant in that previous weighty gaze? It was a question Finn didn’t really feel like answering, what with how sleep was trying to take over in absence of consolation. But even that, Finn realized, would not happen. Sleep would not come as long as he was able to look over and see Leonard’s rigid, silently contemplative figure sitting against the wall. Between the suggestion of night and actual darkness, everyone fell asleep. 

With nothing to do, boredom was an eternal aspect of their chambers, and sleep solved it. The only actual time things got interesting was when Esther got loud or a new prisoner came in. But Leonard was awake, with eyes slightly lighter amidst the shadowy blue. Silent inhales and occasionally-audible exhales framed the rustic walls, and words seemed to spill amongst the silence, Leonard having released all the words he held back in his arrival.