Fleur-de-lis

Psalms 2:11

Vanitas' p.o.v.

I sit in the corner of my room, everything drapped in darkness. It's been, what? Three weeks? My room was so hot but all of the admins would just comment how the thermostat read a reasonable temperature. I couldn't sleep because I kept having nightmares. I was losing my mind in here. The classes were torture, the punishment for avoiding class was torture. I didn't know how much longer I could go before I'd just break.

I reach into my pocket and pull out Wiccan's earrings. "I'm sorry little sister." I say to myself.

Suddenly my room door opens and the light from the hall blinds me. After my eyes adjust I see Ben standing in the door way. I quickly put Wiccan's earrings back in my pocket and stand.

"What's going on?" I question.

Without a word, Ben grabs my head and slams it against the door frame. Everything gets suddenly fuzzy as I try to stay conscious after that hit. When clarity comes back to me my adrenaline kicks in but without the usual blinding red. Ben was dragging me down the hall. I break away from him and scramble to run only ben to grab my ankle. I turn to kick at him but he just shoulders the first blow and catches the second. He pulls me towards him and grabs me by the hair. I try to pull away but his grip was too tight.

"Help!!" I finally call out. "Somebody help!"

Ben just yanks at my hair and continues to drag me down the hall, barely affected by any blow I managed to land. At the end of the hallway is that big tub of water only the water was black and disgusting now. I panic as I try my hardest to pull away, hyperventilating from fear.

"Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling." Ben's voice boomed like thunder.

Without warning I'm forced under the black water. I can't breath and my mind is plagued with the thought of failing my family, failing Wiccan. I ruined everything.

I suddenly gasp air into my lungs and my heart nearly beats out of my chest. I look around frantically and realize that I'm still in my room. I'd just fallen asleep again in the corner and had another nightmare.

I hug my knees to my chest as I silently sob out of sheer anxiety. I was falling apart in this place.

[Freedom is the oxygen of the soul -Moshe Dayan]

John's p.o.v.

"We're heading out, son." My father calls, his tone detached from compassion. I guess he'd figured I was awake since I hadn't gotten a proper night's rest in days.

He had taken my car keys and been keen on not letting me leave the house without both his and my mother's supervision. This particular time though, my family was participating in an interview about the church of Azrael. Van's family somehow got so much media attention that someone thought it was a great idea to put them on public television. Wonder who's brilliant idea that was?

I hear the front door close and jump up to put my plan into action. I'd been waiting weeks for an opportunity like this. I rush down to the kitchen and grab a knife from one of the drawers. I storm back up the steps to my parent's locked room.

"Come on, old man. If you're gonna hide something from me, you can't make it so obvious."

I use the knife to pop the latch back and open the door. I throw the knife to the side, I wasn't really coming back so it didn't matter if I got caught. Not having to worry about messing up the place would save me seconds anyway. I start pulling out drawers and throwing clothes around, searching frantically for my keys.

"Really? Not smart enough to lock up the object I'm not supposed to know where is but not dumb enough to put it in a drawer? You're killing me, dad."

I move to the bed and throw the sheets up and check under and inside the pillows. Not-a-fuckin-thing. My dad was a few loose screws shy of being an obsessive compulsive so where would he hide them? Unless...