A Heart's Thoughts

Day 31 - Part 2

The happy chatter in the room came to an abrupt halt when two figures suddenly appeared in the middle of the room. Anthony looked up from the floor, holding tightly onto a bloodied Cecilia as he spoke in a hoarse voice, "I think she fainted."

Annabelle was the first to snap out of her shock, looking frantic as she shot up from the couch, "why is she so bloodied? Whose blood is that? What happened?"

Anthony shook his head, "we got attacked, I thought it was one guy so I convinced Cecilia to go to a quiet place and take him out, but then another man appeared," he looked down at Cecilia in his arms, her entire face covered in blood, "the man grabbed me, said something about taking us back to the ministry and Cecilia just..... she just snapped. Ran at the guy and stabbed him... a lot."

An audible gasp went through the room and Eden approached Anthony. He gave him a sad look before picking Cecilia up and carrying her into another room, closing the door behind him.

Felicia was next to speak, "are you sure they were from the ministry?"

Anthony nodded, "they had the ministry's emblem on their sleeves. They were also carrying around guns, which, last time I checked, is illegal here in Japan," he turned to Francis, "by the way, why does Cecilia have a gun?"

Francis looked a bit surprised, "I..." realization dawned on his face, "I gave her one a week or two back. It was just for testing, but I guess I never asked her to return it. I didn't expect her to carry it around, though. She was the one who said she'd hoped we'd never have to use them."

Anthony sighed, "she startled me by suddenly revealing a gun when one of those guys starting shooting at us. She said you made her carry that around."

Francis shook his head, "I didn't. Weird she said that."

"But there's one thing I don't get," Jude said, turning the attention to the corner he was standing in, his arms folded together and a frown on his face, "Cecilia isn't the type to 'stab someone a lot'. Did anything weird happen?"

Anthony frowned, "We..... we were busy fending off the guy with the gun. We both thought he was alone, so I tried to take him on on my own but then Cecilia suddenly took that gun out. I guess I was so worried about her I didn't notice the other guy creeping up on us until he ran up on Cecilia. I pushed her away and got caught and I don't know," he paused, trying hard to make sense of what happened.

"The man held me in a chokehold and said the Ministry would be very happy if he delivered us to him.... Especially Cecilia. That's when she suddenly got up from the ground and stabbed the guy in his arm with one of the daggers. I thought it was to help me get out of his grip, but I'm not so sure anymore. When that didn't work she lunged at him again, stabbing him in the throat repeatedly while screaming at him to let me go...." He paused again, taking a shaky breath as his frown deepened, "I got out and by the time I had caught my breath, I turned around and saw Cecilia basically on top of that man, still stabbing at him even though he was already dead. She was screaming, and- and crying, telling him to leave us alone."

"Holy shit," Felicia said, as she stared wide-eyed at Anthony, who just nodded.

"I pulled her away and she tried to get out of my grip but eventually she seemed to snap out of her rage and just started sobbing loudly, pleading not to be taken back there. It was.... heartbreaking. We were talking about going back just a few minutes before that happening....... I didn't know she was so scared."

Everyone looked grim and Annabelle sighed, "of course she'd be. I thought it was weird how fast she started acting normal again after what happened to her when the Ministry took her.. it seems she was just pushing it away and now seeing these Ministry guys again, being told she's being brought back... it must've triggered it all. Poor thing."