She Who Blamed God and He Whose Dreams are Not for Himself

Chapter 2.5 : Celyn's Chains and A Certain Promise

It was the 1st week after the incident of Aira's family fire, Celyn the youngest of them survived with major burns on her hands and other minor burns on her body, and she was hospitalized. She knew her family's condition and she knew that her sister Aira was having a rough time confronting the situation, but also taking the family's responsibility. She knew her sister's pain was hidden, Aira never cried from the incident, but she knows more that Aira is the crybaby of the family, and the first chain latches onto Celyn, a hidden chain, restricting her from her sister Aira, restricting her with the thought that she must never become a bother to her sister, even if it carved her the hardest life path to walk on.

Their family funeral was held that day and Celyn was left on the hospital with Aira's friend, Laura, a beautiful lady older than her sister with a tomboyish style of clothing, tight long jeans, and a slightly oversized black t-shirt with a brown leather jacket on top of it. Laura sat beside the bed, without any words coming from her mouth, she opened her bag and gave Celyn a book, fresh from the store, it was the tale of the twin princess, a popular book amongst the female teen and then Laura said "Hello, I know it is going to be boring here for you, just sitting and sleeping, so I thought to give you a book, have a read when you are bored, I am going to peel the apples for you so you can eat it after alright?". Celyn took the book and Laura started peeling the apples with her legs crossed in a very relaxing way, Celyn opened a few pages of the book, but her attention was on something else, she tugs Laura's jacket and asked with a shy tone "are you my sister's good friend?", for a second you can see Laura smiled and she replied "well yes sweetie, your sister and I have known each other for a few months now and we are very good friends" and she continued peeling the apples, an apple peeled and she continues to the next apple, Celyn tugs Laura's jacket again and Laura looked at Celyn and asked "what is it sweetie?", Celyn's voice lowered and she whispered "My sister needs attention more than I do, I am fine here but she is not", after hearing what Celyn said Laura smiled, she rubbed Celyn's hair and said "that is not entirely true sweetie, you still need treatments here in the hospital, but I know what you are saying, don't worry, I will help her the best way I could" Celyn smiled with satisfaction, she then started reading the book that Laura gave to her and Laura fed her slices of apples as Celyn reads the book, with the last slice of apples gone, Laura smiled and asked " Celyn, how old are you?", Celyn replied "I am 14 years old, I am 5 years younger than my big sis Aira", Laura gently caress Celyn's hair and she said " it is good to worry about other people Celyn, your big sis Aira is of course crying in the inside, but learn to rely on those who are older than you, you are young and it is your duty to be spoiled by the old, such as me, I am 10 years older than you sweetie, don't say that your sister needs more than you, your sister would be happy if you are health and cheerful, and that happiness can drive away her grief am I right?", Celyn nodded without saying a word, her thoughts are fixated on if she is happy her sister could be happy as well. Her thought kept circling and then suddenly an idea crossed her mind, if I looked happy, my sister would be happy right?, I just have to look good in front of my sister in order to help her from her grief, a second chain latches upon Celyn, restricting her from being sad, forcing her to lie to her own sister in hope of helping her sister, to smile even if the world itself crumbles.

Hours pass and the doctor came in to check on Celyn's burn, the doctor said that it was going fine as expected and within a few days she can go back if she is feeling well, her lungs were also fine from the exposure of smokes but some medicines should always be carried if she started to struggle to breathe. Eventually, the sunlight goes dimmer and dimmer and night time begins, Celyn was tucked in her blankets and a knocking sound came from the door.

Laura stood up and opened the door and a sigh of relief and she said "Andrew you came, so is the funeral over ?", the male figure answered "well yes, but Aira still needs to be there for tonight, that is a part of the ritual, so how is Celyn?" and they both approached Celyn, Laura told him about Celyn's current condition and then she said, "let's not talk loudly, she just went to bed a few minutes earlier, take a seat Andrew I will make a coffee for you". They had coffee and talked about how the funeral went as it is supposed to go, but Andrew's tone changed into an intense tone, "Laura, Aira is only 19, on the funeral I realized that they don't have any other family members, no aunties no uncles, those who came were their previous neighbors." He said to Laura, "what are you implying Andrew?" Laura asked for clarification and Andrew said "they don't have anyone besides us Laura, Aira is a little distant over other crew members even the actors, promise me, you and I will be their guardian, we can't just let them be on their own, she is fragile enough as a 19years old, we have to help her!", there was a pause, a moment of silence before Laura replied in an even more tense tone, "why? Is it because she is Lady Tariya?", another pause, and Andrew answered, "yes,,, I value her as an important part of my project, but it is human to help each other." Like a couple in a fight, their situation was as volatile as a bomb, ready to explode anytime, a long pause and eventually Laura sighed, a sign of closing arguments, she then said " I will help gladly, if your intentions are as pure as you said it would be, I would take it as a training to be a mother to Celyn, and a sister to Aira." Andrew then continued "my intention is to help her, there is no reason to gain anything from her."

That promise was heard by Celyn who was pretending to sleep the entire time, she was happy to hear that both of them would help Aira her sister. Unseen, her chains tighten, wrapping her entire body as Celyn thought to herself, "I cannot fail, I have to help my sister in my own ways, to not bother and to display happiness all the time, to help my sister from the inside while others help from the outside, I cannot fail."

A Promise was made, Laura, she didn't bother to ask further and their new path would cross each other, soon both of them would view their situation differently, since honesty, was never Andrew's trait, a hidden intention which would disrupt their relationship. Celyn on the other hand, engulfed inside her own chains, will start to feel the pain she caused to herself from her words.