For Ransom

Chapter 26: The Curse of the Moon

Remus 

"Where's Tom? Let me talk to him. Remus, let me talk to him," Soraya begged him for the hundredth time that evening, the only thing she would say as Masika tended her appalling wounds. Remus had stopped counting the number of bite marks, had emptied all the contents of his stomach when the despair had grown a little too strong to handle.

"He's dead. I'm sorry," His voice cracked, not knowing how much longer he could bear this pain.

"Stop joking, Remus. You know how much I hate that joke. Just let me talk to him. Why aren't you letting me talk to him?" Soraya's eyes were hazy and distant, her mind clearly not in a stable place.

"Let's just get you to bed-"

"WHERE IS TOM! I JUST WANT TO TALK TO HIM. I just want to talk to him. I just want to talk to him. Please, please, please..." She wept, her fingers squeezing his hands with a desperation he had never seen from the woman.

"I'm sorry, Soraya. You can't talk to him anymore. He's gone." Remus' felt his heartbreak for the poor woman, turning away so he didn't have to look at that hollow expression on her face. She slid from her chair, crashing onto the floor, too devastated to move. A laugh, strangled and wretched, escaped Soraya. It was followed by another, and another until the woman was cackling violently to herself. Remus could do nothing, but gather her in his arms and hold her close. She felt so cold against his skin, as if life had abandoned her already.

"It hurts, Remus. It hurts so badly." That was when the laughter transformed into a hushed sob, quiet only in appearance. He could tell how the despair tortured her in its wrath, how it withered her soul into a husk and smothered her will.

Soraya did not speak for the next three days, only laid lifelessly on her bed with that terrible, empty expression on her cadaverous countenance. Remus had to carry her to the restroom, had to spoon-feed her and force her to drink water. Soraya had been reduced to a living doll. He could not stand to see such a resilient woman regressing to this inanimate person. This wasn't life.

"Open your mouth." She did. Remus pressed the spoonful of beans onto her tongue, suppressing the tears that were bubbling up again. But he willed his shaky fingers to steady and continue feeding her. When he was done, she fell back onto her pillows, not once looking at him. Only at the ceiling, always at the ceiling as if she thought she would bring Tom back if she stared hard enough.

On the third night, Remus woke up to find her bed empty. He nearly cried in relief when he felt the sheets were still warm. His heart stopped beating in his terror as he rushed out of their room and found the lower level empty. He didn't know how much longer he could continue like this.

"Soraya! Soraya!" He found the woman standing eerily still on the deck, her gaunt face as hollow as ever as she stared up at the moon shining through the sky of steel. She was dressed in nothing but a thin shirt, offering no protection against the pouring rain and brutal winds. She pointed at the heavens, smiling at the moon, it's stark, white light making her appear even more ghostly.

"The moon took him. It killed him," She spoke, the first thing she had said in days. Soraya's gaze finally connected with his, her finger still hovering in the same place.

"Please stop this, Soraya. Please stop." He began crying, the sobs racking him so violently that it became impossible to breathe. He couldn't bear to see her like this for any longer, had never known agony like the past few days. Remus had been wrong about the ocean, about the lifestyle of the free. It was cruel and heartless, sparing no one. It was the price that came with such freedom, such disorder. It had broken even Soraya's spirit. He wished he had met her in another life, had shown her the joy of his world so she may never experience such sorrow again. He had been so unbelievably lucky to have lived on the island. The problems of his childhood and adolescence felt like another lifetime, another universe. He had taken so, so much for granted.