The Phantom Prince ✔️

Chapter 18

And that's when the unexpected happened....

Something that we all never saw coming.... Didn't expect to happen....

Something that would break our hearts later as we realised how the doctor's words were misunderstood.

As we were talking in the hospital we had failed to realise that Arthur, being quite bored had come to find us...

We didn't hear the creaking of the floors and the pause as he hesitated to approach us while we were engrossed, talking loudly in an excited voice.

Didn't hear the silent and cautious footsteps as he heard the doctor's words while he stood still near the wall just before the door in shock.

"I don't think...that's a good idea... They need a real family. We could get them to a foster home where they would later get adopted by a good family."

We didn't realise back then the anger he felt.... The betrayal and heartache as he felt we wished to throw him away.

As he felt we didn't need a bunch of bothersome, burdensome kids.. That we plan to throw them away... To despose of them like trash to someone willing to care for such broken creatures.

"They are... Um special children with special needs who have been through lots of trauma...they need someone who is used to handling such incidences..."

When Doctor Saijan said those words frowning we couldn't see the agony in his eyes, the tears that streamed across his face as he collapsed to the ground and covered his mouth so that his crying wouldn't be heard.

He cried in silence... Without a sound.

Feeling Broken, empty and betrayed.

Thinking of himself as a broken child who couldn't be fixed after all...

Broken and empty like a doll. Appearance like a human but the inside was empty... Shallow.

Dead. Broken. Can't be fixed.

His dark thoughts... We didn't realise back then.

How he felt... When the only adults he had come to trust... Even love....

.... Just didn't want him anymore.

Maybe because of how broken he was.

They didn't want to care for something that could never be fixed.

The silence after those words were like a sharp knife that pierced through his heart.

A silent agreement by all of how true the words were....

He stood up slowly, shakily using the wall as a support.

We didn't see him back them as he got up slowly and ran.

Kept on running with tears streaming down his face like a river and blurring his surroundings as he didn't even bother to wipe them.

For the first time he cried without care, not bothering to hide his emotions, not worrying about perfecting his mask of nonchalance.

Because nothing in the world could repair the tear in his heart... The scar was deep and painful.

The lump in his throat wouldn't go away... the pain in his soul, the ache in his heart was deep and the pain just wouldn't go away.

His eyes were swollen and red from crying, the emotions washed over him like a giant wave drowning him in despair.

He struggled in the depth of the ocean trying to fight against the waves and climb back to the surface but the waves were angry and wild and the deep water made it hard to breathe as he was choking and fighting back against the mighty waves and deep waters.

We didn't know back then that when Arthur fell down on the hard hospital tiles and scraped his knees, he didn't feel any pain....

.... Because the pain inside was much more deeper than what was on the surface.

As he clenched his fist and wiped his tears, swallowing the lump in his throat and trying to ignore the pain in his heart.....

It was like ceasing to struggle while drowning in an ocean of despair.... Like letting the water overtake you, look at the mighty waves that pounce on you with a sad resignation to fate.

... Accept the reality and just give up as you keep drowning.

... To just close your eyes and wait for the end that ends you and your pain.

He had given up then.

As he stood up shakily, trembling and weak he had given up his ability to trust again.

It was then that he swore to himself to never trust an adult again.

But none of us knew that then.
If only we would have known back then... If only we could have chased him back then when he ran and embraced him with warmth and comfort....

... If only we could have pulled out the drowning child from the ocean's clucthes and let him breathe... Let him live again.

But none of us knew back then.

We couldn't tell him how we felt, how we wanted to have him as a part of our family or how we would love and care for him.

Because he didn't hear our words... Didn't hear our answer to the Doctor.

Only heard the doctor's words and our affirming silence.

But we couldn't tell him back then.....

....Because by the time we had come to tell him

..... He was gone.

And the only thing that was left in his place was a letter haphazardly scribbled and drenched with droplets of tears.

Not just him,
Arthur, Jonas and Luna.... They were all gone... Vanished without any trace.

Disappeared in thin air.

And no matter how hard we looked... How much we searched, we couldn't find them again.

All that was left in their place was a sheet of paper.... With the ink blotted in places with tears of despair.

As we rushed to their room joyfully and excited to tell them how we felt... Our excitement had turned to confusion, surprise, shock then true, harsh, agonizing despair.

The little boy had fallen into the ocean's cold, tight and unyielding embrace.

He had drowned in the deep water and we were too late.

Nothing.

There was nothing that we could do. Nothing that could be done to bring him back.

The little boy was gone... He had become a part of the ocean.

Arthur was gone....with the others.

The only thing we had of him was a piece of a paper.

The only thing that he had of us was a sharp deep scar in his heart that wouldn't heal for a long long time....

....and a feeling of betrayal.

He had lost his ability to ever trust again.

We had lost his trust in us.

And it broke us.

We felt our heart shatter even many years later as we read his last note
To us over...and over again.

And no matter how much we looked... They couldn't be found.

And if only we could turn back time....

.... If only we knew back then

then..... We could save the drowning boy from the ocean's grasp.

We could have saved Arthur from his despair and slowly, steadily but surely mend the tear in his heart.

If only......

......We knew back then.