As Time Goes On - A SebaCiel Story

Chapter 105: The Doubt

Eliza's POV:

My father's words would usually quell my every anxiety and yet...my body refuses to relinquish it. Grasping tightly at my very core.

If I am to truly extinguish this unruly fear, I must do so alone. At least, right up until I gain proof of it's validity. The proof that this elder fear that used to keep me alive, is trying to save me again. Nightmares and flashes of times long past have never felt this...urgent. This chilling.

Before my mind can spiral further into oblivion, my father's hand grips my shoulder tightly, disallowing it's continuation entirely.

"Eliza, what has you so frightened. Tell me now."

"I don't-"

"Yes, you do. I need you to look into my eyes and tell me what your afraid of."

I comply, my heavy breathing becoming all the more noticeable as blue eyes meet red.

What could I fear from a common man? Why do I need to escape this room, this place?

My mind scrolls through the conversation repeatedly, dissecting every word, every movement. But...the scrolling is not my own doing.

That's when I realised what my father has been doing.

Invading my thoughts to find my truth. My mind's interpretation. The calmer my body becomes, the easier it is for him to find the information I seek. Powerless to resist.

Knowing that it is better this way. Better for him to understand what I am going through.

To understand what has been triggered within me.

I can feel him inside my mind, his hands raking through every moment, every inch of my memory. Reaching into my very soul to find the truth we seek.

Only for his presence to recede.

For this influence of my thoughts to cease.

"Eliza, that man you saw, he is your uncle on your Mother's side. The man who tried to save you from that house. The man who almost died trying."

The pieces of my memory click together.

A man stumbled into my bedroom. Taking me from my cot, stealing Astre from his crib. I was half asleep, unable to keep my eyes open for more than a few moments. That was, until the pig began to scream. The man tried to run, I took my brother into my arms. I saved his life that night. That man got shot in his shoulder blade. He fell like a ton of bricks on top of us. I thought he died that night.

I thought we got a man killed.

I didn't even recognise him.

All I remember is the blood and the pressure of his body on top of me.

"How did he survive?"

"The human body is of poor design. Sometimes things simply work in your favour. A few centimetres to the left and you're dead. A few to the right and you can escape to live another day."

"I didn't know he was my uncle.."

"You did, that information was subconscious. Old and dormant information from early childhood. The man most likely didn't recognise you for the beauty you are. Humans forget so easily, it's laughable."

My eyes begin to wander as my father's words sink in, only to find my mother shaking the same man's hand, exchanging money for whatever he has said to her.

I wonder if he knew...if he knew I was safe in the hands of the bride and groom we're celebrating.

I wonder if I've made the last innocent man of my old life proud.