oneirataxia

1.9 - Revisiting Trauma

(This chapter contains mentions of abuse)

The duke stood in front of the manor's large doors, bidding goodbye to his wife and children. His goodbye with Cruella was only a short hum and nod before he moved onto his children, giving them each a hug and a kiss to the forehead before turning and climbing onto his white steed. And with that, the duke left, along with half of the dukedom's knights.

That day was fairly normal, aside from the fact that Flora did not play with Blake today and instead went outside with her nanny and a few guards to visit a friend's house. During that time, Blake wrote down in his little diary. His escape plans. For security reasons, he wrote them in Japanese, his native language in his past life.

The day went by quite fast, and it was finally nighttime. He ate his dinner in his room, not wanting to even face the silver haired beauty that was named Cruella.

It was now close to midnight, Blake rested on his bed, reading through his plans as he did some corrections to it with his quill. How inconvenient, the quill was, he thought. Why can't they invent the pen already?

Suddenly, his door opened, revealing the duchess's face, sweaty and red. Her usual perfectly combed hair was messy as it stuck out in many ways. Her eyes dilated as she stumbled towards Blake.

"Duchess? What are you doing at my room this late at night?" Blake asked, getting off his bed as he walked towards the woman.

Her eyes lingered on Blake as she stepped forward slowly. She smelled thick of fruity alcohol and a mix of herbs. Blake's eyebrows furrowed as he realized that the duchess was intoxicated. In simple words, she was drunk out of her mind. Blake sighed as he stepped up to the duchess to help her back to her room, only to be smacked away. She screamed angrily at Blake, letting out many profanities and curses as she kicked Blake's small body.

Her dainty hands gripped Blake's shoulders, digger her long and sharp nails into his skin, as she screamed loudly into his face, "Why?! Why can't you love me, Aegus?! What does she have, that I don't?!"

Blake, now afraid, only stared at her face in horror. She only continued to scream the same thing, over and over again until, suddenly, her hand struck Blake's cheek. Again and again, she repeated. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she gripped onto Blake's collars, pleads and apologies stumbled out of her mouth one after another.

Cruella stood up, pushing a vase as she did so, making the vase fall and shatter. The small ceramic pieces pierced both her feet and Blake's hands as he tried to crawl away.

"You're just like him! Am I not good enough?! Always running away from me! In the end, it's always her, her, HER!" she cried as her foot came into contact with more ceramic pieces, making blood pool down to the white marble floor.

She screamed, loudly, enough to make Blake shiver. Suddenly, Blake's door opened with a  loud bang. Then, came in a few guards and maids. The scene in front of them was gruesome. An intoxicated duchess and a badly beaten young master. Three of the guards rushed to the duchess, restraining her as she tried to land another kick to Blake's body. One of the guards rushed to Blake, carrying him in his arms, before hurriedly telling a maid to fetch the doctor.

Blake's yellow eyes lingered on the knight's face before, slowly, he fell unconscious.

"Young master!" shouted the servants along with the knight who carried him.

****

Sugawara Kazuha, a boy who had average looks during his childhood, neither liked by his peers nor disliked. He was quiet, but still participated in events that he was supposed to.

There, Kazuha stood in his living room, clenching his jaw as his bruised cheek stung. Crimson red liquid flowed down his forehead and onto the floor as he felt his consciousness go in and out. He could only clench his fists and endure, he was used to the treatment, but never used to the pain. He was a human, after all.

In front of him was a woman in her mid-40s, screaming at the top of her lungs, holding a broken bottle of alcohol in her hand. She shouted profanities, curses, blames and regrets that she had.

"If only you were never born!" She shouted, throwing the empty bottle across the room as it landed onto the wall with a loud crash.

Just then, the front door opened, and came in Kazuha's biological father. A man with stern features, contrasting with his actual personality, which was only flowers and meadows. The man quickly rushed to the woman, holding her back as he shouted for Kazuha to run away.

"Take my wallet and cell phone! Go! I'll call you as soon as I can," the man said with great difficulty.

With that, Kazuha ran, his father's wallet and cell phone in hand. Quickly, the first thing he thought of doing was to go to the hospital, in which, he did.

A few hours later, the cellphone in Kazuha's hands rang. It was his father. There, they reunited in the hospital where Kazuha got his treatment. That was the first time he saw his father cry.

"I'm so sorry.... I should've protected you better... please, forgive me, Kazu... If only I could provide you a better environment to grow up in," his father sobbed, clutching the blanket in which covered Kazuha's legs. Kazuha could only pat his father's shoulder.