The Town Whispers: Season 1

Chapter 15.5: The Sins of Childhood

[creaking chair]

Mother Cyprian sat in the chair at her desk - she rested uneasy - Reverend Albit saw her mind flying through the words she might use - plucking at those which would best serve her needs.

CYRPIAN: Now that you are in more of an amenable mood

CYRPIAN: Do you remember those first days you arrived here at the sanatorium? When I had you brought behind these walls? When I first took you into my care?

ALBIT: I do.

CYRPIAN: Your skin was already turning colours, you'd been left to fester - to rot.

CYRPIAN: Had it not been for me you would have become something kin to what Ben now finds himself to be.

CYRPIAN:It was merely luck that I found you in time.

CYRPIAN: Ben LaPonte was not so privileged to have such luck - and that is unfortunate, but I told you the first time I met you.... This is all very unfortunate business

CYRPIAN: Albit, You know many things due to your..... Affliction. You SEE more than they do, but that isn't because you are special - it's simply because of the events of your past, and your childhood affiliation with.... Him.

CYRPIAN: But there are many more such things that you do not know, and nor WILL you know so long as I have any say in it, so long as I can protect you from it, but those days are numbered, so you must heed my words.

CYRPIAN: He wishes to supplant the wishes of the long shadows, and we can not allow that - he would have had you born as an agent of chaos, an aberration in their domain, a tumor, much in the way that Ben is now.

CYRPIAN: Do not, so easily, be swayed in your loyalties.

CYRPIAN: Too quick, you've been to throw aside your logic - and too stubborn you've been to hold tightly to your preconceived notions of what I am.

CYRPIAN: Ben was unfortunate... but necessary.

CYRPIAN: The LaPonte children are not what you've come to think of them as. So do not think for a second you do anyone service by galavanting around pretending to be the hero of the story - You are not. And You should not feel some unreserved sense of guardianship for children which are not yours.. And... well....

CYRPIAN: Children who.... aren't Mildred's children either....

CYRPIAN: Don't give me that look of incredulity. Yes that is correct Peggy, Ben, Tom, and William are not Mildred's children.

CYRPIAN: She can not have children due to.... Unfortunate circumstance.

CYRPIAN: It is none of your business but I know without at least partial satisfaction you would pick and pick and pick at those scabs until the wounds were open leaking old bad blood everywhere - And I CAN'T HAVE THAT. Not after all I've done.

Reverend Albit sat there as he watched Mother Cyprian - who was usually so stoic - unravel. He thought she looked as if she wanted to tell him more but refrained from doing so, her tongue pressing at the back of her teeth begging to be let free of her inhibitions, begging to tell Albit everything.

CYRPIAN: I must handle these situations, I must jungle and manage them Albit. You can't understand the constant pressure, the constant adjustments I've had to make.

CYRPIAN: I've been a part of all this nonsense for far longer than I'd care to admit - far longer than you could conceive, and I must take care of my people.

Not willing to interrupt - The Reverend sat there hoping she'd elaborate on what she meant by her people - she sounded as if she regarded herself as separate from the other Townsfolk living in The Fort. She lived at Riverside Sanitorium, apart from the town's core, but that made her no more separate from The Fort than he was up on his raised hill in his church. 

His church was a place of congregation - while The Sanitorium was avoided at all costs. Perhaps that was the difference, perhaps her under estimated the effects of her seclusion.

If he was being honest with himself he wouldn't have afforded her sympathy - he would have recognized her words for what they were - half truths and placation.

CYRPIAN: You called him "The Man In The Cave" but he once had a name - a Christian name - he isn't so unlike you. A man reborn. But where you are the image of goodness, kindness, and restraint - "The Man in the Cave", as you so aptly called him as a young boy is malice, selfishness, and lies. He was reborn in ash and soot of his own volition to wage war against the long shadows - against nature itself.

CYRPIAN: The will of the long shadows is not to be supplanted - not to be trifled with - it is not for his hands to mold. He cannot have his way. This is what I'm fighting - so excuse my unwillingness to divulge what I consider to be unnecessary information to you - you have I have not seen in too long to be sure of - I cannot trust you, no matter the love I still hold for you, now that you live beyond these walls.

CYRPIAN: But if you do not trust me - he will kill them all Albit - he will kill them all - not only Ben, but all of Mildred's charges...Peggy, Tom, and William as well.

She chose her words carefully ..... Charges, not children. She couldn't have Albit, who'd always been sweet on Mildred to equate those children as an extension of her.

CYRPIAN: You must watch over them for me - you are not to act unless I instruct you to do so - you must trust me, and the wisdom that comes with my age but more importantly the wisdom of each battle I've fought in this war you've largely avoided until now.

CYRPIAN: I do not only care for you Albit - I care for Mildred as well - I still remember the timid imaginative girl who'd come to visit her mother every Sunday. I tried to take her under my wing, as I had done you but she was not interested and LOOK where that's gotten her; 2 unruly rotten children, a squealing baby, and a dead husband.

His ears perked - was Albit mistaken? Had she not just said a dead husband? Mark was finally gone? 

That couldn't be right he surely would have heard - well, no he supposed he actually wouldn't have heard. They were no longer friends, they did not speak - she did not confide in him, and he knew she only attended his sermons with her family because his was the only church in town.....

But mark was finally gone - and as much as he tried to resist, he felt a tinge of hope knowing that - hope that he and Mildred might one day end up together - fulfilling that promised dream of so long ago.

CYRPIAN: You will watch those children Albit - you will tell me if they begin to exhibit any malicious or curious elements. You will help me ensure that "The Man in The Cave" as you know him does not win - until now you've had the privilege of taking a passive roll - but no longer.

CYRPIAN: Not any longer.

CYRPIAN: Not when I've been left to clean up the pieces of the actions of others - just to be yelled at and accused.

CYRPIAN: Not when this is all your fault - not when all those children should not be Mildred's burden but yours.

CYRPIAN: If not for you - they would never have been born.

...

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