after unlocked: a sokeefe fanfic

Chapter 78-Keefe

"Sophie will kill us when she sees what we let you do." Edaline's soft voice broke him from his haze of exhaustion.

"You can't very well stop me," he whispered.

Stop hurting, he begged his throat.

Edaline gazed steadily at him. "Would you stop for Sophie?" She finally asked.

Keefe looked away, angry at the prickling in his eyes.

"Keefe," she said softly.

He finally looked at her, vision finally clear.

She seemed to hesitate, but then she asked, "What happened out there?"

He stared at her.

So not where he thought this conversation was gonna go.

Keefe but his lip. "I'm..." He let out a breath. Tried to, at least. "Sophie had a lot of trouble down there. We both did."

He heard Edaline sigh. "Look, I'm Sophie's mother, and while she doesn't have to tell me everything, I'm there if she needs to talk. I know what happened to her. I'm asking what happened to you."

It suddenly felt as though his chest was caving in on him. "I don't know how to say it."

"Take your time," Edaline said gently. Keefe blinked back the glittering of tears.

A deep, shuddering release of air escaped him. "They... tortured me."

Despite how calm and gentle Edaline was, it was hard to get out. Hard to say, hard to hear, hard to relive. He wished he didn't feel so weak as he recounted the pain and the darkness he'd experienced, he'd hidden away in.

"I don't know why I'm crying," he laughed weakly; his throat ached with the pressure. "This is stupid."

"It's not stupid," she said softly, "who told you crying was stupid?"

He stopped for a moment, thinking back on all the times his mother had impatiently told the emotional seven year old, "Wipe your face before your father sees."

His father brusquely glancing at him, feeling his sadness and told him to stop showing his weakness.

He shrugged weakly.

After a long moment of silence, Edaline whispered, "If it hurts too much..."

"It does," he answered. His voice was barely audible. But he couldn't stop, because now it was going to keep coming out, and it was better that Edaline heard it instead of all their friends.

"She brought me into this room. And there was this—this cart—and, I mean, I couldn't help but stare at it... and then she grabbed one of these..." he could taste the blood on his tongue. His fingers reached up to touch his bottom lip. It had been chewed raw, and a bit of blood came away on the pad of his pointing finger. "These sharp knives." His voice caught. "And then—"

Looking away, he forced the pain from his voice. It almost sounded monotone when he spoke again.

"They gave me medicine. Just enough to heal, at least on the outside. And then, just when the bleeding stopped, they opened the wounds again. Just when the pain stopped they gave me more."

A choked sound escaped Edaline. He could feel her watching him, didn't even need to read her emotions to know that she was worse than worried about him.

Keefe's voice was broken and raw as he stood, glancing away to wipe his tears. He heard a rustle, and he turned to face her. Despite how much taller he was than Sophie's mother, he felt small, and vulnerable, all of a sudden. Like he was nine years old standing in front of his mother. Only this time, he wouldn't be berated or scolded or slapped in the face with her cold voice.