Out of the Shadows // Sebastian Sallow

Chapter Twenty-Nine

*Warning: This chapter deals with severe mental health crises and recovery, emotionally heavy.*

Sebastian's Perspective

I carried her all the way out of the prison. She fought at first. They gave her a Calming Draught after removing her prison wear and manacle with a big, heavy ball on it.

I couldn't swallow the lump in my throat the whole time.

The second I entered her cell and saw what they had done to this beautiful girl, I wanted to tear the world down! I needed to get her out of there!

She resisted. Her mind completely gone. I had to convince her that I was real. What could I say?

I told her I loved her. I told her I was there to take her home. I told her she had been pardoned. At least, enough to leave the prison and go home. She wouldn't believe it.

Finally, I told her that it had to be the truth because I promised to always tell her the truth and I always kept my word. There was a flicker behind her empty eyes. Her once beautiful emerald eyes were devoid of all color now. Just these empty orbs in her head with almost no pigment to the iris.

She looked up and said to me, "Take me home. Sebastian." And then she actually flinched as if my name somehow brought her pain.

Once we exited the prison, I apparated us to Hogsmeade, to my home. I had begged and pleaded with Mrs. Bickle to let me be the one to bring her home. She finally relented. But now I regretted it. She should be home with her family. I was being selfish again. But I needed her. So badly.

No matter what state she was in.

The Calming Draught seemed to have helped. She was just staring at the sky as I carried her cradled to my chest. The clothes I had brought her from her trunk hung so loosely on her. She weighed nothing. Her tantalizing lavender and rose smell was gone. Her hair was growing back in patches. Like maybe once it started to grow back she was pulling it out again? I couldn't tell.

We approached mine and Anne's house slowly. I knew Anne and Ominis were inside waiting. I didn't know if they should see this. I was struggling with it myself.

I looked at her face, the cheeks gaunt and sunk in. Empty eyes staring at the stars above us that shone brightly down on our misery. The shadows underneath deep dark crevices in her beautiful alabaster skin. It was almost translucent in its paleness. She clutched her hands to her chest rubbing them together in a repetitive motion.

"Rachel. We're almost home. I'm going to put you down so you can walk in. Ok?"

"Stars." She said so softly I barely heard.

"What?"

"Stars. Beautiful."

I slowly released her legs so she could stand and held on to her waist. She was wobbly. But gained her balance. And stood looking at the front of my house.

"Are you ready to go in? Anne and Ominis are in there. I can tell them to leave if you want. I... I don't want to overwhelm you."

She didn't respond but took two small steps forward. And then two more. And then we were both entering the door slowly.

"Rachel!" Anne greeted her loudly. Rachel actively jumped and took a few steps back.

"Anne, please." I chastised her.

Everyone was silent for a moment. I could see my pain echoed on the faces of my best friend and sister. They had destroyed Rachel. She was a wisp of a shadow of her former self. Not recognizable at all anymore. No one spoke for so long. I didn't know how we were going to manage this.