Insanity Stains Red

four

The sudden silence was deafening after the constant noise, and not one of us knew how to react to this new arrival. Each of us was frozen in our various positions; mid-punch or kick, balancing precariously with one limb raised, our faces twisted in ugly expressions. Aizen drifted his gaze over the lot of us, and then raised one questioning eyebrow at what he saw. A collective shudder moved through the girls, and each and every one of them stopped what they were doing, sinking to their knees; heads bowed in submission. Everyone that wasn’t me, anyway; I had nothing to fear from Aizen. Instead, I squared my shoulders and stood straighter, jutting my chin out as a challenge for him to prove me wrong. He merely shook his head like a tolerant guardian witnessing a child’s tantrum and moved to stand over Katie who, alone of the girls, had not shifted from where I had left her huddled in a pitiful heap.

As usual, Aizen had a knack for finding the source of the commotion, without being told anything before the fact. His unruly mop of dark hair flopped onto his face as he crouched next to her; his long fingers reaching to trace lightly down her porcelain cheek. Katie stirred at the touch and opened her eyes. I wasn’t sure if she had actually been unconscious or if the pain had just held all her attention to the point that she had blocked out everything else. But as she looked up at Aizen, reality seemed to occur to her once more, and her lip began to tremble at the gentle look on his face. “Shh” he crooned, drawing her into his body and lifting her to cradle against his chest as he stood easily – her weight not seeming to bother him; if he even noticed.

The other girls stayed kneeling as he moved through them, knowing that in this place, his voice carried enough weight to decide what happened to them – though I knew that Aizen was unlikely to speak ill of any of them to my father. That was not his style; he was always polite and proper in his speech, reminding me of some sort of odd English gentleman. But I knew the effect his behaviour had on the girls. They feared him less than the other men that came to visit, and even treated him with certain deference, listening when he spoke to them in his soft way. They were fools, all of them.

“Enough of this foolishness Evelyn; you’re supposed to be caring for the girls, not disfiguring them.”Aizen paused and met my eyes; the unspoken message clear within them. I mustn’t disappoint him in this – my father needed the girls unharmed. I knew that, I just couldn’t help myself – No one laid a hand on my friend. As if knowing my thoughts, Aizen’s eyes flicked to Rose, who was cradling her head even as she knelt for him. “Take care of Rose, I’ll send an initiate to heal the others.” I nodded and he left, cradling Katie gently in his arms like a father might care for his new-born child; if only it were that simple. I did not try to stop him going, or speak a word to him with so many witnesses – I just watched him leave with empty eyes, before returning to my friend’s side.

The girls helped each other to stand, their movements returning to normal now that their captor had left the room. But they were subdued, as if some part of them understood how much worse things could have been if someone else – anyone else had heard the commotion and came to investigate. They had gotten off easy, but they couldn’t know. ‘They could if you told them. You could tell them the truth-’ No. It would break them to know that truth, and father needs them whole. Let them have their pretty lies, if it keeps them strong enough to withstand what is in store for them; at least for now, truth can wait.

No one tried to stop us as I led Rose from the room, though many pairs of watchful eyes followed our slow progress – it was probable that my friend had suffered a concussion from the blow, and she was rather disoriented. I felt mild concern at the dizzy way she stumbled to the door, clutching my hand. And I was worried that the others could attack us again at any moment. But they did not move, did not even speak as we walked; and soon the door was between us, the bolts sliding home and returning a trace of ease to myself.