Angel's Kiss, Demon's Touch. (DRAFT)

4.Four Musketeers

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4.FOUR MUSKETEERS

Jumping off the window sill, I forgot all about the hypnotic feather and lotus. Reaching the big old metal door, I could still hear Seth’s faint scream. I placed my ear against the cold metal surface trying to hear more, but my heart was beating so fast in my chest, that all I could hear was my own pulse. I withdrew my face and placed my palms against the cold metal. “Wake up Seth, please wake up” I whimpered.

I couldn’t think of one reason why the nurses hadn’t helped him yet. What were they all so consumed with that they couldn’t even help a screaming patient. I stood there waiting for what seemed a lifetime. Heat and dampness had slowly replaced the cold surface beneath my hands, and in despair I started tapping them against the door. Rocking back and forth on a soothing rhythm, I tried to centre myself like some of the other patients did. “Don’t look Seth. Don’t Look. Don’t smell Seth. Don’t smell.” I pleaded as I continued to rock back and forth. “Don’t smell your sizzling flesh Seth, Don’t look at it as it oozes.” I sobbed. “Shut out the pain, the pain, shut out the pain Seth.” I cried. Another loud dulled scream crawled up under my door and I automatically rocked back and forth harder. I didn’t shout, object or demand reasoning behind their sluggish intervention. I knew, we knew, what happened if you were caught sleeping at their hour.

Once the screaming stopped, I was surrounded by complete and utter silence. I welcomed the peace and quiet, but the deadly silence here, went through marrow and bone. All these asylum wings gave me the chills with their cold and abandoned halls.  Exhausted I slid down against the cold metal door until I was lying on the white laminate floor.

Understanding the pain and fear of another person is not always easy.  However, for us the knowing made us stronger.  Knowing we go through the same nightmare, the same terror. No one had it harder or easier, that made us closer, equal.  The hardship of living in Forest Hill made us psychologically stronger than we ever were before. We figured out together that; As the Musketeers we would stand against anything and even if we would be divided, we wouldn’t fall, for we would always have each other. Growing up at Lady Hope Orphanage we called ourselves just that; The Four Musketeers. That’s when we were still with four and not just a sad little bunch of two. Another tear streaked down my cheek in mourning. “Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno.” I sobbed.

Memories from Lady Hope Orphanage were slowly flashing by in my mind.  Our bunk beds as Lilly read us her favourite book by Alexandre Dumas, The Three Musketeers. It was a good life, and that old bat gave us her all. We Musketeers will forever cherish Saint Lilly. Whom we musketeers tried to save many times from pillows fights and other sword fighting kids.  We kids were all so different, yet so alike at the same time.

The youngest of us Musketeers was Issis. A couple of days after she turned fourteen, the orphanage was violently set on fire in the darkness of night. During the hectic blaze, the twins saved us. They woke us girls up from our bunk bed and we were told to run for our lives. As we made our way through the old house, I noticed the other kids vanishing into thin air. One by one, they would get consumed in thick black smoke. When we finally reached the porch, it became obvious to us that the orphanage wasn’t just set on fire, it was under attack.

The attack was led by disfigured figures, creatures that you would only see in horror movies. They pulsed and slithered about with their distorted monster like bodies. Wherever they materialised, our friends disappeared in black smoke. They were kidnapping the children carefully as they set the adults on fire. That’s when Issis screamed and in a blink of an eye Phoenix and her were gone. That was the unforgettable day that they were taken from us.