Up in the Stars

Paroxysm

Back into the thick of it.

Hope you all enjoy.

✥     ✥     ✥

A knock sounds at her door.

She is sat in the swinging seat by the window, her knees pulled up against her chest.

Defensive.

She's been there since they had brought her up to her room earlier that morning.

We're sorry you think we'd ever let you leave.

The words have been echoing through her mind for hours.

Enid had stopped crying when they left her there.

They had tried to comfort her.

Tried to explain.

She had pushed them away.

"I need space. Please." Her voice had broken.

Dante had stood from where he kneeled beside her.

The expression on his face haunting.

Alexander had tried to plead, tried to get her to understand.

But Theodore had placed a firm hand on his shoulder.

His eyes studying intensely her before he nodded grimly.

They left her alone in her bedroom.

The sound of the door locking behind them deafening.

She had glanced around the room then.

Felt as though she was seeing it for the first time.

The windows without latches, no way of opening them.

A bed big enough for the four of them.

It was a beautiful cage.

She knew she should be making a plan.

Figuring out what to do.

But she was exhausted, tiredness seeping into every fiber of her being.

A numbness slipped over her like a comforting blanket.

Curling up into a ball in the bench swing by the window, she had let herself drift.

Float up, out into the vast darkness.

Slip between the stars.

Safe between the constellations.

She thinks of her father, presses her fingers against the windowpane.

Another knock sounds.

When she twists the handle, she finds she cannot open the door.

A flare of anger burns in her chest and she glares at the brass knob.

Stepping back, she clears her throat.

"Come in."

There is a soft click and then the door is swinging open.

Theodore stands in the doorframe alone.

Enid regards him with a cool distance, her lips pressed into a flat line.

He is dressed in his usual uniform, a tailored suit and neatly combed hair.

There are dark shadows under his eyes that match her own.

He hasn't slept either.

"Good morning." Theodore says, scrutinizing her expression.

She folds her arms across her chest, wishing she had changed out of the thin nightgown.