Chapter 77 – Mother’s Doings

NOAH.

If horror had a name, that was exactly what my poor sister lived here. I couldn’t explain how Lettice had such guts to mistreat her like that. Should I think I was lucky because my grandparents kept me away from her?

“Lettice? Do you know her?” I wanted to test her to make sure her mind wasn’t as troubled as it seemed.

“You know her too, big brother! She is our mother, remember?” she blurted, her eyes lightening and then suddenly darkened.

Her memories were a jumble of emotions and images, making it hard to make sense of everything. Maybe she had beautiful memories, but she had blocked them somewhere in her mind and kept them safe.

Or maybe she doesn’t even remember them anymore. That she still knew her made me even angrier. Not only did she go through all this in silence, but she also consciously accepted that she would have nowhere to go.

“Sis, would you like me to take you somewhere far from here? You just tell me and I promise you will never see her again!”

Was I doing this the wrong way? Lettice was the only family Neveh knew, but she was toxic. I couldn’t allow this abuse anymore.

“I would love to see if these poor girls have arrived safely first!” she said again, meaninglessly gazing frightened around her as if looking for something she had lost.

“What girls, Neveh? What are you talking about?”

Although I knew who she was referring to, I wanted to know more about Lettice’s barbaric practice from my sister’s mouth.

“Shhh!” She motioned to me, frightened. “Can’t you hear them? I hear them every day and night shouting, begging her not to harm them. And then I hear them again, even when she’s not. I don’t know if anyone else is here, but they keep screaming.”

And then silence. She placed her hand lightly to her mouth and then motioned for me to shut up and make no noise. “If there is complete silence, you can still hear them. They have no chance. Maybe only from time to time, they have me,” she added, mixing the words in such a way that they almost only made no sense.

But I had to find their meaning.

“What do you mean, Neveh?” I asked curiously, looking into her expressive eyes, which had seen great terror.

It was like she held a secret that she longed to tell, but feared the consequences.

“You can trust me. I swear I won’t tell anyone!” I gave her more confidence.

I had to make her open to me somehow. Now I was her only help, and if she didn’t allow me to get her out of here, then she would be lost.

“Can you get me out of here, Noah?”

Her question took me by surprise. She was asking for my help. That was the sign.

“I can take you wherever you want, sister. Trust me. I see you’re in pain and believe me, I can help you.”

It was very difficult for me to watch her being consumed, struggling to stay afloat. Maybe I was too late. She was already troubled. Maybe I can't save her soul anymore, but I’ll do my best to save her body.

“Please, don’t talk anymore, these walls hear and see everything…” I could see the fear in her eyes and although I didn’t want to wake her ordeals from the past, it was necessary to understand what happened to my sister.

“Neveh, if you have anything to tell me, please do not hesitate. I know you are afraid of our mother and I also know that no matter how hard you try to look strong, her subjugation made you lose yourself. Contradict me if it’s not like that!”

Then it was when she burst out as if everything was collapsing around her, and Neveh, from ten minutes ago, disappeared completely. A fearful one came, rigid, with fear consuming her inside like the fire of hell. She took a deep breath, and I didn’t stop her until she poured out all her frustration and helplessness accumulated throughout all these years in captivity.

“Noah, you can’t even imagine the horrors I had to witness here and not only as a witness, but also to take part in them. I don’t know her evil plan, she never told me. All I saw were scared girls, begging for their lives. I could never help them with anything at first, although I wanted to ease their pain. My fear of her made me feel submissive and docile. I imagined I would also get treated like those girls. Their daily screams, however, gave the certainty that they were still alive. When they stopped, so did my soul die a little. I could never face it because I could not overcome my own fears. Maybe if I succeeded, those poor girls would still have a chance, no matter how small. But I preferred to hide when she was overreacting, and then guilt killed me because I couldn’t do anything to help the poor, tortured girls. Then I don’t know how I thought about it. But maybe she needed some help. The kidnappings multiplied, and the dungeons were and still are full of girls. The screams multiplied as well. And she, Lettice, made the big mistake of urging me to help her. By the time I came in contact with those poor souls, although I was still obedient, I learned to dose my bursts and set my priorities. And those priorities were the well-being of those girls. I swore that none of them would suffer and then I took a risk. I secretly gave my food away to each one on different days. Every day was another one, but I made sure to eat with them too because I didn’t want to lose weight and feel weak and Lettice would suspect. I eat with them in complete secrecy. One day, she changed my tasks. She thought what I was doing was too easy. In fact, I was picking up what was left of each one after Lettice made her way with them. It was awful, but that was the only way I could be close to them and help them. But the second big mistake in which I made the impossible for all the girls to gain something almost cost me my life, Noah.” She said and swallowed hard, holding her breath and preventing a few tears from falling. I didn’t even realize I had wet eyes, too.

“What did this monster who has the audacity to call herself mother do to you?” I cried out in pain at the inhuman treatment my sister had undergone.

“Brother, if I remember all that, I will die again for sure. But I will tell you so you could understand who she is and never think of helping her. She will stab you in the back when you least expect it, as she did with me. Those girls were not to blame, they were just in the wrong place at a very wrong time. Lettice happened to cut them off, and that meant their end without them even suspecting what would happen to them. Everything took place behind closed doors. She kept me away from all the trials and tortures she subjected them to, but I stubbornly got even closer to them. I felt that the help I was giving now was not enough. Think about it. Today I was feeding one of them so that tomorrow the ruthless Lettice would bring death upon her. So, I took an enormous risk, as I was telling myself to resist. I went to her, to Lettice and asked her to give me other heavier tasks, because I got bored. I even came up with examples to help kill them!” she said sullenly, and a heavy and painful sigh escaped her soul. Without interruption, I allowed her to finish what she was saying. “I was afraid that she would not accept it, that she would think I was too weak, that I did not have as much cold blood to take revenge as she did. To kill! And somehow, I had to prove the opposite to allow me to enter her dark world. After a few failed attempts, I convinced her I was serious. She sent me into the dark forests of Wales to kill the poor creatures for her, giving the impression that they had been attacked by animals. She told me to be careful how I hurt them so that the wound would not be too big to give us away or too insignificant but to be a suitable one for a normal-sized werewolf so that in the end panic would set in Wales and the werewolves would be caught and punished. It was such an evil plan and so well thought and done that I didn’t know how to make it work exactly as she had told me to do. Then this crazy idea came to my mind to release them and instead to kill a wild animal and with its blood to get dirty so that everything would look real. It worked for a while until Lettice accidentally saw one girl, I had to hack very much alive. Her anger knew no boundaries, and it was the first time she turned in front of me, intending to attack me. That poor girl found her end first and then it was my turn. She locked me in here until she would decide what to do with me,” she concluded as if dreaming, but also grateful that I had come.

“And what did she decide, Neveh?”

“My last day will be tomorrow, my dear brother. She sentenced me to death!”