"Ah, Vincent …"
Father entered the chamber, leaning heavily on his walking stick.
"Pascale told me you had gone to the lower level."
"I went to Anna's grave."
Although Father did not openly object, the worried look in his eyes did not go past Vincent.
"She is the closest thing I had to a mother," he explained.
Father took a seat and nodded.
"I suppose she was. She so enjoyed holding you and singing you to sleep. She had a beautiful voice."
"Her love for me proved to be fatal," Vincent thought up. "How could Paracelsus do such a thing? Murder his own wife?"
Father took a deep breath.
"John was lost," he concluded. "Even as a child he felt no connection to the world around him. He had of course been a victim of abuse. His father was an alcoholic and a bully. John was a skinny boy with an insatiable desire for knowledge. He was extremely intelligent, but his father thought him weak and rejected him. He spent most of his young life on his own, studying science. It … estranged him from the world, from humanity.
When he started this community, he finally received the esteem he had yearned for. I thought that that, and Anna's love, would bring him back to life. Instead he chose death."
Father paused. When he opened his mouth again to speak, he was interrupted by Mouse, who stumbled into the chamber, holding the strangest object in his hands. It looked like a small UFO, made of black plastic. There was a round glass in the upper side and strange knobs around the length of the body.
"Vincent!"
As usual Mouse was highly excited and practically bumped into all the furniture on his way to Vincent's desk.
"Look!"
He placed the strange object on the desk.
"Mouse made stars. For Vincent."
He pressed a button on the side and a light beam rose from the glass. The entire ceiling became covered in twinkling lights.
"See!" he exclaimed, marveling at Vincent's surprise. "Not just a cave. Night sky."
"Mouse," Father started, "that is truly amazing!"
"Moves too."
Mouse pressed another button and the lights started dancing across the walls.
"Can look at it when you feel sad," Mouse suggested, "or with Catherine."
Vincent put his hand on Mouse's shoulder.
"Catherine will love these stars," he said.