Then came the silence. Sighing, enveloping, empty silence of fate, having dealt its hand, withdrawing back into shadows.
Turning her head, she saw through a veil of tears the creature, the bloody Eye in his hands, and thanked heaven that she was not prone to nausea. Before she could work herself out of shock into rage, fingers touched her shoulder and she felt something cold on her wrist. Cold and metallic.
Great, now he's going to kill me.
"Az, it's me, Kathy. Don't struggle, I'm trying to cut your bonds-" her voice cracked. "I'm so sorry," she stammered. "I--I wanted to cut you free so you could rescue him, but I was afraid..." Very nearly laughing now, she choked on her tears. "I--I thought I'd fallen in love, but I guess... Oh Aislinn! And I'm a psychologist!"
Kathy's hysteria brought Aislinn back to her own senses, and she embraced her friend. "It's okay, Kathy, really, it's perfectly normal. Come on, you must tell your patients that all the time."
"Aislinn, your uncle, we should-"
She never got to finish her sentence before footsteps sounded behind them.
"The drapes, quickly!"
Truthfully, Aislinn was glad that Kathy was never able to finish her sentence; she did not know what kind of state her uncle would be in, if he was dead, alive, or laying in a pool of blood, and as she ducked towards the drapes she covered her eyes.
"Quick, Kathy," she whispered, "tell me if it's bad."
"Open your eyes, Az," she replied, "you're behind the drapes." Kathy's face was pale. "It's not good, Az. I don't want to-" again she was cut short as some aides emerged at the top of the stairs. Silently they pressed against the wall out of sight and held their breath.
"Ugh! What-- what could have possibly..."
"I have no idea, but we'd better investigate. Is he still alive?"
"Yes, but we'd better get him somewhere-- look at this."
"Hm. We need a bandage to stop the bleeding, and quickly."
"Here, I've torn a bit of my shirt sleeve."
"Wad it up, then bind it to his eye with this... yes, like that. Come on, let's move him out of here."
"Will he be alright?"
"Do you really care, as long as you get paid?"
"Ha. Right."
As they walked out of the room, Aislinn wanted to run up and strangle the men, but she restrained herself. When they were long gone the two decided to follow them to check up on her uncle.
They met up with an aide, a younger man, looking slightly disturbed in the hallway.
"Where is my uncle?" Aislinn demanded.
"You don't know?" he stammered. "Something... happened. We don't know what, but it's under control." Right, thought Aislinn. The aide pointed to a stairwell. "He's right up there, but there's a doctor there right now who isn't letting anyone in."
"And what are you doing just standing there? Isn't there some work for you to do somewhere?" she snapped.
"Well, everything's--" he began, then saw the look on her face. "R-right," he said, and hurried off in the opposite directing.
"What now, Az? Do we go up?"
"I don't want to disturb the doctor." Good excuse as any. She couldn't face him right now, broken. No. He had been broken far before this.
They waited and waited with no change, instructed an aide to inform them when they could see him, and went to bed. There was nothing else to do.
It was late the next day when they were finally allowed to see him. Aislinn mustered her strength and stepped into the room.
Kathy took a deep breath as the aura enwrapped her, an aura of the heavy, mourning stillness, silence, and closure of complete abandon, of a mission ended.
The last rays of the sunset were visible from the two open windows, across from which was an ornate canopy bed. Beside the bed on an end table was the only light in the room: a single candle flickering against the darkness, lighting up a photo of Cecilia... A knot formed in Kathy's throat, and she glanced at the figure on the bed, staring into the photo languidly with his one good eye. A bandage was wrapped over the other eye around his head.
"Uncle," whispered Aislinn.
"Aislinn," he replied, distantly. Lost, on another plane of existence.
As they walked over to him, the moon emerged from behind a cloud, spraying soft silver over the room, illuminating the silver hair and pale skin of the relatives so they appeared unearthly, angelic. Again Kathy remembered her first meeting. She had spent the past hours contemplating what it was to love. She could say that she loved the moon, and fireflies, loved the sunset on water and wind through the leaves and music flying on the breeze like dandelion seeds, but she would not risk herself for those, either. She knew now that, while she had fallen in love with his strange, eccentric beauty, it had never been more complex than that.
Until yesterday, that is, when she had read his diary, and discovered the truth. Then she had felt a kinship, a deeper sympathy and glimmers of respect beneath a dark ocean of repulsion. Now, however, seeing him lying there in utter, peaceful despair like a fallen angel, the water receded and she felt nothing but pure, simple sympathetic love tinged with awe for this legend who had been brought so low.
Aislinn took his hand. "Uncle, please, say something."
Again, the reply was distant and listless. "I have so much... to explain."
"No, uncle, I know it."
"Then you know... I've lost everything." He laughed once, grimly, his chocolate-brown eye still focused at nothing. "Except for you, Aislinn my dear."
"Perhaps... I could stay with you-"
"When I get better?" Now his gaze was focused on Aislinn, and his mouth curved in a wry smile. "Nothing you can do will make my life worth living again, niece. I will not get better, for I've no reason to stay." He drew a deep breath. "I'm sorry, my dear. I do not mean to make you unimportant, but you know as well as I that I am not the man I was. Since... Cecilia left, I do believe I've slowly lost my mind, although I didn't realize it until tonight, when I can think more clearly than I could for a long time. It is a strange feeling..." His concentration wavered again. "No, I cannot stay, and I have no will left to go on."
Aislinn returned his grim smile. "I thought as much, uncle, but I ought to try anyway. Are you in pain?"
He sighed. "Very much. Aislinn, over in the cupboard is a bottle of wine. Pour a glass for me, please." Slowly, he reached into a pocket and withdrew a flask. "I don't have the strength; please put this in."
Aislinn took the flask and read the label, and a sad expression came over her face. One glance at Pegasus, whose smile had vanished, and Kathy knew it must be poison, and thought that Aislinn would object. Instead, with hardly a hesitation, Aislinn did as she was bid and handed the glass to her uncle, who drained it solemly. She did not drink her own wine.
A deathly stillness settled on the room for a long moment, until Pegasus spoke again.
"All I have will, of course, go to you, Aislinn. Use it to send your brother to hell."
Kathy smiled at the uncharacteristic comment, and Aislinn chuckled. Pegasus seemed to realize for the first time that Kathy was in the room.
"Kathy, wasn't it? Come, please, I wish to take the hand of the one who thought I was still beautiful. No, I did not read your mind," he said, smiling, "don't worry about that; anyone with half a thought could see it written all over your face, my dear."
Weakly, he wrapped his free hand around hers, and she wanted so badly to comfort him, but could not.
Aislinn walked across the room to an innocuous stereo and withdrew a CD from her purse. A song echoed through the room, harmonies that worked their way into the fibers of the muscles and the brain and urged them to relax, melodies that whispered of far-off worlds, of hope and love and longing.
"What is this angel that calls me, my niece? What silvery tongue of Heaven is this?" His speech was beginning to slur.
"Gaelic, uncle. This is Enya. I thought you might like it."
"How lovely... how lovely..." no longer was he speaking to them, no longer was he even in the room or aware of those around him, his gaze distant and unfocused, lost in another time, another place. He focused briefly on the picture of his lost love, then sank back into the pillows and closed his good eye.
For a moment they thought he had fallen asleep, but he spoke again, and this time, strangely, his melodic voice, barely a whisper, was not slurred at all. "Ah, love, may you find some goodness in my heart that I may fly with you. If it be not so, I accept my cursed fate."
With these final words, his last breath flew from him. The wine glass slipped from his hand and shattered into a million moonlight-glittering pieces on the floor. Kathy even thought that the flame of the candle, though there was no wind, had flickered, but told herself it was just her imagination.
After a moment, on impulse, she raised his hand to her lips and kissed the smooth, slender knuckles of the artist, an acknowledgement and solemn solute to love and beauty and the power of precious human hope in the hands of the passionate.
Aislinn too bent, slowly, and kissed his forehead, her silver hair mingling with his, reminding Kathy that the Pegasus passion was still have in her veins.
In a whisper almost too soft to hear, Kathy heard Aislinn give her final farewell to her uncle. " 'Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels lead thee to thy rest.' "
Finally, Aislinn took the bottle of poison, emptied the last of it into her wine glass where it disappeared as the bloodred wine enwrapped it, catching the moonlight sparkling in the dark room like ambrosia in the hands of an angel. Then she tore off the label, and tossed the bottle out the window. Destroying the evidence.
Together, they left for bed, each to their separate rooms, Kathy still in possession of the diary, Aislinn still holding the poisoned wine, both uncertain about the future but was a distinct feeling of the beauty and goodness of humanity that still lived on.
oOo
notes:
Okay, the specific song that is playing here is Smaointe, last track on the Shepherd Moon CD. Absolutely gorgeous.
Hamlet. I hope I don't have to tell you who it's written by ;-)
Turning her head, she saw through a veil of tears the creature, the bloody Eye in his hands, and thanked heaven that she was not prone to nausea. Before she could work herself out of shock into rage, fingers touched her shoulder and she felt something cold on her wrist. Cold and metallic.
Great, now he's going to kill me.
"Az, it's me, Kathy. Don't struggle, I'm trying to cut your bonds-" her voice cracked. "I'm so sorry," she stammered. "I--I wanted to cut you free so you could rescue him, but I was afraid..." Very nearly laughing now, she choked on her tears. "I--I thought I'd fallen in love, but I guess... Oh Aislinn! And I'm a psychologist!"
Kathy's hysteria brought Aislinn back to her own senses, and she embraced her friend. "It's okay, Kathy, really, it's perfectly normal. Come on, you must tell your patients that all the time."
"Aislinn, your uncle, we should-"
She never got to finish her sentence before footsteps sounded behind them.
"The drapes, quickly!"
Truthfully, Aislinn was glad that Kathy was never able to finish her sentence; she did not know what kind of state her uncle would be in, if he was dead, alive, or laying in a pool of blood, and as she ducked towards the drapes she covered her eyes.
"Quick, Kathy," she whispered, "tell me if it's bad."
"Open your eyes, Az," she replied, "you're behind the drapes." Kathy's face was pale. "It's not good, Az. I don't want to-" again she was cut short as some aides emerged at the top of the stairs. Silently they pressed against the wall out of sight and held their breath.
"Ugh! What-- what could have possibly..."
"I have no idea, but we'd better investigate. Is he still alive?"
"Yes, but we'd better get him somewhere-- look at this."
"Hm. We need a bandage to stop the bleeding, and quickly."
"Here, I've torn a bit of my shirt sleeve."
"Wad it up, then bind it to his eye with this... yes, like that. Come on, let's move him out of here."
"Will he be alright?"
"Do you really care, as long as you get paid?"
"Ha. Right."
As they walked out of the room, Aislinn wanted to run up and strangle the men, but she restrained herself. When they were long gone the two decided to follow them to check up on her uncle.
They met up with an aide, a younger man, looking slightly disturbed in the hallway.
"Where is my uncle?" Aislinn demanded.
"You don't know?" he stammered. "Something... happened. We don't know what, but it's under control." Right, thought Aislinn. The aide pointed to a stairwell. "He's right up there, but there's a doctor there right now who isn't letting anyone in."
"And what are you doing just standing there? Isn't there some work for you to do somewhere?" she snapped.
"Well, everything's--" he began, then saw the look on her face. "R-right," he said, and hurried off in the opposite directing.
"What now, Az? Do we go up?"
"I don't want to disturb the doctor." Good excuse as any. She couldn't face him right now, broken. No. He had been broken far before this.
They waited and waited with no change, instructed an aide to inform them when they could see him, and went to bed. There was nothing else to do.
It was late the next day when they were finally allowed to see him. Aislinn mustered her strength and stepped into the room.
Kathy took a deep breath as the aura enwrapped her, an aura of the heavy, mourning stillness, silence, and closure of complete abandon, of a mission ended.
The last rays of the sunset were visible from the two open windows, across from which was an ornate canopy bed. Beside the bed on an end table was the only light in the room: a single candle flickering against the darkness, lighting up a photo of Cecilia... A knot formed in Kathy's throat, and she glanced at the figure on the bed, staring into the photo languidly with his one good eye. A bandage was wrapped over the other eye around his head.
"Uncle," whispered Aislinn.
"Aislinn," he replied, distantly. Lost, on another plane of existence.
As they walked over to him, the moon emerged from behind a cloud, spraying soft silver over the room, illuminating the silver hair and pale skin of the relatives so they appeared unearthly, angelic. Again Kathy remembered her first meeting. She had spent the past hours contemplating what it was to love. She could say that she loved the moon, and fireflies, loved the sunset on water and wind through the leaves and music flying on the breeze like dandelion seeds, but she would not risk herself for those, either. She knew now that, while she had fallen in love with his strange, eccentric beauty, it had never been more complex than that.
Until yesterday, that is, when she had read his diary, and discovered the truth. Then she had felt a kinship, a deeper sympathy and glimmers of respect beneath a dark ocean of repulsion. Now, however, seeing him lying there in utter, peaceful despair like a fallen angel, the water receded and she felt nothing but pure, simple sympathetic love tinged with awe for this legend who had been brought so low.
Aislinn took his hand. "Uncle, please, say something."
Again, the reply was distant and listless. "I have so much... to explain."
"No, uncle, I know it."
"Then you know... I've lost everything." He laughed once, grimly, his chocolate-brown eye still focused at nothing. "Except for you, Aislinn my dear."
"Perhaps... I could stay with you-"
"When I get better?" Now his gaze was focused on Aislinn, and his mouth curved in a wry smile. "Nothing you can do will make my life worth living again, niece. I will not get better, for I've no reason to stay." He drew a deep breath. "I'm sorry, my dear. I do not mean to make you unimportant, but you know as well as I that I am not the man I was. Since... Cecilia left, I do believe I've slowly lost my mind, although I didn't realize it until tonight, when I can think more clearly than I could for a long time. It is a strange feeling..." His concentration wavered again. "No, I cannot stay, and I have no will left to go on."
Aislinn returned his grim smile. "I thought as much, uncle, but I ought to try anyway. Are you in pain?"
He sighed. "Very much. Aislinn, over in the cupboard is a bottle of wine. Pour a glass for me, please." Slowly, he reached into a pocket and withdrew a flask. "I don't have the strength; please put this in."
Aislinn took the flask and read the label, and a sad expression came over her face. One glance at Pegasus, whose smile had vanished, and Kathy knew it must be poison, and thought that Aislinn would object. Instead, with hardly a hesitation, Aislinn did as she was bid and handed the glass to her uncle, who drained it solemly. She did not drink her own wine.
A deathly stillness settled on the room for a long moment, until Pegasus spoke again.
"All I have will, of course, go to you, Aislinn. Use it to send your brother to hell."
Kathy smiled at the uncharacteristic comment, and Aislinn chuckled. Pegasus seemed to realize for the first time that Kathy was in the room.
"Kathy, wasn't it? Come, please, I wish to take the hand of the one who thought I was still beautiful. No, I did not read your mind," he said, smiling, "don't worry about that; anyone with half a thought could see it written all over your face, my dear."
Weakly, he wrapped his free hand around hers, and she wanted so badly to comfort him, but could not.
Aislinn walked across the room to an innocuous stereo and withdrew a CD from her purse. A song echoed through the room, harmonies that worked their way into the fibers of the muscles and the brain and urged them to relax, melodies that whispered of far-off worlds, of hope and love and longing.
"What is this angel that calls me, my niece? What silvery tongue of Heaven is this?" His speech was beginning to slur.
"Gaelic, uncle. This is Enya. I thought you might like it."
"How lovely... how lovely..." no longer was he speaking to them, no longer was he even in the room or aware of those around him, his gaze distant and unfocused, lost in another time, another place. He focused briefly on the picture of his lost love, then sank back into the pillows and closed his good eye.
For a moment they thought he had fallen asleep, but he spoke again, and this time, strangely, his melodic voice, barely a whisper, was not slurred at all. "Ah, love, may you find some goodness in my heart that I may fly with you. If it be not so, I accept my cursed fate."
With these final words, his last breath flew from him. The wine glass slipped from his hand and shattered into a million moonlight-glittering pieces on the floor. Kathy even thought that the flame of the candle, though there was no wind, had flickered, but told herself it was just her imagination.
After a moment, on impulse, she raised his hand to her lips and kissed the smooth, slender knuckles of the artist, an acknowledgement and solemn solute to love and beauty and the power of precious human hope in the hands of the passionate.
Aislinn too bent, slowly, and kissed his forehead, her silver hair mingling with his, reminding Kathy that the Pegasus passion was still have in her veins.
In a whisper almost too soft to hear, Kathy heard Aislinn give her final farewell to her uncle. " 'Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels lead thee to thy rest.' "
Finally, Aislinn took the bottle of poison, emptied the last of it into her wine glass where it disappeared as the bloodred wine enwrapped it, catching the moonlight sparkling in the dark room like ambrosia in the hands of an angel. Then she tore off the label, and tossed the bottle out the window. Destroying the evidence.
Together, they left for bed, each to their separate rooms, Kathy still in possession of the diary, Aislinn still holding the poisoned wine, both uncertain about the future but was a distinct feeling of the beauty and goodness of humanity that still lived on.
oOo
notes:
Okay, the specific song that is playing here is Smaointe, last track on the Shepherd Moon CD. Absolutely gorgeous.
Hamlet. I hope I don't have to tell you who it's written by ;-)