Our little sister deserved better than what she had. I resolved to do things right. I was to start by giving her a proper name and taking her out of the cellar, doing what our mother hadn't done. Our hearts shattered for her and the pain she was caused. If I had it any other way, I will have prefered to join her down there or have all three of us leave this dreadful rotten place. Perhaps, when I gain enough money to move out, we will burn the place to the ground.
As Nui held a plate of food and after we found the keys, I unlocked the padlocks and deadbolts and, after switching on a flashlight, we descended the starts. In the farthest corner, we saw a glint of metal and heard a faint whimpering. Shining the flashlight in her direction, we saw her. Blue eyes and black hair with a red streak, her, our sister who had been locked away. She shied away from the light and raised her hands to her face as if to protect herself.
"It's okay, we're not going to hurt you, she's gone now." Nui reassured, poking bits of the food through the cage. The action itself intrigued her, causing her to brush her fingertips against the former's hand. It was infantile in its nature her interaction was, yet she interacted the only she could, expressing her curiosity. Once she did that, she quickly pulled her hand away, apparently not so shy any longer. She stared at us, tilting her head here and there, as if trying to gauge out a memory.
As we watched her, we couldn't figure out how old she was, however, it was clear that, while she is youngest, we didn't know how much younger she was than Nui and her looks didn't help either, as, she didn't seem to have grown past a certain age. Her interaction seemed to imply that she couldn't talk and neither was she too used to not being struck. It was clear that she had been living like this since she was very little, however, she did have some interaction, at the same time, it wasn't enough to keep her functional.
Damage like this cannot be too easily reversed and she needed help immediately. Not too sure as to how to get her out, we resolved to use bolt cutters and cut it open. I was furious at our mother for making her live like that. I wanted answers and I wanted them now. Rei's diary pages answered some questions, yet she never knew why our sister lived in near total isolation.
Once we got her upstairs and despite Nui's protests, I contacted the authorities. "They'll take her away!" she cried, frightening her, to which I said, "Yes, that may be but we cannot help her otherwise, Nui." She lowered her head and said, "Could we at least give her a name?" I hadn't forgotten, however, I wasn't sure what to name her. As I deliberated on the subject, Nui said, "Let's call her 'Ryuuko', 'cause it makes sense."
"Ryuuko", the effectively abandoned child. It did make sense, after all, she was abandoned, practically discarded, in the cellar, and she, like all discarded children, hadn't a name. The Mistress had shown her very little if any love and she was so physically and psychologically destroyed by her circumstances, effectively speaking, abandoning her to the isolating darkness of the cellar and to her abuse.