Disclaimer: This licence isn't mine. The opinions express by the characters are not mine. I do not support nor encourage the illegal or dangerous acts or words present here. I can make a distinction between fiction and reality and I trust in my readership's ability in doing the same.

Chapter thirty-six: Into a corner

Doctor Hazel Nutby had done her best to reassure Berrykin Bloom about the night he was going to spend at the hospital. She knew how difficult it could be for her patients to leave their private environment and to sleep in a foreign room where they had no point of reference, and especially in a time where they were already weakened by a serious disease, a wound or a recent surgery. Everythig will be alright, she would take a great care of him and if he needed something, he would only have to call her and she would come. In fact, Berrykin Bloom didn't dare to tell Doctor Nutby that he was rather satisfied to spend a night far from his home. His own bedroom was now a space of fear and nightmare, and he secretly hoped that Berrykin Bertram won't find him there. Moreover, his heart attack, plus the long talk he had with Orange Blossom, had entirely drained his strength. He hadn't had the energy to think about his cousin, and anyway he didn't want to. All that he was wishing was to have, at least, a long and restorative sleep. When Doctor Nutby did her last round, she saw she didn't need to give him a sedative: He was impossible to sooth during Orange Blossom's visit as much as he was now quiet and motionless in his bed, but fighting to keep his eyes open until he had wished her a good night.

-Don't force yourself to stay awake, mister Bloom. You need rest. If you need anything, just call me.

-Thank you Doctor. Have a good night, too.

And Berrykin Bloom fell into disturbed dreams full of forgotten memories, strong emotions, and odor of disinfectant, where ghosts he could not identify brushing past him, talking their own language and ignoring him. Berrykin Bloom didn't felt in his place: he was disoriented, nervous and stressed. The blurry settings around him started to vanish and to get replace by obscurity, something that meant he was awaking. Berrykin Bloom sighted. If he didn't manage to fall asleep again, he would probably get bored to death in this obscure room waiting for the morning, but at least he would no longer have to face this… what was it, exactly? It was too unclear to be called a dream or a nightmare. Berrykin Bloom rubbed his eyes. Whatever it was, it was over now, but the feeling of being observed didn't disappear. A feeling he was familiar with.

Berrykin Bloom was not alone is his room. Cousin Bertram was sitting on his bed, his biting eyes pointed at him, and, according to the naughty smile he was wearing, he enjoyed the situation.

Berrykin Bloom sat up straight. He tried to cry, but his voice stayed stuck in his throat, like if Bertram was strangling him without having to touch him.

-Do you really thought you could escape from me? Berrykin Bertram asked with a honeyed voice. "What a fool you are. I will always follow you, my dear cousin."

Berrykin Bloom closed his eyes again and started to moaned. When will it stopped? Was he doomed to be haunted by his cousin's memory until the end of his life? It was unbearable. If only he could understand why his cousin kept setting upon him… Wasn't it enough to see him living into a permanent anxiety? Wasn't it enough to see his health decrease weeks after weeks? What was Bertram looking for exactly?

-Please, he begged, "Leave me alone… What have I done to you?"

Berrykin Bertram moved toward Berrykin Bloom, whom curled in bed, against the wall.

-I would leave you if I could to, Bertram muttered. "You pretend you are my victim, but I'm here to remind you all the bad things you did… to me, to your father, to the little princesses, and to so many other persons I can not name them. I only appear to you at nighttime, my beloved cousin, but you don't know that I am forever close to you. You almost made me cry, this afternoon, when you made your little confession at Miss Orange. Berry sentimental, I must admit. If I didn't know you that well, I could have been fooled, too, just like her. Please, Bloom, admit you tricked her. Facing an old man, dying, lying on a hospital bed, and begging her to forgive his old mistakes… She could not say no. Well played, cousin!"

This time, Berrykin Bloom sobbed. He could no longer hide his feelings in front of Bertram. He was just exhausted and wanted to find a way-out.

-You're lying! He cried. "I was sincere. Bertram, please, I beg you, stop tormenting me. I don't need to see you to regret all my mistakes. Please, trust me, I would change everything if I could to. Why do you still bully me? What does it bring you?"

-Do you really believe it entertain me to give nightmares to a diminished, half-senile guy like you? How arrogant you are! Like if your humble person was worthy of interest to me…

Berrykin Bertram smiled, revealing his sharped teeth.

-Don't take this personally, Bloom. What I love is to feel what I provoke at you. Fear doesn't interest me. On the other way, I'm always satisfied when I can make you feel guilt, shame or a questioning. Yes, I think that guilt is the best emotion. What do you think of it, Bloom?

Berrykin Bloom refused to give him an oral answer. He had understood that, this time, it was really serious. Bertram wasn't going to murmur him morbid ideas before vanishing in the air. This time, he represented a real danger. A danger he had to flee. Partially opening his eyes, he got out of bed and made some steps to the door… before falling from the raised platform Doctor Nutby had placed his bed on to examine him with more facility. Berrykins were supposed to stand significant falls, but this time Berrykin Bloom hurt again his left arm, the one who had been dislocated, and his hip. Berrykin Bertram sniggered.

-What a pathetic vision, he said. "Forgive it, Bloom, and go back to bed. You know you cannot flee from me. I will always find you."

Berrykin Bloom ignored him and crawled on the ground, trying to reach the door. He hoped Bertram wasn't able to move from one room to another. Bertram, from his side, stayed extremely calm.

-Please, Bloom, I told you it was vain. It is almost painful to see how determinate you are to avoid me. But I want to do something to help you.

He slipped next to Berrykin Bloom and whispered:

-You can not get rid of your bad thoughts, my dear cousin. Well, there's one way. It is terrible, but when I see you, a pathetic and pitiful guy, I'm surrounded by a huge feeling of empathy. This way is death. Die, my dear cousin, and all your problems will disappear. Die, and you will no longer have to remind the mistakes you made, to witness the consequences they have today, and to try to find you excuses. Die, Bloom, and everything will be over. We will have a great talk after. Come, my cousin. Why won't you come with me?

Berrykin Bertram touched Bloom.

At this moment, cold invaded Bloom's body, a cold that paralyzed him. Then, he felt a violent pain in his chest, like if someone had stuck a dagger in his hearth. At the same time, this pain woke in him a strange warm, a weak warm of life. A warm that reminded hima that Berrykin were creators of life. And, shooting Bertram, and Life itself, an air of defiance, Berrykin Bloom screamed.

When Doctor Nutby, alerted by the fuss and the noise, switched the light on, she found Berrykin Bloom, curled on the floor next to the door, mumbling and shivering, half-unconscious. He was a bit feverish.

-Poor little one, she said, sincerely sorry for him.

She examined him but, except the fever, everything was normal: his pulse and his breath were regular. He must had had a nightmare, she deduced, because Berrykin Bloom stayed lifeless during the auscultation She put him back into bed and stayed at his bedside for the rest of the night.

The Berrykin Princess was heading toward Doctor Nutby's office, accompanied with her daughters. She had stayed extremely evasive on the subject of Berrykin Bloom, only telling them he was ill and needed some rest. In fact, she was as worry as they were, but, as a Princess, her duty was to always look happy, however disastrous the situation was, to never bring her people down. Indeed, the Princess was living an inner disaster: she had no illusions about the risk Berrykin Bloom was taking, and his likely loss already made her feel grieving. Berrykin Bloom was the only parental figure she never had. Her mother had died when he was only four years old, and, in the British community where she had been sent, she had never been considered as a fully-fledged member, but only like a foreigner, of course a royal foreigner, but a foreigner nevertheless, who was aimed to leave them sooner or later. On the contrary, Berrykin Bloom had the opportunity of knowing her mother, and he often told her she had always been, during her short reign, a fair Queen. He had advised her since she had acceded to the throne, he had never saved his energy nor his time concerning the community's interests, he was always present when she was wavering and needed an attentive ear. He was like a grandfather to her, and she could see the twins were also considering him as their great-grandfather. Indubitably, his death would be a great loss. Then, what could she said to the girls? Her mother, Berrykin Bloom… Was her family forced to face the loss of a beloved one to fully enter their role of ruler? And the welcome Doctor Nutby reserved her didn't comfort her:

-Berrykin Bloom had a kind of… crisis last night. I think it is better for him to stay under observation today. It means no visit for the moment, because the one Miss Blossom paid him yesterday had troubled him a lot. I'm sorry your Majesty, but You shall understand it is for his own good.

-We won't see him? Princess Emerald asked, frowning.

-This is not fair, Princess Tourmaline moaned.

-I'm sorry, darrlings, Berrykin princess answered, embarrassed, "But you heard what the doctor said. Maybe you'll see him tomorrow."

This answer didn't sooth the Princesses, quite the reverse. They had understood something was wrong with him, and what he was more than "ill"; they had understood it through their mother's preoccupied air she was definitively not good to hide, and through the snatches of conversation they had caught in the orchards. They were both shut away, and it didn't please them at all. The feeling of injustice grew in her, and joined an incontrollable anger, an anger they pointed at Doctor Nutby, the squirrel that prevented them for seeing their tutor when they were so worry for him. The anger filled them, like if they were going to explode if they could not release it. But they had so many things to say they could not organize their thought had were forced to stay quiet. Their throats were stuck, their hands started to burn, but they didn't payed attention to the pain they were feeling. For the moment, they wanted to send it to Doctor Nutby, and to all the other persons that had lied to her. The warm kept growing in their hands and, when it turned to a degree so high that the Princesses had tears in her eyes, it got out under the form of a fireball that stroke the giant squirrel in the neck. The ball wasn't tall enough to really burn her, but it wasn't for this reason she stayed motionless and speechless, and the Berrykin Princess too.

-I think this poor Mister Huckleberry Pie is victim of a regrettable miscarriage of justice from me, finally said the Princess.

Since Raspberry Torte was gone, it was hard to find clothes in Strawberryland. Orange Blossom used to receive some dressed she offered for sale, but it stayed berry limited. This is why Strawberry Shortcake had allowed Apple Dumplin' to take a bus and to go to the Berry Big City to do some shopping. The thing that Apple Dumplin' had "forgotten" to tell her that she wasn't alone. Mulberry Murmur was with her. They planned to have a wonderful shopping trip… but Apple Dumplin' quickly understood that the only activity she could afford to do was going window shopping.

-Your sister doesn't give you pocket money? Mulberry Murmur asked.

-Not really. She says I don't need it because I can find all the necessities in Strawberryland.

-This is not fair. Your sister shouldn't control you this way. If you want my opinion, you should collect your due by yourself.

Apple Dumplin' didn't know what to answer. On one hand, and just like Mulberry Murmur, she thought it would serve Strawberry Shortcake right. On the other, she didn't know exactly how were her sister's finances since she had given the Café up. Anyway, she didn't want to take the risk to fall out with her only friend, so she simply answered:

-I'm sure she would notice that… and then she will rip my head off.

-Of course, Apple, I forgot you had a big sister… who keeps you on a leash, right?

Apple Dumplin', offended, pouted.

-Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. Hey, I have another idea. There's a lot of children who have too much pocket money to spent at school. Maybe you could… er… ask you to lend you some?

Apple Dumplin' shrugged.

-They will never do… Because me neither, I won't lend money to people I don't know.

Mulberry had a strange smile.

-Who talks about borrowing money to your friends? How naive you can be sometime. No, with the good arguments, you can get anything from anyone.

This time, Apple lost her composure.

-You mean… to racketeer them?

-What else?

-Isn't that a little bit… illegal?

-This is why it is extremely important to not get caught. Please, Apple, don't act holier-than-thou. Do you really think it will hurt them? Their mums will give them some more pocket money, and that will be all. On the contrary, it will teach them a useful lesson… and honestly, I think you would have needed it too, Apple. Of course, you travelled all around the world, but I think you have always been surrounded by overprotective people. Looking at life through rose-tinted glasses is extremely dangerous, Apple, and all those kids are heading for crushing disillusions. In a way, we are helping them out. Facing a little violence at school will teach them to get tough and to defend themselves. If they are too weak and fearful to defend their belongings, well! This is a natural law. The question is: what do you want to be, Apple: a warrior… or a loser?

-I want to be a warrior, of course, Apple said with a feeble voice, half-convinced.

-Hey Apple, I hope you are not going to snitch on me? I must admit I don't really find you convincing. This is why I would like to give you a test, tomorrow…

To be continued…