The first thing Gerret noticed when he came to was the throbbing pain in his head. The second was the inability to move any of his arms or legs, and the third was the reason for that. Looking down, he saw a face he wasn't accustomed to seeing without a constant grimace of revulsion plastered across it. Mother Superior was probably the happiest Gerret had ever seen her, and judging by the way her pupils dilated, it wasn't a conscious decision. Neither was her rapid-fire knitting that was confining him to the wall.
"Rise and shine, darling." A chirpy voice from the side snarked. "Breakfast is ready."
He turned to see a brunette girl he recognized immediately. "You!"
"You yourself." Edna retorted. "I have to say, the irony of your situation is pretty satisfying to witness."
"What are you talking about?"
Edna simply rolled her eyes. She had been dealing with people treating her like she was an idiot all night, and quite frankly she was sick of it. Gerret decided waiting for an answer wasn't worth it and began struggling to break free.
"Don't bother," Edna said. "Mother Superior takes anything involving needles, thread, and yarn about as seriously as a politician takes fabricating the truth."
"Poor little children... The doctor will fix everything..." Mother Superior muttered as she finished Gerret's cocoon. She immediately turned back to her corner and continued to knit her rabbits, which the young officer was noticing for the first time.
"What IS this?" He asked. "Hannibal Lector's toy store?"
"I'll take a charismatic cannibal over Doctor Marcel any day."
Gerret was hoping Edna wouldn't say something like that. "So this is the asylum. Fantastic."
"Make yourself at home," Edna continued to prod him. "Shall I put on a pot of coffee? Something to eat? We could all have some tea with Mother Superior!"
"Are you done?"
"I have a vintage record collection. Tchaikovsky or Rachmaninoff?"
"Are you done?"
"You're right, too presumptuous. How about Coolio? Bob Marley? Weird Al Yancovic?"
He looked about ready to chew through his strands just to strangle her. Edna stuck her tongue out cheekily. With everything going on at the moment, this was great stress relief.
Gerret took a deep breath. "Listen," He said. "We need to figure out how to get out of here. Lilli's still out there and she needs our help!"
"Our help?" Edna said incredulously. "What are you gonna do, find out where she is just so you can rat her out for being out past her bedtime?"
"Rat her-?!" Gerret stammered, confused as ever. He sighed again, wishing his hands were free so he could pinch his forehead. Finally, he looked back at her. "Alright, here's the deal. I don't know who you think I am, but there's obviously a lot you don't understand, and there's plenty I don't understand either. If we're going to help Lilli we need to be able to trust each other, okay?"
Edna stared at him suspiciously for a moment. She looked over at the Mother Superior, still docile, and then back to Gerret. She considered it for a second.
"Okay," She said finally. "It's not like I have much choice anyway. But if you're being honest with me, we have to shake on it to make it official."
Gerret blinked.
"Oh, right." Edna remembered, looking down at her bindings. "Well, we can work with it. We'll just tongue-shake."
She attempted to lean over, her tongue poking out of the side of her mouth. Gerret stared at her blankly.
You really know how to pick them, Lilli, He thought. He answered the brunette curtly. "That wont be necessary. But you might as well put that thing to good use and start talking."
"Fine," Edna said, sticking her drying mouthpiece back in. "But you've got to spill some of your secrets too."
"Fair enough."
"Well, let's start at the beginning." She cleared her throat. "Hello, nice to meet you, blah blah blah, I'm Edna."
"My full name is Gerret Gordon Gardengore." He said, before adding, "Officer Gerret Gardengore."
She looked stunned. "You're a cop?"
His eyes shifted for a second, before he said in a quiet voice, "You might want to get used to surprises."
To tell the truth, Reuben had been making it up as he went.
At the moment, he was hiding in the shadows behind the gate of the second floor hallway. He made sure to keep a tight grip on the thread he had tied around the rabbit, which was laying sprawled out in the open just beyond the bars. At any moment, the girl could appear. She'd see the rabbit. She would then try to take it, and he'd grab her, and then...
And then... what?
"And then I show her to dad." He uttered, as if trying to rationalize his not very thought-out plan.
Yes, but then what?
"I... I suppose I'll tell him it was me that dropped off the policeman at his door." He continued to whisper back at his thoughts. He was used to having arguments with himself. "I'll tell him who's really been helping him all this time. He wont be able to ignore me after that."
But you hate him, don't you? Don't you resent him for what he did to you?
"Yes... well, no... I just..." He struggled to come up with an answer. "I'm... I-I just want to show him that he was wrong!"
So you want him to admire you. To acknowledge your validity.
"I'm showing him who's the boss."
What do you REALLY want from him, Reuben?
"Shut UP!" He snarled, finally getting the thought out his head. At that moment, one of the hallways doors opened. He knelt sharply, bringing his cape around to shroud himself in the dark, and kept his grip on the string firm. A small figure emerged, wearing a bright pink bow in her yellow hair. It was her!
He watched with baited breath as she saw the rabbit. Curiously, she approached. Once she was just in reach, Reuben tugged the string lightly, dragging the rabbit closer to the doors. A look of surprise came over the girl's face. Anyone else would've seen this as a sign to leave, but she followed the toy, reaching to take it again. He pulled it through the door, letting it's head rest right between two bars. The child grunted in frustration, stepping right up to the grate.
Like a predator on the hunt, Reuben had her in the blink of an eye. In a flash, he yanked Harvey back into his hand, simultaneously lunging at the girl. She barely had time to cry out in fear as his hand grabbed her neck in a matter of seconds.
Reuben cackled giddily at his success. "Surprised to see me again?" He taunted, remembering full well his trip on the ladder.
Wide-eyed with fear, the girl squirmed to free herself from his grasp. Underneath the mask, Reuben was almost too amused. Seeing her trapped by his hand was cathartic in a lot of ways.
"Yes, keep kicking..." He hissed. "You wont escape me again. Now hold still while I figure out what to do with you."
You STILL don't know what you're doing?
This shouldn't have been so difficult. He had just decided to take the girl to his father. But he hesitated as his own inner turmoil kept wracking his brain. Distracted, he didn't notice the child reach out to pull the string on the rabbit's belly.
You say you want to show dad who's the boss, but if that were really the case, why are you helping him? Wouldn't it make more sense if you were helping her?
No, his plan made sense. He was luring his father into a false sense of accomplishment. It was a good plan.
Why don't you stop making excuses and just admit it.
He wasn't listening. Tra la la. Just push it back into the dark corner it came from. Tra la la.
The truth is you don't hate dad at all.
Stop thinking. Take the girl. Stop THINKING.
You're trying to reach out to him.
STOP.
Because secretly you're a scared little boy who wants daddy to love y-
His self-conflict was interrupted by a flash of white. He snapped back to reality just in time to notice the object the girl had pulled from nowhere. It took a second for Reuben to realize that she was holding what appeared to be a chair leg, the end broken off into a sharp point.
Which she was aiming right at his face.
"So you are Edna Konrad."
Edna watched Gerret pensively as he processed the story that had just been laid out for him. He had an almost enlightened look on his face.
"I had a hunch, but I never bothered looking into it." He said. "But if what you're telling me is true, this changes everything. The night you escaped opened up a lot of doors regarding the Mattis Konrad incident. That was well before my time, but I read the case records after your escape went public."
He glanced over at the former head of the convent. "I was sent to this town because I was supposed to watch Mother Superior, but also because Doctor Marcel lived close by. Your case sparked an investigation that's continued to last even after it was technically closed. There was just too much that didn't add up."
He looked at her. "I can't say for certain, but the mere fact that you're alive is going to be a massive blow against Marcel. When I relay all this to my colleagues, it's going to flip them on their heads."
"That's great," Edna finally said, staring at him half-lidded. "Except the doctor is probably going to liquefy our brains before any of that can past these walls."
"Hmm... that's true." He grumbled. "If we can't come up with anything, Lilli just might be our only hope."
"I hope she's alright..." Edna sighed glumly. "She's too sweet to have to go through all this..."
"...You don't think she could've gotten caught, do you?"
"Nah, she's too smart for that." Edna said, brightening back up a little. "Plus, I taught her everything she knows about sneaking past authority."
She smirked at his frown. "Hey, you know how Mother Superior is... or was. Besides, weren't you supposed to be spying on her so she wasn't mistreating us?"
"Marcel arrived before I could finalize my reports." Gerret explained. "Had she not decided to call him, Mother Superior would've been arrested for multiple charges of child abuse."
Irony just loved to follow Edna around, didn't it? However, as much as Edna hated the old crone, looking at her now in her demented state only filled the girl with pity... and, as much as it pained her, empathy.
"Maybe if we do get out of here, we can get her some help. Some real help." Edna said softly, recalling the place she had called home for close to a year. "Maybe we can help all of them. Those other kids may be jerks, but not even they deserve..."
Her voice trailed off. Gerret, who's face was already deathly serious to begin with, was looking into space with an ominous visage of unease. He slowly faced her, swallowing a lump in his throat.
"There's something I need to tell you." He said in a low tone. "Your friends... the others at the convent... they..."
Suddenly, they were interrupted by the sound of keys clanking. The two swiveled their heads towards the heavy door of the cell as someone on the other side began to unlock it. Even Mother Superior stopped her knitting for a second. The door slowly pushed open.
An overwhelming sense of relief washed over the two captives as, instead of Doctor Marcel or a strange man in a cape, a familiar little girl made herself present.
"Lilli!"
A/N: I goofed here. The segment with Reuben should've happened last chapter, before the scene with Lilli in the bathroom. I guess you can count it as a flashback or something. Anyway, we're in the final stretch! Everything after this chapter should be relatively easier to write since, in all honesty, I had no idea where I was going with Reuben's story for a long time. Here's hoping you'll be seeing another chapter in the near future!