Chapter 101: Her Ugly Smile
Staring at Esme with a helpless, shattered smile—a smile laced with years of memories, years of understanding just how futile her efforts were, "We can't help her."
"-why...?" Esme's blazing golden eyes mellowed out with fragility, "Why not?"
Hilda shook her head, "We're too weak. Too useless."
"The only thing I, we, can do is support her mentally. That's it. I've spent so long thinking about it, so many nights, so many days, so many hours with that helpless, foolish, little dummy."
"You haven't seen it, but I have."
Esme flinched, "...Seen what?"
Hilda, with a crack in her upturned lips, "Her smile. Her empty, lifeless smile. So many times she'd smile at me and say she's fine. So many times she'd smile at me and reassure me. The little dummy doesn't even realise it, but her usual smile is very ugly, you know? Not in the physical sense, but in the feeling held within the smile."
"It's not a happy smile."
"There's only sadness in her smile."
Grinding her nails into her tightly balled fist, "I hate it. Of course, I hate it, how could I not?"
But, smiling helplessly at Esme, at Alora's twin sister, at the one whom she knew, deep down, was the one who most likely could understand Alora the best, "But what can I do? What can we do?"
"So, I smother her with love. For the sake of the girl I've dedicated this useless life to, I will shower her with endless love. So, please, for her sake, Esme, for your twin sister's sake..."
"You know?"
"...please wait here."
Then-
"AHHHHHH-!!!"
-the screams of the girl within echoed strikingly into the girls' ears.
Thud.
Collapsing to her knees, Esme slammed her hands over her ears; she covered the shrieks of her sister out.
She didn't want to hear it.
She didn't want to imagine the pain her dear sister was suffering.
She could still see it, flashes of it-
The memories.
Only a few glimpses, abrupt, but true nonetheless.
Memories of her sister as a baby playing with her in that room.
Memories of her sister as a baby soothing her crying.
Memories of her sister giggling adorably.
...And the final flash, the day they were separated in flames and lightning-
Andthethirdsomething.
'Sister... Sister... Sister...'
Biting her lips, her incisors sliced through the plump flesh, drawing Blessed blood.
Quivering with both palms lapped over her ears; with the cries of her sister drowning out in the background-
Tap.
-a hand landed on her shoulder.
Lifting her head, a pair of ruby-red eyes glistening with tears, but also love.
Profuse, undeniable love.
"Esme."
Hilda layered her palms over the hands covering Esme's ears.
Lowering her lips beside her ears, at a proximately close enough for her voice to slip through their hands, "The little dummy is very dumb. Extremely, hilariously, dumb. Maybe even as dumb as me."
Grinning through her tears, "So, please help me take care of her."
Esme faintly nodded, "Mm."
The screams, however.
Even through the palms covering her ears;
Even through the messy emotions filling her brain;
They never stopped.
-----
The cries didn't stop.
Nor will they ever.
Not now, and certainly not tomorrow.
However, in place of the manic cries echoing gutturally from within the house, the sniffles of a whimpering little girl groaned through the wooden door, reaching the girls' ears.
"...Little dummy?" Hilda called out to the girl within.
Alas, silence.
No response came from the other end; only the creaking of old, rusted hinges arrived with the subtle breeze flowing throughout the caverns.
Oddly enough, neither girl had noticed a specific fact. And not just them, but also the others browsing the three tapestries; The echoes that had initially filled the cavern with each word spoken were missing.
Esme shuffled off the ground with stale eyes with Hilda still standing by her side.
Heartbroken eyes gazed at the door. The lingering cries of her dear sister somberly whispered within her ear canal.
She knew, she long knew, from years ago, that her sister was 'sick'.
But this?
These cries?
This agony?
She hadn't even considered it a possibility in the past.
"Let's go." Whispering hoarsely, Esme didn't think twice before slipping her fingers into Hilda's hand.
She gripped that soft, tender palm tight; she had to find some warmth.
She didn't want to let go.
She didn't want the cold.
She didn't want these emotions.
She never wanted all of this.
But reality was ever crueller than fiction.
Rubbing the back of Esme's hand with her thumb, Hilda reassured Esme and wasted no more time.
Opening the door, the stale air wafted into their noses immediately.
It was dim, making their vision of the sight within harder to capture. It forced them to circulate their Blessings into their eyes, which, consequently, drew the ire of Hilda's Curses. Her eyes briefly flashed a sun-kissed golden hue and a vibrant emerald before settling once again to a ruby-red.
Gazing through the house-
"There." Esme nudged Hilda towards the corner.
Towards the balled-up creature.
Facing them with her silvery-white mask, hollow, dead eyes stared in their direction.
They did not blink.
They did not flinch.
But merely, quietly, desolately, stare into their souls.
A rustling, crackly sound like that of paper tearing shuffled from beneath the mask.
From Esme's dear sister's lips.
"Tapestries."
An ephemeral murmur seeping with the crusted, grating sound of crushed vocal cords reeked from the little girl's lips.
"Take."
Staring into their eyes.
"Me."
A simple but determined order came from her.
"There."
Then, the curled-up girl covered with scattered, golden hair went quiet. All the energy remaining within her was being used up to maintain her consciousness.
This was her limit.
The Book of Heresy was prepared to drop the guillotine on her Soul at any moment.
But she held; barely, dangerously, and, perhaps to a point that would finally push the broken little creature—the Perfect Cursed Doll—beyond the boundary that her unfathomably tough body could handle.
It was a risk that she was willing to bear for the sake of the ones she loved, for the sake of Esme, Hilda, and all those the two girls cared about.
For them, she was willing to break.
Break further than she had ever done before.
And, she was destined to break.
Once the guillotine dropped;
Once the Book of Heresy laid its judgment upon her Soul;
A part of her Soul would cease to be.
"...Okay, little dummy."
Releasing her hold on Esme's hand, Hilda stepped forward to the little dummy's side and knelt by her. Carefully wrapping her arms beneath her body, she lifted her with ease.
Embracing the little dummy in a princess carry, she nodded at Esme, motioned for her to follow, and led her out of the house. She led her to the tapestries that conveyed the truth of what lay outside the boundaries of the Crucible of Light.
Of the accursed lands formed by the maddening hands of the madness.
Behind Hilda's back, Esme eyed a vial lying scattered on the ground right beside where her dear sister had been resting moments ago.
Pocketing it, she then followed Hilda out of the house.
-----
The Canary.
Ruins.
Bird.
Three Tapestries.
I eyed the first tapestry.
The Canary sailing upon undulating, pitch-black waves away from a white crown adorned with three upside-down crosses.
I eyed the second tapestry.
Scattered, wearily ancient ruins; a visage of abodes long lost to the prowling claws of time.
I eyed the third tapestry.
A bird; A sole Canary soaring freely through the darkness into the distance, rushing away from a looming crown.
An empty crown.
...Silently, I observed it all.
I ingrained it all.
Then, lying in Hilda's arms, I released my hold.
The Book of Heresy descended, and, with it, came the guillotine.
-----
Wonderfully horrifying- Pretty light drifted through the fabric of the curtains, draping over my resting body.
Glaringly opening my sluggish eyes, the strands of light flicked my vision open.
...I'm back.
Resting on my bed, the lockless bathroom door sat in the distance, the usually broken wardrobe stood tall to my left, and the leaf-engraved door loomed quietly in the corner by the bathroom door.
Everything was as I remembered it.
How long has it been?
My body was extremely sluggish, my limbs crackled with bolts of pain, and my thought processes almost had a sort of delay to them.
I'm not in a good state.
Plus, I couldn't move as expected.
I don't believe using my Book of Heresy at the moment would be an intelligent choice either.
In fact, the second that thought shot through my brain, a tingling sensation bolted down my spine; it warned me of the consequences of pulling out my Manifestation in my current state.
Breathing softly, I retracted my thoughts back to peaceful imaginations. Imaginations of the ones I loved.
The warnings dissipated soon after, relieving me of the spine-tingling sensation.
I wonder how they returned.
How did Esme convince them after all of their memories were wiped?
Click.
The entrance's door handles turned. The door flung open, sweeping away my remnant thoughts alongside it.
Appearing through the entrance was my lovingly adorable, maturing Hilda.
Her ruby hair was swept over one side of her head, resting comfortably on her shoulder. While her maid's outfit remained neat on her body; I can almost smell the scent of Lily's machinations on Hilda.
She must have gone through it while I was out cold.
...Well, it's probably deserved.
Hilda still isn't the greatest of maids.
But she's one of the greatest people I know.
Smiling-
"Little dummy~"
-Hilda's lips curled upwards the moment she spotted me awake.