Revenge and Loss

Nero spent the next few hours restless. First, he banged on the door and screamed, then he paced restlessly up and down the room, and then he sat on the floor and sobbed.

Where had his sister gone? What did they do with her? When will she come back?

Over time, many questions and fears built up in his mind. Then, after probably several hours, Eliza finally reappeared in the room. Nero stood up delightedly and called her name. But it stuck in his throat when he finally caught sight of her.

She was clean. That was probably the first thing Nero noticed in his shock. He was covered in dirt, and Eliza was no different when she was dragged out earlier.

But now she was almost flashing. The dirt was completely gone as if she had just fallen into a traveling river.

Also, her clothes had been renewed, so at least it seemed. For what was once probably supposed to be a beautiful white dress, was now torn and hung in tatters.

Then, at last, the boy's mind finally took in what was important. Eliza was injured. She was bleeding everywhere from wounds that looked like they were caused by hard blows. Her scalp was also bleeding in places where her hair seemed to have been pulled out.

One of her fingers was twisted in an awkward direction, and her right arm was clearly dislocated.

Then Nero's gaze met hers. Her eyes were full of pain and sadness, and there was an emptiness in them that he did not know from her.

"Eliza...wha..." stammered Nero, trying to get a word in edgewise.

The guard had already disappeared again and closed the door behind him.

Tears ran down his sister's eyes and he slowly walked up to her, touching her gently on the arm. Eliza flinched and backed away from him. Then her eyes finally came to their senses and cleared, and she looked at him.

"What happened? What did they do to you?" asked Nero in a hysterical voice.

Eliza was silent for a moment, a dozen emotions flitting across her gaze as she finally smiled and replied:

"Don't worry Nero, it's all part of the plan. These injuries are only superficial and don't hurt at all."

Even then, in his younger years, he saw the lie she was telling him, but he didn't want to dwell on it. Eliza smiled and put her hand on his shoulder,

"Don't worry, we'll get out of here. I promise you that."

She pulled him to her and squeezed him tightly, taking him in her arms.

Her warmth enveloped him and he believed that despite all the danger and problems, everything would be all right again. Eliza detached herself and smiled at him once more, and then lay down in bed to sleep.

But the next day, she did not smile anymore.

Again the guard came to the cell and dragged Eliza out. Again she disappeared for a few hours, during which Nero waited in despair, and again she reappeared. Washed and cleaned, in new clothes, but with even more injuries and wounds.

She tried to smile and stammered out some words that were probably meant to be reassuring, but they were not. Then she lay down in her bed, her back to Nero.

Nero could not sleep that night. He was too horrified by his sister's sobs that went on throughout.

The next day she did not even try to smile. There were no words, no attempts to reassure him, only tears and silence.

The days after that were not even that...

For seven days this event was repeated. A guard came in, took Eliza, dragged her out.

Many times Nero tried to stop her, but the guard just hit him and threw him back into the cell. After that Eliza disappeared for a few hours, and then came back fresh but broken. And not only physically but also mentally.

She no longer cried. She no longer reacted to Nero's questions or words. She no longer ate. She was only there. She didn't even lie down in bed anymore, she just fell on the floor and stayed there.

Her eyes were empty. No emotions, no pain, no hatred, not even love or affection were to be recognized in this look.

Nero wanted to help her, but he could do nothing. Until one evening when the guard finally made a mistake and forgot to lock the door.

As usual, the guard came into the room and grabbed Eliza, who didn't even struggle anymore, but just hung in the man's arms like a sack of potatoes. She had become thin, extremely thin. She had been morbidly thin before, but now she was just skin and bones.

"LEAVE HER ALONE! CAN'T YOU SEE SHE'S ALREADY IN A SHITTY WAY!" Screeched Nero and attacked with waving arms, but the guard just laughed and kicked him back into the cell. He turned and closed the door behind him and disappeared.

Nero lay gasping on the floor, barely able to breathe. The guard had hit him directly in the pit of his stomach. Slowly he sat up and looked at the door. He immediately noticed that the usual jingling and clicking of the door latch and the many keys were not to be heard.

Nero waited a short time and then went to the door. Carefully, he tried to open it and sure enough, it swung open with a soft creak. Nero backed away, startled, afraid that someone might have overheard.

He waited probably another five minutes before slowly opening the door. He peered out into the hallway and found that everything was completely dark and there was no torch or guard in sight.

Nero finally took a deep breath and walked out of the hallway and cautiously crept a good distance before suddenly turning around and running back into the cell.

He went inside and over to the bed, grabbed the old knife, and then headed back out into the hallway. Slowly he crept straight out until he finally arrived at the long spiral staircase. He crept up the stairs, ears pricked and tense, on guard for any noise or movement.

When he reached the top, he finally saw the first torches in the distance. Slowly he crept toward them and then walked along the edge of the circle of light, in the shadows where he could not be recognized. In fact, he was happy with the dirt on his skin, which gave him a natural camouflage, as otherwise his bright white skin would have been seen with ease.

For the next few minutes, he did nothing but move from light circle to light circle. Every now and then he would see guards coming towards him and then he would dash to the wall and press himself against it, clutching the knife tightly. But none of the guards seemed to notice him and just walked past him.

He really didn't know what he was looking for. He passed many doors, but they were all firmly locked and it was dark behind them. It took about fifteen minutes before he finally spotted the guard at the end of the hallway who always came to pick up Eliza walking away from a door.

It was not the same one who had brought them here, but another one, a little stouter and shorter. Nero waited a moment and then crept to the door. Behind the door candles and torches were burning, and he heard something.

It sounded like...moans and...the creaking of an iron bed frame.

Slowly Nero opened the door and looked inside.

Immediately he froze.

Nero saw his sister lying on a big bed and on top of her, there was an old man. Nero recognized him immediately.

It was the priest. The priest who had burned her mother not even a month ago. Of course Nero recognized him, he had his face burned into his mind.

The furious rage spread through Nero again, as if he were standing tied up on the tribune again, watching his mother crumble to ashes.

Nevertheless, he made no sound but simply crept up behind the man, who was moaning and gasping, and was torturing Nero's sister.

Nero didn't hesitate for even a second. He just raised the knife and rammed it into the man's neck. It was quite hard, but Nero somehow got a huge boost in strength and the knife went in. Immediately the priest froze. Nero yanked the knife back out and shoved the man. Fortunately, the man was already old and scrawny, so it was no challenge at all.

The priest fell to the ground and Nero landed on top of him and jammed the knife into his throat. Blood splattered everywhere and blinded Nero briefly as he pulled the knife back out, but he didn't care.

The man underneath him was retching and desperately trying to catch his breath, but his desperate fight for life was getting weaker and weaker.

Nero leaned down to him and hissed:

"Unfortunately...unfortunately you die before I could take your family and friends from you. I wanted you to see me rip out their hearts and they die before your eyes. But anyway, this has its irony too. Killed by a little kid. Hihihihi."

Nero chuckled softly as he stared into the pale eyes of his family's murderer. Then, when he was finally dead, the anger that ate at him also disappeared. He stood up and ran to Eliza. He grabbed her hand and looked at her. Tears formed in his eyes.

"Everything will be fine, Eliza, the priest who caused our mother to perish is already dead." He whispered to her, but Eliza's eyes were empty and she didn't even look directly at him.

This had been too much for her still young mind, it was broken. She was breathing heavily and Nero lifted her and dragged her to the door, but just in that second, the guard reappeared and stepped into the opening.

His gaze was cold and unmoving as he met Nero staring at the priest's corpse. He simply walked forward and punched Nero in the face. Nero stumbled backward, dropping Eliza to the ground. Her head hit the ground hard and blood spread.

Nero screamed and ran forward, but the guard just hit him again in the face and immediately everything went black before his eyes. He awoke in his cell with a hellish headache and immediately panicked and looked around. Relief swept through him when he finally saw his sister lying on the ground.

"Eliza, thank God you're okay." Said Nero and dragged himself over to her, but immediately he noticed something strange. He couldn't hear her breathing.

"Eliza..." said Nero weakly, arriving at his sister and grabbing her by the to shake her.

Her body was cold.

Panic seized Nero.