Chapter 5: The Trip of Loneliness

The morning after the disastrous concert was a troublesome one for the entire Knight family. After clouding her entire family with shame from the accident she inflicted upon all of Anthemella, a vulnerable Siren locked herself away in her bedroom and refused to speak to anyone. For hours she remained still on her mattress, sobbing into her pillows as silently as she possibly could. While hiding from the rest of the world, the rest of her family were downstairs in the kitchen discussing the matter at hand.

“We should have never agreed to have her up on that stage and perform in front of all the subject like that,” her mother whispered to her husband across the table. “She was not ready to be placed into such a position.”

“My dear… I owe you an apology,” Cleelor said as he took a sip of his tea. “I should have trusted your judgement and heeded all of your concerns about our child. What happened last night… I mean I still cannot even begin to process it.”

Sitting in-between the couple at the dining table, Lyndora joined in on the conversation with a low voice. “Now Arina, Cleelor, y’all listen. What happened last night was no one’s fault. Not yours for letting her go through with the solo and certainly not my grandbaby for trying to bring some culture to this kingdom. But we have a problem here that cannot go unaddressed. Fortunately everyone is going to recover from their wounds but this was way too close a call. Someone could have died. For the love of all my Lords, there were children in attendance…”

Arina cut her mother-in-law off out of discomfort. “I know. There is no need to go over all the possibilities of what else could have taken a tragic turn. I’ve been up all night with those haunting thoughts as it is.”

Lyndora cleared her throat as looked down at the steam rising from her cup of tea. “Is that so?” she said as the heat of the tea crept along her aged face. “Well, have you considered what the response is going to be to this child’s actions?”

“What do you mean, mother?” Cleelor asked with a concerned look on his face.

“Boy what do you think I mean?” Lyndora said with an aggravated tone fueled by her concern. “The Gospels themselves witnessed Siren’s overwhelming power. Do you really think they are not discussing the mess she has caused as we speak?” the grandmother to the outcast said as she sipped from her tea.

“Oh dear… they could lock her away in the dungeon,” Arina said as her mind began to go down a list of possible punishments Siren will have to answer for. “Or they could banish our baby to a different dimension…”

Cleelor shook his head hearing this talk of Siren being taken from him. “No! I won’t allow it. No one, not even the Gospels, shall take another child from me,” he hissed across the table.

Lyndora sighed as she dropped her head in sorrow. “Honey you need to be realistic. It doesn’t matter what we want nor does it matter what Siren wants anymore. The truth of the matter is that her power has created more harm than good. Her fate lies with the Lords now…”

As quiet as her elders tried to remain, Siren could still hear every single thing they were saying. From their grief to their worry, her sonic hearing that accompanies her sonic scream allowed her to unwillingly ease drop on the entire conversation taking place on the floor below her. Now, not only was she feeling the upmost guilt about the pain she caused at the memorial ceremony, but now she’s unsure about what resentment she was going to have hurled at her the moment she ever decided to show her face again.

She sat up in her bed with shriveled tear ducts and a heart flooded with despair. The sounds of her unlively exhales filled the atmosphere around her and started to drown out her family’s conversation. Eventually she managed to completely take her attention off of the debate downstairs and focused on something that always brought light to her during the darkest of days; the picture of her brother on her nightstand.

She studied the portrait of him that was taken months before his tragic demise. It always took her breath how handsome her older brother looked in his new soldier uniform her earned as a new recruit to the Angelic Arms. But as mighty as he looked, it was those green eyes, soft brown skin, and his beautifully twisted hair that she admired the most from it. All of those features were a sign of the familiarity and the innocence from her childhood she had strayed from over time.

“Oh bro…” she spoke to his picture. “How I miss having you here in paradise with me. Well, thanks to me it’s not paradise anymore. Ever since this curse came to me a year ago on the day of your death, I’ve felt so lost like an asteroid wandering towards the blazing sun. Every single day I walk past your room and see those dusty instruments stings beyond compare. I don’t know where you are, brother, but I know you’re with me. So please wrap around me with all the protection you have to provide ‘cause truth is I don’t know what my fate is beyond this point. I don’t know where I’m heading, but I know that this place can no longer be my home. I must find a way out of Anthemella for the sake of all the angels…” she rambled her thoughts to the picture. In an act of comfort, she then concluded her quiet rant with the closing lyrics of her solo.

“I call to you, hear my desperate pleaaa.

Please, oh please, release me, set me freeeeee.”