Silence Falls

Hermanni grasped Jack’s grief long before he entered his towering stone cell in the secluded Asylum that was constructed miles behind the Psychiatric Hospital…the very place that imprisoned his family. When the Orderly crossed the wet stone threshold into his cell, Hermanni could plainly see his distress in his walk. Still sealed within his medieval cage dangling over the glacial murky waters below, Hermanni silently tilted his head at Jack as he watched him stride over to him. This was the part where the Orderly was supposed to report to him on the goings-on of his family within the Psychiatric Hospital, at least that’s routinely how this went. Hermanni was intrigued when Jack chose instead to pace the stretch of floor back and forth in front of his timeworn cage. Whatever was tormenting the Orderly was still as shocking as when he first learned of it, it hadn’t minimized with time.

Hermanni gave Jack a few minutes to himself so that he could work through his problem and then fill him in on what was wrong. As time ticked on though it didn’t seem that the young man was getting any closer to summarizing the news together. If that was the case, then Hermanni would have to grill him for answers instead…but he didn’t want to resort to that unless he had no choice. Perhaps ASKING if he could read his mind would be the correct way to handle this situation. In a tone that was so soothing it would magically tranquilize the very pent up Jack, he softly inquired. “Shall I see for myself what agitates you so, young Jack, or would you prefer me to wait for your verbal explanation instead?”

Suddenly blanketed with a serenity that quelled his upset stomach and mentality, Jack’s pacing footsteps began to slow before he decided to take a seat on the floor that had dried overtime. Hermanni didn’t receive visitors anymore, and so he hadn’t been plunged down into the waters below his cage, thus leaving him and his cell dry. Drawing his knees up to his chest and then propping his outstretched arms on his knees, Jack let out a weary sigh, not knowing where to start. “I…I don’t know where to begin.”

“Was Otep informed of the plan?” Hermanni asked him, his vibrant green and blue eyes studying a very pale Jack closely between the bars of his cage. Something told him he had to be delicate with the Orderly right now. Something had shaken him, and rather than use his powers to gander within him, he should be patient and become a listening ear. At least that’s what he read in a book once.

“Yeah, I-I told her about it.” Jack muttered lowly, staring unsettlingly at the stone wall across from him.

“And then what happened?” Hermanni proceeded to gently probe from his tiny cage.

Jack rubbed his face with his unsteady hands. “There was…there was a female patient in the Women’s Ward that was getting…getting raped in the next room by a coworker of mine. He’s a man who’s always been blissfully married to a beautiful, outstanding wife who bore him six happy little children.”

Hermanni’s eyes narrowed at the word ‘Rape’ before he murmured aloud it’s definition from a Dictionary he read in back in the Mall he and his family had once called their home. “Raped…as in sexual intercourse without consent?”

Jack solemnly nodded, confirming it to be so. “That’s the only definition I know of.”

Hermanni’s eyes began to glow at the thought of his family going through such an invasive, traumatic, nightmare. A vibrant wisp of smoke that matched his eyes began to trickle from his luminescent orbs and down his porcelain face. His brows furrowed together from an intensifying anger as his voice dropped into a demonic growl. “No…they will not be harmed. I will eradicate EVERY life, EVERY soul from the crust of this planet to its inner core if anyone so much as touches them!”

Jack’s head snapped up to Hermanni, instantly spooked by the two-toned smoke wisping from his eyes. Sensing the extinction of the human race was on the horizon, the Orderly scrambled to his feet and threw up his hands as a sign for the magical being to calm down. Jack had already witnessed that Hermanni was supernatural, but he didn’t know to what extent his magical abilities could go. “Hey hey hey, calm down, man! Calm down! Look, I’ve been keeping a close eye on all of your friends, okay? I got my coworkers thinking that I discipline all of my patients just as ruthlessly as they do because I’m always with them behind closed doors. I made up excuses that I keep the abuse underneath their clothes instead of flaunting it on their faces like everyone else does and they’ve taken to respecting me by keeping their hands off my patients. I’m doing the best that I can here, sir! Hell I just learned today that the nurses in the Women’s Ward thinks I rape Otep simply because I will only speak to her behind closed doors!”

Hermanni’s glowing eyes began to heighten even more as he glared at Jack with a deadly fury. “YOU DID WHAT!?”

“NO! NO, SIR, I’VE NEVER TOUCHED THEM IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM!” Jack quickly yelled to be heard over the sloshing of the dark waters. At this point, he was trying to save himself as the stones ground beneath his feet began to quake followed by the wall surrounding them.

Suddenly, Hermanni’s eyes ceased glowing, the wisps of smoke dissipating into the cold air. With a heavy sigh, he closed his eyes for a few minutes. When he opened them to look down at a cowering Jack, they were filled with regret for losing his temper so swiftly. Hermanni didn’t feel like he deserved to be pardoned for frightening his only remaining ally that had done nothing but risk his neck to protect his family. Still, he softly asked for it anyway. “Forgive me, that was unnecessary. They mean a lot to me, my family. Truly, they are all I have left in this world now. If l lose them…I am nothing.”

Still shaking in his shoes, Jack stuttered out. “H-Hermanni. You have t-to-”

“Trust you. I know, Jack. You are right, you have proven yourself to be nothing but a reliable ally to me. I have absolutely no reason to believe otherwise. I just…I worry. I must remain in this cage until the time is right, then I am allowed to take action.” Hermanni irritably glossed over, no longer staring at Jack.

“What do you mean when the time is right?” Jack tentatively asked, suddenly confused. He had no clue what Hermanni was talking about. “When is it time?”

“When I dream again…that is when I will know.” Hermanni mumbled softly, more to himself.

Jack opened his mouth to grill Hermanni some more, but decided against it. His job always seemed to be protecting Hermanni’s family, nothing more. If he tried to dig for more information, Hermanni could lose his temper with him again and god knows if Jack will be able to prevent him from carrying out his threat. Feeling the need to flee, he began to inch his way towards the only exit while trying to appear collected. “Well…I better get back to work. I don’t like to leave your family alone for too long just in case.”

Hermanni gazed down at his empty palm before glancing back up at Jack, remembering that there was something else he wanted to ask of him. “Wait, Jack.”

The orderly stopped in his tracks and anxiously peaked over his shoulder at Hermanni. “Y-Yes, sir?”

Hermanni looked down at his open palm again to see nine different colored balls the size of marbles. “Come, there is something I want you to give to the others when you see them again.”

Bracing himself, Jack frowned before retracing his steps back to Hermanni’s cage. “What is it?”

Hermanni stuck his hand out from between the bars of his cage to show Jack the colorful marbles cupped in his palm. “I need you to place these in their food for me, no questions asked.”

Jack accepted Hermanni’s gift into his possession, his curiosity now triggered. “But wha-”

“No questions asked, Jack. Do as I say.” Hermanni reminded him firmly, not willing to cooperate.

Jack did waver there for a couple minutes. He had no idea why. His mind wanted to know more but honestly, Hermanni terrified the hell out of him. Nodding to the caged man, Jack agreed. “Okay, I’ll do it.”