Lock

I’ve never quaked in my shoes before, but now I’m quaking. I can’t stay put, my whole body agitated by the adrenaline rushing through my veins as we stand here on the square in the middle of the park.

Will they come?

“They’ll be here soon,” Jules says, watching me tap my foot.

I nod and fold my arms, leaning against the wall while I peer at all the people passing us. I feel tense, as if I’m ready to strike out instantly, even though they’re just people. But I don’t trust them. I don’t trust anyone out here.

I’ve never liked people in general … mostly because I don’t understand them, and they don’t understand me. They accuse me of things I don’t comprehend, and I fail to see why they like living this way.

Add an accident on top of that, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.

People hate me, and I get it.

I’m dangerous. Wild.

I don’t belong with them.

My father warned me too … that I’d never find a home, and that I shouldn’t even try to escape.

Yet I did.

I didn’t believe him either.

He always treated me worse than the people out there, so I thought I could risk it. When I escaped the compound he kept me in, I was determined never to return.

But damn … the outside world was just as unforgiving.

Still, he was wrong when he said I’d never find a home.

I have two now. The island … and her.

My woman.

She trusts me. Loves me unconditionally. Helps me when I need it the most. And what do I have to give in return? Nothing.

I’m out of my element here. I can’t provide, can’t work, can’t give her what she needs the most. A life like all the other people.

A life that doesn’t involve me.

“They’re here.”

I sigh, and my body immediately grows rigid the moment I catch them walking toward us. The girl is small and thin with pearly blond hair, but the guy walking next to her is like twice her size, with muscles to rival mine. He looks younger than I am but still very strong.

That must be him.

My brother.

But when I take a closer look at the girl next to him, my eyes widen.

She looks a lot like …

That girl who died.

* * *

Jules beckons them to come over, and they do. She greets them by shaking hands and exchanging names.

“Juliet,” she says.

The girl doesn’t respond, but her fingers start to move.

“Her name’s Ella. She doesn’t talk to strangers.” His voice is coarse, like mine. “Name’s Cage.”

“Okay … hi!” Jules responds. “Nice to meet you both.”

Cage then throws me a glance, checking me from top to bottom before mumbling, “Is that him?”

Jules nods and steps aside as Cage approaches. He narrows his eyes at me as he inspects me and so do I. I don’t know if I can trust him. If he is who he says he is.

“Lock …” he mumbles. “You definitely look like the one in the picture.”

I nod slowly, grinding my teeth.

“Tell me what the cage looked like,” I say.

I want to hear it from his mouth. Every little detail.

“Glass in a concrete attic with a bed and a shower. Small lights. A fighting ring underneath. Father made me fight others in exchange for women. For her.” He briefly glances at Ella with a gaze so fierce it reminds me of my love for Jules. “She was in that glass prison with me, but we’re free now, and she’s mine,” he says, pointing at the girl named Ella. “I chose her, and she chose me.”

His words do ring true to my own experience. Just the thought of that glass cage gives me goose bumps. But how does he know the exact thing I lived, yet we’ve never met?

The girl suddenly approaches and starts to make strange symbols with her fingers again.

“We were kept apart,” Cage says, translating for her. “And you’re older than I am, so Father probably learned from his experience with you.”

“Yeah. So?”

“Tell me how you escaped,” he asks.

“Father let me out of the compound sometimes. Showed me around. Taught me things about the world outside. It was my reward.”

“So you didn’t get women as a prize?”

“Sometimes … but not a lot.”

He growls and spits on the ground. “Typical.”

The girl starts to use her fingers again.

“She wants to know if you know anything about me.”

I shake my head. “I just saw my face on the television.”

“We’ve been searching for you for a long time,” he interjects, looking me straight in the eye.

There’s a moment of silence, and then out of nowhere, he jumps me.

Or at least, that’s what it feels like, and I’m just about to hit him when I realize he’s hugging me.

I’m incapacitated. Completely blindsided.

Jules tears up a little as I put my hand on Cage’s back and accept his warm embrace.

I didn’t expect this, but it’s welcome.

“Finally …” Cage mumbles as he releases me. “We meet.”

“Shall we go grab something to eat? You guys must be dying to catch up,” Jules says to make it a bit less awkward.

“Dying?” Cage frowns. Ella makes some strange gestures again after which Cage adds, “Ahh … yeah, sure. Why not.”

But as they both turn around, I stay put.

I can’t stop staring at that girl—Ella—and how badly I want to ask that single question that rests on the tip of my tongue.

It rolls out without my permission. “You … you’re related to that girl, aren’t you?”

Everyone stops walking, and Jules frowns at me.

Ella cocks her head and her lips part, but no sound comes out except for a slight groan.

“What girl?” Cage asks.

Jules’s eyes widen, and she slaps her hand over her mouth. “No …”

“Yes,” I say. “It’s her. It has to be.”

Ella makes a few symbols in the air and freezes when I try to approach her. Cage blocks my path.

“Yes,” he says for her. “That girl was her sister.”

I lick my lips and let the information sink in. Jules sits down on a ledge next to me and closes her eyes, sighing. “I can’t believe it. Is this real?”

Cage nods. “But we already knew.”

Both of us look up at the same time. “What?” Jules mutters.

Ella appears from behind Cage and starts to make those motions again. Cage translates for her. “She knew when she saw your picture in the compound. She remembered you. Chased you through the woods. Saw her own sister in your hands.”

I shudder and forget to breathe.

Once again, I’m coming face to face with my mortal sins.

“She saw her die,” Cage adds.

It feels like a stab to the heart.

But Ella still approaches me, her steps soft but deliberate, and she leans down in front of me. Grabs my hand. Squeezes.

For the first time in a long time, my eyes tear up.

I sink to my knees and fall to the ground in front of her, holding my head low.

“I’m sorry. When I escaped, I was so lonely. I didn’t know how to talk to people, how to get them to like me. Everyone was frightened. No one understood me. But your sister … she talked to me. She wasn’t afraid of me. And I just wanted someone to talk to,” I ramble. “I didn’t want her to die. But she fell when she ran away from me, and then you came. I still remember the look on your face.” My hands form fists. I’m that angry with myself. “I’m sorry… I wish I could bring her back.”

People around us are looking at us. At me.

Let them look.

The only thing I care about right now is making things right.

“It’s been a long time,” Cage says. “But she hasn’t forgotten. She loved her sister very much.”

“I will do anything you ask me to. Tell me,” I say, still not looking up. I don’t dare look at them. I took away something she called family. Something I can never replace.

Suddenly, two hands wrap around my face and lift me up.

It’s her … Ella. The girl with the pearly blond hair and the smile of an angel.

She nods.

“But she forgives you,” Cage says.

I stare in disbelief.

Just like that, the load I’ve been carrying for so long falls off my shoulder. Releases me from the chains that have kept me down for so long. And my sins drift away in the wind.

There are only two words I can say. “Thank you.”

It’s quiet for some time. Like a pause in time, but no less important.

A hand on my shoulder follows, squeezes too … It’s Jules. I can smell it.

“You’ve punished yourself enough,” Jules bends over and whispers into my ear. “Forgive yourself.”

I nod a few times, but before I can get up, Cage offers me a hand with a smile.

I take it and smile back.

And together we walk.

Finally united.