What Happened In Paradise?

First Visit: After the Full Moon

Sarah shoulders Maxwell’s weight to a chair and drops him in it.

“This will end badly.” Sarah paces away from Maxwell. He should pounce on her back. He’s weak, but he can catch her off-guard. The rest of the soldiers are still in the back. Maybe he has a window of opportunity to flee this dreaded plantation and these psychotic people.

Sarah turns, walks over to him. She reaches for his straps; Maxwell pulls his hands towards his chest. Sarah grabs his hand, squeezes his wrist; Maxwell winces then tries to conceal it. There’s no way he could have overpowered Sarah in his current state, not even if he took her by surprise. He should have knocked her unconscious when her back was turned to him. Right. Because that worked so well the first time. Sarah releases Maxwell’s hand, throws her hands in the air.

“Why do I always have to monitor their messes?” Sarah asks.

Maxwell sees another opening. “You…you shouldn’t. That’s not your job. You do so much for them…”

Sarah eyes him.

“You do so much for them and they don’t even value you.” Too far. He went too far. He’s being too obvious.

“What do you think they will do to me if I release you?” Sarah asks.

Maxwell falls silent.

“That is what you want, right? You want me to release you.”

Maxwell nods slowly. Then he slides to the edge of the chair, nods feverishly. “Please. I know you don’t want to do this. Whatever they want to do to me, you don’t want to do it.”

“You do not know what I want.”

“I do…I do know that you don’t want to do this.”

“I have already done this.” She narrows her eyes; the intensity of her gaze frightens Maxwell. He slides back; he’s defeated, without hope. Sarah is no more merciful than the others.

Sarah turns her back to him for a brief moment. When she faces him again, her face has softened, the hard lines have evened out.

“I should let you go,” Sarah says. “They will probably kill me again. But what do I care? I have lived enough.”

“Yes, you should. You should release me. Wait…What?”

“I did this so I could escape, but there is no escaping this place. That is our curse. To be haunted and ruled in life and in death.”

Maxwell waits for Sarah to start making sense.

“If we are lucky, the old woman will finally get rid of father.” Sarah sits in the chair across from Maxwell. “Maybe mercy will shine on us after all. Maybe we will both be able to escape.”