Hafelia
|• your words were my motivation •|

No time, not a minute a day. Between seven siblings, Isaac felt the loneliest, even lonelier after his legs became paralysed. He couldn't contact Lily at all, the fact gnawed at his bones, he feared Lincoln had done something to her. It had never occurred to him that his accident that night was Lincoln's doing, but it was. He had never thought that Lily deleted all forms of contact by choice, but she did. He thought he knew, he thought he understood, but he didn't. No one truly cared if he was dead; another burden would just be off their shoulders.

"Isaac?" A small knock brought him back. He was in his room, a big room, it reminded him how lonely he was.

"Come in." He kept his eyes on the sky, the oh-so bright, blue sky. How it was so vast, so void and empty; like his heart.

"Hey." Martha, his carer, approached him slowly. Martha was a thirteen-year-old girl with frizzy hair and brown eyes. She was too young to be a carer, however, she had the best work résumé in comparison to other applicants, so Isaac's parents thought she'd be excellent. They made him feel disabled, not that anything was wrong with that, it made him feel unwanted and odd. It gave his siblings more of an opportunity to mind his existence.

"Why so glum?" Martha asked. Isaac ignored her, he had no interest in talking today, especially after what he overheard. "Come on, only I have the right to be Moody Martha, you can only be Interesting Isaac." She pouted. No matter how hard he tried, she always made him smile.

"Oh, come here, Martha." Isaac said. Martha knelt down as he ruffled her hair. "For a child, you are smart." He added.

"Who said I'm a child?" She displayed an evil smirk.

Isaac sunk back in his chair and whispered. "No one." Martha gave him a skeptical look after which they burst with laughter.

"God, you know how to swing on your moods." She wiped away a tear from the laughter. "Now, tell me what's bothering you," Martha asked.

Isaac cleared his throat and hesitated. "Not here." He shook his head. Martha knew he only said that to make her forget about it, especially because the walls in the Martin mansion were the thickest ones around and no one would have been able to overhear him.

"Then I know just where!" Martha turned on her heels and found Isaac's coat.

"But—"

"Never. No buts." She helped him put on his coat and shoes and then zipped her own. "Have you ever been to the tunnels downstream?"

He shook his head and watched her eyes gleam in delight.

—

The air was calm and wrapped around Isaac like a blanket of cold. Martha has taken him to a tunnel near the stream. It was dark there, the cave almost looming over their heads, but somehow it created a sort of comfort; assurance of a roof above their heads.

Martha gestured him in as she entered herself. Isaac let his automatic chair follow her footsteps and guide him in. His automatic chair was an old model, he preferred the vintage colour and how he had control over it.

It was a musty cave with crumbly rock faces. The rocks were deep mahogany and black. Martha held a glow stick and guided them further. She halted and sat herself down on a boulder.

"Now speak. No one will ever hear you." She folded her arms across her chest and listened attentively.

"I... I overheard Nigel talking to dad." Nigel was Isaac's eldest brother; the heir to the Martin's great fortune. "He was talking about a plan... more like a scheme of how to get rid of this man called Ekon. I don't know who that is, but I do know that he has a daughter, dad was saying how she would be an amazing candidate for the Elite program—"

"Elite program?" Martha was curious, every single word is important, every word holds a secret. She knew that very well.

"Yes, it's a program dad created to prepare highly intelligent children to be able to solve anything that comes their way. It's like a simulation. He kind of stole the idea from Cortex. Anyways, I'm scared that my dad and brother are going to commit murder, that can't happen."

Isaac carried on talking, he explained his fears, but the only thing that interested Martha was the Elite program, especially the fact that it was stolen. She knew Cortex wouldn't have taken that lightly. Everything was important, she knew this may come back to haunt her in the future. Martha made a mental note to record this information into her database.

"... I'm scared they'll end up like Lincoln." Martha's ears perked up.

"Like Lincoln, hmm." She had to pretend she knew what he meant, when Isaac thought someone knew something, he never bothered to keep it a secret.

"Yeah, they'll just become murderers like him," Isaac said.

Murderers? This is interesting

"I still can't believe he killed Emma." Isaac continued.

Martha blinked a few times, she had no clue what was going on. "But magically, Emma is back." She gave him a lopsided smile and focused on the rocks, she desperately needed him to carry on, every little detail was important, every detail held the cusp between death and life.

"The way he set up this crime is impeccable and like you said, she's magically back," Martha remarked.

Isaac bore his gaze into Martha. "Promise me something."

"Promise." Martha plopped herself down onto another rock so she was eye-to-eye with Isaac.

"Will you help me prove him guilty? Bring justice to Emma?" Isaac asked.

Hesitantly, Martha glanced at her hands and explained, "It would've been an honour, and it would've meant a lot. But Isaac, I tested Emma's DNA when I had suspicions, it was the same as a few months ago, before Emma became sort of closed off."

Isaac was relieved, yet skeptical; why had Emma then agreed to his theories? He knew one fact better than anything, nothing could prove science wrong.

"Let's go home." Isaac spun his automatic chair and headed towards the opening of the tunnel.

In the dark, Martha menacingly smiled to herself. She whispered to herself, "Isaac might be a fool but I'm not."

She needed the snippet of information, she needed to know of Lincoln's crimes, for he was the reason her parents were gone, the reason her parents were arrested. In reality, there had been no DNA test, no assurance that the once Emma was the same, Emma. That was enough to prove Lincoln a criminal, enough to make his statement against her parents a lie. Or just to give the Court a reason to think again. Isaac was a friend of Lincoln's, thus Martha knew he would unravel something about him, which was her primary goal when she became his personal carer.

I will bring justice to you Emma, for your brother doesn't deserve to live.

The taste of vengeance burned her mouth but it was the feeling of power in her fist that made her love the feeling.

—

Another twist, another crime, have you put the puzzle together yet?

Is there something that makes you suspicious?

The Elite program, what happened to it?