killer. He felt no guilt for taking someone’s life; in fact he relished it. There was no feeling of fear when he killed. But in that moment, the fear of unlocking his past blazed in his heart like an arrow. Fear of what horrors he might discover when the mental blockage was removed. But he just nodded.
Gabriel laid his hand over Diel’s free one. “Perhaps this will give your soul peace. Perhaps …” Gabriel nodded as if agreeing with a silent thought. “Perhaps this was the real key to your salvation all along.”
“Yeah,” Diel managed to say, though he was pretty sure that key to salvation was lying next to him, gripping his hand tightly as if she feared he would fall away if she let go.
Diel thought he just might.
“I’ll be praying over you as this happens,” Gabriel promised, his rosary already in hand.
Diel didn’t care for prayer, didn’t give a fuck for religion of any kind, but he cared for Gabriel. Just then, the bedroom door opened, and Naomi, Candace and Jo came back inside. Naomi had a small bag in her hands. She approached the bed timidly.
“Can I stay here with him?” Noa asked her sister.
Naomi nodded, and Gabriel motioned for his brothers to give her some space. Only Sela stayed beside the bed, leaning against the wall by the headboard. Naomi placed the bag on the bed right next to Diel’s leg. She pulled out a small flashlight. The room was so silent they could have heard a pin drop.
Naomi closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. Noa was a statue beside Diel, her worry for Naomi obvious by her tense body. Naomi’s hands were shaking, but when she opened her eyes, she stood and turned to face the rest of the room.
She opened and closed her mouth several times before she said, “Pl … please be … si-silent.” Noa’s breathing hitched at the sound of her sister speaking aloud. Diel could clearly hear that some of Naomi’s tongue had been cut off. She had a heavy, thick lisp. Her lips tried to form around words in lieu of what the tongue should naturally do, and it was clear by her weak voice that she rarely spoke, as if her vocal cords were stiff from disuse. There was a heavy dose of embarrassment in it too, of fear of what the people in the room would think.
Diel saw a wave of proud smiles pour toward her from her sisters … then she turned back to him.
Noa’s hand tightened to its maximum strength around his. Naomi swallowed again, another build-up to speaking aloud. “I am going to hypnotize you,” she said. Diel concentrated hard to pick out exactly what she was saying. Some of her words were muffled, difficult to decipher. “I will try my best to unlock what is plaguing your dreams.” She gave him a flicker of a smile. “I will try to give you some answers … some peace.” Diel nodded, and Naomi sat beside him, her petite body stiff. “I will have to touch you.” He felt his body lock up, repelling it. But Noa ran her thumb up and down the back of his hand in comfort. He turned to her. She nodded at him in encouragement.
Diel took a deep breath. He wouldn’t hurt Naomi. Noa trusted he wouldn’t hurt her sister. He had to trust himself too.
He turned back to Naomi. She held the flashlight up and switched it on. A bright red dot shone directly into his eyes, making him flinch. “Stare into the light.”
Diel fought through his discomfort and stared at the red light. “Just keep staring at the light, don’t look away.” Naomi’s heavy lisp and odd way of pronouncing words sounded like a lullaby of sorts to Diel’s ears; her tone was melodic. His tight body began to loosen as that red dot became all that he could see, its hazy walls swelling to engulf the room.
His brothers faded away to nothing—even his hand in Noa’s no longer became all he could feel. It was as if the red light brought warmth, like the relieved feeling of being caught out in the winter rain and then sinking into a deep hot bath afterward.
His eyes lost focus on the light, and he felt a rhythmic tapping on the back of his free hand. The light mixed with the tapping and Naomi’s soft instructions made his body begin to relax, tension seeping out of him. He took deep,