Caged Poetry Pt. 02

Chapter 7: Careless Mistake

Lily couldn't calm her anxiety the next morning as she reported to Doc Hansel's lab for her lessons with Fredric. She stood in front of the heavy oak door that led into the lab, remembering every heart-pounding detail of her midnight encounter with Fredric. Her skin felt overly warm from the memory of his body pressed against hers and the taste of his mouth. His voice and smell stirred her senses, and his mind left her baffled. There was more to him than she ever imagined, and it frightened her, but it also pulled her to him like a moth to the flame. She was conflicted by her desire to tell Master Hansel what happened. She didn't want to get herself or Fredric in trouble, but she felt like she was betraying her master by keeping dangerous secrets from him. Fredric had violently murdered someone, and he was likely wandering the halls of the castle at night after picking the lock on his cage.

Fredric was quiet and subdued that morning as Doc taught them algebra. Sunlight was shining brightly through the arched windows that lined the upper half of the southern wall, warming Fredric's corner of the lab. After a science lesson concerning air convection, Doc guided Fredric back into his cage so he and Lily could sit at the little oak desk and read poetry. Fredric was seated with his hands in his lap and his eyes on his desk as Lily picked up the poetry book. She opened it, and a piece of folded paper fell out into her lap. She picked it up and unfolded it to discover a handwritten note entitled, "My Heart's Confession." Fredric had written her a poem. Her heart was fluttering as she began to read it.

"Lily... I see and feel you more clearly every day. The embodiment of my desire in the shape of dark hair, warm skin, and bright eyes. A voice like a siren in my mind, singing to awaken my soul, casting a spell of reality where I drift in madness. The opposite of a rock but still a monolith. Your visage decimates the ghosts of my delusions. Your overwhelming allure shatters my anger like ice on a hot anvil. You are an unstoppable compulsion. Like Poseidon's maelstrom and Helios's fire, you burn and drown my senses, a crucible of temptation to reorder my thoughts. Like water escapes a broken pitcher, insanity gives my actions freedom. My strength is emotion. Passion moves through the cage of my mind, reaching for its new obsession. A fire on a hill, a promise of warm pleasure in the midst of cold madness. Let me taste your mouth again, Lily. You tempt me with ecstasy, and not merely base sensation but absolute clarity in a moment of passion. A blissful respite from the trembling in my mind. A focus so sharp it crumbles my inner labyrinth. In your presence, cold gray stones sprout billowy moss and rise toward the warmth of a blue sky. Barren valleys fill with swaying grass and beckon me to sleep in a new heaven. Your touch has awakened Eden and the temptations of the first garden. Lie with me in the fragrant grass. Bring peace to my mind and an ache of ecstasy to my body. Cage me in your clarity and warmth. Smother my demons with your passion before they find me awake."

Lily was trembling as she read the poem. She felt a little breathless by its passionate expression. It gave her a beautiful glimpse of how she affected his mind. She swallowed against the tightness in her throat as she looked at Fredric. His sleepy gaze was still focused on the desk. His honey-colored hair was shining in the morning light. It was hard to believe the man sitting in front of her had written what she just read. She knew one of the men in the dark had actually written it. She cursed under her breath at that thought. She was starting to partition Fredric. She hated to think of him as shattered, but he was.

Tears streamed from her eyes as she quickly folded Fredric's poem and tucked it into her pocket. She glanced across the lab to make sure Master Hansel hadn't seen her reading it. Doc was writing away with his quill at his desk by the stairs. She quickly wiped her face and picked up the poetry book again. She flipped through it to make sure there weren't any more hidden notes. The pages Fredric had ripped out had been carefully tucked back into the book. She smiled when she discovered them. She selected one of those poems to read. She knew sleepy-Fredric enjoyed them tremendously. Angry-Fredric had revealed that to her.

Midway through their poetry hour, Doc Hansel excused himself to the water closet at the bottom of the stairs. Lily didn't mind. Fredric rarely moved in the mornings, and she was determined to pretend the day was normal in spite of the anxious gnawing in her gut. She had to tell someone about the poem, but she didn't want to show it to Master Hansel yet. She had too many emotions and less-than-clever actions to sort through before she opened up to him. Her biggest fear was angering the master and losing her access to Fredric. Ruby would have to be her confidant.

As Lily began reading the "Night Clarity" poem, a puffy cloud drifted across the sun, darkening the lab into a dungeon and sending Lily's heart into her throat. Master Hansel hadn't turned on the artificial lights that morning, and he was still occupied in the water closet. A soft chuckle from across the desk sent goose flesh creeping up her arms. Fredric was awake. Lily closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm the fear that suddenly flared up inside her. It was dangerous to show Fredric fear. She wanted to be confident that he wouldn't hurt her, but she couldn't.

She stifled a gasp when she felt the poetry book pulled out of her hands. She opened her eyes to find Fredric's handsome face an inch from her nose. A warm hand touched her neck as soft lips pressed against hers. She moaned softly as he kissed her tenderly. He tasted wonderful, and the warmth he provoked inside her eased her anxiety. Sweet-Fredric was kissing her. He was the one that wrote the poem. Her heart was fluttering in pure delight as she touched his cheek and eagerly returned his kiss. After many heart-pounding seconds, he slowly pulled away and looked into her eyes. His expression was alert and full of longing.

Suddenly, a familiar noise from across the lab turned the sweet moment into an instant of terror. Master Hansel had come out of the water closet and threw the switch on his light generator. The lab would be filled with light in less than a minute. The gentle hand on her neck suddenly grabbed the back of her hair and used it to hold her steady. A sinister smile had darkened Fredric's expression as his eyes filled with wild anger.

"I told you I was fucking sick of those poems, and you read them anyway," he growled as he glared at her. Then his expression softened into a smirk. The fear in her eyes delighted him. "Oh, my sweet Lily, are you afraid of me?" he whispered close to her lips. He was tempted to kiss her again.

"No," she stammered. "Fear and surprise are two different things," she grumbled in defiance.

"Not to me," he chuckled as he leaned down and kissed her throat, provoking genuine terror inside her. "I love it when you're scared. It makes my whole body hungry," he whispered.

She shuddered all over when she felt his overly sharp teeth drag across the skin of her throat, threatening to shatter what was left of her calm. He chuckled when he felt her trembling. His hot breath was making her skin burn. She didn't know if he was teasing her or genuinely considering ripping her throat out. Suddenly, light flooded the room as the generator came up to speed, provoking an annoyed groan from Fredric. He drew away from Lily, wrapped his arms around his head, and laid it on his desk. Lily heard familiar boot steps approaching, but she didn't dare take her eyes off of Fredric.

"Lily, are you all right?" Doc Hansel asked as he stood just outside of the cage. He had seen what happened in the terrifying minute it took for the lights to come on.

Lily gulped and nodded. She kept her eyes on Fredric as she slowly stood and left the cage. To her astonishment, Master Hansel pulled her into his arms and hugged her. She could feel his heart pounding against hers. He had been scared for her, and that realization shattered what was left of her calm. She broke into sobs against his chest.

"I am so sorry, Lily. I foolishly forgot the overhead lights this morning. I never meant to be so careless with you," he whispered as he cradled her head against his chest.

Doctor Hansel locked Fredric in his cage and escorted Lily out of the lab. He walked with her to the kitchen, where they found Ruby and Mindy preparing lunch. Ruby gasped when she saw Lily's tear-streaked face and hurried over to embrace her.

"What happened?" Ruby demanded as she glared at Master Hansel.

"We had an unpleasant incident this morning, and it was mostly my fault. No one was hurt. It just gave us a fright," he explained before he turned his guilty gaze on Mindy. "I think it would be good if you and Monty took Lily and Ruby with you into Clairemont tomorrow morning. I'll give you some extra spending money. Take Henry with you too. Enjoy yourselves at my expense, please," he said with a charming smile before he turned his misty blue gaze back on Ruby.

Ruby sighed and shook her head at her master. He was bribing them for forgiveness. She knew something pretty terrible happened if it had come to that. Master Hansel retreated with his and Fredric's lunch wrapped in a bundle under his arm before the servants sat down for their midday meal. Ruby couldn't get an explanation out of Lily with Mindy, Monty, and Henry close by, so she requested that Lily accompany her into the meadow to pick mushrooms for supper.

Lily was quiet as they strolled through the fragrant wildflowers towards the brook. The birds were singing in the woods nearby as sleepy summer clouds drifted across the sun. They looked like silver-lined cotton balls in the endless expanse of blue. The blissful day was perfect comfort for Lily. She took a deep breath without her insides fluttering as she sat in the grass next to Ruby.

"Lily, please tell me what happened this morning. Master Hansel can be careless in his pursuit of discovery. He neglects himself more often than not. I hope he's not also neglecting you," she said as she wrapped her arm around her friend's shoulder and pulled her close.

"It was a simple mistake," she whispered. "I don't hold it against the master. I'm more distressed by my feelings for Fredric. He wrote this for me," she said as she dug Fredric's poem out of her pocket and handed it to Ruby.

Ruby unfolded the piece of parchment and read it with her brow furrowed.

"My God, that strange young man wrote this about you?" she asked in astonishment.

"He did. What do you know about him, Ruby?" she asked as she looked at her beautiful friend.

Ruby's soft blue eyes looked worried as she gazed at the poem. She reached up and brushed a stray lock of blond hair off of her cheek and tucked it behind her ear, but the breeze caught it and blew it across her eyes.

"I know very little about him, considering he has lived in the castle for a year now," she sighed and gave the note back to Lily. Then she grabbed the loose hair and tucked it under her white maid cap. "Master Hansel and the groundskeeper escorted the young man into the castle in chains. He had a bag over his head. He was fighting and growling the whole time. I had never seen anything like it. He's been locked unseen in the master's lab ever since. He hasn't been out in a year that I know of. I thought he was simply mad, but a simple madman could not have written a poem like that. Please tell me what's going on before I personally go down there to find out."

"No, Ruby, don't ever go down there," Lily said as she looked at her worriedly.

"Why?" she demanded.

"Fredric is crazy, and he hates strangers. He is deceptive, charming, intelligent, dangerous, and not what he appears to be most of the time."

Ruby stared at her with her brow furrowed again.

"Lily, that doesn't make any sense."

"Exactly! That's why he's so frustrating! One minute he's confessing his love through a beautiful poem, and the next minute he's threatening to rip my throat out with his teeth! I think I'm making his madness worse!" she wept.

"Lily, love, calm down. You do need a day of shopping," Ruby sighed as she hugged her distraught friend.

Chapter 8: Dark Conversations

Murdoch Hansel was disappointed by Ruby's disapproving glare as he returned to his lab with his and Fredric's lunch. He knew his beloved mistress would have many choice words for him that night. He entered the lab to find it dim. The overhead lights were off, and the generator was silent. He closed and locked the door behind him before he strolled down the stone steps to check on the generator. The primary wire had been ripped out of the back of the box again. Doc grumbled a curse under his breath as he drew the sword hidden inside his ruby studded cane. Then he paced through the shadowy lab until he stepped into view of Fredric's cage. It was empty, and the door was standing wide open. He glanced at the fireplace to see the poker was missing again.

"Fredric, I'm in no mood for these games. Get back in your cage, please," he called in annoyance.

His command was met with a sinister chuckle from across the room. Doc sighed and began pacing around the cluttered shelves so he could search the shadows. The shelves created many dark hiding places in the back of the lab.

"I'm disappointed in you, Fredric. You scared Lily half to death this morning. You should be ashamed of yourself," he scolded.

"I scared you too," Fredric hissed as he jumped out of the shadows and swung the iron poker at Doc's head.

Doc parried the blow and backed into the open space in front of the cage. Fredric was smiling like a devil as he followed him. Doc watched him carefully as he began stalking around him, looking for another opportunity to attack. Doc was beginning to regret teaching Fredric how to fence. He had hoped it would give him a little more structure, but Fredric seemed to incorporate it into his madness.

"You didn't scare me, but you made me nervous. I'll admit that. I was concerned you had forgotten my warnings."

Fredrick chuckled and gave him a fanged smile.

"Forgetting and disregarding are two different things," he hissed as he lunged at the doctor again.

Doc met his charge with equal ferocity. The speed and power behind Doc's attack made Fredric stumble, and he took the opportunity to kick his feet out from under him. Fredric hit the stones with a thump as the poker clattered across the floor. Doc smiled down at him for a moment, feeling slightly vindicated for the trouble Fredric had caused him that morning.

"Now, get your ass back in that cage before I toss your lunch in the fireplace," he ordered.

Fredric growled at him before he climbed off the floor and returned to his symbolic prison. The cage had ceased to be a real prison as soon as Fredric recovered enough clarity to pick the lock. Doc caught him sneaking out one night and realized he would have to reason with him to keep him under control. If that didn't work, he planned to simply kill him and return his body to the constable of Clairemont. Thus ending his remarkable experiment. But, miraculously, Fredric began playing a game of control with his new master. Doc laid out his expectations and the consequences of disobedience, and Fredric complied in his own twisted way. His behavior fascinated Doc.

Fredric's emotions and state of being were extreme and unbalanced, and they were often tied to external stimulants. Doc wasn't sure how much of the behaviors were trained into him. Fredric snapped into a different personality at the drop of a pin, but bright light consistently made him tired while darkness woke him up. Confronting strangers always made him angry when he was alert, and seeing someone frightened excited his mischievous spirit to an extreme.

Doc suspected Fredric was strongly empathetic, and it caused his personality to change. If he didn't want to experience someone's fear, then he would switch to the Fredric that enjoyed scaring people. Fredric had an unhealthy obsession with other people's fear, but he never expressed any himself. Doc was determined to produce healthy fear in Fredric again. Lily had shown Doc that Fredric was capable of romantic love, which convinced him of Fredric's potential to recover some sanity.

Doc followed Fredric into his cage and sat across from him at the little oak desk. He laid out their roast beef sandwiches and a napkin full of fresh fruit. Doc relaxed in his chair as he began eating his sandwich. Fredric was glaring at him.

"The clouds are thin today. We could lose this pleasant gloom at any moment. You should eat before you fall asleep again," Doc suggested.

"I'm not hungry," he hissed as he turned his gaze to the floor.

Doc was pleased to see a tear fall down Fredric's cheek.

"You regret your actions, don't you?" he said knowingly.

Fredric ignored his observation, and that confirmed the truth in it.

"Fredric, did you choose to act aggressively towards Lily?"

He answered with silence again. Doc suspected that meant he was ashamed to admit what happened.

"Well, since you won't talk about yourself, let's talk about Lily. How much is she holding back from me concerning you?"

The smile that brightened Fredric's face told him more than he would ever verbally admit.

"A lot," he chuckled as his gaze drifted towards the window.

That simple action intrigued Doc. Fredric rarely turned his gaze towards the brightest light in the room, but he had done it twice at the mention of Lily's name that week.

"Indeed. Should I be worried about that?" Doc pressed.

"I don't think so," he said with a smirk.

"Fredric, I need you to be serious now. I'm not comfortable with the amount of freedom you enjoy when you act aggressively towards someone as precious as Lily. You boldly claim you're innocent in the face of a murder conviction. Then you turn around and display the behavior indicative of a murderer. Do I need to permanently lock you in here? Are you a danger to my house?" he demanded.

"No," he hissed. His breathing was excited as he glared at the doctor.

"I'm not convinced," he spat as he stood and drew his cane sword.

Fredric didn't even flinch as Doc pressed the tip of the blade into his throat, piercing the skin. Doc sighed and shook his head as he watched blood drip down his neck. Fredric was numb to threats of physical violence. It was a boring game to him if he couldn't be the aggressor.

"What is this about, Murdoch?" Fredric hissed as he narrowed his eyes at the doctor. "Are you jealous of Lily's obsession with me? Are you the only person allowed to be obsessed? You should just kill me then. You can bury me under the floor and keep me here forever," he whispered as he grabbed the blade and pulled it harder against his throat, forcing the steel deeper into his skin.

Doc grumbled at him and wrenched the blade out of his grip, cutting his palm and fingers. Fredric gave him a mocking smile before he reached over and picked up his sandwich, dripping blood all over it in the process. He paid no mind to his dripping wounds as he proceeded to eat his lunch. Fredric's previous owner had conditioned him to enjoy the taste of fresh blood. Doc hadn't figured out a way to reverse that disgusting habit yet. Fredric had been forced to act like a vampire in a popular freak show for an unknown number of years. His filed teeth were a constant reminder of that abuse. His canines had been sharpened while the teeth around them were filed shorter. Doc sighed and left the cage to retrieve his medical kit. Fredric allowed Doc to treat his hand as he finished his sandwich.

"I need some reassurance before I dismiss your behavior today," Doc began as he tied off the bandage. "I brought that beautiful maid here at your request. She has a positive effect on you in some areas, but if your behavior regresses or ceases to improve, I'll have to terminate her. I'll simply sell her to the lowest bidder," he said as he watched Fredric for a reaction.