Chapter 12: A Promise Kept

The sun sat low in the sky, casting a golden hue over the asylum’s courtyard. The air was crisp, carrying the scent of damp earth and decaying leaves. A faint breeze rustled through the neglected trees, the branches swaying gently against the towering iron fences that encased them.

Elliott sat on the same weathered stone bench as before, his posture relaxed but his mind far from it. The sunlight washed over his skin, but it did little to chase away the ghostly pallor he had developed from months—years—spent inside gray walls.

It had been one month since Gwen made her promise.

One month, and she had kept it.

Every day, without fail, she had come to him.

She spent five hours with him, longer than any nurse had ever spent with a single patient. Then, when those five hours were up, she would leave to tend to others.

But she always came back.

She had never broken her word.

And that terrified Elliott more than anything.

Because it meant he was starting to believe her.

Starting to believe that she wouldn’t disappear.

Starting to believe that maybe—just maybe—not everyone who cared about him would be ripped away.

But he knew better than to hope.

Hope was dangerous.

Hope got people killed.

A shadow moved beside him, pulling him from his thoughts.

Gwen sat down next to him, sighing as she stretched out her legs. “I swear, getting you out here is harder than sneaking out past curfew when I was a teenager,” she joked.

Elliott glanced at her, arching a brow. “They fought you on it?”

Gwen huffed, crossing her arms. “They always do. But I’m persistent.”

Elliott gave her a look that clearly said I know.

Gwen smirked. “I might have made a bit of a scene in the head nurse’s office,” she admitted, tapping her fingers against the fabric of her uniform. “Told them that keeping you locked away all day wasn’t doing anyone any favors.”

Elliott’s fingers twitched slightly before he signed, “You didn’t have to do that.”

Gwen shrugged. “Yeah, well… I wanted to.”

Elliott looked away, staring down at his hands. He flexed his fingers absentmindedly, as if the words he wanted to say were tangled in them.

This was dangerous.

Not just being out here—but being around her.

Because he could feel it happening.

That pull. That warmth in his chest that had started growing every time she looked at him like he was someone worth fighting for.

She had spent more time with him than anyone in his entire life—including his own mother.

And he didn’t know what to do with that.

Gwen kicked a small rock in front of her, watching it tumble across the cracked courtyard path. “You look awful, by the way.”

Elliott blinked. “Thanks.”

She chuckled. “I mean it. You’re pale as hell. The sun’s probably thinking, who the hell is this ghost sitting in my courtyard?”

Elliott exhaled sharply through his nose—a silent almost laugh.

Gwen beamed.

That reaction alone made her chest feel lighter.

It had taken a full month of daily visits, small conversations, quiet companionship—but she was finally getting somewhere.

At first, Elliott had been distant. Guarded.

She didn’t know why, but she didn’t push.

She just stayed.

And slowly, he started responding more.

He still wasn’t open, not entirely—but he wasn’t closing himself off like he had when she first met him.

And for some reason, that made her happy.

Dangerously happy.

She wasn’t supposed to care this much.

She wasn’t supposed to feel something stir inside her whenever he looked at her the way he did—like he was trying to figure out whether he was allowed to believe she was real.

But she did.

And she didn’t know how to stop it.

Gwen nudged his arm lightly. “So, tell me, Mr. Ghost Boy,” she teased, “what’s the first thing you’d do if you ever left this place?”

Elliott’s hands stilled.

His gaze flickered up toward the sky, distant.

He had never thought about that before.

Leaving.

Because that wasn’t an option.

His father made sure of that.

There was no escape—not until he made one.

Not until he got revenge.

But Gwen didn’t need to know that.

So, instead, he signed, “I don’t know.”

Gwen hummed. “I think you’d go look for those purple hyacinths,” she said, glancing at him. “You’d want to find them yourself.”

Elliott’s fingers twitched slightly.

He hadn’t expected her to say that.

But… she wasn’t wrong.

Maybe, in a different life, that would have been his first choice.

But in this life—in this reality—his first choice would always be the same.

Kill his father.

Burn down everything he had built.

Make him pay for everything he had taken.

But Gwen didn’t belong in that part of his world.

So, instead of responding, he just nodded.

Gwen smiled softly. “Well, if we ever get out of here, I’ll take you to find them.”

Elliott’s fingers curled slightly against his leg.

If.

She had said if.

Like it was possible.

Like he wasn’t trapped in the clutches of a monster.

Like he wasn’t already too far gone.

He knew better than to believe in escape.

But for some reason, sitting there beside her, feeling the warmth of the sun and hearing her promise something that wasn’t even real—

He wanted to believe.

Just for a moment.

Just for her.

---

The sunlight warmed Elliott’s face, a rare and unfamiliar sensation after years of living in the cold shadow of his father. Sitting here with Gwen—talking, existing—felt unnatural in a way he couldn’t quite explain.

But he didn’t hate it.

They had fallen into an easy rhythm over the past month. She would talk, filling the silence with bits and pieces of her life, and he would listen, responding in short, quiet ways that she had come to understand.

But today, he wanted to know more.

Not just about the things she chose to tell him, but about her.

So, after a long pause, he lifted his hands and signed, “What about you?”

Gwen blinked, glancing at him. “What about me?”

Elliott hesitated for a moment before signing, “You spend all this time asking me things. But I barely know anything about you.”

Gwen smirked. “That’s because I’m the interesting one.”

Elliott rolled his eyes.

She chuckled before leaning back against the bench, stretching out her legs. “Alright, fine. What do you want to know?”

Elliott thought for a moment before signing, “Why did you become a nurse?”

At first, Gwen’s face remained neutral, but then—just for a second—something flickered behind her green eyes.

It was subtle.

But Elliott caught it.

It wasn’t the usual ease she carried herself with.

This question made her uncomfortable.

And that intrigued him.

Gwen shifted slightly, running a hand through her auburn braid. “That’s a boring story,” she muttered.

Elliott raised a brow. “Tell me anyway.”

She sighed, clearly debating whether she actually wanted to say it. But when she glanced at Elliott, her shoulders slumped a little, and she gave in.

“…I didn’t exactly want to be a nurse,” she admitted, looking away. “It wasn’t some lifelong dream or anything.”

Elliott tilted his head slightly, waiting for her to continue.

She hesitated before exhaling, rubbing the back of her neck. “I became a nurse because I needed a job. A real job. Something stable.” Her fingers fidgeted against her knee. “My family—well, they weren’t exactly rolling in money. I had to step up.”

Elliott watched her closely.

She wasn’t ashamed exactly, but there was something hesitant in the way she spoke. Like she didn’t like thinking about it.

“How many of you?” he signed.

Gwen blinked, caught off guard by the question.

Then, with a small, awkward laugh, she answered, “Three younger siblings. A mother who can barely hold down a job. A father who left before I was old enough to remember him.”

Elliott’s fingers twitched.

Three siblings. A mother struggling to make ends meet. No father.

Her world was so vastly different from his.

He had grown up in a mansion, surrounded by wealth and luxury, never once worrying about where his next meal would come from.

But Gwen…

Gwen had fought for everything.

And now she was here, still fighting.

Elliott studied her carefully. “You work here for them.”

It wasn’t a question.

Gwen shrugged, her lips pressing together. “Yeah. Pretty much.”

For the first time since meeting her, Elliott felt a strange sense of guilt.

Gwen had a life outside of these walls. A family to care for. A world she had fought to survive in.