Jekyll and Hyde Syndrome

A skeleton lays on her bed, curled up into a tight ball, her own jutting joints leaving marks on her cold skin. Her long mane of hair has thinned down some, but is still thick enough to coil around her body protectively, as if trying to shield herself from the rest of the world. Arzu Sijistani hasn't left her room in around 3 weeks and has only gotten up from her bed to drink or clean herself. She can feel her body deteriorating every day, her skin is starting to hang on parts on her body that should retain fat, or muscle, or anything other than skin and bone. She hasn't spoken to anyone either, isolating herself from those around her so it will be easier when...

When it finally returns to the hell it belongs in. When the thing finally starves itself out of this pitiful thing it calls life. It doesn't deserve any of this which was given to it and this is why most of it has been taken away... The only left for it is death, but as if punishment, death is taking his time to collect its pitiful existence.

Arzu curls up tighter as the jeering voice torments her as it has been non-stop since the beginning of her isolation. It breaks down her strength and dissolves it into self loathing. In all of her time alone she has been decaying both emotionally and physically, preparing herself for her suicide.

And yet... There is a small sense of relief under it all. The relief of knowing her much loved brother will rid the burden of her existence and be able to move forward with his life. He has already been seeing a vampire woman as Arzu has noticed and it gives her some comfort to know someone will replace her in Tahir's life. That once nagging jealousy Arzu felt toward being replaced has slowly turned into a numb acceptance as her brother hasn't spoken to her in a month. She's happy he's been moving forward.

Because Tahir knows it's a burden, knows it is a waste of life. Tahir is more than ready to be rid of it so it can die completely alone as it deserves to. It knows it doesn't deserve Tahir as a brother and he has finally seen this has well.

Arzu bites down hard on her lip, but doesn't cry, doesn't show her sadness, for this isn't the first time she has thought these things. She is very close to fully accepting her isolation... She knows her life will be over soon.

Despite Arzu's thought that her brother had forgotten her, he certainty had not. She had been on his mind every day. He had too kept himself isolated during the month of November. But now that was over, he had been out and about again.

It bothered him that his beloved little sister was never around. At first he thought that he should give her his space. But as more and more time went on he began to worry about her. And that worry slowly turned to anger.

Why had it taken him so long to realize that she was starving herself? She promised him... she had promised him that everything was okay, and that she would take care of herself. And he had believed her.

With a furrowed brow, the large Persian man strode up to her door and knocked on it with a force that demanded to not be ignored.

Arzu's heart leaped in her chest, but not out of surprise, out of fear. She curled up tighter, gripping onto her elbows and squeezed her eyes shut, praying silently the person at her door would leave. She had made it her goal to isolate herself from the others at the coven, to prepare her mental coffin.

She swallowed down a large knot in her throat and continued to ignore the knocks, though her heart feels like it will stop every time she hears them. A part of her hopes it's someone trying to save her.

But it cannot be saved.

"Arzu, if you don't open this door I'll break it down." He said, his voice low, stern, and loud. He wasn't joking either.

If she didn't answer he'd have good reason to believe that she was hurt and couldn't get to the door. He wouldn't hesitate to break in if need be.

Arzu shivers all over, from both her skin feeling so cold without the protection of necessary fats and from the fear of her brother showing up after all this time.

She doesn't want him to get in trouble for breaking the door so she replies in a voice that is too weak for its own good,

"Go away!" The sound of her own frail voice shocks her and she bites down on her lip, pulling her legs closer to her chest.

"You have ten seconds before I force this door down." He says. He wasn't yelling, but his voice was still strong, commanding, and angry. It was clear he was upset.

He had never had to talk to his sister like this, and it would be a tone she wouldn't be familiar with in her brother.

"Ten... Nine.... Eight..." He counted down. He felt like a parent trying to convince a child to behave.

She could feel the knot tying tighter in her throat, threatening to choke her to death. She hated, no, loathed doing this to her brother, especially after everything they had been through together, but she knows it's for his own good.

Tahir is probably angered it isn't dead yet. It shouldn't have replied to Tahir because now he'll have to wait longer to rid his burden.

"I said go away!" She yells in her weak voice, bringing her hands up to clutch onto her hair as she listens to him count, praying he'll just leave her be. Praying he'll disappear again.

"Five. Four. Three. Dammit Arzu!" He didn't know why she was doing this. Why she was being so damn stubborn. Did she hate him? What had he done to make her reject him like this?

He gripped the door handle and rammed his body into the door. It broke open almost effortlessly. Tahir was a big man.

His eyes were glaring when he entered the room, but as soon as they laid eyes on his sister, they softened incredibly.

She looked like a skeleton. She almost looked dead.

In the moment his expression had softened, it hardened again. A dark look came to his face as he bound over to his sister.

Being more rough then he should have, he picked her up and carried her out of the room, not saying a single word.

She winced hard all over when Tahir broke open the door and covered her face with her hands, ashamed of herself. Ashamed of herself for letting him see her in this state. He wasn't supposed to see her, he was supposed to be gone.

Arzu gasps when he picks her up and struggles against him, trying her hardest to get away from him, but to no avail. In comparison to her strong brother she had the strength of a child, worn from a day of play.

"Tahir put me down!" She yells out trying to push away from him, to struggle free so she can recede back to her seclusion. Tears start to well up in her eyes, but she fights them back, her body already starting to give up, but her mind pushes her to keep fighting.

The Persian man's brow was furrowed. He walked briskly, holding onto her a little tighter then he needed to. He didn't want to hurt her, but at the same time he did.

Later he would feel guilt at the bruises his fingers caused her skin to have.

His hair was growing out again, and it swished from his swift steps as he carried her towards the kitchen. He was also growing his beard out again. Unless Alexis protested he would grow it out to be very long. All ready he was looking like the soldier Arzu would have known thousands of years ago.

He said nothing until they arrived at the kitchen. He put her down, but held onto her wrist as he swung the refrigerator door open. He didn't understand anorexia. He didn't understand that forcing her to eat right now would be painful and nearly impossible for her body. And forcing her to eat was exactly what he was going to do.

He pulled out a raw steak from the fridge and threw it onto the counter. He then roughly jerked his sister over by her wrist towards the meat.

"Eat it." He demanded, not letting her go. If she tried to struggle away, he'd only tighten his grip on her.

Arzu's chest heaves with exhaustion from all of this sudden activity after being so inactive for so long. Even though she knows he'll tighten his grip if she struggles she does so anyway, hoping he'll break her wrist so she won't have to face this. In her searing anger she glares at Tahir and spits on the meat, hoping to get her point across that she refuses his help.

Other than her obvious external deterioration, her hair has grown longer as well as slightly thinner. Her skin has lost it healthy color and she has dark circles around her eyes. She's taken out her facial piercings except her lip ring, something she has never done before. In a way it shows her rejection of life, shows that she's renouncing all she's ever loved or enjoyed. Bruises have already started to form from her brother's roughness, her body unable to protect itself.

She grabs her arm and tries her hardest to pull away from Tahir's grasp, struggling like an animal in a trap.

Because all it really is is a beast, a monster ready to be hunted down by death.

His anger rose as she spit on the food. Without thinking he let go of her wrist and grabbed her hair, shaking her by it and then throwing her to the ground.

"What the hell is wrong with you!?" He yelled. Tahir had always been a gentle and sweet man when it came to his loved ones. Seeing him yell at her like this would be shocking for Arzu. His eyes flashed an intense anger.

He felt betrayed. Not only had she lied to him, she had rejected him as well. She may be willing to disown him, but he wouldn't do the same to her. Even if it made her hate him, which he was pretty positive she all ready did. Why else would she be doing this?

He ripped off a shred of the meat and knelt down beside his sister. His large hand roughly grabbed her chin and forced her mouth open.

He shoved the meat inside and then covered her mouth with his hand. To hold her in place, his free hand again gripped onto her hair.

He was being abusive. Something he had never done before. Looking back on this day would be sure to bring him much shame. But in this moment he wasn't thinking straight. All he could see was the skeleton where his sister was supposed to be.

Her limbs give out in her body when he's rough with her and she cries out when he grips her hair like that. Her body makes a dull thud when it hits the ground and the tears start to cascade over her cheeks without her noticing. She had never seen her tender brother this way, had never experienced this side of him before, and it scared her more than anything.

Tahir hates it for living! Look at what he does to it, he'll probably kill it himself to get it out of the way.

A choked sob escapes her mouth before he forces it open and shoves the food inside her. It tastes vile to her and makes her wrench though she has nothing to force up, her body completely empty. Her sobs make her body twist and shake under his grasp and she squeezes her eyes shut as she braces herself, honestly fearful that he'll hurt her further... Or worse.

And that's the only way she wouldn't want to die, at the hands of her brother. She finally gives in and stops moving, other than the compulsive shivers her body exhausted emits. She doesn't swallow the meat, she just lets it sit in her mouth, and that by itself makes her stomach churn and knot, not in hunger but in disgust. Her breathing is weak and shaky through her nose.

She was crying. He saw the tears stream down her cheeks and it honestly broke his heart in two.

He didn't let her go. He continued to keep his hand over her mouth, the other holding to her hair. But his eyes burned up, tears welling in them.

Tahir had only cried once in his life, and that was when he saw his family slaughtered before him.

"Swallow it!" He begged. He had tried to yell but his voice choked. Instead it just sounded like a desperate plea.

Her body trembles all over when he doesn't let her go. She refuses to swallow the food, her stomach feeling as though it's twisting violently inside her, like a deadly snake trapped in a constricting sack. Her hands grip onto Tahir's, but their weak and frail, only able to hold on because she needs to hang onto something so she doesn't collapse entirely.

Her sobs only get harder the longer he holds onto her like this and her shivers only get more violent.

In this moment she wants to die more than anything.

Seeing his sister shake and sob like this makes Tahir's gut wrench. He doesn't let go of her. He can't. If he does she'll just spit it up again.

A few tears slide down his cheeks and his chin quivers. His brow furrows up and He squeezes his eyes shut, trying to gain composure.

He was loosing her.

He opened his eyes, now red and glistening.

"Why are you doing this? Please Arzu. Just eat. Please." He begged, his voice sounding more weak then it ever had before.

Her eyes open weakly when she hears the pain in her brother's voice and she chokes on another sob. All these new faces and emotions he's exposing her to... She can't tell anymore if he hates her... Why would he cry if he hates her?

Because it isn't dying fast enough. Look at the pain it causes Tahir, look at how much pain he is in. And it is all its fault. It causes him this pain, burdens his life with its living

Arzu's eyes roll back in her head and she sobs harder, trying once more to pull away from him even though there is no more energy left in her body. She lets her nails bite into his hand to try and get him to let go of her. She just wants to crawl away and die in peace... She doesn't want to be a burden any longer. She just wants to be nothing.

"Are you trying to kill yourself!?" He asks, still fighting back tears. "Because that's what you're doing! You're killing yourself."

His grip loosens on her but he doesn't let go. He's so scared to let go. And he didn't get scared easily. He had ran into battle at the head of an army. He had men swinging swords and knifes in his face. He'd seen death all around him, and even then he wasn't as close to scared as he was now.

"You promised me that you were fine. That you were taking care of yourself. But that was a lie..." He looked down and shoke his head, swallowing.

"I can't lose you. You're all I have left. If I lost you...." A soft sob emitted from Tahir's lips, catching him off guard. He hadn't known he would get emotional like this.

He remembered seeing her there. Admist the blood and carnage. He remembers holding her in his arms, so much relief and emotion running through him when he realized she was alive. That he hadn't lost everyone he cared and loved.

"Please, eat it." He begged, his voice broken.

She closes her eyes tightly, trying to fight off the emotion she's feeling, trying to force away the love she has for her brother. She can't... She can't do anything. He has more than her... She knows he has more than her... He has the others in the coven, the Alexis woman, that should be enough for him! She shakes her head no behind his hand, not to his questions, but to him. She rejects him so he can reject her.

It doesn't deserve Tahir because it is nothing but a burden, a curse upon his soul. It was a lie when it removed the curse from Tahir because it is the curse.

Out of complete and utter desperation, out of fear of seeing him this way... Of just seeing him at all, Arzu brings her hand up and pinches her nose shut. She would rather suffocate than eat.

It's too selfish to die quickly, but if Tahir will interfere than there is no other way.

When she pinches her nose his eyes widen. He lets his hand go away from her mouth and pulls her wrist back.

"Why Arzu?!" He cries out, his panic rising. He lets go of her hair and pulls her close to him, cradling her in his big strong arms, still afraid that if he lets go she'll be gone forever.

She coughs out the meat and her sobs escape audibly through her mouth, echoing through the kitchen. Her body shakes all over as she cries and through all her exhaustion she tries again to push herself away from Tahir. She doesn't want this, him holding her hurts more then when he threw her on the floor, more than when he forced his hand over her mouth. She tries to writhe away from him as hard as she can.

"I hate you!" She sobs out, and anyone who was there would have thought that was meant to be directed toward her brother, when in fact it was directed to herself.

He squeezes his eyes shut very tight, her words piercing his heart.

"But why Arzu?" He asks, the tears still rolling down his face. Despite her struggles he wouldn't let her go. He couldn't. He just kept cradling her in his embrace.

She lets out a deep sob and tries to twist away from him, her bones creaking under her skin.

"B-Because you w-won't l-let go," she cries, her anger driving her to keep fighting. Fighting off Tahir, fighting off love, fighting off life. She doesn't want it anymore... She doesn't want any of it anymore. After a month of total isolation all she wants is for it to end. For Tahir's pain to stop... For her own pain to stop.

"I'm scared to let go. I'm scared for your life. I'm scared you'll leave me. I can't let you die." He whispers into her ear, the tears still rolling down his cheeks. He wished, he longed more then anything that he could help her.

But he didn't know how.

"I-I'm already d-dead," she sobs out in reply pushing her hands against his chest to try and escape.

"A-All you're d-doing is hurting me!" she cries, "Just l-leave me! I d-don't want you anym-more!"

She chokes on her own words, they hurt her just as much if not more than Tahir because she knows it's more lies, but she knows it will help him to be rid of her. In a last desperate attempt she pushes back and slaps him across the face, her body may be frail, but the bones in her hand are hard, cold.