"HARRIS? IT'S JOSEPH, LEONARD'S SON… YEAH, WELL, YOU FOUND out where I live and I got your number. We all have our means… What's that about hurting these girls?
My sense of family is none of your business. I'm gonna take all of them that want to come with me, and if you dare touch the ones who prefer to stay… I'll kill you. You understand?
When?
What made you change your mind?
You better not be lying…"
Joseph hung up the mobile phone and saw that a girl, virtually adorned as a bride, had come to the kitchen. She dropped the jar she was holding, smashing it in a thousand pieces, spilling the white liquid that it contained. Terrified, she ran away.
Joseph slowly got up from the table and approached the mess. He touched the familiar substance that remained in one of the concave pieces of the scattered earthware and tasted it. Its flavor took him back to a happy period in his life.
He searched for the cleaning utensils and cleaned everything up, until the only trace that was left of the incident was the fewer number of jars.
Then, he went to see Roxanne, who was, as expected, in her room.
"Your sister, the one in white…"
"Blanche."
"Blanche. I accidentally scared her, but before I go over and apologize… clarify what happened… I think I better speak with you first, in case I make things worse."
"All right."
"OK. Let's see… I am inclined to think what scared her was the fact that I was talking on the phone. May that be it?"
"Yes, most probably."
"Do you know what a phone is?"
"Yes, I do. Well, I've never actually seen one, but Mama told me about them. You see, Joseph… our mother spoke to me of lots of things they completely ignore."
"I think I'm gradually getting some idea. However, I still don't see why it terrified her so. You have experienced a bunch of new things these days, I'm sure, and I've never seen you react that way." He thought of her escape from the castle at night, the shot… "And you had infinitely more reasons to."
"In my sisters' eyes, everything is related to the witch. Their whole lives revolve around the curse and the dangers breaking the rules can bring. Any strange element we must see as a trap from the witch to make us fall under her power forever. If Celeste and I have gone out and aren't dead, it's because we've become her slaves and have come back to make them give in to temptation so that they too end up cursed forever. If you're here and use bizarre devices, it's for the same reason. It's what we've been told to believe and to fear."