The siblings meant to end the world.

Famine is born among the frost, when trees are bare and the ground is frozen. Stomachs go concave and famine manifests with skin stretched over stark ribs. The babe will carry the arid frost for all of his life, sunk into his bones. There is no warmth for him at the hearth.

Pestilence emerges from mud. To the song of frog croaks, Pestilence comes into being with crust on their eyes, a thick layer of miasma keeping their mouth shut. It’s a while before they cry, but when they do, they are grabbed up just the same.

War is born on the grass. Not soft and pillowy, but trodden by thousands of boots and bodies into an unforgiving state. From the harsh ground, the horseman has back pain from birth. A dull, continual thud throughout their muscles like the beats of a battle.

Death’s birth is among the most expected. On the first graveyard, black eyes spring open. A raven caws a welcome to the babe who will be there for everyone, and thus never be alone.

The fifth is stillborn, for it had a chance, a blip of existence early on in the world. Apathy was born in the absence, in neglect, in the gazes that turn away. Too soon for the babe did Men prove that this horseman was an error. In soft touches, in warm lullabies, in protests and raised voices, the babe is born already taken back.

He’s been utterly, dreadfully alone.

It is not a professional way to think, but even therapists are doomed to feel sympathy for their fellow human.

And if the patient is not going to feel rage on their own behalf, someone else can be a placeholder until they work their way up to that.

Caden is not prone to rage. He does not anger easily. For that matter, he doesn’t feel many emotions easily. Many of them come across dulled, like there’s some sheer lace between his skin and his nerves.

He’s spent much of his life with a coping mechanism, likely starting around the time of his parents’ passing to an awful disease. Despite the fact that many families were impacted by the disease, Caden still feels isolated, perhaps because it was only his parents and him, no extended family. He has felt like a guest at someone else’s house for as long as he can remember.

This is a potential explanation for his muted emotions; It is hard to feel safe expressing anger or sadness when you can be kicked out for doing so.

The coping mechanism is similar to what every child adopts at some point, an imaginary friend. Caden refers to a tall man dressed in black with a low voice. His ‘castle’, according to Caden, is outside of our village, but within walking distance for a day-trip.

The stranger speaks very softly. Caden has presented symptoms of sensitivity to noise. The stranger’s house is described as spacious and lived-in yet clean, with a large library. Caden feels easily overwhelmed and trapped. The stranger’s house is an ideal safe place for his mind to go when he needs comfort.

It is fine for him to hold onto this imaginary friend, for now. We will work on how to create a safe space in other ways, so he doesn’t feel like he has to escape all the time.