"Phillip?!" I gasped. I had dreaded, expected even, to find my brother in such an terrible place, in such an terrible situation, but seeing this undeniable confirmation was horrifying. He looked up at the sound of my voice, eyes wide with shock. The skin around one if his eyes was swollen and purpled by a bruise.<br/><br/>"Emmy? What are you doing here?" he asked.<br/><br/>"To ask you the selfsame question," I said, my voice quavering.<br/><br/>He looked down at his shovel for a moment, his expression slightly sheepish. He sighed, then said as though it was regrettable but unavoidable: "To pay off a debt, Emmeline."<br/><br/>"What debt?"<br/><br/>"Nothing you need concern yourself with," he said, running his hand through his hair. "You should go home. This is no place for a lady."<br/><br/>"And pretend I don't know your whereabouts? Father is on the verge of informing the police of your disappearance. Mother is hysterical!"<br/><br/>He sighed again, as though I was being thoroughly difficult. "You don't understand the situation I'm in -"<br/><br/>"I know very well! Do not mistake me for a child, Phillip! You are..." I choked on the sentence, and my voice dropped. "You are partaking in the smoking of opium."<br/><br/>He didn't seem surprised that I knew, simply miserable. "Yes, Emmy. But you don't understand." He scrapped his shovel along the cobblestone ground nervously. "You don't understand what it's like to be our father's son, what a great pressure it is. He expects so much of me."<br/><br/>He looked up at me earnestly. "Some of the boys at the club told me about this place. The opium takes all the pressure, all the difficulty, away. It is the most wonderful feeling in the world, Emmy!" He smiled grandly, then his expression wilted like an old rose. "But when it has left you... Everything seems dull and grey in comparison. Sometimes the air seems so thick it's hard to move through. Sometimes I think it's going to suffocate me."<br/><br/>"You can't truly believe it's good for you? Surely there are other ways to be happy?" I cried.<br/><br/>"It's the<span style="font-style: italic">only</span>way I am ever happy!" he yelled.<br/><br/>I sucked in a breath; I was the first time Phillip had yelled at me with such vehemence in the entirety of my life. He seemed as startled as I, and opened his mouth to apologize, but I interrupted.  "Please," I whispered, "You must come home."<br/><br/>He looked at his feet, conflict playing across his face. I thought I may have managed to convinced him, then a voice spoke from behind us. I turned sharply and and came face to face with a tall man who smelled strongly of cigars.<br/><br/>Phillip cleared his throat. "Oh Mr. Vallen. Please excuse my sister. She will take her leave now, I'm certain," he said pointedly.<br/><br/>"I actually wish to stay, thank you very much," I replied tartly.<br/><br/>Phillip ignored me. "You said you had something for me?" he said with a strange intensity.<br/><br/>"Excuse me, Mr. Vallen," I interrupted Phillip again. "Can you kindly tell me what my brother is owing? I will pay off his debt, and then we will go home."<br/><br/>"Stop Emmeline," Phillip hissed. "I am currently paying for that which I do not have, and will acquire in future. I do not need you to pay off what I'm<span style="font-style: italic">owing</span>."<br/><br/>I glared at my brother. "Then we will simply leave!"<br/><br/>"I'm not leaving," he growled.<br/><br/>I turned to Mr. Vallen, fuming. "My brother is currently unable to make coherent decisions, and you seem to be the man in charge. You gave him this<span style="font-style: italic">job</span>," I spat. "So please edify me on the way in which I can disengage him from this contract and bring him home. He does not belong here Mr. Vallen. My brother does not belong here."