Ties

After final checks, she let me go free and return to my room. I felt better, though I didn’t know how much of that might just be placebo knowing that I would. Back in the main room, I looked over for the time. “Five in the afternoon…should be enough time to get a nap.”

I took off my jacket, placed it on the hook and walked over to the bed. B ran up by my feet to get to the bed. He took claim of a pillow and rolled himself up in a cute little ball. One remained for me, so I didn’t debate over anything as I flopped down.

The ceiling felt like it rotated slightly as I stared up. The headache hadn’t improved yet. I closed my eyes just letting my body sink in for the time being. It took a few minutes for it to start to feel comfortable. My neck bothered me more, but I found a spot that didn’t make it flash through my shoulders.

“Want me to wake you up for dinner?”

A sigh escaped at the reminder. “Yea…just give me two hours…”

“Understood.”

With that I let the rest of my mind float away. I didn’t know how long it took for me to sleep, but I knew I did when I heard B’s annoying alarm going off. It was a combination of something like a monkey and a deep old man merged together saying, “Wake up, Val.” I found it so disconcerting that it did its job every time in getting me awake.

It also worked too aggravatingly well. “I’m awake!” Stretching out a little bit, I looked around the room to get a sense of time. The sun already dropped most of the way behind the buildings. “Lights.” A singular soft glow of white light faded on.

I rolled over on my side to see B still curled up on the pillow. Another few seconds of rest, I tested out my neck. The numbness appeared to have faded, but I could still feel a little stiffness now. Only a couple of hours, so improvement would still be slow, but a positive direction. “Anything happen?”

“Within the Chapterhouse or…”

“Both.”

“Nothing to report. It’s been quiet on all fronts. Though I can’t monitor it, nothing public has occurred between the Corpus and Basilica.”

“Right…I guess that’s to be expected.” I sat up with a bit of heaviness in my head. It felt slow in following the rest of me. The headache still lingered sadly, but I’d have to work through it. It wasn’t so debilitating.

I took the next two days just recovering. While the pain completely disappeared, a deeper purplish-red band still wrapped around my neck where her fingers squeezed. It looked better than before, but still pretty bad if you hadn’t seen it before. For the sake of Louise, I kept to myself. Better not to worry or scare her.

It was around the afternoon and I sat out on the balcony staring up at the sky. While I rested, I tried not to think further about what happened at the park. Though it was hard to do every time that I touched my neck, my mind went back to that day. It wasn’t fear, just the oddity of it all. I wanted an answer, but couldn’t have one. It bothered me.

Leaning back in the chair, I glanced towards the bed. B sat between the two pillows enjoying himself. Even after three days, he didn’t seem to grow tired of them yet. If he enjoyed himself, I couldn’t really complain. We didn’t really do a lot locked up in the room. Not sure if he liked having to try to reign me in or preferred these quiet moments.

A scream shattered through the entire House. Loud enough it penetrated through the solid doors of my room. I looked over to B who already went into scanning mode.

“I’m picking up breaking glass and walls.”

“The hell?!” Immediately, I jumped from the chair and slammed my hand against the door impatiently for it to read me. It slid open as I rushed down leaping to the landing skipping steps entirely. Light glows came over my boots softening my drop.

As I hit the lobby, I heard another scream along with a horrible crunching. I started to run for the sound as I got a message from B. Looking up to the third floor, I saw him falling with a slight glide. Catching him, I tucked him away under my shirt as I sprinted for the door.

I realized it was the door to the home of the Lalondes. It made me pause since this wasn’t a place I had been invited, let alone if the door would even allow me in. However, then I heard another crash from the other side and that made the decision for me. I slammed my hand into the door and it refused me. “B! Get me inside!”

“You realize that—“

“I don’t care, something is happening! Open it!”

“Understood.” Even before he jumped out onto my hand, I could feel a whirring build up within his tiny frame. He pressed his tiny monkey paw to the panel section scanning. I leaned in a little fighting to tap my foot while waiting for him to hack the door.

I muttered under my breath as the seconds ticked off. Each passing moment I nearly felt the crushing sounds from the other side crash upon my body. I ground my teeth wishing I had the strength to just rip open the door. It was times like this I wish things had been different. “Dammit…”

A click came from the door followed by a slow slide. It seemed to protest the intrusion, but still allowed the breach. B climbed away and I charged into the hall. “Louise?! Miss Lalonde? Are you okay? It’s Val!”

The hall became more clear to me as I bolted towards the sounds. Cracks lined the walls and furniture smashed. It looked like a tornado came through. Everything was thrown to the floor, but there wasn’t anyone in the living room.

Another glass broke. It sounded like the kitchen. I weaved around the table which looked spared from whatever disaster hit the Lalonde’s home. Pushing through the threshold, I slipped on some liquid covering the floor. I caught myself on the island as I saw Louise and her mother.

But to my shock, her daughter was standing over Adelphe with her arm raised. The long sleeve torn to pieces while her skin shell remained pristine. Soft green lines shown just under the skin traced down her arm into her fingers. Her sundress waved as if it had a life of its own and wanted to attack as well.

I recognized that familiar look. My mind flashed back to the woman in the park briefly as I stabilized my footing. “Louise! Can you hear me?”

Despite my shouting before, it seemed that the mother hadn’t realized I entered until now. She glanced over at me while attempting to hold back her daughter. “What are you doing here? Get out! It’s dangerous!”

“Dangerous! It’s dangerous for you!” I pushed off the island with some aid leaping through the air to land behind Louise. I grabbed the little girl from behind, getting my arms up under her shoulder. Even for a child, she was heavy. Even with lighter weight augments, she still weighed at least fifty kilos. It took leverage to pull her away from her mother. “Louise! Can you hear me?!”

Louise finally seemed to notice someone else in the room. She turned her attention away from her mother. As her tilt head back fighting against me, I caught the faint green glow from her eyes, just like that woman.

Then suddenly it faded away and she became limp. The change in balance with weight threw me off. No longer fighting me, I fell on my back. “Louise?” Silence from the girl told me that maybe it was over. It didn’t seem as intense as the woman. But why was she even going berserk?

With the situation calmed down, I saw Mrs. Lalonde recover from her panic. She immediately came over and grabbed up Louise effortlessly. She held her daughter closely as I slowly stood up.

Adelphe fixed an intense stare at me. I could see the battle between what she wanted to say. While hesitating on words, I stood up and fixed my shirt.

All around the kitchen, it looked like a bomb went off. I didn’t really get a good look at what it had been before, but it was going to be a lot to fix everything back up. Whatever happened with Louise went through multiple rooms. And though she was out, I didn’t like the feeling I was getting from all of this.

It wasn’t a coincidence. It was connected, somehow.

Dammit.