Amelia Bailer woke up shortly before one o’clock to the sound of the front door being unlocked. She sat up and was unable to find her husband beside her. His half of the bed was not even warm. She got up, not bothering to grab a cardigan or a shirt to put over her nightdress. She could hear voices downstairs. Her husband’s was one.
“Charlie? Is that you?” She whispered, standing at the head of the stairs.
She heard her husband swear and then a few seconds later he answered. “Yeah. Lee, it’s me.” He said. His voice was shaky, he didn’t sound like himself. Amelia crept down the stairs, peering into the hall. She could see her husband’s shape. There was someone else, someone smaller, standing next to him.
“Charlie, what’s going on?” She murmured sleepily.
“It’s…a work thing.” Bailer replied. He switched on the hall light. Amelia gasped and raised a hand to her mouth. Behind her husband, who looked less than well, stood a small girl. She looked no older than fourteen and had an appalling complexion, pale, with a greenish tinge and blotches on her face. She appeared to be wearing a hospital gown, and it was splattered with blood. Her face held a blank expression, a little like a doll.
“Who’s this?” Amelia asked, still shocked and confused.
Bailer looked at her imploringly. “Lee, sorry but could you just…shut up for a bit.” He said softly. “I-I’ve got to get my head sorted out. Just look after her for a bit.”
Amelia nodded. “Be quick about it. I want to know what’s going on.” She said, approaching the girl. “Hey, do you want to come with me sweetie? We’ll get you cleaned up.”
She gently took a hold of the girl’s arm, and moved her gently towards the stairs. The girl moved stiffly, a little like a zombie.
Bailer went into the sitting room, and collapsed on the sofa. He leant forward, his head in his hands. In his head he could still see Child, lying on the floor amidst the blood that had oozed from her side. He recalled seeing Stern, standing there uselessly, and Eunomia with her fingers full of blood, gathering it up like sand. At first he had thought she had killed Child; it had flashed into his head suddenly, but then Stern had started to explain. He had told Bailer about Elias Sheckle, about the blueprints, and the disappearance. They’d looked at Eunomia but she was still unresponsive.
“What the hell did she do to him?” Bailer asked. Stern just shook his head, shrugging his shoulders. He made a strange, choked sound; a muted sob.
“You need to get her out of here, if you want her to live. What do you think they’ll do to her, eh? When they find out what she did, Sheckle’s colleagues…?” He said, waving his arms around frantically. “What’ll they do to me?”
Bailer couldn’t think; not without thinking about Child.
“We’ll have to run,” Stern was raving “run and hope they never find us…Oh god, what a mess.” He looked like he was going to kick Eunomia, and Bailer wouldn’t have been able to stop him, but then he recovered himself and pressed his hands to his face.
“I can’t take her.” Bailer snapped suddenly. “What about my family? I can’t just bring her home…that’s against rules, all the protocols…”
“Damn protocols.” Stern muttered. “It’s the only way. We’ll figure something out afterwards.”
And so Bailer had ended up agreeing to take Eunomia home with him.
Gently as they could they had pried Eunomia away from Child, and had pulled her from the room.
“It’s not right, just leaving her there…” Bailer had said, looking at Child lying on the ground.
Stern frowned and said “Nothing we can do. We don’t know how long we have. There’s no way we could carry her up all those stairs.” He shook his head, closing the door to the lab and locking it. Bailer felt a pang of something sharp and guilty, but he squashed it.
They helped Eunomia pack, throwing her few possessions in a rucksack. They checked the security cameras. The morning shift receptionist had just come in, and the errant Evans had left. She was sat at the front desk. Stern agreed to distract her, sending her on some random errand away from her desk. Bailer and Eunomia slipped past. He carried her most of the way; it was quicker. She smeared blood on his coat, but he hardly noticed. He brought her to his car and bundled her inside. Eunomia had looked up at the stars as they crossed the car park, she had tried to look up at them still as Bailer had fastened her seatbelt, and then got in behind the wheel. He thought about asking her what had happened, but each time he tried his mouth went dry. They pulled out of the car park and within minutes were on the motorway. Eunomia stared out of the windows as if her eyes were cameras tasked with capturing every detail around her. She examined the seatbelt with bloody fingers, peered at the radio and the dashboard. Then she fell asleep. And that was when things got weird.
Amelia ran a basin full of hot water. Carefully she undid the paper gown and peeled it off the girl. She was painfully thin. Amelia wondered just who she was; if perhaps she was a sufferer of some terrible illness which fed off of her and made her look like mere skin and bones.
“Ok, I’m going to clean off the blood. It’s not yours is it?” She asked. She couldn’t see any cuts, but she wanted to be sure.
The girl shook her head. Amelia started cleaning, gently rubbing with a small flannel. The water in the basin soon turned pink with all the blood, but she only needed the one basin full. She didn’t ask the girl what had happened, doubting she’d get much of an answer. Her expression had not changed the whole time she had been tending to her.
“Let’s find you something to wear now.” She said, smiling reassuringly. The girl didn’t respond, though she moved her head slightly as she listened. Amelia moved with her into the bedroom and began rummaging through drawers. She found an old, dark blue t-shirt which she handed to the girl. She looked at it for a long time before putting it on. It was the length of a dress on her. Amelia was somewhat surprised to see her running her hands over it, trying to flatten creases and neaten it. Next she handed her a light-coloured hoody, since she was likely to be cold in just the t-shirt. Amelia couldn’t help but feel she had done something of significance for the strange little girl, giving the strange care and reverence she gave the gifted clothes.
“Thank you.”
The voice made Amelia shudder. It was hoarse and distinctly cold sounding, like metal.
“You’re welcome. What’s your name?”
The girl didn’t respond straight away, and Amelia assumed she wasn’t going to get an answer.
“Eu-nomia.” She said at last. “I like ‘Mia’” She added after some thought.
Amelia smiled. “I’m Amelia, but you can call me Lee if you want. Most people do. Amelia sounds far too prim and proper. Are you hungry?”
She sensed she wouldn’t be getting back to sleep anytime soon, and wanted to fix herself some coffee. She wanted to get the skinny girl something to eat while she was at it. Eunomia nodded, and the pair went downstairs again. Bailer was still sat in the other room, his head in his hands. Amelia decided to leave him alone for a little bit longer before she tried to find out what was happening. She put on the coffee, and got Eunomia a chocolate bar. She was normally strict with sweets and treats, but supposed a little extra sugar would do the girl no harm. Eunomia thanked her again. She may have been creepy and less than pleasant to look at, but she was growing on Amelia slowly. She glanced into the sitting room worriedly. When the coffee was ready, she poured her husband a cup and then one for herself. Bailer drained it in minutes, and then had another.
Continued in Part 10 --->
View User's Journal
Moth's Tales
Since I tend to turn my avatars into characters, I thought I might expand on the whole idea a bit. Comments and feedback are greatly appreciated.
 |
