Chapter Text
It's now Sunday. It's been three days since she gave Pravin her number and sometimes she can't stop giggling at her phone. Not out of giddiness, but Pravin is a really funny guy, that's something no one can deny. Their last conversation they talked about what color Lia should do next time she dyed her her. Lia mentioned wanting to try purple because she thinks it would look good in dark hair. Pravin agreed and even offered to go with her because he knows how long those appointments can be sometimes and he doesn't want her to get bored. Overall, Pravin was a nice guy, a great guy even.
But she was hesitating to get her claws on him. The reason why had a name, Michael Townsend. They're still broken up, but his presence is enough to make her heart skip a few beats. And she didn't want to lead Pravin on if things didn't go well. But on the other hand, she couldn't deny the smile that made her way up to her face whenever she felt her phone buzz, knowing it was Pravin. Maybe it was because she enjoyed their conversations, or maybe because she couldn't deny how handsome he was— in person and in his profile picture—, and it would be a lie to say she would reject to hang out if he asked.
It has also been three days since she got out of the house. You see, being aware that you're being watched and not being able to do anything about it, can be fucking frustrating. This being her little secret has been eating her alive. Every time someone looks at her her stomach sinks and she thinks they already know everything she's been hiding, even though she knows it's not possible, not when she worked so hard to bury everything. She still can't avoid that awful feeling.
Now, in the car with Celine, she's more relaxed. Not that she wants to undermine Celine's abilities but with her it is undeniably less possible that she somehow reads all of her secrets just because her face slightly changed or her brows furrowed for a second while she's lost in thought.
Her relationship with Celine is... definitely something. She wouldn't call it completely awkward, but she also wouldn't say they are close. Not after the whole 'Lia being jealous of Celine' thing. It's just... there.
As she was driving them to town, the car was silent. Sometimes the buzz of Lia's phone broke that silence, sometimes it was a sigh from either of them. Judd had sent them to buy burgers for everyone for lunch. The place where they always ordered from seemed to be having troubles with their deliveries so they had to drive there to order. Lia and Celine seemed to be the only ones who were available to go to town.
Cassie and Dean denying because they were too busy with their training sessions—in which Lia was pretty sure they were spent staring longingly into each other's eyes—. Sloane being too busy blowing up stuff in the basement, or as she likes to call it, her experiments. Michael busy messing with his car—which just means pulling things apart just to put them back together again, like always—, Judd was busy with god knows what and finally, Veronica was in the office working on the most boring thing ever... paperwork. Tanner needed to go back to base, now that he was the director, so he went back to stay in whatever cave he lives in. Leaving only Lia and Celine for the job of retrieving lunch.
Another buzz interrupted the silence, Lia side-eyed her phone and made a mental note to answer the second they stopped.
"Who is texting you so much?" Celine broke the silence, "did you and Michael get back together?" she asked with raised eyebrows.
Lia looked at her for a second, she noted on how relaxed the girl was, laying back in the passenger seat with her head turned to her and her arm out the window, then she looked back at the road, "no, he wishes," she scoffs at her second question, "it's just a friend," she finishes.
Celine lets out a chuckle at that, "your phone has been buzzing none stop all morning", she pointed out turning to look at the road too.
"Well, he's a little chatty," Lia says with a shrug.
Buzz.
"I can hear that," the curly girl says with a small smile, the same one she gives Sloane when she's teasing her. God no. "Is that why you've been in your phone so much these days?"
Lia frowned at that. To be honest she didn't think Celine noticed much of what she was up to, not that she would blame her, they both have their own worlds. Celine doesn't even live in the safe house with them, but when she is there she makes sure to spend her time with her girlfriend and sometimes she would squeeze her half-brother in her busy schedule.
"Oh don't give me that look. Just because we don't talk that much doesn't mean that I don't pay attention," she said catching Lia's face. "Also, you're my little brother's on-and-off girlfriend," she added that—incredibly useless—fact.
"I haven't been that much on my phone," Lia opted for answering her initial question.
"Yes, you have," the smile returned to her lips, "even I can tell," she shrugged. "But I think it's good. That you have another friend, I mean. Outside of all this messy life," she said, "I think all of you should have friends outside the Naturals, or the FBI."
"Like you?"
"Exactly." she said with mock pride as she brushed her hair over her shoulder. That made Lia let out a chuckle.
They were already pulling up to the restaurant, "we're here," she said, parking the car.
They got out of the car and made their way inside and towards the counter. After reading the ridiculously large order of Celine's notes, they paid and waited for them to call the order. In the meantime, Lia pulled out her phone and started answering Pravin's messages.
Celine hummed and raised her eyebrows, "you know," she started, "I'm not the only one that's noticed you being glued to your phone," she said, tone not as sly as she intended, but the effort was there.
"No shit," Lia said not looking away from her phone, "you can't hide anything from anyone in that house."
"True," Celine agreed, "but, I meant a specific someone also noticed too."
Oh. "You mean Michael?" Lia asked finally looking up, "did he say something to you?"
"He didn't say anything, he didn't have to, but I know my brother and I knew something was bothering him." True. "So I just guessed it had to be about you because his car is perfectly fine. Also the little screaming match from the other day was also a very good clue." She answered.
Lia couldn't really help but being irritated. "Well, you don't have to speak for him, Celine. If he wants to talk, he can talk." She said a little too harshly making Celine look taken aback. Immediately that little pang of guilt hits her, because it's not really Celine's fault or anything, she's just being a worried sister. Lia understands that more than anything.
But before she got the chance to backtrack, their order got called and they stood up, Lia putting her phone away, to take the numerous bags of food in their hands and started walking out of the restaurant towards the car, Celine got in first and then—after a quick look to check on the windshield of her car—. After putting everything down and starting their way to the house again, an uneasy silence settled between them.
Both wanting to break it but never actually doing it. Neither of them being used to converse with each other like normal people. Something that should've been fixed a long time ago, now it's what's stopping them to say what's on their minds, while getting closer and closer to the house.
After more minutes of this, they pulled up to the drive way and Lia parked the car, but before either of them could get out Lia finally spoke up after going back and forth on what to say the whole drive.
"I shouldn't have snapped at you. You aren't the one I'm annoyed at." She settled on that, something simple.
Celine looked at her and let out a small chuckle, "you're fine. I shouldn't have said the Michael stuff," she shrugged her shoulder, "and you're kinda right, he should be able to speak for himself if something's bothering him."
With that Lia gave her a small smirk and they both got out of the car, grabbing the many bags of food and heading straight towards the closed front door of the house. Lia put down one of the bags on the floor so she could pull out her key and unlock it, then picked it up again when the door was open and they both headed for the kitchen.
Once inside and with all the bags down, they were about to call everyone into the kitchen when Dean came into the kitchen followed by Cassie.
"Which one is mine?" he asked looking at all the bags of food.
Celine grabbed one and threw Lia a look as if to confirm it was the right one, when she got confirmation she handed it to Dean, "this one."
"This one is yours." Lia handed another smaller bag to Cassie, who answered with a smile and a "Thanks."
"And where are-?" Celine's question got cut off when Sloane and Michael came in through the kitchen door.
"Well finally. You guys were making us starve to death." Michael said.
"Oh shut up, we were fast." Celine responded.
"You were, indeed, faster than last time, when Dean and Michael went to pick up the food. You were 17 minutes and about 34 seconds faster than them." Sloane said while walking over to Celine and giving her cheek a small peck.
"You see, Townsend? We were faster than you both." Lia said with a smug smile while her eyes were going between Michael and Dean.
"Oh come on, we took so long because Dean is a di-"
"I don't wanna hear any whining when we are eating." A new voice entered the scene and they all turned their heads to look at Judd entering the kitchen.
Lia grabbed the bag where Judd's food was in and handed it to him when he passed by her side.
"Thanks Lia."
Now, with everyone in the kitchen, they all started eating and talking about their day. Lia noticed Sterling was missing, thinking she was probably in her study, so she figured she would take her food once she finished hers.
One by one, everyone finished their food or left it for later and kept talking. Lia, who left half of her burger for another time, looked down at her unfinished food and put it away before taking Sterling's bag in her hands and beginning to walk away, while the others were still deep in conversation.
Only to be stopped by Celine's voice, "Lia," she called out to her, when Lia turned around she saw she was looking down at the counter where Lia's phone was situated, "your phone. Again," she said grabbing it and extending her hand so the girl could grab it from her.
"Oh thanks," she said as she took it from her and unlocked it to see a message from Pravin, it was some kind of meme about something they were talking about earlier. She let out a snort and covered her mouth to stop the giggles that she knew were coming after reading that.
Then like that, she walked out of the kitchen and the others kept their previous conversation. Except for one person, who couldn't get the thought of Lia's laugh out of their head. What the fuck was she laughing at?
"What did you mean by 'again'?" Michael turned to Celine with a frown and asked her in a low voice, his tone indifferent, but Celine knew better.
"Oh, it's just that, her phone has been blowing up all day so..." she trailed off, knowing her point came across just fine.
"Oh, alright," he paused, "did she tell you who it is?" he took a sip of his drink while looking away from his sister and leaning beside her on the counter.
"Just a friend," she answered, "she told me he was real chatty though," she shrugged her shoulder and also turned away to look at her girlfriend now, leaving Michael frowning more deeply than before.
But, with a heavy chest, one of those that make you grimace, feeling bad for your own heart, he kept his head in the conversation that the others were having.
Upstairs, Lia knocked on the study's door and opened the door a second later.
"You know, you could just wait until I say 'come in'," the voice of Veronica Sterling reached her ears. She was sitting down at the desk, looking down at some papers scattered across the surface.
"I don't have the patience for that, Sterling, you know it," she says, closing the door behind her and going over to the desk and placing the bag of food next to the papers.
"You didn't even wait one second," Sterling responds stating the obvious and raises her eyebrows, then looking up at the younger girl.
Lia rolls her eyes, "that's no way to say thank you for bringing you your food," she says, tilting her head, "you're welcome," she continues and then flops down in the chair in front of the desk.
"Thank you, Lia," the woman responds and grabs the bag to start unpacking the food inside and putting the papers aside.
"So... are one of these papers news for our next case?" the teen asked.
Veronica sighed and Lia could tell the answer was no. They haven't had a case in a long time, not after what happened with Cassie's mom almost a year ago. It had broken the redhead. The team helped her put herself back together, little by little, they all helped in their own ways. And they still are helping. You can't just get over your mom's death just like that. Especially when your hand was the one on the knife that took her life. So everyone understood the grief that was drilling into Cassie's chest was different.
They couldn't just jump back into solving cases without healing first, so that is what has been happening all this months. No cases for the Naturals. But that doesn't mean that they didn't miss it, because they did. For now they were stuck in practices with solved cases, doesn't matter how many times the teens tell Sterling or Briggs or even Judd that they are ready, even for a small case, they—disappointingly—never budged.
So instead of answering that question, Veronica opted for another topic, "I like your hair," she says, grabbing the food and starting to eat, "red has always suited you," she said between bites.
"To be honest every color suits me," Lia responds with a smirk and a shrug of her shoulder, "also, I've had it for like, three days now, how did you not notice?" she asked.
To that Veronica sighed deeply, "I've been so busy with this- this new case," she says waving her hand dismissively at the papers to her right.
"Oh interesting... what is it about?" Lia asked curiously.
"Not gonna happen Lia," the woman says rolling her eyes, "also, I'm not sure it would help entertain you in any way," she shrugs her shoulder and keeps eating.
Lia groans and throws her head back in annoyance, "God, everything is so boring in this house," she states then adds, "do you know when Briggs is gonna allow us to get back into cases?"
"I'm sorry, but that's still an on going debate," she says a little apologetic.
"Doesn't matter. Still had to try though." She stood up with a defeated shrug. "Bye Sterling," she says waving her fingers at her with a small smile.
And Veronica puts her burger down and mirrors her actions calling out, "Bye Lia."
Once she was outside of the room, she closed the door behind her, letting her feet take her to her next stop—the library. When she arrived, she went through the open doors and headed straight for the practice cases pile in a corner. As much as they bore her, they also help her develop her ability to a next level, and she would be a—bigger—liar if she said she didn't wanna be the best at what she does.
After checking a few of the files, she finally chooses one that looks like it could keep her interested enough to not fall asleep ten minutes in and starts going through it. Then she feels a tiny object brushing her fingers, a USB taped to one of the papers, and she realizes she doesn't have her laptop with her, so with an annoyed groan she drops the file back in the table and makes her way to her room.
She opens the door to her room and starts looking for her laptop. She finds it on her nightstand, when she goes to grab it, she catches a glimpse of a couple of folded small papers next to it. She immediately recognizes them and glares at them like they personally offended her—which they kinda did.
She wants to throw them out, she wishes she could throw them out, but she knows she can't, at least not yet. She remembers why they are out instead of hidden like they were before. She remembers pulling them out the night before and staring at them both, she stared at them until her eyes started stinging, she stared at them until she stared to daze off, starting to succumb to the much needed sleep. Only then, she put them in her nightstand and finally closed her eyes. That's why they are not in a much safer place.
Deciding it was best for them to be more hidden, she grabbed them and instead of stuffing them in the bottom of her drawer, she decided it was best to change the locations of them. So, leaving her laptop on her bed and walking towards her closet, she opens it and drops to her knees, pulling out a shoe box from the deepest depths of the bottom of the closet.
She then opens the shoe box and puts the folded notes on top of everything else inside, then she puts the shoe box back and stands up, closing the closet doors as she goes to grab her laptop again, this time, making it out of the room without any distractions.
Walking back to the library, when she passes Sloane and Cassie's shared room she can hear mumbles coming out from behind the closed door, she immediately recognizes Sloane and Celine and a smile finds its way into her face. Not even she could deny that both girls were perfect together.
She arrives at the library again and walks straight for the table where she left the file. Finding it right where she left it, she grabs it and makes her way to the seat next to a large window and flops down, opening the folder once again and carefully taking the USB from the paper, now plugging it into her laptop.
Her screen lights up and now she can see a guy in an interrogation room. She presses play and when he starts talking, almost immediately she can read multiples lies off of him. So she was right, this case is more interesting than she thought. She has one hand on her laptop and the other one on the file, switching her focus from one to another when necessary and getting lost on solving this case.
In total, she solved two and a half practice cases before boredom took over and she dropped the files back on the table. She's a little surprised that no one interrupted her and she was able to finish more than one case without someone bursting in, but she's not complaining. Now, she leaves her laptop aside and stands up, stretching her arms and legs. Then she turns back to grab her laptop and sees that the battery died, throwing her head back in annoyance, she started looking around for a charger, it didn't matter whose it was.
After looking around the library for a while and not finding anything—even though she swore she saw one out of the corner of her eye when she came in— she finally found it, on top of a shelf she passed by one too many times without realizing. She connects her computer to the wall and waits a few seconds for it to turn on, then when it does she sits back down in the chair she was before and starts looking for a movie to watch.
She finally picks one and presses play.
Twenty minutes in and she's bored again. She definitely picked the wrong movie. Sighing, she leans back in her chair and look out to the sky. It's barely 5:30 in the afternoon, so it's still light outside. She can still hear the movie playing in the background, but her mind is more focused on the movement of the clouds, right now, that seems way more interesting than whatever the actors are saying.
She rubs her hands against her thighs, wanting to move at least one part of her body. She can feel the fabric of her pants in her palm. She looks down and sees the low rise, semi baggy jeans she picked this morning, they have leopard print on them, then her eyes skip over the black and white tank top she's wearing and they go back to watching the sky.
Looking down from the sky to the ground she caught a glimpse of something moving between the trees outside. She looked back to where she first saw the movement, her face fell, her back straitening suddenly and her blood ran cold at what was in front of her eyes.
It was a figure hidden in the trees. It wasn't any figure—no. It was the figure of a girl, she was wearing a white dress, standing completely still in between the tall trees. She was looking forward, it's almost like she was looking at Lia, almost like she caught Lia's eyes from that far and has been glued to them all the time, but she couldn't be so sure.
Her limbs felt heavy, the pit in her stomach felt like a never ending hole, the knot in her throat was tightening and she was trying to stop her eyes from watering. The air in the library felt like it was leaving the room. She couldn't breath normally anymore, every time she tried to inhale was either too shallow or too deep, neither was working to stop the panic raising in her mind.
A single tear finally left her eye, and that was enough for her.
She ripped her eyes away from the figure outside, grabbed her computer and the charger she borrowed, ripping it carelessly from the wall, she stood up so fast from the—now discarded— chair, she started rapidly organizing the files she was reading before, trying to keep her gaze down.
When she finished putting everything back in place, she made the mistake of looking up. Her eyes locked again with the figure, this time it was harder to look away, it was like the mysterious presence knew how to make her freeze, knew how to make everything around her freeze. She can't turn her head and look the other way, her neck is stuck, her eyes are glued, her talons are deep in the ground— or at least, that's how she feels.
She doesn't realize she's crying, not until she hears a distant sound in the background. She tears her eyes away forcefully and looks down at the desk in front of her, takes a deep breath and puts her laptop down, she raises her hands to her face to wipe her tears away. She doesn't want them. She won't take them. Once her face is dry again, she grabs her laptop and decides to go to her room.
But before she can move, a voice startles her, making her jump out of her skin. "Ah, look who's here."
She ripped her head around and her eyes locked into the figure of Michael Townsend, walking in the library. He was talking to her, but he wasn't looking at her, he was looking at one of the bookshelves, inspecting the books for one second and then turning around to face her with a smug smirk. But that didn't last very long, the second he looked at her, he could see her emotions written all over her face.
First thing he saw was, pure and absolute fear, that made him drop his smirk. Then he could see the sheer panic in her wide eyes, which didn't last long either. Because the second Michael frowned, Lia turned her head back to the window, and while she schooled her expression back to normal, she realized the girl outside was gone. Then she turned back to the boy and raised her eyebrows.
"Didn't know the library was off limits now Michael," she says rolling her eyes.
But Michael was still frowning. Can you blame him? It's the first time in his life that he's seen so much fear in the girl's eyes. It doesn't matter that it was gone now, it only mattered that it was there once. He took a step towards her, "are you okay?" The words left his mouth before he could stop them, now he regrets asking because he knows he won't get an honest answer.
Now, with her mask back in place, Lia gave him a smirk of her own and let out a small chuckle, "why wouldn't I be?"
He took another step towards her, "Lia-"
Before he could word his worry, or tell her to stop lying, she spoke up again, "how many times do I have to tell you that I don't appreciate getting my emotions read?" She tilted her head to one side.
"And how many times do I have to tell you that I don't appreciate when you lie to me?" He shot back.
"Oh, don't act like you don't lie to me," she says.
"Don't change the subject."
"I'm not changing the subject. I'm just stating a fact," she shrugs her shoulder, "but don't worry, you can have the library for yourself."
What? "What? no, I don't want you to-" Before he could keep going, he cut himself off, realizing what he was gonna say, making Lia raise her eyebrows, a flash of surprise and a—foolish, if you ask Lia— glint of hope in her eyes before fixing her expression again.
Then, when she realizes he isn't gonna say anything, she rolls her eyes again and forces an unbothered smile, "bye, Michael."
She walks past him, her shoulder brushing his before getting out of the library quickly, leaving a confused Michael standing alone. Once she's out, she starts walking to her room faster, she ignores every sound around her, every movement around her. She's not even sure of who else was in the hallway before entering her room and locking the door behind her.
Looking down at her hands, she sees the computer and the charger she's holding. She starts walking to her window, passing her bed she throws the things she's holding on top of it. When she gets to her window, she braces her hands on each side and looks outside. Even though, she knows her window is not facing the same part the library's window is facing, she just needs to make sure there's no one outside.
Once she makes sure that, in fact, no one is outside, she stumbles back, breathing heavily, she covers her eyes with her hands, then drops them to her sides. Starts pacing around the room. So many things running through her mind. So many words making no sense. So many thoughts scattered.
Maybe it wasn't real, maybe it was her mind playing a trick on her. It couldn't be real, that would only mean that... they found her. No. No, she made sure she left no trace, she knows she left no trace. So, what the fuck was that? Who was that? It has to be the same person that's been watching her. Who else could it be? Maybe it was all in her mind, and nobody was actually watching her.
With every new thought, she became more erratic, walking faster, mumbling curses under her breath, gripping the roots of her hair, sniffing to hold back tears. She looks back at the window and quickly walks over to close the blinds, desperate for the relief of knowing no one's watching her, but it never comes. She still feels trapped under eyes she can't see.
She closes her eyes and tries to take deep breaths, but the image of the unknown girl is stuck to her eyelids. She reopens her eyes, then tries to remember. She knows that the girl is familiar but for some reason she can't remember her face. And it doesn't really help the fact that the sight of her face was just out of reach for her eyes.
Who is she?
The memory of an almost-face just grazing her fingertips, and when she thinks she's got it, it's gone again. It drives her insane, almost as insane as her past self—but not quite. Not yet.
Again, trying to calm down, she takes deep breaths, walking around slower and slower, this time she doesn't let the tears fall. When she feels more calm, she lets herself fall to her knees next to her bed. She interlocks her fingers and quickly pulls them away after her brain caught up with her actions, she opts for dropping her head on the bed. Calming down was hard, but she made it. She concentrated in her loud heartbeats, she was sure anyone who came into the room would be able to hear them.
She knows that she needs to relax so she grabs her laptop again and starts looking for something to watch. Anything that can catch her attention for more hours. After looking for a while, opening and closing many tabs, just to open them again, she settled on and 90's movie. She clicks on it but then realizes she's still on her knees and it's starting to hurt, not that she's not used to the ache on her knees, her mother made sure she was.
But then, she didn't really have a choice, now she does, that's the difference.
Standing up, she settles into her bed and makes sure she's comfortable, then she concentrates on the movie. Getting lost in the dialogue and acting. Using her skills to test the actors abilities. Admiring the way they dress, they way they move. This time, the movie does its job and her mind can finally rest. In the middle of the movie—or maybe it's the end, she's not completely sure— her eyelids drop close, and the sleepiness takes over her body.
At first, she doesn't dream anything, she almost never does. But then, there are flashes of random images... or maybe they are memories, she can't be sure, they are too fast to remember or recognize. But the feeling of deja-vu is there, that's undeniable.
Suddenly, the images stop flashing and now she can see two girls, probably no more than eight years old, she can't see their faces. They are in the middle of a field, there's a church behind them, they are laughing and twirling around each other, unaware of anything but their own little world. They play together for a little longer, until their laughters die down slowly. They start talking, but everything's muffled, so no one can't hear what they are saying but it's not hard to figure it out since they start laughing again, this time one starts chasing the other.
They are running around the field, free and carelessly. Until all of the sudden, night falls in the snap of two fingers. But they are still running, only this time, they are not chasing each other, someone else is chasing them both. They are not laughing anymore. Nothing is funny anymore.
But before anything can happen, Lia wakes up. Not in a startle, or scared. She just opens her eyes and looks around, the screen of the computer was now black, the room was dark, which means night has fallen, the clock on her nightstand read 9:37 p.m.
She slowly sat up in her bed and stretched her hand to turn on the lamp on her nightstand. Now with a little more light in the room, she can take in better her surroundings, she can see the half closed laptop, her phone next to the lamp, the abandoned charger in the corner of the bed, the tiny pile of clothes she left in corner this morning after picking her outfit.
Looking back at the charger, she thinks it's probably best for her to leave it back where she found it. So, sighing she stands up from the bed, shaking off the sleepiness and starts changing into something more comfortable for the night.
Now, wearing loose grey sweatpants and a small black tank top, she grabs the charger, opens her door and starts heading back to the library. Once there, she takes notice of how dark it is, the room only being illuminated by a lamp sitting on a desk. She recalls exactly where she found the charger first so she just walks over and places it on the counter it was this afternoon.
When she turns back to the door and starts walking away, she starts to remember what happened a few hours before and she tries to ignore it, she really does. But it's like an invisible pull guiding her eyes back to the window she was trying so hard to avoid. This time, when she looks over, there's nothing. There's no one.
She chuckles and looks down at her feet, shaking her head in amusement. Well, of course there's nothing. It was just her imagination like she said before.
As she starts walking away again, she can see movement in between the trees. And then, there she is again. The girl with the white dress. This time she was not standing still, she was moving—walking , she was—very slowly— walking out of her spot between the trees.
Lia can't take it anymore, her heart sinking and frown deepening, she whips her head towards the library doors and starts walking. Only one goal in her mind, figure out what the fuck is going on. When she's out of the library, she picks up her speed and starts jogging down the hallway.
The sound of her bare feet hitting the ground can be heard. That's what makes Michael—who was on his way to Lia's room— turn to look at the source of the sound. As Lia passes him, he frowns confused. The faint glimpse of her face that he was able to catch before she turned the corner and was gone, was a perfect replica of the expression she had the same afternoon. He does a double take before setting the plate on his hands down next and start walking in the direction she went.
Lia, on the other hand, was rushing down the stairs. Everything in her telling her to stop. Telling her to turn around, walk back into her room and lock herself inside. Telling her to hide. Telling her that this was a bad idea. Everything but her feet. Her feet were guiding her, rushing her. And she listens to them, because she wants—needs answers and this is the best opportunity. This has to be the person that's been watching her. This is the person that's been following her.
She ignores her surroundings, doesn't care who's there, who's not. Then she gets to the front door and once she's out, she picks up her speed and sprints to the side of the house, where she knows the library window faces. But when she gets there, there's no one. In between the trees the girl was supposed to be there, the branches were moving, a sign someone was there. Key word: was. She's gone. She got away, Lia let her get away. Now, she's empty handed again.
Her chest going up and down and looking around, she debates whether trying to chase a girl whose face she doesn't know and who's out of sight, or stay in her place and desperate for answers she knows she won't get any time soon.
She's breathing loudly, trying to decide, trying to make up her mind. When she realizes following the girl would be a terrible idea, especially so late at night, she lets out a loud: "Fuck!" Her voice carrying through the trees in front of her. She can hear footsteps behind her, getting closer and closer.
"Lia." He says softly.
She knows what he's going to ask. How can he not ask? He's never seen Lia so terrified before. And he hates it, he hates that he doesn't know why she's so scared, and most of all he hates that he can't do anything about it. Her eyes have never held so much fear. So much desperation. So much panic. Michael's not sure if she will ever tell him the truth, but he's sure he now needs to know what the fuck is going on. What's making her so afraid? Why is she outside cursing at an empty spot between trees like a mad woman?
One thing he knows is that this Lia in front of him, is not like the Lia he knows, that's for sure. And God only knows he's right. This isn't the Lia he knows.
She slowly looks over her shoulder and meets his gaze, this time she doesn't try to hide her emotions, she's too tired for that, instead she takes him in. He's standing behind her, in his pijamas, with a hand out as if offering it to her as a source of comfort, but despite her finger twitching at her sides, she doesn't take it.
She feels lost, she doesn't know what's happening, and she's not sure she wants to know. Because once she opens that door, it would be nearly impossible to close it. And she wouldn't be able to protect the Naturals from what's inside, she doesn't know if she's gonna be able to protect herself. But one thing she knows is that she's gonna do anything to survive, just like she did years before.
"Are you okay?" The inevitable question comes out of his mouth.
Oh God how much she's starting to hate hearing that question.
Lia can't answer, her body stops her before her mind decides to answer. Her tongue is stuck in place and lips frozen so she can't move them. She feels her brain popping inside her skull from how much her head is hurting. The shaky breaths that come out of her are irritating her to no end. There's this stupid nagging voice in her head telling her to accept his hand. She's not okay. But that's not an acceptable answer, not for her, so she doesn't answer at all.