Chapter Text
Fiona sat quietly on the couch, her hands clasped in her lap. She was sitting tense and upright instead of in the comfortable lounging position she usually adopted. On the screen in front of her a popular soap was reaching a dramatic climax, but for once Fiona was not especially interested. She was distracted and worried. Fiona had hoped the TV might divert her attention for a moment, but instead had found her-self struggling to concentrate as the reality of the recent real-life dramas crept into her thoughts and demanded her attention. She had finally given up, leaving the TV on for company but letting her thoughts drift inwards.
Something strange was going on in Venice. For some time she had occasionally glimpsed odd things out of the corner of her eye, a movement, a creature of indeterminable description, but always when she turned to look properly it would be gone. This in itself hadn’t bothered her too much, it was very hot and perhaps her imagination was simply playing tricks. Then one morning she had awoken early and after getting up, had paused for a moment to look out the bedroom window.
The sky had been a pretty mixture of purplish blue and pink as the sun cast the first faint rays of light across the still mostly sleeping city, below her ran the murky waters of the canal. It had looked almost like a scene from a painters canvas, and Fiona had lingered at the window, folding her arms and leaning against the sill as she stared down at the quiet streets and the gently flowing water beneath her. Fiona could not recall exactly how long she had stood there, still groggy from sleep as she was she had found herself drifting into a kind of daydream, but the sky was definitely brightening a little as she’d dragged herself back to alertness and turned to walk way. As she turned something about the flowing water had caught her eye. The usually calm water seemed to be rippling and swirling, as if disturbed by something hidden beneath its surface. Fiona had strained her eyes to peer down into the mud-filled depths. At first she could see nothing, then outlines and shapes began to emerge through the gloom, the water seemed to clear just slightly and to Fiona’s astonishment she could see what looked to be an entire underwater city. She had blinked and looked again, sure it must be a trick of the light, or a result of her not being entirely awake yet, but the city was still there. She’d glanced over at Mickey, but her girlfriend had still been sleeping peacefully and when she’d looked back out the window the vision of the city had gone, and all that could be seen were the normal muddy waters of the canal.
She had never told Mickey about her odd experience; sure the older and very down-to-earth Mickey would insist she’d been dreaming, and if she was honest Fiona couldn’t really blame her.
Nothing else had happened for awhile afterwards, and she had almost shrugged it off, until the incident with Mickey the night before last when Fiona had been startled awake by her usually composed and calm girlfriend screaming in terror. Fiona had sat up beside Mickey, placing a hand on her partners shoulder and asked what was wrong. Mickey had sat, bolt upright and tense, her cropped hair slicked to her head by sweat. “Mickey? What's the matter?” Fiona had asked again, Mickey had looked at her then, still shaken, but a hint of embarrassment creeping into her face as well. “Nightmare” she'd muttered “it's nothing”. Fiona looked at her girlfriend with speculation, nightmare or not, she didn't believe for a moment it was nothing. Mickey was normally very calm and composed. Although both introverted and somewhat socially anxious, she was also down to earth and practical and very little ever seemed to phase her, even in emergencies Fiona was the one who usually had to fight panic, while Mickey would be the sensible one, remaining calm and doing whatever needed to be done to get the situation back under control. Fiona couldn't remember ever having seen her so agitated and it frightened her a little. But Mickey, had refused to talk about the incident further, even becoming irritable and defensive, so Fiona had let the subject drop. She recalled how Mickey had been reluctant or unable to go back to sleep afterwards though, despite her insistence that she was fine, perhaps afraid the nightmare would return if she did.
Eventually Fiona had gone downstairs and made some herbal tea for Mickey. With the tea to calm her down Mickey had finally fallen asleep again and Fiona although worried for her had drifted off to sleep herself not long after.
The next morning they had both gotten up early. Fiona had switched on the shower only to be drenched in ice cold water. With a yelp of surprise She had leaped out of the shower cubical, gasping and shivering. Mickey startled by the noise and action had also jumped and the toothbrush and paste she had been holding clattered noisily into the sink. “Jeez, what's up Fiona?” Mickey had asked, recovering from her initial surprise “there a spider in there or something?”
“The water is freezing cold” Fiona had complained. Mickey had smirked then causing Fiona to feel briefly annoyed, until she realised how it must have looked with her screeching and leaping out the shower like that. She'd smiled sheepishly and shrugged.
“I'll get to work on the pipes after breakfast” Mickey promised “Damn plumbings always going wrong.” Fiona had turned to switch the shower off.
“No need to screech like that at a little cold water though” Mickey added teasingly. A mischievous thought crossed Fiona's mind and she had half turned back to her girlfriend, leaving the shower running for the moment
“Really? Want to try it?” Before Mickey could answer Fiona had braved the shower and disconnected it from the wall. Opening the door she'd sprayed the cold water towards Mickey, who had been too slow to dodge.
“Agggh! Fiona! Stop! You're getting the bathroom soaked!” Mickey protested, “okay,okay! point taken, sorry.”
Grinning Fiona had placed the shower back on the wall and turned the water off. The tiled floor was soaked, water dripped off the walls, and Mickey was standing with a mock stern expression, still in her night things which were now soaked through and clinging to her, water dripped from her clothes, hair, and fingers to form a puddle at her feet. “Gee thanks Fiona!” Mickey had scolded, although her tone hadn't been serious.
“Any time” Fiona had replied, her tone still impish. In response Mickey shook her head but Fiona could see her fighting not to smile. Fiona smiled slightly at the memory, the playful interaction between her and Mickey had been a welcome distraction from the things bothering her. But it hadn't lasted.
That evening she and Mickey had been relaxing together in front of the TV. Fiona, been nestled against Mickey and resting her head on her shoulder as they watched The Victory Hotel, and at some point had drifted off to sleep. She had been jostled rudely awake by Mickey suddenly leaping to her feet. Fiona had gasped in surprise as she collapsed face first onto the sofa. Recovering Fiona had looked at Mickey for explanation but even as she did so she'd seen the reason for Mickey's abrupt behaviour and scrambled to her feet. The walls seemed to have vanished and in their place were tropical trees with lush green leaves and smooth, solid trunks, the carpet now resembled soil, littered here and there with plants and flowers, her first thought had been to wonder if it was some sort of hologram, perhaps set up as a prank by one of their student tenants, but as far as she knew a hologram was only visual, and not only could she see the tropical forest, she could hear and even smell it too.
The calls of various animals had echoed round, somewhere she had heard a bird singing, she could smell the scent of the damp soil beneath her, and she had even felt a light breeze dance past her. She had looked once more towards Mickey and this time made eye-contact, but the confusion in Mickey's eyes had simply mirrored her own. Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, the forest seemed to vanish without a trace, and they were once more standing in the front room of the Border House. Fiona and Mickey had both collapsed back onto the sofa trying to make sense of what they had seen. Eventually Mickey had just shaken her head, and mumbled that she was going to bed, since then her girlfriend had refused to discuss the subject at all with Fiona, becoming evasive or moody whenever Fiona tried to bring it up.
It frustrated Fiona, she knew Mickey was worried and after the 15 years they had spent together Fiona knew that something like this, something that Mickey could neither understand or explain would trouble her, but this was one area in which Fiona and her girlfriend differed greatly. Mickey tended to withdraw when she was worried, she found talking about her problems or worries difficult, her reaction to the odd occurrences was to pretend they didn't exist, or rationalise them by insisting it was just a trick of the mind, or an over active imagination, or even that they'd been dreaming, even though, deep down, she knew it wasn't true. Fiona however wanted to talk about her worries, to gain reassurance and insight, keeping it all internalised just caused the feeling of unease to build and intensify inside her until she felt about ready to explode. She had confided in one person, a young art-student staying at the Boarder House named April. Although friendly with most of the tenants, Fiona had a soft-spot for April. The girl had seemed so scared and lost when Charlie (another borderer at the house) had first introduced her to April. Fiona had taken the girl under her wing and endeavoured to make her feel at home . April was a very sweet girl and easy to talk to once she overcame her natural shyness. April had not dismissed what Fiona had confided in her, only admitting she had seen odd things too. The two had chatted for awhile before April left to find Cortez. That was another thing, Fiona didn't understand Aprils recent fascination with the man.
Cortez was an older man who seemed to enjoy sitting on the bench outside the boarder house, sometimes reading, other times seemingly lost in his own thoughts. Mickey seemed to like him, but Fiona was wary. There was something unusual and mysterious about Cortez. He often spoke in riddles, almost never giving a direct answer to anything, he''d sit motionless on the bench often for hours at a time. He rarely spoke but when he did some of the things he said seemed fantastical, and Fiona occasionally found herself wondering what the old man had been smoking. Still, even Fiona admitted he was harmless enough. April had seemed unsure of him at first too, and had even gone to Fiona for reassurance earlier in the week after he had apparently spooked her, but over the last few days seemed to be seeking him out quite frequently. What had caused such an abrupt turn around in the student's opinion Fiona had no clue, but it worried her a little, especially with all the unexplained events of the last few days. She worried for the girl and wondered at reason for her unusual behaviour recently, whatever was going on, she just hoped April would be okay.
“Hey Fiona!!” a bright, cheerful voice greeted her. Fiona looked up at the pretty dark haired girl who had entered the room.
“Hello Emma, how's the sculpting going?”
“Pretty good” Emma replied “I don't suppose you've seen April?”
“Not for awhile” Fiona said “The last time I spoke to her, she went out looking for Cortez, but that was a day or so ago.. ."
Emma frowned, and Fiona could see the thinly veiled worry etched on her face “I wish I knew what was going on...”
“You and me both, darling, she's been acting so strangely, even I've noticed. ......I don't suppose she has mentioned anything to you about it, has she?”
..........................
Emma bit her lip and wondered how much she ought to say. She liked and trusted Fiona, that wasn't the issue, she knew Fiona was merely concerned. What made her hesitate was that what little April had told her and Charlie had been in strictest confidence, and she wasn't entirely sure how Fiona would react if she repeated exactly what her friend had said anyway, especially as Emma was having a hard time believing it herself. But the other thing was how April might feel if she knew her confidence had been betrayed. On the other hand Emma was increasingly fearful of what on earth April was getting herself into. If her friend was possibly getting herself into trouble, even danger, wasn't it her duty, as her friend, to say something...?.
Emma took a deep breath “Charlie and I spoke to her the night before last” she replied cautiously “she 's helping Cortez with..... something, I don't really know what though, she wasn't exactly specific. She was going to tell us more yesterday morning but she just vanished again. She hasn't been in her room, she hasn't turned up at the Academy, and according to Charlie she hasn't shown up for work either.
We waited yesterday, it wasn't the first time she'd disappeared for a whole day recently, but Charlie and I didn't notice her come in last night, and she isn't in her room again this morning, I checked .”
Fiona looked at Emma anxiously “Do you think she's in trouble?”
“I... don't know”
“Well, I hope she knows what she's doing, I'm worried about her”
Emma sighed, “Me too. I'm going out again to see if I can find her. If she comes back here can you tell her I'm looking for her?”.
“Of course, be careful out there darling” Fiona replied and turned her focus back onto the television , staring blankly at it's screen.
Not holding out much hope of actually finding her increasingly elusive friend, but needing to do something other than worry, Emma turned and walked out the door. Zack passed her as she left, pushing himself rudely past her on his way into the Border House. Emma halted and glared after him, her worry quickly turning into anger “watch it, jerk!”
“Yeah?” Zack half turned back towards her, his tone was arrogant as ever and he had a smug looking smile on his face that irritated Emma even further “ well we'll see who needs be “watching it” soon enough. Your friend made a big mistake when she messed with me babe. If I were her I'd really be watching my back right now.”
Emma scowled at him, feeling a mix of hatred and fear well within her. Emma by nature was outgoing and gregarious, and there were very few people she absolutely detested, Zack however was one of them. He had been caught listening outside Aprils door quite a few times after the disastrous date he'd had with April, what if he'd overheard their conversation the last night, or even just part of it?
“What have you done, Zack?” .
“Hey she started this. That bitch fucked with me and soon she's gonna be real sorry. You'll find out soon enough. Later, babe.” Zack smirked and strode off, leaving Emma with a cold, sick feeling in her stomach.
She considered going after Zack and pressuring him for more information, but thought better of it, she had wasted enough time on that slime ball already, she had to find April and warn her.