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Aleks was so tired.
Another full day of testing for signs, checking everyone with an unnerving anxiety gnawing inside him. The heat from outside penetrated deep inside the house, the fans installed a bit everywhere doing very little to help. And with the nightly interruptions of knocks, disturbing his precious sleep, Aleks felt himself falling asleep standing up.
He didn't feel like making dinner. He wasn't hungry, and just a few weeks ago, when that was the case, he could skip making food whenever. Now though, he had people to keep alive besides himself, and it was a damn pain in his ass.
"I can make dinner if you want." Angelina suggested nonchalantly. Aleks glared at her suspiciously, a scarred eyebrow raised.
"Can you even cook?"
She looked downright offended at that.
"Uh, yeah I fuckin' can!!" She scoffed. "Better than you, even."
Aleks sighed, he didn't have the energy or patience to argue or question her.
"Alright, fine. Do what you want, I'm going to bed. And watch your language around Agata, for goodness' sake."
He left the two giggling girls alone in the kitchen, dragging his feet to his bedroom. He locked the door behind him, flopped into bed, and fell asleep in an instant.
When his eyes opened up again, a glance towards his alarm clock told him about an hour had passed. He didn't feel very refreshed, but he was able to stand up without his body threatening to give out.
It was eerily quiet when he walked back to the kitchen. Maybe the food finally shut everyone up. It might do the same for him, it did smell pretty good. Hopefully Angelina's claim was true, because Aleks was starting to get a tad peckish.
He opened the door, greeted by the sight of the two girls sitting on the ground next to his cabinet, with the cat at their feet.
Damnit.
"Oh, uh, hi." Angelina said, a bit awkwardly.
"I see you've gotten into my candy stash." Aleks pointed out flatly, which only made the two girls giggle even more.
While he rarely ever had a sweet tooth, it wasn't an impossible occurrence, and he would rather not leave his house to go to the store to indulge.
Well, he supposed it wasn't too bad… The girls seemed happy. It was much better than tears.
"Did everyone already eat?"
Agata nodded, gnawing on swirly peppermints.
"Uh huh!"
"Is it good? What's in it?" He asked, inspecting the contents of the pot on the stove. Some sort of stew, it seemed.
"Oh yeah, people loved it." The teen bragged smugly. "Me and Agata didn't have any yet, but I bet it's freaking awesome. I just put some potatoes, veggies, spices n' stuff… N' some of those mushrooms from your basement."
That made Aleks paused abruptly on his way to his cabinet.
"What mushrooms?"
"Uh, dude, that whole pile of mushrooms downstairs. Duh."
"I don't have mushrooms."
"Well you sure did, I guess not anymore." Angelina argued, though she seemed a bit concerned.
Aleks rushed out and down to the basement.
What the hell?! He could see the spots where they grew on the potatoes. That couldn't be normal.
Or good.
As he climbed back up, a sound made his blood run cold.
A high-pitched cry, right from the storage room. It sounded like it belonged to a tiny kid.
Fuck. Aleks kicked out that strange, sometimes pregnant lady a while ago, having known she was a visitor for much too long. What if she sent her demon baby to haunt him?! Or worse, what if it came out of her and stayed here?!?
None of this mattered right now. All he knew was that there was a very human man in that storage room, and he needed to get rid of that visitor baby right this second.
He stomped his way down the hall and slammed the door open-
Only for no man to be seen.
Instead, on the ground, was a curly-haired and rather round toddler screaming its lungs out.
What freaked Aleks out the absolute most was its uncanny resemblance to Lasha.
Another cry pierced his ears from the living room. He dreaded what he'd find there.
His steps felt like they were taking forever. It didn't feel real, this had to still be a dream.
His hand wrapped around the doorknob, and twisted.
Two toddlers sat on the couch, the black haired one crying, and the weirdly tall one doing absolutely nothing.
What the fuck.