World gone mad (with Primal Things)

[pistolmouth]

The fact that Angelina was not only sleeping, but also likes the braid was enough to make Alina genuinely happy. She smiles broadly and runs her fingers through her own hair, wincing at the rats nest she finds halfway down. Pulling her hand out, she glances over at Leigh and gives her a sympathetic look... she should have helped her, but doing this this way will save more time and they'll be able to go to sleep faster.


When she sits down in front of Alina, Ali starts to brush her hair, following the same routine she had with Angie to make sure that the tangles are out of her hair. Her lips twitch into a smile as she listens to Leigh chatter, realizing just how tired the girl really is.


“My sister taught me, it was one of the only things she really did with hers.” She starts braiding her hair back, careful not to tug at her roots. “I can teach you, if you want. It's not that hard. You guys have really nice hair, by the way. Your natural highlights are awesome, I'm jealous.”


The quiet in the room is nice, and she's just tying the braid off when Leigh asks if their mother had buried their sister. Her heart cramps up, teeth clamping down on her lower lip as she glances briefly over at Angelina, wondering briefly if she could hear them. Ali had been wondering about that herself... what had they done with the bodies? Everyone deserved a proper burial or at least some kind of funeral, but it begged the question that, if the adults didn't care enough to keep their children alive, would they really care enough about what happened to them after they were dead? They couldn't just leave the bodies out, so what had been done with them?


“Yeah, she says, not knowing what else to say. I mean, what else would she do... you know? They... they have to do something with the...” She almost says 'bodies', but stops herself, not even sure if she can say the word anyway. “They have to do something with everybody, don't they?”


Leigh's next question is the one she REALLY isn't ready for. Any mention of Peter had been easily shut down over the last few days, especially since no one ever wanted to address it anyway. He was dead. That was enough for them, or at least should have been, and it had taken a great amount of effort not to think about the way his blood felt as it ran down her arm, the impact her arm had suffered as the knife punched through his skin, though she hadn't even been aware at the time that that had been what it was... and now?


Why did Leigh have to ask her?! Why did this even need to be something they needed to talk about, after all of this? Alina's blood runs cold in her veins and all of her breath seems to whoosh out of her lungs as though someone had just punched her in the stomach. When it finally does come back, it's too fast, her chest rising and falling rapidly with it; a part of her stubbornly tries to remind her that the girls are here, that she can't do this in front of them, or in front of anyone and she tries to retreat, to separate herself from what her body is doing, but she can't.


Because she's no better than the adults now. Peter's dead, and she killed him, and she's happy that she's killed him, so really... what's the difference?


“I did it.” It comes out in a rushed whisper, her voice higher than normal, tears stinging hotly in the backs of her eyes. “I... i-it was an accident, but-but I did, and -” and it's not safe to be around her. Not the girls, at least. Hands shaking, tears searing hot tracks down her face, Alina gives Leigh a small shove away, suddenly desperate to create some distance between the two of them. They can't see this. They can't be near her. “Leave-” her voice cracks badly, breath catching in her throat. “Just GO, okay?!”


Not knowing what else to do, she rushes into the handicap stall. Even though there's still the large gap beneath the door, she finds a slight comfort in locking it, though her hands are shaking so badly that it takes several tries until finally, letting out a frustrated, slightly hysteric wail, she slams her hand against the slider and it slams home. Alina's legs steer her back against the wall, and she slips on a stray piece of toilet paper, hitting the floor and wall hard enough to send pain shooting into her already bruised tailbone. A strangled cry escapes and she smacks her hand over her mouth, unsure whether it was the pain or the break in whatever walls she'd put up or both that causes her to curl up onto her side and just let herself go.


Adults nearby be damned. She can't keep herself quiet even if she wanted to.


--------


The thought of maybe having some sort of answers puts Ilya on edge. As excited as he is to have an idea as to what's going on, his fatigue makes him antsy, and he paces around the office while Jared searches through google for something that might be of use.


He's already chewed through most of his thumbnail by the time Jared says anything, and the sound of his voice in the silence of the room makes him flinch. He turns to the other boy, eyes wide, and walks over, leaning next to him to peer at the screen. Ilya's eyes scan the page slowly, finding some difficulty understanding the words he's reading through the constant, nagging thought of just how TIRED he really is.


But when it clicks, it clicks hard.


His eyes widen and he looks over at Jared, stepping back, “Wait... so this... someone MADE whatever this is? To, what? Were they actually going to use this on someone?”


It makes some sort of sick sense. Obviously, it probably wasn't meant to be used on anyone here, but the best way of destroying a civilization would be to take out its youth, wouldn't it? To destroy whatever chances they had of a future? Sure, taking out one generation wouldn't destroy that possibility, but if every adult suddenly just wanted to kill every child or adolescent that they see, well... that'd get the job done.


Ilya is just about to say this, or something like it, to Jared, when through the door he hears a something outside. Spine bolting upright, he looks over to the other boy, wide-eyed, “Did you hear that?”

 

[Faith Eliza Cord]

Leigh smiles, proud, when Alina compliments her hair, touching the side of it lightly. "Really? It is? I don't have the kind of highlights you put in though, my hair is just boring brown. I always wanted curly hair like Angie, everyone says how great it is and pulls her curls and stuff. I wanted blonde or red highlights or even pink but Lydia never would let me and I bet Jared won't either. Maybe when I'm fifteen he can't say no. I think that's old enough."


She notices when Alina stills in response to her question, when her hands stop moving on her hair and her voice drops until Leigh can barely understand her. She hears the tears and shakiness of her voice and her stomach drops as she turns to face her, biting her lower lip in unconscious imitation of Alina.


"Ali? Are you crying? Ali-"


She cries out when Alina shoves her, startled, hurt, and genuinely alarmed, as well a little afraid. Was Alina going to hit her, hurt her? Was she turning into an adult now? She didn't like her anymore, she wanted her to go? What was happening?


"Ali!" she cried, but Alina was running, locking herself into the stall, and Leigh could hear her falling- hitting something? Crying, definitely crying...what had happened, what was wrong?


"Ali, what's wrong? Ali, I'm sorry, don't cry...Ali!" she called, and she hurried to the stall, banging on the door and quickly finding it locked. Angelina stood by the sink, rigid, her hands in fists at her side as she stared towards her with huge eyes, her mouth slightly open, before she suddenly ran out the room and hid in between two clothes racks in the children's section nearby. Ignoring her, Leigh peeked under the stall door, then tried to crawl beneath. "Ali?"


When she sees that Alina is nearly hysterical, Leigh herself bursts into tears, her fear further heightening. Crawling in beside her, she tried to put her arms around her, now crying almost as hard as Alina partly in sympathy, partly in fear, partly in guilt that she may have caused this. "Ali, I'm sorry, Ali, don't cry...Ali, stop..."


**


The words are swimming before his eyes on the screen, and Jared can't quite make sense of them. It makes a horrible sense that he doesn't want to think of, and at the same time, it's so far fetched it can't seem to be true at all.


He tries to read over the words several times, but as they continue to blur, he instead saves the site as a favorite, turning back to look at Ilya with a numbness that doesn't reach his eyes.


"I think...yeah, this...could be it. It could be..."


When Ilya stiffens, having heard something, Jared's head jerks up, and he strains his ears, listening hard. He hears the sound of feet running, then the metallic noise of something dragging across the floor...was someone out there?


"Someone's there," he said, and without further thought he jumped up, running out the office and out into the main part of the store without waiting for Ilya to follow. Once out of the office he heard what sounded like screaming and crying overriding the initial sound, and Jared's heart boomed with renewed alarm. The girls...where were the girls, what had happened? Was someone here, were they hurt...


"Ilya, the girls!" he yelled over his shoulder, still not checking to see if the boy was following, before running in the direction of the bathroom. He almost tripped over Angelina's foot, sticking out of one of the racks as he tried to zigzag through the children's clothing, and when he screamed, catching himself, and then hurriedly looked to see what had tripped him up, he found her huddled on the ground, sucking fiercely at her thumb with wide eyes.


"Angie...what are you doing out here? What's going on?" he tried to ask as he knelt beside her, but she didn't respond. Torn, more anxious than ever to get to the girls but not wanting to leave Angelina behind, Jared nevertheless piled clothing on top of her, shoving her feet closer inside the circular rack.


"Stay here. Do not move unless we come to get you....stay!"


And then he ran towards the bathroom, his stomach sloshing with his fear of what he would find.


(I'll assume the kids section was near and he heard Angie running and hiding initially)

 

[pistolmouth]

Ilya is right behind Jared through the door before he even has a chance to think about grabbing a weapon. His only focus is following the sound. Jared shouts something about the girls and when he trips, Ilya keeps running, half-jumping over the other boy's body. His feet hit the ground and he keeps going, heart pounding in his ears.


This is it. It has to be. They've had too many close calls and now they're done for. Ilya and Jared were careless enough to leave the girls alone, to not stay close enough in case something happened, and now... what is he about to walk into? What kind of blood bath is he going to see when he crosses into the girls' bathroom?


The absence of blood is confusing to him when he first steps in, but still, he can hear Ali wailing in one of the stalls. Beneath the noise, he can hear Leigh's own soft cries with her voice speaking to Ali, but Ilya is unable to make out what exactly she's saying. Alina's cries seem to hit some sort of fever pitch, and finally, he propels himself forward toward the stall and tries to push it open to no luck. He smacks his palm against the door lightly, just hard enough to be heard over the echo of Ali's sobbing.


"It's Ilya, open up!" When that doesn't happen, he drops onto his belly and slides beneath the door, heart racing. Walking over to the girls, he helps Leigh up and, out of pure reflex and just relief that neither of them are hurt, hugs her tightly and rubs her back. "Go let Jared know you're alright, okay? He's worried about you."


--------


There is suddenly so much noise in the stall. Even with the blood roaring in her ears, Alina can hear Leigh calling after her, hear her banging on the stall and scrambling beneath the gap, her cries and suddenly, there are arms around her and she brings an arm up to try and shrug them off. She shouldn't be touched, she's dangerous, she's killed someone, and she's scared, and guilty, and tired, because now that everyone knows, now that the cat's been let out of the bag, Ilya and Jared can't protect her from what Angie and Leigh would think. Why should they?


When Leigh's pulled off of her, she curls up tighter onto her side and tries to retreat further against the wall, arms folding over her head as though to protect from any sort of blows. But then, someone is picking her up, a pair of arms sliding beneath her knees and around her back and she can't feel the floor beneath her anymore.


She starts to struggle against the body, but stills just a little when it's Ilya's voice in her ear. "Ali... hey, listen to me. We're fine." But she's not fine, not even when she feels movement and opts to grip at his shirt with one hand, while stuffing the other into her mouth and biting down on it to keep herself quiet. "I'm gonna get you into the office where it's quiet, with the rest of the group, okay?"


"NO!" The thought of being in the room, where everyone will see her like this, will get upset at her for this, is just salt in the wound and Ali writhes against him in an effort to get loose, even as his grip tightens on her, nearly pinning her to his body. "Pleasedontpleasedontpleasedont!" Her voice is suddenly so much rougher, more desperate to get loose now than ever, but the movement beneath her doesn't stop, even after she's in the lighted office and Ilya is sitting down in the chair at the desk rocking her as best as he can.


"If you don't stop this now and talk about what happened, you're going to make yourself sick." Her brother's voice is soft and coming from the top of her head, where he's rested his chin as though trying to keep as much of her still as possible. It's working, though, Alina can barely move in spite of the fact that she's trying. She's trying so hard to get away from them, put distance between these people she cares about and herself. "C'mon Ali," His voice is surprisingly calm, though still stern as though he might be angry at her if she doesn't listen. "Take a deep breath. There's nothing wrong, I promise, but you have to stop or someone's going to hear you."


"

 

[Faith Eliza Cord]

Leigh won't leave the bathroom stall even after Ilya has slid beneath it and pulls her away. As he briefly hugs her, her crying peaks, and she tries to cling to him even as he detaches himself from her to kneel by Alina. Barely understandable through her tears, she hangs close, in their way as she tries to explain.


"I d-don't know what h-happened...she, she's just, she started crying and she-she pushed me...I can't make her stop! Ilya, she-she won't stop crying...is she hurt? Is she going crazy? Ilya...Ali, stop it..."


Ilya was pulling Alina to her feet and then carrying her, brushing past her, and now she saw that Jared was standing in the bathroom too, just a few feet from the now open stall, yelling overtop everyone to try to determine what was going on. The look on his face frightened Leigh as much as anything, and she sank to the floor beside the toilet, burying her face in her knees.


"I'm sorry...I d-didn't mean...it was my fault, I m-made her..."


Jared couldn't for the life of him figure out what was happening. Alina seemed hysterical, Leigh almost as much so, and yet he couldn't see any injury or anything amiss, not so much as a scratch or a broken mirror. Ilya was hastening Alina out of the bathroom and not answering any of his shouted questions, though he supposed Ilya couldn't have known the answers as it was. His heart was still thudding hard against his ribs, his mouth dry with sustained shock and adrenaline as he went to Leigh, allowing Ilya to handle his sister as he knelt beside his own.


"It's okay," he told Leigh shakily, though he had absolutely no idea whether this was true. "Leigh, it's okay, it's not your fault, come here. Come here, it's okay."


He held out his arms to her, and when Leigh didn't move, he reached out to pull her into a tight hug, rubbing her back and shoulders. Leigh grasped him tightly as he rocked her back and forth, clutching him hard enough that he felt her nails digging into his skin. Jared held her even as he worried for Angelina, left alone and terrified in the clothes rack, and tried to get Leigh to pull herself together enough to let them be able to check on her.


"Leigh? Leigh, Angie's scared, she's alone out there. Can you let me go get her? Can you let me tell her it's okay?"

 

[pistolmouth]

Not a single thing Ilya could think to do to comfort his sister seems to work. While rocking her seems to quiet her a little, it does nothing to calm the way her body convulses against his every time a fresh sob rolls from her chest. He's seen her upset, seen her cry, obviously, but he's NEVER seen her like this, never been unable to do something to make her feel at least a little better, but now? Well, right now, Ilya is pretty much useless.


Alina's nails dig into his back as she clings to him, like she's afraid that if he lets her go it's because he's just going to disappear. Ilya winces slightly, the sensation of them biting into his skin not a pleasant one and just tries to keep rocking her.


"Please just tell me what happened." Ilya pleads softly to her, tightening his arms around her as he continues to rock her in the chair. "Did you see someone? Or... what, what happened, Ali?"


For several minutes, Alina seems beyond words. Her throat works violently through her tears and she just clings to him more tightly. When she does speak, it's rushed, her voice thick, nasal and hoarse and almost unintelligible. "I'm just like them! I'm... I k-killed Peter and I'm happy that I did! I'm just like all of them, and you're... you're all- you're all going to see it and -"


"Ali, that was an accident and he was going to kill us. I saw it! That doesn't make you like the adults, that makes you protective."


"But I WANTED to!" It's almost a scream, right into his ear and for a moment, the ear actually rings at the pitch her voice manages to reach. "I thought about it that whole day when y-y-you came back with him. I WANTED him to die and I'm happy that he's dead, Ilya!"


On some level, Ilya realizes that he's been expecting this. It had been almost a silent agreement between the three of them that they weren't going to bring up what happened, in part because of Leigh and Angie, but Alina as well. He'd noticed it while he and his sister were dragging his body away from the campsite, the clinical way that she helped to drag it off, the way her jaw clenched and her eyes would glance down at the body without really seeing it. He'd watched her actively refusing to think about it, and on several occasions, had thought about even bringing it up to Jared. But then the storm came, and there were, at the time, more pressing matters to be concerned with.


The chair is rocking a little more quickly now as Ilya uses his feet to increase the tempo, hoping that the change in rhythm will sooth her again, at least enough for him to say what it is that he's trying to tell her. Several times, he's already opened his mouth in response only to have his voice blotted out by her half-shouting. After a solid three minutes, she quiets down again and he sucks in a deep breath.


"If you were like the adults," He began softly, rubbing her back, "Then we'd all be dead by now. Ali, you saved our lives, do you realize that? If what's wrong with the adults was wrong with you, don't you think you would have just kept going instead of sitting here feeling this bad about it?"

 

[Faith Eliza Cord]

Leigh won't let Jared go to Angelina at first. At his very suggestion she gasps out loud her protests, tightening her arms around his neck, and her sobs get louder and more frantic, as though she is frightened that he will leave her there alone, or that he is abandoning her in some way. Jared has to try for patience then even though he is still very concerned about Angelina, about Alina and Ilya, and wants to be sure that all of them are going to be all right. He is sweating, aware as well that he is only wearing a blanket while his sister basically sits in his lap, and he is very uncomfortable because of this, even as he knows the situation is necessary and appropriate considering. His heart still feels like it's going to burst straight out of his chest as he continues to rock Leigh, waiting for her to settle enough to be able to hear him as he tries to talk to her about it again.


"Leigh? Leigh, listen to me. It's okay. No one's hurt, you didn't do anything wrong. It's okay."


God he was tired...it took such effort just to speak, to try to reason through what to do. When he noticed her crying was diminishing, he tried again.


"We have to go to Angie, Leigh. Come on. You can walk with me or I can carry you, but we're going to Angie right now."


His muscles were stiff and sore, several joints popping as he got to his feet and held Leigh up too. She clung to him, her nose dripping, tears still streaking down her cheeks, but her sobs had quietened to mostly hiccups, and she let him hand her a wad of toilet paper to somewhat attempt to clean herself with and then to lead her out of the bathroom. It took Jared a few tries to remember which clothing rack Angelina was hiding under, and when he knelt to push aside the clothes, reaching to draw her out, he saw that she too was crying, though almost silently.


"Hey, it's okay," he tried to tell her, even as the lie seemed to scratch the inside of his throat with the effort it took to continue to speak it. "Ali's okay, Leigh's okay...come here. Angie, give me and Leigh a hug, okay?"


He pulled her close to him, shaking Leigh loose and telling her to put her other arm around Angelina, and the three of them stood, hugging, all three trembling, in the middle of the clothing, for what seemed to Jared to be forever. When he finally pulled apart from them slightly, taking both their hands, he wondered whether he should go check on Alina. He didn't want to expose them to her if she was still upset or had in fact lost it, but he was deeply concerned for her. In the end he lead them outside the office doors and instructed them to stay back, still holding their hands as he called out through the door, "Jared? Is Ali okay? Can I do anything to help?"

 

[pistolmouth]

Jared's voice outside of the room causes both Ilya and Ali to flinch. Her grip tightens painfully on Ilya, though by now her sobs have slowed to a series of low groans, tears still spilling steadily onto his shoulder and chest. Ali's started to lose her voice a little, gradually becoming more hoarse, even with her cries, and he doesn't know how to answer the first question... is she okay? No, clearly not just yet, but will she be? He doesn't know that either, but he doesn't want Jared or the girls to think that something might be seriously wrong.


"No," Ilya says finally. "No, we're okay, just... another couple minutes, okay?"


Alina's grip eventually starts to relax, her body going heavy as though she's completely exhausted herself. He can tell she's still got a few more rounds in her, but for now, he'll take it as a good sign despite the worry that's swirling around in his stomach.


"It's fine," Alina croaks against his shoulder, her voice low and weak. She takes the tissue that Ilya grabs from the box on the desk and blows her nose, body still quaking on top of him. She's a mess, and he doesn't completely trust her to be alone, but he needs to go check on everyone else. Standing up, Ilya places her on the chair where she curls forward, her hands resting on her shins, face pressed against her thighs.


"I'm going to step outside for a minute, okay?" Ilya's next words act as a vaguely hidden warning, "I'll be right outside, just... stay here." He finishes dumbly and walks to the door, slipping out of it and closing it until just a crack is open, enough for him to hear her if she starts shuffling through drawers looking to do something stupid.


He looks up at Jared's face, his own eyes wide and takes a deep breath. "She's a mess," He says quietly and glances back and forth between the girls briefly. "But the worst is over, I think. I... we shouldn't leave her alone for very long though, I don't think. At least until we're sure she won't-" Ilya stops there, his own voice catching briefly and he clears his throat, plucking briefly at the bridge of his nose. "Until we're sure she'll be okay."

 

[Faith Eliza Cord]

As soon as she had heard Alina still crying from the other side of the door, Leigh's tears had renewed themselves, though they are softer and more stilted than before, bred mostly from fear and anxiety for her rather than the near hysteria she had managed to generate before. She wraps both her arms around one of Jared's, sniffling as she says to him, "She's still crying. Can't Ilya make her stop crying? Jared, I want her to stop crying...did she hear I'm sorry? Tell her I'm sorry..."


She seems afraid to speak up to directly address Alina herself now that she knows the older girl is still upset. Jared, dreading another outburst, quickly shakes his head at her, unable to pull his arm from his grasp to hug her, but he does kiss the top of her head.


"Hey, you heard Ilya, Leigh. Shh. She hears, she's not mad at you." He hopes, anyway. He still can't understand what had set Alina off or what Leigh might have said to her to upset her, but it's not the time to ask now.


Glancing at Angelina, who has most of her fist in one mouth, her eyes glued to the door, he pulls her close to him again, rubbing his hand over her shoulder lightly. "Angie, you okay?"


When the door opens and he can hear that Alina's crying has lessened, that she is calling out she's okay, Jared almost sags with his relief. Even so, as Ilya opens the door and addresses them, he still feels very shaken by it all. He wants to see Alina for himself, to go to her and hug her and make sure that whatever had happened to hurt her so deeply would never happen again. But he remains still, nodding in reply to what Ilya says.


"Yeah...yeah, of course, we'll stay with her. We can sleep in here, even, lock the door after us so we feel safer..."


It doesn't dawn on him for several seconds the implication of what Ilya is saying. He's afraid that Alina will hurt herself. Jared can see it in his eyes, hear it in his unvoiced words, and the possibility of this hits him hard enough to cause him to release a whoosh of breath that slightly stirs Leigh's hair. Leigh, feeling the difference in him, looks up anxiously, her voice growing shrill as she wipes at her eyes.


"What? What's wrong?"


"Nothing," Jared says quickly, shaking his head, as he looks back to Ilya, trying to distract. "Uh...should we go in, or...give her more time..."

 

[pistolmouth]

Ilya can practically see the realization of what he's saying in Jared's face. The anxiety of the situation is only made more evident in Leigh's voice and he shakes his head, giving her a small, probably evidently fake, smile. "Nothing, it's fine."


He glances back up at Jared and sucks in another deep breath, his hand raising to mess with his own hair as he mulls over the question. Being around them might help her, but it also might make it worse, but the sound of her blowing her nose again through the crack of the door spurs on his belief that, at least for now, she's finished.


"Hey - Ali?"


There's a brief pause, and his pulse shoots up through the roof. What is she doing? Why isn't she answering them? Finally, though, he hears her soft, watery, "What?"


"You okay with us coming in? They all... we all want to be in there with you, but if you just want me or something, that's-"


"It's fine." It's a little louder, a little more like her, which he's taking as a good thing. At least she's trying to be normal now, if only for Jared, Angie and Leigh. "Yeah, it's okay."


Without any further hesitation, Ilya grips the doorknob and opens the door to let the girls in, telling them quietly that it's fine, to just go in, but he holds his hand up to stop Jared before he walks in and closes the door a little again. The breath he wants to take is hard at first, and doesn't go down easy by any stretch of the imagination, but he manages it and turns to face the other boy.


"Something, I don't know what, got her thinking about Peter." He says, his voice soft and rushed, in a hurry to get into the room. "She uhm... Christ, okay, she thinks she might be... you know, dangerous. Which is bullshit, right? I mean, we would be the first ones to go if that was how it went, but it just... I don't know. What happened is just hitting her, I think."

 

[Faith Eliza Cord]

Leigh almost runs through the door, dragging Angelina after her by the hand. Angelina is slower to move, digging her heels into the ground and staring at the floor as Leigh hauls her forward. She seems afraid to look up at Alina or to draw close to her and quickly drops to the ground, wedging herself into a corner as far from Alina as she can get. Leigh, however, hurries forward and throws her arms around Alina, practically catching her off balance as she tries to hug her.


"I'm sorry! I won't talk about it again, I won't talk about anything. I didn't mean to make you cry. I won't make you again, I'm sorry, Ali, I'm sorry."


She is still crying a little bit, tears leaking out her eyes, as she tries to give comfort to Alina that is unconsciously for herself as much as for the other girl.


Standing outside the door, Jared blinks at Ilya, trying to process what he is saying. Ali, dangerous? That was completely ridiculous. Of course she wasn't...she had taken care of his sisters, she hadn't hurt them. She was crying...dangerous adults didn't cry. And she was younger than both him and Ilya anyway. It was impossible. Right?


"No, that's...no way, she's younger, and...just, that's not right," he said finally, shaking his head. "She's fine...I mean...not fine, but...you know what I mean...shit, Ilya, you know what I mean. Just...we'll watch her."


He paused, then lay a hand on the other boy's shoulder briefly, concerned by the look in his face, the slump of his shoulders. He was not aware that he looked no better. "You okay, man?"

 

[pistolmouth]

When she's sure that the others are coming in, Alina quickly scrambles to at least try to make herself look like she's not such a mess; make sure all of the snot is off her her face, get her hair out of her mouth, and try to stop the flow of tears as much as she possibly can. The problem is that she's too tired and too miserable to put more than the absolute minimum amount of effort. But still, she's able to screw her features back into a semi-normal expression before Leigh rushes into the room, flinches ever so slightly when the girl's arms fling out and forces herself to relax when those arms wrap around her.


Slowly, as if her limbs do not belong to her, Alina lifts her arms and reciprocates the hug. She rests her chin on top of Leigh's head and closes her eyes, a stab of guilt in her chest when the other girl begins apologizing.


"No," Alina croaks, enough sense locking itself into place to rub her back slowly. "Hey, don't be sorry, okay? I'm... it's fine. You didn't do anything." She's only vaguely aware of how not like herself she sounds. The words are hers, she can feel them coming out, hears that it's in what's left of her voice, but there's something absent. "I'm sorry I scared you guys."


"No, I know." Ilya says, comforted that Jared's denial of the possibility of Ali being dangerous is along the same vein as his. Of course she isn't, he knows that. As he'd told her in the office, had she been dangerous, they'd all be dead by now.


The hand on his shoulder is surprising, and he jumps a little before he's able register what Jared is asking him. Ilya nods, a brief jerk of the head and clears his throat, "Yeah... yeah, I'm good. Ali just... she doesn't get like that, is all."


Before he can say anything else, or get a chance to get any more emotional, he turns back to the door and walks through.

 

[Faith Eliza Cord]

"I won't talk about it anymore," Leigh promises, still gripping Alina hard, her face pressed into her collar bone. "I won't."


She sniffles, finally pulling back from her a little, but her arms are still around her, reluctant to release. When Jared comes through with Ilya and he sees her standing so close to Alina, that both girls are obviously still upset, though not nearly as much as before, he crossed the room to come stand behind them. Putting his hands on Leigh's shoulders, he gently eased her back from Alina, giving them a light squeeze before reaching out a hesitant hand to touch Alina's arm. Finally able to get a good look at her, he was concerned by the mottled look of her features. Any efforts she had made earlier to clean herself up were pretty much destroyed, and he kept a hand on her arm as he spoke to her.


"Ali...you all right? You want me to get you something, or..."


Realizing then that Angelina is in the corner of the room, he shifts his eyes to her briefly, trying to smile at her before turning to Leigh. "Leigh, go give Angie a hug, make sure she's okay, please."


Looking back at Alina, then behind him to Ilya, he sighs. "We should probably try to sleep or something."

 

[pistolmouth]

Alina continues to rub Leigh's back even after she's put some distance between the two of them. Her eyes dart up toward the door when she hears it creak open and her teeth clamp down on her lower lip at the sight of Jared and Ilya. Her throat works hard to swallow thickly, and it makes a dry clicking sound when she's able to manage it. At first, when Jared guides Leigh away, her grip tightens on her, afraid that this is it, they're going to tell her to leave because she's dangerous, and as badly as she wants to get away from them before it gets worse, she's not ready to be out on her own.


But there's no hardness in anyone's faces, and Jared is touching her softly and not wrenching her out of the chair to shove her through the door and her body is able to relax again, if only just a little bit. Is she alright? No, probably not, but how can she even go about answering that when the energy it would take to open her mouth and give any sort of answer is exhausting to think about.


"Yeah," She finally manages to croak out, and can only shake her head in response when asked if she wants anything. Even if she did, it probably wouldn't be in here, because, though she doesn't need it... she'd just about kill for a shot of tequila or something to at least get her nerves under control. Alina had never been much of a drinker. When she was fourteen, she and her friend Carly had drank an entire bottle of dandelion wine and wound up getting sick all over Carly's bedroom floor, and the sick, headachy feeling she'd gotten the next morning had been enough for her to avoid drinking in anything other than the most modest form of moderation she could think of, but god... she'd kill for something like that now.


"Sleep sounds good," Ilya says and grabs a few blankets, trying to make as big of a bed as he can on the floor for them all to sleep on.


Without thinking, Alina brings her hand up and places it over Jared's, still on her arm, squeezing hard. Every little bit of contact helps, but she's still not so desperate to throw herself at him, or Ilya, or either of the girls and it would take too much effort anyway, so her hand on his is good enough for now.


"I'm sorry," She says finally, to no one in particular. Sorry to who? Them, God, Peter? No. Not Peter. There's another small stab in her stomach and she has to fight to keep herself from getting worked up again. "I didn't-"


"It's fine, Ali." Ilya's voice is soft, but he keeps his distance, his own exhaustion written all over his face. "We'll get some sleep and then talk about it in the morning if you want to, okay?"

 

[Faith Eliza Cord]

In the corner Leigh is cuddling Angelina, rocking her slightly and stroking her hair, and Jared notes this absently, glad without feeling much emotion about it that Leigh is being gentle, even motherly with her. He suspects this is as much because Leigh herself wants cuddling as because she's concerned for Angelina, but maybe he's being too harsh in his assessment of her. Either way, it's an appropriate and needed action that seems to be calming them both, giving Ilya time to set up a large pallet of blankets on the floor and for Jared to really focus on Alina.


He is surprised when she squeezes his hand, but he takes her hand between both of his and gently squeezes back, searching her face. He isn't sure what she wants then, or whether she wants it specifically from him, or just from a human who is near by. When she apologizes, he shakes his head at her, too tired to protest.


"It's okay," he echoes Ilya, then, gesturing towards the blankets on the floor, "Sleep. Let's get some...okay?"


He hesitates, then puts both arms around Alina, giving her a brief hug. It is his instinct to hold her for longer, but he pauses only a few moments, waiting to see how she will react, before pulling back and sitting in the middle of the blanket, gesturing for the younger girls.


"Come here, you two can lay beside each other."


He waited for them to come, patting both of them briefly again as Leigh dragged Angelina over by the hand. As they both lay down, Leigh looking up several times to see if the older kids would join them, he spread a spare blanket over them both, noting that Leigh soon curled herself around Angelina. He had forgotten to get Angelina a stuffed animal as he had promised and hoped she was too tired to remember. Laying down beside them, he glanced over to see that the other two would join.


He was more than ready for this day to end.

 

[pistolmouth]

At least Ali isn't crying anymore. It's a small relief for Ilya, but it's one he's willing to accept for now because honestly, he's just too tired to think much more about it. He glances up to see Jared hugging Ali and her hugging him back and for now, that's good, because that means she's responding and it doesn't last any longer than a hug between friends or whatever it is that they are with the family.


"Ali, c'mon over and lay down." As she stands up, he wonders briefly how they're going to keep an eye on her in their sleep. There's no way he'll be able to stay up more than two more hours and he can't expect Jared to stay up either.


He sits down closer to the edge, giving her no other room but to sleep between himself and Jared. Hopefully, if she were to get up and do something, she'd move around enough to wake at least one of them up before it got out of control. Ilya watches her carefully as she approaches, her limbs moving like she's a wooden doll or something before she lies down on her side, arms pulled tight against her chest and her legs gradually inching upward.


Ilya reaches down and pets her hair gently, not knowing what else to do or any other way to comfort her other than this, but when she doesn't flinch or seem to be bothered by it, so he did it a few more times before lying down next to her on the floor.


"Night," Alina said quietly, her voice still thick and slightly nasal, but not quite as watery as it had been when she'd first started speaking in the office.


Drawing in a deep breath, he raised another hand to rub briefly between her shoulders, "Night Ali. Night guys."

 

[Faith Eliza Cord]

It took Jared longer to drift off than he would have anticipated, given the degree of his exhaustion. His nerves were on edge to the extent that it seemed all his senses were heightened, so it was difficult for some time to screen everything out enough to relax. He could feel the cold tile floor beneath the thin layer of blankets, the cold of the unheated building's air settling around them, Leigh's leg brushing his. He heard the slightly raspy inhalations of the others around him, Alina's occasional sniffling, and his own heartbeat still thumping a little too rapidly in his chest for his comfort. He was pretty sure he smelled an odd, slightly sweaty scent as well that he later sleepily identified to himself as possibly tears.


All together it was too much, and by the time he finally drifted off he was sure everyone else was asleep.


**


Leigh, however, woke up only an hour after Jared had succumbed. She could not remember the dream she had had, but she knew that she was shivering, frightened, her heart racing, and she nearly called out to the others, wanting someone to see her and assure her. But as she sat up, detaching from the sleeping Angelina, who didn't stir, she saw that they were all resting and seemed okay.


Still, she was scared, being awake on her own, and after a few minutes she stood carefully, staring down at them, before carefully stepping over their feet to lie down on the other side of Ilya. She scooted in close to him, leaning her head into his back before closing her eyes again. There...that felt better. Safer. And she liked the way he smelled too. Much better than Angie, who had peed herself way more times than a six-year-old was supposed to in the past week. This was better.

 

[pistolmouth]

Ilya is only slightly aware of the warmth against his back when he stirs awake the following morning. His focus is mostly on the pins and needles feeling throughout his entire arm, which has been pinned beneath him for god knows how long in his sleep. It's only when he shifts to free his arm that he realizes there is someone behind him. Still half asleep, he wonders briefly if he had somehow managed to switch places with Ali while they slept but one glance, and a face full of his sister's hair, later proved that that wasn't it at all.


Wincing as he sat up to get a better look around, he stretches his arm out and looks to the other side of him, not quite registering who it is next to him until he's blinked several times and scrubbed at his eyes with one hand. It's Leigh. It is a twelve year old girl. A twelve year old girl cuddled up against his back while he is essentially naked from the waist down and no amount of denial is going to do anything to change that.


Joints popping, Ilya carefully extracts himself from the group and rubs at his head with one hand while trying to shake the feeling back into his other as he stands up. It's dark in the office, and it's not like he can turn the light on, or he'll wake everyone up, but he's able to vaguely make out the shapes of the other three, sees Alina, who had been closer to him until he moved, stretch ever so slightly and roll over toward Jared where it's probably warmer.


But she's moving, so she's okay.


Swallowing, he realizes how dry his throat is and pads out of the room to go into the bathroom. He pauses just outside the door and glances around the store, finally registering just how eerie and silent it is inside, which triggers a small shudder to roll down his spine. It's not something he should think about, or he'll just wind up scaring himself and he pushes himself to move for the bathroom, at least taking comfort in the fact that, if someone were inside and planning to attack, he would hear them coming.

 

[Faith Eliza Cord]

Angelina is the next to awaken. Rolling over, she reaches out a hand for Leigh with her eyes still closed and comes in contact only with the space on the blanket where Leigh had previously been. Her eyes open immediately at this as fear seizes her chest, and she sits up, looking around wildly for her. Feeling only a small measure of relief when she sees that Leigh has simply moved, she then notices that Ilya is missing. Her stomach flips over with her dread, and she begins to whimper, then to cry with some tears, putting fingers from both hands in her mouth as tears begin to trickle down her cheeks.


Leigh faintly hears her but tunes her out, simply giving a faint groan in response to her and curling herself up into a ball. Jared, however, sits up, rubbing a hand over his face. It takes him a moment to understand the source of the noise he is hearing. When he opens his eyes and looks over Alina's prone form to Angelina, seeing that she is crying, he holds his arms out to her, whispering.


"You have a bad dream? Come here, Angie, it's okay."


He frowns, confused, when she shakes her head, but then realizes that he doesn't see Leigh beside her. Turning his head, he sees then that Leigh has moved and Ilya is gone, and his own fear strikes his heart. Standing quickly, he moves towards the doorway, his eyes scanning the room and finding little he can use as a weapon. He ends up taking a broom from the office closet, and holding it as a weapon, aware of what a sorry one it is, he slowly makes his way outside of the office, heading across the small space towards the bathroom. It was possible Ilya was in there, but if not...

 

[pistolmouth]

The first thing Ilya does, before he even considers getting a drink from the sink, is empty his bladder. That relief alone is one he doesn't take lightly at the moment, the fact that he's finally able to use an actual toilet again is just... well, it's awesome. Even though it's in a Toys R Us where they're hiding out from adults who wouldn't hesitate to kill them, a toilet is still a toilet. He flushes and leaves the stall, approaching the sink.


The water is cold and clean and feels great on his throat once he sticks his mouth into the flowing water, drinking heavily from it. Considering the amount of rain they'd gotten, Ilya would never have imagined he'd get as dehydrated as he feels now, but the water is just heavenly. When he's had his fill, he cups his hands beneath it and splashes some of it on his face to wake himself up a little more.


As he turns to walk out, he sees someone in the doorway holding a long object and jumps back, his hands going up in some sort of defense, "YO!" He calls out, hoping the sound will carry to the office before he notices that it's Jared and his hands fall down. Ilya's voice is higher than usual when he finally speaks, his stomach tight and sour with shock, "Dude... you need to wear a bell or something. What the f*ck are you doing?!""


--------


All of the noise is what wakes her. Head still heavy and sinuses clogged from crying, Alina registers Jared's voice and Angie's crying, but it still seems far away. As the sleep leaves her body, though, she becomes more conscious of the shifting around her and opens her eyes to see Jared leaving the office. Panic rises in her chest briefly and she sits up, half-tempted to call after him before she realizes just how little good it would do.


Her eyes slide over to Angie and she tries to smile, her eyes sting and she's not exactly in the mood to smile anyway. "Hey... you okay?"

 

[Faith Eliza Cord]

Jared startles when Ilya emerges from the bathroom, his hands making an involuntary thrust forward with the broom, as though he intends to stab or hit him with it. But when Ilya speaks, and he sees more clearly who he is, his hands relax, and he quickly puts the broom aside, giving a faint, humorless laugh.


"Sorry...I didn't know where you were, and I heard someone, so...you know..."


He let his words trail off, gesturing awkwardly towards the door to the office. "They're probably waking up now...uh...I guess our pants should be dry by now too."


Angelina shakes her head slightly in response to Alina's question, a soft sob escaping her. She scoots further back against the wall, sucking on her fingers for several moments before she manages a few hoarse words.


"I'm scared."


Leigh rolls over again, still seeming very reluctant to awaken, but after a minute she opens her eyes, though still not sitting up. "Why are you all UP?"

 

[pistolmouth]

Ilya lets his hands drop as Jared sets the broom aside and lets out a nervous chuckle of his own. He lifts one hand again to his face and rubbed at it They're probably waking up, Jared said, which makes sense, Ilya guesses. But he isn't exactly ready to go back in to see what kind of shape Alina is in, if she's awake. The thought of her being alone with the girls, though...


"Yeah," He says finally, corners of his lips twitching. "Yeah, that'd be good." He lets out a breath and walks past Jared through the door, bringing a hand up to scratch at his scalp absently. The idea of having pants back, instead of just a sheet, is the light at the end of the tunnel.


--------


Alina lifts her hand out toward Angie, not sure if the girl wants her anywhere close to her after what happened the night before. "Hey... Ang, listen, there's nothing to be scared of, okay? They boys probably just went to the bathroom or something, they'll be right back."


Leigh's stirring and asking why everyone was up diverts Alina's attention over to her and she shrugs, "Sorry Leigh. We'll try to hold it down, go ahead and get some more rest if you can."


Standing slowly, Alina's knees pop as she gets herself fully vertical and she walks over to Angie, sitting down next to her and drapes an arm around her. From outside the door, she hears the boys approaching, the sounds of their footfalls have gradually become more and more familiar to her and she squeezes Angelina briefly, "See? They're coming back now."

 

[Faith Eliza Cord]

Jared is relieved to see that Alina, though awake and far from rested looking in appearance, is hugging Angelina, comforting her, and that Angelina isn't outright wailing as he and Ilya return to the office room. He gives a general wave to the girls as though to reassure them as he closes the door behind him.


"Hey, Angie, see, Ilya's here, it's okay. Don't worry...you hungry? Want to find something to eat somewhere?"


Angelina has wrapped her own arms around Alina, turning towards her and pressing her cheek into her chest, but her eyes shift to Jared as he returns, and she nods, sniffling and wiping her cheek against Alina's shirt. Jared gives Alina a quick smile as he nods towards her too.


"I was just saying to Ilya our clothes are probably dry...we should go get them if you want to."


He wanted to. He could only go so long in a blanket without feeling like either a caveman or a Playboy guest, and either way it was just too creepy of a feeling.


Leigh muttered something unintelligible for a few more seconds, but then sat up, her eyes squinting, pulling her blanket around her shoulders. "I have to pee...so I guess I'm up." 
She might be one of the only children left alive in her town. But for Caroline Danson, even with all the horror and death she had witnessed, even as frightened and confused as she had been and as terrible as the world had become, she could not help but be happy anyway, even joyous. Because in the midst of all the chaos and terror, she had gotten what she wanted most in the world. Her dad had come back to her, and now no one could take him away from her.


She had hated her life before all the grown-ups went completely evil. It had seemed to her that things couldn’t possibly get worse, that she couldn’t any more miserable than she already was. How could she be, when she was living with evil, kidnapping liars, while her own dad, the only person in the whole world who loved her and understood her and would really take good care of her, was stuck in jail, getting punished because of other people’s lies?


Caroline knew this was the truth. No matter what other people said or believed, they didn’t know Lewis Danson like she did, and they were letting money and politics and lies color what they thought. The truth was, no matter what the police or the lawyers or the judges or the counselors or anyone else said, she was not Madeline Brinkerman, the name they all insisted on calling her, at all. She was Caroline Danson, named after her dead mother, her dad’s only daughter. Those other people, Mackenzie and Jason Brinkerman, they were the ones who really kidnapped her from her poor dad, when she was only two years old. They took her away and kept her because their own daughter died, and they used the other girl’s birth certificate and pictures and papers and pretended they were Caroline’s all along. They kept her for six whole years before her real dad came and got her back, and Caroline had even believed them. She hadn’t known any better.


But then her real dad had come for her, and now she knew the truth. Until she was almost fourteen- and Caroline knew it was true, that she was almost fourteen, not only twelve like everyone else tried to say- they had had to hide, because otherwise the Brinkermans would find them and snatch her back. They were rich and powerful and bribing the police, Caroline knew, and they would do anything to get her back, even though she didn’t belong to them at all. And they had. They had found her, made her come back home with them, and sent her dad to jail.


It was awful. It was the worst thing that had ever happened in Caroline’s whole life, and she had hated every second in their house. They were liars and kidnappers and they had wrecked her and her dad’s life, and she let them know it, every day. She wouldn’t answer when they called her Maddie or Madeline, she wouldn’t call them Mom or Dad, she wouldn’t believe them when they told her she was twelve, not fourteen, and she definitely wouldn’t let them say anything bad about her dad. Every day she told them that one day she would run away and get her dad out of jail, and she knew she would do it, somehow. She had to.


What Caroline hadn’t known was that this day would come a lot faster than she thought.


She had known that Jason and Mackenzie Brinkerman were evil, but she hadn’t expected them to show it as fast as they had. One day they had been still acting like they were perfectly nice, trying to talk to her and get her to play games and telling her they loved her and all those other lies, and then the next, she came down to get something to eat, and there they both were, screaming at her how they had had it with her defiance and her believing lies, how she was hateful and rude and not at all as nice and pretty as she used to be, how Lewis ruined her and they didn’t want her anymore. That would have been bad enough, but then Jason got out a knife and actually CHASED her with it. He was actually going to hurt her, he was actually going to kill her! And they said they were the good ones, that LEWIS was bad!


Caroline had run upstairs and locked herself in her room, and as Jason was trying to get in through the door, she climbed out her window and ran until she couldn’t run anymore. She had had to climb into someone’s tree house in their backyard and lay down, and she had been shaking and crying so hard she couldn’t breathe.


She KNEW they were bad after all. She knew it, and how were they ever going to fool everyone else now? Maybe she would finally get her dad back for good. They would have to believe him now!


It had taken her most of the rest of the day to figure out that it wasn’t just the Brinkermans who were bad. It was ALL the adults. She had never realized before how right her dad was, that all the adults were really trouble…but he had never told her they were all evil. She couldn’t get close to any of them, because every time she tried they started to chase her and try to hurt her, and she only barely got away each time.


By day two she was so hungry and exhausted and dispirited she almost gave up; it seemed to her that there was no one in the world left that she could trust. But no, Caroline knew that she couldn’t, that she was. There was still her dad. Somehow, she was sure, her dad was still okay.


She had figured out that the only times she could come out and look for food in abandoned buildings or house was at night; the rest of the time she had to hide, usually in attics or basements that she could manage to sneak into. On one of her expeditions Caroline had managed to steal a cell phone, and though she knew it was probably useless, she repeatedly called her dad’s number a few times a day. She didn’t expect him to answer; they didn’t let you make phone calls in prison, after all. But one day, he did.


What she hadn’t realized was that in light of the sudden shift in attitudes towards adults harming children, all adults who had been imprisoned for crimes against children had been released, their possessions returned to them. Including her father. And so when her father answered, the third time that she called him, Caroline had been over the moon to realize that she could and would, in fact, be reunited with them.


What Caroline also didn’t realize, as her father traveled back to her, meeting her in the location she had revealed to him as her hiding place and praising her warmly for her cleverness, was that he was indeed no different than the other adults. Lewis Danson’s plan was to kill Caroline, slowly and painfully, as he had already killed other children along the way to meeting her. The difference between them and Caroline was that Caroline, he knew, was a death to be savored. Caroline was a death that would have to get the maximum enjoyment and creativity from him, and the longer he made himself wait, the more satisfying it would be.


After the initial hugs and tears, all in which Lewis had to very carefully restrain himself from his urge to snap her neck then and there as she hung onto him, glowing at his presence, he soon found out that Caroline was sure there were other children present in the town as well. As she carelessly described seeing a light in a school, in the local Toys R Us, this had caught Lewis’s attention, and it occurred to him he could have an even brighter blaze of glory…if he could only be patient.


“Other children?” he had asked, and Caroline had nodded, squeezing his hands as she beamed up at him, eager for his attention, his touch, after all this time.


“Yes…I didn’t go in because I don’t know them and I was sort of afraid they might be bad too, I don’t know. And it might be adults, maybe, except they haven’t come out, that I can see…there’s someone in there, anyway. Daddy, I missed you so much, I was so scared. You’ll never leave again, will you? You’ll never-“


But Lewis was hardly listening, his mind already whirring with new and exciting possibilities.


“Listen to me, Caroline of mine. We need somewhere safe to hide…and if there are other children, we have to help protect them. The adults will come after me too, but I’m bigger and stronger than you and can protect myself until we’re both safe. So what I need you to do is get those children to let you in and stay with them. You can convince them that I’m safe and I can be trusted…and get them to let me in too. Then we’ll be safe. But you have to do it slowly, Caroline, they won’t believe you at first, just like how no one would believe you about Jason and Mackenzie. Can you do that for me?”


Caroline had protested at first, clinging to him and crying and refusing to leave without him when they had only just reunited. But in the end she had agreed, and that evening, from the distance Lewis had watched as she approached the store’s front doors, open and exposed. Taking in a deep breath and furtively looking behind her to see if he was watching, she had started to knock.


“Guys? Is anyone in here? Can you let me in? Someone please let me in!”


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[pistolmouth]

Alina tries to match Jared's smile when he offers it and rubs up and down on Angelina's back slowly. The mention of food leaves her feeling torn, though. She should eat, and she knows it, but the night before hasn't quite left her and it almost feels as though it's just swimming around in her stomach, ready to stage a revolt should anything enter it before she's completely calmed down. But still, she is hungry.


The mention of their clothes being dry only serves to uplift her a little more. Sure, the sheet isn't very different from a skirt or a dress, which she often wore before all of this happened, but her lack of underwear, her hairy legs, the presence of her brother and the presence of a boy who she may or may not have a crush on just made the experience that much more uncomfortable for her.


Carefully, she extracts Angelina from herself and stands up, giving the smaller girl's hand a squeeze and glances over at Leigh, "I have to pee too. Plus, my pants are in the bathroom, so... we should go do that."


"Alright, uhm... we're probably going to get our pants and start hunting around for food." Ilya says, and Alina catches him stifling a yawn as she leads the girls past them and through the door.


"We'll hunt for you when we're-"


At first, she thinks the knock is just a figment of her imagination. It has to be. If anyone had seen them come in here, they sure as hell wouldn't be knocking, would they? They'd just break down the doors and let the blood bath begin, but then she hears a voice, like it's trying to shout and stay quiet at the same time.


She doesn't even bother looking toward the front to see who it is and instead pushes the girls back into the office and fixes the boys with a wide-eyed stare, trying not to scare Leigh or Angie. "There's someone outside."

 

[Faith Eliza Cord]

Angelina is reluctant to be removed from Alina, and when the older girl sets her off her lap, she scoots backwards towards Leigh, attempting to snuggle against her. Half-heartedly Leigh scowls at her but lets her lean into her without verbally protesting for a few seconds, even as she announces her intentions to leave aloud again.


"I'm going with you...Jared, are you gonna get dressed too? Because if you're the only one still in a blanket it's weird."


"I was planning on it," Jared said patiently, not bothering to tell her it had been weird from the first second he put it on. He opened the office door, glancing back to see if Leigh was getting up with Angelina, but when Alina pushes the girls back into the office, speaking to them in the hallway, he tensed, listening, his stomach turning over. He too heard the voice, faint but insistent...coming from the front of the store? Was someone breaking in?


"Shit," he whispered, hearing Leigh on the other side of the door, indignant from being pushed out of the conversation but frightened too as she banged on it, demanding that they open it again, to be told what was going on. Shushing her, he looked between Alina and Ilya, suddenly unsure as he again picked up his dropped mop. "Should we...should I go see what'...who that is?" 
(post)