3rd of July 2022
Objective: (unofficial) Mission Independence. Make all preparations for the 4th and don’t get caught!
Agent Aurora location: Dawn’s residence, Washington DC, USA
“Are you sure your thoughts align with what you say?”
“How hard you try, you won’t be able to hold your emotions any longer…”
“You will thank me later for it…”
Dawn woke up in her bed and looked around the room.
“Jeez, what a nightmare…” She mumbled to herself while opening the curtains of her room. She turned around and headed to the bathroom.
Already nine, quite hot outside… Wonder if Arnaud’s already up. Don’t they sleep a lot in France? Or was it a Spanish thing? Meh, probably just a stereotype…
I was surprised that my friends and colleagues were willing to celebrate Independence Day with complete strangers. They probably just want me to see people, to not, upset, me, pfuh…
Dawn got in the hall and entered the bathroom. Never thought Arnaud would be back in this house, heh…
“Alas, my feelings are pretty hard to decrypt, and misleading…”
“Depends on whom!”
Dawn looked around, then calmed down. Now I’m hearing myself, and Abby? Came as far as in my head to terrorise me? Dawn put some water from the sink in her hands and splashed it over her face.
“Don’t worry, we’ll have this conversation later. I’ll read your thoughts, soon or late!”
Shut up Abby… Dawn looked up in the mirror… And the dark silhouette with red eyes appeared in it.
Dawn inhaled of panic and took a step back.
“Your time is oveeeeer!” Dawn out of reflex smashed the mirror, breaking it and making the silhouette vanish. She stayed immobile for a moment, seeing the glass parts fall in the sink, along with her blood.
She searched in a cabinet for the pills the nurse gave her, and swallowed one. Dawn inspected her hands. Just some mild cuts…
After quickly cleaning her hand with a towel, Dawn headed downstairs. As she arrived in the polyvalent room, with the kitchen to her left and the living room to the right, she noticed something.
The kitchen-island table was set. She saw her warm coffee ready next to a glass of juice and an empty plate. Dawn scratched the back of her head.
Then, she heard the front door slowly open. She turned around quickly, but saw it was Arnaud holding a bag.
“Good morning Dawn! How are you?” Arnaud said in his usual happy tone. He placed the paper bag on the table. Dawn approached it too.
“I’m fine…” Dawn took a seat and looked inside her dark coffee.
“Strong and dark, like you want it!” Arnaud commented. Dawn took a sip and appeared satisfied.
“Have you, done all of this?” Dawn asked, putting her mug down. Arnaud took a basket and put it on the table between their seats.
“I’m a morning person, so I had the time!” He approached the bag and emptied it in the basket. “I just returned from the local bakery, but they only had croissants left. I don’t mind…”
“Me neither…” Dawn added, taking one, “it fits with coffee. Thanks…”
Arnaud sat down in front of Dawn. He also started eating.
“So ehm, do you know when that psychologist will come?” Arnaud started.
“Somewhere in the afternoon, they told…” Dawn replied. She took another sip.
Arnaud then took a piece of paper from his pocket. Dawn frowned.
“Okay so, Lea will make chili con carne, Abby a cheesesteak and Josef a summer berry cheesecake.”
Dawn nodded and focussed on her croissant.
“And your other friends?”
“Jane said she’d bring the appetizers, Cole the drinks, ish, and Alex the meat…”
Arnaud nodded. “And we had to make a second dessert. Any preference?”
Dawn shook her head. “What do you have in mind?”
“Well, I thought of a strawberry pie! It’s the season, and I like strawberries…” Dawn grinned quickly. She had just finished and stood up and headed to a closet.
“Then I guess we’ll go to the supermarket,” she replied, turning the keys of her car around her finger. Arnaud smiled at it.
Both left the house and headed to the car parked on the road, a bit to the left. A convertible Ford Mustang.
“Wait, that’s your car!” Arnaud asked, looking amazed. Dawn jumped in. Arnaud joined her.
“From my parents. Oh yeah, don’t try to stand up and ‘feel’ the wind hit you like everyone tries to do… I just have to brake and, woosh!”
Dawn put on her sunglasses, turned the vehicle on and left the neighbourhood.
“I made a list of the ingredients needed,” Arnaud said, showing his phone.
“Didn’t know the French were this organised! That’s more a German thing.”
“And I didn’t know Americans learned languages in school. That’s more a European thing!” Arnaud replied. Dawn giggled a bit.
Good one, Arnaud. Good one…
The two arrived at the nearest Walmart. Dawn parked the car and both stepped out of it. Arnaud looked at the building with awe.
“What? You never saw a Walmart before?” Dawn asked.
“There’s no Walmart in France. I only go to Leclerc or super U. Just, heard a lot about Walmart, how American it is and… Just very special!”
“Besides the underpaid employees, sure…” Dawn headed to the entrance.
“Very American indeed…” Arnaud mumbled, and he followed Dawn inside.
“What’s first on your list, Monsieur organisation?” Dawn joked. Arnaud rolled his eyes.
“I rounded it all up, so that we will have enough. Ehm…” Arnaud looked on his list. “400 grams of flour, 150 gr—”
“Eh Arnaud, you’ll have a difficult time finding grams around here… We don’t work with the metric system…”
Arnaud facepalmed. “Oh true, I forgot that les Américains are unique on that too.”
“Luckily my grandpa learned me to use both… I’ll tell you how much everything is.”
Both standing a bit in the way of other customers, Dawn changed Arnaud’s notes and could finally take action.
“Eggs and sugar are that way…” Dawn pointed to the right.
“I know, I can read it!”
“Never thought that!” Both grinned. “And if you get lost in this big, big Walmart, you go to the cashier and ask for me via the loudspeakers!”
“Hey, I’m not a baby!”
“Bonne chance!” And Dawn ran to the left. Arnaud went in the opposite direction.
Gotta get the milk and some eggs… One quart and a small tray will be enough…
Dawn arrived at the right shelf and grabbed some milk. But as she grabbed it, at the end of the self, from her eye corner, she saw a dark silhouette pass by.
Dawn turned her head and tightened her eyes. She ran to the end of the self and looked both ways. No more silhouette. Her heartbeat dropped.
“You found what you needed?” Dawn startled and turned around. It was Arnaud holding all sorts of ingredients.
“Yes, got it all. We can go…”
And the two walked to the cashiers to scan their products.
Carrying one bag each, they left the market, heading to the car.
“Really, I wanted to divide the price. You didn’t have to pay for it!” Arnaud mumbled, passing the things they bought.
“It wasn’t much really, and with my WSC salary. No problemo!”
“I owe you something in return now!”
“Don’t be silly, it was just 50 bucks. Now hop in, or you can walk back. You know the way by now…” Arnaud rolled his eyes and jumped next to Dawn. The car drove off the parking, heading home.
It’s later in the afternoon now. Dawn and Arnaud have started preparing the strawberry pie. Arnaud was cutting the strawberries and busy with the custard. Dawn was making the shortbread dough.
“Okay, I’m gonna need the flour to spread out the dough on. Can you pass it to me?” Dawn asked while taking the rolling pin out of a shelf.
“Heyey! I’m asking you something! You lost your to—” While turning around, Dawn was surprised by a cloud of flour in her face. She wiped it off her cheek and saw Arnaud start grinning.
“You look like a Parisian mime, hahaha!”
“I’m gonna make you eat that whole bag!” Dawn reached for the bag of flour on the table and threw a handful at Arnaud, covering him in flour too.
Dawn grinned back, but Arnaud was about to throw another pile of flour. Dawn hid behind the table to dodge the attack, but Arnaud arrived from the other side.
“En garde!” Arnaud was about to throw it, but….
“No, you won’t!” And Dawn threw more flour at him, some she had left. Dawn rushed to him and grabbed his arms. As the two were wrestling, all the flour in Arnaud’s hand spread on the two. Nothing was left in his hand. The two were laughing hard.
“I’ve never heard you laugh like that!” Arnaud commented.
“I don’t laugh often… Besides the sarcastic laugh…” Dawn replied. Silence then took place. The two looked at each other, still holding each other's arms.
But suddenly, someone knocked on the door, making them turn their heads.
The door was still ajar and a blonde lady entered.
“Miss Archambault?” the lady asked.
“Eh, y-yes?” Dawn slowly released the grip.
“I’m Miss Po, the psychologist. We had a meeting today. Are you available?”
“Eh,” Dawn looked over her shoulder at Arnaud, who winked.
“Go on, I’ll take care of the pie. It’s for your good…”
Dawn turned back to miss Po and nodded.
“May we sit in an unagitated environment?”
“Oh, yes, the terrace in the backyard is calm. All the neighbours are on holidays around now…”
The two ladies went to the backyard. Arnaud gave Dawn a last thumbs-up before going back to work.
Miss Po and Dawn installed themselves at the outside table.
“May I call you by your forename?” Miss Po asked.
“You can call me Dawn…”
“Dawn, okay… Let’s start with the 12B injection. How do you handle it? Describe it all in detail. I’m aware you probably told it several times already to some, curious foes, but now you can explain it calmly, without hurrying…”
Dawn sat straight in her chair with her hands on the table.
“Well, I’m handling it how I can. Hallucinations appear from time to time. I take pills to minimize them…”
“How many hallucinations have you had today? And can you describe what you saw?” Miss Po wrote on her notepad.
“Two already… This morning, a dark silhouette with red-ish eyes appeared in the bathroom mirror. I panicked and punched it… Then it was gone. Second one was less violent. I saw again a dark person, from the corner of my eye, run by two supermarket shelves. I went to follow it, but it disappeared…”
“Very interesting…” Miss Po said while still taking notes, “something more?”
“Sometimes I’ve also got auditive hallucinations. Voices, talking to me…”
Miss Po nodded. She took a sheet of paper and crayons and put it in front of Dawn.
“Could you perhaps make a drawing of the things you saw in your hallucinations?” Dawn nodded and started drawing. She made it quick, a dark humanoid form with two red eyes.
“That’s kinda it, they all look the same…”
Miss Po took the drawing and put it in her bag.
“Thank you… Now, how are you feeling?”
Dawn gulped silently. “Still functioning…”
Miss Po looked at her for a moment. “You have difficulties expressing your emotions, do you?”
Dawn was a bit unsure of what to answer, so she just nodded. Miss Po smiled.
“Expressing them will certainly alleviate your hallucinations, and that inner pressure, uncomfortable feeling we all have deep in us. Just let them out, get in touch with them, understand them. Cry sometimes. It’s a sign of strength, not weakness you know.”
Dawn still felt unsure and uncomfortable.
“Do you remember the last time you cried?”
Dawn stared in front of her. Her brain showed thousands of pictures to her. She stared at them internally.
The TV was on. Dawn was zapping a bit, with a blanket and hot tea. It was dark outside. She then switched to a news channel.
“Breaking news, a terrible accident happened on the highway between Pittsburg and Washington. A truck transporting a very explosive liquid slipped and fell on its side, blocking the road. Several cars behind it entered in collision with it. Transferring live to the helicopter. Sensible images incoming.”
“The truck is badly damaged, and the liquid is spreading on the road. The highway has been blocked temporarily by the police. Emergency help is on its way, but we have no idea if any individuals survived the collision. At least 15 cars are damaged and— Live news, the truck just exploded, I repeat, the truck just exploded near the cars. The whole area caught fire.”
“We will keep you updated on this horrible accident for any new developments. For now, our prayers go to the families of the possible victims. A new d—”
Dawn looked in shock at the images. She put her tea on the coffee table. “W-was that… Were they… From—”
Dawn stayed awake for hours. She waited. She waited so long, she fell asleep on the sofa. But suddenly, the telephone woke her up. Dawn looked around. The TV was still on. Dawn rubbed her eyes and took the phone.
“H-hello?”
“Dawn? Oh goodness, you’re alright.”
“Grandpa, wh-what was that on the—”
“Sweetie… Listen…”
“No. No!”
“Y-your parents… Th-they—”
“Dawn?”
Miss Po shook Dawn’s arm, making her exit her trance.
“Everything alright?” Miss Po asked.
“Yes, was thinking… But I can’t remember…”
Miss Po looked a bit disappointed and penned some things down.
“Who have you talked to about your hallucinations?”
Dawn adjusted her position on the chair. “I think everyone knows it by now, but it’s hard for them to understand what it really does…”
“That’s why you have to talk about it. Make us understand what you feel! It’s hard I’m aware, but you should at least try…”
Dawn looked away in her garden. It was surrounded by a hedge. The grass looked a bit dry.
“Have you told your friends, I mean your colleagues. I’m sure you understand talking about it with your normal-life friends isn’t a good idea, for our, secrets!” Dawn nodded.
“I didn’t tell them. They did ask about how it felt, but they only asked for the positive effects…”
Miss Po noted some things down again. “You should start with talking about it with one person. One that listens and really understands what you feel. Maybe start with your boyfriend?”
Dawn raised an eyebrow. “Boyfriend?”
“The young man in the kitchen. It looked like you were playing?”
Dawn stiffened a bit on her chair, but tried to hide it.
“Oh, no no no no. He’s, just a friend, a colleague too. And we weren’t r-really, pl-pl— ehem…”
Miss Po smiled a bit. “It’s complicated, I see.”
“N-no, it’s very clear, but—”
“I think you know who to talk to, if you want to take your faith in your own hands,” miss Po concluded. She stood up and looked at her watch. “It was a pleasure talking with you. You are a very interesting specimen— person. Visit me in the HQ if you want another session. I have to go now, it’s been three hours already.”
“Time flies…” Dawn mumbled to herself. She shook miss Po her hand and the older lady left. Dawn sighed and put her elbows on the table, with her head in her hands.
“Do you remember the last time you cried?”
“...Last time you cried?”
“Cried. Cried. Cried…”
Dawn shook her head.
“Hey…” Arnaud said, entering the terrace. Dawn looked up at him. Arnaud slowly approached.
“The psy… How, did it go?”
“As I expected… Learned nothing new. I doubt I’ll go for a second meeting…”
Arnaud sat in front of her. “What did she tell you?”
Dawn repositioned herself on her chair and looked at the table. “She said, I had to, to… To, express, my emotions more…”
Arnaud smiled a bit. He noticed a bird land on a branch of a tree in the left corner of the yard. “I told you that too. But from my perspective, you’ve already improved!”
Dawn let a quick grin go. “Perhaps…”
“Don’t deny it! Look at the first day we met, how you hated me for everything I did! And now, we’re cool with each other…”
“Is just getting along opening up enough?”
“Well, I said you were improving, but—”
“What she meant, is that I talk about my hallucinations with people, and to a certain extent, what I feel, in general. That it would help relieve the hallucinations…”
Arnaud looked down at the table and remained silent.
“Do I talk about what I feel, my struggles, my emotions? No, because I was never understood. A-and I think I see those hallucinations as another feeling, that no one can understand, so it’s not worth talking about it…
“See Arnaud, actually I’m wrong…” Arnaud looked up. “Yesterday at dinner, I didn’t tell anybody about the real effects of my hallucinations. They probably think I see a bunch of flying pink elephants around. So, for their and my good, I minimise it…
“B-but you, you saw it… My, enduring, back in captivity. It even left a mark on you,” Dawn quickly pointed at his prosthetic thumb, “you, probably understand the severity, of all this…”
Arnaud slowly nodded, but remained silent again. Dawn fell back in her chair.
“Miss Po said in my case, if I ever want to, I should talk about it, with one person, that understands me… I, hate to say it, but I think, you fit that description the most…”
Arnaud remained silent, crossed his arms and fell back in his chair too. He smiled a bit. Dawn expected a response, but after waiting for some moments, she looked up at him.
“You’re a quick learner, Dawn. You, probably don’t realise it yet, but what you just did, was expressing your emotions. You feel misunderstood. I have it too, sometimes… As you said, our colleagues think this new thumb is a cool gadget, but it’s not. It’s hard to re-learn everything with it… We, aren’t so different, from the inside…”
“Good you added that last part,” Dawn sarcastically joked. Arnaud smiled a bit too.
“If you want to talk, or ask me things, anything, just go on. I’ll be there…”
Dawn remained silent. She was thinking if it was the right choice to make, to talk about it. Arnaud noticed.
“I won’t judge you, it’s not weakness. The choice is yours, I won’t force you…”
“You should be a psychologist…” Arnaud grinned.
“I can be yours if you want. Eh-h, psychologist I mean…”
“I’ll, think about it…” Dawn replied casually.
Arnaud smiled and stood back up.
“The pie is ready. I put it in the fridge. We could put everything in place for tomorrow? What do you say?”
Dawn felt comfortable with Arnaud’s enthusiasm. She stood up, and the two went back to work.
After preparing everything and making a humble meal, the two went to sleep. It was late already.
Dawn was in her bed, thinking again, about the day. Her past haunted her a bit more…
“I’m, sorry to announce it like this, sweetie. Grandma and I are coming as quickly as possible…”
Dawn hanged up the phone and glided down the wall to the ground, devastated.
Devastated. I was, devastated. It’s been three years already. Three years not a salty drop of water left my eyes…
I kept my past for myself and hid it, in the darkest rifts of my soul. Making it resurface hurts.
Am I ready to share this past
ns 15.158.61.48da2
