I can hear gentle snoring sounds. Who is it? I blink my eyes open slowly to see who it is and where I am. "O-Owen?" I murmur.
"Huh? W-what... Oh, hey. You're awake now, Harriet."
"What are you doing here? Where am I?"
"Home... If you wish to call it that... Sebastian and I talked. I'm so glad you're safe now after all this time."
"I don't understand Owen..."
"Don't worry, it'll all come back to you in time..." And he helps me to sit up. I see I'm in my old bed in my old room, the lights dimmed for me. "You kept it for me? It looks the same as it did when we left."
"Of course we would. Why wouldn't we?"
"....Nevermind."
"If you're sure, Harriet. Come. Sebastian and Rain are outside."
I swing my legs over the side of my bed with assistance from him. I send him out the room and I change my clothes. When I'm done, I step outside to see he's waiting for me patiently.
He's always been a patient person. We head down the hallway to the patio outside. It's been a long time since I was here and I go the wrong way like six times at least that Owen has to keep correcting me. When we finally make it outside, I see the fire-pit is lit and... There is a girl with familar dyed red hair, ending with purple strands, sitting there... in a chair.
A ginger cat is next to her, lying, dozing in the heat of the flames. I notice she has a drink in her hands.
Soft-drink.
"S-She-" I start to say and the girl turns to face me so I shut up. She hasn't changed much. "Shelby..."
She glares at me, turning away from me, but she does drop her hand down though and give the cat a rub on it's head which delights it. "I'll go sit with her." I hear Rain say and she walks over to sit down next to her. "When did she get a cat?" I ask Owen. Owen rubs the back of his neck. "Long story... Sebastian will explain it in time or perhaps when Shelby is ready, she'll let you in and tell you."
He leads me over to Sebastian. He's dressed casually, looking out at stars and has his back to us. Hands behind his back too. "Sebastian?" I whisper, unsure. "Harriet... Glad to see you're up and feeling better."
"What happened?" I ask. "It will come back to you soon." And he waves his hand signalling me to stand beside him. As he does, I see the fire kick up a-bit all on it's own. I shield my eyes a bit from staring at it as my eyes are sensitive form living underground. I do as he asks as I know better than to piss him off. "Sooo, Harriet." Sebastian starts of with. I see him pull out two Polaroid photos. "Recognize these?"
"Everything's really foggy..."
"I see, well Harriet... You know what you should perhaps do." And he hands them to me. I look at them to see myself. I'm next to some girl with long green hair and in the other photo, I'm next to some guy. "Who are these people?"
"You tell me. I can tell you about the first one, but not the second."
I stare at both the photos, but I feel nothing. No connection to them at all. I don't even know them. I remember waking up here and where I ended up after running away, but my memories are kind of patchy. I take a few minutes to gather my thoughts.
"Sebastian... W-why do I feel..."
"Numb?" He says, finishing my sentence. I nod. " We're going to find out in time... Just be patient. I want you to know I'm here, Owen's here and Rain's here for you too.
Don't think of leaving us again."
"What about Shelby?"
"I can't answer that for you." He responds, turning his neck to look at her. She gives him a small smile.
"Okay..."
I look at the two photos in my hands and walk over to the fire-pit.
Sebastian places his hand on my back, guiding me, whispering I know what I nees to do. I look up at Shelby and the expression on her face is one of anger. I betrayed her and she looks away from me. I hold the two photos and let them drop into the fire-pit.
They gently float down into the pit, starting to slowly burn. Fire is beautiful and mesmerizing, but also dangerous if wielded incorrectly.
The photos gently rip apart, ignited by the embers. "Harriet."
I look to see Owen is holding out a cup of water out to me. "Just how you prefer things to be, simple." He smiles. I accept and take a seat on the other side of the fire. "Hey, Sherbert..." I whisper. "Fancy seeing you again." She snaps lightly, refusing to look at me.
---
Sebastian walks around the side of his house and pulls out a power supply he ripped from Image and a useless chip which he had planted as a decoy many years ago. "You!"
He looks up to see a the young man who was in the photo beside his friend, Harriet. "Ah, I see you found your way here, Ethan."
"What are you?" He challenges and Sebastian let's out a hearty chuckle.
"In the wrong hands, power can be dangerous you know?"
"Yeah, I'd agree with that statement. And who are you? You just kidnapped my friend!" Ethan responds.
"I think all this just proved my point. In her hands, it caused nothing, but destruction. Nothing good comes of too much power which is why ours was partially snapped up, leaving us as near as they can get to mere pathetic mortals."
The guy just glares at him, albeit confused. "I think you should leave Ethan."
"Not without my friend."
"Oh, I don't think so. Keep your voice down. If 'my daughter's, son and wife end up coming over here to investigate, you'll upset them. Namely, Harriet and Shelby. My wife can be pretty unforgiving though to so I'd fear her anyway. Lucky for you, I've honed more patience over many long years.
"Harriet's your daughter?"
"Not biologically, but family is what you make it."
"I'm not going to just let you stand in my way old man! You've clearly lost your marbles, sprouting on about stuff I don't understand!"
"Oh? Aren't you one to talk. Well, if you won't leave this world of your own choice now and go back through our gate that leads here which has a delayed closing time, I'll have security remove you from my presence and my property. I like quiet exits as opposed to having to air my own dirty laundry on stage for others to see."
And Sebastian pulls out gleaming sword as if it's made out literal moon beams. "Security." Sebastian says into a radio attached his pants belt and then Ethan flinches seeing a Security Guard from around the other side of the house who places his hand on his shoulder. "Lock him up, won't ya, Ricky?"
"You're not going to get away with this!"
"Oh? Because I think I just have. You'll will NEVER have a chance to be go free in the future. I'm not going to let you leave my estate."
"We'll see."
"Oh, will we now? Because you could have just left and gone back to your little dusty town in the middle of nowhere and Harriet when she was ready, might have sent you a letter, but no."
"Who knows how long that will be! I can see how unwell she is!"
"I'm aware of that and I'll do everything in my power to help her, but you won't be a part of those plans I'm afraid."
"I could end up waiting six months to a year or maybe 3 years for a letter that might never come. If she knows one of her friends is here for her, then-"
"Time to make a quiet exit now Ethan. I won't have you interfering with my plans."
"Fine, but know fate works in mysterious ways! You'll get what you have coming, I promise you!"
"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure. She can send you a letter, but I promise it'll NEVER reach you now. Goodbye forever you little pain in the butt."
And at that, Sebastian turns, walking away from Ethan with a satisfied smirk and glint in his eye. Ethan on the other hand? He's been silenced, permanently. Sebastian also dumps the core contents of Image into the bin before heading back to spend some quality time with his family.
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