Reflections of the Past | Ghost and Pals fanfic

17# Best for You

{short lil chapter :3}

A distorted voice calling out to Flower, speaking in reverse, too far to reach, and at an attempt to scream back, her lips were sealed, her throat tied to a knot, difficult to breathe. She ran around the city with tall towers melting, her eyes burning from the sight of the bright colors, trying to find the source of the shouting voice, it seemed oh so familiar, but where to go? A large tree, she climbed up that tree, the clown Nana sitting on it. She grabbed her shoulders and shook them. SPEAK ALREADY. The clown covered her mouth. Flower tried removing the hand from her mouth, and when she did, she grew even more arms to keep it shut. Look down. A creature, six arms, face scribbled all over with pencil. Jump down.

Awoke.

Flower gathered her thoughts again and scanned the room. She was back in the childhood bedroom of the bakery, lying in her small bed. Another one of those nightmares.

Although Nana had specifically told her not to worry about anything and that she should rest, she couldn't, especially when even her dreams kept bringing up the mirror dimension.

With a long sigh, she got up from her bed, her weakness from the past week hitting her the moment she got on her feet. Her empty stomach growled and ached, as if screaming and begging for fuel, but the appetite was missing.

The telephone rang, and she sighed again before walking out of the room to get the call, which was difficult with her blurry vision. Once she reached the rotary dial, she picked up and held the speaker to her ear. "Hm?"

"Cakey, hi!" Slurpee spoke on the other end of the line. "Oh my gosh, it's been so long... I missed you."

"Ah, Slurpee... hi. What's up?" she asked weakly.

"Nothing much, you know, it's been kinda lonely 'round here..." she replied quietly, trying to act casual when it was clear that she was still in pain. "...and it's hard without your mom, really. Would you... er, y'know, come over?"

~~~

About twenty minutes later Flower arrived at Bella's front door, gently knocking. Bella opened it with a subtle smile at the sight of her, but that smile instantly turned into worry. "Cakey, are you alright?" she asked. "You don't look well..."

"I'm fine, no worries—" she tried to reassure her, though Bella refused to believe her. Just from the loss of colors on her cheeks and the darkened bags under her eyes, it was obvious that she was far from fine.

"No, you're- you're thinner than ever!" She grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the apartment, feeling the bones against her abnormally pale skin. "When was the last time you've eaten?"

Flower was sure she'd last eaten... Nana's Mac and cheese. Right? Or was it something else? And when was it? How many days had passed? She had lost track of time. But Bella's concern made her tear up, despite how much she tried holding them back.

The silence in return was so loud, and revealed much more than words ever could. She then lead her towards the kitchen and sat her down at the table. She filled her bowl with oatmeal and gave Flower a spoon.

She looked down at the bowl and began silently eating, sniffling occasionally.

Bella watched her eat and took a seat beside her. "You're staying with me for the next couple of days."

"But I-"

"I'm sorry, but I'm doing this to help you." Bella laid a hand on her back and gently rubbed it. "You need it."

Flower couldn't help but cry. She wished she could explain everything that was going on, the issue with the mirror dimension, that weird movie, the voices she heard in the mirror back when she was younger... but she couldn't.

~~~

"To my fortune, she ejected me out the window. Could it represent the possibility of joining me? Of being on my page?"

Mister Emily listened and nodded as Tamari was speaking, despite the fact that he rarely understood whenever they were explaining. He just pretended.  "Yes, there surely is a possibility."

Tamari nodded and smiled brightly. "Her escape shall be very soon!"

The man went silent for a moment. "Whose escape was it again?"

"Mariyam, the sister of mine."

"Ah... yes, well, about that... I've received a letter." He turned to pick up an envelope from his desk and handed it over to Tamari.

As they held it gently in their hands, they opened it and pulled out the small note inside, its handwriting looking like a computer font perfectly printed on paper.

Dear Brother,
if you are reading this letter, it's already too late. You have been spied on for a while with microchips that were injected inside your body.
You're already aware of the fact that she needs you back, but I need you to listen. Stay away from spiders, and run. Run and never look back. They might as well already be on their way to you.
I apologize for not telling you earlier, I am genuinely sorry.
Sincerely, your sister.

Tamari dropped the letter, their artificial fingers slightly trembling as he looked up at Mister Emily. "Hide me."

"What happened?"

"I said hide–"

The door was suddenly kicked open. A white man with red eyes and a sleeveless black top came to show, causing Tamari to screech a strange mechanical sound out of their voice box. They jumped up from the table and attempted to run away, yet the man already tackled them and held them in his firm grip.

Mister Emily was just standing there, staring as he watched it all happen. Why wasn't he doing anything? Was he frozen in shock?

Wait.

He was on Fayrouz' side all along.

They stared at him in disbelief as they were being held. "You traitor! YOU [BLEEP] TRAITOR!" Tamari cursed at Mister Emily as they were being dragged outside. No matter how many swearings they tried screaming, they were constantly being censored with a bleep. "I TRUSTED YOU!"

After the man, Yuma, had dragged Tamari outside, Mister Emily shut the door of his workshop and sighed. "I only want the best for you," he mumbled to nobody.