Fated {Loki Fanfiction}

Chapter 4

   Leila descended the stairs. She held on the railings tightly. Her head was aching and she was still a little wobbly on her feet. The smell of pancakes and bacon wafted from the kitchen. Her stomach growled loudly. She didn't realize that she was hungry. She followed her nose into the kitchen. When she entered, her father had just placed her plate on the breakfast counter.

"Good morning dad," Leila said as she sat down on one of the stools.

   Her father looked up at her, his eyes worried.

"How are you?" He asked her.

"Still a little disoriented but I guess I'm more or less okay," she answered.

   She forked a pancake onto her plate. Her father took out a jug of orange juice from the fridge. He poured juice into two glasses.

"Did you see anything again?" He asked. He gave a glass to her.

   Leila nodded slowly as she closed her fingers around the glass. "Yes. Another vision."

   The visions started when she turned 15. Just a few weeks after her birthday. She remembers the first one vividly. She was just plunged into darkness and nothing but fear and panic coursed through her. She was swept through a series of scenes so fast, she couldn't possibly have registered any of them. Most of the time, all she sees is darkness and fragments of scenes that she watches for a short moment, then she is brought back.

   They have been happening much more frequently nowadays than before. When she was approaching her 24th birthday, the visions went from occurring once or twice a month to almost every other day in a week.

   Leila began slicing her pancake.

"But this vision was not like the others," she told him.

   Alfred sat on the stool to her left. He pulled the plate of pancakes toward himself.

"How so?" He asked.

"Well," Leila said, "this time what I saw was not just a glimpse of a scene. It was continuous."

   Alfred raised his eyebrows. He was intrigued. Leila described what she saw to her father, who listened attentively.

   Leila always told her dad about what she sees. When the first episode hit her, she was brought to doctors and specialists who each told them that they could not pinpoint why she had visions. The last one they had been to suggested for Leila to talk to someone about what she sees in these episodes reasoning that it may help. And it did. But not in terms of stopping them from happening. It helped Leila gather her wits.

   When she finished, her father nodded contemplatively.

"I just don't understand why I even have these," Leila said.

   Alfred just shrugged but Leila noticed that, for a second, he had a knowing look in his eye. Leila was about to ask him if he did have any idea about why she had these 'visions' when he glanced up at the clock on the wall quickly.

"Leila, some astrophysicists invited me to attend a very important meeting today. I'll probably be home late this afternoon," he told her as he brought his empty plate to the sink.

   Leila nodded. These meetings only occurred sometimes in a year. Her father is a brilliant astrophysicist. He usually just works from home and only attended meetings when it is truly urgent.

"What's the meeting about?" She asked.

   Alfred rinsed his hands then dried them off on the hand cloth hanging beside the sink.