Astralis

Episode Eleven

Medea hesitated in the doorway before plastering a smile on her face as she entered the room, brightened only by the eerie glow of the T.V. She crouched down next to the couch where Amelia sat staring blankly at the screen. She took a deep, shaky breath and the girls' eyes flickered over to her briefly, dismissively, before returning to the program.

"Amelia, darling, are you ready for your next test?"

Amelia sighed plaintively. "Nah, I don't really want to do anymore tests. They're all boring and I don't like..." She trailed off.

"You don't like what, dear?"

The little girl shook her head. "Nothin."

"No it's ok Amelia, you can talk to me. About anything."

"It's just...it makes people uncomfortable when I...when I..."

"When you what sweetie?"

"When I have 'outbursts'. That's what Rebecca and Todd and all my teachers called them. They didn't like to talk about it, and they got all fidgety when anyone mentioned it."

"I see." Medea straightened up. "Well, you can talk to me about that if you like."

"No, I don't want to."

"Are you sure? I'm told I'm a really good listener." Medea gave her a reassuring smile.

"I said I don't want to."

Medea held her hands up. "Alright, alright. You don't have to talk. But I do need to do this test, honey."

Amelia scowled. "Why do you keep calling me little girl names, like honey and sweetie and darling? I'm not a little girl. I'm a big girl. That's what Rebecca and Todd said."

Medea scowled back. "Now Amelia, there's no need to be rude. I'm just trying to.." The woman trailed off into silence.

***

A few minutes later, Atta and Jason rushed into the room to find Amelia silently crying as she looked down at the still figure of Medea sprawled in front of the couch.

Atta's hand flew to her earpiece. "Tip, get in here now."

Jason knelt down in front of Amelia. "Amelia, what happened?"

"I didn't mean to. I didn't mean to!" she wailed.

"Didn't mean to what Amelia?"

"I just didn't like when she kept calling me little girl names. I don't mind when you and Atta do it every once in a while, but she was making me feel stupid. Like Joshua." She cried harder and went back to repeating 'I didn't mean to' over and over again.

A long, uncomfortable look passed between Atta and Jason.

"We were too late," Atta murmured under her breath. They both took a step back from Amelia, carefully avoiding catching her eye.

Tip came flying into the room. "What happen-" The question ended on a gasp. He pressed his own earpiece. "Get two of my staff in here now to transfer Agent, er, Medea to my lab."

"Careful, idiot," Atta hissed. She turned back around to Amelia, who was watching them all with interest through teary eyes. It was a disturbing mix of sorrowful regret and keen calculation.

"We need to talk to Tip Amelia, ok? We'll be back in a few minutes, and someone's gonna come and get Medea and make sure she's...ok. Is that alright?"

"I didn't mean to," she insisted.