Crestfallen

8: Beautiful, isn't it?

*****

She was running with no known destination. She looked around only to find out nothing but darkness. She was running out of breath, panting heavily like she had run a hundred miles when in fact she only travelled a little.

Far in the background, she heard a gunshot. She looked back to where she came from.

‘Kudo-kun.’ She muttered before starting to run again.

She needs help. Badly. But she cannot bring herself to call the detective. That will only endanger his life. It was the only chance she has, yet she held it in. She doesn’t want to involve him any further. It was enough already.

Again, she stopped before looking around. She can feel their presence approaching. They were near. Her body was starting to tremble again. She was sweating cold. She forced herself to took a step, yet to no avail.

‘Sherry…’ a cold voice called from a distance.

‘This is it’, she said in her mind before stopping all her attempt to escape. ‘At least, I didn’t involve Kudo-kun nor anyone in my last hours.’ She silently thanked before accepting her doomed fate.

Gods, in her heart, she still wanted to live.

‘Sherry…’ that cold voice again.

She looked back to see the devil that was calling her. But what greeted her took all the color from her face.

It was Gin, yes. But on his arms was the slumped figure of the shrunken detective Edogawa Conan.

Haibara bolted from her sleep. She was heaving for air. She can feel her heart beating erratically in her chest. She looked around, familiarizing the place. It took her several minutes to realize where she was. She was relieved to find out that she was still in her room.

’Calm down, it was just a dream.’ She mumbled to reassure herself that it was not real.

She took heavy breathes as she tries to calm herself down. She gets up and headed towards the door. It was still very early, just about two in the morning. Yet, she can’t find it in her heart to return to sleep. As much as she wanted to sleep, her dream was haunting her, like it will come back if she closed her eyes.

Strange. This was only the time again when she had a dream about them. Ten years. It was ten damned years already. She wanted to forget everything about them, yet there was still a time where the Fates seem to play with her. Like tonight. It was like it wanted her to not forget about them. How cruel, indeed.

She sighed.

‘I need a coffee.’ She thought as she headed towards the kitchen to prepare a drink.

*****

‘Only misfortune awaits those who comes in contact with you, Sherry. This is your curse.’

Gin’s voice seems to reverberate endlessly in her head.

Morning came, and the scientist was still not herself. The nightmare, as much as she doesn’t want to, has been playing on her mind for some time now. The coffee doesn’t seem to have an effect on her.

She was in this state when Conan entered. He was puzzled, for he called several times for her before he went in. He observed her for a moment before he approached her.

“Hey…” he called softly, yet the scientist jolted in surprise. She turned around sharply, her eyes showed a hint of fear and panic before she glared at him. Conan noticed it anyway.