Solve Me

(16), In Which He Realizes

Tad's P.O.V. 

It definitely wasn't easy, Tad decided as he stared at the woman laying in bed next to him. She looked exactly the same, spoke exactly the same. 

It was something about the way she was acting that was different. His Lily would never wear such short dresses when she had the option of wearing pants. His Lily would never act so openly about her affections towards him without getting shy. His Lily was just different. 

The differences were admittedly small, but they were alarming. For it to have happened so quickly into the start of the experiment was outrageous to Tad, which was why he only started getting worried about it once she changed completely. 

The girl was getting much more irritable, around him and many other individuals, such as Detective Crawford, May, April, and also Robert, though she had been rude to him from the beginning. She even had a short temper with Tad himself. She had grown increasingly self-centered, demanding attention, and ordering the staff around. She was eating much more, which was also alarming, as Lily had never been one to consume too much all at once. 

It had gotten to the point where, even after over a month of these changes, she wasn't showing any signs of getting better. Had someone asked Tad to trace the actions back to a single point in time, he might say he couldn't remember. Perhaps it had been the first day of experimentation, perhaps it had been the last before he had ordered that it stopped. He did, however, remember the appearance of the locket. He also remembered that she had been normal up until the point where she began to wear it. Even now, as she lay sleeping under the covers next to him, he could see the silver chain curl around her neck. 

Needless to say, Tad was worried. How could he not be, when the only person who had ever seemed to show true compassion towards him was in the hands of this creature? He knew what it did to people. What if she was already dead? No body had been recovered. Perhaps she was just being held hostage? 

No. Why would the creature be doing that? Why would it need her of all people, rather than some random victim it had already killed? Was it maybe because of her connection to him? As far as he knew, he was the only detective of his kind within America. Maybe the creature wanted to pick him off so that the streets would be safe for those who needed the civilians. 

Tad continued pondering this even after the fake Lily had gotten up to take a shower. He lay there still, wondering just where his true partner was, and whether he would ever see her again. He was a detective, he reminded himself sternly. Who would he be to not at least try and find her? She must be so scared, he realized, a crack running deep through his heart. All he wanted was to feel her, wrapped safely in his arms. The real her, not the monstrous fake who was exiting the bathroom in nothing but a towel. He hadn't felt Lily's lips against his since before the experiment. Not even the fake's. The second he noticed differences, he had begun to detach himself. 

Tad's heart throbbed as he rose from the bed, entering the bathroom with his freshly cleaned clothes to wash up himself. Once fully clean, dry, and dressed, he exited the room, putting on his glasses. He ignored the girl in the corner of the room, making his way towards the door. He was going out. 

He had a taxi take him back to New Westergriffin, back to his original residence. It was still deserted, like it had been when he left. The police hadn't bothered to investigate. He laughed bitterly as he walked through the door, his gaze sweeping across the demolished first floor. 

Striding into the living space, he saw Lily's sketch pad and pencils resting against the chair she always fell asleep in, and picked it up. It was practically new, he noticed, as if she had gotten it fresh just before she left for America. There were only one or two drawings in the beginning, one of which he recognized as the unfinished Mocking Bird she had been working on the day they had met.