Secrets of the Shrunken Ones

Chapter 9: Hospital and Deception

“Are you ready?”, Ran asked Conan as they stood in front of a closed door.

The boy looked up and nodded seriously. They were at a hospital’s hallway. Ran opened the door and both stepped in to see a boring and empty looking room with one white sheeted bed. On the bed laid a little girl with long and wavy dark brown hair. Her eyelids were closed and lips a little apart. She was sleeping soundly.

Conan climbed on a visitor seat and watched the peaceful looking girl. He frowned a little. A flashback of the girl in question lying on the ground hands covered in blood her mobile phone next to her made it’s way to the present from the unpleasant memory last night. The trail of blood beside her had been Masami’s, although that wasn’t her real name. No one knew what was. The bloody trail led to the ocean hinting that the woman had thrown herself into the waves. No body was found yet and it was unlikely for it to show up. Marie had been unconscious from that point. It was a little worrying.

A quiet groan cut the memory.

“Marie-chan?”, Ran asked softly kneeling beside the bed.

Conan looked up relieved to see her stir. She was waking up. Sky blue eyes opened gaze flickering on the ceiling before landing on the two guests in the room. Her eyes were still a little unfocused, but a wan smile formed on her lips upon seeing them.

“It’s the hospital?”, the voice was raspy and quiet.

“Yeah. Everything is okay now”, Ran soothed and caressed her cheek gently.

Marie closed her eyes briefly before Ran pulled her hand away and stood up.

“I’ll go tell the doctor you’re up. Conan-kun? Please watch after your sister”

Conan glanced at her and nodded. The door closed and silence fell on the room. After a few seconds it was broken by Marie.

“Do you want to ask something?”

Her brother stayed quiet for another few seconds. Then he lifted his gaze to look at her in the eyes.

“What happened?”

Marie looked away.

“She… got shot”, there was a long pause, “I tried to stop the flow of blood, but… you know… she told me who did it though”, there was pain in the girl’s voice.

Conan tensed waiting for her to continue.

“They wore black clothes”, her eyes locked with Conan’s, “An organisation that favors black. The same ones that made us shrink”

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Marie hated lying. She hated it. Especially lying to Conan. She just couldn’t tell him the truth this time. Not yet anyway. Sighing she turned to face the wall of the hospital room. The white wall let her mind roll back to those scary moments Miyano Akemi had been bleeding to death.

The blood had rushed out with no sign of stopping, her hands were shaking as the red stain continued to spread beneath her fingers. It was scary. She was dying right in front of her. Then there was the light. A strange bright red flash of light that disappeared right when she fell and fainted. It was the same light that brought her to this world.

Then she had woken up when someone was shaking her. Marie had opened her eyes to see Akemi’s worried face right above her. She had wondered if it was a dream, but no. Akemi had been there alive and well. The hole in her stomach was gone. There was nothing left of it. As if she never got shot. It was a shocking relief.

After that they had sorted it out somehow by talking. Marie promised to get the money before the organisation and had called the Kudo’s to get Akemi a place to stay and a new identity. Of course, she only told that Shinichi gave the number and that her name was Grace Filneyard. There was a lot of blood left on Akemi, so they decided to get her ‘body’ disposed to the ocean. She herself would climb up somewhere safe and wait for the Kudo’s.

Marie had told Akemi about knowing something about the future and that her sister was going to be fine if she ‘died’. It was kind of a relief to share the big secret with someone. Akemi was going to contact her when she was safe somewhere in the new apartment. And a new name. The name Haibara was a must, because they wanted her to become Haibara Ai’s sister at some point.

Then, when everything was settled and Akemi had jumped into the ocean Marie had gone to the place where she had been ‘murdered’ and shaking with relief had called Conan. Acting skills were almost not needed as all she had to think about to make herself feel miserable was think of Akemi bleeding to death. In the end, because of the relief and strong emotions from a little while ago were still fresh in her mind, her exhaustion caught up and she had fainted to the spot. After that she had woken up in the hospital and told Conan the necessary lies to get the ‘story’ back on track.

Marie smiled at the ceiling.

It was a relief. Miyano Akemi was still alive! Shiho didn’t have to lose her family like Marie did. It would turn out alright… right?

Swallowing the lump in her throat Marie closed her eyes determined to fall asleep. She would be discharged tomorrow. She shouldn’t spend the night worrying about the future. Whatever was coming Conan, her and everyone else should be able to deal with it.

It was going to be okay.

With that, Marie fell to a dreamless sleep with a small smile on her lips.

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