If Atem Lived in my Head

Part 2- Inside the Puzzle

Continued...

Atem POV

She's troubled I think as I watch her shoulders rise and fall with her breath. She's not sleeping but she's trying to. I've never seen her like this before. She's always moving, always doing something. Today she seems like a shell. A statue with every bit of her beauty but none of her spirit. I don't like it. I have to help her.

I rest my hand on hers and I pull her into the puzzle with me.

My room is large and confusing, full of traps and secrets, even from me. I open my door and find her door right across from mine. Her door's center has gold and is lined in silver. There's a bunny in a field etched into the bottom of the door. It is exactly as I imagine it. I tap my knuckle against the door but it falls open. I don't know if it's a good thing or not. It means she's willing to let me in but is it because she trusts me or is it because of the way she is today?

"Nuni?" I call as I peek into her room. The room is filled with her stuffed animals and toys, there's a wall of water against one side and a basket of fabrics and yarns and various other things I don't recognize.

"Nuni." I call her name again as I step further in. She should be here

"Nuni..." I trail off when I see a small form in the corner, it's dark there. A stark contrast compared to the rest of the colorfully lit room.

"Nuni." I kneel beside her but she pulls away from me.

"Go away, Atem." she sounds even smaller in here.

"Please, let me help you." I plead with her. I slide my hand into hers. She looks up at me surprised.

"I can feel you." she says, "like really feel you."

"We're inside the puzzle, Nuni, I want to help you feel better." I tug on her hands but she squeezes her arms around herself... no, not around herself, around some kind of creature tucked into her arms.

"Who's this?" I ask. She loosens her arms a bit to let me see the creature.

"Bunny." She says, there's a gentleness in her voice, the same voice she uses when she talks about her brothers.

"She means a lot to you." I sit beside her, crossing my legs under me.

"Yes... my grandma gave her to me when I was a little girl." She smiles lovingly at the creature.

"Your grandmother?" I ask.

"Yes," Nuni reaches to the side of her and supplies a picture frame. I recognize Nuni, although a much younger version of her and her siblings and the mother and a grey-haired woman I assume is the grandmother.

"You were an adorable child." I tell her. She just shrugs. I'll never get used to that, Nuni doesn't seem to pay much mind to compliments of her beauty.

"Grandma made everything okay..." Nuni trails off and sets the picture aside. She drops her head into the creature in her arms and squeezes the poor thing with all her might.

"Nuni..." I squeeze her shoulder, trying to reassure her of my presence.

"She took care of things... and she's gone now and I'm..." she trails off again.

"And what?" I prompt her. She lifts her face to mine, her eyes are puffy, her whole demeanor is wilted and her lips are trembling but she refuses to cry.

"And I'm alone now." She drops her head back into her arms and hides from me.

"No, Nuni." I take her by both shoulders and pull her toward me "no, you are not alone. I am right here with you."

"No." She shakes her head but doesn't bother pulling away. "You'll leave me too, when it gets too hard, when you see how bad my mother can be... you'll leave me too."

I just stare at Nuni. This isn't like her at all. This is, it's insane. Nuni is so confident and brave and strong and this girl here. She's weak—

not weak something inside me whispers she's tired.

"Yes." I nod in agreement "she's just tired, she never gets to rest." I pull her into my arms and I hold her. holding her like this is like hugging a statue but I will some of my strength into her. it doesn't seem to be working.

"What are you doing?" Nuni's voice doesn't sound like it's coming from my arms. I look behind me and see an angry Nuni standing in the doorway. Her hands curled into fists, her shoulders pressed up toward her ears. Her body resonates with rage.

"Nuni?" I ask as I look down to the less dangerous version in my arms. This Nuni stays curled up and stares down at the creature in her arms.

"but..." I glance back at the angry Nuni. She stalks over to me and yanks me away by my cape

"How are you here?" She demands standing beside the other version of herself.

"You know where here is?" I ask doubtfully.

"I think I'd recognize my own mind." She snaps before kneeling down beside the wilted version of herself. She places a hand on her other self's shoulder and drops her forehead to hers.

"Its time to be brave." She whispers to her other self. Nuni rests a hand on the grey creatue. I see ears like a rabbits as Nuni leans toward the girl, deeper into the shadowed corner.

"Nuni..." I say concerned. She ignores me and for a second the darkness grows thicker, it engulfs Nuni and then there is only one Nuni, she's a bit calmer than before.

"No one told you you could come in here." She growls at me.

"I'm sorry, I did knock." I tell her.

"Was there an answer?" She cocks a brow at me, daring me to lie.

"No, but the door did open on its own." I explain.

"If I have not expressly invited you in here, do. not. come. in." she bites out each word. I nod.

"How would you like it if I barged into your room?" she demands. "it's bad enough you sit at my computer desk like all night, I like to be alone and the night is the only time I can really be alone." She shoves passed me. She hesitates for a second at the contact. She shakes herself and stalks across the hall.

"Be careful." I warn her.

"Of what?" She snaps back still obviously angry.

"I don't understand my room, it's full of traps." I follow close behind her as she stubbornly pushes my door open. She freezes when she sees it all.

"What the..."

"You are free to look around but be careful." I caution her. She turns her nose up at me and crosses her arms.

"Please don't be angry with me." I beg her "I was only trying to help."

"I don't want your help." Her voice is harsh but it's not angry, it's desperate.

"If you would talk to me—"

"I don't want to talk to you." she snaps in that same voice.

"Fine." I concede "But I want to talk to you."

"Why do you have to keep pushing?" She wraps her arms around herself and I see the pieces of the other her there. I'm beginning to see why she was there. There's not usually more than one person in each room but Nuni has two, two parts of herself.