PREAMBUL; And Now... You're Dead. Again.

Rat's Fault

"AAAAAAAARRRRRGGGHHHH!!!!!"

"AL!"

A loud noise heard for the way he slammed the drawer. He ran to the source of the sound. It was Alesh's, it seemed like she was in a lot of pain. The twins arrived first, they shined their flashlights at Alesh and... Laugh?

"It's not funny, you know!" Alesh sprayed, "the rat is really big!"

"Rat?"

"Al opened one of the drawers and a rat ran out," Grier explained.

Eidlan looks at the twins and Alesh in turn. There was a look of disbelief in their eyes, but they couldn't bear to express it to see how limp Alesh is. He reads her condition, bruises on her chest, marks on upper arms.

Rats couldn't do that. She lied.

"Why are you lying?" Eidlan asked, stopped the twins' laughter and made Alesh flinched, "someone attacked you, right? This is not the first time. How many times has this happened?"

"What–"

"You know what I mean!" Eidlan snapped, "Is this about Jlanx? Are they after you? What did you know?"

"I don't know anything! Including the matter of what you say!" Her eyes stroke him, "I've told you it's because of rat! Just because I can interact with animals doesn't mean I interact with them all the time!"

"You fell on your face at the first blackout, when you should've fallen on your back if it was because of the flashlight!"

Alesh's jaw hardened, her friends looked back at her. Eidlan's body stiffened, but his gazes soft. The twins look at her with demands, they wanted to know about what she was hiding.

"Why didn't you just tell me?"

Alesh snorted, she pushed her friends and walk away.

Eidlan groaned, "You always like this! First about your family, then your illness, now this too! Do you want us to wait until the Jlanx notifies us again? Are your friends us or them?"

She stopped, her hands clenched. The twins held their breath, they knew Eidlan was right, but he crossed the line.

Eidlan was still staring at her back, in the end only to see the owner walking out and slamming the door. Vasyl glanced at Grier, both confused about what to do. Eidlan snorted, he grabbed a few candles and a box of matches then took them to Mother.

*****

"I didn't mean to be that hard!" Eidlan walked toward the door, then back to the window, "she has bruises! BRUISES! If you could see that, what will you do? Are you gonna shut up?"

"Eidlan, my man, sweet boy, genius man ever lives, you know we're worried too." Grier massages his forehead, "but please, shut up."

"Yeah, man." Vasyl yawned, "she needs time alone. Plus, you've been talking for three hours."

"No, I don't!" Eidlan checked the clock, "I... Uhh... Been talking for three hours and ten minutes."

"THAT'S BETTER?"

"You still wrong."

Vasyl grumbled, "Go to sleep!"

"But—"

"She's alright, Eidlan! She's fine! And even if she's not, which clearly true, she still acts like everything is fine so we better too, because it's not good to push her after what she has experience!" Grier closed his eyes, "I know that's hard to do, but sometimes that's what people need."