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an awkward family dinner
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. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧
After cleaning all of the blood off their faces and attempting to help El recover from what she'd seen in the void, Alina, El, and Max, got on their bikes again, preparing themselves to rescue Heather. They didn't bring any weapons with them—Alina and El's abilities were definitely enough—but it still felt like a bad omen, anyways. Like they were going to find something not even their powers could defend them from.
El somehow knew where to go. Unlike Alina, seeing Heather in the bathtub embedded her with a sense of direction, and so it was her that shouted instructions over the rumbling of the storm, which had gotten worse. Now lightning struck nearly every moment, temporarily obstructing their view, and the thunder was loud and ominous. Alina knew it was unlikely they would be struck by lightning, but as she biked, it sort of felt like she was narrowly avoiding it. She kept her eyes peeled, though, for that white mailbox—one four three eight—and the door. After seeing what was behind it, she no longer thought of it as cherry red, but blood red instead. The blood of Heather's that was hopefully not staining anything.
We're coming, Alina thought desperately, pedalling faster, her heart beating to the time of her rapidly moving legs. The screams of Heather haunted her, and the ever-rumbling of the thunder morphed into it at some point as she squinted through the thicker sheets of rain. She was reminded of the dream she'd had a year ago, in waking up to find her room covered in blood. To think that it was her fault her dad had died, even though she knew it wasn't.
But Heather... they had a chance to save her. If she wasn't already gone, that was.
I'll stay strong for you, Alina thought, speaking to her dad. Sometimes, it felt like he was right beside her, always hovering over her shoulder, always smiling, always believing in her, like he always had. Sometimes she'd see him in public, in the white of a jacket that reminded her of his lab coat, in a balding head the same shade as his skin. After everything, she still was holding onto the faintest hope that he would come back.
