The After Effect (NaNoWriMo)

Part 3

Pacing around inside of the men’s bathroom on one of the lower floors, Tobias suddenly stopped and went over to one of the toilets and threw up.  Leaning on the toilet bowl, he couldn’t get the image of the man been eaten by the sharks out of his head.  He threw up again at the thought of it. 

Calmly breathing in and out, Tobias waited five minutes before standing up and going over to the sink and rinsing out his mouth.

He looked at his reflection in the mirror and washed his face.  Running wet hands through his shaggy blonde hair, he sighed.  “This is getting ridiculous,” he softly said to himself, walking out of the bathroom and over to the window.

He gazed at the buildings surrounded by water. ‘Look at it, look at the spot where the man was torn to pieces,’ he could hear the thing inside of him say.

“No,” Tobias said under his breath, turning from the window.

‘You know you want to,’ the voice inside of his head told him once more.

“No!” Tobias spat out, walking back into the bathroom and splashing more water onto his face.

---

“Are you girls here with your parents?” Aisling asked Amanda and Sina, joining them on the floor.

“No, we’re here with some older friends from our church.  We were supposed to be here only for a week so we could watch a few performances at the Opera House, the last one was tonight and were we going back home to Germany in two days,” Amanda told them, looking to Sina.

“We decided to go explore before the performance instead of staying with the others,” Sina softly spoke, looking towards the carpeted floor.

“Our parents are probably freaking out right now,” Amanda softly said, looking to the two Irish women.

“It’s only natural for them to,” Sinead told them, giving the two teenagers a small smile.

“They probably think we’re dead,” Amanda responded, swallowing the lump in her throat.

“Oh, sweetie, don’t think that,” Aisling said, wrapping an arm around the girl’s shoulders.  “If anything, they’re probably praying for you two to be okay,” she offered.

“I want to go home,” Sina quietly spoke, looking out of the window and at the buildings which were still standing.

“I’m sure everyone here wants to go home too,” Sinead offered, sitting on the floor, joining them.

“Why did you two come here?” Amanda asked, looking towards the two women.

“We’re here on business,” Sinead told them, not giving anything away.

“What type of business?” Sina asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

“Now that we can’t tell you,” Sinead said, raising an eyebrow, daring the teenagers to ask more questions.

“Doing what?” Amanda asked, raising an eyebrow of her own.

“Doing things young girls like you two shouldn’t have to deal with,” Sinead said, winking at her.

“Aisling, what’s your job?” Sina asked, looking at the younger Irish woman.

“If I tell you, Sinead will most likely put me in the doghouse for a few days,” Aisling replied, her eyes looking at her girlfriend.

“We may not even make it out of here alive, please, tell us,” Amanda said, giving Aisling the puppy dog eyes.

Sinead glared at Aisling, raising an eyebrow at her as she knew that Aisling was about to give in.  She always did when someone used the puppy dog eyes on her; Sinead knew from many years experience using the exact same look.