NOVEL NEXT Interlude Two (The Black Cat) Part 3
[Iris] “Hello, and who are you?
Oh, she’s awake, that’s good. Wait, wait, she’s awake? No, I know that. Waa waa wa- I—she’s clearly trying to kill me. Huh, isn’t she quite pretty? No, Mariam, now’s not the time for that. Look at her cold calculating eyes, that body, and the way you found her all covered in bloody clothes. What were you thinking bringing her into your house? Ah, her glassy smile, what must she be thinking with that twisted mind of hers? Huh, I’m jumping to conclusions. No, I’m not. Huh, why’s she looking at me like that, like she’s going to eat me!
Mariam shook heavily in the corner, clutching the glass of water she had brought for the black-haired woman lying on the bed, her mind ran wild with airy nonsensical thoughts. Perhaps if I was so scared of the girl, I shouldn’t have brought her into the house, but my morals moved faster than my mind.
She looked at the black-haired girl who stared impassively at her, while she was almost stunned by her beauty which now, in a proper place, seemed to show even more than when she had been crumpled in the alley. This pale-faced beauty of hers seemed to give her an unearthly glint, and she swore she saw the veins wriggling when she first woke up, as if they were entities of their own, though this was surely just her imagination.
Mairm’s breathing slowed as she relaxed her posture a bit. Clearly, she was just getting ahead of herself. Looking over the girl again, she noticed her slightly downcast eyes, as if she was ashamed of something. Her face gave off a delicate atmosphere, and now that she was able to see her a bit closer, she looked a little taller than herself. Still, she couldn’t get over the strange doll-like quality; she almost seemed non-human. The uncanniness of perfection was nothing short of unnerving.
No, no, Mariam, you need to calm yourself. She’s clearly not what you thought. Yeah, that’s... um, that can’t be true. I mean, sure, she’s a little eerie-looking, but she’s still really pretty. And it seems I made her uncomfortable. I should apologize, yeah, um, wait, did I really do anything wrong? And I mean, she’s not really speaking, so I guess it’s fine, right? No, I should say something. It’s not right to keep quiet in situations like these.
Just as she was about to introduce herself, the girl in front of her nodded slightly to herself before, with a surprising burst of speed, she suddenly stood up, lurching towards me with her hands outstretched.
This bloodstained girl, suddenly moving like a horror villain, made Marim lose her control, screaming. She threw the glass she was holding at the girl, her fight-or-flight instincts causing her heart to pound madly as she helplessly watched the glass hurtle forward. As her mind caught up with her body's movement, she realized what she had done and immediately regretted it. Her arms remained outstretched futilely, as if she thought she could pull the glass back before it struck its mark.
No, no, I’m sorry, I just got scared. What? I didn’t mean it. Um, what can I do? What if it hurts her? What if she gets mad and kills me? Calm down, calm down, that’s what started this thing! Maybe she won’t blame me! Maybe she doesn’t mind getting glass thrown at her. That could make sense! Huh, that’s a fine thought.
As if getting tired of her racing thoughts, the glass made contact with the black-haired girl. Mariam was about to close her eyes to avoid seeing what happened to the girl in front of her. However, before they could close, she saw a flash of tender skin swipe in front of the glass, shattering it with a deafening crash, which sent chunks of glass hurtling in every direction.
Mariam stared on blankly as the glass was shattered in such a fashion. Her brain started to short-circuit as her thoughts worked overtime to figure out a solution. The girl's eyes started to water as she shook heavily in fear, waiting almost resolutely for the follow-up retaliation she was going to receive. But instead, the black-haired girl looked blankly at her, as if confused by her, more than offended by the blow.
I really messed up now, uh. Maybe I can just apologize? Yeah, it just slipped, right? She scared me and it just slipped out of my hands. That’s fine. And I mean, there’s nothing wrong with her, so it should be fine. But wait, any normal person would be phased by something like this. Why does she not even look disconcerted at all? What sort of background does she have that having something thrown at her doesn’t even phase her? Mm, that’s not good. Mm, I can’t even imagine what would cause that. Even if she is a warden and something like that didn’t hurt her, she should at least be a little upset. So why do her eyes seem so glassy? Ah, I should just get the police already! I’m so stupid for not having done that. Maybe if I can sneak out of here...
I slowly tried to back up to the door under the gaze of the strange black-haired beauty, who now appeared to be fidgeting about, a small frown slowly developing on her face as her lips jostled slightly, but no sound came out of her mouth.
Mariam, seeing this, started to panic a bit as her overworked brain tried it’s best to find somehting that might work to excuse herself from the room.
[Mariam] “Hey umm, sorry about it; you just surprised me, you know? It just slipped out of my hands, and well, you're not hurt anyway, so no harm, right? Oh, and that was really cool how you deflected that glass. Um, you’re really okay, right? You’re not bleeding, are you? Well, um, I’ll just, um, go get some help, so don’t move, okay!?”
The girl still didn’t seem to care much, though her eyes did flash with a bit of feeling. Though Mariam had a hard time telling what it was, she imagined she saw a hint of sadness in them, which made her heart start to ache as she watched the doll-like girl slowly start to articulate her speech, her voice sounding low and hollow as she spoke, as if she was scared of doing so.
[Iris Sinclaire] “Where am I?”
That’s all the girl spoke. Her voice sounded both beautiful, but it seemed hollow, lacking something, as if she was scared something was going to happen to her. Now that Mariam looked closer, she thought she could see her shoulders shaking, she swore she could see the resolute acceptance of what was to come. This sight washed away all of Mariam's former misplaced fear of the girl, converting it to unadulterated pity. How could this beautiful girl give such an expression after having a glass thrown at her? Why did it seem like she had so much sadness in her eyes? What sort of life could push this girl to become like this—a doll, only able to sadly accept? Clearly, she must be used to this type of thing! Maybe she was being raised by a less-than-scrupulous warrden office to be used as a personal weapon; such things had happened before. Or maybe she was a tool of a crime family which had managed to escape and shake off her pursuer before passing out at my doorstep!
My mind ran white-hot as she thought about an unnecessary amount of things the girl could have endured, filling her brain with all manner of sketchy plots and romances which could have happened to the girl in front of her. Clenching my fists, My mind settled on less of an idea and more of a concept of what had happened to the girl. Looking at the black-haired doll, who’s eyes flitted back at me with a pleading expression, as if begging me to give her some sense of stability, in response all I could do was stammer out a reply as I wasn’t sure what to say to this pitiful thing.
[Mariam]: “You're, well, you're... at my shop. I, umm, dragged you here, and... Sorry, that probably doesn’t mean anything to you. We're still on 33rd Street. Right beside the alleyway you passed out in; you at least remember that much, right?”
The black-haired girl seemed to gently consider this before she frowned, a few painfully simple words launcing out of her mouth.
[Iris Sinclaire] “I... I don’t remember much other than that my name is Iris.”
Mariam's brain, focusing intently on the girl in front of her, was able to catch all the minutiae details of her expression: the pang of regret as she spoke, the slight shadow on her face, the downcast frown, and the pitiful eyes. She caught them all, and she, being who she was, knew exactly what the girl in front of her was going through! Of course she did, it’s not like she could be jumping to assumptions here, wasn’t the evidence fairly obvious? Plus, how could such a pretty girl have such a hard life? Hadn’t her grandfather always told her those with pretty faces have a beautiful life?
Did she say she didn’t remember anything, and then immediately state that she remembered her name? Did she think she would believe that, especially while looking around so shiftily! Clearly, this girl had some reason to hide her background. Did she think she couldn’t be trusted to know about it? No, no, of course she can’t trust anybody! She must have lost that a long time ago! Ahhh, what type of things did this poor girl experience? I can already see her being locked away each day hoping to escape her cruel captors! Slowly each day losing hope until when she finally did escape, she had already lost who she used to be, only holding onto her name as her last keepsake! How terrible, how utterly terrible! Mhm, mhm, no wonder she seemed so uncertain, she probably thinks she's going to endanger me by being here, but she's too scared to leave as well. Yes, yes, I’ll show her it’s safe here. Mm, no, I certainly can’t call the police, but even so, I know high society can be a bit dark, but this is too much. Isn’t this a bit far even for those unregulated places known as warden offices? She definitely must have escaped someplace horrid. Ah, I know I should call the police, but they could be working for them or even be looking for her personally. Those wardens really do have too much power to be able to get away with such a thing. It’d help to know what happened to her, but she must not want to tell me.
Mariam approached closer, clearly, she could tell she was comforting the girl with her presence, so much that she even indeed laying back down on the bed. Very happy with this, Mariam set about explaining herself so the girl wasn’t so hesitant with her situation. After all, she could tell the girl needed someone to rely on! And Mariam knew she was the perfect person for that! In a flurry, she started going over all the things they could do together, how she could show this girl a normal life, be her best friend, go shopping together, talk ab...