Agent 38: I Never Forgot You

Chapter 22: Visits Aren't Fun

     Sarai was getting rather bored of Kasaandra's ramblings, and felt like the old woman was trying to distract her from something.
     Insisting that Alex stay downstairs while she toured her around the house? Odd. Showing her every little trinket, photo, and it's meaning? Strange. Making sure to show her the ladle that Alex cooked his first meal with? Suspicious, uncomfortable, and awkward. She didn't need to know all this.
     Sarai made sure not to be disrespectful in any way, though. A heavy sense of guilt bore down on her each time she saw a photo on the wall of their family; they had looked so happy, so carefree, and it broke her hearts to know that she had caused their pain.
     Accompanied with the guilt was an occasional chill down her back, as though someone was watching her. She couldn't help but feel creeped out; she was standing in the house of the man she'd killed. Sarai had never believed in ghosts, or, for that matter, any supernatural or paranormal beings, but she thought now she might.
     "Should we go back downstairs?" Sarai asked, struggling to keep the politeness in her voice. She'd heard all sorts of stories of this woman from Alex, both good and bad, but the bad outweighed the good by a lot. Kassandra looked like your average old woman, but something was off about her. She seemed fidgety or... nervous.
     She heard the light thump of footsteps down the stairs and turned, confused.
     "Oh, but I haven't showed you the third floor yet!" Kassandra dragged Sarai's attention back to her.
     "That's alright, you don't have t-"
     "Oh, but I insist."
     She suppressed a sigh. "Sure."
     Kassandra paused before opening the door that led to the stairs and walked up to the third floor, beckoning her along. Sarai followed the woman and heard a thump halfway up the stairs. She stopped dead in her tracks, straining her ears to listen for any more noise, her eyes wandering around her surroundings. Nothing happened, or rather, nothing was loud enough for her ears to register, so she kept moving, though warily.
     Sarai walked up the last step to the third floor, which was not blocked by a door like the second floor was. This story seemed to have nothing but rooms, walls and doors arranged in a maze-like way. Kassandra waited for her in front of one of these rooms, standing on the threshold with her hands clasped together and a soft, yet disturbing smile on her face. A sense of danger shivered through her limbs and she nearly stepped away, down the stairs. There was something about Kassandra's posture, the way she held herself with dignity but also barely retained disappointment, that made her look sinister.
     The Inkling continued touring her around, showing her every room and who it had belonged to. There were 5 in total, with the master bedroom belonging to Kassandra and her late husband, and the 2nd to Alex. When the widow had opened the door to his room, Sarai had been surprised to notice that it looked completely untouched. The bed sheets were still messy and undone, the small rack of books in the corner had what looked like homework papers piled on top of it, and the rug on the right side of the bed had a closed, visibly dusty laptop laying on it. Everything looked exactly the same as, presumably, when Alex had left several years ago.
     "I haven't touched his room since," Kassandra said wistfully. "I... I always thought he'd come back. That he wouldn't leave me like his father did." She let out a low, bitter laugh. "Guess I was wrong, huh?"
     She heard another thump, and this time, it sounded like something was slammed into a wall. Sarai spun on her heels towards it, annoyed. "Alright, what is making that noise?"
     "What noise?" Kassandra asked, tilting her head.
     "That thumping noise!" She cried. "I've been hearing it since you.. took me... upstai– wait." The pieces snapped together in her mind, the twisted puzzle now clear, her hearts dropping all the way down to her stomach. "No, no no n– this was a distraction! You took me up here so Alex would be alone downstairs! Who else is here? What's going on down there?"
     Kassandra's brows lowered, a thin smile creasing her lips as she put her hands behind her back. "Go and find out for yourself, dear."
     Sarai whipped around and ran. The maze of doors and carpeted floors led her astray, and it took her an aggravating amount of time to find the door that opened to the stairs. She raced down it, her hands sliding down the railing, and tripped on the last 3 steps. Her right temple hit the newel post, sharp around the edges, and she collided hard with the ground, the breath knocked out of her lungs. She lay there for a moment, dark spots dancing around her vision, before she scrambled back to her feet and kept going.
     She threw open the door to the kitchen and sprinted through it, towards the stairs. "Alex!" Anything could be happening to him right now. He could be dead! She didn't know the extent of Kassandra's hatred towards him, or how far she would go to hurt him, but it was best to consider everything at its worst to be prepared.
     Sarai rushed down the stairs, this time cautiously, and felt ink running down the side of her face. This staircase led to the base story, thankfully, without a door blocking its way. The first floor came into view, and she could hear Alex and Aaron arguing with each other. Trails of pink and green ink were littered across the floor, and she realized with a jolt that Alex now had a wound on his chest that had sliced through his jacket, and a small cut on his face just beneath his functional eye.
     They heard her coming and turned. "What happened to you?" She asked Alex, breathing a bit heavy. "Who was here? Who hurt you?"
     "What happened to me?" He cried, incredulous. His hands came up around her face, firm but cautious, as he examined the wound. "What happened to you? Are you alright? Who did that to you?"
     "No, I'm fine!" Sarai said, gently pushing his hands back. "I was running down and I tripped on some of the steps, but–" She shook her head, blinking as the dark spots slowly returned. "Forget me, what happened down here?"
     "Your stupid brother showed up again! He pulled a knife on me."
     "What? How did he know where we were?"
     "That's exactly it! I don't know!" Alex's voice wavered a bit as she reached up to look at the tiny cut beneath his eye. "He tried to blind me. Fully." He paused for a second, his gaze drifting down to the ground, a dawning look of horror consuming his features. "And I– I tried to kill him, but–"
     Aaron gently pushed him aside. "I stopped him. But that's not what's important, we need to figure out how Gabriel knew we were here. We could all be in danger."
     "It was–" She started.
     "What's happened down here?" Kassandra's voice said, her footsteps echoing down the stairs. Sarai turned, glaring at the Inkling. "Alex, what happened to you?"
     "You wouldn't believe it," He said. Kassandra leaned on the stair railing, tilting her chin up and smiling with the smugness of a clam. "This stupid Octoli-" Alex paused, realizing, and his facial features collapsed in disappointment and disbelief. "No, no no, you didn't–" Sarai watched, infuriated, as Kassandra nodded.
     His eyes hardened like cold stones, and he looked down, shaking his head. Alex turned towards the door, casting one last venomous scowl at his mother, and walked out.
     Sarai and Aaron started to follow until Kassandra spat, "Excuse me, young man. You're not allowed to just waltz out of my house without saying goodbye, I'm your mother."
     At her words, Alex stepped back in. He stared at Kassandra for a long moment, incredulity and confusion in his eyes. He tilted his head and said calmly, slowly, "You're not my mother."
     Kassandra drew back, clearly offended.
     "Real mothers care for their children," He explained, his voice a bitter hiss. "All you've ever done was neglect me because you failed to realize that the world doesn't revolve around you and conspire with someone to kill me. I had to grow up without you. I had to figure out my life without you. You were never there for me. You are not my mother."
     With that, he left. Sarai ran after him and Aaron followed, slamming the door shut as he stepped out.
     "Aaron, could you drive, please?" Alex asked, tossing the keys to him.
     Aaron awkwardly caught them, looking at him worriedly. "Uh, sure." He paused for a second, fumbling the jingling keys. "Are you okay?"
     Alex looked down again, furrowing his brows, a deep pensive look on his face, as if he was debating whether or not he really was okay. His gaze lifted to meet her eyes and his expression softened to a slight, barely noticeable smile. He looked back at Aaron. "Yeah. I'll be fine."
     Sarai sat down in the backseat and Alex scooted in next to her. He looked a tad pale, his eyes trained on his hands, and she guessed his complexion was because of the ink loss from the wounds, even though they didn't seem that bad.
     "Hey, Aaron?" She asked. "Any chance you have a first-aid kit in here?"
     He let out a small huff that might've been a laugh. "Yeah." Reaching over to the passenger's seat, he unlocked the glove box and pulled out a small case about the size of both her hands. He passed it to her. "Here. What do you need it for?"
     Sarai jerked her chin towards Alex. "Someone's gotta take care of him." She joked.
     He looked up, startled. "What? No, I can– I can do it myself, it's fi–"
     She put a finger on his lips. "Shush. Let me help you for once."
     "No, its just-"
     She gave him a look and he fell silent.
     Sarai opened up the box and searched through its contents for alcohol wipes and salve. The injuries didn't look deep enough for stitches, so all she had to do was clean and bandage them up so they wouldn't get infected. She found two little packages, each labeled "Disinfectant Wipes" and their ingredients on the back, and the small metal container of salve.
     Sarai tore open the pack and pulled one out. With her other hand, she took hold of Alex's chin and gently turned his head so he would look at her. His skin felt cold and a bit clammy. Gingerly, she reached up and lightly dabbed at the wound. He winced the moment it made contact, screwing his eyes shut and biting his lower lip, but there was no other reaction. Not even the slightest sound. When she removed the wipe, he opened his eyes and blinked a few times, as if restraining tears.
     She opened the can of salve and ran two fingers over it, then held his chin again so he didn't move. With as much care and caution as she could muster, she applied it to the small cut, careful not to scratch it.
     When she finished, she put a band-aid over it, then patted his cheek. He smiled a little. "Thanks."
     "No problem," Sarai said.
     Throughout the rest of the drive they mostly remained in silence, and the only voice that spoke was the map on Aaron's phone. Around halfway there, Alex leaned on her shoulder, and it wasn't until they were almost home that she realized he'd fallen asleep, and she caught herself wondering how she'd lived without him for so long. Sarai loved how peaceful he looked when he slept, so carefree and unworried, and couldn't help but smile.

Dear god this took a while
Sorry for any typos and for the awkward release time lmao
Word count: 2019