Misery

9. 𝙳𝚁𝙴𝙰𝙼𝚂

                                                                                    Althea 's POV
She intimidated me, but I saw it coming. I mean of course I didn't expect her to be this cheery, buoyant woman who would welcome everybody with a broad, friendly grin. She was way cooler.

I wish I could peek inside her mind though. I never expected this to be my first day at work but I guess that's why she is who she is.

I stared at her as we walked towards the airport, lungs filled with British air. I wanted to do my best for this job and my goal was to not disappoint her. Given her personality, I had no idea if she was satisfied with my work today or not. She had the same steel-like, unfazed, imperturbable expression painted on her face as the first day we met. It was impossible to know what she was thinking. I couldn't read her at all.

However, she had this weird aura about. She was like a Rubik's cube I attempted solving at eight and gave up in a few days, except for the fact that it haunted me for weeks. Solving it was all I could think of and one day, I did.

I was not certain if I would be able to solve 'this' Rubik's cube too.

"Ms. Aberra, eyes on the road please or you'll trip and possibly dislocate your bones.", she said loping gracefully in front of me.

I cleared my throat, eyes wide and unblinking "Yes, ma'am!".

Wait a minute, but she never really turned back though. Or did she? Maybe she did while I was lost in my streets of absurd thoughts.

We were done with the discussions yesterday. We spent the morning studying a bit more about Jewel Harper's life here in Edinburgh and coming to unanimous conclusions about her reasons for running away. She was after all barely nineteen when she left. Living in such a household for nineteen years might have been unimaginable.

Considering how mentally disturbed and helpless she would have felt, for her, running away was perhaps the best option. She could no longer trust anyone and had no friends technically. An outcast at home, an outcast at school - nobody coming to her rescue. Why? The question still lingered around.

Brown's academy was notorious for severe bullying cases and it was attended by all sorts of rich, prejudiced brats. Talking about the Adams family, they acted like a normal family not allowing anybody to guess the horrible atrocities taking place within the four walls of their house. These were the answers we discovered.

This was not even the main problem however. The elephant in the room was her murder, which was now followed by the Coby Dilian case.

Cessier, she always looked so thoughtful, calculative and confident. Whereas I went around embarrassing myself every now and then. As much as I envied her for being so amazing despite of being only two years older than me, I respected her for all she had accomplished. Who would have thought, I - Althea Aberra, a clumsy, stupid kid... I'd be working with one of the finest detectives out there.

We would be there in LA tomorrow, visiting the crime scene of the second case. I was immensely nervous but thrilled at the thought of finally doing my favourite sort of detective stuff. Hope all of it goes well.

I sat by the window anticipating and totally jaded. My legs ached like hell with all the walking around and it was only day two. I'd be bed sick by day seven at this rate. My wrist watch read 8 pm, the flight would take off in a few.

I glanced at Cessier beside me, already taking out her notebook and pen. Farewell to my fifteen hours of sleep. Now she would start with her explanations and plans for the next day. It might sound weird, but her voice was like a cup of hot cocoa with extra marshmallows . It was like listening to a lullaby really.

So I didn't really mind listening to her jabber on and on about grotesque, nerve-wracking murder victims for hours. I would eventually fall asleep listening to her speak.

                                                                                      Cessier's POV

It was barely thirty minutes past midnight and she was already snoring beside me placidly with no care in the world.

I wasn't sure if it was alright giving a  complete beginner this amount of responsibility when she barely started working a week ago.

I was anxious about letting her stay at LA alone and handle the work there , because I wasn't sure she'd be capable of doing all that . Rather I didn't trust her at all. Maybe now I did , a little.

I had a mild migraine a while ago and tossed away the possibility of anything else happening. Now, as time progressed so did the migraine. I realised I hadn't been hearing any voices since the last week. It was as if she magically disappeared .

She never missed bugging me for more than a three days gap. It was only yesterday morning when I decided that maybe yes , finally some god or angel nullified this age-long curse I was involuntarily gifted with . However, I guess I celebrated too early.

Before I could prepare myself , it was happening. It started with the feeling of being electrocuted then my head trying to collapse. I heard her old, breathy cackle before her abhorrent words reached my ears. "Aren't you getting way too laidback honey? You missed me , didn't you ?" she hissed like a serpent wrapping around my body, squeezing hard enough to break my bones asunder.

" It's still not too late. Dying now would be way less painful than what is to come next, erasing your existence is the only option. Or would our little detective want me to take over her? That would be lovely ! Let me know what you think."  

And it was gone.  I let out a sharp breath as a jab hit my face,  slowly slithering down my body. A buzz throbbed in my head and my vision blurred. I laid in my seat, looking up expecting some kind of apparition to  haunt me. I closed my eyes and instead of meeting darkness as everybody else did , I was met with flashing images , a rolling movie tape of visions reflecting my life.

The woman I once called my mother raged and screamed , "You killed my son, you bloody wrench. Giving birth to a wrench like you was a horrifying curse, was an unforgivable mistake. I'd kill you myself !Do you feel happy now? You murderer-". I heard her incontrollable sobs, I saw her charging at me. I saw myself, the child me, crying , kneeling down...

And just like that the string of memories came to  a halt. I forced myself to sleep. Falling asleep was a threat too, falling asleep meant jeopardizing myself yet again. Over the years I grew terrified of sleep. I thought if I did sleep one day, ignoring all the nightmares, ignoring all the voices , the images ; I'd never wake up . I was scared.

I could see why running away was the solution for so many people out there, including Jewel Harper. I could understand her in that aspect. The kids who were asked to discard their thoughts and be okay with everything. The kids who were shushed when they had something to say. The kids who never learnt how to talk, but simply listen.

We were those kids. If I could live this life again would I make the same decisions? I would. Running away has saved me; though I don't know how much longer it'll continue saving me.

Reading thoughts, well it hasn't been easy save for finding out suspects. Deciphering the human mind would be the most difficult subject I've ever learnt by far. Some people had thoughts that rushed like a moving train, while some had thoughts that closely resembled somebody mingling ten wired headphones together.

Reading my colleague's thoughts however has been really interesting so far.