An Intangible Pattern - Fate Bound.

Bad to worse.

Alex's morning became increasingly chaotic and all thought of the service dog was driven out of her head. Her mother was the first, aside from herself, to get up and appeared to be in a subdued mood. Alex could guess that she still felt embarrassed by her own behavior toward Noah the previous night.
"How are you feeling darling?" She fretted.
"Much better, mum, thanks," answered Alex, filling a glass of water and drinking deeply.
"Are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital? God knows what's in those paints nowadays,"
"I'm fine, I think it's out of my system now "
"You really should have been wearing a mask, you know," Mariana chided.
"Yes I know." She responded wearily.
"You never know what kind of horrible things we breathe these days. Some of these chemicals cause cancer and all sorts of things."
"Yes mum." sighed Alex, helping herself to a mug and switching the kettle back on.
"Sit down, I can do that." fussed Mariana, shooing her away from the countertop.
"I can make my own breakfast mum."
"You aren't well, I'll do it,"
Alex relented, taking a seat at the breakfast bar.
"Do you want tea or coffee?"
"Tea, please,"
"It's milk and two sugars isn't it?"
"Just milk,"
"You don't take sugar anymore?" Asked her mother in surprise, her hand pausing over the sugar tin.
"No. I cut it out years ago." Alex replied and thought - when I was thirteen.
"Oh!" muttered her mother. "What do you want for breakfast?"
"Just toast,"
"You really should eat something more than that,"
"Toast is fine, I'm not very hungry in the morning."
"I'll make you a boiled egg. Egg and soldiers, how's that?"
"That's fine," relented Alex. It occurred to her that she could have already eaten and showered by now. Alex was quite used to making her own breakfast, but she sensed her mother needed to feel useful. It was just simpler to go along with it.
Her mother fussed around searching for a pan to boil eggs in.
"There's a frying pan," said Alex, getting up from the breakfast bar and quietly retrieving her tea before it got cold. "We can just fry eggs."
"That's not very healthy, now is it? Where has Cat hidden all her pans?" was her mother's exasperated reply.
"They're probably still in a box somewhere. Let's just fry the eggs, one unhealthy breakfast won't kill us," she said, laying the pan on the hob and switching it on.
"Shoo! I'll do it, you sit down."
Alex reluctantly did as she was told. Eventually, breakfast was served and there was a moment of peace while they both ate. Cat came downstairs, still in her pajamas, her hair tousled and the shadow of yesterday's mascara still under her eyes.
"Morning! Something smells good?" she said.
Mariana jumped up leaving her own breakfast unfinished and turned the stove back on.
"I couldn't find your saucepan. Do you want one egg or two?" Cat gently ushered her mother out of the kitchen and made her sit back down.
"I can handle it, finish your breakfast." She said ignoring all protest from her mother. She hummed as she cooked and, within no time, joined them at the breakfast bar.
"You look better today, did you sleep well" she asked Alex, sprinkling salt and pepper on her eggs.
"Not really, but I do feel better. What's the plan today?"
"Mmmm." She hummed as she chewed and swallowed her breakfast. "We could do with getting some groceries... and we should visit the hardware store, then I'd like to get a big chunk of the mural in the hall done, if you're ok with the paint fumes."
"I'll wear a mask. Should we head out after breakfast?"
"Probably a good idea," agreed Cat
Mariana looked at Alex with a concerned expression and said, "Maybe you should stay behind Alex and get some rest..."
"I'm fine. I'll go wash up, back in ten minutes."
She made her escape before her mother could protest any further. Alex had been looking after herself and her sister since she was young and she found her mother's tendency to overcompensate stifling. It wasn't really her fault, her mother worked hard to pay the bills and make sure the girls had food and clothes, but she was never there, and in her absence the role of caretaker fell to Alex. When Mariana was at home, she tended to get flustered and become overbearing out of guilt, like she was trying to squeeze a whole day's worth of parenting into a few minutes. Alex found it exhausting and would try to prevent circumstances that would result in her mother having a full scale breakdown. If that didn't work she would find ways to avoid her instead.
Once in the bathroom, she slipped out of her sweaty running clothes and stepped into the bathtub, but slipped and tumbled over grabbing the shower faucet to steady herself. The force of her fall ripped the tap from the wall and a gush of freezing cold water shot from the exposed pipe.
She screamed in shock as the cold water struck her skin and tried to reattach the faucet but the pipe had been bent out of shape and could no longer be screwed back on. The door burst open and Cat ran in looking frantic.
"What's wrong? Oh shit!" she cried, scrabbling around looking for a shut off valve. When she could not find it she ran back downstairs and switched off the mains.
When the gout of water finally trickled to a halt, Alex wrapped a towel around herself and shivering went back to her room.
She wasn't exactly clean and her hair was a mess but she dressed as best as she could and went to look for her sister.
She found her in the kitchen with her phone held to her ear. Cat put a finger to her lips as Alex walked in, looking ragged and apologetic, and she suppressed a giggle at her sister's woebegone appearance.
"Honestly, 6pm will be fine if you have nothing earlier, just as soon as you can... alright, thank you, see you tonight." she hung up the phone and burst out laughing at her sister.
"What on earth happened?" she howled as Alex grimaced sheepishly.
"I slipped, I'm so sorry, I'll pay for the damage."
"Don't be ridiculous! It was an accident. Well, there's not a lot of point hanging around here. I haven't the faintest idea where the valves in the bathroom are, so there's no water until the plumber turns up. We may as well head into town."

The streets of Wisterlea were busier than Alex had expected. It was a much larger town than she had guessed, being this far North, and she found herself quickly overwhelmed by the activity all around her. She trailed behind her mother and sister trying to focus on their voices as crowds of people pressed around them through the market stalls. Unconsciously she scanned the faces of passers by, looking for threatening behavior and shifting her eyes away if they curiously met her gaze.
Cat and her mother chatted happily as they examined fresh fruit and vegetables.
"What about minestrone?" Suggested Cat absentmindedly picking up a zucchini, " that's nice and easy."
"Sounds good, we can get some of that nice bread with the olives to go with it," said their mother enthusiastically pointing to another stall. An older man brushed roughly past Alex, and she fought the rising urge to scream. She tapped her sister on the shoulder and leant closer to her.
"Um, I think I need to go somewhere quiet for a moment, can I meet you both later."
Cat looked at her sister and noticed her face was tense and flushed.
"Are you alright? Do you want me to come with you?"
"It's ok, I'm just going to sit in a cafe. It's just too crowded for me."
Her sister nodded in concern. "If you go down to the end of the road there's a nice cafe with a book shop. We can come and meet you there when we're finished."
"Perfect, I'll see you in a little while." She darted off weaving through the crowd toward the cafe. Toward the end of the road the crowd began to thin and she could see the cafe her sister was referring to. It was an old building with warped bullseye windows and flowerpots on the windowsills. In the chilly air, the pair of green iron tables outside the shop were unoccupied, but the interior appeared warm and inviting. As she extended her hand to push the door, it opened unexpectedly and she collided with a man wearing a gray woolen trench coat sending his coffee cup flying to the ground.
"Sorry..." she blurted looking up into his face.
Noah looked back at her with an expression somewhere between shock and dismay. She gasped feeling the flush of heat wash over her. Without thinking she turned on her heel and ran, ran in the direction with the fewest people. Behind her she heard him call, "Alex, not that way!"
In a blind panic she kept going, anxious to get away and find somewhere to hide as quickly as possible.
She paid little heed to the increasingly run down buildings surrounding her or the tang of salt in the air which indicated she was nearing the docks. With her lungs fit to burst, she ducked into an alley way and peeked around the corner.
To her horror, Noah had followed her. She backed into the alley and ducked behind a dumpster, praying he hadn't seen her. She covered her mouth and tried to slow her breathing. Her lungs ached with the burning need for oxygen; her legs grew weak, not only from exertion, but from the increasing tingling sensation building in her pelvis. She bit back tears as his shadow passed on the ground in front of her. He'd missed her. He'd gone the other way. If she waited here for a few minutes she would be able to run back and hopefully avoid him. However, she couldn't move. She groaned as the tingling sensation rolled through her in successive waves. That gnawing hunger overwhelmed her and she could not focus on anything but the desperate need for release.
Suddenly she was dragged to her feet and pinned against the brick wall.
"Look what we have here?"