BAST

I Found You

I Found You

Chisuzu had set a video to play on repeat; ten hours of thunder and lightning storms without rain. We had just laid there on the bed for a time, me asking questions and her answering, appearing more than happy to answer. She mentioned an interest in my life at the orphanage and I told her it was nothing interesting.

"I doubt that's true. It was probably really lonely there, though. Even with all those other kids there. It's tough knowing so much and learning faster than others, isn't it?"

"Did you ever go to college?"

"For a time. It wasn't something I could call a good experience, though. I could've gone when I was twelve or fifteen, but I went at a normal age as Loralie Paoletti." This made a little more sense of this alias's information and meant not everything had been made up.

"Your parents never learned of this?"

"My alias? No, they were in the middle of their own issues. My mother had an affair with my Dad's brother." That didn't seem to fit.

"The uncle who kept giving you gifts and saying you should go out and go to school?"

"The very same. Uncle had taken advantage of his brother's broken and stagnant relationship, swooped in, and..." I heard and felt her giggle a bit in the darkness. We were under a semi thick blanket and my poor night vision could only make out the outline of her figure next to me. She was lying on her back, petting a cat that had curled up next to her.

"My mother had assumed she could use sex to change my uncle, thinking she knew everything about men when she never listened to my father. He had used her for sex while she attempted to get him to stop encouraging me to go out and try my hand at surviving the world myself. Their actions had taught me valuable lessons."

"Even your father's? Did he do anything?" Chisuzu hadn't excluded the man.

"Oh, yeah. He had set up cameras and used the evidence to control her. My mother's image was her everything and she hadn't thought for a second her husband was paying any mind to her and what she did. To this day, her infidelity is a family secret."

"And you still get along with this uncle who used your mother?"

"Well, the real test was really after I plummeted his stocks and demolished his company but he may or may or may not have known I was behind that. He knew the sheltered life I had been raised into and decided to use its downfall as a prime example of how the real world was once you tore off its wallpaper." Her words were giving way to more and more fatigue she had been hiding. In truth, I was shocked she had been able to stay awake this long already while in bed.

She was not one to fight sleep.

"So, he was your teacher."

"Mostly, yes. He was a good man underneath it all." Her words melted into soft breathing as she finally drifted to sleep.

Somewhere between then and now, I had fallen asleep and woken to her body curled up to mine, our legs entangled. One of her arms between our chests while her free one draped lazily over my back, her head a small ways under my chin. Of course, we weren't alone as I surveyed the space around us, trying not to move my head around much. I spotted the array of furry felines decorating the room and bed surrounding us.

It was oddly...nice. Comfortable even. Maybe I could get used to this.

There was a soft moan, almost a growl, from just below my chin and I debated on whether or not I should pull my head back.

I didn't.

"Good morning." Hearing her voice just after she had woken up had been common during the case, yet I still found myself enjoying it. Whether she meant to or not, her free hand kneaded into my back and I felt grateful she filed her nails regularly.