Suffocating

Unravel; VI

"You're saying I should kill her?"

Bella had seen those white eyes dozens of times before. That fact didn't stop them from taking her breath away, leaving her in awe and sinking in a realization that this kid was not fucking normal and she should always, always be on her guard.

There'd been myths about those eyes; that it could see past through you, see everything about you, leaving you naked and cold and unable to hide any part of yourselves. Some say it might be able to kill you.

Then those myths had become a scientific fact.

Well, except for that last one, because she was still standing and she could feel her heartbeat roaring in her chest, so it was a bitchy bullshit.

Luckily, Bella was prepared. She was nothing, if not a prepared bitch.

Don't show emotions. Don't show anything. Be calm. Be in-control. That was the only way to deal with her kind.

That was what Bonnie always told her, and no matter how much she hated the old bitch, she couldn't dismiss her words, not when they were the only thing keeping her from being 'missing'.

It was a hard task. Human beings were attached to their emotions. To hide it would be to stop being human.

But the bitch that was Bonnie had trained her well.

Bella took a deep breath, and imagined a wall separating her from her body. Detaching was what they called it; Not giving a shit was what she believed to be the more accurate term.

The wall was thick, and heavy, and damn, it was really effective from blocking her out from the world.

Bella felt like a watcher, a spectator, on a cinema, watching the large screen, watching someone else's life. Or maybe it was like playing a game. You make the choices, but the player will be the one facing the consequences, not you.

It was scary and familiar, but it was necessary, because as soon as the wall was up and running, Claire blinked, still crouching and holding out her clenched fists, and blinked and blinked and blinked. She squinted, rubbed her eyes, squinted harder.

Bella kept her face emotionless.

It worked.

Claire couldn't read her. Good.

"I'm saying you need to be smart. You need to take care of her, fast, or else this whole shit will just spiral down." God. She wished she had a pack of cigs, right now. Sadly, in her rush to get to this bitch, she hadn't had the time to think about one of the nice things in life. "Usually, the team would be able to just figure out who the fuck posted it in the first place and just take care of them."

Claire gaped at her, mouth wide open and two light grey dots beginning to fade back into her eyes, slow and unnoticeable to the common eyes.

Jesus, the bitch was such an open-book. How the hell did she manage to keep her- well, her entire being a secret from Roxanne?

Oh. Right. Because Roxanne was a bitch, too. Slightly less bitchy than Claire, but still a bitch.

"Oh, don't look at me like that, bitch," she said, rolling her eyes, letting a small portion of annoyance show, "it's standard procedure. Don't you even complain because you've done far worse things, freak."

That kept her in place. She shuffled and stood up straight, though Bella noticed her hands were still shaking, clenching and unclenching. It wasn't a good sign. It meant Claire was still on edge.

Bella ignored it. She, out of of all the other workers, could take care of Claire the best, having lived in the same environment as her and even befriended her.