by Kelly Hunt
Part Three
Amiss
A pair of vivid brown eyes peered out over the top purple layers of bubbles in a grand bathtub. Lilliana hadn't been feeling right. She felt sick, for lack of a better term. Every time she thought about leaving the bath, her stomach would begin to grind at the prospect. Even though she was bored (even the largest bathtubs can't entertain you for very long) she stayed in the bath. It was simply impossible for her to bring herself out of it at this point. A light tapping at the door finally brought her out of her contemplation. Rising from the now cold, pink tinted water, she inquired who it was, and Jayne's voice greeted her.
"Lilly, I would like to use the bathroom at some point." called Jayne, slightly impatient, but also slightly kidding.
Lilliana eventually finished and left. She lay on her bed, staring at the high arched ceiling. "Has it always been so unpleasant to be dry?" she wondered. She got up and strode downstairs to the white piano in the parlor and began to play. Jayne came down and flopped unceremoniously on the sofa next to the piano, she closed her eyes. "Lilly, what have you been doing? It's odd of you to let the flowers die in their vase."
The piano stopped.
"Which flowers have died? Praytell! I only just picked the most recent batch."
"The one on the dining room table."
"I'll just see for myself." Lilliana huffed, and left to check on her precious flowers.
Jayne let out a groan muffled by a pillow. Her back ached again.
Lilliana gazed upon the vase of flowers. Just as Jayne said, they were all dead. The petals laid around the bottom of the glass vase in a dismal assortment. She picked up the vase and returned to the parlor. "Jayne, what have you done to them?". Her voice cracked on the last word.
"Nothing! I only got back an hour ago. I can't say the same for the flowers, they look weeks old."
"It's weird that they should dry up. I picked them... oh, I can't remember, but not too long ago. Then I took a bath, came down and they were dead!"
Jayne buried her face in a pillow once more and let out a "Mmph.".
The sun rose the next morning in a way so vivid it seemed surreal. The Skies rejoiced, but they knew not of the work that was yet to come. For it was their job to aid the Details, but they'll explain themselves later.
In the upper room of the girl's home, Jayne opened one eye, the other still pressed into her pillow. The clock read 7:13. She sat up, slipped her boots on and slowly began her day. In the room across from her, Lilliana also was waking up. Her clock chimed at 7, she rose out of bed and slipped on her soft pink slippers, much in contrast to Jayne's boots. Rinsing her face in water, she surprised herself by accidentally gulping some down. Prior to that, she didn't even remember being thirsty. She selected a light sundress and pulled her hair back in a half pony tail. Meanwhile, Jayne pulled her long blond hair into a comfortable braid that ran the length of her back. She picked a supple, dark green, mid-thigh length tunic and fitted black pants. After rinsing her face, she pulled her leather waist belt off the doorknob and snagged her haversack from the floor before heading downstairs. Lilliana was already up, and the smells of breakfast being cooked were already billowing across the lower level and up the spiral staircase. Jayne inhaled deeply as she descended the staircase.
Lilliana, having sat down to eat, was shocked at how ravenously hungry she was. She tried to heat slow, chew each bite a certain number of times, and even get up from the table, but her stomach raged. Finally, after eight eggs, four pancakes, a huge Belgium waffle and nine glasses of milk she was satisfied. Jayne packed strips of bacon in her haversack for later and headed out the door, taking a last glance at Lilliana's focused expression as she played the piano. She realized once more how pretty her sister was, in her own way. It didn't fit Jayne's description of lovely, but Lilly definitely had something about her.
Two hours later, Jayne plodded further down a new path she had found in the woods. Her back began itching incessantly. As she began to rub her back on the tree, astounding relief filled her spirit. She scratched harder, hard enough to rip the skin off a normal human. Finally feeling well enough to continue, she carried on.
Lilliana had been trying to entertain herself with piano, painting and cooking. But nothing could direct her mind away from her constant craving for water. She finally resorted to take another bath, since it seemed to be the only thing that brought relief. Back upstairs, back in the soapy water, she relaxed for only a moment. Blinking, she noticed that all the bubbles had gone, and it felt like the water had gotten cold in seconds. More rapping at the door. Her mind whirled. Who could be here? Jayne is still out. She sprung from the bath and dressed quickly and silently. Then called to the newcomer.
"Yes?" she inquired after the closed door.
"Um... Lilly, are you okay? Can I come in?" Jayne's voice met her ears. No need to be paranoid. She opened the door. "Well you're ba- ah! Jayne! What happened?" The panic in her voice was rising as she asked questions. "Did something attack you? Are you okay? Turn around! Let me see! Oh you poor thing! Please tell me what happened!" she begged.
Jayne's green eyes widened. "Nothing happened!" Jayne bore her eyes into Lilliana's. She thought hard. "Nothing happened. Calm down. Mood: chill out." This instance was Jayne's helpful deployment of her ability. If you remember, she inherited from the skies the ability to change the mood of someone, if she tried hard enough. Lilliana relaxed, and walked past her to sit down in Jayne's room. Jayne casually began the conversation, because she knew if she didn't keep Lilliana relaxed long enough, the effects would wear off too soon. "Now tell me why you thought something was wrong."
"Y-your back." Lilly stifled a yawn.
"What about my back?" Jayne turned and looked in the mirror, and was so startled she almost shrieked. But she didn't, for Lilliana's sake. Her green tunic had been slashed open, as if by a knife. Resembling it, her skin bore marks that looked like something a bear claw would do. Two identical gashes, very deep in proportion, had appeared on her back on either side of her spine. Right where she'd felt the pain the day before.
"Uh, well." Jayne muttered.
"See? Were you attacked?" asked Lilliana, oddly casually.
"No." Jayne maintained a steady voice. "I can't even think of anything I did today that would warrant such marks."
"Oh." Lilliana yawned again. "Oh... right. Better fix that now." thought Jayne. She stared into Lilly's eyes and thought "Resume normal functions, nothing bad happened."
Lilliana's eyes were not as vacant anymore. "Oh, Jayne, let me do something about it."
"No, I have a feeling we should just leave it alone and let it heal. It doesn't hurt at all. You hungry?" She asked as Lilly's stomach growled. "Yeah, but I just ate!" the two went to the kitchen.
Turning to the stove and lighting a burner, Jayne began to tell Lilly about her day, about the new birds and critters she'd noticed on her new trail and how far she'd gone. As the information turned out to be lengthy, Lilly began to speak to Jayne's back when Jayne stopped for breath. "This was all today, you say?"
"Mmhmm."
"How long were you possibly gone?"
"I left at breakfast, now it's 10:30, so a pretty decent amount of time."
"It's not that late."
Jayne moved so Lilly could see the clock on the stove. Sure enough, it read 10:30.
"So what have you done today?"
Lilly faltered. "I played the piano.... and ate lunch, then took a bath."
"Two baths?" inquired Jayne "You took a lengthy one yesterday."
"I swear it was only just after noon when I went in, and moments later you rapped at the door."
"Perhaps you are sleep depraved." kidded Jayne.
The next day was nearly identical. Tree. Bath. Everything.
The day after was when things worth narrating began again.