Slipstream

Chapter 4

Krista stared at the pink haired woman and flashes of her dreadful night with Martu came rushing back to her.

"You... You were there that night!"

"Yeah, and what I saw was pretty incredible."

Krista felt the sudden urge to run, but as Rosa closed the door it disappeared. "What's going on here?" The pit of Krista's stomach felt heavy. Her organs squeezed together as she withdrew into herself.

"I was looking for the time traveller, not you." The pink haired woman said as she stepped towards Krista.

"Why are you guys getting taller? Let me go! I changed my mind! I wanna go home!"

"We're not getting taller," Rosa said, "you're getting shorter."

The two women stood in front of Krista and she had to strain her neck to look up at them.

"It's probably a defence mechanism," the pink haired woman said, "give me your hand."

"No!" Krista's hand split apart and disappeared as the other woman reached for it.

"Just stay calm, okay?" The woman rolled her eyes and Krista's panic receded. "Now, give me your hand."

Against her will, Krista extended her hand for the woman and in an instant she felt herself regaining her usual height. Her fear and anger were becoming distant as she became aware of a cloud of contentment falling over her.

"Who are you?" Krista asked through her artificial calm.

"I'm Missy."

"Your nose is bleeding."

"Yeah, it does that." Missy turned away and braced herself against the nearest table.

"Where is Sam, anyway?" Rosa asked and Missy shrugged.

"You know him, he doesn't like to show himself to new comers."

"Who's Sam?" Krista still felt unnaturally calm.

"He's going to have to come out sooner or later." Rosa's hands found her hips. "How are we supposed to understand Krista's abilities without him?"

"You know he wants us to start figuring this stuff out on our own."

"But he's so good at it."

"And we should be better than we are." Missy's voice sounded angry, but Krista couldn't figure out why. She couldn't see any reason to be upset, not anymore.

"Fine, we'll do this on our own." Rosa reached for a notebook as Missy cleaned the blood off her face.

"What are you doing?" Krista asked with a dreamy smile.

"She's ghost writing." Missy took Krista aside and sat her at a shining silver table.

"What's ghost writing?"

"We're hear to talk about you, Krista. Don't you feel like talking about yourself?"

She did. "What do you want to know?"

"When I saw you first, with the time traveller--"

"Time traveller? You said that before..."

"We're talking about you, remember?" Missy reminded Krista and she nodded. "He was attacking you, but you got away."

Krista knew that thinking about that night should induce more anxiety than what she was feeling, but it didn't bother her. "Yeah, thank God. When I saw you, I couldn't help but think how beautiful your hair was."