Dr. Matilda Honey has dedicated her whole life to helping children, especially those with The Shining, children with special abilities as she was. For many years, she has actively contributed in Eleven Foundation, an organization dedicated to suppor...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Shining among Darkness
By WingzemonX
Chapter 33.
You have captured my curiosity
After two days of resting locked in that strange little room, Lily Sullivan could get out of bed. However, she required crutches to be able to walk, since her wound still hurt too much to support her right leg. Luckily, her kidnapper got them suspiciously fast. Esther got her some new clothes too, plus a short brown wig and ugly thick black-rimmed glasses. Had also bought a blonde wig, somewhat more discreet glasses, and a hat larger than her head for her. They looked ridiculous, at least from her point of view. And on top of that, Lily also needed some makeup to hide the ugly bruise on her face, which had already faded but was still visible enough. Luckily, Esther had plenty of powder for her personal use.
It turned out that they were not in the middle of the forest or in front of a police headquarters, or in any other strange place. In fact, they were in a modest old hotel in an equally modest old town a few miles north of Portland. Lily never knew the name of that place, and she didn't care.
Esther bought them two tickets for a bus to Olympia, which they boarded quite early in the morning. The trip lasted about three hours, and at least two worried people asked them the same questions: "What are two such pretty girls doing traveling alone?" and "What happened to your leg, little one?" The last one came as soon as they noticed Lily's crutches and the thick bandage around her thigh, discreetly noticeable under her outfit's yellow skirt. For both questions, Esther always went ahead to answer with fantastic ease.
"We're going to visit our aunt in Port Townsend. Our dad is already waiting for us in Olympia," she replied to the first, with a wide, friendly, and innocent smile. With her totally fake and made-up face, this made her look like the most adorable girl in the world. And about Lily's leg, she only answered: "A dog attacked her, a very big one... But it was her fault. She annoyed it and misbehaved. But I'm sure you learned your lesson. Right, sis?"
In those moments, Lily preferred to just keep quiet, smile discreetly, and nod. Interestingly, no one questioned them much more after that. She had to give her captor credit. She could be crazy and totally false from head to toe. However, she knew how to manipulate and control people, and she did it even without powers.
They got off at Olympia and disappeared before anyone asked them more questions, including their supposed father, who should be waiting there. They hadn't been lying when they said they were heading to Port Townsend, although that wasn't their final destination.
They had to wait for the next bus to leave in two hours, so they decided to go get something to eat. On the other side of the avenue in front of the station, there was a shopping plaza. It seemed to Lily that it was a bit absurd to go to such a crowded place and risk being recognized by someone. From another point of view, Esther affirmed that it was better to be precisely in a place full of people, where they could be mixed with the crowd. She had said something about how, when more people are around them, the persons looked less. It did not seem coherent to Lily, but she wasn't the professional psychopath, so what could she know?
