Alex:
A cold winter storm seemed to pass them. The trees - which covered the stolen car - made graceful moves and the snow that had laid on the branches scattered over them. Grace lightly shut her eyes, slowly letting Nigel go as he crouched in front of the door after trying to open it. She smiled relieved as she noticed Nigel getting out his knife. Almost forgotten.
'You're right. They would've been dead in this cold already. It's unbearable.'
She softly rushed her hand through Nigel his hair, trying to get the snow from his head and pursed her lips thoughtfully as he tried to open the lock. Her heart made several jumps out of happiness and relieve when the door swung open - slowly, with lots of cracky sounds. Her eyes dropped in the house, and she gasped by seeing the furniture after Nigel had switched on the lights. It wasn't much, maybe, but hell- Grace was so lucky and happy to have this. Even though it would just be for a little while.
'Thank goodness-' she whispered breathlessly as she allowed Nigel to get in at first. She rubbed her hands over her cold arms and inhaled as she entered the cottage. It smelled like an old and dusty carped, but somehow she liked it. It was sort of the smell of a home.
She glanced at Nigel and closed the door behind her without looking back - dropping her back against it afterwards - and a little smile crept over her lips.
'We made it...' she sighed as she brought her hands toward her face to rub her eyes. She softly stroked her hair back and shook her head again.
'My god- thank you...'
Nigel:
Nigel stopped once he was and exhaled deeply, as if he only realized now that he had been holding his breath during the entire escape. He turned around to face Grace when she spoke and appeared to look quite mesmerized, like he couldn't quite believe they actually made it.. Like he wanted to be alert still, cold, running, even though they didn't have to.
"We made it.." he repeated after a long pause and his shoulders dropped. He didn't answer to her when she thanked him. They'd done it together. Also he couldn't feel happy yet. Couldn't feel relieved for some reason. He just couldn't quite wrap his head around it.
"..right fire.. "
He stumbled to the kitchen but stopped at the table where he found a newspaper. Carefully he picked up a newspaper and studied the date. ... end 2012.
"Impossible.."
He hadn't been locked up for about three years. It had been nine years.
Alex:
Grace dropped the back of her head against the door and breathed relieved, just like Nigel did. Her hand rubbed over her forehead now and she shut her eyes for just a moment, listening to Nigel his voice as he repeated her sentence. A little brief smile crept over her lips and she nodded.
As Nigel began over the fire, she pressed herself up from the door as she stuck out her hand - not that she could reach his shoulder, but still.
'Wait, let me make a fire. You should- check this place out... And go upstairs to get yourself some clothes if there are.'
On slow pass she followed him - her eyes pointing towards the ceiling as she scanned the room. She wetted her lips, trying to find recognitions from her farm to this, and she could find a lot.
As Grace passed Nigel through the kitchen, she frowned lightly as she heard him mumbling something.
'What is impossible?' she smiled as she leaned against the kitchen table - still in her uniform. She pursed her lips and looked at the chimney and the logs which were already installed for using.
Her eyes dropped on the newspaper now and she slowly walked up to Nigel to get a proper look. She couldn't understand what Nigel was meaning with his word so she kept waiting for an answer.
Nigel:
He checked the date again. Perhaps he was just so tired that he read it wrong. But the numbers were still the same.. 2012. What year had it been when he last checked the date? .. As far as he could remember that way the say he killed Isabelle. He'd been sitting in her and her parent's blood for a long time. They kept a calendar in the kitchen. It was from 2003.
"I'm..-" he started, still staring baffled at the date. What was his age when he was reunited with Alex? It had been.. 4 years since he died, hadn't it? The further calculation wasn't hard to make
"I think I'm 30.. According to this paper I've been locked up for nine years."
He looked up at Grace then, as if he just realized he was talking to her and not just to himself. Immediately he handed Grace the paper and turned away. Getting back to business and keeping emotionless.
"You can use that for the fire, I'll go see if there's any clothes and food."
He disappeared to the bedroom to put on some decent clothes and perhaps look for something warmer for Grace as well.
Alex:
Grace scanned the newspaper and leaned at her arms. She realized she could barely keep her eyes fixed on the paper - since all the letters seem to dance blurry in front of her eyes - and she yawned with her hand in front of her mouth. Her head slowly fell against Nigel his shoulder and she listened to him as he stumbled on his words.
'You are-' she repeated questionable. As Nigel finally got clear about the things he wanted to say, a deep frown appeared on her face and she slowly pulled back her head. A soft laugh of mesmerize escaped her mouth and she slowly shook her head. 'What?' she muttered in disbelief. 'You're not- They told me you're eighteen Nigel.' Nevertheless she took the paper and let him walk away. Perhaps he was just exhausted? Or maybe a little bit insane? He'd probably forgot the time because of all.
She dropped her eyes on the paper again and she rocked on her feet as she gazed down at the chimney. She nodded once - not that there was anyone to see it - and she crouched in front of it, lighting the fire within half a minute. She'd always loved the smell of it. The smell of burning logs and the feeling of a warm chimney.
Though Grace desperately wanted to stay here, close to the fire so she could warm up a bit more, she had to sleep - since she was incredibly exhausted, still.
'Nigel?' she yelled hoarsely as she went up the stairs. 'Nigel? Where are you? Should we take a nap now?' She pursed her lips and stood still in the hall, waiting for an answer. Her eyes dropped on a mirror and she slowly walked toward it - her eyes fixed on her reflection. She hadn't look in a mirror for years - or at least, not with other clothes on then she always got in the institute. She flattened the cloth underneath her hands as she rubbed over her side and gazed at the detailed mirror frame afterwards. There was a broken piece, and she slowly took it to take a look at it from a closer view. She smiled briefly, looking at the flower-graved pattern, and then she saw something moving in her eye corner. A light frown appeared on her forehead, and she gazed up back to her reflection - thinking she'd seen something strange. Nevertheless, there wasn't...
She slowly straightened her back, moving her feet a bit since she felt weird still, and didn't dared to look herself back into the eyes for a few seconds. She saw her reflection moving, moving without herself doing that. She gazed up, staring at herself as she saw herself lifting up her hand with the broken piece, and roughly cut it along her throat. A large cut got visible, and the blood streamed out of it and Grace started to feel dizzy as the pain overtook her.
She panicked and dropped the sharp piece of mirror frame while stumbling backwards and grabbing her neck. She gasped for air, screaming as she sank through her knees. She saw how her hands were covered with blood, and she felt how the blood got stuck in her throat.
'LET IT STOP! LET IT STOP!'
She tightly closed her eyes, panicking even more as she felt how she almost lost conscious.
'NIGEL!'
A silence fell for a moment, a sign that Grace had fainted, and there she laid on the floor in the hall - but not covered in blood. There was no cut, there had been piece of mirror frame - the whole mirror was just fine. And there was nothing to be afraid of. Nevertheless Grace had felt, seen and heard it all. How the gurgling sound had predominant everything as she'd tried to gasp for air.
She had imagined it. But it had been Alex who'd let her to. The mind from someone being broken, and wanting revenge.
Nigel:
After Nigel had put some of the man's clothes one - too big as ever but it would do for now - he'd sat himself down on the bed, curled up his legs and bit hard down on his knuckle until it would bleed.
Nine years. He'd wasted nine years in that place and he hadn't even realizes. Alex had been gone for nine years. Could he even get him back? Did he want to after all the two of them went through?
He was so deep in nerve wrecking stress that he didn't even hear Grace at first. He only noticed when she began screaming for help loudly. He froze and looked up in shock. Did they find them after all? Was it all in vain? Would Nigel be killed anyway?
He knew he had to go and help Grace but somehow he couldn't move. He was afraid.. He was afraid he'd find the police or guards downstairs. But then he remembered what he escaped for at all. It hadn't been for Grace but it also hadn't been for him. It had been for Alex. And if he didn't try to save Grace all would have been in vain anyway.
This thought managed to push him up from the bed and let him run back to the living room. When he got there he could just see Grace falling on the ground, but no one else was there.
"Grace!?" he called, crouching down next to her to hold up her head and provoke her from choking.
"Grace what's going on?" he asked, studying her. But there was nothing he could see that could provoke this behavior. Was she starving perhaps? But no, that didn't usually go as aggressively as this.
For now he didn't know what else to do but to hold her and try to calm her down, keeping her body from spinning out of control.
"Calm down.. Easy.."
It took a while but eventually he noticed how her breathing got more steady.. And as she did Nigel felt himself slowly slipping away as well. He considered carrying Grace to the bedroom but he didn't think he'd make it. So instead he got up and retrieved the pillows and blankets from the bed.. making a substite for a bed in front of the fireplace, where he laid down Grace and himself.
He wrapped his arms around her tiny body, - not just to comfort her but also to feel more steady himself, - and waited for fatigue to take over. That wouldn't take long.
Alex:
Grace had her hands still tightly wrapped around her neck, as if she tried to let herself choke. As if she tried to suffocate herself. Nevertheless she fainted, and as soon as that had happened, her grip had became looser - and all that happened was her falling on the cold floor.
She didn't heard nor saw Nigel coming. She didn't heard what he was saying, nor she saw what he was trying to do. It had felt so real, as if thousands of knifes had cut through the porcelain layers of her flesh - allowing her warm blood to meet the sky, and to stream. Letting all the problems and bad memories go. It was a sign, she thought - if it was only just for a second.
Just as Nigel moved the bed "sort of" toward the living room - near the fire so they would stay warm and Nigel wouldn't have to cary her - she woke. She felt Nigel his body nuzzling against hers, and she turned without opening her eyes - pressing her face close against Nigel his chest.
'Nigel?' she suddenly whispered as she wrinkled the cloth of his clothing in her hands. 'Nigel? Nigel... where am I?' She still didn't dared to open her eyes - afraid that it wasn't Nigel where she was nuzzling against, and also afraid that she was laying in a different room. 'Am I dead?'
She bit down on her lower lip and snorted, pressing her lips against the skin of his neck as soon as she recognized his smell. It calmed her down, and made her feel relieved and safe. 'I'm so sorry... It just happened. I had no idea what I was doing- I had no intention of killing myself either.' She exhaled deeply and closed her eyes tightly, not allowing the tears to leave. 'I want to be with you, Nigel. Forever.'
Something that Grace didn't knew, was that nothing had happened. She was still alive, she had no cuts and she was not dead nor she had moved. She was just here, still with Nigel safe and warm next to the fireplace. Nothing bad had happened. The only thing Grace had done was giving Nigel a heart attack.
'It will never happen again. I promise...'
Nigel:
He'd almost slipped away into darkness when he heard Grace's voice and he only just managed to force his eyes back open. He stared at her and put on hand against her cheek, trying calm her down.
"It's alright. You're safe."
He frowned when she suddenly started to apologize for killing herself. She didn't. If she had he would've known.
"Grace you're..- You're not dead. You just fainted." He didn't really know how to react to that statement.. When she said she wanted to stay with him forever. He knew that even if Alex wasn't there to claim him fully, which he would and which Nigel would want, she still wouldn't be able to stay with him forever. She wasn't immortal like he was.
"Just go back to sleep. It's alright to rest now."
Alex:
She permanently started to shake her head in fully disagree as soon as Nigel whispered she was safe, and she placed her own hand upon his to get it gently off. Finally she dared to open her eyes, and gazed in his half open blue stargazers. Apparently she'd sort of woke him - something she couldn't feel guilty about right now.
'No Nigel, it's not.' She swallowed and gasped for air like she'd done before - acting like she couldn't breathe properly. 'It's not- I- I have to go to the hospital. I'm dying!' She pressed herself up and finally calmed down as soon as Nigel told her she hadn't died. Nothing had happened. She just fainted. She stared down at him, confused and with disbelief. Her hand slowly went toward her neck, stroking the skin there and realizing there was nothing to worry about. Her tears slowly sank away, back into her eyes and her gaze became blurry as she slowly laid herself back on the sheets - in first instance not nuzzling against Nigel now.
'I thought I was,' she muttered as she shook her head - glancing at the mirror on the wall, not trusting it at all. It was like she wanted to kill it with her glance, acting suspicious and wary. 'I swear I was...' Her eyes dropped back on Nigel's and she clenched her teeth.
'I looked into the mirror, and I saw myself cutting open my own throat.' She shook her head again, crawling closer toward him as she served him this penetrating stare. 'I swear, I felt everything... I saw it. I felt the warm of the blood, the burning pain in my flesh.' She shook her head again, rolling on her back now as she pressed her hands against her forehead. 'What happened to me?'
Nigel:
He sat up again as well now and frowned, studying her carefully.
"Have you ever had hallucinations before?"
Nigel had.. Many, yet those all included Alex. Alex speaking to him, making him do things, touching him even. But he'd never seen himself committing suicide or anything like that.
"It's alright.. It's probably just because you're tired.. hungry.. stressed after our escape. You'll be fine."
He wasn't fully convinced himself, though.. He knew there could be only one other explanation. And that was Alex. But for some reason he was afraid to even suggest it.
Alex:
'I haven't,' she muttered softly as she looked up to him - since he was sitting now, and she was lying again. She searched along the sheets for his hand and squeezed it as she inhaled deeply - trying to get her heath steady again. 'Why should I hallucinate killing myself? Just now I'm happy we're out of that hellhole?'
She nodded quickly but lightly as he gave some possible explanations, and she inhaled again - this time deeply through the nose - as her other hand stroked along her neck again. It had been an awful feeling. The sharp piece of mirror had cut straight through her porcelain white flesh, up to the beige layers until it had reached the carotid artery - splitting it horizontally open to allow the blood to stream along her cold smooth skin. She shivered and nuzzled further under the sheets, burying herself under the warm cloth.
'Bet you're right,' she whispered. She softly pulled at his hand - a sign that he'd to lay down too again - and smiled briefly to reassure him.
'I'm safe,' she repeated again, searching for his eyes as he laid down. 'There's no one here who can harm me... or wants to harm me. Right?' Before Nigel could actually answer - or lay down properly against her - she had her eyes closed, and she dropped into a strange restless sleep... Alex was still messing up with her mind.
Nigel:
He moved up his hand to gently pull hers away from her neck.
"Don't worry.. I'm sure it's nothing."
He only said it to make her feel better but, quite surprisingly, it did sound quite convincing. He almost convinced himself with it.
When she pulled at his hand he laid back down next to her, happy to lay down his head again for he was quite dizzy whenever he got up.
"No. Even if there would be, I wouldn't let it happen... Goodnight Grace."
When he didn't get any answer from her he assumed she'd fallen asleep again already and he tried to do the same. This time it didn't go that easy, though. And he knew where this restlessness came from. He couldn't go to sleep until he tried something.
Careful not to wake Grace, he moved his face closer and stared at her closed eyelids, whispering.
"Alex? If you can hear me.. Please hold on. I got out of the asylum. Next thing on the list is getting you back. I won't fail you this time. You know I'll do anything. Have faith."
He got no response. He didn't expect one. He didn't even think Alex would've heard that but it was worth the try. And anyway he could go to sleep again now as well. He was gone quite quickly after that.
Alex:
Nigel had calmed her a bit down after all he'd said, and thought she slept quite restless she was relieved and grateful for everything that Nigel had done for her. Though she was in danger, without Nigel nor she knowing it, she got herself to sleep - and she hadn't heard anything anymore as soon as her eyelids were closed. As if her spirit was vanished from the earth...