Have you ever felt like words were pointless? Like they didn't matter? Like they were meaningless? Like it didn't matter what you said in that moment, it had no effect on anyone around you? But felt like that in a good way. You felt as if you could sit silently with your loved one. Words were pointless, had no meaning, had no use. Not that you could read each other's mind or anything, you just didn't need to say anything, do anything. You just merely needed to exist in the same room as them to be content.
That's how Farah and Tina felt in that moment. They held each other close, not needing words in that moment, only needing each other's company.
Tina was thinking about everything in her life that she had ever done. Wondering what point in her life had whatever force out there had decided she was worthy. That she deserved this. That she deserved to have someone as amazing as Farah in her life.
Farah, unfortunately, was preoccupied with the events of that day. Thinking about how Patrick had tricked her. How he lied about everything. Thinking about how gullible she was. She was gullible to believe he was a good person. You know what? Screw this, I'm not thinking about this right now. I shouldn't be thinking about that, that's the past. Think about the future. No, screw the future, think about the present. The present, what even is the present now? This case makes absolutely no sense. What can I do? How can I help with this?... THE GHOST!
"Tina!" She sat up sharply and turned to her. "We have to go back to the house! We have to talk to Esther!"
"Who the fuck is Esther?!"
"The ghost from the house, the little girl? Remember?"
"OH! But do we have to now?" She whined, trying to pull Farah back down. "I don't want to get up."
"We're on a case, we can't waste time." Farah stood up and got her shoes on.
"But what about Dirk and Todd?" She sat up.
"Dirk is drunk, he'll slow us down, maybe even put us in danger."
"Doesn't he already do that though? And don't we need him for the holistic thing to work?"
"Eh, we're just talking to a ghost. We don't need him."
"You're acting a lot like me right now... normally you think... Are you high?!"
"No, I wouldn't steal your stuff without asking. I just-she needs help, and we promised we would be back."
Tina sighed in defeat and stood up to walk over to Farah. "Ok, fine."
"Thank you, baby."
"Only for you though." She stroked Farah's cheek lovingly and brought their lips together for a perfect kiss.
"I'm calling Todd." She waited for a moment, nothing. "Damn it! I'll just text him and tell him where we're going."
——————————
As they approached the house, they couldn't help but feel anxious. The scene that unfolded earlier that day was intense, to say the least, and returning left a deep, empty pit in their stomachs. And though it might sound a bit silly, going back at night certainly didn't help.
They once again opened the front door to see the monster, or rather machine, tearing through the floor but only this time it was expected.
Stepping forward cautiously Farah called out, "Esther? It's Farah and Tina, we're back. I'm sorry we left so soon earlier but we're here to talk more if you want."
It did the trick and the blue dot appeared in front of them and began to grow into the little girl. "I'm glad you're back. It's gets lonely around here."
"I can imagine," Tina said.
"What do you need to know?" Esther asked.
"You said Headmistress Black did this to you, right?" Farah asked and the ghost nodded. "She didn't happen to be, Lillian Black? She was my great aunt."
"Yes, you don't seem anything like her though, you're nice."
"Up until you told me I thought she was too. I'm sorry she did this to you."
"Don't be, I deserve this."
"What?" Tina stepped forward. She was actually really good with kids, and really really good at helping people. It was Farrah's favorite thing about her. How much she cared. "You didn't deserve to die, Esther. You had a life. You were just a kid. What? Eight, nine?"
"Eight."
"See? You have every right to be mad at Lillian Black."
"I had to die. I was too dangerous. I did something. I did something bad. She had to in order to protect everyone."
"What?" Farah asked, completely and utterly shocked.
"What did you do, sweetie?" Tina asked.
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Please, Esther. We're trying to help." Farah responded.
"No! Please. Just go." And she zapped into nothingness.
"Esther! Please come back!" Tina yelled but nothing happened.
"Dead end. Let's go back to the motel." Farah said.
——————————
It had been a few hours. Enough for Dirk to become slightly more cognitive. And it was nice, having a mini-break from the case. Especially if the break involved kissing Dirk. Yes they had been kissing for hours, well, they took breaks often and talked and made sure Dirk had plenty of water, but still. And no, despite it being hours it didn't go further, much to Dirk's dismay Todd had insisted it stay that way until Dirk was fully sober. And he only let Dirk kiss him because they had established that it was ok. Oh sweet, perfect Todd.
The setting was brain-meltingly romantic, to say the least. Surrounded by soft, warm sand. The night wasn't shielded by Seattle city lights, the stars were free to shine as openly and brightly as they wanted in Ocean Hill, Louisiana. Painting the sky with countless tiny, beautiful lanterns. The soothing sounds of waves rolling on the sand and angrily crashing on the rocks. The same crashing waves evaporated whilst a light, refreshing breeze carried it's salty fragrance only to mix perfectly with Dirk's musky bergamot and cedar cologne. Todd didn't mind the slightly lingering stench of alcohol and he ignored Tina and Farah's numerous texts until it was pointed it out.
"Todd?" Dirk pulled back, panting. "Your phone is ringing."
"It's just Farah and Tina wondering if we're ok." It stopped and he went back to kissing him but it was almost as if Dirk was the sober one.
"Well, maybe you should tell them that we're ok?"
"Fine." He reluctantly opened his phone and texted them they were ok. Dirk returned to kissing him only this time his neck. Then something shiny grabbed Todd's attention from the corner of his eye. Sure it was a beach, litter everywhere, but this thing felt different, possibly important. Why didn't Dirk notice it then? Maybe he was just paranoid but better safe than sorry. He was Dirk's assis-boyfriend after all. "Dirk? Did you come to the beach for a reason?"
"No, I don't think so..." he paused to think deeply about the idea. "Did I? I might have. The past few hours have all been a blur." He giggled, "Why do you ask?"
"Because I think-" he stood up, "I think I just found a clue..."
"A clue?" Dirk followed. "Excellent assisting Todd, you magnificent thing you, I have never loved you more than I do in this moment." He kissed Todd's cheek, "Now, what might this clue be?"
Todd walked over to where he saw the faint glimmer in the moonlight. He bent down and began digging in the wet sand and pulled out... a piece of green glass. "Damn it, nothing." But Dirk continued digging, "What are you doing? It was nothing."
"The universe told me to keep digging. So, I'm digging." He responded. Todd sighed and sat back down to join the digging. Digging, digging, digging until: "I found it!"
A small wooden box, brown leather straps holding the lid down and acting as hinges. The Oneiroi symbol carved in on the top.
"A wooden box? Nice work, Dirk!" Todd said, "What are you waiting for?! Open it!"
Dirk opened the box to see a pile of aged papers. The one on top was folded, with shaking hands he opened it and began to read to himself. "Don't blame Mother. This was my doing. I'm truly sorry, but I had to little brother. I had to for your own safety. I hope you understand one day."
Todd shuffled through the papers, they were all crayon drawings made by a child. "Some sort of time capsule?" He said.
"I'm not sure, I don't think so. The note, it's heartbreaking. I don't know what it's about though." He handed it to Todd and he read the note while Dirk inspected some of the drawings he had removed from the box closely. And while inspecting them, one particular drawing caught his eye.
A smiling moon shined down on a field of tall green grass covered in a rainbow of wildflowers, a forest at the back. Nothing too special except for the text at the bottom in red that read: Wendimoore.
Dirk stared at it wide-eyed, speechless. Todd continued to dig through the box after reading the note and found an old black and white photo taken on this very beach. Taken by a dock over to their left a good 100 feet away.
The photo was of a small white fishing boat, a little girl-about eight years old-and what appeared to be her parents holding a toddler standing in front of it on a dock. But the fishing boat was not just any fishing boat. It was a fishing boat that happened to be named: "The Pollock. What the fuck?" Todd said, face ghostly white.
"Todd, one of these drawings says 'Wendimoore' on it." Todd's face visibly drained even more, if it was even possible.
"Look at this picture." He handed Dirk the photograph and he gasped.
"The Pollock? Oh my god. How is... wait, this is just 'The Pollock', not the 'Infant, Male, Pollock, Francis'. It can't be the same boat," he looked up. "Right?"
"Everything is connected..." Todd replied.
"We have to take this back to Tina and Farah." Dirk put everything back in the box, stood up, and began jogging to the motel across the street.
"Wait up!"
——————————
"Farah! Tina!" Dirk burst through the door holding the box in front of him proudly. "We found something." He smirked.
"Oh my god, there you are!" Farah said. "Why didn't you respond to my text? Well, you did but not to my text. Did you even read it?" Todd just blushed, shrugged his shoulders to bring Dirk's jacket (What? He was 'cold'.) collar up, and flew his hand to his neck. Farah and Tina both rolled their eyes.
"We went back to the house and talked to the girl, Esther," Tina changed the subject. "She said Lillian killed her because she was 'dangerous', and the girl seemed to agree. I was like, 'bullshit', well not 'bullshit' because kid, but like, 'no!'"
"We found this box. It's got some weird shit inside." Todd said.
Dirk brought it over to them, set it on the bed, and opened it. "What the hell?!" Farah immediately grabbed the photo sitting on top. "This is Esther!"
"It is?!" Dirk and Todd said.
"Oh my god, it is!" Tina added looking over Farah's shoulder. "And is that... no! 'The Pollock'? Not the 'Infant, Male, Pollock, Francis' but 'THE POLLOCK'?! They look the same!"
"See, we've got the Bergsberg expert saying they're the same boat," Todd said. "Everything is connected."
"Everything is connected!" Dirk repeated.
"But that isn't even half of it!" Todd reached down to pull out the drawing.
"WENDIMOORE?!" Farah said.
"And this note," Todd held up the piece of paper, "Knowing the girl in the photo is Esther it makes more sense. She said she did something to her brother. I think that's him." He pointed to the toddler in the photo Tina was holding.
"What the hell is going on?!" Said Tina.
"I don't know. I haven't solved it yet. And I actually don't think I'm close." Dirk said. "We've got a lot more to do. What? I'm not sure."