Chapter 9
1016 Words
9
Everything went black and fuzzy. The darkness swallowed Sam whole, leaving nothing but panic and fear behind. For a moment, she feared this would last forever. That this was her reality now. But then there was blue. Piercing blue.
Sam managed to open her eyes and her head stopped spinning.
“Samantha?” Lilith softly patted her cheeks. “Can you hear me?”
With a grunt, Sam sat back up. “Yeah.”
“Are you alright?”
“I…” She reached for her head and let out a shaky breath. “What happened?”
“You passed out.”
“Oh… Right…” Carefully, she allowed herself to look around the room. Some of the initial panic still lived inside her chest, but it was more controlled now. There was nothing to fear from this room, not now she knew Lilith.
The latter crouched down next to her. “Do you need some water?”
“Hmm? No, I’m… I’m fine. Just got some nasty flashbacks from our first meeting.”
“Ah.” Lilith nodded. “I understand.”
“I’m okay now,” Sam reassured her. And herself.
She crawled to the wall and thudded her back against it, desperate for the support. Once she found a relatively comfortable position on the marble floor, she looked up at Lilith. “You’d never hurt me. Right?”
Deep emotion flickered through Lilith’s blue eyes before a smile broke through. “Right.”
That was all Sam needed. She returned a smile of her own and just like that, the last of her worry evaporated. She and Lilith would be alright.
A comfortable atmosphere settled over them and they sat next to each other in silence. A couple of minutes passed before one of them spoke again.
“I’m still mad at you,” Lilith said, but her tone suggested otherwise. “Don’t think you’re getting away without an apology just because you blacked out.”
Sam took a deep breath. “I didn’t expect anything else.”
“But you’re alright?”
“Yes, I will be.”
Lilith averted her gaze. “I didn’t mean to bring back bad memories.”
“It’s fine.” Grunting, Sam adjusted her legs. Now that she felt more in control, the cold floor was pleasantly reassuring instead of triggering. She rested her head back against the wall and looked at the woman next to her. “We’re an odd pair, aren’t we?”
“Why do you say that?”
“I guess I knew we were very different people but I hadn’t realised how different.”
“Is this about our disagreement?”
“I just don’t understand how you can be okay with burning bodies without an inquiry. Don’t you care?” Samantha reached to fiddle with her wedding ring, only to realise she no longer wore it. Instead, she rubbed her finger instead.
“It’s not that I don’t care, but it’s better for everyone to stay out of Pixie business.”
“So they just have free reign to kill and you clean up after them?” Samantha shook her head. “I can’t accept that. The two bodies from yesterday… You really have no intention of finding their killer? Or identifying them?”
Lilith shook her head. “No, we don’t meddle with Pixie affairs.”
“But only their death is part of Pixie affairs. What about their lives? They’ll have families, friends, people that care about them. Someone will be missing them and if you burn them… You rob them of that closure.”
“I know it sounds awful… But in the grand scheme of things, it’s better that some missing people remain missing.”
Samantha scoffed. “Don’t talk to me about the grand scheme of things. Believe me, that’s not a new concept to me. I heard it plenty when I was still working in the force, but it’s just one of those things we say to make us feel better when we think of the many and not the few.”
“Sam…”
“You haven’t been on the other end, have you? You don’t know what it’s like to be stuck in that limbo, waiting for someone that never comes home. I’ve dealt with parents, friends, spouses… Some people never forget. They’ll see the face of their loved one around every corner, in every crowd. Their sole existence is being driven by idle flickers of hope that die just as quickly as they came. It’s torture, hell on earth… A shadow existence. Those people deserve better than the grand scheme of things.”
Lilith sat quietly for a while, hugging her knees, before she spoke again. “So who do you see in every crowd?”
“What?”
“It sounded like you were speaking from personal experience.”
Sam clicked her tongue. “I’m not.”
“Oh…”
She stared at her hands. “How long until the bodies are burned?”
With a groan, Lilith stood up. She tugged on her dress and smoothed out some of the wrinkles. She wiggled her neck and stretched her arms before she replied. “We usually cremate somewhere between one or two days.”
Sam steadied herself against the wall to get up and nodded. “Day two is not over. Don’t burn the bodies yet. Give me till the end of today.”
“Why? What are you planning?”
“I just… If you’re certain this was done by a Pixie, then you must know who did it, right?”
Lilith grimaced as she made her way to the exit. “I don’t like where this is going.”
Sam hurried after her. “Just let me ask them some questions, just to confirm this is really what it looks like.”
They left the circular room behind and made their way back through the narrow hallway. Just before they stepped back into the bar, Lilith paused. “I don’t know, that’s highly unusual—”
“I’m sure it is, but I’ve just got this gut feeling… If I don’t discover anything you didn’t already know or suspect, then it doesn’t matter right?” Sam tightened her fists. “Come on? What’s the point of recruiting a detective if you’re not going to use me? Tell me who you suspect.”
“I…” Lilith’s eyes softened. “Fine.”
Sam’s hands unclenched and she let out a controlled breath. “Thank you.”
“Don’t stir up too much trouble.” Lilith grabbed a notepad from behind the bar and scribbled some lines down. “Here. Name and address. I’ll keep the cremation off until the end of the day, but that’s all you got.”
She snatched the note from Lilith and saluted. “You won’t regret it.”
“I probably will.” Lilith took place on her usual high chair and gestured to the one next to her. “Drink before you go?”
Samantha grinned. “No time. I have a Pixie to see.”
- Writer
