Terror (Part 1 of the Valeska Series)

Tailers and Visitations

✮ a c c a l i a  POV✮

I haven't visited Jerome in a week, but he understands. Having called Arkham and talked to Mr Scott allowed me to pass on a message to Jerome - Edward and I are a couple of days drive from Gotham visiting the orphanage I grew up in, and we won't be making it back for a few more days. Jerome's understanding of my situation makes me happy, because we both understand each other well enough to be able to trust that we wouldn't just up and leave the other.

Since the day at Arkham, I haven't really seen the stuttering and awkward friend that I practically grew up with. In his place is the confident and charming version of him that makes me both feel safe and as though he would throw us into harms way without a second thought - it's like we're at constant war within ourselves. Although, I would have to agree that I am at war within myself right now. It's a feeling that I've never really experienced over the years, and the whispers in my mind aren't exactly helping.

They want blood.

A part of me wants Jerome.

A part of me wants the truth.

A part of me wants to be blind.

Standing in front of the house of horrors that I spent my childhood at reminds me of Arkham. It's a bleak building with barred windows and no greenery in sight. The only difference is that there is no giant fence around the building to keep the children in - they're locked inside. Everything is the same as a decade ago, and it is unnerving. There's even still the hole in the wall where some of the children forced my head into it, leaving me with a permanent scar; and the cave in of the ground where they left me overnight in the middle of winter to freeze - I was half dead when they found me two days later.

Memories begin to flash in my mind and I feel my breathing beginning to speed up, my eyes burning and my vision becoming blurry. My knees buckle and I lose my footing, falling towards the ground. A pair of arms wrap themselves around my middle and hold me upright, supporting my entire weight. Looking up, I see Edward staring at me with concern and a hint of anger. He knows that I am not faint hearted, and that most things don't impact me, so what happened here must be extremely bad.

"Accalia, look at me," Edward says as my eyes begin to close, lightly tapping my cheek. "You need to stay awake. Accalia."

"Come on, little terror," Jerome's voice murmurs softly in my mind. "You can do this. You're stronger than you think."

I'm not strong enough for this, ginger...

"Don't put yourself down."

You don't know what they did to me...

"Whatever they did, you need to pull yourself together - at least for the small amount of time you're going to be here. Please, Accalia. I need you to focus."

Jerome...

"Accalia! Goddamn it."

I force my eyes open and push myself upright, using Edward as a support. "I'm fine, Edward. Let's just get this over with."

Edward's brow creases as he looks worryingly down at me. "We don't have to do this today."

"I'm fine."

"Your boyfriend will kill me if he hears you passed out on me. Quite literally, I might add."

"Nygma," I snap, causing him to half glare at me. "I am perfectly f*****g fine. We need to get this done today. Do you understand?"

Edward nods sharply and moves away, but stays close enough to grab me if I begin to collapse again. Taking a deep breath, I straighten and begin to walk towards the building of horrors with purpose. The dark haired man follows closely behind, visibly reacting to the stench that wafts out when I force the door open. It sparks memories in my mind, but I force myself to focus, and push them to the side.

Children are everywhere. They're malnourished and severely lacking in vitamin D; their clothes are hanging off their small frames, and appear to be more rags than clothes. Scanning the bottom floor, I catch sight of an older woman, scolding a young child harshly for running into her. My anger flaring, I make my way over to the familiar woman and pull her away from the child, slamming her up against the nearest wall. Her deep brown eyes glare at me, and it harshens when she recognises me.

"Accalia," the woman spits, her tone venomous. "I thought I got rid of you for good, you filthy murderer."

I grin up at her, my eyes twinkling with insanity. "I guess I wanted to finish the job, mistress."

"Then who will take care of these brats that no one wants?"

"Someone a hell of a lot nicer than you, you abusive fucker."

"What attitude. Now, we must fix that. Shouldn't we, love?"

I flinch back and run into Edward, releasing the woman. My mind reverts back to that of a small child living here - full of terror and pain - and my body begins to tremble uncontrollably. She smirks at me and walks right up to me, staring down her nose at me. Raising her hand, she swings it down. I freeze, unable to move to defend myself, and squeeze my eyes shut.

It never lands.

Hesitantly, I peel open my eyes. A hand is wrapped around her wrist, and her face is scrunched in annoyance and pain. Looking over my shoulder, I see a furious expression on Edward's face, and it sends a chill through my body. Acting on the instinct of an abused child, I move away from them both and scurry up the stairs, leaving them both on the bottom floor.

Without waiting for Edward, I run to the filing room. The door gives way almost instantly and I go inside, closing the door behind me and turning the light on. Rows of filing cabinets line the room and I feel my stomach drop at the sight. The labels on the draws are almost invisible, and, from what I can make out, they appear to be in no order.

We could be here for hours.

Then I catch sight of filing cabinet 'A'.

My gut tells me to open and search it, so, that's what I do. Making my way over to it, I knock over a pile or two, but I manage to get there in the end. Pulling open the top draw, I groan. There's at least fifty or so files in the draw. Scanning the names, I find that they're all in alphabetical concerning the first names of those who have been abandoned here. That single fact gives me a glimmer of hope, as well as the fact that there are only two 'A' cabinets. The one I'm looking in now appears to be all the males.

The door to the filing room opens and I spin on the spot, ready to defend myself this time.

Edward jumps a little when he sees me. "s**t! Accalia, it's just me. Can you put that goddamn knife away."

Flicking the blade away and putting it back into my pocket, I smile apologetically.

"How do you even have that? It was in evidence lock up the last time I checked."

"James gave it back to me two weeks ago. Said he snuck it out because he knew how much it meant to me. I'm guessing he regrets it now. After all, it was Jerome who gave it to me."

"That makes sense. Now." He claps his hands together and looks around the room. "How badly organised is this room?"

Rolling my eyes, I turn back to the male 'A' cabinet. "Very, but I've figured it out. They're ordered alphabetically by the child's first name. Very sad. Should have done it by year, and then last name. So much easier to find things then."

Closing the draw, I move over to the second 'A' cabinet and open the top draw. Behind me, Edward begins to mutter to himself as he opens and closes draws. Flicking through the files, I sigh. Aa. Ab. Ad. Ae. I stop, my fingers brushing the spot where the 'Ac' files are supposed to be. Cursing, I slam the draw shut. I weave my fingers into my hair and pull at it, letting out a scream. Edward's eyes fly to me, and, not even ten seconds later, he is looking through the draw I was previously.

"That's not right," he muses, eyes obviously scanning over the contents of the draw. "There should be 'Ac' files here, even if they're not yours. Although, your name is quite uncommon. So, I'm thinking that cancels out that idea. I wonder."

Turning my gaze to him, I watch as Edward closes the draw and moves to the far right of the room where the highly confidential files are. Frowning, I release my hair and follow him, thoughts churning in my mind. I find him going through the 'A' cabinet with his brow furrowed in concentration, and humming a small tune that I recognize as the nursery rhyme 'London Bridge is Falling Down'. Quickly flicking through the 'M' cabinet, I pull out a folder. Walking over to him, my eyes look over the files, one catching my attention.

Grabbing it from right underneath Edward's nose, I pull the file labelled 'Accalia G' from the draw. His dark eyes follow my actions, and then his feet follow me as I all but run from the room, the folder clutched in my hand. Ignoring all the children, and the abusive b***h that raised me, I run straight out the front door to Edward's car. Almost a minute later, Edward climbs into the driver's side and starts the car, looking over at me with a worried and curious expression.

"Are you going to see what's in it?" he asks, not bothering to hide his enthusiasm.

I shake my head. "Not right now. When we get back to Gotham, and when we go to Arkham. I'm not opening this without Jerome."

On our way back to Gotham, I get the feeling that we are being followed, and that we have been followed for this entire trip.