::Ch 2:: A Haunting Past

She woke me up that night with screams of terror. I jumped out of bed and ran to her room all the time hearing her scream louder and louder. When I got to her room she was flailing and crying and screaming at the top of her lungs. I ran to her side and held her to my chest. Still flailing not knowing she was hitting and kicking me as I tried to calm her. I was scared so, so scared; I didn’t know what to do this had not happened at all the month she had been here. I hushed her and held her until she relaxed. Her eyes fluttered open and she immediately jumped back, still shaking she realized where she was and crawled back towards me. I let my hand rest on her head as we both tried to calm our breathing. I could feel her tears soaking into my pants and I held her tightly. “if only you could speak I would know what was wrong I could help you” I whispered in her ear. I let her go and started to stand up as a looked back her she looked away as if ashamed. Before I left the room I told her if she needed anything to just ask, and with that I went back to bed. My thoughts were troubled the rest of that night; I couldn’t help but feel guilty that I couldn’t do more to help. Though I really didn’t know what I could do. It took me about an hour and a half to get back to sleep and It seemed like I only got a few more minutes of rest. After I woke up I went to the kitchen, though I wasn’t quite in the mood for anything to eat and drink I thought fourteen could use something to eat or drink so I made her some tea and grabbed a scone and headed off to her room. It seemed I wasn’t the only one who had trouble sleeping. When I entered her room she was still in the same spot I had left her earlier that morning. I set her breakfast on her nightstand and sat next to her. “you know if you would just speak a little it would be easy to help you” she shook her head. “Please? Just one word? A sound, a syllable, anything?” she shook her head again this time turning around to look at me with tear filled eyes. I stared at her deep in thought when finally I thought of something. “what if you write it down? You can write can’t you?” it took her a second but she soon nodded. Feeling a little giddy inside that I finally got through to her, I left the room to look for paper. i shuffled through my notes until I found a pile of unused papers and brought them back to her room. I handed her a sheet and a pen. “please tell me” I stared at her as she gripped the pen and thought deeply of what to write. After a while she started to write.
What do I tell you?
I looked at her and pushed my hair back with my hand. “Anything. Everything. Your nightmare you had?” she started to write again.
I don’t remember much. My nightmare was a blur of many different things men chasing me, the sound of sirens and dogs, a white room, needles and doctors. I can’t remember a lot though. I just can’t.
As I watched her write I noticed her starting to cry. I put a hand on her should. “Don’t its okay. I’m sorry if I pushed you. I just want to help you. Take your time.”
I’m trying to remember I really am. I want to know who I am and what I am. I’m sorry.
With that she dropped the pen and paper and stood up. I watched her with curiosity as she paced. Faster and faster she paced and I could tell she was getting more and more upset. I couldn’t let her get too upset so I stood up grabbed her and embraced her in a hug. Holding her tight I could tell she was uneasy. I wanted to be her friend I wanted to always be there for her. She was lost and alone she needed a friend.
The next few days went back to normal she had no nightmares at night and I did my studies as she wandered around or watched me. at night we ate dinner together the silence nice but feeling around us both was sad. I still felt a little worry for her and from what I could tell she wished she could tell me what was wrong. The next day at 3 fourteen decided this time she wanted to join me on my walk. I had no quarrels against it and actually found it a good change in routine to have company when I studied trails. For a while she would tag along behind me but soon decided to catch up and walk next to me. As I knelt down to study some rocks and trees that seemed to be growing out of a path made by an animal she knelt next to me and looked at me with curiosity. I smiled at her as I told her what I studied and why I did this. Her smiled told me she hung on every word. If she was lik most people she would have found this boring but she was different, always excited to learn new things. Today my walk lasted way past nightfall as I loved being able to tell her things. It’s been a month and a half since she came here and yet I feel like I’ve known her forever. Soon we encountered a large open field and spotted a deer. When she saw it she jumped and hid behind me. I smiled hat her lack of knowledge she was like a child in a 22 year olds body. The deer soon darted away and we were alone once more. It was so peaceful out and warm which considering it was winter was rare. She took advantage of the nice evening weather and grabbed my hand pulling me into the field. She pointed up to the sky her eyes wide with wonder. I followed her gaze to the cloudless night sky, the stars so bright and fascinating u could count them forever. My gaze soon ended up back on her she never looked away from the sky we stood there for a long time just admiring the beauty of the night. The snow reflected the moon light over at us and she seemed to glow which matched her personality. I then realized during this all she hadn’t let go of my hand, I started to blush as she finally looked at me. “I, uh, we should probably head back now huh?” I asked her in a stutter. She nodded and smiled and let go of my hand. On our way back I couldn’t stop thinking about how warm her hand was in mine. She made it very hard for me to not keep thinking all those thoughts. It was one of those very rare nights where anything can happen, and it wasn’t over.
We went to bed after that and it was peaceful everywhere. I awoke in the middle of he night but not because she had a nightmare. This time she was in my room. She crept towards me silently and I swore it was just a dream I was having. I had a lot of those, but it wasn’t it was real this time. She climbed onto my bed on top of me and before I could ask what she was doing she put a finger to my lips silencing any question I had. In a matter of seconds she leaned in and kissed me. Shocked I pulled away for half a second until she pulled me closer and this time I didn’t resist. Our kiss grew stronger though it didn’t grow into anything more than a kiss, which I was kind of glad about since I still had no idea if she was a different species. Even the kiss felt a little shameful but at the same time it felt human and I couldn’t let go. I wrapped my arms around her as our kiss grew more passionate. Deep down I knew this was wrong, dirty, but I couldn’t release. Soon out kissing ceased and we let go. for a while we just stared into each others eyes, I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. She then rolled over on my bed never fully letting go of me. I could tell she felt safe around me, but how safe could I keep her. She soon fell asleep as my head was still reeling that all happened so fast and yet it felt like it wasn’t the first time. I decided not to dig too deep in it for now and to just take advantage of the passionate moment. I soon drifted into sleep as well. I awake with her still sleeping comfortably next to me. I had hoped it was a dream and now knowing it wasn’t my head was full of regret. It was one thing to dream about it but I should have been in control I should have stopped her. Who knows what she is. I quietly got up from the bed without disturbing her and headed to the kitchen. Maybe a fresh pot of coffee would clear my thoughts. I then headed of to my study; I might as well catch up on my research and get my mind of this. It didn’t help all my research was about her. Lately I have been trying to figure out where she is from and what she is. If she has the government after her they would want to keep it secret but I had to make sure. A few days ago I thought I had a lead but I soon found out it wasn’t her. Everytime I found a lead it turned out to be nothing. I needed help and there was only one person I could count on who could keep a secret. I got my phone out and called one of my partners. In about an hour she showed up at my door step. “it’s good to see you Nadia” I said as I answered the door. My friend Nadia, who works undercover for R.A.S in the government, is a very talented computer hacker and quite gifted in animal minds. “so I hear you have a little specimen you’d like to learn more about” like fourteen I only nodded not knowing if this was fully a good idea. “Can I see it” I didn’t like fourteen being called an “it” it made me feel dirty for what happened last night, but I lead the way to my room without hesitation. I hoped fourteen hadn’t awoken yet but my hopes were wrong. She immediately saw Nadia and went defensive; it was the day we met all over again. Her eyes weren’t looking at Nadia anymore though they were focused on me. she glared at me as a came closer to her. She believed I had betrayed her and now wanted nothing to do with Nadia or me. “Fourteen? This is Nadia” I started slowly “she’s only here to help she can help jog your memory. She can help us to try and understand these nightmares. She wont tell anyone about this its secret okay please trust me.” Nadia looked between fourteen and I, the tension between us crackling. Slowly she calmed down and came over to me. She took my hand and I introduced them it took some time but soon fourteen started to trust Nadia. As I sat next to fourteen and watch Nadia work her skills I could feel fourteen grab my hand and tense up. I could tell she was scared of what we were going to find out. “I’m in” I looked up and saw Nadia smiling. “now you wanted to know about a escaped cat like girl correct. Give me a sec and I’ll get it.” We sat there a few more minutes until Nadia spun around in the chair. “okay I got it and from what you told me she has no idea who she is or what she is correct” I nodded once more. Then Nadia came closer so fourteen couldn’t hear. ‘I need to test her while she is unconscious’ I looked at her a little wary of this, but I did want fourteen to stop being depressed. I looked at her, her face full of worry and not being able to understand what’s going on. Nadia pulled out a heavy tranquilizing pill from her bag and gave it to me. I knew what I had to do but I felt so much regret doing it. The pill would put fourteen into a very, very deep sleep. One pill causes quite a lot of side effects. She’ll get sick and won’t be able to control her breathing, but I had to do this. “Fourteen? I’m going to need you to take this pill” she could tell from my expression it wasn’t a good pill and she was very hesitant to take it, but she trusted me and took the pill. In a matter of minutes she collapsed to the ground, I caught her just in time and carried her to a couch. Nadia attached a brain wave helmet to her that would show up on the screen next to us. “I’m going to say words that I got on the government site to see if anything triggers.” I replied with just an “okay” holding onto fourteens hand as I nervously watched Nadia work. She said a lot of words that made no sense to me but nothing happened. Then one word triggered it, or I should say name. “Ok how about Kisa?” in that instant fourteen started to scream louder and louder as if she was being tortured. I couldn’t handle it I ripped off the helmet and tried to stop her, but I couldn’t. “Edik? EDIK!?” I looked at Nadia “you can’t do anything she’s too far into sleep. You have to wait it out. For some reason the name kisa triggered a bit of her memory not all of it but some. It won’t tell me on the site exactly just that kisa is a name used in whatever this government experiment was.” I looked at her. So she went by kisa and was a government experiment, that’s all we knew. “Wait there’s one more thing.” I looked up again. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed they way you are around her edik. I can tell how you feel about her.” I looked at her wide eyed. “I sensed it when u showed her to me the way you act around her. i would protest if I didn’t know what she was, but your lucky. She is human. Well, for the most part.” I looked at her a little puzzled “what do u mean?” “the most I know about this government experiment is that before she was born they injected her with feline D.N.A. after she was born they did tests and all that. That’s as much as I know but for the most part she is human. I have to go.” “wait! You wont tell anyone will you?” she turned to me “no and I wouldn’t worry about that right now edik I would worry about her”