Her fingers paused, stuck in a soft tuft of fur. The kitten's eyes slid open and implored her with a bleary stare until they started moving again. It drifted off to sleep while Claire's expression grew dark.
The shadows. She had known Muraki was curious, of course, but it was an awful thing to think about. The brightness of the day did nothing to close the wounds opened last night by the shadows. They had terrified her. Cut her to the bone. Worse still, night was fast approaching again. All Claire would have to save herself with was her torch, and that didn't give near enough light to dispel the shadows completely. If they came back, Claire wasn't sure what she would do. They were only half-corporeal, impossible to kill. And they could touch her all they wanted.
"I don't know what happened. The lights came on. We were in a town, and it was all half lit. Even though the stores were empty. And I kept seeing this flicker from the corner of my eye, like the shadows were moving. Then they just popped out of the ground, like daisies. They looked just like us."
Her feet drew closer to the couch and her head drooped a fraction, almost as if she was trying to rub the kitten with her cheek. She wasn't half so distraught as this morning, and Muraki seemed like he would be less open to embraces than Bella was, but the subject was still a sore one. She couldn't face it without wanting to cringe. "Andrew's kept laughing about bombing people. I don't know why. I think he was in some kind of army, I couldn't tell. It was talking about how one Kraut was the same as the other, or something about Germans. It scared him, though, it scared him so bad. And my shadow was...it said the most horrible things. That I left Aaron on purpose. That I would be a horrible mother to him. That my friends left me because...because I was crazy and they didn't want me around. Even after they came back for me. It said I should just die and be with Ch-Charlie...that I wasn't good for anything..." Claire pressed the kitten closer, her strokes erratic, hesitant. The kitten mewled plaintively in protest, but she didn't listen. "They tried to kill us. They had the same weapons we had, and Andrew's broke his hand with a crowbar. Mine tried to stab me. I was trying to fight back, but they couldn't be hit. Everything just went through them like they were made of air."
no subject
The shadows. She had known Muraki was curious, of course, but it was an awful thing to think about. The brightness of the day did nothing to close the wounds opened last night by the shadows. They had terrified her. Cut her to the bone. Worse still, night was fast approaching again. All Claire would have to save herself with was her torch, and that didn't give near enough light to dispel the shadows completely. If they came back, Claire wasn't sure what she would do. They were only half-corporeal, impossible to kill. And they could touch her all they wanted.
"I don't know what happened. The lights came on. We were in a town, and it was all half lit. Even though the stores were empty. And I kept seeing this flicker from the corner of my eye, like the shadows were moving. Then they just popped out of the ground, like daisies. They looked just like us."
Her feet drew closer to the couch and her head drooped a fraction, almost as if she was trying to rub the kitten with her cheek. She wasn't half so distraught as this morning, and Muraki seemed like he would be less open to embraces than Bella was, but the subject was still a sore one. She couldn't face it without wanting to cringe. "Andrew's kept laughing about bombing people. I don't know why. I think he was in some kind of army, I couldn't tell. It was talking about how one Kraut was the same as the other, or something about Germans. It scared him, though, it scared him so bad. And my shadow was...it said the most horrible things. That I left Aaron on purpose. That I would be a horrible mother to him. That my friends left me because...because I was crazy and they didn't want me around. Even after they came back for me. It said I should just die and be with Ch-Charlie...that I wasn't good for anything..." Claire pressed the kitten closer, her strokes erratic, hesitant. The kitten mewled plaintively in protest, but she didn't listen. "They tried to kill us. They had the same weapons we had, and Andrew's broke his hand with a crowbar. Mine tried to stab me. I was trying to fight back, but they couldn't be hit. Everything just went through them like they were made of air."