Saphora: vol.1 Retention (The Athena Universe) (10 page)

“Christ, Maverick.
Why are you defending her? You don’t think she looked crazy at all?” she said, getting a bit loud in her frustration.

“I don’t know. Everyone has their off days.”

“Yeah, Liz.” Jared joined. “Have you ever woken up next to yourself? It’s not a pretty sight,” the boys chuckled and Liz scoffed in offense. She threw the rag down that she had been holding into the sink and spun around to go back to work in the kitchen.

“Saphora?” Fran called out, hearing the front door click shut. She had finally come home after a day of avoiding Fran. Avoiding conversation in general, really. She had gone through parks, stores, and shops before slowly taking the long walk home. It was nearly seven in the evening by the time she got home. Fran had called her about fifty more times, and was an absolute wreck. She had been worried sick, wondering where she could have gone. She had checked the abandoned house and the zoo. She had even gone so far as to check Dr. Lupin’s office. After failing to find her at any of the locations, she returned home, and waited impatiently. That was about all she could do since she had not answered any of her calls. Saphora had wanted to use the time to think about the incidents that had occurred. But instead she kept being distracted by the comment the man at the café had said. And the fact that she didn’t properly have a chance to defend herself. That wasn’t like Saphora. She was the kind of person who spoke her mind. Unless on behalf of Fran, when she wanted her to hold her tongue. Like the conversation with Dr. Lupin.

Fran rushed around the corner of the upstairs hallway, stopping at the railing that went along it, and looked down at the exhausted Saphora. She closed the door behind her
, and reluctantly looked up to meet Fran’s gaze. She knew she was going to be scolded. But she couldn’t just not come home. She wouldn’t worry Fran to
that
extent. But instead of the immediate yelling that Saphora expected, Fran began frantically coming down the stairs. Saphora waited for the bear hug that was going to take place, but to her dismay, Fran never got that far. In her haste to get down the stairs, Fran tripped over her own feet and flung her arms out as she started to tumble down the stairs. Saphora’s eyes went wide as she watched Fran fly forward off the stairs.

“
Ah!” she cried, reaching her own arms out, in attempt to stop Fran from falling. And to her surprise, her wish was granted. She watched as Fran remained suspended in midair above the last step. Saphora stared in shock as Fran floated in a seemingly zero gravity state. If she had not experienced something somewhat similar in the woods with Tebias, she would have been in utter horror. Fran’s eyes were tightly shut, her arms wrapped around her face to prepare for the impact. Her body tensed, and her frame was shaking. But the fall never came. Slowly, Fran’s eyes squinted open, and then widened when seeing what was happening. Her limbs flailed about as she started to panic.

“Wha
t – Ah!” Fran shrieked. Saphora flinched when she screamed, and moved away from Fran with worry. Fran looked up at Saphora with fear in her eyes. She looked around the room, and even above her to find some sort of answers to the questions that were appearing.

“S-Saphora? Is … Is this you?” she asked
. Saphora backed up against the closed front door, scared to have Fran fall on her if the magic were to suddenly dispel. She nodded slowly, which soon changed into a shrug.

“I … I think so.”

“Oh. Well. Uhm, thank you. But. Do you think you could put me
down
now?” Fran asked, trying to be grateful that Saphora had stopped her from completing what was sure to be an awful fall.

Saphora groaned in hesitation, not actually knowing how to put her down.
Not wanting to stop whatever it was that she was doing, she stepped forward, and reached her hands up to grab a hold of Fran, to pull her down until she was able to stand.

After much hesitation,
she was able to get Fran securely onto the floor. She gripped onto Saphora, just to be sure that she wouldn’t start floating again. Trembling just a bit, she let out a breath once she was sure everything was back to normal. As normal as things got with Saphora.

“And how long have you been doing that?” she asked, a bit of her Scottish accent breaking t
hrough with her nerves. Saphora shrugged her shoulders, looking up sheepishly at her.

“Yesterday?”

Fran’s eyes that once held a grateful gaze, soon turned to a worried realization. She backed away from Saphora’s grasp, and shook her head, almost not wanting to talk about the day that had past.

“Yesterday?” Fran sighed, bringing her hand to her temple and closing her eyes. At the mentioning of the day, she remembered what she was going to say to Saphora before
falling. “Saphora why did you leave the house? I looked all over for you, and you didn’t answer any of my calls. Do you know how worried I was? I thought I was going to have to call the police.” Saphora frowned, taking her own step away from Fran as her brows pulled together.

“The
police
. What for?” she asked, remembering the conversation with Dr. Lupin. Fran lifted her arms before settling her hands on her hips.

“Because you
went missing
, Saphora!” she shouted, shaking her hands at her. Saphora’s stance eased up and she lowered her eyes with guilt.

“Oh …” she mumbled. Fran groaned and turned away from her, shaking her head. Saphora looked up and frowned, feeling the need to defend herself against the woman she thought she’d never have to.

“Well – Well what was I supposed to do, Fran? Sit there and wait for you to come back and tell me I was wrong? To tell me I was crazy?” she said, her voice giving way and making Fran turn around. The sound of her baby’s voice cracking pulled out the mother in her, even more so than it had already been out. Fran’s eyes saddened as she looked at Saphora. She had been thinking about that the entire time she was gone. How she didn’t stand up to defend her. She regretted it. And there were many messages on Saphora’s phone that expressed that.

“
Honey, I’m-“

“You didn’t even defend me when he said it! You wouldn’
t even-“

“
Saphora, please!” Fran said over her increasing volume. Saphora stopped, frozen in a look of anguish, which was mimicked by Fran as she walked closer. Her hand reached out to touch Saphora’s shoulder. Reluctantly, she stayed where she was, and allowed Fran to come closer, despite her feelings towards her. Again, she took Fran’s feelings first into consideration before making her next move. “I’m sorry, honey. I should have said something. I was just so nervous. Dr. Lupin had been talking all night, and I guess I had just gotten scared.”

“Scared of what?”

Fran sighed.

“Of it being true.”

“That I killed that man?” Saphora argued, making moves to take a step away. “That I’m crazy?” Fran’s grip on Saphora’s shoulder tightened.

“I know
you
didn’t kill him, Saphora. But … You don’t think it’s possible that you hit your head during the fall from God knows how high? And that maybe it triggered something?” Fran said, trying to push some reasoning onto the situation. “Not even a little bit?” Saphora’s eyes lowered and she groaned in frustration. She had thought about that as well during her time away from the house. And she reluctantly agreed that while she was eager to write off what she saw as fact, the doctor’s theory did make a lot of sense. That maybe in her desperation to learn more about the man from her past, the trauma of the fall may have caused hallucinations based on recent thoughts. But she didn’t want to believe it. Yesterday … It felt so
real
. How could it possibly have been a hallucination? And what about that horrid noise? Saphora’s eyes widened, having remembered the noise that had caused her to fall. She looked up at Fran, who responded, ready to hear what she had to say.

“But what about the noise? That was before the fall
,” she said eagerly. Fran shook her head slowly in mild confusion.

“What noise?”

“The … It was like a scream. I heard it
before
the fall.
That
is what
caused
me to fall! It gave me a headache while I was flying.”

“A scream? Who could possibly be screaming at the height you were at? And loud enough to do such a thing. Honestly, Saphora. It was probably a plane passing by.”

Saphora paused, not having taken that into consideration. Her hutzpah faded, and logic once again seemed to overpower her. It was true that she had never flown by a plane before. And that the shocking sound of its engine could have been the ear-shattering noise she heard.

“Saphora … Would it not be
easier
to believe that it
was
a hallucination?” Fran suggested. But in a way that made it sound like it was in Saphora’s best interest, which kept her defense down. It just seemed to be for the sake of her own sanity. Constantly rethinking and reanalyzing the event was proving to cause its own damage to Saphora’s psyche. She was beginning to like the idea of pretending that it didn’t happen. But then a scary thought occurred to her, as she looked up at Fran.

“But what if it wasn’t?”

Chapter 5

“Gary Jones, 52 year old local resident was found dead in his home late Monday evening. His home reduced to rubble. Investigators are still looking into the death and have yet to say what the cause was,” A woman on the news spoke into her microphone as she stood in front of what was left of Jones’ house. Nearly the entire area was striped with caution tape, and littered with crime markers that identified evidence that they found to be significant. “Friends and family are still grieving over the sudden loss,” the scene switched to police searching the area momentarily before switching to a woman – most likely a friend or acquaintance of Jones.

“I just want to know why he was taken from us so soon
,” the woman sobbed. She raised a hand to wipe forming tears from her eyes as she looked away from the woman interviewing her. She shook her head, frowning. “I hope they find out what happened.”

The scene switched from the sobbing woman, to another man, who, from Saphora’s memory of Jones, looked very similar to him. He was
a very gruff-looking man, with a beard that was a little more pronounced than Jones’. He was taller, but had the same ways about him as Jones. Hard-assed, straight forward, and quick to react.

“Well yeah, Jones had some enemies. But
dang
, his house? Someone really must have had a grudge against ‘em,” he said with a shake of his head as he lifted his cap momentarily.

The scene came back to the reporter, standing in front of the
rubble, with police working behind her. There was a slight pause between the camera’s switching, and her speaking again.

“Grieving indeed. Police have found someone they believe to be a witness to the event, and are going further their investigation with them.
We will keep you informed with any updates on the investigation. Yuki Uzumaki, channel 17. Eye-witness news. Back to you, Richard.”

              In the fluorescently lit interrogation room, Saphora’s eyes constantly readjusted to the slightly flickering lights above her. There was a constant buzzing from them. The room reeked of metal and corruption. She waited there, alone, in a wooden chair before a low steel table. There was a single chair on the other side, though she was almost certain that there would be more than one entering the room to speak to her. The one that sat would play the role as the “good cop”. While the one that stood in the dimly lit corner of the room, no doubt with arms and legs crossed, would have the burden of being the bad. She waited patiently with her hands in her lap, careful not to touch anything. She had watched enough television to know the process that was about to take place.

She heard mumbling from outside the door. It was Dr. Lupin, speaking with the men that would be entering with him. Fran had insisted that the doctor be present during the investigation to discuss his assessment. Lupin had explained to the officers that Saphora’s mental condition was questionable, and had given a brief explanation of what
he thought to have happened. But of course, the police still wanted to have their own conversation with her. Their own psychologist was standing outside the room, behind the two-way glass.

It wasn’t long before the three men entered the room. Dr. Lupin entering first, a
nd the two officers following behind him. The first officer took a seat across from Saphora, while the second officer stepped forward and placed a glass of water on the table in front of her. He stayed bent for a moment, making eye contact with her before leaning back up, and going to lean against the wall behind his fellow officer. Dr. Lupin came around behind Saphora, and dragged a chair from the corner.

“Hello. Saphora, right?” the man in front of her asked, more than greeted. Saphora nodded her answer, glancing at his, and then his co-worker’s face. Studying their expressions.  The one seated, seemed to be comfortably confident. While, the one in far end of the room seemed to be strikingly observant in his stillness.