"Let's talk about your father."
Dr Morrell clicked her pen, hovering the nib over a notebook and raised her gaze to the young girl sat opposite her, observing carefully.
Her left leg was crossed over her right thigh, a foot hovering above ground and slightly swinging making the slipper she wore slide off a little more each time. Her hands lay idly in her lap and though her head tilted slightly at the mention of her paternal figure, there was a significant lack of reaction.
"What's there to say about him?"
The girls voice sounded like how a shrug would sound if it had a voice.
And her brown eyes looked at Dr Morrell like how a shrug would look at you if it had eyes.
"Is there anything you want to say about him?"
The girl blinks.
"No, is there anything you want to tell me about him?"
Dr Morrell's notebook is still empty as she clicks her pen and retracts the nib.
"Is there something about him you want to hear Magdalena?"
"Anna." The girl corrects her and she nods, repeating the name and amending her mistake. Anna's slipper escapes her foot and it lands on the floor with a soft thud.
"Your words imply that I have a care about that man."
"Don't you?"
She was used to Dr Morrell's tricky way of interrogating her patients with questions but the way the woman only spoke with questions was always irritating.
"Should I?" She replied back, mimicking the women's game, even though she had no doubt Morrell knew exactly what she was doing.
Dr Morrell smiles.
"Do you think you should?"
She slides her foot back into her slipper.
"No, just because someone is your mother or father it doesn't mean you have to care about them or love them."
Morrell nods, she takes the agreement as a small victory.
"Your brother do you still love him?" Dr Morrell observes Anna closer.
She smiles, which from an outside view would seem heartwarming, but Dr Morrell looked closer than most people and saw beneath the smile was something unfriendly.
Anna looks over to the windowsill with a pout as she spots a vase filled with yellow chrysanthemums.
"Why did you get rid of the Roses? They were my favourite."
"You don't want to talk about him right now?"
Anna stands, makes her way over to the vase of flowers and plucks one from the bundle. She sniffs it then twirls its stem between pale fingers. She watches as slowly, very slowly petals peel off and fall through the air.
"The Rose's are much prettier."
"It might be your last chance to talk to me about him Anna, you're being released from eichen tomorrow."
Anna turns to Dr Morrell the flower still twirling between her fingers.
She smiles.
Malia sneezed rubbed her nose and then sneezed again, her nose twitched threatening a 3rd time. Whilst Lydia amused herself with various shades of the same red lipstick, the werecoyote had wandered astray and somehow got stuck in the perfume aisle.
The multitude of scents being spritzed into the air was driving her crazy, making her eyes water and giving her a headache. Usually Kira was stuck as Lydia's shopping partner, but with the kitsune still out of town Malia had been forced against her will to accompany the red head.
She sneezed again and growled.
She hated shopping.
"I can't stand it in here Lydia." She angrily rubbed her nose.
Lydia emerged from behind a makeup counter with a newly painted lip. She rolled her eyes completely unsympathetic to the werecoyotes situation.
"I got you a lip balm, let's go pay."
Liam was also at the mall, and also not having much of an enjoyable experience.
When Mason asked him to hang out he had expected to go to the arcade or go watch a movie, but Mason had a secret agenda in bringing his werewolf best friend to the mall and that secret agenda was stalking hot boys.
Well, one boy in particular named Simon who worked various jobs in the mall, sometimes he was a barista, sometimes he assisted in the apple store and sometimes he would be found in the build a bear on the 2nd floor.
Mason wanted to find him and ask him on a date so he needed Liam's skill set to narrow the search and locate him.
"You do know to find his scent I need something that smells like him to go off right?"
Liam could hear his best friends footsteps slow to a stop.
"Yeah, I knew that."
There was a waver to Mason's voice, and a jump in his pulse.
"You dont have anything do you?" Liam turned to his friend raised an eyebrow and gave Mason a pointed look with rounded blue eyes.
"Uhh well." Mason was usually pretty thorough and organised, but nervousness had overhauled his meticulousness and he had forgotten a crucial part in his plan.
"I did, he give me a flyer for 20% off ice cream last time I was here, I was gonna use that."
Mason scratched behind his ear a sheepish expression apparent on his features.
"Well what did you do with it? Why didn't you bring it?"
Liam had a funny way of trying to be helpful, he was rarely ever actually helpful in the situation, infact only serving to make things worse.
Mason threw his head back, more annoyed at himself than he supposed Liam was.
"In the back pocket of my black Jean's."
Mason was wearing blue jeans and a nice buttoned shirt, far more put together than Liam's shorts and graphic tee combination.
Mason had someone he wanted to impress, Liam did not.
"You know what let's just get a coffee." Mason nodded to himself more than he was giving the suggestion to Liam. He knew Liam would do whatever he wanted anyway. "Maybe he'll be working there today."
"I heard they're hiring too." Liam added, this time he actually was helpful, because he had actually given Mason a good idea.
"If I work there I'll have a higher chance of bumping into him."
Anna smiled at the woman infront of her, tucking a dark strand of hair behind her ear.
The woman's nails were painted a pretty dusty rose pink, carefully clutching the piece of paper infront of her. Anna had complimented the cafe owner on them as soon as she saw them. She liked things that reminded her of flowers.
"What did you do before?, your resume doesn't say."
"Oh I studied." Anna's smile didn't falter.
The woman nodded. The girls was young, so it wasnt uncommon for her to not have had a previous job.
"Well despite the lack of experience you leave a good impression, and a pretty face like yours definitley wont loose us customers."
When the woman smiled Anna knew it was good news.
"Come in early tomorrow morning I'll have one of our senior staff show you the ropes to being a barista. The woman leaned across the table presenting Anna with a smile and a hand.
Anna returned the smile and shook her hand.
"Thank you so much."
The doorbell chimed, in walked two teenage boys one with his arms folded and the other searching the place earnestly.
"Hes not here." He sighed turning to his paler skinned friend who had stopped seemingly in thought, tilting his head and turning as if someone had called his name.
He had actually caught two familiar scents, and as he focused his werewolf hearing he could hear the familiar sound of clicking heels and then Lydia's voice.
"One more store Malia, you've been wearing the same pair of shoes all summer."
He shook his head and returned to his current surroundings.
"Malia and Lydia are nearby.'
They headed to the counter.
Anna rose from here seat as the manager did smoothing out the skirt of her cherry red dress and allowing the woman to walk her to the door.
"Did you catch their scent?"
Mason says, quietly but not so quietly. Anna flickers her gaze over to the two boys and pauses under the door frame.
The dark haired boy turns and pretty blue eyes meet hers. They widen and he ducks his head and turns back to his friend. The tips of his ears are burning red.
She smiles again, warm and bubbly. The smile is not for the manager.
"Thanks again for hiring me, today must be my lucky day."
"Tomorrow morning." The manager reminds her and she nods and slips through the door.
She is a few steps away from the cafe when a boy with dark hair and brown eyes approaches. His face is scattered with a charming dusting of moles.
She comes to a sudden halt, fingers curling into her palms.
"Hey" He smiles at her and she has to look away from his smile, and that's when she notices the name tag.
Simon.
She relaxes and smiles.
The boy shuffles the bouquet of roses he is holding.
"Sorry I'm not being creepy in promise, I work for the perfume store over there." He points towards a store appropriately named the perfume shop, and she follows his pointed finger seeing several other teenage boys and girls in the same all black uniform each holding rose bouquets.
"We just released a new rose perfume." He explains and she nods in understanding with a smile, twirling her hair through her finger.
"Would you like a rose?"
"Of course, Rose's are my favourite flower. "
"Great." Simon the salesboy grins and then he scrutinises the bouquet to find a suitable flower.
"Ah!" He winces as he plucks a rose from the group and catches his thumb on a thorn. "I though they took all the thorns off these."
She giggles and he laughs off his fumble with her as he hands her the rose and she takes it.
"Sorry, that rose might have my blood on, do you want another one?"
He asks after seeing her eyeing the flower strangely.
"No, its alright." She shakes her head, and smiles as she brings the flower to her nose and sniffs.
"This ones perfect."
"Can we go home now Lydia or atleast go get food I'm starving. "
Malia pleads with the red head after spending 4 hours on an empty stomach shopping.
Lydia is gracious enough to allow the werecoyote a burger. The two head to the food court with Malia several steps ahead as the smell of beef patties and fries overpower any other scent and her stomach grumbles.
She realises though that Lydias noisy heels have become silent and turns to see her friend some distance
away staring vacantly as she held a rose.
"Lydia?" She calls out but doesn't get a response. Approaching Lydia, Malia's werecoyote is alert.
"Are you having a banshee moment?"
She gives her friend a nudge and a petal falls from the rose onto the floor by Lydia's pink heel.
Lydia let's out a sharp intake of breath as it hits the ground.
"What is it? What do you hear? What do you see?"
"Roses, rain and blood."