HELLO HELLO
Not sure if the previous chapter was as good as I thought it was, but still hoped that yall liked it
AND I'M DROPPING A HUGE BIG CHAPTER, LIKE BOMB SORT THAT LIKE FRIED MY BRAINS AND I QUESTIONED MY SANITY XD LOL
Welp bc of that, you guys might not hear from me for liek a good 3 weeks. But by then school starts T^T booooo college. So my updates will be shorter word-wise and also take longer to make. Hmmm so i guess this is sorta like the big gift chapter before i have less time to write for this story?
THANK YOU TO MY NEW FAV REVIEWER VEIRA-RAVEN FOR THE BEAUTIFUL REVIEW (•◡•) /
Also welcome to the favorite/followers fam, thank you for going with this story's ride:nixvero301, S.C. , Zorua1
Connor swallowed hard as he quickened his pace to keep up with Hank, who had already gone halfway up the basement stairs.
"Hank," Connor's voice strained as he tried to call out to the older man. However, once again it fell on deaf ears. Hank was still taking strides up the stairs in a timely manner, before stopping in front of a bedroom door.
For a moment, the two paused in front of a door with a wooden board pinned to it. It had the name 'Grace' painted in golden letters on a turquoise background and floral designs surrounding it.
Connor watched as Hank took in a deep breath and steadied himself before pushing the door open. Sitting on the wooden floor, huddled behind the bed, was Pearson and someone wrapped with a blue fluffy blanket.
When Pearson took a look at the door, relief poured into her face as she walked over to them.
"Lieutenant," Pearson's face broke into a small smile. "I managed to calm Grace down for the most part, but it's been difficult getting her actually out of the house."
Pearson scratched the bottom of her cheek, "She had been screaming earlier for her parents...but you know that forensics already took them. I've tried kid thirium packets, passed her a stuffed animal and wrapped her up in a blanket to comfort her."
Pearson heaved out a sigh, adjusting the cap on her head, "It has helped calmed her to some degree, but not enough to move her out of the crime scene."
She turned to Connor, "Is she going to Jericho after this or you think other relatives will take her in?"
Connor shook his head, "We'll have to go to the station first to see if any family would be willing to take her in; hybrid family laws are still a bit shaky in the Department of Social Services." He turned to his left as Hank slowly approached the little bundled up figure.
Hank knelt down to the girl's level and then sat down next to her, "My name's Hank, I'm with the Detroit Police."
A little girl peeped her head out of the blue blanket in response. She had fair, beige skin, soft blonde hair and blue jewel-like eyes glistening with tears. The YK400 girl, predecessor to the YK500, was made to replicate the appearance of a 6-8 year old.
Connor adjusted the cuffs to his suit, taking a nervous glance at Hank who had a grim expression. Would her appearance remind Hank of little Cole?
Even though the little girl was wrapped underneath a blanket, Connor could see that her figure was still visibly shaking.
[YK400-'Grace'-Stress Levels 78%]
Hank grunted, fixed his sweater a bit before talking again with a gentle demeanor, "What's your name?"
"Grace," she mumbled out, her voice barely audible. She took a brief look up at Hank before looking back down at the carpeted floor.
The blanket fell from her head, sliding down to her shoulders. It revealed a girl with a violet polka-dotted purple pajama set. In her hand was a teddy bear that she held tightly to her chest.
For a second, Connor's mind flashed back to the time he first met Alina. On that fateful night, Alina was clutching a Dva doll to her body when he had attempted to approach her. However, compared to the child right in front of them, Alina was much more calm and reserved, which made it easier for her to trust them.
Connor rummaged through his databases and the internet on the best ways to approach children around the age of 6. Despite the negotiator and social programming codes he was packed with, he still felt like he was lacking in terms of socially connecting with people. When he became a deviant, all he managed to do was acknowledge and bring those feelings up to the surface.
What would be the best course of action here?
Hank, on the other hand, picked up a nearby rabbit plushie situated on the girl's bed. He coughed a bit and adjusted his voice to a scratchy higher-pitched tone than normal.
"Hello Grace!" Hank had the little bunny plushie hop in place as he narrated from the stuffed animal.
The girl looked up again a second time, toyed with a lock of hair and propped up her teddy bear onto the carpeted ground.
"Hi," she said, making her teddy bear wave back at the rabbit across from her.
Hank had the stuffed rabbit take a step forward, "How are you feeling?"
Grace had the teddy bear cover its eyes with its paws and shake its head from side to side, "I'm feeling sad. My mommy and daddy are gone."
For a split second, Connor swore he heard Hank click his tongue.
Hank's breath hitched for a moment and he spoke again in a higher-pitched voice, "The Detroit Police can help you feel a bit better."
Grace raised her chin, speculation written all over her face, "How?"
Hank had the rabbit jump around excitedly around the teddy bear, "The police have lots of fun games to play and a big TV to watch stuff."
Grace's hold on the teddy bear slackened, almost letting its face hit the ground as she contemplated.
"They also make pain fly away so you don't feel as sad," Hank coughed and stroked his throat, most likely in an effort to reduce the strain of talking in a higher pitch.
"Like swoosh and boom!" Hank made the rabbit jump and twirl around. "And you feel lighter and sadness goes away. Just like all the bad guys the police put away."
The teddy bear didn't respond at first, but limped forward and tapped the rabbit's ears with its paws.
"Will they find the bad guys that hurt mommy and daddy?" Grace contorted her face, her shoulders slouching downward .
Hank had the little rabbit walk back to where he was sitting, "Good day Mister Police Officer!"
"Hello there, what can I do for you?" Hank replied back to the bunny, switching to his normal voice, instead of the squeaky one that narrated the bunny during the entire conversation.
"I have a good friend here." The bunny paused, then turned to Grace. "Can I call you my friend?"
Grace nodded back a 'yes', her blanket falling to the ground in the process.
"Mister Officer, my good friend needs someone to help her catch some bad guys," Hank squeaked out and had the bunny notion to Grace. "Can you do that?"
"Of course I can find them for your friend over there," Hank switched back to his gruff voice. "But can you do me a favor and help me ask a question to your friend?"
Hank pretended to whisper into the rabbit's ears while keeping his voice loud and clear.
"You see, I'm a bit nervous to ask the pretty girl over there if she wants to be my partner in fighting crime today. Like a junior detective of sorts you know?"
Hank had the rabbit hop to the teddy bear, "Can you ask Grace if she would like to be a junior detective?"
The teddy bear nodded and saluted back, "Grace, Mister Officer wants to know if you would like to be a junior detective?"
At first Grace didn't reply and there were a couple moments of uncomfortable silence, but Hank seemed to be patient in waiting for a response.
On Connor's end, it was a bit unusual seeing Hank so stoic-like and displaying a calm demeanor. He was very used to seeing Hank's intolerance for day to day tasks, it was different. . .seeing Hank like this.
Finally, after what seemed like ages of silence from Grace's end, she too whispered into her stuffed plush's ears.
The teddy bear stood up and walked over to the rabbit, "Grace says she would like to help catch bad guys." It then rubbed its hands nervously. "But she doesn't know if police people will like androids. Mommy and Daddy were nice, but not everyone like that."
Hank gestured over to Connor, "You see him over him?"
Grace's gaze went over to Connor and he jumped up from his sudden introduction to the conversation. He gave her a small smile and waved, silently hoping it didn't look too awkward.
"That's my son, Connor," Hank was grinning from ear to ear. "He's an android just like you, and he's a detective on the police force."
Connor's eyes widened at Hank's proud declaration and he felt his cheeks heat up a bit.
"He's an official detective in the Detroit Police and my partner. They treat him pretty well, so I think they'll like you too," Hank declared and stretched out his arm for a handshake. "So what do you say? Want to be my junior detective for the day?"
Grace hesitantly reached out to Hank's hand, but once she took it Connor could see tiny crinkles forming on her face and her muscles relax. Hank heaved himself up while still holding the young girl's hand.
"Why don't you introduce yourself, Connor?" Hank said, still holding onto the rabbit with his other hand.
Connor knelt down on one knee and extended his hand to Grace, "It's nice to meet you, Grace. My name's Connor." Next, his brain scrambled on what else to say as Hank had already told the little girl his occupation.
"I work with the Detroit Police, but I also help out Markus with Jericho on occasion," Connor watched as Grace's eyes brightened up at the mention of the Jericho leader. It was a good idea to bring up his connection with someone reputable, most likely helped bring up his level of trust to the YK400.
Compared to her earlier hesitance, Grace gently took Connor's hand and shook it with a little more enthusiasm.
"I look forward to working with you," Connor said back courteously.
They were able to get out of the house without a hassle and it was only outside did Connor realize Pearson had already left the house during Hank's conversation with Grace.
While Hank was stripping himself of the forensics carbon monoxide suit, Pearson came running up to Connor. She was back in her regular police uniform too.
"You guys did it!" Pearson grinned as she walked over to Connor's spot. Together they observed Hank interacting with the YK400 after pulling off the mini oxygen tank.
Hank wore a tender look while softly speaking to Grace, "You ready for an adventure, Grace? We can play 'I spy with my little eye' on our way to the station."
Pearson whispered over to Connor, "That's something you don't see everyday."
"I think she reminds him of Cole."
Ah. Connor flinched, surprised by his own slip of the tongue. It was true though, that the YK400's 6-year-old like appearance might have triggered something.
Pearson's expression softened as well, "Yeah, she probably does."
"Welp, good luck at the station and having to make a bunch of phone calls to relatives," Pearson gave Connor a pat on the back before taking her leave.
Hmmm, I'll have to contact Markus about Grace. In this type of situation, since the child is a YK400, would human relatives take precedent over Jericho? Would it be better for Grace to be with human relatives or with her own kind?
Connor looked up to see Hank hand in hand with Grace, going into their car. Markus will probably have to adjust hybrid family policies from this.
Alina cocked her head to the right in curiosity when she saw Hank and Connor walk into the DPD with a little girl. She thought it was also peculiar that Hank had a grim expression on his face, but as soon as the little girl looked over he would change into a bright smile. But regardless of the smile, there seemed to be an air of heaviness around him.
If it wasn't for all the years she worked in customer service, she might have been fooled by it too. She knew too well about giving forced business smiles and got used to identifying them. Her coworkers had often remarked how easily she switched from normal to business mode.
Alina threw Connor a concerned look and when the two's eyes locked, she gestured over to Hank. What's going on with Hank? Connor seemed to have understood her intentions and mouthed 'I'll tell you later.'
Other DPD members also had intrigued looks when they saw Hank walking hand in hand with what looked to be a girl around 6 or 7 years old. There were whispers going around as Hank approached Alina and Tina's desk. Well, technically it was Tina and Gavin's desk, but since Alina was with them a lot, it unofficially became her place too. Gavin had already left for another case so it was just the two of them.
"Hello," Alina flashed a bright but slightly tentative smile to the little girl. In turn, the little girl took a step back and hid behind Hank's leg.
Alina got up from her chair, knelt to the ground and sat down on her knees. From her prior experience as a daycare and summer camp worker, she knew it was better to approach children from their level. Just by standing normally, adults could unintentionally frighten kids due to their towering height difference.
"My name's Alina," Alina continued talking in a soothing voice, sympathetic to the fact that perhaps the girl was wary of strangers. "What's yours?"
"Grace," the little girl squeaked out, her arms clinging to Hank's leg.
"Hi Grace, it's nice to meet you," Alina put her right palm up. "Is it alright if I can get a high five?"
Grace gave a brief look to Hank and he gave her a nodded approval. With that, she took the initiative in giving Alina a high five.
"Wow, look at you," Alina's corners of her mouth broadened into a brighter grin. "That was such an amazing high five!"
Alina let out a sigh of relief when she saw Grace loosen her hold on Hank and beamed while saying 'Thank you!'
The apprehensiveness that Grace had displayed earlier disappeared as she walked up from behind Hank, arms tucked behind her. Instead, she seemed to be studying Alina with piqued interest.
Hank turned to the other three present, "Connor, Imma need you to look after Grace over here while I talk with Jeffrey about this whole thing."
Hank pulled over a chair for Grace before he looked over to Tina, "Can I count on you too? Grace just lost her parents due to the carbon monoxide incident call in the morning. This is a bit of a new field Connor's venturing in that he'll need help with."
"Of course." Tina gave a mini salute to Hank, understanding the Lieutenant's implications. Then, she started introducing herself to Grace and kicked off a conversation between them.
Alina tuned out of their exchange to stare at Hank's lumbering figure as the man entered Captain Fowler's office. Occasionally some words would filter through and she would get bits and pieces of their talk. She heard some words such as 'YK400', 'android' and 'oh that's why you don't want to eat'.
It took Alina a moment to put everything together and process that Grace was a YK400 model. Tina had offered a drink or snack without knowing that Grace technically couldn't process food.
A YK400, was there such a model in the game? Alice was a YK500 and supposed to resemble a 10-year-old if she remembered correctly. I'm guessing a YK400 is supposed to resemble a 6 to 8-year-old?
Alina turned her attention back to Hank in Captain Fowler's office. There seemed to be hushed whispers between the two, but Hank obviously seemed frustrated. He was clenching his fists and baring his teeth in between his sporadic spoken words.
"Hey."
She looked over to her left, seeing Connor leaning on Gavin's desk and using it as support.
Alina arched an eyebrow, "Should you really be doing that when he hates you with his guts?"
Connor shrugged, "Think of it as payback for all those insults he throws at me daily. It's not like I'm breaking DPD property either."
"So what's up with Hank?" She cocked her head over to the glass office.
Connor sucked in his breath, "It's just a hypothesis. But I think Grace reminded him of Cole, his 6-year-old son."
Connor adjusted his position, rubbing his hands together. "Little Cole was 6 years old when he and Hank got in a car accident. A truck skidded on a sheet of ice and caused Hank's car to roll over. Cole needed emergency surgery, but the human surgeon at the hospital was high on red ice. H-He didn't make it, even with the assistance of an android."
As Connor was retelling the story, Alina's mind was playing back the same dialogue she had heard countless times on her playthroughs. There were small differences between what Connor had said in-game and now, but the important details were generally the same.
It was kinda interesting how Connor evolved even more so with his deviancy, causing slight word changes such as 'little Cole' or the stuttering. Machine Connor wouldn't have necessarily done that.
Connor leaned forward a bit, clasping his hands together, "I think there's also another reason why he's in such a state. It pertains to how he treats you and Grace...You're both orphans and had the opposite of the accident occurred, Cole would ha-"
"Hm?"
Why did he pause? She traced Connor's line of sight to Hank, who had just finished conversing with Captain Fowler. Ahhh, that makes sense.
Hank came out of the office, stroking his nape. He narrowed his eyes upon seeing that Connor and Alina were staring at him. The fact that Connor's mouth was a bit agape only seemed to heighten Hank's suspiciousness over their slightly unusual behavior.
"What?" Hank continued frowning and raised his eyebrows. "You two look like you've been caught talking shit or something."
They didn't reply, only stealing a glance at each other on what to say back with the awkward atmosphere.
Finally, Connor filled in the gap, stuttering within his words, "Um, we were talking about the next steps in Grace's case."
"Ahh, yes. We'll have to make a bunch of phone calls," Hank said, his eyebrows still raised as if he wasn't convinced with Connor's excuse. "I checked in with Jeffrey and apparently the human relatives in hybrid families get first dibs on android kids before Jericho."
Hank turned to Grace, who was playing a hockey app game with Tina on the tablet Alina had lent.
"Grace, is there anyone specific you would like to go to?"
Grace suddenly paused, her shoulders drooped down and her expression became dark.
"Mommy and daddy's families don't like androids, they don't think of me as part of their families."
"Tsk," Hank ran his hands through his hair. Alina could hear him swearing underneath his breath.
Alina went to give Grace a comforting pat on the shoulder, but stopped midway. She wasn't sure how Grace would feel to have a stranger patting them. Luckily, Tina took the lead in trying to soothe the child with some comforting words.
"Alright," Hank huffed out. "According to procedure, I still have to reach out to relatives and let social services into the loop. Connor and I will check out the relative contact list and call them one by one."
Hank squatted down so that he was eye level with Grace, "Don't you worry kid, the Detroit Police are gonna help you find a home. If anything, Jericho will welcome you with open arms. Connor's friends with Markus and he'll make sure you fit right in. How do you like that plan?"
Grace nodded solemnly but didn't seem convinced. She stared at the bunny and teddy bear in her hands and didn't look up at Hank afterwards. Tina tried to appease her some more with comforting words in a hushed tone, but Grace didn't respond.
While Hank and Connor made the calls to human relatives, Alina helped keep Grace preoccupied with all the games she had downloaded into her tablet. When that got too repetitive, Alina offered to let Grace braid her hair if the little girl was interested. Luckily, it seemed to have improved Grace's mood as she perked up instantly at Alina's suggestion.
Grace first played around with Alina's long hair, forming some small braids and then eventually evolved into larger braids that spanned across her head. During the process, Alina took small peeks over to Hank and Connor's desk to see how they were doing.
Connor, who was talking with someone via internal communication, looked like he was on mute. He wasn't physically producing any sounds, yet his mouth was still moving and he was doing several body gestures throughout his conversations.
I guess that's one of the perks of being an android. You get to have internal conversations with people 24/7. And in turn, a sort of android telepathy...mannn that would be awesome to have as humans.
When Alina turned to Hank, she noticed that he was looking more stressed with each passing phone call, face contorting every time he ended one.
I wonder if I can help cheer him up later?
It had been about an hourish into calling and Alina noticed the two men visibly worn out. Hank was slouched over, rubbing his eyes. In Connor's case, he was staring into space occasionally and his movements seemed slower than before.
While staying still for Grace's braiding session, Alina overheard Hank groaning to Connor saying that some of the relatives didn't even know that Grace was in their family tree. Apparently, Grace's parents didn't tell family members that they had a daughter.
In hindsight, it might have been the best decision though considering the revolution and weariness of humans to androids. After all, it had been a month since the American people's unrest due to the android revolution.
Hank let out a sigh, his splayed fingers covering his face, "Any luck on your end?"
Connor shook his head, "No, unfortunately."
The older man got up, headed down the hallway to the restrooms, "I need a breather."
Connor noticed Grace's wandering eyes on him and tried to reassure the young girl.
"Don't worry, I'll have a talk with Markus right now and arrange things with Jericho's Social Services Department. We'll make sure you're somewhere safe tonight."
Connor then got up and left to presumably talk to the android leader in private.
Alina looked back at Grace, whose lips were starting to tremble and eyes began to well up with tears. She rapidly spoke up to try to wash away Grace's doubts and fears.
"Don't worry, Jericho has lots of other kids there and great caretakers."
When those words seemed to have no impact, Alina then went to search up children's ebooks on the internet, hoping that reading a book might brighten up Grace's mood. She ended up randomly picking up an ebook called 'Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!' It had several good written reviews and was rated 4.5/5 stars.
"Oh, nice choice!"
Alina looked back to see Tina peering over Alina's shoulder.
"Why don't we try reading a book together? That might make you feel better," Tina piped in.
However, as soon as Alina opened up to the first page of the book, Grace began sniffling. These small sniffles rapidly evolved into a crying session with tears spilling down the little girl's cheeks. Alina instantly put down the tablet and tried consoling her to the best of her ability.
Grace started tightly grasping her bunny and teddy bear plushies to her body as her tears stained the pajama shirt. The stuffed animals that were trapped in Grace's grasp were not spared either from the tears dripping downward.
Anything Tina and Alina tried to say to alleviate Grace's cries were in vain, as the tiny girl simply shook her head back and forth in a 'no' motion, seemingly in defiance of something. Her wailing soon became loud enough that it echoed in the DPD Main Chamber.
Some passing officers also on duty came to Tina's desk to help out the two with Grace, using soft voices to speak to the child. However, Grace's crying tantrum became louder with the added attention from strangers to the scene.
Tina eventually cleared away the other officers that came to help and any other curious spectators. It became clear that having multiple people near Grace, even if they were trying to assist, made the situation worse.
At one point, Grace became verbally unresponsive to any words spoken to her, only reacting by hugging her stuffed animals and curling herself up in a pretzel-like shape. In between her uncontrollable sobbing, she would occasionally hiccup.
Alina's mind was racing on what to do. The fact that Hank and Connor weren't there to help only made her heart beat even more anxiously. Where are they? How many minutes has it been? And out of all the times the Captain is out of his office.
Sure, her past jobs as a daycare and summer camp counselor helped initially with bonding with Grace and keeping her calm for the most part. But none of her past experiences' mechanisms on calming down children seemed to be working at the moment. Grace had knocked away thirium packets, coloring books, and anything said appeared to go in one ear and out the other.
Alina picked away at the skin near her fingertips, trying to comb through past memories. This is why I switched to a grocery store cashier job as soon as I could. It wasn't that she didn't like kids, but rather it became exhausting to deal with situations like this daily as a daycare worker.
It was a fairly common occurrence for daycare kids to be crying for their parents. She especially disliked parents that just coldly dropped off their children without batting an eye as their kids screamed in anguish calling for mom or dad.
She had gotten used to it to some degree, but it didn't make her job any easier. Her stomach would always knot up whenever parents dropped off kids at daycare. Nonetheless, daycare and camp counselor jobs were the easiest to come by as a teenager.
Alina then tried recalling what her parents would do when she was crying as a young kid. She knew that she didn't often cry as a child, giving her few reference points. Very vaguely she recalled her father giving her a sweet drink whenever she felt bad from a fight with friends or got a lower than expected test grade. If it was the winter, her dad would give her hot cocoa. If it was the summer, it would be smoothies.
Mum would sing to Alina while stroking her hair until she calmed down. Sometimes if it was a particularly bad day, Mum would bake mini-cupcakes and they would decorate them together.
All of those possible solutions were thrown out of the door though in this situation. Grace doesn't need to eat anything other than thirium and it wasn't like they had baking materials either.
She rummaged through her mind some more, until one particular memory decided to resurface despite having been buried years ago.
It was a couple of months after successfully pushing for a divorce with dad.
One night there were powerful thunderstorms, accompanied by powerful winds that crashed nearby power lines and caused a power outage in the neighborhood.
12-year-old Alina was stuck alone in a . . .
dark,
empty
house.
At that time, she had nothing but her trusty tablet illuminating her path in the dark. She had been playing with it prior to the blackout and it was one of the few working portable electronic devices in the house.
After the power had gone out, she sat herself down in the middle of the hallway away from the blazing flashes of lightning that battered the living room and bedrooms. While sitting down on the hardwood floor, she maxed out the tablet's brightness to have some sort of constant light presence in the suffocating darkness.
"I'm a big girl, I'm a big girl now," Alina told herself repeatedly. She beat her own chest with her bare hands in an effort to drown out the sounds of her heartbeat. They had been desperately pounding loudly in her brain amidst the muckiness and fear turmoiling inside her once the lights had blacked out.
When that didn't work, she tried puffing out her chest to make it feel like she wasn't being swallowed up by the shadows that danced across her walls. Despite that, her eyes fluttered a bit as tears threatened to spill from her eyes.
Her bottom lip quivered in the dark, but she sucked in her breath to calm herself as she picked up her cell phone to call her mother.
Thunder crackled in the background, and she let out a yelp when she almost dropped her phone midcall. The walls shuddered in response to the howling winds from outside and from the corner of her eyes she could see the trees viciously sway at the mercy of mother nature.
"This call has been forwarded to an automated voice mail system. 646,112,2030."
Alina pulled her knees close to herself, placing the tablet on her lap and tried calling again.
"This call has been forwarded to an automated voice mail system. 646,112,20-"
And again.
"This call has been forwarded to an automated voice mail system. 646,112-"
And again.
"This call has been forwarded to an automated voice mail system. 646-"
And again.
"This call has been forwarded to an auto-"
'Beep'
Finally, she closed the cell phone and let her hand slide down to the ground along with the electronic device in hand. Another flash of lightning bared itself onto the house walls and Alina's body winced as she braced for the onslaught of sound that came after.
BOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMM
She cowled in fear for who knew how long and her body trembled as the storm continued through the night. By now, hot tears had raced down her cheeks and she involuntarily let out a whimper as she came to the conclusion that no one was coming to help her here.
She ended up crying for what felt like hours, sniffling as she worked to clear her blurry vision. It ended up backfiring as clearing her vision only made it easier to see the raging storm outside and the echoing hollowness inside the house.
'Maybe if I never pushed dad out, this wouldn't have happened,' She thought. 'Maybe I wouldn't have to be here alone.' Tremors overtook her as her brain was ransacked with 'What Ifs' that could have happened to avoid this predicament. Then in the middle of her mind's ramblings, she heard the front door shake terribly and she shrunk in anticipation of the next catastrophe to come.
Only it wasn't the storm, it was her mother wrangling the door open with keys dripping with water.
Mum's hair was all frazzled, locks of hair were tangled with her shoulder strap, clothes were drenched from the rain, and color was drained from her face. Mum ran over to Alina in the hallway, cupping Alina's small delicate face before giving her a hug.
She vaguely recalled her mum saying some words but they were overtaken by the fact that her mum had spoken them while taking shallow rapid breaths.
One thing Alina did remember was her mum saying, "Hey honey. Don't worry, mama's gonna get the power back on." Her mother brushed away a piece of Alina's hair before trying out some power switches in the house.
That day was definitely one of the more defining moments of her childhood. She remembered feeling incredibly guilty. While she sat on the ground crying and trying to compose herself, her mother took charge of bringing everything back to normal. Her mother did so much in financially supporting their household of two, but all she could do was cry about how scared she was at home during the storm.
Because of all that crying, her eyes became red and swollen for a couple of hours. That night she simply laid herself into her mother's arms and hugged away the terror that flooded her mind earlier. It took an entire night of comforting to fully calm herself down.
Ever since that day, she tried her best to overcome her fear of being alone in the house. Mum looked so overworked that day with the eye bags and tired creases on her forehead , in addition to being wrecked from the rainstorm. Part of her vowed that she'll do whatever it took to stand on her own two feet so that she wouldn't have to worry Mum like that night.
The other part of her cherished that night with her mother. Within minutes of her mother's arrival, just from a small hug, she was able to feel safe and secure. As the years passed, their relationship grew strained due to her mum's absence from the house. However, Alina lips still perked up when she fondly recalled the tiny moments that had mother had been there for her, such as that fateful night back in 2013.
'Mum, thanks for that night,' She thought to herself. 'I guess I still kinda miss you.'
"Why do you miss your mom?"
Wait, what?
Alina blinked out of her trance-like state to see Grace staring deeply at her with wide eyes.
"Did you lose your mom too?"
Wait, did I say that out loud? Alina let out a small gasp and quickly covered up her mouth at the realization. She looked to the side, seeing Tina give her a concerned look as well. Ahhh, shoot. How did this end up about me? I was supposed to comfort Grace.
"Uhhh, yeah," Alina eventually replied back awkwardly. She clasped her hands together and rubbed them nervously. "I lost my parents a couple of days ago too. Just like you, so I know how scary it feels."
Grace hung her head downward, swinging her legs back and forth a bit, "I'm sorry."
"Why are you apologizing?" Alina raised an eyebrow, confused at Grace's change of behavior.
"You lost your mommy and daddy too, but you're not crying," Grace mumbled out. "I just keep crying and I don't know why I can't stop."
Alina took in a deep breath, trying to formulate her next set of words, "I don't think crying is bad. In this case, crying means that you care about your parents. It means you love them and you miss them."
Grace looked back up, still pouting, "How did you stop crying?"
"I-I stopped thinking about them," Alina fumbled with her sweater while maintaining eye contact with Grace. "Because thinking about them hurts. So I stopped thinking about them to stop hurting."
It wasn't necessarily the truth, but it wasn't necessarily a lie either. Back when she was 12, still scared of being alone in the house, she would sometimes cry herself to sleep when her mum would come home late. Alina would ask her mum to come home a bit earlier on the days she had to be alone. For the first couple of months after the divorce, her mother would attempt to fulfill her request; however, for financial reasons it later became an impossible task.
To do this, Alina mentally trained herself in several ways.
She stopped relying on the idea that her mother would always be able to keep her company at home.
She stopped expecting her mother to be at home at all, even more so for her father.
It was easier that way: to stop expecting help or support from her mother so that she'll never have to feel disappointed from a potentially broken promise. That's probably why we started doing less and less recreational activities together too.
"But I don't wanna stop thinking about them, I don't wanna forget mommy and daddy," Grace cried out.
"And you don't have to," Alina replied. "Everyone feels hurt in different ways, which means they can also heal or feel better in different ways."
Grace's shoulders sagged as she started sniffling again, "I don't think I can ever feel better."
Alina decided to kneel down on one knee so that she could be at eye-level with Grace.
"Grace, I need you to look at me carefully," Alina pleaded as Grace's cries started to grow in volume. "Just for a little bit, okay? Just for one second."
'When asking for something from kids, start from something small so it's not that daunting.' Alina faintly recalled her daycare manager saying. Perfect timing, Teach.
True to her manager's advice, Grace nodded in agreement to Alina's suggestion and briefly quieted down.
"Thank you for being such a big, brave girl by doing that," Alina gently put aside one of Grace's curls and dabbed Grace's tears with a napkin. Tina handed Alina some more tissues over from the side, careful not to disturb the delicate atmosphere Alina created.
"I know right now it can be scary because your mommy and daddy are gone. And it feels like all you can do is cry right now. But things are going to get better," Alina said. "It's going to take time. You'll cry for a bit more, but you'll heal one day and feel better."
"How do you know?"
"Because I got through it too," Alina continued wiping Grace's tears. "Because the Grace I know, tried her very best to stop crying and feel better. The Grace I know, did a beautiful job braiding my hair to distract herself. I know that out of everyone here, you are doing your best and your efforts will pay off."
"You promise I'll feel better?"
Alina playfully tapped Grace's nose, "I promise."
Grace giggled in response and the room's mood almost immediately lightened up.
"That's better," Alina whispered. "You have such a pretty smile, the world doesn't deserve to lose such a smile."
"Alright, I'll teach you a little trick I just thought of," Alina took a deep breath and slapped her thighs as she sat back in her chair. "If you're ever feeling down, just smile. Even if you don't feel like it, just smile. That heavy, heavy feeling in you goes away and it feels like a flower is blooming in your chest."
"Really?" Grace eagerly asked.
"Try it right now."
Grace put her hands on her cheeks and pulled them apart to form a smile. Before long, she's smiling for real and doesn't need the support from her hands.
"It worked!" Grace excitedly cheered, jumping up from her seat and hugging Alina.
Alina froze at the sudden gesture, but returned the hug. Thank god that worked.
"Yes, you did! Good job!" Alina exhaled a huge sigh of relief. She felt completely worn out and they were only halfway through the day. This is why I stopped working with kids. It's like a roller coaster emotion ride. Though it was understandable with Grace's scenario. I just hope she doesn't get too attached to me since she's going to Jericho.
Tina threw Alina a thumbs-up sign while she was still hugging Grace.
"You're a natural," Tina mouthed.
No, I'm not. Please don't think that, I don't think I'm mentally prepared to help some more.
Alina inwardly groaned as her fear came true. It was now the end of Hank and Connor's workday. They were prepared to drop off Grace at Jericho, but it appeared that Grace grew a little too fond of Alina to the point that the little girl was reluctant to go to Jericho.
However, according to Connor, Jericho now had an ID system to get in. For most humans that wished to gain access to Jericho, there was a 2-3 week security background check and processing period to gain an ID. Of course, having never gone to Jericho before, Alina didn't have one. The best that she could do was wave goodbye by the car that was parked near Jericho's entrance.
"How about this?" Alina reasoned. "I'll try to get a Jericho ID as soon as possible, just so I can visit you. Alright?"
"Okay," Grace relented at last, taking Connor's hand and walking into the Jericho facility. She continued waving goodbye to Alina till they were out of view.
Alina let out a huff as she pulled open the car's backseat door, exhaustion taking over her body as soon as she sat down. She could finally relax and let her guard down a bit. Kids could be extremely perceptive of emotions and she didn't want to make Grace feel unwanted in the DPD station so she constantly wore a smile for the majority of the day.
Comforting a kid was a lot of work and wore her down considerably. How did mom do it? Ahhh, that's right. She didn't have to do it much since I tried my best to not burden her. Though, on that night of the thunderstorm with power outage, her mom did panic a lot from the multiple missed calls from her. Apparently, her mother thought there might have been a break-in or something.
Does mum miss me? How long have I been missing from the real world? Does time work the same?
Ahh, I'm stupid. Of course she probably does, anyone with a sane mind would panic over a missing daughter. Mum was a single mother divorcee, and now her only child disappeared. What was I thinking? Not frantically looking for a way back.
Alina swallowed guiltily at the thought of her mother filing a missing person's report. She had gotten too used to being in the Detroit Become Human world, enjoying her time here while her mother was probably worried to no end.
Alina crinkled her nose and clasped her hands over her head. All she wanted was not having to worry about her real-life problems, and the Detroit Become Human game was her escape. And it literally did. But just because she did that for herself didn't mean it didn't affect those in her surroundings. How could she forget that?
Alina slapped herself in the face, knowing full well that she didn't. She just didn't want to think about it. Ugh, I'm such an idiot.
"Something up?"
Alina jumped up in surprise to see that Hank and Connor were back so quick in the front seats. Hank wore a tired but worried expression as he looked back at her.
"Um, this is a weird request," Alina fidgeted in her seat. "But would it be alright if we could visit the spot where you guys found me? I want to see if I can find any clues on how I got here."
Hank revved up the car, "Sure, we could have gone earlier in the week too if you wanted."
Alina grunted in reply, not knowing what else to say on the way there. Connor was also awfully quiet too, which concerned her. But she didn't know how to bring about the topic with all the tension in the air. All she knew was that once Connor dropped off Grace at Jericho, he seemed more stoic than usual as if he was holding back something.
"Dubois St and East Canfield Street's interaction," Hank said once they got to their destination.
Alina got out of the car first, followed by Connor and Hank.
"Did you see anything unusual that day, perhaps?" Alina asked as she tried to look for any signs of multi-dimensional traveling.
"Nope, only thing was probably the fucking snowstorm. Though that's normal here in Detroit," Hank said, leaning against his car. "What about you, kid? Remember anything from that day?"
Alina put up her hand against the air, seeing if there was an invisible door maybe somewhere.
"Only thing I remember was opening a door. There was some blinding light, next thing I knew I was outside," Alina replied.
Alina walked over to Connor, "This is a bit of a weirder request but do you have like x-ray or like light-spectrum vision. Basically see stuff that you can't see with the naked eye."
Connor blinked at her, puzzled, "Yes, on different light spectrums. But I don't think it'll be much help."
"Please? Can you just try them out?" Alina put her hands up together, pleading.
"Okay, but I'm not sure if it'll show any results," Connor said as he took off scanning.
They ended up staying there for about 20 minutes with Connor's scans not picking up anything. Alina's search for some sort of visible door also ended up in vain, so part of her gave up on trying some more.
I hope you are doing well, mum.
Just as Alina gave up and walked back to the car, Hank came up to her and blocked her way.
"You know, you can cry too," Hank suggested. "Just like you said to Grace apparently. It's fine to let it out. Me and Con are here for you."
"It's fine," Alina put up a tight-lipped smile. "I don't need to cry, I'm good."
She moved to walk around Hank, but was stopped short by him again.
"You mean, you don't want to?"
Alina paused, trying to think of what to say. As far as she was concerned from her past experiences, she didn't need to cry. Crying did nothing to change the situation, it wasn't like her mother would come rushing back home every time it happened. It wouldn't do the family any good either. This situation wasn't any different, just accept the reality of things and move on.
"No, I don't need to," Alina said again, with an unwavering expression.
Hank stared back at her, not saying anything. For a moment, they were at a standstill and she found it frustrating that she couldn't understand the puzzling expression on his face. After a couple moments of silence, Hank stepped to the side, letting her through and gave her a pat on the back.
"Let's go back, kiddo."
And let's just say the car ride back with the three of them was…mostly just radio music filling in the awkward gaps of silence.
OKAYYYY HELLLO EVERYONE IM MENTALLY DEAD. I think i surpassed my last limit of 7500, bc this word count is telling me about 8000 words. Ummm, yeah, yall aint gonna hear from me for a while XD i think i'm burned out. Compared to my usual 5k words
Biggest hurls for this chapter: definitely the flashback bc i wanted to immerse readers into tht setting. The crying scenes btw young Alina and also Grace crying. Grace was difficult to formulate in the sense that we have a YK400 tht is supposed to be like a 6 year old, but has the knowledge of an android. So balancing how Grace would ultimately talk, was something tht took a while. Had to do research on how to calm 6 year olds XD hopefully i got tht down
Trivia: The phone number 646-112-2030. SO this was inspired by how Bryan created Connor's serial number("Bryan Dechart came up with the serial number on Connor's jacket, 313 248 317-51. He explained in a Twitch stream that 313 stands for the Detroit area code, 248 for his home area code, 317 for his birthday, 5 for the number of people in his family, and 1 standing for the first Connor.")
SO in this case 646 is standard nyc, 11220 is a reference to the zip code in nyc from where Alina is from. 3 is the # of people in her family. 0 represents how she is in a new world and starting from scratch in a sense.
So my only Q&A, which i wasn't going to do initially bc i wrote 20 pages of storywriting on google docs and brain is fried, is if you guys could figure out which part of nyc 11220 the zip code is referencing to? If you would like to google search tht, HINT:it is two words combined btw, one of them being 'park'. Comment tht below :) I'm excited to see that Also what do you think of Alina as a character after seeing this chapter, I'm curious as to how yall interpret her personality/thinking process after this chapter