Chapter 5
The last chapter was pretty cryptic. It should make sense eventually, even if you don't agree with the way things appear. This thought has been drifting for a while now, and it seems to fit into this fic.
Adam was beside her when she woke, her hand tightly clasped in his.
"She saw before." She said, her voice small.
"I know."
"That wasn't supposed to happen."
"No, and I'm sorry that it did. But we can't change that now."
"Does she know what she saw?"
"No, I wanted you to decide what we told her." She seemed to contemplate this for a moment.
"How is she?"
"She's having some problems sorting through the information she got from you, but she can see what fits and what doesn't. She slept well last night, so it's obviously helped a little. But she worried about the things she saw, Shalimar. The other things." She nodded her acceptance. "She's worried about you, and I don't think this is going to go away unless she gets answers."
"And you want me to give them to her? I don't know if I can do that Adam."
"You don't have to talk to her yourself if you don't want to. But I think she has a right to know."
"They all have a right to know."
"Are you willing to do that?"
"As long as you'll tell them for me. I'm not sure I can."
"Of course." He pulled her into a quick embrace. "We'll always be here for you Shalimar. You just have to let us get close enough to catch you every now and again."
Emma, Jesse and Brennan sat around the small room, on chairs, sofas and cushions. They quietened as Adam entered, a sombre look on his face. He looked at Emma first, glad to see she was looking a little more relaxed than she had the day before. Adam didn't know what she had seen, but he knew the information he was going to give them would disturb them all greatly. Though Jesse may have been around to know Shalimar before she had changed into the bright and bubbly personality she had become, not even he knew the dark secrets she hid in her past.
"Jesse. You asked me the other day how I knew what had happened to Emma and Shalimar without you telling me. Well, in a way you did tell me. I knew because of something you said. You said they'd both 'taken some shit' that night. I don't know if it was just fluke but it was something Shal used to say. 'She'd taken some shit in her life', it was her own words, it had a meaning that only she and I knew. The moment you said it I realised..." He trailed off, his eyes on Emma.
"When she was first here Shalimar was so quiet you could sometimes walk right past her and not know she was there. She was a ghost. It was Jesse that eventually managed to get her to come out of herself a little more. I didn't want to put her into the safe houses because I was worried that she might just disappear completely. I wanted to keep her safe. The people we were rescuing then were the ones who had the guts to come forward with what they were. They were the kind of people who might... take advantage of how submissive she was then. I didn't want Jesse to go into the safe houses because he had his own problems. So they both stayed here, in Sanctuary.
"Jesse was almost as quiet as Shalimar back then, but she used to watch him. She used to watch him all the time. One day he got quite annoyed and shouted at her. I wasn't there to see what he said but I arrived in time to hear Shalimar shout right back at him. And they got into a fight, right there in the middle of the hall. Jesse came out of it with a bloody nose and Shalimar with bruised ribs where Jesse had seen fit to use his powers to hit her. But they sat there together in the medilab and laughed. And it was the first time I heard Shalimar laugh." He sighed and tried to bring his emotions back under control.
"Shalimar left her home at fifteen. Like too many people she lived on the streets. And like too many homeless girls... it wasn't long before she was taken advantage of. When her new mutancy was discovered she became more 'desirable'," He spat the word out as though he was swearing. "And she didn't understand that she was strong enough to turn away or run. Or strong enough to stop them from doing what they wanted with her body." He stopped again to collect himself. "When I first went into the hotel where she'd holed herself up, to retrieve her and offer her a place in the safe houses, she thought that was what I wanted from her..."
Shalimar smiled as she listened from where she sat outside the door. She still remembered that day.
She had stopped eating almost a week ago. She had forgotten the point. This existence wasn't worth anything any more, she was bored of it. And there was peace there, just out of reach. The constant energy that held her mind was dulling and peace looked near from this place.
But a face had appeared, a knowing face, and offered her a hand. She took it without question. Lessons learned had showed her that questions gave no reward. "Come with me." The order came and she followed quietly behind because she knew nothing of refusal.
The place she was driven to was quiet and he left her a moment alone beside a pool of water. There was calm here, he wasn't rushing. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. One more show and then she could return to that place and maybe, maybe soon the peace would come. No more men would seek her out when she was at peace.
She shed her clothes quickly, hoping that this man's hands would be as soft as his face and his voice. She had not meant to fall asleep, but she was tired, drained. She awoke with a blanket wrapped around her in a bed that was soft. She felt energised again, and further from the peace than ever. He appeared at the doorway, a smile on his face. "Is that better?" He had asked. And though she wanted to demand answers, she nodded meekly. "My name is Adam. You're safe here."
