Chapter 7-Visiting
Rinoa turned over and yawned as she awoke from her slumber. She smiled to herself as the memories come back to her from the night before when she found out about Squall being a mutant.
She looked at the clock on the wall to find it was 9:00 am. Outside she could hear rain hitting her window making a gentle patting sound.
She got out of bed and headed out of her room where she heard voices coming from the TV in the living room. Rinoa pushed the door open to see Selphie sat on the sofa watching the cartoons that were shown every morning.
Selphie turned her head towards Rinoa as she heard her enter the room. "Good morning," Selphie said in her usual chirpy mood.
"Morning Selphie," Rinoa replied, as she sat down next to her on the sofa.
"Seeing Squall today?" Selphie teased, which was responded by a cushion being thrown at her face.
Rinoa turned towards the television screen, ignoring Selphie's giggles. "Is there anything decent on TV?"
Selphie flicked through the channels. "Cartoons, cartoons, news and more cartoons."
"Wow, great choices!" Rinoa said jokingly. "I'm gonna get dressed and go for a walk."
"Alrighty, perhaps there's something better going on in the outside world than these cartoons."
"Maybe," Rinoa said, stepping into the hallway and into she bathroom where she took a shower and got dressed.
"See ya later Selphie," Rinoa called through the house before stepping out the front door. She was greeted by the coolness of the winter morning, wrapping her arms around herself to keep a little warmer; she set off to her destination unknown.
~*~*~*~*~
There was a knock at the door, Squall got up and opened the door to find Quistis and Zell behind it.
"Squall, is Seifer with you, we need you to see something," Quistis said pulling out a newspaper.
"It's alright Quistis, we already know," came a voice from behind Squall. Seifer stepped forward and gestured for the two to enter. The four of them walked into the living room where there were two chairs and a sofa around a coffee table. Squall sat down on chair, Quistis sat on the sofa with Seifer leant against the arm of it next to her and Zell sat on the floor examining the newspaper that was placed on it.
"So…" Zell started. "A mutant committed suicide last night."
"That's awful," Quistis said in thought. "I wonder if we knew her when we were younger."
"We won't know, the newspaper didn't mention her name," Seifer said. "It just says that for the past year she went by the name of Autumn Ivers."
"What could she have done that would have made her want to kill herself?" Quistis asked.
"Well, she did murder a baby and attempted to do the same to a nurse that worked there."
"Yeah I know that Zell, but that wouldn't be the only reason."
Squall took a look at the newspaper and read through the text. "It says she was with a psychiatrist before she jumped, do you think she would have said anything to her?"
"Perhaps."
"What's her name? She might work at the same place as I do." Seifer asked.
"Alison Beck," Squall answered. "Do you know her?"
"Yeah…" Seifer replied. "She's actually quite a good friend of mine, maybe I could go visit her later on and ask her about it, she might know more than what the newspaper says."
"Maybe she could tell you what Autumns real name is, if she knows," Quistis said.
~*~*~*~*~
Stood in front of a big wooden door, with a picture of a bird, which had been painted delicately on the glass near the top of the door, was Seifer. He raised hand and pressed the golden doorbell, from beyond the door the door he heard the jingle it had made and a dog bark. A few moments later through the frosty glass he saw an image appear towards the door. The door handle make a clicking sound before the door opened and Alison appeared.
"Seifer?" she said, a little startled from seeing him at her door. Although she and Seifer were close friends he had only ever come around her house for work related reasons. She had taken the day off work, so he couldn't possibly be here for that reason.
"Hi," Seifer said with a slight smile. "Sorry for turning up at your door like this. I read what happened about last night and thought I'd see if you were alright." Seifer said awkwardly, just realising how tough this might be on her. 'Damn I'm so insensitive,' Seifer thought to himself.
'Last night' the words seemed to stab her as the memories of the night before came back to her, which she had been trying all morning to forget. She froze for a moment in silence.
"That's sweet of you," she forced herself to say. "I'm alright though, you don't need to worry about me," she lied.
Seifer studied her for a moment noticing how tense she was. "Are you sure? I know if that was me I would be a little shaken up by it."
She smiled at him slightly. "You're so young, but yet you have such a big heart to care about a middle aged mother like me."
"You've always helped me, I guess this is my way of paying you back."
Alison felt touched. "Would you like to come in and have some tea, you must be freezing out there," she said allowing Seifer inside her house.
The inside of the house had a cosy feel to it. She led him into the living room, where there were two armchairs and a sofa on the outskirts of the room. Around the walls were lots of pictures of young children. On the floor lying near the fireplace was a sleeping Labrador. Seifer took a seat on the sofa, a few moments later Alison returned to the room. She took a seat in a chair and let out a little sigh.
"I've had so many reporters come round my
house today, I'm glad it was you that came. I thought that it would have been
another of those damn reporters."
"I can imagine," Seifer said.
There was an awkward silence for a few moments until Alison spoke up again. "It makes you think doesn't it?" she said. "Is it really worth it?"
Alison acknowledged the confused look on Seifer's face. "Sorry I guess I'm not making any sense am I?" she said with a smile. "It's just we all live our lives in fear. We're told that these are the mutants, which are evil and roam our streets. Why do we never question what the government tells us? After meeting that girl last night it makes me wonder, are they really that bad?"
"Almost everyone thinks that they are"
Alison picked up a newspaper and looked at the article on the front page. "That poor girl, she was no older than you," she said looking towards Seifer. "She must have been driven to suicide because of us, it's not fair on any of them. I wish all of this would come to a stop, since the escape they haven't even hurt anyone."
Seifer nodded his head feeling at ease because the woman that was sat in the very same room was probably the only one in Balamb that didn't hate mutants.
"It's a strange feeling," Alison started. "How do you know if they are mutant or not if we all look the same?"
Seifer looked at her for a moment before answering. "I don't really know…"
"I would never of guessed she was a mutant. I could have been confronted with more than one mutant and wouldn't have guessed it…like you for instance."
Seifer's heart stopped. Was she really implying that he was a mutant?
"W-What do you mean?" Seifer stammered as he looked into the serious face of Alison Beck. She studied him for a moment then the corners of her lips curved up into a smile and let out a small laugh.
"I'm joking with you, Seifer."
"You were? Oh yeah." Seifer said with a fake laugh and let out a silent sigh of relief.
"I don't like everything being so serious all of a sudden."
"Yeah, I suppose it isn't helping."
Alison nodded her head. "And besides I don't see why the reporters can't let it be." She now put on a more serious face. "Anyway El- I mean Autumn said she would be happy, we've obviously caused enough damage in her life, we should leave her in peace now."
Seifer nodded his head, thinking about what she had just said. He noticed how before saying Autumn she had corrected herself; she was going to say a different name. A name beginning with 'El'.
Authors note: Yay! No more school!!!!!!!!! Hi there, sorry this chapter is a bit naff but things should liven up in the next chapter. Happy Christmas everyone! ^_^
