Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to "Andromeda" or its characters. I am simply borrowing them, I swear!
A/N: Thanks for the reviews! And thanks to starfish for pointing out my mistake. I have fixed that mistake.
Title: "The Girl Who Hated All"
Summary: When the Andromeda comes across a very young, and very strange young girl, they have no choice but to allow her to come with them. Harper soon discovers her secret; too bad no one believes him…
Genre: Supernatural/Horror
Rating: PG-13 for language and supernatural occurrences.
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Chapter Two
Trance returned from showing Agrona to her new room alone. "Hey, where's the kid?" asked Harper.
"In her room," replied Trance. "She fell right to sleep. Poor thing must've been out there all alone for days."
"What makes you say that?"
"Well, before she fell asleep, she said that a few days prior to today, her father died this . . . 'unusual death.' I could tell that she was getting rather shaken up by the memory of it, so I didn't push her to talk about it any longer, but she did tell me that the last words her father said to her were 'Ubiti svi tko znati što ti si.' I don't know exactly what that means, though."
"Huh," grunted Harper, uneasily. He inhaled deeply. He could feel in his gut that something was bizarre about that girl. Maybe he was simply being paranoid, but he couldn't shake away the memory of what had happened when that girl's hand had brushed him; his heart was still pounding uncontrollably from all of the images that had flashed before him.
"So," he said, shuffling nervously, "what are we going to do with her until we, you know, find her a place to stay?"
"We're going to take care of her, obviously."
"Well, yeah, but . . . um, what if there's an attack or something?" Trance rolled her eyes. "Hey, it happens, you know," he retorted, defensively.
"Uh-huh . . . in case of an attack," she said, mockingly, "we will lock her room and secure it, okay?" Harper nodded. "Wow, I'm surprised that you care so much for the safety of this girl."
Harper chuckled, anxiously. He watched as Trance turned around and walked away. 'Actually, I care a little bit more about the safety of us," he thought, slowly shaking his head, and returning to his post.
He looked over and looked at Rommie. "Hey, Rommie?" he said, a question in his voice.
She looked over at him. "Yes Harper?"
"Uhh," he mumbled, uncomfortably. "Do you know why that you couldn't pick up that, umm, girl on your sensors?" he asked, his eyes darting around, as though Agrona was in the room listening to him at that very minute.
Rommie stared at him for a second. She did not know why Harper was acting so anxious. "I'm not sure; maybe because she was so small, I was unable to pick her up." Harper nodded. "Why?" asked Rommie, cocking an eyebrow at him.
"I don't know . . . I was just, uhh, wondering, so that I knew that nothing was wrong with your system or something . . ." His voice trailed off. He was aware of how uneasy and ridiculous he sounded, but he hoped that no one would say anything about it.
"Uh-huh," replied Rommie, in either a confused or sarcastic tone of voice, Harper couldn't tell.
"So, is she asleep, still?" he asked, attempting to change the subject, slightly, at least.
"Yes." Rommie turned away from him, still unsure as to why Harper seemed so uptight about that child.
"I'm going to go to the, umm, machine shop, okay?" he stated, to no one in particular. He turned on his heel and began to walk down the ship's hallway, towards the machine shop.
Looking ahead, he saw the door to Agrona's room. Harper noticed that the door was cracked open the slightest bit. As he neared her room, he could actually hear her breathing and mumbling in her sleep.
He was about to walk past her room when something in the room caught his eye; a small, yellow light. He walked quietly up to the doorway and peeked inside
Agrona was lying in a bed, the covers pulled up to her chin. Harper noticed that the faint light was coming from beneath the covers, where Agrona's stomach was. The light moved up and down as the small girl breathed steadily.
His eyes widened. "God, what is that?" he whispered. He slapped his hand over his mouth as Agrona stirred. She rolled over on her left side, facing Harper. Her eyes were still closed, so Harper removed his hand from his mouth.
"Ubiti svi tko znati što ti si," he heard her mumble, in a deeper voice, one that should have belonged to a grown man.
"I'm trying, Papa. I've done good so far, haven't I?" she said, in her normal voice. Harper could do nothing but stare, his mouth agape, as Agrona seemed to have a conversation with her . . . father?
"Neki dana posada je proistjecanje što ti si. Ubiti njemu! " the deeper voice said.
"Who, Papa, who? I haven't done anything to make them suspect . . ."
Harper's heart began to thump wildly in his chest. He had been right, something was wrong with her . . . he just wished he could understand everything she was saying.
"Inženjer," said the deeper voice.
"What, you mean Harper?" she asked. Harper's eyes widened at the sound of his name. "But how-?"
"On je promatranje te zatim. Budan!" Agrona's eyes snapped open, and Harper staggered backwards, falling to the floor with a grunt.
Harper heard Agrona rise out of her bed and began to walk towards the door. He quickly stood up and dashed down the hall to his machine shop. He sat down on a stool, rubbing his forehead. What had just happened? He played the entire scene in his mind about ten times, trying to make sense of it all.
He shook his head; he had no idea of what Agrona was doing, or what her father was telling her, and the fact that Trance did not know what language it was only succeeded in making him even more uncomfortable.
Harper glanced up at the sound of the doors to the machine shop opened. He looked behind him and saw Agrona standing in front of the doorway, rubbing her eyes. "Mr. Harper," she murmured. "Whatcha doing?"
"I was going to make sure that the Andromeda is still running properly," he told her, looking into her deathly-green eyes.
"Oh, okay . . . I heard something outside of my room, so I wanted to see if you were walking by, or something."
He shook his head. "Nope, I've been in here for awhile," he lied, turned back around, not wanting to look at Agrona any longer.
"Okay," she replied, but her voice held the tone that she knew that Harper was lying. "Well, g'night." She turned around and walked out of the machine shop.
Harper heard her leave and felt his body relax. "Oh, thank God," he breathed. "I thought that she was going to attack me, or something."
Later . . .
The entire crew was on the main deck. "I know that this isn't our usual type of 'adventure,'" said Dylan, "but I think that we should find someone to take in Agrona before we move along to anything else."
Everyone, with the exception of Harper, nodded or murmured in agreement.
Harper glanced around at everyone around him; they all seemed to believe that Agrona was a sweet little girl, but who could blame them; they hadn't seen nor heard what he had earlier. 'Should I tell them what I heard?' he thought. 'Would they even believe me? Well, I guess it doesn't matter too much if they do or not; if I don't say something, I'll go off the edge!'
Harper cleared his throat. "Umm, guys?" he said, waiting for everyone to look at him. "There's something that I think I should tell you. Now, I know that you probably won't believe me, but I'm going to say it anyways."
He took a brief pause before continuing. "Earlier today, I was walking by Agrona's room, and I heard her talking to someone in her mind. I think that it was her father. She said something about not doing anything to make us suspect anything, then her father replied in this strange language. Then she said something about me, and then she woke up." He looked around at each person staring at him. "Now, you can take this to mean whatever you want, but I want this girl off of the damn ship as soon as possible."
Beka was the first to speak: "Harper, are you insane? I highly doubt that a little girl is the 'root of all evil,' okay?"
"But-"
"Harper, just don't worry about it, okay? And I'm sure that she was just talking in her sleep. It happens, you know."
Harper groaned. "Fine, don't believe me; I didn't expect you to, anyways." He turned and stormed out.
The crew watched as he left. "I think that the boy has finally gone over the edge," said Tyr, after a moment of silence.
Harper stood in his machine shop, staring at the wall. "What in the hell is that little Spawn of Satan trying to do to me?" he asked himself. Somehow, she had managed to turn the entire crew against him.
Beka's words rang throughout his mind. Are you insane? He rubbed at his eyes. Maybe he was going insane, but if he was, it was because of Agrona. He sighed inwardly and crouched down to pick up his tools and begin working on the Andromeda.
Cl-ICK
He snapped his heard up. "What-" He turned his head around . . . nothing; the room was completely empty. He shrugged his shoulders and continued his work.
Cl-ICK
He turned his head around once again, only to be met with the vacant room. Chewing on his lip, he stood up and began to work on the ship.
ScrEEch
Harper's heart skipped a beat, but he did not turn around. His heartbeat pulsated throughout his brain.
ScEE-EE-CH
Harper clasped his hands over his ears; it was as though someone was running their long fingernails slowly down a chalkboard. He shuddered, lowering his hands. 'Am I losing my mind?' he thought.
Suddenly, a cool breeze blew on the back of his neck, causing the hairs on his neck and arms to stand on end. He shuddered again, rubbing his neck with the back of his hand.
He sucked in his breath as he heard footsteps approaching; small, childlike footsteps. Harper's urge to turn around grew even greater, but he did not give in. He took a deep breath. His fear was growing. Why did he feel that Agrona was coming after him?
The footsteps grew closer; step by step . . . Harper could literally feel the vibration through the metal floor. The footsteps stopped directly behind him.
Harper squeezed his eyes shut. 'No, don't turn around; it's nothing,' he told himself. His eyes snapped open at the sound of a small girl giggling. "Screw it," he mumbled, spinning around to see . . . an empty room.
The sight of the deserted room was about ten times worse than if someone actually had been there. "Oh, my God," he whimpered, rubbing at his temples. "What is going on?"
In his mind, a young girl laughed . . .
To Be Continued . . .
A/N: Don't forget to review, I simply looooove feedback! Thanks much!