Hunted By The Shadows
Chapter Four
Rinoa leaned back in the leather chair in the reception area, her hands fidgeted nervously as she waited. She had no idea why she was so nervous; she had come here every week for the last three months so she had no reason to be anxious. She looked up as the receptionist flashed her a kind smile. "I'm sorry for the wait," she apologised. "Ms. Beck is over running today. She'll be ready to see you soon."
Rinoa smiled politely at the young receptionist and nodded her head. She looked down at the watch on her wrist. It was half past two, not that she was in any rush to get anywhere. At least being here kept her away from the rest of the world, for a little while. With a sigh she looked around the reception area. Expensive leather sofas were placed against the oak panelled walls of the box shaped room. In the middle of the room was a table with various old magazines and newspapers in two piles for people to read while waiting. She turned to her right to find herself gazing out of the large window beside her, looking down on to the city below.
Even in this quiet waiting room away from the rest of the busy town, she still felt that she hadn't escaped everything. She turned attention to the receptionist sat at her desk in front of her. The blonde woman was busy sorting through files until she heard a buzzing noise coming from the intercom. A few moments later she turned her attention to the tense raven- haired woman before her. "She's ready to see you now" she said softly.
Taking a deep breath Rinoa stood from her seat and walked over to the door, which she entered once every week. She studied the wooden door in front of her. A gold plaque was fixed on the top half of the door with the name 'A. Beck' engraved in it. Raising a hand she knocked on the door and waited until she heard the door click as it was opened.
From behind the door a middle-aged woman with greying hair stood. She was dressed smartly in a black skirt and shirt with a pair of glasses on the bridge of her nose. She smiled as she saw Rinoa stood at the doorway. "Hello Rinoa," she said with a smile "Please come in." She opened the door wider so Rinoa could step inside the room.
She studied the inside of the small room as she heard the door close behind her. In the middle of the room there were two leather sofas, a coffee table was placed between the two with a small notepad placed on it. Holding her arm out, the woman led Rinoa to the first sofa. Waiting for her to sit down, she followed suit sitting on the other sofa. Leaning forward she smiled at Rinoa as she picked up her notebook. Flipping open the notebook, she read the notes of their previous meeting before looking at Rinoa again. "How have you been since I last saw you?" she said taking out a pen.
Rinoa looked at the woman in front of her. She knew how this worked now; it was the same sort of questions every time. "You're the psychiatrist," she said sounding a lot colder than she had intended to. She let out a small sigh and looked to the floor. "Things have been okay I guess."
"Are things getting better with your father?" she asked, watching Rinoa closely.
"Well, we haven't had any arguments this week" she said looking back up to face the doctor "And I decided to do the performance. Thanks to your advice you've given, Ms. Beck, it's helping a lot," she said with a smile.
The woman dismissed her formality "Please, call me Alison. I'm glad it's helping" she returned back to the subject "How did you find the performance?"
Rinoa felt something inside her freeze up. The performance had been hard to do, but it had gone well. That was, until she got taken to the cemetery. Something she really didn't want to discuss at this moment. What could she say? She was only seeing a psychiatrist by choice, she certainly didn't want to say things like she was hallucinating. She was sure she wasn't completely mad. Maybe she was just hallucinating...? There was no other logic she could think of, unless she somehow fell asleep, but in the middle of a performance? Some things didn't quite make sense.
"Hard," she said simply, her eyes avoided Alison's. "But once I started playing, it got a little easier."
Alison looked at Rinoa, her eyes searching Rinoa's. "Are you sure?" she asked, feeling that Rinoa was trying to avoid something.
Rinoa looked at Alison. "Yes." She really didn't want to talk about that now, but at the same time, something was screaming at her to tell Alison. She was a psychiatrist, she was here to help, and maybe she could give a logical explanation. "It just brought back memories."
"Memories of what?" Alison probed deeper. "Your mother?"
Rinoa nodded her head slowly, the visions played over in her head as she was forced to think about it once more. A cool breeze swept over Rinoa and she felt herself rubbing her arms trying to warm up. "It was like... I was somehow there again."
Alison cocked her head to the side. "You were where again?"
The words never reached her ears. She saw herself there again. Stood in the cemetery. Staring down at the grave. The people surrounding the grave. It was all happening again, like a movie playing in her mind. In the distance she heard the soft music from the piano. The piano that she should have been playing at that time.
"Rinoa?"
The words brought her back to the small room and she saw Alison looking at her. "Where were you again?" she repeated.
This time the words did reach her ears. She felt the tears well up in her eyes and the fear seemed to erupt inside. What was happening to her? "The cemetery" she said barely audible. "I hadn't been there since the funeral. I was too scared to go before. Then when I was playing, I was just there," she tried to explain.
Alison gave her a confused look "You were in the cemetery when you were playing the piano?"
Rinoa simply nodded her head "Yeah," she said with a small laugh, but there wasn't any humour in it. "I was playing, then when I looked up, I was in the cemetery. There was some strange looking person. I've never seen them before in my life."
"Can you describe what they looked like?" Alison asked.
Rinoa shook her head, not wanting to think of what they looked like. "I don't remember," she lied.
"Please try Rinoa, it's important. Are you sure you don't know them?" Alison pleaded with the young woman in front of her.
Again, she was reluctant to think back, but this time she saw them in her mind. "I couldn't really see them because they had a long black cloak on, covering his faces" Rinoa said slowly, she waited for a reply from Alison but there was only silence. So she continued. "I think they had some sort of weapon with them, like some sort of sword. I can remember looking at it. It had all these strange symbols on it. Then he stabbed me with it," she said with another laugh, but there was no humour in that either.
"What happened next?" Alison asked.
"I was bleeding. Then I was in a strange house; I'd never been in this house before. I was bleeding and I can remember seeing a young boy running to me but the same person who stabbed me cut him with his sword. Then everything went back to normal and I was at the piano again," she starred at Alison. "I sound crazy, don't I?" she let out a small sigh "What happens now?"
Alison looked down to her notes, then back up to Rinoa. In all her work she had never dealt with anything like this. "Do you have problems sleeping?" she asked.
Rinoa slowly nodded her head "Since it happened, it just repeats over and over in my head. I can't sleep"
Alison slowly closed her notebook. "I think we've talked enough for this weeks session," she said slowly "I'll prescribe you some pills to help you to sleep and we'll see how things are next week."
Rinoa nodded her head and stood from her seat "You think I'm crazy, don't you?"
Alison looked at her sorrowfully "Of course I don't think such things, Rinoa. I think you've been under a lot of stress lately and doing that performance in memory of your mother would be very emotional for you." She said leading Rinoa to the door, she took some pills out of a cupboard and handed them to Rinoa. "Try these, they'll help you get some sleep"
Rinoa took the pills from her hands and headed towards the door. "Thank you, Alison," she said slowly "Please don't tell anyone about this"
"All of my sessions are confidential" she said with a smile "If you ever need to talk, you know I'm here to listen"
Rinoa nodded her head and said goodbye before leaving the building, and entering back into the busy crowds of people in the large city.
The darkness had already begun bleeding into the sky as the sun was lowering. The once warm day was beginning to cool down and leave a chill in the air. She wrapped her arms tightly around her waist to try and warm herself up. Her pace began to quicken as she saw the apartment block ahead of her.
Since leaving Alison she had walked around the busy streets of Deling City, not really sure where she had been going. The walk was what she needed. Something to clear her mind and keep her away from the inner demons in her mind. Although, Rinoa knew she would get lost in her thoughts. The never changing scenery didn't help distract her from the thoughts. She had been so lost in her own mind that she didn't realise she was heading straight towards the cemetery until she was once again stood outside those tall metal gates. Strange, how she had never dared go to the cemetery since she was four, and there she was, for the second time in one week. Or was it three times? She didn't dare think. So she just stood there, peering through the cold metal gates like a small child wanting to see what was beyond a high wall. For a long time she had stood frozen, before making her way back to her apartment.
She entered inside the tall building and pressed the button for the elevator. Once she stepped inside she pressed herself against the silver wall in one corner. She never had liked elevators, but she defiantly didn't want to walk up ten flights of stairs to get to her apartment. The humming noise of the elevator sounded as it made its trail up to her destination.
As soon as it stopped and the doors opened she quickly stepped out into the hallway. She desperately wanted to get back to her apartment and sleep. A shiver ran through her spine, for the last few days, sleep had meant turning uncomfortably in bed trying to get that horrible image out of her head. He had been standing there, sword in hand. Brought it into her. The blood.
She quickly dismissed the thoughts and was glad when she saw a familiar face also stood in the hallway. Amy was her neighbour, and over the past few months they had grown to be quite close friends. She stood with her long dark hair tied back, her hands were rummaging through her bag and she hadn't even noticed Rinoa standing there.
"Need some help?" she said in a friendly voice studying her neighbour closely.
Amy turned round to see Rinoa, and smiled. "Hey Rinoa, didn't see you there" she said with her arm at the bottom of her bag. "I think I've lost my keys to my apartment" she said placing the bag down on the ground. Rinoa watched as she checked her pockets to find the lost keys.
"Maybe you left them at the library" Rinoa offered. Amy had begun working at a library near by just after Rinoa had moved in. "I'm sure you won't mind checking at the library, if you're lucky he might be there" Rinoa said with a smile. Part of the reason she had begun working at the library was because her crush sometimes came in the library for a few books.
As soon as she heard the words leave her friend's lips she felt the heat raising in her cheeks and she had to look to the ground. "Maybe you're right about leaving them in the library, but saying he will be there certainly won't make me want to go" she said still feeling the heat in her face. She placed her hand in a pocket on her jacket and pulled out her set of keys. "I guess I really should work on my searching skills," she said with a smile waving the keys in the air.
Rinoa laughed at her friends' comment taking out her own set of keys and opening her apartment door. She looked inside her apartment. The light from the outside hallway was seeping onto the floor of her apartment leaving the ceiling crawling with darkness. She felt a shiver run down her spine again, thinking that she should stop scaring herself over such small things. Only small children are scared of the dark. She turned to her companion. "Want to come in for a while?" she said, pleading inside her mind.
Amy dropped her bag down inside her own apartment and then made her way towards the raven-haired girls apartment. Rinoa looked back to the shadows within her room, then with a new confidence, she flipped on the light switch. Suddenly the shadows didn't seem as frightening anymore.
Authors note: Yes, Amy is the library girl from Final Fantasy VIII. I'm not actually sure how many characters from the game we will be using in our story, but we'll try to put most of them in where possible. Once again, sorry for not updating any sooner! We are still trying to figure out where this story is going but we always end up thinking too far ahead then forgetting another vital piece of information or it ends up not making sense. Anyway, please be kind and leave a review. Even if you want to tell us how bad our writing is, just leave a review! Thank you!