Something woke Marisa up during the night. A loud bang was heard in the flat but she wasn't sure where the sound came from. Lyra was still asleep, so Marisa got up to investigate the noise. Nothing in the kitchen, nothing in the drawing room or the lounge room. The golden monkey picked up on something in his humans room. Marisa walks slowly to her room and another loud bang startled Marisa. The golden monkey slowly pushes the door open and a tall dark figure can be seen. Marisa quietly goes to the hallway table that's close to her bedroom to get a gun out. She quietly checks to see if it's loaded and walks towards her door.
"Who gave you permission to be in my room? I'll only ask once for you to leave my room"
The shadow slowly turns and looks at Marisa, it walks into some light and the face becomes clear.
"Edward?"
Stunned to see that it was her late husband, she didn't know what to do. He hasn't aged a bit, still looks the same wearing the same clothes he died in.
"What do you want Edward? You can't hurt me anymore"
Edward walks closer to Marisa with his arms out. Just inches away he lunges at poor Marisa and his hands go straight to her throat.
"Your the reason I'm dead. If it wasn't for that child and that silly man I'd be still alive"
Scared for her life, Marisa pulls the trigger on the gun and Edward goes flying back. Wanting to get away from Edward, Marisa runs to Lyra's room and locks the door. Once Marisa made it to the bed she noticed it was empty, quickly searching the bathroom no sign of Lyra. The bed was cold but unmade like someone had slept in the bed.
A thought came to Marisa's mind, Lyra died when Asriel killed Edward and all these years it was all made up. Now totally hysterical, Marisa wakes herself up to find herself in Lyra's bedroom cuddling Lyra.
"It was another horrible nightmare"
Marisa kissed Lyra on the forehead and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. A few minutes later Lyra joined her mother in the kitchen.
"What are you doing up Lyra? You should be asleep"
"Something woke me and you weren't there and I was thirsty so I came here"
Marisa cups her child's face and smiles.
"You know, nightmares are just nasty tricks our minds like to play on us when we sleep"
Confused, Lyra just smiles and walks back to her room. Now fully awake Lyra just laid in her bed, wondering and thinking about what her life would be like if she was raised by both her parents, or what if Mr Coulter never went after Asriel. Lyra liked her life, she liked living at Jordan college and she likes living with her mother... sometimes.
Marisa finished off in the kitchen and went back to Lyra's room to tuck her in and go to her bedroom to try and get some sleep.
"Are you happy here Lyra?"
Lyra sits up and ponders on her answer.
"Yes I am, but there's one thing I wish you would stop doing"
"And what's that Lyra?"
"Stop hiding things from me"
Shocked, Marisa has so many secrets she couldn't risk losing Lyra again. Marisa started to panic.
"I have no more secrets. The last one was about your dad. No I don't know when you'll see him again, his work is very important to him"
Suspicious, Lyra doesn't question her mothers answer and lays down again. In the morning she'll ask about the gobblers and what they are doing with the children.
"Goodnight, sleep tight"
Marisa shuts Lyra's door and softly walks down to her room. Shutting the door then unfolding the blankets in the bed, the golden monkey gets comfy in his spot on the bottom right corner of the bed and Marisa laid on the left side. Marisa couldn't sleep either and she just laid there. The nightmare was lingering in the back of her mind and every time she closed her eyes she saw Edward.
Morning finally came and Marisa barely had any sleep. She got up and went and made herself a cup of coffee to help her get through the day. Lyra slowly surfaced and joined her mother for breakfast.
"You look like you didn't get much sleep either"
Marisa looks at her daughter and smiles.
"I'm ok, I've had worser nights. Did you sleep well?"
Lyra just nods and then realises the last time she did that she got punished. Waiting for her mother to say something, Marisa just ignored it and kept sipping on her coffee.
"Do we have much planned for today mother?"
"No lyra, you are free to do whatever you want, but within reason today. But first you must do your school work"
Excited, Lyra liked this side of her mother.
"After I've done my school work, can I go to the park and explore?"
Marisa didn't like Lyra going out on her own, but she was that tired she didn't care today.
"Sure, just be back before three as you have a clothes fitting"
Instantly regretting her decision with letting Lyra be wild and free for the day, Marisa finished drinking her coffee, went back into the flat and grabbed Lyra's school books.
"Just do these two pages and then your free"
Lyra looked and saw it was maths. One subject she despises but took her time doing. Marisa walks down to her office and shuts the door. She goes for the decanter of rum in the cupboard and pours some in a glass.
"Since the coffee hasn't kicked in, I hope you do"
Marisa takes small sips and sits at her desk. Staring at the papers, Marisa takes one last sip of the rum and she passes out on the table.
An hour passes and Lyra finally is finished. She runs down to the study and knocks, no answer so she told one of the kitchen staff that she was going and that her mother knows.
Excited about being aloud out to explore Lyra took her time getting to the park taking in all the surroundings.
"Pan c'mon hurry up. I want to do a lot of exploring before we have to go back to the flat"
Pan liked seeing his human happy and doing what she loved. They did so much together but Lyra forgot to keep an eye on the town clock. When she left it was half past ten and when she finally looked it was almost five.
"Oh no Pan, she's going to kill me. I was having so much fun, I totally forgot about checking the time"
Lyra's hurry's back to the flat and when she was walking down the hall to the living room she saw the three ladies that were there to measure and her mother standing in the corner with her arms folded.
"Lyra, I told you to be back by three. I was very clear and now you've made us wait two extra hours. What do you have to say for yourself?"
"I'm sorry I lost track of the time and I was having fun"
Marisa scowls at Lyra and points to Lyra's door. Lyra knew what was coming.
