When you get home that night, you all but throw yourself onto your bed. You're completely pooped, and all you want is to let the sweet embrace of sleep grip you into tomorrow. Still, you have important things to take care of. The Seed is bothering you; it's not like it could just get up and disappear on its own. It's as you're lying there trying to figure this out when your mom quietly opens the door and peeks into your room.
"Hey, baby girl," she starts. "How did it go? Was that Cross guy nice, or did he live up to his name?"
You laugh as you roll over to your side. She's clad in her thick wool socks, a gray turtle neck, and her coral robe. Her hair is in a messy pinned up bun, and you can see that she's got her coffee mug with her. Yup, she's not going to sleep tonight.
"He was actually very sweet. And guy's grandson was a sweetheart! But his granddaughter didn't seem to like me."
Your mother wears the same expression you did at finding out he was a grandfather, but a quick chuckle is all she gives in response to that. She takes a measured sip from her red mug before saying she's glad everything went fine. You smile at her as she bids you goodnight and closes the door behind her. Once you can no longer hear her shuffling steps, you know she's in the carpeted living room, and so you dive down to the floor. You take everything from under your bed out and begin searching for the Seed. As you inspect your belongings, you notice something strange. Your treasure chest lock is open...
You hesitate as you reach to open the chest, but you have to check. Did someone go through your things? You take off the falsely latched lock and slowly pull the lid up. Within you see your fairy figurines your mother helped you collect growing up, the picture of Stela while you were holding her, the sketch book your uncle gave you on your 10th birthday, and the black notebook with a single blue butterfly on the cover that your dad gave you right before he died.
You take each item out carefully, lovingly. You stroke favorite figurine's wings, and note each little notch that it took to create such small fingers and precise facial features. You hold the picture up and admire your precious cousin's ruddy cheeks and soft patch of hair in the highest point of her life. You go through your sketchbook slowly, and appreciate just how much you've improve improved over the years. As you turn to the last page, your heart seems to stop at what you see. The blood drains from your face, but you hold still. You put down the sketch book right in front of you, and with a shaky breath pull out your notebook. You flip through the page frantically, looking for anything amiss, then you see it.
On a single, once empty page, words are scrawled in large letters.
"Have fun sleeping now."
You take a shaky breath as you read the words, and look back at the latest image, one you did not do. Your mother lies there, gripping her pillow tightly. Your arm is wrapped around her form, seemingly comforting her. And behind is the window, slightly ajar, with a figure hidden in the shadows. It's just a drawing, you know, but it feels much too real. You gulp at the implications, and wrap your arms around yourself as the feeling of being violated, of your private treasure having been rummaged through and left with the remnants of an unknown intruder.
You look up to your window, half expecting to see the shadowy image from the drawing there before you, but are glad to see it's empty. You quickly get up to make sure it's latched, accidentally kicking the chest as you move, and are quick to throw a couple of towels over the frame of the window to make sure you can't be seen. As you turn back around, the glint of an object hidden under your figurines catches your attention. You quickly kneel down, taking them out rapidly yet carefully, and find what you had been looking for earlier. Attached underneath is a small note.
"So we can be even," is scrawled in small, elegant letters on the paper. Seeing the Seed gives you a sense of relief. You clutch it to your chest, and look around as if you've never been in your room before. When all checks out, you make sure you have baggy clothes, and that the magazine isn't clicked all the way into place so you can't accidentally shoot yourself. After a second of hesitation, you step out and quietly check the bathroom, kitchen, and door for any signs of tampering or whatnot.
"What are you doing still up?" Your mother asks from the living room. She looks so tired, worn. Her eyes are red from the lack of sleep, and the bags under her eyes look as if they're carrying a huge load. Her glasses are slightly off kilter, and the papers littering the floor show you that something's up. There's a lot on her plate already, so you decide not to add more. You shake your head, saying you were doing nothing. That you just can't sleep is all. You go back to your room quietly while she's busy looking over her papers again and put the Seed in a safe spot. Then you grab your blanket and sneak over to your mom again. You sit beside her and ask if you could stay with her a bit. She gives you a tired yawn, then pulls you into a hug.
"Sure thing, baby girl."
She places a small kiss on your forehead then fixes her glasses, and continues on with her work. Every so often, she drinks some of her coffee. She also writes some notes besides each case.
Her eyebrows scrunch together as she notes a strange correlation. You try to catch a glimpse to what she sees, but she gives you a look of reproach that makes you stop. When you try to pry a bit verbally, she tells you that you know better. "You know I can't breach doctor/patient confidentiality."
You mumble that you're just trying to help, but relent. There's something about these patients though... As you sit thinking about the bits of notes you've been able to see, you start to hypothesize. They all seem to have been attacked based on the wounds they have, though they're unconscious. Your mother obviously noticed a certain connection, but she's not telling you. You sigh as you think, and lean against the wall, staring at the ceiling. You wrap the blanket a little bit tighter around your form as you think. Sleepy images begin to play around your vision as you start to doze off. You turn to your mother to tell her that you should each head to bed as she is starting to nod off as well, but then you see a flash of red as your eyes pass over the documents. The image of Akane burns into your eyes, and that quickly wipes your sleep.
"I thought Akane just burned herself!" You exclaim in shock. Your mother becomes more alert at the sound of your voice, and looks at you questioningly. She cautiously tells you, "...she was," but quickly begins to gather her files anyways.
"It's time you go to sleep," she tells you.
You get up after her, ready to grab hold of her arm and question her further, but she turns and yells, "Sleep!"
Her nostrils flare in anger as she clutches the documents to her chest. She looks as if she's protecting a baby. She's too busy holding the documents to herself for her to notice that one of those very documents is turned towards you. There's a mahogany haired young man with an apathetic look, and the name Shiki Senri written besides the name. You squint your eyes at the image, and mumble, "fine."
You walk over to your room, moodily wrapping the blanket over your head.
'I'm going to find out how that little dumb butt is connected to this! I don't care how mad she gets!'