~o~

Nina's Point of View

It was obvious that Six, Holiday and Rex weren't here. I could just feel it. Better for me, anyway. I'd spent a lot of time away from here and was feeling a bit better. It made me miss being a nomad just a tad. Instead of going straight to my room, I headed to the dark, unlit cafeteria and sat at one of the tables alone. Most of Providence was off.

How could Rex do this to me? How could he break my heart like this? The least he could do was tell me he was giving up on me. Why was he torturing me, leaving me guessing? I didn't understand. How could things go so terribly wrong so quickly?

I looked at the long bandage on my forearm and scoffed. That's what I got for going back to the gambling life. Sure, I needed money, but now I was injured. What about me wouldn't have been too much for Rex? Had it just sunk in how crazy messed up I was? Why did he tell me that he loved me? Did he really feel that way? I reached back to the small scar on my back from my surgery. Rex had said I wasn't allowed to die until we'd been married for almost a billion years. Why had he even given marrying me a thought? I wasn't wife material. I wasn't even girlfriend material. I was crude and unrefined.

He had a right to say something. If he wanted to break things off, all he had to do was say so. I wasn't going to flip out and kill him.

I put my head on the table and closed my eyes for a minute. Back and forth and back and forth. My mind was like that Parisian roundabout. I was getting nowhere. Except deeper into self-loathing and vexation. I had to calm down or I was about to explode. I got up and headed to the hallway leading to Doctor Holiday's office. I needed a walk.

~o~

Circe's Point of View

Six, Rex and Holiday came back and Rex headed down the hall after greeting me.

"Six, you've got to do something," I said once Rex was down the hall.

"About what?" six asked.

"Nina's heart is breaking. She was listening to 'A Year Without Rain' right before she left. She's sad. I can't let her stay like this," I replied.

"So what? Is that a song?"

"You clearly haven't heard it. The chorus goes 'I'm missing you so much; can't help it, I'm in love; a day without you is like a year without rain; I need you by my side; don't know how I'll survive; a day without you is like a year without rain'. It made her run, I think, Six. She's about to go over an edge." They were giving me a look. "What? She makes me listen to her music and it grows on me. Not the point! You've got to stop this, whatever it is. Bobo told me about it. We have to stop him."

"One song could do that?"

"Nina's mind is always thinking about things. She's been thinking about things a lot. Music has a funny way of creeping into your soul and being so ironic."

"We can't get involved, Circe. This is between them."

"I can't stand by and let this go. Ugh, I'll deal with this myself. Just wait till she gets back." Rex came in.

"I think she's already back. The red convertible outside is hers but she isn't in her room," he said. He put the box in his hand in his pocket. Nina walked out from the hallway leading to Doctor Holiday's office and stopped when she saw us all there. Her face was looking so anguished, like she was about to cry. Nina never cried.