NINE
"Though we're moving quickly it feels I've waited all my life / Until this moment I'd only dreamed of paradise / For hours without a single word, we hold on tight / If nothing's perfect, you and I are nothing tonight." -BAD SUNS
-x-
"Stop the confusion / Stop the illusion / It's only you on my mind / It's only you all the time / And I need you to stop the accusations / My lovin' is real life, no animation / Determined to love you long, I need patience." -PARTYNEXTDOOR
The birds were chirping.
The sky was bright and the cornfields looked as if they were being baked underneath the sun. This was something Korinna was sort of used to, back in Skiathos she woke to the sound of the sea and boats passing through. It was quiet like this and reminded her of Skiathos a bit. She stood with half lidded eyes breathing in the cool air from the bedroom attic's window. Korinna had yet to leave the said room, after sharing whatever information Ruben needed to know about her father; she hadn't seen him yet. Early afternoon turned to night and then it was morning again. Korinna could have left if she wanted to but had somehow fallen asleep and was placed in the bed, by whom? That she didn't know.
Korinna watched from the window as all sorts of people walked along and little kids chasing after each other. It seemed as if the people here were really happy and didn't have much to worry about, Korinna wondered how that felt? Actually since she's been here for almost two days now she didn't worry about what could be happening back home. That thought hadn't crossed her mind once. She hadn't thought about what Janice could be thinking or if she had come up with some believable lie to James and Viola. She didn't think about what if Nicky and Vito were looking for her or tried to stop by. She didn't think about any of that because well, she was exploring. Korinna was risking herself being in contact with Dacey and whatever the hell this place was. Somehow she couldn't find herself to care that she was putting herself at risk because she was at risk either way.
However in Korinna's short time of being here she hadn't been harmed in anyway. Was Nadia's suspicions about Dacey being in a cult after all correct? Korinna could have asked Ruben this but after drinking that tea her thoughts were directly on her father. Korinna had no problems speaking out the hatred she had for that man and it's not like Ruben didn't know half of the information Korinna happened to be sharing, it was all just from her point of view. So far there was absolutely nothing wrong with this place but Korinna hadn't been outside yet.
A knock on the door made Korinna avert her attention from the playful children blow to see a woman poking her head around the door. Turning fully to face her Korinna wordlessly watched as the older woman step into the room holding a pile of clothes in her hands. Korinna took the time to take in her appearance, she was taller than Korinna just by a tad, thin muscular-frame(it was evident that the woman took care of her body), tan skin, reddish long brown hair, slight arched long brows, and to be completely honest she looked a bit like Ariana Grande.
"Hey it's Korinna right?" The girl spoke in her natural cool tone.
Korinna slowly blinked.
This time it was the girl's turn to take in Korinna's mannerisms. A small frown appeared in her brows but Korinna didn't notice since she was too busy staring which was a little odd. Sighing the girl glanced over her shoulder and walked towards the door. She peeked her head out checking the hallway before closing the door shut and walked around Korinna to place the folded clothes on the messy bed. She peeked over at the empty tea cup that rested on the bed side table and spun around to face the young teen again.
"Look you got to stop drinking that shit." The girl hissed, pointing behind her.
Korinna rubbed at her eye, "What?"
"I get it. Really I do, you probably feel good - great right about now because that's what it does. It relaxes your body and let me guess, give's you brilliant dreams." The woman summarized watching as a frown now appeared on Korinna's face.
Korinna blinked again, "Okay...tea is supposed to relax you. Who are you?"
"I'm Raven." The girl stated stepping closer to Korinna to peer into her eyes, "Dacey must have given you some the night he brought you here and I'm assuming Ruben gave you some more and got you to talk about things you're not really open to talk about."
Korinna shrugged her shoulders, "So?"
"So what I'm saying is to stop drinking the damn tea! It's poison." Raven seriously pressed moving to pace the room.
"Like Juliet?" Korinna snorted hinting at the famous play by no other than Shakespeare.
Raven stopped, "I wouldn't pin you down to be a literature fan. I thought Dacey said you were into building houses and scrap booking but, that was a sleeping potion not straight up poison like the damn tea he's feeding to people."
Korinna breathed as she gently sat down on the bed feeling a headache coming on. Raven watched quietly eyeing the teenager's actions before rushing over to the door to lock it. Once she returned back to the sitting teen who rubbed at her temples Raven crouched down in front of the girl and held something out to her in the palm of her hand.
"I can't take that." Korinna mumbled eyeing the pills.
Raven sighed, "Right." She answered looking down at her shoes, not allowing Korinna to question how she might have known that.
"I'm gonna give you the tour of the place today. Let's get you dressed and the first place I'm taking you to is the lab to get rid of that headache you're probably having." Raven advised, now standing.
Korinna did what was asked with no argument. The migraine was too intense for her to bother, maybe she shouldn't have sipped on the tea but her gut feeling was that this Raven girl was going to give her all the answers she needed.
xxx
Korinna remained close to Raven as they scouted the community together. It was weird that this place seemed like a country side ghost town from the attic window but to actually walk through the area made Korinna feel small and okay that none of the people here knew her name. Raven wanted Korinna to blend in so no one would ask questions, meaning she had to be dressed a little dressy much to her irritation. Raven persuaded her telling her that she hated it too and wore shorts underneath her own dresses and skirts. She also said it was a rule here for the women to be dressed like this as if they were stuck in some vintage time period.
The two stopped at an intersection Raven glancing around before looping her arms with Korinna, "We're going to pass Ruben's mother. I assume she knows about you but try not to make eye contact, she'll know something is up if you do."
Korinna dipped her head eyeing a dark haired woman who stood by a tall blonde haired woman laughing about something. They looked snobby Korinna immediately thought taking in their clothing of choice. Those dresses and hats were over the top, the two even had on lace gloves while the lady with the blonde hair walked with a tea cup in her hand. The walking sign made it's self known as a small dinging sound told the pedestrians to walk. Raven kept her chin high and her face forward as the two passed by. Korinna corner eyed the woman as they walked by approaching, Korinna hopefully shifted her eyes quick enough to the houses around her.
"Oh, Raven?" The dark haired woman's voice rang out.
Raven leaned her head towards Korinna's and whispered, "Keep your head straight."
Raven slightly peeked over her shoulder, "Oh hello Mrs. Trujillo and Mrs. Harrington. You two are looking rather lovely."
"Thank you darling. Your dress could use a little jazzing up! Be sure to visit my daughter today at the boutique, tell her I sent you. If that's the dress that you're going out in, I can't imagine what the rest of your wardrobe looks like." Mrs. Harrington laughed, a laugh that sounded extremely fake.
Raven returned a fake smile, "Thanks for the tip Mrs. Harrington! Enjoy the rest of your day."
Just as Raven turned around and began rushing Korinna across Mrs. Trujillo called out again, "Raven? Are you heading to the lab?"
"Yes Mrs. Trujillo."
"You're a very hardworking woman, you take after your father."
"Thank you Mrs. Trujillo."
"If you see my Ruben make sure you tell him to come by the house to bring Mrs. Harrington more tea, will you?"
"Yes Mrs. Trujillo I will."
Then the two began to walk to the other side of town heading towards what appeared to be a museum.
Korinna sat in a room that was set up as an examination room. The walls were so high and the architecture was out of this world. Most of the room was painted with angels and wrapped in gold. Korinna felt as if she was staring too long that her eye sight began to dim, blinking out of it she turned her attention back to Raven who was rapidly typing against a keyboard her head moving from slowly side to side as she did. A few more clicks she got to her feet and moved around the room in search of items.
"Heads up!" Raven called out, tossing a water bottle at Korinna who held her hands up to catch it.
Raven nodded, "Not bad Rokos."
"Is this place a museum?"
"You got it. It was abandoned when my dad discovered it, he decided to turn it around to a lab. The first three floors belong to my dad, I run the joint now since I'm the only one here who knows as much as he did." Raven said with pride.
Korinna downed the first water bottle as she listened, her headache subsiding just a little bit. She watched as Raven stood in front of her reaching over to test her veins then rubbing some alcohol on the cotton ball, "You're very trusting."
"I have nothing left to lose." Korinna stared at the woman in front of her
"Sure you do! You could lose life."
"I wanted to lose it last year."
"I know things aren't the best with your brother but there's got to be one thing that you want to keep living for." Raven suggested grabbing a needle.
Carl.
Korinna shrugged her shoulders.
"I know you have it in you to at least try for yourself. I also know that you probably figured out who you want to keep living for, even if it's not for yourself - it's cool you don't have to tell me. It's not like I'm trying to save you from drinking the rest of that tea or anything." Raven teased causing a small smile to appear on Korinna's lips.
Raven smiled back, "She smiles! Ten points for Raven. Are you afraid of needles?"
Korinna shook her head, "No. What's this supposed to do?"
"Well this shot is going to push all the toxins from the tea out of your blood stream. Usually around the third cup of tea it's a little harder for this stuff to work it's magic. I'm still working on ways to improve it. That's floor level three by the way." Raven informed.
"If the tea is so bad why is Ruben giving it to me? Especially if he seems to think so highly of my bitch ass of a brother?" Korinna wondered feeling the prick first then the warm sting.
Raven grinned, "See Ruben is evil. I don't know if you picked up on that or not. He runs Element Atlas - that's the name of this community, welcome by the way! He's not too smart when it comes to the technical expects he allows others to do that for him but when it comes down to leadership skills hes quick on that. This place may look pretty but it's anything but."
"Is it or is it not a cult?" Korinna could feel the old impatience coming back.
Raven removed the needle placing a cotton ball on top of the small drop of blood,"Hold that," She instructed placing the needle down and grabbing a toy story band-aid, "It is at the last hours of the night. Most are aware some prefer to turn their heads to the things that are too fucking bizarre."
"Are you apart of it?"
"No." Raven sighed ripping off her gloves.
Korinna let this sink into her brain, "A woman I know thinks Dacey is apart of it."
Raven began to pull her hair up into a ponytail, "What do you think?"
"I don't know because I haven't seen him, but I wouldn't be fucking surprised." Korinna laughed humorlessly.
Raven walked back to the computer typing more onto the device, "Do you want to talk to him? He's down at the church where they praise the lord in the mornings and Satan at night."
Korinna's eyes went wide at that, "This is crazy. I don't know if it's whatever you gave me that's still working it's magic to make me my usual self again which is the reason why it's not sinking all the way in but shit." She rambled.
"I mean you would think this place is a paradise. It sure as hell looks like that way here at Element Atlas and Ruben makes sure that it stays this way for the oblivious ones but I've witnessed some disturbing things. We haven't had any newcomers in awhile so when Dacey came here it was shock among other things..." Raven addressed.
"What other things?" Korinna tiredly ran her hands over her forehead and through her hair.
Raven pursed her lips as she stared hard at Korinna, "There's more secrets that you don't know about but Dacey said he would tell you about them. He may fabricate the truth a little but I'll give a warning: creepy Ruben is going to feed you bullshit. He's going to give you two a "Cleanse" but whatever you do don't do anything they want you to do. It's a trick, the tea it makes people sick usually within hours..." She trailed off breaking eye contact.
Korinna wanted to push further but Raven beat her to the punch, "Wait do you remember if Dacey gave you anything the night he picked you up?"
"No...I just remember getting in the car with him. We were quiet for awhile listening to some old song but I don't remember how we got here or anything significant that we passed." Korinna replied, feeling uneasy.
Raven shifted on her feet as she crossed her arms, "That's unusual..." She mumbled to herself and began pacing again.
Korinna licked her lips and felt her throat going dry not knowing if there was any reason to. The door slid open revealing a long haired tan man holding a device, he had his attention on it, "Raven...Ruben's in the building."
When he didn't receive a response he lifted his head and turned to Korinna, "Oh crap! Wow you're a splitting image of-"
"Cisco! List the effects of the tea now." Raven quickly ordered.
Cisco pointed at the tablet but Raven chose to ignore him waving her fingers around to get him to speak as quickly as he could, "Uh okay...the BEL tea the shortened term for Blue Egyptian Lotus consists of the Nyphaea Caerulea Herb which is actually just a simple water Lilly and shares no connection with a lotus flower like at all dude-"
Raven pinched the bridge of her nose as Cisco had his attention on Korinna who still looked lost, "Cisco."
"Right sorry. It was used as a sacrament in ancient Egypt as a mild sedative, usually used by herbalists to treat insomnia and reported to induce lucid dreaming. Which it really does, knocks you out before you even know it. It creates these dreams as if it knows what you really want but knows that there's a big chance that you can't have. Completely relaxes the body but you wouldn't know how toxic it is within twenty-four hours." Cisco announced.
Korinna clenched her jaw, her eyes staring at the floor as she thought this over. "What you're saying is...I should be feeling sick...what do you mean?"
"I mean there should be symptoms not just a simple migraine or anything like that." Raven gently explained.
Cisco glanced down at his tablet to check the status of Ruben before completely stepping into the room to stand beside Raven, "Normally the elders here at Element Atlas who ingest the tea within minutes they're dead. It's easier for them to be effected quicker because they're already declining but-"
"No there was one study. Remember Wendy? Ruben gave her parents the tea and as soon as you ingest it and it settles it feels as if you're getting the flu then you can start bleeding from the inside or out." Raven continued.
Cisco frowned, "None of that happened to Wendy."
"Right you know why?" Raven quizzed.
Cisco paused before snapping his fingers, "She was already sick! Boom! Korinna's already sick!" He bounced on his toes.
Raven sharply grabbed on his shoulders stopping him from doing so and turned to Korinna who held her mouth agape, "If I'm sick then what's wrong with me? If I'm sick and Dacey already tried to feed me the tea the other night then that means he was trying to kill me."
Raven and Cisco stared at the girl in sympathy not knowing what to say or if their predictions were right but the two scientists were hardly ever wrong. Before either of the three could say anything the door slid open revealing Ruben and his wide mouthed smile.
"If I knew that both Raven and Cisco were having a party I would have arrived sooner." Ruben joked raising his thick eyebrows while showing his signature gummed smile.
None of it made sense. A lot didn't make sense lately. If the tea made old people die within minutes and this Wendy girl didn't because she were already sick, why didn't it kill her faster? What was she sick with and did it happen before her and her family got here? Was Wendy and her family newcomers once upon a time too or were they already living here at Element Atlas? Korinna followed Ruben in a daze through the cornfields, taking his advice to change into different clothing since it would be "quite difficult to travel through the fields in that dress, yeah?" Korinna assumed that Ruben was taking her to see Dacey since he automatically assumed that Raven was just giving her a physical which the woman hadn't taken any blood from Korinna.
Cisco and Raven watched in worry as Korinna followed Ruben out of the once abandoned museum through the cornfields towards the old church. Raven had already told Korinna that she shouldn't take anything from Ruben and Dacey and she wouldn't now knowing that the two were trying to kill her and not take her in! Shoving the stalks out of her way Korinna kept up with Ruben who stopped at the center where a pole stood and a scarecrow attached to it.
"I used to come out here whenever my parents were fighting as a young boy," Ruben started his English accent a little hoarse as if he were lost in memory, "I didn't have much friends here growing up. A lot of people hated my mum and dad, some would even spit at our feet when we walk by and I would never see those people again. I always thought about what happened but was too scared to ask. I used to be scared of a lot of things until I looked at the big picture. I looked at the world and all of the horror it comes with and then as I grew, went through deep shit that made me the man that I am today I realized that...I have it pretty damn good."
Ruben turned to Korinna staring at her intensely like he normally does with people, "I saw an opportunity when my life was going to shit. I lost a parent too, yeah. That changed my life because my dad was a fuck up too and when he died I laughed. I laughed so hard I pissed myself and a lot couldn't understand and still fail to understand but I've never been happier. I didn't mean to pry or make you uncomfortable when asking about your father."
'Right because I'm uncomfortable about my father. I'm more uncomfortable with you telling me that you laughed at your father's death.' Korinna thought to herself.
Korinna stared at Ruben as he took a step closer reaching out to brush a strand of her hair behind her ear, "Life is so much better with opportunities that you find. I can help you find those opportunities and I've heard the kind of person you are, you're like a ram tackling anything in it's path so allow me to give you an opportunity."
Ruben stepped back and nodded with his head, "Follow me."
Korinna didn't know if she should or not and Ruben stopped when he realized she weren't following. Ruben sighed as he returned to his spot, "You have a boyfriend, yeah? Carl Gallagher. That's Irish innit?"
"He's one of the three things that makes you happy." Ruben continued as Korinna remained silent.
Korinna tried hard to see who Ruben was underneath it all. Sure she felt a little creepy around him and that he kept hiding her from Dacey. "Where's my brother?"
Ruben pressed his clasped his hands to his mouth and breathed, "I can take you to him but you first must accept this opportunity. You are living on my land so you can't deny it."
"What do you want me to pick out corn for you?" Korinna bit, "Why should I do anything for you? I don't know you!"
Ruben's eye twitched a little but he kept showing his teeth with that bright smile, "There she is! I see that fire Dacey's told me about. You're right you don't have to do shit for me, frequently you could leave if you wanted to but you have no idea how or where to go which is why I'm offering you opportunities one step at a time to make your life better."
"What the fuck are you even saying? I feel like you're talking in circles - what are you trying to say to me right now?" Korinna yelled wanting nothing more than for this slickster to tell the truth.
Ruben lifted up a flip phone and held it out to Korinna for her to see. With one finger he pressed on the speaker, "Carl are you there mate?"
"Yeah." Carl's voice rang through.
Korinna swallowed and snatched the phone from Ruben studying it before taking him off speaker, "Carl." She breathed keeping her eye on Ruben who dipped his head and began to take his leave.
"I'll be at the church when you're done. Dacey's there, just head another mile through the fields and you'll follow the gravel up the road towards the church. Enjoy your first opportunity." Ruben winked and took his exit.
"What's this I hear about you liking Ethan's picture?"
"What?" Korinna exclaimed looking around the fields.
Carl repeated the question, "I heard that you liked Ethan's picture. You know the guy that had a brother who kidnapped you and dislocated your shoulder."
"Are you jealous?" Korinna challenged.
Carl scoffed, "Yeah jealous of a guy that dyes sections of his hair gray yeah sure Ren, fuck that guy."
Korinna snorted at that, "You don't need to worry about me hooking up with some other guy while you're gone. It's not gonna happen buttercup."
"Neither do you, babe."
"Question," Korinna started, "How did you know about me liking Ethan's picture?"
"Some weird guy named Ruben. You're with him aren't you?" Carl wondered.
Korinna sighed as she felt the world spinning, "Something's not right here Carl."
"What do you mean, Ren? Where are you?"
Korinna couldn't see the church from the tall stalk all she could see was the scare crow.
"Element Atlas. I need you to remember that and-" Korinna started to inform her boyfriend right before the phone shut off.
A/N: And the creepy continues. I know I'm getting a little behind so hopefully I can write another chapter sometime this week. Thoughts?! So Monica's sick and possibly Korinna too. I wonder how all the Gallagher kids are going to react to finding out about Monica because she's probably going to die in the finale ;\ also Mickey is back...lol. Lip is losing it again sadly. I no longer trust Svetlana btw and I'm happy that V and Fiona are friends again.
See you all soon hopefully.
-ALES