Belle had been thinking durign class, and realised that part of the problem she had experienced was that she couldn't unravel the voices of the dolls - if that is where those voices were coming from - and the voices of Alyssa and Jamie. It was like trying to listen to three conversations at once, but, somehow it was different to that too. More like trying to listen to three streams of consciousness at once. There was too much detail - and too much sensory input. She was getting thoughts and ideas, smell and touch, all in one big package. When she tried to sort through it, to find the narrative that she needed to be able to make sense of it all, she couldn't find the end of the piece of string. It was like a big ball of sticky spaghetti. No matter how much she dag through it to find the main string, the ball got more and more complex, more tightly wrapped up, and more impenetrable. She had wondered if, by reducing the number of people feeding information to her, she could help to cut through it. She didn't want to go alone though, because there was something in her that realised that the images in the mirror were important.
--
Jamie got up and made another cup of coffee, and by the time the two cups had been finished, Jamie had claimed defeat. They packed up the game and as he put the lid on the box, Jamie looked up, "When?" he asked.
Belle thought for a minute and then said, "Now."
Jamie frowned, "What about your mother?"
"How out of it is she?"
"Hmmm." Jamie sighed, "Yeah, she's pretty out of it."
"So. Now, then?"
Jamie hesitated, then nodded in agreement, "Yeah, okay. No time like the present, huh?"
Belle raised a corner of her mouth in a cheeky smile, "Gee, thanks, Jamie, you didn't have to get me a present. It's not even my birthday."
"Ha, ha." Jamie deadpanned.
--
Belle led, just like last time, but she didn't move as cautiously as she had that time. She crept into the room, listenign for her mother, and hearing only the very barest of breathing - steady and slow - Jamie was right, she thought, her mother was really out of it. She hoped she was alright, and then turned her attention to the mirror, the worries, and the dolls. She concenrated hard to block out Jamie behind her, her mother prone in the bed, and tried to just clear her mind. She was in front of the dressing table now, she could reach out her hand and brush the cold glass with her fingertips. Slowly, she began to mutter under her breath, trying not to think too much about what she was saying, letting the dolls - or whoever - speak through her, use her mouth to communicate whatever they needed to tell her.
"I had a little dolly," she began, "I told it my worry. And then it went red, and now they're all dead. I am so terribly sorry. I had a little dolly, I told it my worry ..." she continued on, but felt nothing. In fact, she started to just feel a little bit silly. She became conscious of Jamie standing behine her, watching her, watching the mirror. She stopped, abruptly, and turned to him, "Can you see anything?"
"No, nothing." Jamie replied.
"There's nothing there. They are not there."
Jamie paused, thinking, and eventualy nodded and said, "Yeah, I think you're right." He turned to look at Mandy and then asked Belle softly, "Do you think it's ... it's because of Mandy?"
Belle frowned and shook her head, "No, I dont' think so." She paused again and then realised something, "I think it's because of Alyssa."
"Alyssa?"
"Yeah, I think they want her. I don't think they want me."
"They? Want who? Why?" Jamie stammered.
Belle shrugged her shoulders, and headed outside, calling for Rudolph.
--
Belle found Rudolph sitting outside near his bowl, but he jumped up when Belle arrived, and offered his head for a pat. Belle obliged, and decided to head out to the flat to see if Alyssa was around. She knocked at the dor, but there was no answer.
--
Alyssa and Luke were out having dinner. They had emerged from bed sometime in the middle of the afternoon and then decided they were both hungry. Luke had driven them to a Chinese restaurant in the main shopping strip that ran parrallel to the beach. They were laughing over the chopsticks as Alyssa tried to teach him how to use them, and Luke sent various pieces of Dim Sim and stir fry all over the table cloth. Eventually, after complaining that he was starving, he resorted to a spoon, watching Alyssa enviously. She laughed and showed off, and ended up flicking rice all over the place. Laughing, she started picking up individual grains of rice and feeding them to him.
Worry dolls were the furthest thing from their minds.
--
Jamie decided to leave the bed to Mandy, and sleep on the couch. He slept in fits and starts, his dreams plagued by reflections and mysterious little worry dolls. He relived the old man's death a million times over (more), never being able to do anything to help him. He relived the moment that the mirror went cloudy the other night, and saw the faces, but the prominent one was of the old man, struggling on the bed that his wife now slept - catatonic - in. When, at last, the first streaks of light were showing in the sky, Jamie was sitting out on the back verandah, shivering in the cold. He couldn't rid his mind of the images that had plagued him through the night. When, finally, he heard movement inside, he went in himself, expecting to see Belle. Somehow, he didn't really think that Mandy was ever going to get up again, and when he went into the kitchen to brew himself and Belle a coffee, he gave a start when he saw Mandy, pale and haggard, with her head hanging in the sink.
"Honey?" he said softly, and moved towards her.
"I need a drink." she slurred, almost inaudibly.
"Honey, I don't think you do. How about you have a shower instead?" he paused, as Mandy attempted to frown at him, and only succeeded in crumpling her face up like a child throwing a tantrum. "Come on, Darling," he said, trying to sound encouraging. He put his arm around her, tried to lead her away from the sink. She resisted at first, but then came willingly enough. She was very unsteady on her feet, and Jamie allowed her to rest her weight on him. The two of them maneouvred into the ensuite, and Mandy stood swaying slightly as Jamie undressed her. He had undressed her many times before, but there was nothing remotely erotic about this. Her body was slick with sweat, despite the cool weather. He reached out and turned the shower on, adjusted the temperature, and then wondered what to do. After a little while, he simply stepped out of his own clothes, and jumped in with her.
--
When Belle did get out of bed, Mandy was slumped at the kitchen table. Belle could smell old alcohol, barely masked by soap, shampoo and perfume. Jamie was cooking breakfast in the kicthen, and as she moved into the room the smell of frying bacon hit her like a wall. Almost immediately, Belle had a flash back to the afternoon on the beach, and she raised a hand to her cheek. She fought the urge to cower.
"Morning Sleepy Head!" Jamie piped happily from his place at the stove.
Belle tried to put the idea of the woman behind her, cranked a smiled on to her face, and said as brightly as she manage, "Morning Jamie. What are you cooking?"
"Bacon, eggs, toast. And mushrooms if you want them."
"Fried or poached?"
"Fried, all fried. I thought Mandy could use fried." he said in a slightly softer voice.
Belle laughed, "Yeah, I guess she could. Don't suppose you could poach one or two though? Just for me?"
Jamie laughed along with her, "Yeah, alright. Just for you. Do you want bacon?"
Belle's stomach did a slow roll, and the taste of bile reached up into the back of her throat. She swallowed, "No, no bacon. Just eggs and mushrooms. Thanks Jamie." She smiled sweetly, not knowing whether he was facing her or not, and went back out into the dining room.
--
Belle moved into the dining room, and ran her hand along the rise of her mother's shoulders. She did this frequently, as a way of working out where people were sitting when they weren't talking. She found a seat directly opposite Mandy, and sat in.
"Morning Mum." she said fairly softly.
"Mmmf" her mother responded. The sound was muffled, and Belle surmised that her mother had her head on her folded arms.
"How are you feeling this morning?" she asked cagily.
There was a pause, where Mandy lifted her head and tried to focus on her daughter's face. "I'm alive. I guess."
"Well, that's a good start." Belle said brightly. "Jamie's cooking breakfast. You'll feel better if you eat, he said."
"Yeah, I guess so." Mandy's voice drifted into mumbles as her head drooped back down again.
Belle sighed, clearly her mother was not going to be conversational. She got back up, went back into the kitchen, and offered to help Jamie make toast. He accepted, gratefully.
--
Alyssa woke up, and decided to go in to the house to find Belle. When she smelled bacon frying, she immediately agreed to stay for breakfast. The four of them sat at the table together, Alyssa piling bacon on toast, and Mandy pushing her food desultoraly around the plate. Belle ate quietly, and then went into her room. Alyssa, still wiping bacon grease from her lips, followed her shortly afterwards. They sat together on the bed, talking about everything except the goings on with the worry dolls, until eventually Belle decided to tell her exactly what happened the day before. She recounted the story with little emotion, before droppign the bombshell, "I think they need you Liss. They didn't want to talk to Jamie."
"But what could they possibly want from me? I don't feel anything when I touch them, I can't see anything in the mirror. Even that night when we were all there, all I could see was smoke." she paused, thinking, before adding, "Well, that's all I remember seeing."
"You saw more." Belle said matter of factly. "You saw a lot more."
--
That evening, Mandy was starting to feel her normal self again. Well, not quite her normal self, she thought, that person was still off wandering in the wilderness somewhere, wondering where everything had gone awry, and how she had come to take entirely the wrong turn. But she was feeling better. She wasn't sure how she was going to cope if someone decided to have a little chat to her about the (don't say it, don't you dare say it) recent events, but as long as she tried not to think about it, as long as she could believe that it had all been a strange collective dream, then she felt well, alright. Not great, and certainly fragile, but she was okay. It was all going to be (red) okay. When Jamie reminded her about their failed weekend away, and gently suggested that they should go and make the most of what was left of it, she agreed. Perhaps that was what she needed - time away to come back to normal, and forget the strange events of the past few days.
--
Belle found Jamie's excitement amusing. He was running around the house like a five year old on Christmas morning, packing and unpacking, madly trying to find some needed item and then repacking. Mandy was attempting to share his enthusiasm, but Belle could tell it was forced. Her mother seemed strained, somehow, as though someone had forced her brain to go through an aperture the wrong size, and now she was all bent out of shape and confused. Belle realised that the worry dolls had affected her on a deeper level than it had the rest of them, but she couldn't work out how, or why. Or what to do about it. She was still puzzling over this when, finally around lunchtime, Jamie bundled Mandy into the car, and the two of drove off down the driveway. Alyssa and Belle stood at the front door to wave them off, and were not at all surprised when the car got to the road and, instead of turning left to go out to the highway, started reversing back down the short driveway. The driver's side window rolled down as Jamie pulled up in front of them, and his head stuck out, "Would you mind grabbing a box of tissues?" he called. Alyssa dashed into the house, found the box from the lounge room and brought it back out to them. This time, the car dove up the drive way, and Jamie completed the left turn on to the road. The car drove away and finally disappeared around the next bend.
They were still standing on the front verandah when Belle sighed and said "Man, I'm kind of glad they're gone".
There was a pause, then Alyssa gave a little giggle, "Yeah. Me too."
--
They were sitting in Alyssa's flat, discussing a plan to go in and look in the dressing table mirror again, when Luke showed up. They had agreed that they needed to get in there while Mandy and Jamie were away, and Belle explained her theory about having too many people in the room causing too much mind traffic for her to be able to decipher anything. She reiterated the salient points to Luke, and was surprised when he eagerly agreed to wait outside the room when they went in. It was only later that she realised the whole idea terrified him. There was a moment of silence in the tiny room and eventually Belle stood. Rudolph, who had been sitting in the corner, roused himself and came to her side, and she reached down absently to pat him. "Well, Liss." she said, "You ready?"
"Yeah, I guess so." her sister replied, "Ready as I'll ever be."
Belle smiled, "Let's go then."
--
For the third time, Belle crept into her mother's room, and stood before the dressing table mirror. She was flanked by Rudolph on her right and Alyssa on her left. The three of them stood, solemn, as Belle attempted to clear her mind. It was faster this time, she didn't have to think about what she was going to say, she just the words start to flow, and she had barely said the first few words of the ominous little poem when the force of Alyssa'a thoughts slammed into her with physical force. Belle's world, usually black, went suddenly white, and all of a sudden she was seeing. She saw the mirror, its surface cloudy, the mist roiling behind the glass. Tentatively, she turned to her right and looked at Rudolph, saw him for the very first time. He had a dark tip on the end of his tail, she noticed, and smiled. When she turned towards her sister, she realised that she looked exactly how she thought she looked, and this surprised her. The novelty of sight almost made her forget why she was there, and she had to fight back the urge to just run out of the room and look at everything. She realised, though, even in the excitement of the moment, that she was only seeing what Alyssa could see. She was, quite literally, using her sister's eyes. Alyssa looked almost as though she were asleep. Her eyes were open, fixed on the mirror in front of her, but the expression on her face was slack, immobile. Belle had the idea that she was somehow stealing from her, and tried not to get too carried away by the idea that she had sight. Stop (looking) thinking about it, she chided herself, just go (run) with it, where are the (I had a little) dolls, she needed to contact the (I told my little worry) dolls. She put all her attention into the mirror, and watched the roiling (souls) smoke in the glass, trying to make sense of what she could (but this can't be) see. She saw nothing at first, nothing but vague (faces) images that meant nothing to her, but gradually the mist coalesced into (victims) all sorts of images. So many that she had trouble telling one from the other. There was a face, it's mouth open in horror, then laughter; a hand, clenching in a fist, then softly holding a child's; eyes, wide with fear, then creasing into a smile. The images came fast, faster than she could put words to what she was seeing. She started to feel overwhelmed, and struggled to pull her (mind) eyes back from the individual happenings in the mirror. She tried to take in the mirror itself, and to stop concentrating on the (worries) fine details, the images of love and hate, affection and anger. Eventually her (thoughts) eyes started to see another image, a larger one that was made of the tiny individual pieces - a face, it's features created by the smaller images, constantly moving as the tiny scenes played themselves out within it. As she watched, the face began to smile, the edges of its mouth moving, always moving, but forming into a smile all the same. She watched the face, waiting for it to speak and at that exact moment, Alyssa cried out in surprise, Rudolph barked, and Belle's world reverted to the darkness she had always known.
--
When Belle woke up, she was expecting to be back in her own bedroom, but instead it seemed as though she was still in her mother's. It seemed as though she was still lying on the floor in front of the dressing table, Rudolph snuggled up beside her, his breath whistling in and out as he slept. She wondered how much time had passed. She had a blanket over her, and a pillow under her head, but her hip was aching from the hard floor, despite the carpet. She realised that they hadn't had Jamie to pick her up, so they had just left her where she was, and covered her with a blanket.
She sat up, feeling that same surge of energy she had felt last time. She was awake, energetic, and ready for anything. She didn't know what time it was, but she decided to take advantage of the situation. She raced outside to the flat and banged on the door, Rudolph hot on her heels.
--
Inside the flat, Alyssa and Luke were both fast asleep in pre-dawn darkness. When Belle banged on the door, Alyssa rolled over and mumbled in her sleep, but neither of them woke up.
--
Not to be discouraged, Belle raced back into the house. She decided she was going to take advantage of this energy. She wanted to duck into her room to find out what time it was, but then decided against it, she didn't want to waste a moment. Instead, she went back into her mother's room, kicked the blanket and pillow out of the way, and stood in front of the mirror, RUdolph panting at her side.
--
This time it happened quickly - almost too quickly. Belle felt sucked into the world fo the dolls this time, not as though she had gone voluntarily. Before she knew it, there were voices in her head. She opened her eyes, tried to focus, and found that she almost could. She didn't seem to be able to see colour, and the edges of things seemed shimmery. Her sense of smell, ordinarily pretty good, being absolutely amazing, and she got the idea that she was smelling where things were, more so than seeing them. Before long, she realised what was happening. Because Alyssa wasn't there, see was seeing with Rudolph's eyes - and nose - instead. She laughed out loud, thinking, well, thry do call them seeing eye dogs, after all. This time, she couldn't make out the individual figures in the mirror, Rudolph's eyesight just wasn't that good, it seemed. Somehow, it made it easier to focus on that larger image - the face. This time it didn't seem to be smiling though. In fact, it seemed ... angry, almost. When it begam speaking, Belle listened.
--
When Alyssa woke up, the sun was just starting to streak through the window of the flat, the beam of light a blade slicing from in between the curtains and cutting the room in two. Last night when she had woken up after seeing the face in the mirror, she had had a terrible headache, the same as she got when she had been studying for too long at a time, but about ten times worse. This morning, the pain behind her eyes lingered, although the sharp edge had gone. She closed her eyes, wanting to go back to sleep. But sleep didn't seem to want to take her. She slipped out of bed, trying not to wake Luke. She got dressed, found a couple of Nurofen and swallowed them. She decided to go and check on Belle.
--
When she got inside, the house was very quiet. Although the air was still, it felt kind of ... full. As though the house was filled with invisible fairy floss, and she had to wade through it. What was going on here? She walked into the master bedroom, looking for Belle, and found her - somehwat unsurprisingly - standing in front of the dressing table, Rudolph at her side. Belle was staring raptly into the mirror, her head nodding as though she was agreeing with someone. Rudolph stood eyes open, breathing rapidly, but otherwise for all intents and purposes asleep. His features drooped, his bottom jaw hung open, tongue lolling with a long column of drool waving with his breath. Alyssa couldn't see anything in the mirror except for the reflection of the bedroom. She decided to sit on the bed and watch what unfolded.
--
Belle continued to nod, as though listening to some interesting conversation, and Alyssa kept wondering why the dog didn't fall over. Alyssa could see her own reflection behind Belle's, and she wondered who Belle was listening to. She was acting almost as though she was talking to someone only she could see in the mirror, but of course the idea was absurd. As much as some weird stuff was going on with this mirror, and with the dolls, she didn't think it was enough to give sight ot the blind. The very idea was a cliche. Alyssa repositioned herself on the bed, laying on her belly, with her feet on the pillows and her head resting on her hands so she could watch her sister and her dog. She wondered how long they had been like this, how long they still would be, and gradually drifted off to sleep. When she woke up, Belle and Rudolph were gone, and there was a clutch of worry dolls on the carpet where they had been. Alyssa jumped off the bed, gathered up the dolls, shoved them in the pocket of her jeans, and went in search of her sister.
--
She found both Belle and Rudolph back out in the flat. Belle looked tired, sipping coffee with Luke. Rudolph had found a throw cushion and fallen aslepe on it in the reading nook. When Alyssa opened the door they all looked up at her, and she smiled at them. "I fell asleep", she said sheepishly.
Luke returned the grin, "Feel better Sleeping Beauty?" he teased. Alyssa stuck her tongue out at him, and asked for a cup of coffee as she flopped onto the futon, and crawled under the doona to go back to sleep, "My head still hurts." she moaned.
"Your head hurts." Belle muttered, "You should feel mine."
Alyssa suddenly remembered the worry dolls in her pocket, and sat up in bed. "Hey Sis," she called.
Belle looked up, "What?" she grunted.
"I think you dropped something in Mum's room."
Belle frowned, and came out into the living area of the flat. "Huh?"
"More dolls," Alyssa stated, and Belle stopped dead. Alyssa frowned at the look on her sister's face, "What's wrong? You don't have to touch them if you don't want to ..."
Belle sighed, and resumed walking towards Alyssa and the wory dolls, "Yeah, but i do." she said, "That's the thing. I do have to touch them. And then you have to see it in the mirror."
"But ... but I've never seen anything in the mirror!" Alyssa argued.
Belle shook her head, "But you have, Liss. You've seen more in the mirror than you realise."
"I've seen smoke. Smoke and mirrors, ha ha. That's hardly anything like what the others have seen. Jamie with his heart attack victims and Mum with the girl with the head wound."
Luke stepped out of the kitchenette and into the loungeroom, "Alyssa ..." he cautioned, and Alyssa rounded on him, "You just keep out of this, Luke. I know you think you're involved, because you saw the frying pan woman, but you're not. Okay? You're not involved."
Belle waited for Alyssa's tirade to end and then said softly, "But he is, Alyssa. He's just as involved as I am. As you are. As Rudolph is. We're all involved in this. Jamie, too. And Mum. Did you wonder why Mum reacted the way she did, Liss? Did it ever occur to you that she over reacted just a little?"
Alyssa looked shocked, but said nothing, she hadn't thought about her mother much at all, to be honest. She had been so busy either trying not to think about the whole situation at all, or trying to work out the intricacies of the whole thing - why the dolls, why the worries, why Belle, why herself - that she hadn't actually wondered why her mother had gone off the rails. All of a sudden, it seemed odd that she hadn't thought about it, and she felt a bit ashamed.
"They're coming because of Mum. They're here because they want Mum to help them. They can talk to me, but they need Mum. And I need you, and Luke, to help me get the message across. Mum's fragile enough as it is right now, any more pressure is going to break her in two and we'll be carting her off to the asylum in a white jacket. Or finding her passed out on the bathroom floor with a vodka bottle." Belle paused to let the message sink in.
Alyssa was shocked, and she spoke quietly, as though Belle had clearly already gone mad, and should be treated with care, "Belle, first you said they wanted you, then you said they wanted me, now you're saying they want Mum. What next? Rudoplh? And who are 'they' anyway, Belle? Explain that much to me. And what kind of help? What's Mum got that no one else has?"
Belle shrugged, she didn't have answers to any of these questions. "I don't know, Liss. I just don't know. Come with me back to the mirror. Let them talk to you."
Alyssa sighed, "Let me have an hour's sleep, then I'll come with you."
--
While Alyssa slept, Belle convinced Luke to play a round of Monopoly with her. She was busy claiming over five hundred dollars in rent off him when he finally asked her what had happened last night, and this morning.
Belle wondered how much to tell him, and then decided to go for the whole thing, "I could see. Last night, I used Alyssa's eyes, and I could see."
Play stopped. Luke held cash in one hand, and a mortgaged property in the other, You ... you what?" he stammered eventually.
Belle said it again, as though it were the most ordinary thing in the world. "I could see. Rudolph has a dark tip on the end of his tail. I saw that. I saw it with Alyssa's eyes."
Luke allowed his own eyes to wander over to Rudolph, still sleeping in the reading nook, although he already knew that he had a dark tip on his tail. It was out of the ordinary for a golden labrador, they were normally a solid colour, and it had caught his eye when he had first met him. "I don't ... I don't really understand. How could you ... how did that work? Can you see now?"
"No it only worked while I was in the mirror. You know the strange thing, I did it again, this morning, when Alyssa wasn't there. And I saw through Rudolph's eyes. But he doesn't just see with his eyes, he sees with his nose, I could smell things, Luke. You have no idea what that sensation is like."
Luke gave a dry laugh. "Yeah, you've got that right. I don't know what it would be like to be blind, but I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to see things with your nose."
Play resumed, and Belle grew serious again. After a few rolls she spoke softly again, "You know, I was told a lot of stuff this morning by ... well, by someone. I don't know who they were, but they had ... authority. Of some sort. Anyway, they told me a lot, but I don't remember the words they used. It's like they spoke to me in pictures, or ideas. Or maybe it was that they didn't speak at all, they just fed ideas into my head. It wasn't organised, like it is when someone describes something to you, it was like a big dump of information, but I need to unravel it a little bit at a time, bit by bit. It's like I can't access the end of the story, until I fully understand where it started, and all the other things that happen on the way."
Luke didn't meet her eyes, just continued to play the game. Eventually, he spoke nearly under his breath, "I think you're something more than just a little bit special, Belle."
"What do you mean by that, Luke?" she asked suspiciously.
"I mean that you're ... you're somehow more than human. More than ... well, more than normal, I guess." he laughed a little, "That sounds really strange, but I don't know how else to put it."
She laughed at that, but somehow the statement had made her uneasy. She was glad when Alyssa woke up, slightly less grumpy now, and broke the filament of tension that had arisen between the two of them.
--
This time, Alyssa led the procession into the bedroom. She was determined to be more than just a pair of eyes this time around. Luke, convinced to come into the house at least, hung around in the dining room, ready to be on hand in case he was needed. He would at least be needed to drag someone into a bed after it all, he thought ruefully.
Alyssa wasn't going to be nearly as cautious as her younger sister was. She marched in and stood in front of the mirror as though she was challenging it to speak to her. Rudolph eyed Belle, and then reluctantly went and stood beside Alyssa, his flank pressed to her leg. Belle stood on the other side of Alyssa, not really knowing why she was there. It was not as if Alyssa needed someone to be her eyes. The two girls closed their eyes, and together they began to chant,
"I had a little dolly,
I told it my little worry
Then it went ...
Ooooohhhhhhh" Alyssa suddenly moaned. She could feel a force in her head, behind her eyes, like a hand had roughly pushed its way in, and was feeling about for something it had lost. Alyssa struggled, wanting the feeling to (get out! get out!) go away, and she entered a mental struggle with the (spirit) force in her mind. She opened her eyes, and started to scream. Belle's head snapped, as though she had been hit, and she cried out as well. Rudolph began to howl. In an instant, Luke was in the room. He went first to Belle, Alyssa still screaming, her hands clawing at her (get out!) skull, pulling at her (brains) hair, and clawing at her (soul) eyes. Luke started to drag Belle out of the room, and she started to yell, "No! Get Liss! Get her out of here!" Luke stopped, confused, and then, as though suddenly energised by Alyssa's contined screams, he grabbed her under the armpits and dragged her, still screaming at top volume, out of the room.
--
As soon as Alyssa was out of the room, Rudolph calmed down. He went straight to Belle as nuzzled at her as though to check that she was okay. Belle was about to lean down and scratch him behind the ears when she felt a force in her own mind. It was blinding, just a flash, but the message that was imprinted in her mind was very clear. Alyssa was not welcome. Not now. Not ever.
--
When Luke pulled her out of the room, the connection between Alyssa and ... whatever it was snapped like a wire pulled too tight. One moment the sensation of (the one) something inside her head was there, the next it was (broken) gone, as though it had (but it had been) never been there. She struggled out of Luke's grip, shook herself, and said haughtily, "I can walk, leave me alone."
Luke looked sheepish, "Sorry. I ... just wanted to get you out of ... whatever that was."
Alyssa's gaze softened and, although she didn't apologise, she went to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, buried his head into the cleft provided by his collar bone. He allowed her to hug him, but her rebuke still stung him. After a while, he disentangled himself, and they both took a seat at the dining room table. Neither of them wanted to go back into the bedroom, but they didn't want to stray too far either. This whole situation was getting more and more unpredictable all the time.
--
Belle sat down on the end of the bed. Any energy she still had from this morning had been thoroughly zapped by the reaction of the (one) worry dolls in the mirror to Alyssa, and the subsequent blinding adminition that had been delivered direct into her (soul) mind. She couldn't decide if she wanted to lie down and sleep, go and get somehting to eat - maybe coffe, the caffeine might be good, or bad, she couldn't decide - or just lie down here where she was and sleep. The mirror seemed dead now, and even though it was still strangely compelling, she didn't think that it was going to let her in again for a little while. Almost as though it had given her a (blank) time out, like a naughty child. Belle sighed and, still not entirely sure what she was going to do, stood up, and went into the kitchen to put the kettle on.
--
Luke and Alyssa both looked up expectantly when Belle loped into the room, Rudolph trotting at her side. She ignored their gazes, even though she sensed their eyes upon her, and continued into the kitchen. Sometimes, being blind meant you could casually ignore things, and people let you get away with it. Not her sister, though, it seemed, as Alyssa's voice followed her into the kitchen, "Don't ignore me, Belle!"
Belle ignored her anyway, filled the jug at the tap, settled it on its base, and switched it on. She stood, listening to the water heat, the base of the kettle cracking is it warmed. Belle raised her hands to her face and scrubbed at it to try and wake herself up. She thought that, if the coffee didn't do the trick, she was just going to have to have a sleep. She wondered how late in the day it was, her sense of time was all over the place, although she was conscious of them running out of time before Mandy and Jamie got back. She needed to work out what she was supposed to do before they got here, so that she could go ahead and do - whatever it was - when they arrived.
--
Belle made coffees for everyone, unbidden, and brought them one by one into the dining room. She had the habit of always leaving one arm free, either to hold on to Rudolph's harness, or to feel for obstacles. When she had brought all three mugs in and found herself a seat, the expectant silence descended over her like a blanket, and she could feel Alyssa and Luke's eyes on her, waiting. Under the table, Rudolph settled himself on top her feet, which made her smile.
Eventually, Alyssa, unable to contain herself any longer, blurted out, "What was that all about, Belle?"
Belle remained silent, and she could sense Alyssa getting angrier and angrier as the silence dragged on. Eventually, she foudn the words she wanted, "They don't want to speak directly to you, Liss. I'm sorry. I got a ... a flash, of ... something. I don't know what to call it, but it was very clear. They don't want to speak directly to you. I think it's best if you just, well, just bring your eyes."
Alyssa was, strangely, silent. Eventually, she gave a grunt, stood up, and stalked off back to her flat. Luke, somewhat reluctantly, stood as well. As he passed Belle, his hand settled on her shoulder, squeezed lightly, and was gone.
--
Belle decided to have a little sleep, despite the caffeine. When she got to her room, she hit the button on the clock, "Eleven. Forty. Two. Ay-Em" it said in its electronic voice. She was surprised it was still morning, so much had happened already, although it made her realise she had started a lot earlier than she had known at the time. No wonder Alyssa and Luke had still been asleep. She set the alarm for one o'clock in the afternoon, deciding that at that point she would wake up, have something to eat if she felt like lunch, and then go and have a chat to the (one) voices behind the mirror. With or without Alyssa.
--
Luke followed ALyssa out to the flat, and as soon as they were outside she rounded on him, "What does she mean, they don't want to speak directly to me? Who? Who is 'they'? And why does she have some kind of a monopoly on them? And what about all this crap about Mum? What's she got to do with any of it all? It's not my fault she decided to have a nervous breakdown over a couple of worry dolls, is it? And what's the go with that, anyway? We haven't found one in ages ... well, except for the ones I found this morning, of course, but I'm not sure they count. I just dont' understand why Belle thinks she's just so fucking import ..."
During the tirade, Alyssa and Luke had arrived at the front door of the flat. Alyssa pulled the door open and, when she saw what was inside, the flow of angry words just dried up into nothing. The salad bowl full of worry dolls that had sat on her desk for days, virtually forgotten along with her school work, had apparently been upended. The dolls covered every available surface - the floor, the bed, the desk, the bookcase, the breakfast bar, even inside the reading nook she had created. There were hundreds of them, and every single one was tipped out of the bowl and into the small room. Alyssa screamed, more out of frustration and anger than fear. Luke, feeling completely nonplussed, worn out and exasperated, turned around, fished his car keys from his pocket, and drove away, without saying a word. Alyssa let loose with a tirade at his fleeing vehicle, and eventually just sat on the flat's front door step and cried.
--
Belle stirred and rolled over with the commotion outside, decided to ignore it, and went back to sleep.
--
When the alarm went off with the stilted, "Alarm! One. Oh. Clock. Pee-Em. Alarm!" Belle still felt tired. It was incredibly tempting to just switch the alarm off, roll over and go back to sleep. Rudolph padded over to her and rested his muzzle on her bed, "Rudolph," she said patiently, "Much as you are a wonderful dog, I wish you woulnd't leave drool on my bed sheets." With this, she sat up, and swung her feet on to the floor. She gave Rudolph a pat to shw him that she still loved him, and he rumbled happily at her, and followed her into the kitchen. She picked through the well organised fridge for sandwich ham, found bread in the bread box, and fixed herself a sandwich. Knowing her mother would have a fit if she knew, she fixed Rudolph one as well, and let him eat it on the kicthen floor, while she stood and ate hers. She poured herself a glass of water from the tap and drank it down. Satiated, she decided she couldn't put it off any longer, she was going to have to go back in there, and confront the (one) whatever it was.
--
Alyssa decided that, instead of facing the destruction that the worry dolls had wrought on her (life) flat, she was going to go for a walk. It was an overcast day, and the weather was cold, but the wind wasn't blowing too hard, and she decided the beach would be deserted - just what she wanted. She certainly wasn't in the mood to speakto anyone. She walked the couple of blocks to the beach, trying to work out how she had gotten to this point. She wondered what Belle was doing, was she in front of the dressing table mirror now, calling out for her 'eyes'? Was she fast asleep, sleeping off the efforts of the morning? Was she in some dreamland, communing with a bunch of worry dolls, and getting grand ideas about herself, Alyssa, and their mother, amongst who knew what else? Increasingly, she thought about Luke. Would he come back? She understood that she had been more than a little hysterical, but come on, wouldn't anyone be? Surely he could understand that? She arrived at the beach, and stepped onto the sand, the hard crust crunching under her joggers and breaking to reveal to soft, dry layer of sand beneath. It was a good analogy, she thought, the top layer looked tough and unbreakable, but it cracked under just a little pressure, and revealed the soft interior just below the surface. She felt the same, her hard exterior now full of cracks, and exposing her own soft interior. She wasn't coping well with this. When she got down to the hard packed sand near the water, she wasn't all that surprised to find that, instead of the usual shells and bits of seaweed, the beach was strewn with worry dolls.
--
Belle stood in front of the mirror yet again, Rudolph in his usual spot, resting against her right leg. This position was becoming horridly familiar, she thought ruefully. It was with a feeling not quite of impending disaster, but of possibly disastrous inevitability, that she fell into the world beyond the mirror. The world where the dolls where ruled by the one, and the worries were the local currency.
--
Alyssa returned from the beach feeling, if not quite relaxed, at least calmer than she had been, despite the worry dolls at her feet, She had at least realised she wasn't going to be able to escape whatever the dols had in store for her - for them. Still she was not quite willing to face the worry dolls strewn around her flat, and went into the house to find Belle instead. She intended to apologise, but also she wanted to make sure she was okay. The thought had occurred to her that her sister might be attempting to contact the dolls again while she was wandering on the beach trying to gather her thoughts, and could possibly need her help.
When she got to the bedroom, she discovered Belle in the now familiar position in front of the dressing table mirror, Rudolph leaning against her leg, looking as though he was sleeping with his eyes open. Belle wasn't nodding this time, but gazing with rapt attention into the mirror as though it afforded all sorts of delights. Alyssa, predicatably, couldn't see anything except Belle's reflection, and beyond that the bedroom, herself included. She perched on the end of the bed, sitting cross legged, with her elbow on her knee, and her chin in her hand. And waited.
--
This time, the communication lasted longer, and didn't end abruptly as had all the previous ones. Belle thought as she rose once more to the surface of reality, that perhaps she was getting good at this. A strange talent to possess, perhaps, but useful in the circumstances, nevertheless. She felt tired, but not overwhelmingly so. She blinked as she came back into the darkness of her reality, the lights winking out in a fashion, and plunging her back into her usual blind state. At the same time, she became aware of someone sitting behind her, and she turned, "Alyssa?" she asked.
"Yeah, it's me." her sister replied. "That was ... calm."
Belle smiled, "Yeah it was. Nice change, huh?"
Alyssa reddened, "Yeah. I deserved that. Sorry for ... before." she added.
Belle shrugged, "No big deal. This whole ... thing ... is weird. We all deal with things diferently. Where's Luke?"
"Gone." Alyssa stated simply, "My flat is ... well. My flat is over run by worry dolls. When I saw it I ... I lost it, and he ... well, he left. I went for a walk ... on the beach." she stammered, "But I wanted to say sorry. I was a bit of an arse."
"Like I said, no big deal. Will he come back?"
"No idea."
"Do you care?"
Alyssa paused, asking herself the same question and trying to come up with answer that was honest. Eventually she said, "I'm not sure."
Belle shrugged again, taking the admission in her stride, as she did most things. "I'm going to make another coffee, and then I'm going to have a lie down." she stated.
"I might join you for the coffee."
"Okay. Did you have plans for dinner?"
"Not yet. Want to get a delivery? Chinese maybe? Or pizza?"
Belle wrinkled her nose, "Not pizza. Chinese would be good. I could murder a Mongolian Duck."
"The poor duck." Alyssa laughed as she stood. The two of them walked out of the room, Rudolph between them, wagging his tail happily.
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