With Her Wrists I Tremble Ch 3
Chapter 3
Jerry Wood was an average guy, living an average life, working his way through college at the local comic book store. He had a girlfriend, who he had been in love with since high school, until the day she broke his heart. Apparently he was too immature, but “we can stay friends” she had said. Jerry felt bitter and cheated, delving deeper into his comic book shelf. School became a past desire. He was focused on something else. He would be a hero, like those he read about on a daily basis. He would impress her and bring her back.
One day, while filing away books at his store, a package arrived. Inside was a pair of gloves. They were plain and white, with buttons along the side. There was nothing attached to them, nothing to indicate what they were for. Jerry flipped the box over to find the return address was missing. Curious, Jerry pulled on the gloves, flexing his fingers in the soft material. It seemed to mold to his skin, growing warm.
Myka wished she still had a Tesla. This would be over with in a second. She turned to Olive and whispered. “What is his name?”
“Jerry, Jerry Wood.” Olive choked out the name, running her fingers through her unnatural red hair.
Myka sidestepped into the hallway, holding her hands out in front of her in a feigned surrender. “Jerry, “ She felt waves of heat roll towards her from the man standing only a few feet away. She staggered under the sudden dizziness that hit her. She swallowed down the bile in her throat before she spoke. “Jerry, you need to take off the gloves.”’
“Where is she! I need to prove myself to her!” Jerry stomped forward, forcing more heat onto Myka.
Myka felt weak, her legs threatened to buckle at any moment. “Prove yourself? By killing her?”
Jerry looked around, trying to focus his thoughts. “I need her to love me again!”
Myka dropped to her knees, her strength quickly fading. “You don’t want her love. You are killing yourself and you almost killed her. How is that love?”
Myka remembered her skin. She remembered it was soft under her lips and how she smelled of lavender. Myka drank in her laugh as her long hair tickled her back. She lay down on top of her lover, her bare breasts pressed against her back.
“Helena?” Myka whispered into Helena’s ear.
“Mmhmm…” Helena smiled sleepily, her eyes already closed.
“I love you.” Myka kissed the back of her neck, shyly waiting for an answer.
Helena shifted in the bed, until she was facing her lover. Myka was captured in Helena’s eyes. She was beautiful and seemed to glow in the dim lighting. She searched Myka’s face, looking almost confused at first, but then her gaze softened and a smile spread across her lips.
“I love you darling.” Helena reached up and seized Myka’s lips with her own.
When the kiss broke, Myka rested her head against Helena’s chest and closed her eyes as Helena began stroking her hair. She felt wonderful and wished she could just stay there forever. She listened to the thudding of Helena’s heart. She heard the slow and steady pumping of blood through the vital organ. Myka nuzzled her face into Helena’s skin. She paused when she heard something snap beneath her. She glanced up to see Helena’s face turned white, struggling for air.
Myka scrambled to her feet. She placed a hand on Helena’s arm and felt the bone crumble under her skin with the slightest touch. She backed away, horror contorting her face, until she slammed into the wall behind her. She ran for the door. “Pete! Claudia!” She tried to turn the door handle, but it crumpled and turned to sand, falling in a pile on the floor.
Helena gripped the bed sheets, her body twisting, trying to allow air to fill her lungs, but no relief came. Her pale flesh flaked and her lips cracked and withered. Myka stood there helpless, feeling the wood beneath her feet change to grainy sand as the door handle had. The cracks in the walls seemed to be dripping with the rough pebbles that splattered onto the floor. Myka felt trapped, silent tears fell from her eyes, revealing her helplessness. Helena reached a shaky hand towards her. Myka moved forward and with the simple touch of her fingertips against Helena’s, the hand disappeared in a cloud of grainy dust, the rest of her following soon after. Myka cried out as the wind took her away across the dunes.
Myka struggled to regain her breath. She had woken up to find Olive standing over her. Her voice came in wavering echoes. Next to her lay a pile of ash, upon which was resting the white gloves, now inactive. Her head pounded in her skull and behind her eyelids. She sat up and hid her face between her knees; dry heaving until the nausea passed.
Olive knelt down beside Myka and rubbed her back. “Jerry is dead.” Olive’s voice broke and started to cry, because no matter what happened between her and Jerry, she still felt something for him.
Myka turned toward the younger woman and opened her arms to her, allowing Olive to crawl inside.
Helena blinked as the door opened, flooding her cell with light. Expecting Mr. Kosan, she said. “Come back to torture me?” Even with her snide remark, Helena was terrified. They had ripped a hole inside her, one which had only just begun to heal.
This time a woman entered, young for her stature in the Regents. Her tightly bound blonde hair revealed her rigidity even more so then her freshly ironed business suit. She tugged at the hem of her shirt before sitting down in the chair opposite the prisoner. “Hello, my name is Erin Tects. I work with Mr. Kosan. How are we feeling today Helena?”
Helena’s eyes were glazed and bloodshot as she glanced up at the woman. “I envy the dead.”
The blonde smiled slightly, her features chiseled and cold. She pulled a small notepad out of her pocket and flipped it open. “Do you remember…” She paused to glance down at her notepad. “Lily Flourish.”
Helena’s face remained stone as she faced forward. She wasn’t going to become some head case for this woman to examine.
“She was your partner at Warehouse 12, correct?”
“Correct.” Helena remembered, of course she remembered.
Erin clicked open her pen.
Helena sat cross-legged on the floor, blueprints scattered on the ground in front of her. She tinkered with a bronze box in her hand. She heard the shuffling of boots behind her and leaned back, as delicate arms wrapped around her torso.
“I’m almost finished, just one final touch.” Helena held the box to her chest, protecting it with everything she had left in her.
“That is wonderful, darling!” Lily rested her chin on Helena’s shoulder, her long red hair tickled her arm. She helped Helena to her feet. She watched, as she seemed to glide over to the device she had been building “What are you going to call it?”
Helena attached the last piece to her invention. “It is my time machine.”
Lily watched her lover slowly fall apart in front of her. Since first building her time machine, Helena had traveled back several times already, each time failing to save her daughter. Lily saw Helena quickly grow bitter and distant, convincing herself that this time would be different.
She walked through the aisles of the warehouse until she reached the time machine. She paused when she heard a strangled intake of breath coming from the clearing. Helena was sitting in one of the armchairs, her head buried in her hands. Her body shook with grief and anger. A muffled scream escaped her lips. She stopped as soft hands clasped around hers, pulling them away from her face. She glanced up and bright green eyes stared back at her.
“I can’t save her. No matter what I do…” Helena’s voice broke through her sobs. “My baby…”
Lily brushed the tangled black hair out of Helena’s face, smoothing away her sobs. “Helena. Helena, listen to me.” Lily cupped her chin in her hand, forcing Helena to look her in the eyes. “I love you! I will always love you. I loved Christina too! She was like my own, but we can’t keep dwelling in the past. You are tearing yourself apart from the inside out. I can’t help you and it’s killing me…”
Helena sighed and nestled her face in the side of Lily’s neck. “You are helping me. You are here,” Helena swallowed her sorrows and traced her lips across Lily’s cheek until she found hers. She vanished in their kiss, as it consumed her, leaving a fire brewing in the pit of her stomach.
Erin felt like she was intruding as she watched the two women share this intimate moment, but she quickly pushed it to the back of her mind. She was assigned a mission by the Regents, get into this woman’s head, see how she worked. So far she just saw a woman crumbled by tragedy. The scene jumped again and she was standing in a bedroom hidden in the shadows. The room was rich with deep purples and reds. She heard the drip of water and saw the silhouette of a woman kneeling in the center of the room. A candle sat in front of her, giving her bare skin an amber glow. Her hair, the color of fire, fell in tendrils down her back.
Erin watched as the woman dipped a cloth into the basin in front of her and brought it to her skin, letting it wash away the tension from her muscles. She saw the droplets of water reflect the candlelight as they carved a path down the woman’s body. Her curves were intoxicating and Erin found it hard to look away.
Her trance was broken by the door slamming. Helena strolled into the room; she was wearing only a nightdress, to protect her from the chilled air. She seemed to glide over to the woman, only to steal a kiss as she wandered by. She plopped down on the bed, lying back, waiting.
Helena was the first to speak. “Lily, am I to be waiting here all evening?”
Lily giggled as she placed the cloth back in the basin and sprung to her feet, exposing her body in its entirety. She was stunning, a woman with toned features, which hid the fragility underneath. She skipped towards the bed, her feet barely touching the ground. She crawled on top of Helena, straddling her hips. Helena laughed as cold fingers began tickling her sides. She pulled Lily into a kiss that seemed the steal the very breath out of her.
Lily pulled away, staring into the eyes of the woman she loved. “There is the Helena I know and love.”
Helena’s smile fell from her face and her voice was serious when she spoke. “Make me forget, just for a little while.”
Erin could tell where this was leading and she already felt as if she had been there too long. She took the pen, now in her breast pocket and clicked it closed.
Myka had given the gloves to Olive, wrapped in a plastic bag to hand over to Pete and Claudia. Arriving home to her cozy apartment was the only thing on her mind at that moment. She thought about the hot shower that awaited her and the soft bed, which was a welcome relief from the stiff rock the motel had called a mattress.
She fished the keys from her pocket and entered her sanctuary. It was now that she took off her mask, allowing her body to feel the aches and pains that plagued it. She still carried a headache from the night before. She flicked on the light and fell face first onto her couch, muffling her groans in a throw pillow. A cloud of milky brown curls shielded her from the outside world. She felt her stomach grumble beneath her and slowly got to her feet, stumbling towards the kitchen. She pulled open the fridge to discover that all she had to eat was a jar of pickles and a carton of expired milk.
“Take out it is.”
Myka pushed the last of the General Sao’s chicken around her plate with her chopsticks. Her head was rested on the palm of her hand and her mind wandered. The sweet smell of grapefruit reached her nostrils from her freshly washed hair, now pulled up into a ponytail. A knock on the front door caused her to break from her daze and drop her chopsticks onto her plate. She got warily to her feet and slinked, barefoot, to the foyer. She peered through the peephole in the door and saw nothing.
Turning the lock, she slowly opened the door and leaned out into the hallway. She was startled to find a young woman sitting beside her door, leaning against the wall. The woman quickly got to her feet and turned to face Myka.
“Olive?” Myka scrunched her eyebrows in confusion.
“Um… Hi” Olive adjusted her bag around her shoulder and tucked her vibrant red hair behind her ear.
“How did you get here? What are you even doing here?” Myka spoke so fast, her questions started to jumble together. “How do you know where I live?”
“Um… Oh!” Olive pulled a small card from her pocket and held it out for Myka to see. “You dropped this when you were running out of the hospital. I wanted to return it and well…” She gave Myka her driver’s license back as she spoke. “I was wondering if I could stay with you for a while…”
Myka clutched the license in her hand. “Olive, you can’t stay here… Your parents… and school…”
“Right now, I don’t even have a house. All my possessions were blown up by my psycho ex-boyfriend, now diseased. My parents live on the other side of the world, living out their retirement in the tropics, and have no clue what I am doing with my life. And school. Well school will have to wait because I am here and I want to help you with… whatever you do.” Olive was sure of what she wanted and nothing was going to change her mind.
A coy smile spread across Myka’s lips at this woman’s determination. Now that she was here, Myka couldn’t just let her stay out on the streets. “Okay, you can stay the night and we will figure all this out in the morning.” She stepped aside to let Olive pass.
Olive grinned and walked into the apartment, ready for whatever came ahead.
“Too much for you, eh?” Helena grinned at the blushing woman in front of her.
Erin tugged at her blouse, regaining her composure. “No. I understand you had a relationship with this woman. What I am interested in is what happened after. I know she was the reason for your bronzing.”
Helena’s eyes became barely slits as she glared at this woman. “It is not her fault that I was bronzed. It is mine. I am the only one to blame for what happened to her.”
Erin sneered, she had finally struck a nerve. “She died because of an incident with your ‘time machine.’ Her consciousness was completely lost in the past. The person she was inhabiting was destined to die and because of your carelessness she was trapped there, leaving her body an empty shell.”
Helena became wild and sprung up in her chair, only to be held back by chains attached to the ground. She was only inches from Erin’s face. “Don’t you dare talk to her that way, like she was nothing! Myka…” Helena froze, realizing the name that had just escaped her lips.
“Myka? Ah you must mean the former Agent Myka Bering.” Erin scribbled something in her notepad.
Helena slumped back in the metal chair. “Former? What do you mean former?”
Erin got to her feet. “Well, Helena, it has been a pleasure speaking with you and we will continue this session tomorrow.”
“What do you mean former!” Helena felt each click of Erin’s heels on the concrete floor, as she exited the room, leaving Helena to ponder her last words. She stopped as the floor seemed to rumble beneath her feet. The concrete cracked and splintered. The chains that bound her to the floor broke from their hold. Helena got to her feet as another wave shifted the earth beneath her. She ran for the door, trying to pry it open, but another blast knocked her back against the stone.
Myka sat at the kitchen table, a cup of coffee keeping her hands warm. She stared out the window, the moon full in the sky. Her guest had fallen asleep on the couch and was now quietly snoring from the other room. Myka felt the familiar chill run down her back and knew she had another visitor.
“Mrs. Fredric, it is nice to see you again.” Myka continued to stare out the window, unfazed by the extra presence now in the room.
“Bering.” Mrs. Fredric said in a matter of fact manner.
“I’m not returning to the warehouse. I help out when I can and I appreciate you not telling them where I am, but I am not returning.” Myka took a sip of her coffee and sighed as the hot liquid trickled down her throat.
“I’m not asking you to return. I have given up on that task a long time ago. I just thought you ought to know H. G. Wells has escaped.”
Myka bolted out of her seat and turned to face her former employer, only to find that she had vanished. Her knees felt weak and she slumped to the floor, her coffee splattered onto the tile. “Helena.”
Jerry Wood was an average guy, living an average life, working his way through college at the local comic book store. He had a girlfriend, who he had been in love with since high school, until the day she broke his heart. Apparently he was too immature, but “we can stay friends” she had said. Jerry felt bitter and cheated, delving deeper into his comic book shelf. School became a past desire. He was focused on something else. He would be a hero, like those he read about on a daily basis. He would impress her and bring her back.
One day, while filing away books at his store, a package arrived. Inside was a pair of gloves. They were plain and white, with buttons along the side. There was nothing attached to them, nothing to indicate what they were for. Jerry flipped the box over to find the return address was missing. Curious, Jerry pulled on the gloves, flexing his fingers in the soft material. It seemed to mold to his skin, growing warm.
Myka wished she still had a Tesla. This would be over with in a second. She turned to Olive and whispered. “What is his name?”
“Jerry, Jerry Wood.” Olive choked out the name, running her fingers through her unnatural red hair.
Myka sidestepped into the hallway, holding her hands out in front of her in a feigned surrender. “Jerry, “ She felt waves of heat roll towards her from the man standing only a few feet away. She staggered under the sudden dizziness that hit her. She swallowed down the bile in her throat before she spoke. “Jerry, you need to take off the gloves.”’
“Where is she! I need to prove myself to her!” Jerry stomped forward, forcing more heat onto Myka.
Myka felt weak, her legs threatened to buckle at any moment. “Prove yourself? By killing her?”
Jerry looked around, trying to focus his thoughts. “I need her to love me again!”
Myka dropped to her knees, her strength quickly fading. “You don’t want her love. You are killing yourself and you almost killed her. How is that love?”
Myka remembered her skin. She remembered it was soft under her lips and how she smelled of lavender. Myka drank in her laugh as her long hair tickled her back. She lay down on top of her lover, her bare breasts pressed against her back.
“Helena?” Myka whispered into Helena’s ear.
“Mmhmm…” Helena smiled sleepily, her eyes already closed.
“I love you.” Myka kissed the back of her neck, shyly waiting for an answer.
Helena shifted in the bed, until she was facing her lover. Myka was captured in Helena’s eyes. She was beautiful and seemed to glow in the dim lighting. She searched Myka’s face, looking almost confused at first, but then her gaze softened and a smile spread across her lips.
“I love you darling.” Helena reached up and seized Myka’s lips with her own.
When the kiss broke, Myka rested her head against Helena’s chest and closed her eyes as Helena began stroking her hair. She felt wonderful and wished she could just stay there forever. She listened to the thudding of Helena’s heart. She heard the slow and steady pumping of blood through the vital organ. Myka nuzzled her face into Helena’s skin. She paused when she heard something snap beneath her. She glanced up to see Helena’s face turned white, struggling for air.
Myka scrambled to her feet. She placed a hand on Helena’s arm and felt the bone crumble under her skin with the slightest touch. She backed away, horror contorting her face, until she slammed into the wall behind her. She ran for the door. “Pete! Claudia!” She tried to turn the door handle, but it crumpled and turned to sand, falling in a pile on the floor.
Helena gripped the bed sheets, her body twisting, trying to allow air to fill her lungs, but no relief came. Her pale flesh flaked and her lips cracked and withered. Myka stood there helpless, feeling the wood beneath her feet change to grainy sand as the door handle had. The cracks in the walls seemed to be dripping with the rough pebbles that splattered onto the floor. Myka felt trapped, silent tears fell from her eyes, revealing her helplessness. Helena reached a shaky hand towards her. Myka moved forward and with the simple touch of her fingertips against Helena’s, the hand disappeared in a cloud of grainy dust, the rest of her following soon after. Myka cried out as the wind took her away across the dunes.
Myka struggled to regain her breath. She had woken up to find Olive standing over her. Her voice came in wavering echoes. Next to her lay a pile of ash, upon which was resting the white gloves, now inactive. Her head pounded in her skull and behind her eyelids. She sat up and hid her face between her knees; dry heaving until the nausea passed.
Olive knelt down beside Myka and rubbed her back. “Jerry is dead.” Olive’s voice broke and started to cry, because no matter what happened between her and Jerry, she still felt something for him.
Myka turned toward the younger woman and opened her arms to her, allowing Olive to crawl inside.
Helena blinked as the door opened, flooding her cell with light. Expecting Mr. Kosan, she said. “Come back to torture me?” Even with her snide remark, Helena was terrified. They had ripped a hole inside her, one which had only just begun to heal.
This time a woman entered, young for her stature in the Regents. Her tightly bound blonde hair revealed her rigidity even more so then her freshly ironed business suit. She tugged at the hem of her shirt before sitting down in the chair opposite the prisoner. “Hello, my name is Erin Tects. I work with Mr. Kosan. How are we feeling today Helena?”
Helena’s eyes were glazed and bloodshot as she glanced up at the woman. “I envy the dead.”
The blonde smiled slightly, her features chiseled and cold. She pulled a small notepad out of her pocket and flipped it open. “Do you remember…” She paused to glance down at her notepad. “Lily Flourish.”
Helena’s face remained stone as she faced forward. She wasn’t going to become some head case for this woman to examine.
“She was your partner at Warehouse 12, correct?”
“Correct.” Helena remembered, of course she remembered.
Erin clicked open her pen.
Helena sat cross-legged on the floor, blueprints scattered on the ground in front of her. She tinkered with a bronze box in her hand. She heard the shuffling of boots behind her and leaned back, as delicate arms wrapped around her torso.
“I’m almost finished, just one final touch.” Helena held the box to her chest, protecting it with everything she had left in her.
“That is wonderful, darling!” Lily rested her chin on Helena’s shoulder, her long red hair tickled her arm. She helped Helena to her feet. She watched, as she seemed to glide over to the device she had been building “What are you going to call it?”
Helena attached the last piece to her invention. “It is my time machine.”
Lily watched her lover slowly fall apart in front of her. Since first building her time machine, Helena had traveled back several times already, each time failing to save her daughter. Lily saw Helena quickly grow bitter and distant, convincing herself that this time would be different.
She walked through the aisles of the warehouse until she reached the time machine. She paused when she heard a strangled intake of breath coming from the clearing. Helena was sitting in one of the armchairs, her head buried in her hands. Her body shook with grief and anger. A muffled scream escaped her lips. She stopped as soft hands clasped around hers, pulling them away from her face. She glanced up and bright green eyes stared back at her.
“I can’t save her. No matter what I do…” Helena’s voice broke through her sobs. “My baby…”
Lily brushed the tangled black hair out of Helena’s face, smoothing away her sobs. “Helena. Helena, listen to me.” Lily cupped her chin in her hand, forcing Helena to look her in the eyes. “I love you! I will always love you. I loved Christina too! She was like my own, but we can’t keep dwelling in the past. You are tearing yourself apart from the inside out. I can’t help you and it’s killing me…”
Helena sighed and nestled her face in the side of Lily’s neck. “You are helping me. You are here,” Helena swallowed her sorrows and traced her lips across Lily’s cheek until she found hers. She vanished in their kiss, as it consumed her, leaving a fire brewing in the pit of her stomach.
Erin felt like she was intruding as she watched the two women share this intimate moment, but she quickly pushed it to the back of her mind. She was assigned a mission by the Regents, get into this woman’s head, see how she worked. So far she just saw a woman crumbled by tragedy. The scene jumped again and she was standing in a bedroom hidden in the shadows. The room was rich with deep purples and reds. She heard the drip of water and saw the silhouette of a woman kneeling in the center of the room. A candle sat in front of her, giving her bare skin an amber glow. Her hair, the color of fire, fell in tendrils down her back.
Erin watched as the woman dipped a cloth into the basin in front of her and brought it to her skin, letting it wash away the tension from her muscles. She saw the droplets of water reflect the candlelight as they carved a path down the woman’s body. Her curves were intoxicating and Erin found it hard to look away.
Her trance was broken by the door slamming. Helena strolled into the room; she was wearing only a nightdress, to protect her from the chilled air. She seemed to glide over to the woman, only to steal a kiss as she wandered by. She plopped down on the bed, lying back, waiting.
Helena was the first to speak. “Lily, am I to be waiting here all evening?”
Lily giggled as she placed the cloth back in the basin and sprung to her feet, exposing her body in its entirety. She was stunning, a woman with toned features, which hid the fragility underneath. She skipped towards the bed, her feet barely touching the ground. She crawled on top of Helena, straddling her hips. Helena laughed as cold fingers began tickling her sides. She pulled Lily into a kiss that seemed the steal the very breath out of her.
Lily pulled away, staring into the eyes of the woman she loved. “There is the Helena I know and love.”
Helena’s smile fell from her face and her voice was serious when she spoke. “Make me forget, just for a little while.”
Erin could tell where this was leading and she already felt as if she had been there too long. She took the pen, now in her breast pocket and clicked it closed.
Myka had given the gloves to Olive, wrapped in a plastic bag to hand over to Pete and Claudia. Arriving home to her cozy apartment was the only thing on her mind at that moment. She thought about the hot shower that awaited her and the soft bed, which was a welcome relief from the stiff rock the motel had called a mattress.
She fished the keys from her pocket and entered her sanctuary. It was now that she took off her mask, allowing her body to feel the aches and pains that plagued it. She still carried a headache from the night before. She flicked on the light and fell face first onto her couch, muffling her groans in a throw pillow. A cloud of milky brown curls shielded her from the outside world. She felt her stomach grumble beneath her and slowly got to her feet, stumbling towards the kitchen. She pulled open the fridge to discover that all she had to eat was a jar of pickles and a carton of expired milk.
“Take out it is.”
Myka pushed the last of the General Sao’s chicken around her plate with her chopsticks. Her head was rested on the palm of her hand and her mind wandered. The sweet smell of grapefruit reached her nostrils from her freshly washed hair, now pulled up into a ponytail. A knock on the front door caused her to break from her daze and drop her chopsticks onto her plate. She got warily to her feet and slinked, barefoot, to the foyer. She peered through the peephole in the door and saw nothing.
Turning the lock, she slowly opened the door and leaned out into the hallway. She was startled to find a young woman sitting beside her door, leaning against the wall. The woman quickly got to her feet and turned to face Myka.
“Olive?” Myka scrunched her eyebrows in confusion.
“Um… Hi” Olive adjusted her bag around her shoulder and tucked her vibrant red hair behind her ear.
“How did you get here? What are you even doing here?” Myka spoke so fast, her questions started to jumble together. “How do you know where I live?”
“Um… Oh!” Olive pulled a small card from her pocket and held it out for Myka to see. “You dropped this when you were running out of the hospital. I wanted to return it and well…” She gave Myka her driver’s license back as she spoke. “I was wondering if I could stay with you for a while…”
Myka clutched the license in her hand. “Olive, you can’t stay here… Your parents… and school…”
“Right now, I don’t even have a house. All my possessions were blown up by my psycho ex-boyfriend, now diseased. My parents live on the other side of the world, living out their retirement in the tropics, and have no clue what I am doing with my life. And school. Well school will have to wait because I am here and I want to help you with… whatever you do.” Olive was sure of what she wanted and nothing was going to change her mind.
A coy smile spread across Myka’s lips at this woman’s determination. Now that she was here, Myka couldn’t just let her stay out on the streets. “Okay, you can stay the night and we will figure all this out in the morning.” She stepped aside to let Olive pass.
Olive grinned and walked into the apartment, ready for whatever came ahead.
“Too much for you, eh?” Helena grinned at the blushing woman in front of her.
Erin tugged at her blouse, regaining her composure. “No. I understand you had a relationship with this woman. What I am interested in is what happened after. I know she was the reason for your bronzing.”
Helena’s eyes became barely slits as she glared at this woman. “It is not her fault that I was bronzed. It is mine. I am the only one to blame for what happened to her.”
Erin sneered, she had finally struck a nerve. “She died because of an incident with your ‘time machine.’ Her consciousness was completely lost in the past. The person she was inhabiting was destined to die and because of your carelessness she was trapped there, leaving her body an empty shell.”
Helena became wild and sprung up in her chair, only to be held back by chains attached to the ground. She was only inches from Erin’s face. “Don’t you dare talk to her that way, like she was nothing! Myka…” Helena froze, realizing the name that had just escaped her lips.
“Myka? Ah you must mean the former Agent Myka Bering.” Erin scribbled something in her notepad.
Helena slumped back in the metal chair. “Former? What do you mean former?”
Erin got to her feet. “Well, Helena, it has been a pleasure speaking with you and we will continue this session tomorrow.”
“What do you mean former!” Helena felt each click of Erin’s heels on the concrete floor, as she exited the room, leaving Helena to ponder her last words. She stopped as the floor seemed to rumble beneath her feet. The concrete cracked and splintered. The chains that bound her to the floor broke from their hold. Helena got to her feet as another wave shifted the earth beneath her. She ran for the door, trying to pry it open, but another blast knocked her back against the stone.
Myka sat at the kitchen table, a cup of coffee keeping her hands warm. She stared out the window, the moon full in the sky. Her guest had fallen asleep on the couch and was now quietly snoring from the other room. Myka felt the familiar chill run down her back and knew she had another visitor.
“Mrs. Fredric, it is nice to see you again.” Myka continued to stare out the window, unfazed by the extra presence now in the room.
“Bering.” Mrs. Fredric said in a matter of fact manner.
“I’m not returning to the warehouse. I help out when I can and I appreciate you not telling them where I am, but I am not returning.” Myka took a sip of her coffee and sighed as the hot liquid trickled down her throat.
“I’m not asking you to return. I have given up on that task a long time ago. I just thought you ought to know H. G. Wells has escaped.”
Myka bolted out of her seat and turned to face her former employer, only to find that she had vanished. Her knees felt weak and she slumped to the floor, her coffee splattered onto the tile. “Helena.”