Nightmares Vs Magic

*TW: This story contains topics of suicide and depression. If you or a loved one may be having suicidal thoughts or any kind of struggle, please reach out and seek help. *

Dove clicked her tongue, hoping to have gotten close enough to the edge that his head would've dangled off.

He struggled against her hand that was still holding his neck, she punched him in the gut with her free hand and dragged him by the neck further to the edge. They were a couple hundred meters away from the water. When his head now dangled off and the ocean was louder, she dropped all the faces she was wearing. 

"What's your name?" She asked.

"S-Simon." 

She squeezed harder. 

"Your real name is Walter Reiss. That I know because Simon Atkinson is a name that belongs to the guy who invited you to this island. That house we were at is where you lived until the day Simon gave you a new command to bring people to the island. You then burned everything that made you Walter Reiss so that you could take on the new identity as Simon. But what I wanna know is why you did everything else. Did you bring people here because of an experiment Simon wanted to conduct? Or was it just to feed the monsters here in exchange for sparing you?" 

The man, Walter, choked beneath her hand. He grabbed at her wrists, but her grip would not loosen. He kicked his feet every which way before stopping, realizing if he tried to push himself up, he'd just push his body further off the edge. 

"I have, powers. I can command monsters." He croaked out. 

"My name is Simon. Not Walter. Walter died. I, am the new Simon reborn. The old Simon has also died and reborn anew."

"Alright, be that way. but at least tell me where Annabelle is." Dove grit her teeth.

"Annabelle, is your friend, right?"

She lifted him up and smacked him back down. 

"Where is she?"

Instead of answering, he let go of her wrist and reached up, grabbing her ponytail and pulled. Dove's head jerked up, and she grit her teeth, using her other hand to punch him. 

Walter grabbed her neck and pulled her forward, bashing his forehead into hers. Dove scrunched her face through the pain and moved up, biting his nose. 

He screamed in pain, pulling more on her ponytail to pull her away. That only made her bite down harder. If he tried to pull her away, she'd take a chunk of his nose with her. 

He let go of her hair and neck, reached for her jaw. She let go and spit his blood back into his face. She got up and yanked him by the shirt, bashing her head against his again. He groaned and held his head, she dropped him back to the ground, stomping on his back. 

"Where is Annabelle?" 

Walter coughed beneath her; face pressed to the ground and hands clutching at the grass. He just answered with a chuckle and a dry voice.

"How about instead of worrying about that crazy bitch, you should be wondering why your other friend isn't helping you right now." 

A hollowness was felt in the pit of her stomach, she turned, just a second, to look at the space where she just saw Vernon. 

Instead of seeing him, she saw one of the deer who stood on their hindlegs like a human. 

Its abnormally large mouth hung open, drooling, and its eyes were hollow black, not a pupil in sight. Hands instead of hooves but still with the joints of regular deer limbs. The antlers were crooked and pulled back, and you could see the ribcage.

"I told you. I can control these things. You have no power against me, but it's okay. Simon let me know that he has a purpose for you. He knows everything already!"

Walter laughed from underneath her, cackling. Dread filled the girl's stomach, and her eyes and her thoughts went in and out of focus.

"He knows you're living in Maine. He knows your parents aren't with you! He knows you are still afraid-"

She punched him to knock him out. 

That prompted the deer to attack her. 

Dove tried to reach for her briefcase, she saw the deer closing in, claws about to reach her. She gave up and stepped away from the case and the unconscious man. The girl took out her phone and other items in her pockets, dropping them as the deer raised a claw and aimed for her chest. 

She dodged, purposefully stepping away, and jumping off the edge right as it tried to reach for her again. 

...

I didn't jump because I didn't want the deer monster to kill me. That would've been fine. Would've made me look incompetent but I could accept that.

No. I jumped because I didn't want to be around when Walter woke up. I never want to meet Simon again, and if that meant dying, then so be it. That demon has done far worse to the living than the dead and I hoped that by jumping into the ocean, Walter would not be able to present even my corpse to the devil. Because he would definitely desecrate my corpse if given the chance.

It was better for everyone. Without me, hopefully the devil wouldn't bother my coworkers and friends because there'd be no point if I wasn't around, I felt no regrets, none except the fact that I never figured out what happened to Annabelle, and that I didn't say any proper goodbyes. 

My goodbyes were never good anyways. Upon moving out, I may have said goodbye to one person and then left town at night, blocking both my parents' numbers, making sure no one saw me or would be able to find me. 

"Dove!"

The girl's body fell, but she did not hit the water alone.

"DOVE!" 

Callius dived in to get her, she opened her eyes to see him reaching out to cup the back of her head as he got closer.

"Callius?"

The siren held her close with both arms and switched their positions midair so that his back was facing the water. 

"CALLIUS PLEASE NO." Dove interjected. 

The siren only gave her a soft, reassuring smile. 

"It's okay. Just trust me. Neither of us will die."

He held the girl's head close to his chest and then told her to briefly hold her breath and keep her eyes shut. 

A big splash was heard as they hit the water. 

In that house with the incomplete lighthouse, much earlier, Callius was searching inside and found a trap door. He opened it and shined his light inside.

There was movement but it was hard to tell of what, so he called Vernon over to help him break the trapdoor open more to see. It should've only lasted a moment, but whatever was inside the basement heard him and reached up to grab him as soon as he turned his back. Callius heard but couldn't react fast enough. 

Vernon ran over just in time to see this strange red stringy material grab hold of him and slam against the ground. It made a loud ruckus, slamming his back against the trapdoor that was too small for him, before breaking the floorboards in to drag him down. Vernon misplaced his feet as he fell in after, manipulating roots to catch him and shining his light to see where Callius fell. 

He had the roots carefully place him down, and then quickly climbed back onto the roots again after feeling a strange, squishy, slippery, texture. He could even feel it through his shoes. The boy turned on his phone's flashlight and saw where they were. 

The entire basement was made up of some sort of flesh-like substance, appearing to be meat based on all the redness and blood everywhere. 

The stringy substances that grabbed Callius were nerves. He chewed himself free and listened. He could the voices of past victims that were eaten or killed on this island, their corpses taken by the ground and adding up to create this flesh. 

A muffling sound could be heard somewhere, a very stubborn and persistent one. Callius recognized it as a sign of a living person and followed the noise deeper into the basement, which he and the boy would soon find out, was deeper into the belly of the island. 

Thankfully, the voice wasn't too far inside. On one part of the wall of the meaty corridor was a figure of a human being melded and webbed, with one of those flesh-bodied driders working on connecting them to the wall of meat as the human figure kept squirming and fighting back.

Upon sensing the presence of other living beings, the drider snapped its neck in their direction, screamed, and came barreling towards them on all eight hands and arms that it used for legs. 

Vernon, who had taken the time to observe the rooms and tunnels made of flesh, realized something very quickly. 

1. The walls may have been made of flesh, but based on the slight odor, it couldn't completely be considered alive. Especially when the meat wasn't breathing, it was all dripping and bleeding and only made from the contribution of past victims. The island was not actually alive.

2. The entire surrounding was made up of decaying human remains. 

His theory was that the inner parts of the island wasn't growing meat, the victims were brought to the 'mouth' of the island, then turned into this meat substance, and were slowly being digested. 

He tested his theory by summoning roots to block the flesh drider, pulled them out from the ground, tearing through the flesh and stabbing up into the ceiling. The drider reached through the roots like an insane prisoner reaching through the bars.

"Annabelle must be on the other side." Callius said, keeping his eyes on the squirming figure trying to detach itself from the meaty wall. 

"I have an idea on how to get her out. I just wish Joon was here to throw this." Vernon replied, digging something out from his flowerpot. 

It looked like a soft, malleable egg with the shade and tint of mushroom white. 

"What is that-" 

Callius paused, wincing as the drider kept screaming and reaching for them. Annoyed, he told Vernon to take his time and think while he went and dealt with the drider. 

Callius ripped the drider's arm off as Vernon pondered how to go about using the new fungi. He had rarely worked with fungi and especially not this kind, but then after remembering what Merel taught him earlier, he decided to simply throw it as far as he could past the drider and learn as he goes. 

He took aim and had one of the roots bend for him, throwing the egg-shaped fungi past the drider who was now screaming louder after both its arms were ripped off, much to the Siren's chagrin. 

The egg landed just a good distance away from the squirming figure, and as long as Vernon could still see it, he could ask it to cooperate with him. 

He soon requested that it take shape, and the egg grew after creating roots to stab and root itself to the ground, taking in the nutrients of the decaying meat. It became lumpy and like it was about to explode until red fingers appeared, tearing their way out of the white skin, growing bigger and lashing out like the red tentacles of an octopus. 

"Those are a fungus I'm hoping?"

"Devil's fingers. The fungus first starts as something similar to an egg, and it grows in damp areas with decaying matter. Here is like paradise for its growth."

Callius could not help but shudder as the red fingers lashed out, tumbling, hitting, and hooking onto everything it could come into contact with. Vernon was still getting the hang of controlling multiple tendrils at once. 

The drider snapped its head around and screamed its skinless face the fungi, before the fingers whipped around and smacked it everywhere. The plant hooked onto pieces of the drider's flesh and subsequently stabbing it through the neck and mouth as the fingers just moved wherever. Vernon was trying his best. 

The other red fingers hooked and mindlessly grabbed onto the layers of flesh over the squirming figure and limply ripped it down. 

First there was a gasp, and then Annabelle's face was revealed, sweaty and covered in blood and serous fluid, gagging and making grossed out noises. 

Now that they found Annabelle and there was no more screaming, Callius could breathe, but he could also now hear the sounds that were happening outside. 

He heard the fighting and became worried. 

"Vernon, can you take care of this situation from here?" He asked the boy. 

The boy nodded, then he noticed Annabelle ripping herself free and quickly told her that the drider struggling against the roots piercing its body, was the one that tried to conjoin Annabelle into that cocoon of meat that they were in.  

She began ripping herself free faster as Callius put his trust in the interns and went to check on Dove. He ran out just in time to see the eldritch deer corner her and prompt her to jump off the cliff. 

The siren quickly took care of the deer, dropped his phone beside hers, then dived off the cliff after her. 

Back to after a big splash was heard, more sounds and movement erupted from the water. 

A Goliathan-sized figure emerged out of the water. Human like in upper bone structure but with green and bluish scales for skin, fins all along the arms and a large, thread-like fin on the head that almost mimicked that same, green wavy hair. His eyes glowed and cradled in his arms was Dove, too astonished to move and filled with too many questions to find any words. 

His webbed hands held the girl close and up above the water as he looked down at her to see if she was alright. In this new body, his face was very stoic with no visible mouth, only what looked like a jaw that could unlatch based on the lines going all the way from ear to ear, which he also did not have in this form. He was nearly unreadable. Dove looked up at him like a child wondering what their parent is thinking. 

"Callius?"

I felt like a child being held safely by a father. I can't remember that last time I was held by anyone, or even in a way that made me feel this safe. I was always too big to be held or picked up, so there were these mixed feelings of embarrassment and, dopamine is the only word I can find for now. 

The siren easily moved through the water; Dove peeked over his shoulder and could see few glimpses of his tail moving through the dark waters. He found a place near the cliff where it was flat and walkable, placing Dove down. 

When she stepped down onto the sand, she heard others calling for them. 

Laurence spotted them quickly after Calder told him where they were. His face was filled with panic, nearly crying as he ran down, pulling Dove into a tight embrace. She patted his back as her only reassurance for him, still silent. He pulled away and asked her what happened that caused her to fall off a cliff. He interrogated her like a parent asking how and where their child managed to get lost. 

Annabelle and Vernon ran down, each one holding the items left on the grass near the edge of the cliff. They both froze after looking up and seeing the large figure behind Laurence and Dove, both their mouths falling agape. 

Calder and Ursa weren't all that surprised when they caught up. 

"Potential death of an intern aside, at least the kids finally got to see one of you transform." Ursa said, placing her hands on her hips. 

"How's your wound, Ilia?" Calder asked, looking up at his friend in his ocean form. His eyes traced down to his tail, at the spot where the wound from his thigh would be. 

Dove turned and remembered. 

"Oh, shit! Right, your wound!"

Callius looked down and gently waved it off, showing he was fine. Still, the blood in the water could not be ignored. 

Dove decided to ask what happened to the unconscious man at the cliffside, who she revealed was actually named Walter Reiss. Vernon told her that when he and Annabelle came out of that meat cave, which they would speak of later, they didn't find him. 

This evoked Ursa to call Sienna and alert her of the man, telling her and Lucas to keep their eyes open for him. Laurence gave her the ID they found, hoping it may have some scent that her hounds can trace. 

There was a very low chance that due to the burn and the likelihood that Walter would smell much different now, it wouldn't work. Dove pulled out some other pieces that may have the guy's scent, such as the crumpled-up letter, the invitation from bulletin board, and his notebook. Her mind was still jumbled from the near-death experience and the whole witnessing the transformation of a real siren, so it only occurred to her just then, to try the notebook.

Ursa had her hounds sniff each and every one of those items, saving the notebook for last, and then sending them off to go find him. She then called Merel to give her the same warning and went out hunting for him as well. 

The interns wanted to go search as well but they all received a hard 'NO' from Laurence. 

He asked Calder and Callius to take them all back to the beach where the boats are, and made it clear to the interns that they have already done enough. The manhunt for Walter Reiss would now be left to the adults. 

"But we technically are adults." Vernon raised his hand and clarified. 

"Do you know how to file taxes on your own? How to do paperwork for a new passport? Felt a grave amount of disappointment in life and in yourself? Have you ever felt the depressing dread from realizing your favorite product, one of the few things that brought you joy, was discontinued? Because if not, then you are not fully adults just yet. Wait until life beats you up more and one day you wake up seriously considering hanging yourself for no other reason than just because."

"Laurence, your dark thoughts are coming back."

"Listen- I am really not in a good headspace right now- please just take them to the boats guys." Laurence responded with full regret, stepping back and giving an apologetic nod to Vernon who did not understand why Laurence responded the way he did. 

Laurence walked away after checking on Dove one more time, muttering to himself about 'happy thoughts, normal thoughts, coffee'. 

To lighten the mood, Calder began to explain their Goliathan forms to the interns as he handed Dove his phone to hold in her coat for safekeeping. 

"We solved the issue of clothes when transforming a long time ago. Magic and all that, not sure how it works but it does. Now, remember when Joon tried to see my full siren form by splashing a bit of water at me?"

"I remember, he explained it to me in vivid detail because he was so embarrassed of the reaction you gave him!" Annabelle snickered, thinking fondly of that memory. 

Calder smiled. 

"Well, I hope you also remember that I said it would take dunking our entire bodies into a large body of water in order to transform. And you should definitely know by now, using Callius as a reference," He pointed behind him to his friend.

"That simply putting us in a tank just big enough for our human bodies, is not a good idea. Our Goliathan forms are much bigger than our human forms, and that's another reason why we'd need a significantly large amount of water if you want to see any aquatic features on us."

"Why do you call this a Goliathan form?"

"Because the average measurements of these forms are approximately nine feet, which is the size that Goliath from the bible was speculated to be at." He answered with a shrug as he walked into the water, seeing as that answer was the least interesting.

Calder walked further into the water until the interns could no longer see him. Callius stood still and then moved in front of them as large waves erupted, like the spot where Calder disappeared suddenly exploded into a whirlpool. 

Rumbling came from the water like thunder, and then a figure arose. His scales were a bluer shade of green then Callius' dark seaweed green, like turquoise. String-like tendrils instead of fins on his head that mimicked his human hair, but the same webbed hands and fins on the back and forearms like Callius.

Annabelle was smiling with excitement and taking lots of photos while Vernon pondered the colors of their scales. 

It was a fun ride back to the beach, even though the interns got wet when the Sirens brought them back. That was inevitable, Dove was just very grateful she didn't wear her suit on this trip. 

They met up with Sienna who traded places with Mori in watching the boats, so that he could help with the manhunt in his wolf form. 

The two sirens would go back to other side of the island so that Callius could show the cave of meat to Calder. He had hoped that since it was learned that the meat cave was where the victims were taken, perhaps it wasn't too late to see if there are still some living people buried beneath the layers. That all depended on the low chance that they could find any heartbeats. 

Dove got her friends caught up on all the information she managed to put together, and then her and Vernon wondered what happened to Annabelle. 

The girl looked away, silently refusing to answer for a moment. 

"We're here for you." Vernon said, but they all knew that he only said that thinking that's what neurotypical people said to each other in terms of comfort. 

"Because we are sitting here with you right now."

"I saw another of those packs of eldritch deer, got cocky, Walter took advantage of my ego and convinced me that I could take them all on." Annabelle took a deep breath and admitted, before pursing her lips and looking away. 

There was silence. 

"Next thing I knew, I was tied up in something squishy and struggling to escape, then realized I was covered in blood and serous fluid... Don't ever tell anyone this happened, lest it somehow reaches my father's ears, and he calls me to give another lecture about my hubris and wild nature." She said while using her fingers to air quote, rolling her eyes at the mention of her father. 

One of the rare few moments where the corners of her mouth actually drop. 

"Promise."

"I'm just going to forget about it soon anyway."

I felt better after talking with my friends. I have to admit, I was pretty disappointed that I didn't actually die, but then I returned to my friends again and thought, 'maybe next time', and decided to not think about it.

There was suddenly some commotion of noise in the distance. The interns got curious, but Sienna told them to stay put. Dove felt tense, especially after hearing a gunshot, and soon there was quiet.

All of the other adults came back eventually, and they made their way back to the mainland from the haunted island. 

There was some silence aside from the usual reflections to as everyone tossed around what each one knew so far, how many nightmares were cleared, and how many victims were found.

Aside from the five that Merel saved earlier, there were no other living survivors, for the nightmares only got more aggressive due to Walter's control. 

The sirens did find people when digging through the web-like, flesh layers in the walls. But most if not all of them were far too digested to be brought back, mentally or physically.

Dove sat in the same boat that Callius drove, the other two interns sitting and resting in the back. The girl, drying off her hair with a small towel, sat next to Callius in the passenger seat, glancing at him from the side. 

He returned her eye contact briefly, already knowing what she was wanting to say. 

'Are you going to tell them what I tried to do?'

'No. I let them know you fell, because that is what I saw.'

'Do you plan to tell Laurence that I jumped?'

'I have no right to tell him that. It was your choice to do, therefore your choice to tell him if you wish.'

Her eyes then traveled down to his lap, seeing a new set of bandage wraps around his leg. 

"By the way, what was that gunshot earlier?" Annabelle asked. from the back. 

"Laurence killed Walter."

"What?" 

"What else do you think that huge body bag in Sienna's boat is?" He referred to the boat Sienna was driving and just now coming into view, driving past them.

Mori was keeping a hand and eye on a large bag placed in the middle. Upon realization and closer look, it did resemble the shape of a human. 

"Did Mori and his team always have body bags on hand?" Vernon asked under his breath. 

Dove was more surprised and turned her head back to Callius. 

"But I thought he was going to be brought back alive?"

"Normally, that would be the case. But before finding you, Laurence listened to the recording on your phone from your conversation with him, and realized, he is too, delirious and unhinged to be kept alive."

"Oh right! The recording!" 

Dove dropped everything earlier, including her phone, so that Laurence and the others could have enough evidence to know what was going on. She turned off the lock screen so that they could access it. 

She frowned however, thinking about the recording and took her phone out of her pocket. She swiped and searched for the app and then found the voice recording. 

'12:00' minutes long. 

"Hey um- how much of the recording did everyone hear?"

"Only Laurence had enough time to hear enough, because as soon as Calder told him where we were, he ran off before the recording was finished." Annabelle shrugged. 

Dove was silent for the rest of the boat ride. 

Merel, Sienna, Lucas, and Mori would all go back to the island to continue purging the place for all nightmares until it could be cleared as no longer haunted. This task would take up to a few days to complete, depending on the circumstances.

Back at the agency, Leon was very displeased. Not because he had ten patients added to his workload, but because the three interns got wet and did not dry properly. Vernon and Annabelle were fine aside from needing to change into new sets of warm clothes, which he had. Leon had been alive long enough to know what to prepare for.

But Dove was at risk of getting a fever due to how cold she was. She did not even realize her skin was so cold, genuinely feeling normal, and tried to go back to working as usual since she was already there. 

Leon did not let Dove go just yet, having one of the nurses make soup for her, and then allowing her to go. She could not help but look up at him, wondering if he was serious. 

"Would you rather have the soup in a tumbler instead? Because I also have those." He said with genuine seriousness.

Had the apothecary floor not been filled with multiple patients, he would've made her stay until she finished the entire thing. Knowing that, Dove tool the soup and thanked him before leaving. 

Not even my old school nurse was that adamant about preventing a fever. It was, strange.

Joon, curious and wanting to know everything that happened, took a break from work and found her heading up to the detective's floor. Since she technically took this day off, he found no issue in looping his arm with hers, making sure she did not spill her soup since that would upset Leon, and had her walk with him up to Vernon's rooftop garden. 

Annabelle and Eden were already up there, playing with the cats and other strays. 

"How are you feeling?"

"About the same. Apparently, I'm dangerously close to getting a fever, so I have to finish all of this." She said, referring to the warm tubber ware in her hands. 

"I made a bench out of trees." Vernon said, having all of them follow deep into his garden to see. 

While working and studying, Vernon got sidetracked and found an article about a man who grew a tree into the shape of a chair. That gave him the idea to do the same to his in an area where there was open space. 

It did not come out the way the others expected. 

It was more like multiple trees that grew in a very obvious lean, entangled and fused together. The seat area was marginally flat, save for some understandable bumps, similar to how logs are used, but what was most unexpected were the roots being used as back leg support behind the little structure. 

"I was thinking of some ways that skinnier trees like this could support the weight of people yet not be so big to take up a lot of space and then realized that if they could sit on their own roots, that would help a lot." Vernon said, looking very proudly at his creation. 

Eden signed about how at least it was definitely way better than a dog. 

During their break together, Vernon lamented about his powers getting weaker as the seasons get colder. He showed them the leaves of his favorite flowers and showed how there was already brown and decaying spots on them. 

Eden attempted to use their magic on the plant and was mystified when it didn't work. 

"Eden, mother nature's rules may not all apply to you, but the plants still run on a cycle. Only my perennials will die but my other creations will just become dormant and slow down until spring. You don't need to revive them."

Eden slouched, pouting. Joon patted their back. 

"I should get back to studying while I have the time. Midterms are coming up." Vernon went and left the sitting space to go get his laptop that he left in the fungal section of the garden. 

"I have to study too." Annabelle lamented, frowning as she cupped her face with both hands and lamented. 

"All of my classes require essays upon essays with bibliographies and citations, so I'll be in the archives if anyone needs me." She claimed she was going to do and headed down the stairs after leaving the garden.

All her friends knew that she was going to spend her time dusting, reorganizing books, sweeping the floors, and doing anything but write her midterm essays. 

Dove finished her soup, returned the tubber ware to Leon, and made her way down to the detective's floor to ask Laurence if there was anything she could help with. 

He was oddly quiet when he looked at her. 

She caught him at the breakroom, pondering between making hot chocolate or another cup of coffee. 

"Oh, right. I almost forgot. You must've already submitted all the evidence and stuff, I can do my report right now, and submit the recording on my phone if that's still needed? I just need time to edit out some, ah, useless s-stuff."

"... It's alright. You don't need to submit that." Laurence told her in an awkwardly comforting tone. 

"Callius should've already told you, but I killed our perp. We did what we could with the victims, and the island case is now in Merel's hands after Sienna and her boys go back to New York. There's nothing else to file away." He shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck, trying to force a grin but his eyes were sad. 

Dove nodded, leaning against the counter beside him, still holding her phone in her hands, mostly so that she can occupy herself with something.

"Did you shoot Walter because of what you heard in the recording?" She took a leap and asked. 

"Would it disturb you if the answer was yes?"

She shook her head.

"No, It's just... He was knocked out before my, um fall. And my, fall, was only because of the eldritch deer. He wasn't going to be any issue to me."

"... We should never underestimate someone." Laurence responded, arms crossed as he leaned against the counter in the quiet breakroom with her. 

"Physically, he can be taken down, but as you caught on your phone and with evidence backed up by the behavior of the creatures, he had other cards up his sleeve. You don't have to give your report to let me know he may have caused the driders to have enough intelligence to create nests, and for, cryptic deers to capture and imprison people. And, if he was capable of that, even incapacitated, I didn't want to imagine what else he'd have them do." 

As a way to keep her hands occupied, Dove reached for one of the packets of cocoa powder in one of the baskets and started making him hot chocolate, not letting him choose coffee. He stopped her from filling the cup with water, having her set the mug down and reaching for a second cup. 

"I-... Would you mind if we talked about this, Simon person you both kept mentioning?"

Dove groaned internally, her eyes stuck staring at the random baskets beside the wall on the countertop, the microwave, and the mini oven. The only background noise was him filling the kettle up with water. 

"Depends how much you want to know about him."

"I don't want to know about him, I just want to know if mentioning his name will make you uncomfortable."

"I'll be fine. It's just a name."

"But you got visibly uncomfortable when that guy introduced himself as Simon."

She looked up at him in surprise. 

"You noticed that?"

"Of course." He responded quietly, stopping his movements after turning the kettle on.

"Of course, I would notice if you're uncomfortable because I would never want you to be."

"Why? People get uncomfortable about random things all the time. It's not exactly something you can prevent."

"Because-..." He stopped himself, his mouth hung open as he tried to find the right words. 

"I want you to feel safe and content here?"

"That's pretty ironic, considering the line of work."

They both chuckled lightly, remembering what just transpired hours ago. Laurence grinned, shaking his head, then his grin fell back into a serious expression again as he turned to face Dove. 

"I know. But- and I know this may sound ironic- I do want you to be safe for the most part. I have no idea who this Simon person is, I have no idea what you and that guy thought of him, but I could tell from just your voice and your words in that recording, that you have bad history with this person, and that he poses a danger to you."

"How do you know that he's a threat to me? For all you could know, I just dislike the person and I could be the bad person in this story. Maybe both me and Simon are the bad people in this story of mine." She turned to face him, finally making eye contact, but there was a barrier. She had her guard up now. 

Laurence was silent again, searching for words, but then opting to be straight forward like she was earlier. 

"Dove. I know you willingly jumped off the cliff."