{"id":152,"date":"2009-11-27T19:15:56","date_gmt":"2009-11-27T19:15:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sophiehoulden.com\/writings\/fair\/?p=152"},"modified":"2009-11-27T19:15:56","modified_gmt":"2009-11-27T19:15:56","slug":"chapter-58-17-years-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sophiehoulden.com\/writings\/fair\/?p=152","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 58: 17 years ago."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!-- \t\t@page { size: 21cm 29.7cm; margin: 2cm } \t\tP { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } --><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Brook walked home from the library, he was relieved The Irfans, his and Anemone&#8217;s work was almost complete, or at least approaching publishable, but it was a significant drain on his energies, starting early and finishing late had become his routine.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Stepping into his home brook was greeted by his daughter,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Daddy! I missed you, I haven&#8217;t seen you in days! Can we play for a bit?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Not now Yami, Daddy needs some rest.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">At that Brook walked past his daughter and on into his bedroom.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Yami couldn&#8217;t stand it, for months her father had been pulling away from her, she didn&#8217;t have a mother to turn to and her advanced intelligence at school made the other children keep their distance. &#8216;That&#8217;s it&#8217; Yami thought, and stormed out of the house and made her way through the night towards the library. &#8216;I&#8217;ll finish his work so he wont have any excuse not to be with me!&#8217;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Yami had tolerated loneliness for too long, it was the worst feeling possible, she was sure of it.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">&#8211;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Yami stepped off the elevator and into floor ninety four, the security wasn&#8217;t a problem for her to bypass, as a ten year old doing school assignments 20 year olds found challenging, she was an intelligent girl.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">She walked up to her fathers desk to go over his research notes and learn what she had to to complete his work on her own, but something caught her eye, a slight glow at the back of the room, Yami couldn&#8217;t help being curious, it was her curious nature that had pushed her to be so smart, to know more. She stepped towards it.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">It was coming from inside what appeared to be a lead safe, left slightly ajar. For about 5 meters around it a circle was marked on the floor, with chalk written by it &#8216;please don&#8217;t cross Anemone&#8217;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Yami was not Anemone, and stepped towards the safe, she had to see what was inside it.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Standing before the safe, Yami pulled the door open to see a bracelet, with 26 beads embedded in it, one of them glowing brighter the closer Yami got to it. Almost in a trance, Yami knew she was going to wear it, it was for her. Then for Yami, everything went dark.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">&#8211;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Yami woke up an hour later, she climbed to her feet and saw the bracelet on her wrist, though she didn&#8217;t want to take it off, but she knew she&#8217;d be in trouble if she didn&#8217;t. But no matter how hard Yami pulled the bracelet wouldn&#8217;t go any further than her wrist.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Damn\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Yami was angry, angry at herself for putting it on, angry at her dad for ignoring her and making her come here, angry at her mother for dying, angry at the kids at school for picking on her. She was so furious at her loneliness. If she wasn&#8217;t alone she would never be in this situation, if only she could be hugged by someone, if only somebody was there who looked out for her.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Yami suddenly felt a headache and fell forward, it faded quickly and Yami had the odd sensation of seeing both the floor she was looking at, and also her own body looking at the floor. She stood up and turned around, now she could see herself in both images, she had two bodies now.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">This is definitely weird\u00e2\u20ac\u009d both Yami bodies said completely at the same time, it took Yami all night experimenting, moving and interacting, but she realised, she was now a girl with one mind and two bodies.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">floor ninety four\u00e2\u20ac\u009d both of Yami&#8217;s bodies heard the elevator, thinking at double speed (as she now had two brains to use) she hid one of herself and stepped towards the elevator, whatever the punishment was for trying on the bracelet, she had no idea what would happen if she was found out for what she had become.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Anemone stepped off the elevator.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Oh hello there Yami, have you come again to check-\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Anemone almost immediately noticed the bracelet on Yami&#8217;s wrist. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Yami&#8230;\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">The bracelet was different, with only 13 beads, and one only half glowing, Anemone knew something had happened, she closed her eyes and used her abilities to try and sense the bracelet, she felt it both before her and across the room behind a pile of books.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Yami, if there are two of you, I need to see both, you might need help.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Yami looked at anemone, how could she know already? But her face wasn&#8217;t one of anger like she had expected, it was one of concern.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Ok\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said, and walked her other body to beside her. Anemone was definitely shocked to see Yami&#8217;s twin.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">I&#8217;ll admit I wasn&#8217;t expecting this sweety.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">What does it mean Anemone?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Yami asked, both her bodies talking simultaneously.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">I&#8217;m not a hundred percent sure yet hun, we&#8217;ll have to talk it out a little to figure it out.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Anemone wrote a short note and left it on Brook&#8217;s desk \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We&#8217;ll go to the private boothes on another floor so we can be sure no one walks in, how does that sound?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Both of Yami nodded, she was glad Anemone was considerate, if her father walked in now he&#8217;d flip out, and this way she could at least prepare for it.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Anemone and Yami entered the elevator, each of her holding one of anemone&#8217;s hands.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">&#8211;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Floor ninety four\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Anemone returned to the floor to find Brook and Mr and Mrs Irfan waiting.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Anemone! I know your note said not to worry, but Yami is missing, and the bracelet too! What&#8217;s going on?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">We need you to be calm please Brook, I know its going to be hard but please try.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Anemone didn&#8217;t want to make this any harder for Yami than it already was, and she had lost a little sympathy for brook he left his child so lonely when her abilities awakened the only thing she wanted was another body that could hold her. Anemone knew Brook&#8217;s dedication to his research was his way of avenging his wife&#8217;s death, but she couldn&#8217;t imagine putting work before a child.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Yami, you can come out now.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Both of Yami stepped off the elevator, and Brook fell back into his chair. Speechless.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">&#8211;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">That night Brook tucked his daughter into bed, it was a little small for the both of her now but she didn&#8217;t seem to mind, she was clearly glad he hadn&#8217;t shouted at her, but how could he have done, Brook knew he was the one who should be punished.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Are you really quitting dad? I know the research is really important to you.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Nothing is more important to me than you Yami, I&#8217;m sorry I forgot that.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Brook walked over to the door and turned out the light.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">What pained Brook most of all though, was he was one of the few people who knew what the bracelets meant for those who wore them, sooner or later someone would try to kill his daughter, and she would either die or have to become a killer to survive.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm;\"><span style=\"font-family: Lucida Sans,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Brook didn&#8217;t sleep that night, it was all he could do to keep his crying quiet so neither of his daughter heard him.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brook walked home from the library, he was relieved The Irfans, his and Anemone&#8217;s work was almost complete, or at least approaching publishable, but it was a significant drain on his energies, starting early and finishing late had become his routine. Stepping into his home brook was greeted by his daughter, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Daddy! I missed you, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sophiehoulden.com\/writings\/fair\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sophiehoulden.com\/writings\/fair\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sophiehoulden.com\/writings\/fair\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sophiehoulden.com\/writings\/fair\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sophiehoulden.com\/writings\/fair\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=152"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sophiehoulden.com\/writings\/fair\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":153,"href":"https:\/\/www.sophiehoulden.com\/writings\/fair\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152\/revisions\/153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sophiehoulden.com\/writings\/fair\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sophiehoulden.com\/writings\/fair\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sophiehoulden.com\/writings\/fair\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}