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Plasticity Page 9


  Once secured into her room, she pressed the light switch, resulting in one bright flash, followed by a pop and dim flickering. Of the five bulbs over her vanity, only one remained alight, casting the room in pale dimness. Replacement bulbs would be upstairs, if any remained in the house, so she would have to make do with what little light she had. Fortunately, though, it did not appear that anyone had been in her room since she was last here. Amazing, really, considering how long she had been gone, and knowing that someone had been in the library for the last several months. She felt she would be reasonably safe in here, for the time being, and she had everything she could need to last for a while, assuming that the bathroom still had functioning water. So, she decided to wait to see if more of them came, or if it was just the one person. But, for now, she was going to get cleaned up and changed. She removed her tattered clothes, mourning their loss, and nearly shed a tear when she peeled off her dearly departed shoes, despite being unable to actually shed tears.

  She turned the faucet in the bathroom sink slowly until a trickle of water fell, then, comfortable with the volume level, turned it on only slightly more and gave herself a bit of a hobo shower. It was better than nothing, and she did not dare risk the sound of taking an actual shower. Her hair would not be appeased by water alone, and may actually have been destroyed, she could not tell. The easy solution was to just remove it, and a short trip to her closet revealed several options for replacement. She set the tangled mass that once was a straight, black, mid-back length hairdo, on the floor of the closet, with the intent to come back to it when she had more time. She, then, pulled an elaborate pile of impossible, Victorian-curled, blonde hair from a mannequin head and set it on her own head, locking it into place. She chose an appropriate outfit, consisting of an Alice & The Pirates Queen's Coach design one-piece, a Cafe Girl headband, black and red diamond over-knee socks, and a pair of pink, lace-bowed shoes for contrast. If she was going to have to fight a bunch of people, she wanted to look as cute as possible while doing it.

  Arrangements made, she sat on her bed and faced the door. Waiting. She could wait forever, if she needed to, but she had a feeling she would not need to wait more than this one night, and she would have reclaimed her home. Sitting in silence, she listened for any movement beyond the door. It did not take long before she heard the girl going up the stairs. Taking her opportunity, Tabitha left her room and walked out into the library. The door to the library was closed and Tabitha could hear footsteps upstairs. She listened and followed with her head as the footsteps made their way through the cabin.

  When she heard water running, based on how long it was running, she realized that the girl was taking a shower. This could mean that she was going to leave the cabin, again. Perhaps to meet with her conspirators. Tabitha stood in the middle of the room, staring at the door, deciding if she should venture upstairs to confront the girl, now, or wait to see if she came back to the library. Or, maybe she should follow her, if the girl did leave, and see who else might be using her house as their own. The water stopped running and she heard the girl stomping through the cabin. She sounded angry. Well, Tabitha was sure she had a better reason to be angry than any reason this squatter-girl could have had. Tabitha turned over, in her head, the confrontation she planned to have with these people. She wanted to make sure they understood that this was her house, and she did not care how long they had been here, but they had to go. They were not allowed to stay here anymore.

  She heard footsteps approaching, then a faint tick, and the library door slid open. Tabitha braced herself, letting the anger build up. She kept thinking about her poor Honey Cross shoes. These people had, in effect, taken them from her. It was their fault she had to walk so many miles in them. Her eyes flashed with fire as she watched the feet hit the stairs. Her anger was interrupted when she saw the girl complete her descent. Graceful, unexpected after the clomping through the woods, earlier, and completely nude. And completely beautiful. For a moment, Tabitha imagined she had just watched an angel descend from the heavens, and so she stood, silent, in a brief state of shock, just staring at the girl, who stared back. The girl seemed to be processing the situation, but not reacting.

  Say something, you idiot, Tabitha let her anger show on her face, but the girl still stood silent. After too long in silence, Tabitha was going to explode. She had been tripped up, but she was still angry. She could not find the words she had wanted to say, none of the words she had planned were available to her, now. Frustrated, she could only scream out the first words that came to her mind.

  “Get out of my house!” She screamed at the girl. She watched the girl's face crumple into an indescribable heap, before she turned and ran up the stairs. Water was flung from her still-wet hair, hitting Tabitha in the face, and leaving small puddles. Tabitha instantly felt bad. She did not like treating people poorly, when they did not deserve it, and the girl did not seem like she was a bad person. Now, she was starting to question her whole plan. Maybe she could have helped the girl find a new home, or something. Tabitha cursed her conscience, and climbed up the stairs. She went to the door, to try to catch the girl before she went too far, and when she opened it, she saw the girl there, standing on the porch, looking defeated.

  “Hey,” Tabitha watched the girl's eyes as she lifted her head. “I am, um, I am sorry about that. I should not have yelled at you. Please,” She reached her hand out to the girl, “Come back inside.”

  The girl entered the cabin, and sat on the couch by the window, still naked, Tabitha noted. Tabitha sat next to her, keeping the bloom of her dress away from the potentially-still-wet skin of the girl. “So, well, what is your name, Squatter Girl?”

  The girl looked at her, brows furrowed. “I'm Hayley. This is my friend, Alan's cabin. I live here, for now. Who are you, and why do you think this is your house?”

  “Your friend, Alan, huh? Well, that is interesting. I think this is my house, because I was born here, and my father left it to me when he died. So unless your friend, Alan, looks like a preteen Victorian toy, I would say he probably does not own this place.” Tabitha watched the girl's, Hayley's, face, looking for the reaction she expected. She was disappointed. The girl, Hayley, just looked at her, like she was crazy.

  “Well, I don't know the whole story, so I can't really speak to that. I just assumed it was his, because he told me it was. I really haven't known him that long, but he didn't strike me as a liar. So, who are you?”

  “You can call me Tabitha, I guess. It is not really my name, but it will do for now. How many of you are living here, in my house?” Tabitha was going to remain adamant about whose house this was. She did not want Hayley, or this Alan person, to forget. It was starting to look like she might be able to get rid of these people, though, so that was helping to improve her mood.

  Hayley sat up with a start, and looked down at herself. In all the excitement, she had forgotten she was completely naked. Alone, or even with Alan around, if she was being honest, she did prefer to be nude, but in the presence of this obnoxious little kid, it was putting her off-kilter. She stood, trying to cover her breasts and crotch, and started backing away, toward the bedroom. “Please, give me a minute, I'll be right back.”

  Tabitha watched her, one brow raised, as she backed away, awkwardly covering herself. It did not make a lot of sense to Tabitha. She had seen, basically, every inch of the naked girl by this point, and it did not make her uncomfortable to be around her. Humans were a greatly illogical animal, from her viewpoint. In short time, the girl returned, dressed quite tastelessly in a formless shirt and ugly skirt that were out of style, she imagined, within moments of coming into style. But, the girl smiled wide at her, in spite of her hideous appearance.

  “That's better.” She chirped, further agitating Tabitha's mood.

  After returning to the couch, the girl sat, half-facing Tabitha, looking like she was going to try to stay her execution. Tabitha was skeptical of the girl's ability to sway her decision, but she was not goin
g to shut her down completely.

  “So, as far as how many people live here, it's just me and Alan. Well, and you, I guess, now.” She sounded innocent, but her words lit Tabitha's eyes on fire.

  “No. No, not you and Alan and me. Just me. You and Alan have got to go. You can not stay.” She was getting huffy. Her body started moving in her seat, like she was trying to contain a storm.

  “Look, uh, Tabitha, I can't leave this place. Not, yet. I'm on the run from someone, and I don't know who. And I can't say that you have any actual claim to this place. Anyone off the street could show up and claim to own anything. If you don't have some kind of proof, I'm inclined to rely on my own observation. That would be that Alan owns this place, and the land it sits on. Do you have any proof? I can go get Alan and bring him here. I'm sure he would have some evidence that he owns the place. A deed or something. Something more than—”

  Tabitha raised a hand to stop Hayley's rambling. She reached into her dress and pulled out the key on the end of her necklace. “Do you recognize this?” Hayley did recognize it, and it sort of answered some questions she had had.

  “That's how you got in the hidden room. I was pretty sure it was locked when I went in the shower, but when I saw you down there, I assumed I had left it unlocked, like an idiot, and that was how you had gotten in.”

  “I was in there before you got in the shower. I came in while you were reading in the chair. I hid in my room, and got cleaned up and changed my clothes, then waited.”

  Hayley squirmed in her seat. If this little girl could do that, anyone could have done it. At any time. She was realizing that she had been a little too secure in this place, without good reason. She saw the look on Tabitha's face, and figured it meant that she was making some kind of face, probably giving away her feeling of vulnerability. She quickly changed the subject.

  “You, you said you were born here, huh? Like, your mom literally gave birth to you here, in this cabin, or something?” Tabitha's face changed to something unreadable. Something between wistfulness and sadness. Hayley wasn't sure if she had stepped on a land mine, but it was too late to worry about it, now.

  “I do not know.”

  Hayley waited for more, but it didn't come. Tabitha just sat there. Hayley wasn't going to push the birth thing, but she wasn't going to let the ownership thing drop. “So, if this is your place, why haven't we seen you or heard from you? As far as I can tell, Alan's had this place for years.”

  Tabitha did not shy away from this, though. “I had to leave after my father was killed. I stalked and murdered the people who killed my father, then I stayed around up north, until a few months ago when I got an alert that someone had broken into my library.”

  Hayley didn't know how to take this. It sounded completely ridiculous, but the timing of her finding the door to the hidden room, and the girl's account of the alarm going off lined up too well. “Oh, really, huh? Murdered some people, did you?” She smiled at Tabitha. “What'd you do, plant explosives and blow up their bad guy hideout? Or, did you hire a team of assassins and hunt them down, together, and chop them up with katanas?” She laughed at the thought.

  “No. I killed them with my bare hands.” Hayley's expression did not change, so she elaborated. “I used my own little baby hands to crush their soft bodies, dig out their gelatinous eyes, rip out their worthless tongues. I saved the best for the plastic one. I hacked him, made him do terrible, embarrassing things, then had him set himself on fire and jump off a building.”

  Hayley looked at her with a mixture of disbelief and horror. Tabitha's mouth Cheshire'd into an evil smile of pure joy. From memory of her deeds, or Hayley's face, she couldn't tell.

  “Still,” Hayley managed to tumble the words out, “That isn't something we can really prove here, anyway. You haven't even told me your real name, not that I could look it up or anything. I can't uplink, or it would give away my location, and I don't know who's looking for me, or what tech they have access to.” Hayley stopped herself. She'd said more than she had intended to say, and she really shouldn't have to explain herself to a child. Especially if that kid was a liar, as this one clearly was.

  “Hmm...” Tabitha started. “Well, I cannot tell you my real name, because I do not know it, if I ever even had one, but I can do this.” She stared at Hayley, looking a little lost. Hayley sat next to her, looking at her face, not sure exactly what she was supposed to be doing. It sure looked a lot like she was doing nothing.

  Tabitha took on a slow grin, but she still just sat there, unmoving. Hayley was getting impatient with her, waiting for whatever she was suppose to be doing, when she felt her lips part in unison with Tabitha's, and they both moaned. Hayley jerked awake in horror, realizing that her own hand had been busy inside her skirt while her mind had been unaware. Tabitha just grinned.

  “I can do that any time I want. I could, obviously, make you do much worse, but I was not out to hurt you, I just wanted to embarrass you a little.” Tabitha stood and walked across the room toward the workshop. “Some interesting stuff going on in that head of yours.” She pushed open the door and walked in, straight to the mannequin Hayley had been working on. “You know, you could have made it both, if you wanted to. There is enough stuff in here for it.”

  Hayley was done playing games with this little girl. She went into the workshop, dragged the girl out, and slammed the door behind her. She had been mistaken this whole time. She thought it was an actual little girl, but now she reprimanded herself for her blindness. There were signs that the girl was actually a plastic, but the age of the body, and the bizarre mode of dress, threw her off. Now she was angry. She had never been hacked before, she hadn't been plastic long enough to know if that was even a real thing, until now, and it was not a pleasant feeling. Hayley looked outside to see that the sun had come up at some point while they had been talking, and was now edging its way up the trees. Without a way to contact Alan, she would have to go into town on her own. It was a bit of a drive when Alan would take her into town, so she was sure it would be a long walk, but she felt like she didn't have any choice. Now she had to decide whether she was going to leave the kid here, or drag her along.

  “Look, Kid. I'm going to get Alan, and have him secure his claim to this place. You can stay here and enjoy your last hours in it, or you can come along. Your choice. But, if you hack me again, I will make you regret the fact that you're technically immortal.” Hayley walked away, not waiting for a response, and Tabitha started to laugh. She was still laughing when Hayley broached the tree-line, and Hayley thought she could still hear the laughing when she was well into the forest, but she could have been imagining it.

  Chapter 11: Cyrus Grieg

  Cyrus broke his phone. After a particularly irritating call with his soon-to-be ex-wife, wherein he discovered that half of his things consisted of the house, both cars, and the children, he crushed the phone in his gargantuan paw. He immediately regretted it, but it felt somewhat satisfying for a couple of seconds. So, he had that. He dropped the mangled aluminum frame, riven from the screen and chipset, on the passenger floor-board of the car. The screen still powered on, and black liquid swam behind the topographical map of glass, turning a jaundiced purple when pressed. He would need to keep it around for the sim-card, but otherwise, it was completely useless. It just added one more thing he had to do today.

  His usual five-over-the-limit was not quite adequate for the mood he was in, so he upgraded to ten over. Even at his increased speed, he was able to pay attention to the surrounding roadsides. It was on the roadside to his left where he saw something that struck him as particularly odd. Someone was jumping a chain-link fence into a back yard. He shook his head. At night, it would have been suspicious, and he would have immediately pegged it as a crime in progress, but during the day, in broad daylight, it was much more nebulous. The person had barely had time to land in the grass when he was upon them, and he could see more detail. It was a young-looking girl, small of frame, dark hair framing an alm
ost Mediterranean face, which he saw as she looked over her shoulder with bright, burning eyes, the color of a tropical bay. If it weren't for the eyes, he might have missed her, altogether, but those eyes, against the backdrop of that hair were a dead give-away. His list of tasks just got rearranged.

  Focused on where he would be able to turn to intercept the girl, he was blind to the police cruiser he had nearly side-swiped at God-knows-how-much above the speed limit. Once the cruiser was behind him, he paid little more attention to them. He finally got his chance to turn left, hoping the streets would intersect. He slowed down the minimal amount to make his turn, and the cop stayed close behind him. Weaving through a couple more turns had put some distance between himself and the cop, so when he made his final turn, the cop was back far enough that he wasn't going to catch up too quickly. His eyes locked onto the area of the street where he approximated the house to be, where the girl had jumped the fence. She should have had enough time to get into the house, if that was her goal, or enough time to make it to the front yard, if she was just passing through. He was almost there, and the cop had not yet turned onto the street. Then, out of no where, the corner of a car was poking into the street. He tried to slow down without locking up the brakes, but he couldn't brake and steer quick enough, and he glanced off the front of the other car. Momentum carried him over the curb and into the chain-link fence at the front of the house. The same kind of fence the back yard had. It hurt. With his size, everything was close to him in the cockpit of the car, so the sudden stop jostled him into a few different things. He didn't care enough to list what he had hit, and what had been damaged. He got out of the car in a rush, and, for a moment, considered what was to become of his poor old car. He quickly came to the decision that, in a short time, the car wouldn't belong to him anymore, anyway, so he was fine letting his wife have it. Let her deal with fixing whatever was trashed, now. And he ran. Over the fence next to the driveway, into the back yard, looking for the girl. He didn't see her, at first. He heard the cop pull up and start barking commands. Who the hell does he have out there that he thinks is me?