The Trouble with Time, Part 17 - Melody

There's a melody playing in her head, louder than infinity, and it will kill her.

It's all her world is. It hurts more than anything has ever hurt before. And even though the pain it causes takes up everything she is, she is somehow aware of two things outside of it: that there is something in her head, and that something triggered the melody, and whatever it is isn't doing it out of malice; and that shes heard that melody before. She has no idea when, or where, or why, or how, but this isn't the first time she hears the melody.

And then everything goes black.

~x~

She opens her eyes, blinks, and looks around. There's a ghost of past but recent pain in her head, and she's the kind of sticky that can only mean she's been completely covered in sweat at some point while she's been asleep. Or unconscious. She doesn't know.

She's in Kevin's bed. Again. He's nowhere to be seen. Neither is Sam, who wasn't here before, but she's sure Kevin would have called them over by now. Whenever now is.

She sits up, and immediately feels dizzy. She stop moving for a moment, waits for the dizziness to pass, then slowly makes her way to her feet. She waits a moment again, until she feels steady, then carefully walks to the door and peers through. There's no one in the hallway. She doesn't know why she would expect anyone to be in the hallway anyway. Now the problem is finding the door that Kevin is behind.

She decides to try the kitchen first. That door is close. He's not there. She's starting to feel dizzy on her feet, so she leans on the wall and slides down to a sitting position.

"Kevin?" she calls out. She can barely hear her own voice. She tries again and this time manages a louder sound. Maybe loud enough for Kevin to hear into one of the rooms. Depends on where he is.

A few moments later he does emerge through a door. She wouldn't have tried that one. She doesn't even know what's behind it. He clearly heard her, though, since he comes out of it looking like he expects to find someone.

"Hey," he says and closes the door behind himself. "How are you feeling?"

"Fantastic. That's why I'm sitting on your corridor floor," she answers, and instantly regrets it. The whisper of pain in her head is making her irritable. She changes her tone and starts again. "Just dizzy. And I feel like I've had the worst headache in my life. Which I did. But I'm okay."

"Ok, let's get you into the kitchen," Kevin says and slowly helps her off the floor. He walks her into the kitchen and sits her by the table.


"What happened at the fountain?" he asks as he sets a cup of coffee in front of her.

"I looked in, and I think I saw the Guardian. And I think it saw me, too," she says. "And then this melody started playing in my head, louder than any sound is possible, and it hurt worse than anything in my life. I think the Guardian may have triggered it."

"The Guardians are supposedly benevolent," Kevin wonders. "It hurting you like that doesn't seem to fit with what little anyone knows about them."

"I don't think it was trying to hurt me," she tells him. "It didn't feel like it was trying to hurt me. And, Kevin? I think I've heard the melody before. It was a strange melody, not something you would hear when playing music. I'm not even sure if it would be possible to play it with any instrument. But a part of me recognised it. I don't know when or how or where I would have heard it, but I'm almost certain that I have."

Kevin looks at her thoughtfully for a while, then nods.

"We'll figure it out. I have no idea what the melody could be, but we'll figure it out," he promises. "But we need to make sure you're feeling okay first."

Then he feeds her more coffee and some marvelous food until she can't eat anymore, and is feeling warm and fuzzy inside.
__________________________________________________

The topic for tomorrow is Cane.

~matleena