Try and Catch Me

The bad girl (2)
Lia stayed out of the way in the next few days. People kept on coming and going inside the house, mostly the families of the patients. The grounds and the first floor of the house were transformed into a makeshift infirmary. Fortunately, no one died yet but a person’s body could only handle high fevers for so long. Not to mention the hallucinations that needed to be guarded which kept everyone on the edge.

Eldric and his men were busy as well with the preparations and constant meetings. He mentioned last night to Lia that they might be able to track down the ringleader soon. Sometimes, Eldric would visit her like this, usually keeping a one-sided conversation. Throughout all those times, Lia would just do her part of listening, nodding her head to show she understood, smiling when prompted, and asking on appropriate parts.

Despite the whirlwind of activities around her, Lia kept to herself. She was mostly either in her room or in the library where she spent the rest of her day reading everything she could get her hands on. She avoided meeting people. If possible, she wanted to even avoid the servants Eldric assigned to her. No one bothered her which she was sure that it was Eldric’s order. Or quite possibly, aside from the servants and Eldric, the rest of the world forgot about her and that was fine by her too.

By this time, it was already a common knowledge that their mayor was part of an underground organization and the one who let the cursed drink enter their town. Just a few days ago, they were shouting for the death of her mother. Now, it was for the head of the mayor.

Humans were indeed fickle beings.

Lia shifted and curled on the couch, flipping through the pages of the book, and letting time pass by. But the world seemed to be against this kind of idleness as a loud cry rang in the hall below. She sat up straight upon hearing it.

With soft steps, she padded across the hall, carefully peering down. The library was on the second floor so she could see everything below without her being seen from below. The guards were holding back a man who kept on fighting back and shouting at them.

“I’m a soldier! The General’s right-hand man! Get your hands off of me at once!” The man shouted and tried to pry away the guards around him.

‘Ah. A hallucination.’ Lia had met the so-called right-hand man named Tim. He was a lean fellow with a cropped black hair, looking neat and proper. Definitely not the man with the scraggly beard bellowing downstairs.

That was what the hallucination did to the victims — it brought out their darkest desires. If they even had the small inkling of stealing, they would carry it out in this state, thinking that it was only a dream. That was the reason for the increase in crimes in this small town. This man’s desire was to be the one next to the General and terrorized people with his name and power.

Another, different kind of sound caught Lia’s attention. In front of the tangled limbs of the man and guards stood a woman with a baby in her arms and a small child beside her. The woman was crying — wailing, as she hugged the children while watching the commotion in front of her. Lia guessed that she was the wife of the victim.

The fanfare continued below but Lia had had enough watching. She shrugged and went back to her book.