• Friday, November 26 - 16 P.A. •

Maybelle’s leg bounces under her table. If not for the kids sitting with her, she’d be wandering the compound by now. Matt said Edison is in the compound somewhere, but since he left the infirmary, no one’s seen him. Matt’s been looking almost non stop. Ekua has been spending time with her own family.

It’s not like she expected much else. Edison doesn’t like shelters and if he’s sick, he’s going to be even more inclined to hide. Ekua said something else happened too, but she didn’t get to go into much detail before being swiped away.

Matt sighs frustratedly as he sits down across the table. He doesn’t have any food with him, but Maybelle doubts he even notices.

“You’re not going to find him,” Maybelle murmurs.

“How are you so sure?” Matt asks. He doesn’t sound condescending like Maybelle expects; more like he really wants to know.

Maybelle shrugs. “If Edison doesn’t want to be found, he won’t be. Especially if he’s sick.”

Matt takes a deep breath to argue, then sighs and leans his chin into his hand. “I suppose you would know, being his sister and all.”

Maybelle nods. “Can you tell me what happened?”

He looks up. “Ekua didn’t?”

“She didn’t have time.”

“Oh. Well, we were in the infirmary and he was doing alright; ready to give it a shot, you know? But then Ekua came back with a doctor he apparently knew and he took off.”

“Wait, a doctor?” Maybelle looks up quickly. “Who was the doctor?”

“Elinore, I think.”

Maybelle grumbles and rubs her face. “Oh no.”

Matt looks at her. “Oh no what?”

“If he saw Elinore, he’ll definitely be hiding good.”

“Who is Elinore?”

“She was part of the group in Privass. She’s the one that took care of me when I was sick. If she’s here, that means Victor probably is too. And even if he’s not, Edison will assume he is and hide until he feels well enough to take off again.”

Maybelle shakes her head and gets up. “I’m gonna go look for him for a bit. Calvin, would you mind keeping an eye on the kids?”

Calvin shakes her head in confirmation as Matt gets up.

“Can I come with you?” he asks.

“You should really stay here and eat something. You haven’t eaten since before you got here,” Calvin objects.

Matt almost frowns, but sighs instead. He nods and sits back down.

“I’ll tell you if I find him,” Maybelle promises, then trots out the cafeteria doors.

Not six steps from the door, she’s stopped by a tall woman with curly dark hair pulled into a bun and pretty light brown eyes.

“Are you Maybelle?” she asks, gently holding Maybelle’s arm.

“Yes. Why? And how do you know?” Maybelle inquires.

“Your brother’s been asking for you all morning,” the woman replies, sounding almost relieved. “I’ve been looking for you for almost an hour. He told me to tell you he’s… jazzy? I think.”

Maybelle gasps in relief. “So you know where he is? Can you take me to him? Is he alright?”

The woman nods. “Yes to all of that. Come on.”

“Who are you?” Maybelle asks as she follows her up the hall.

“My name is Inez. I’m one of the doctors here. Your brother stumbled into my office yesterday sick and scared, so I’m gonna let him stay until he’s alright to go back to the infirmary.”

Maybelle sighs. “I don’t know if he’ll be alright for that any time soon. If he saw Elinore, he’s not going to want to go anywhere but away from this shelter.”

Inez glances back. “How do you guys know Elinore?”

“We lived with her group for a while a few years back. Bad times.”

“Is she connected to Victor?”

Maybelle looks at her confusedly. “He told you about Victor?”

Inez waves her hand in a yes-and-no manner and explains, “He said that’s who he wanted to hide from.”

“Oh. That makes sense. Yeah. Elinore was part of his group last time we saw them.”

Inez nods and the conversation falters. Maybelle looks at the compound halls around them curiously. Most of them have at least a few paintings or pictures on them, to draw away from the barren aesthetic as much as possible. They pass a few people who nod and smile in greeting. Maybelle smiles back.

The hall Inez’s office is in is empty aside from them. Their footsteps echo on the walls, like tapping whispers. Inez’s door as a 12 on it.

Edison is lying on a bed near the back of the room, still mostly asleep. Maybelle rushes into the room with an audible gasp and stumbles to her knees next to the bed.

“Edison? Eddie,” she whispers, brushing his hair.

His eyes flutter open and flick over. He hums, then coughs and turns his head away from her.

“H-how sick is he? How long is he gonna be like this?” Maybelle inquires, looking at Inez.

She shrugs. “A couple weeks. No more than a month or two.”

Maybelle nods slowly and turns back to Edison.

“I can get him some fever killers and tea if you wait here. Shouldn’t be too long.”

“Okay. We’ll be here.”

Inez smiles and leaves the room. The door makes a soft click as it shuts.

Maybelle shifts to a comfier position and leans back on the frame. A heavy sigh leaves her throat.

“So. Elinore,” she breathes.

Edison whined. “They’re here.”

She glances at him. “We don’t know that yet, Edison. So far it’s only Elinore.”

He whines again. “Maybelle… anywhere she is, he is.”

She purses her lips. She can feel him shaking through the bedframe. “Edison, we’re in a good place this time, with good people who know what happened. Matt won’t let anything happen to you.”

“Matt…” he trails off.

“He’s really worried about you.”

“Mm.”

“When Inez gets back, do you mind if I tell him where you are?”

“I don’t mind.”

“Good. Maybe he’ll finally stop moping.”

Edison grumbles and coughs into a small cloth square. “I hate being sick.”

Maybelle scoffs. “Yeah, me too.”

“I’m going back to sleep.”

“Wait.”

“Why?”

“Just wait ‘til Inez gets back. A fever killer will help a lot.”

Edison sighs, coughing again, and looks at her. “What have you been doing?”

She shrugs. “Hanging out with the kids mostly.”

He smiles. “How are they? How is everyone?”

“The kids are pretty good for the most part. Isidra is a lot like you; either right next to Oren or hiding somewhere in our room.”

Edison smiles.

-

Maybelle looks at Edison once more as she follows Inez into the hall, then turns to the woman herself. “Thank you so much for taking care of him.”

Inez flashes a smile while she locks the door. “It’s my pleasure. I know what it’s like, needing to hide from someone.”

Maybelle tilts her head, glancing at the door. “Will he be able to get out if he needs?”

“Oh, of course. There’s a lock on the inside. I showed him how it works. This is just to make sure no one else walks in on him. Don’t want him being scared anymore than he already is,” Inez purrs, sliding her keys into her pocket. “Oh. But. Since you’re his sister, you should probably have access.”

Maybelle watches her take one of the keys off the ring and takes it when she hold it out. “Thank you.”

Inez smiles. She tucks her hands in her pockets as they walk toward the cafeteria.

Maybelle fiddles with the key in her hand.

“So, the two of you are feral, huh?” Inez wonders, earning Maybelle’s attention.

“Kinda. He’s more feral than me.”

Inez nods. “Interesting. What happened to your family? How often did you travel with groups?”

Maybelle chuckles. “Why are you so interested? You’ve met other ferals, right?”

Inez shakes her head. “A few, but not like you two. Most of the other ferals I’ve met are...actually feral. They didn’t like people at all. They barely spoke, and what they could say was pretty much gibberish.”

Maybelle hums and folds her hands behind her. “I get it. We’ve got a kid in our group that’s kinda like that, but he’s attached to one of our guys so he’ll probably grow up a lot like Edison and me.

“Edison still has a hard time with a lot of words. He didn’t get as much help from the groups we found as I did.”

Inez nods slowly. “So you’re actual siblings? Like, from birth?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow. It’s so rare to see birth families still together.”

Maybelle looks down as they get to the cafeteria doors. “Yeah. I guess we’re lucky in that.”

Inez smiles sadly, but Maybelle’s cheer returns quicker.

“Thanks for your help,” she says as she holds open the door.

“Of course. See you later.”

Maybelle waves and walks to her group’s table, sitting down next to Calvin again. She takes her tray back.

“Did you find him?” Calvin asks.

“Yeah.”

Matt looks up.

“He’s safe. He’s sleeping right now. Matt, I’ll take you to see him in the morning. After we’ve all had some sleep.”

Matt’s shoulders sag and he nods. “That’s fair.”

Maybelle flashes a tired smile. She eats some of the food Calvin saved on her tray, then sighs and shakes her head. “Take what you guys want. I’m gonna go shower finally.”

“Enjoy it,” Calvin purrs. “The water is lovely.”

Maybelle giggles and walks back out the doors.