"What's wrong?" Jessica implored.
Rationalizing it, Lara hoped it wasn't too obvious with how cracked her voice was, "Where're you going?
Greying brows knitted at the girl before her. "To see grandma. You know I like to visit with her around this time."
To be truthful, her aunt was partially to blame for coming off so solemn. To be even more truthful, Lara jumped conclusions too much.
She had forgotten that Jessica usually made these trips to Florida when she was able to with her busy schedule and whatnot. But this also meant that Jessica would be out of the house for at least a week or two. Which, though Lara loved her grandmother dearly, was extremely lonely. The worn, two-story home felt empty enough with the two of them in it.
"So," Lara's mouth felt like cotton, "when are you leaving?"
Jessica hummed at the question. "Probably this Friday." Today was Tuesday night. Quizzically, she ceased movement and lifted a brow at Lara. "You'll be okay, right?"
Lara jarred and offered a bright smile. "Of course." To accentuate her words, she shoved heavy amounts of food on the poor plate she was given. "Tell grandma I said hi."
As if she could see right through her, Jessica never once dropped the skeptic brow. However, honoring her niece’s word, she let it go and the room fell silent besides the clinking of utensils over porcelain plates.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The ground likened to quicksand under her feet, Lara pressed by paned doors and to the lobby. Hunched, her bag was plunked down when she got to the check-in and away from the stampede of people.
"Lara!" a raspy voice without presence shouted in an echo somewhere behind her.
Lara jerked around to see a girl no older than herself racing through the crowd of onlookers. The girl went by Lisa, if she was correct. A friendly co-worker she didn't know all that well on a personal level since both were put mostly on different schedules.
The brunette clamoring to her, she wasted not a second before rambling off a series of panted, strewn words, "I'm sorry to ask, but could you take care of the whales for me? I recently got a call that I'll have to pick up my sister, Alina."
Half dazed at the unexpected request, she blinked. "Sure, I've got you."
Relieved, Lisa pulled a weakened smile on. "Thank you so much. I'll try to be back soon." She bent to catch a final breath. "I couldn't find anyone else, so when I saw you..."
Lara laughed. "What do I need to do?"
Recalling, she timidly stared at the ceiling. "I think I still need to give Mellow her meds."
Mellow was another soft-hearted, intelligent orca Lara loved to visit on occasion. At only eight years old and born in captivity, the young female stole everyone's interest. A piece of cake to deal with, Lara had no qualms with the request.
Grabbing an apron, Lara questioned, "That's all?"
"Yep!" modestly, she chirped. "I had pretty much everything else taken care of before I was called."
Moderately cinching the apron to her waist, Lara turned. An assuring grin intact, she gave a soft pat to her shoulder. "Don't worry, I've got it from here.
Appreciative and energetic, Lisa wrapped her in a lively, unforeseen hug and started booking it for the staff room to get her belongings. "Thanks again!"
Collecting herself, Lara smiled.
When she entered the whale sanctuary dimmed by hues of blue water, she contently exhaled. Peaceful creatures to interact with, she enjoyed their company. Swimming in stride, tranquil, and *normal* to be around.
A male orca fluttering against the window she was standing beside, she fixed a hand on the sleek, transparent exterior. "Hi there, Samson." Bubbles gathering around his head on building excitement for a treat, she bent forward to rub the cold glass. "I can't do that here, buddy. Wait 'till I get to the dock."
To be honest, she counted on someone else to take care of Beta-507. Here felt right. Here felt like no danger was to come. Here created a false sense of security she was okay accepting. And here was where she was accepted by the mammals. Unlike a certain, masquerading fish.
A spurt driving the force of wavy water, she shifted a stare to Samson. Him picking up on her feelings, he wafted up and near her.
"What's up, boy?" Initially making no movement, he maneuvered his elongated body away.
Well, that was that. Least he wasn't as temperamental or as demanding as Percy who fin-slapped you whenever given the chance.
Taking a wearied pace through another door, a female orca came alive on seeing her walk through. In reciprocation, Lara cooed, "Hey, girl."
Mellow turned a flipper to the side in a greeting she had been taught months prior. Grinning, Lara squatted at a cabinet to grab a vial of medicine.
Obtaining what she was looking for, she enthusiastically coddled the container in her hand.
Mellow obediently kept from straying to wait by the glass, Lara stopped her rummaging to glance at the whale. "Why can't I work with you guys instead?" She grimaced. "I have to get the heinous chores."
Mellow didn't reply, though she did lend a twist of her body, exposing a vividly white stomach. Lara wanted to graze the blubber with her fingers, but had to be satisfied with a mere touch to the hardy surface with a not-so-satisfied glower.
Barreling footsteps from behind clattering and engulfing the silence, they startled Mellow into a gushing departure. Lara, also startled, snapped off her haunches and around. An ardent crack resounding from her hip, she swallowed a whimper and scowled.
The door's hinges widely stressed to a shaken form busting it open, Vince tightly held the knob. "Lara, thank goodness. I was looking everywhere for you," he hurried. A haphazard look thrown about, he clutched his knees to breathe.
Rubbing her hip, she squinted whilst inspecting his disheveled appearance. "Dude, relax, you're scaring Mellow, and me. What's wrong?"
"Ravn is looking for you."
"What?" Her face disdainfully screwing, her scowl reanimated. "Why?"
Fashioning an anxious pout, he replied, "He didn't say. You free?" Eyeballing the area, he verified it for himself.
Lara alleviated a groan and showcased the vial within her palm. "I have to give Mellow her medicine."
Eager on his feet, Vince adamantly filled in, "I can do it."
Did he realize how sketchy he sounded? Almost like he were in on a scheme to push her into the wolves den for spare coins. She thought they were comrades, not, 'I'm dog-running for the superiors so I'mma need you to sacrifice yourself for me, k?' buds.
"Why are you so spirited on me going?" implied betrayal in a mask of stone, she quipped.
Vince snorted at her ignorance and tweaked a brow to ironically raise. "He requested you. If you don't go, he'll get angrier."
He had her there.
"Okay, fine." Immediately surrendering, she walked up, flipped his hand outward, and entrusted the vial to him. "But if I die, you're paying for the funeral."
Closing his palm, he chuckled. "Yeah, sure."
Dragging her down a plethora of long halls, through doors, and into a large room, she and Vince had reached their destination.
She established this section of the facility as the observational center, but why was she to come here? It wasn't often she got to see this part of the building. Not that they were particularly allowed unless given access to it via a superior.
In the foreground stood a man with his back turned to them. The white coat and peppered hair all she needed to realize it was Ravn, she gulped.
"Did you bring her?" the baritone voice speaking with an authority that was commanded, instinctively, she shrunk back.
From his spot beside her, Vince nodded. However, understanding it couldn't be seen, he hesitantly responded, "Yes, sir."
Agonizingly slow for Lara's liking, Ravn spun around. "Very well. You may be dismissed."
The younger man did as told and backed out of the room without another word. Sparing Lara a glance that said he wished her well and that Mellow was in good hands, she frowned in counter.
When the doors came together in an automatic close, Ravn began, "Could I speak with you?" It wasn't a question, obviously.
Lara shuffled her feet. "Sure."
Skulking closer, he stood in front of her now. Hands clasping at his back, he lowly intoned, "I would like you to explain a bit of footage for me if you could."
Dear lord, her fears were coming back to chomp her in the ass. She could feel it. The footage had to be from the security cameras. She didn't know how to reply, what to think, or how to pretend she didn't comprehend what in the hell he was talking about.
Guilt a beacon in the daze she refused him to see. She murmured, "I'll do my best." She was at a dead-end, either way.
Side-stepping, he pointed to the farthest part of the room. Plastered on the wall a large monitor she hadn't noticed until now, with a flick of his hand to a switch somewhere under shelving, the monitor popped to life. On its screen, it displayed an enclosure she recognized a little too well.
Beta-507's habitat. And next to it, she stood.
Shamefully, she watched herself mouthing whatever she said that day. But what really caught her interest was the figure she had come to know. Affront her television self, he floated. If there was anything odd happening here, it was the noticeable interaction going on between the two of them.
"What am I looking at?" the man she had forgotten about inquired from his corner. The question provoking, accusing, she was afraid that she'd already dug a grave too deep to get out of.
Her eyes blankly rested on Ravn. "I was taking care of him."
He smiled. Although it wasn't a smile she considered friendly. Walking over to the screen, he tapped their pixelated bodies. "That looks to be more along the lines of conversing, no?"
"I suppose."
"Want to tell me about it?"
No. Prisoner to her own lack of restraint, Lara belligerently puffed her chest and tilted her head in confusion. "I was told he has intellect similar to ours," she pathetically stated, "wouldn't it be standard for him to try and interact with people?"
"No," Ravn panned.
Puzzled, she soaked in the image splayed on the screen and muttered, "Why?"
"Because it isn't normal," teeth grated, Ravn looked to be on the verge of snapping. A complete attitude change from his composed quality, he hissed, "We watch Beta-507 regularly, study his environment and social interactions." Instantly, he went slack. Eerily calmer than he was seconds ago. "This has been the only time our cameras have caught a slight change in his way of acting outside of ruining his habitat."
"And?"
Taunting, he meekly chuckled. "You really are a dense girl," he chided. Lara inhaled the growl in her throat. Sardonically, he crooked a toothy grin out of agitation towards her resistance to be compliant. "Of everyone we have involved, you are the individual he approaches. I want to know why?"
This blew Lara out of the water. Pun unintended. How was she to know any of that?
"I don't... I don't know. I just feed him..." apologetically, she lingered, "I can't help you."
"Interesting," the whisper to himself, he re-clasped two arms behind his back. A head sliding back to the animated monitor, he continued, "Maybe there is more use for you than I thought."
More use than he thought?
Suddenly, Lara was the definition of sick.
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