Phantoms 2

A warm breeze met the girls with open arms. As they entered Alan's apartment, Alan motioned for them to stay put for a while. He walked over to his bed and prepared it for Renne. He then called out to the girls and disappeared into the bathroom. Lucianna and Audrey lay Renne on his bed, then they looked around curiously. While the room itself was bland with nothing of interest, Lucianna looked around for something in particular, some kind of memento of their childhood. While she was searching, she gave Audrey a passing glance. She had an irritated look on her face as she rummaged around the room, seeming disappointed in something, or lack thereof. Lucianna then turned her attention to the end table beside Alan's bed. A face-down picture frame sat next to a table lamp. She walked over to the end table and picked up the photo.Lucianna began to tear up as she looked at the photo. "So he remembers me?" She said with a joyful tone. A warm feeling swelled in her chest. Without knowing it, Lucianna stared at the photo for a few minutes. Once she zoomed back into reality, she noticed Audrey standing beside her with a confused look. Lucianna gave her an awkward smile.

"Man..." Alan walked out of the bathroom with a tube of cream and bandages in hand. "Why does everyone have a fascination with that photo?" He said with an irritated look. Alan's gaze was fixed on Lucianna. He studied her cautiously as if he wanted to say something else.

"S-sorry..." Lucianna cracked under pressure and spoke in a timid tone. Audrey stepped forward as if she wanted to intervene. However, Lucianna tugged at the helm of her shirt.

"I'm not mad. It's just that photo is like the only thing in this room that everyone grabs. It's kinda weird. Anyway, I need a favor to ask of you." Alan's tone suddenly shifted as if he was embarrassed. He took a quick second to think of his next words. "I need you to take the hoodie off of Renne for me and put your hands over her breasts, please." He then turned around, trying to be respectful to Renne.

Confused, Lucianna agreed to Alan's directions, undressed the sleeping Renne, and covered her breasts with her hands. "Done." She said, causing Alan to turn around.

"Umm...Why did you need to undress her?" Audrey said, restraining the urge to yell at a man placing his hands on the bare body of an unconscious girl.

Alan turned his head impatiently. To Lucianna, it seems he was not mad at the question Audrey had asked but because she should have known the answer. The large scar on her neck was like the scar between Renne's breasts, large, ugly, and caused during the quake. Alan then turned his head back to Renne.

"Phantom pains." He said. "Something you should know well." Lucianna saw Audrey take a step back. She reached out for her neck. "Judging by your shape and location, you might have it worse than us. A burning hand squeezing the life from you know. It's hard to breathe when you go through it, isn't it?" Alan poured some ointment on her scar and rubbed it in.

"How did you know?" It seems like Alan hit the nail on the head. Lucianna's eyes widened as Audrey took a deep breath and spoke to Alan as if he were an average person rather than a beast. Deep down, Lucianna found this comforting yet painful. The phantom pains Audrey had endured were only known by her. But seeing that Alan can relate to the pain she had felt for years, felt like something was robbed from her. "That's... quite the guess."

"It was not a guess. It's an assumption based on my experience." Alan then finished up his treatment of Renne and collected the supplies. He walked over to his dresser and grabbed a hoodie like the one Renne had stolen and torn up. "Can you girls clean her up, dress her in bandages, then put her in this, please?"

"Sure," Lucianna replied as Alan left the area. Lucianna then looked at Audrey as she was applying the bandages. "So...does this happen often? More often than you tell me it does?"There was a brief pause before an answer was spoken. "Yes, I only tell when it happens every now and then. I fear you would worry too much if I told you every time it happened. When I wake up in tears from the pain, I didn't want to see you at my bedside. I know how you are." Audrey paused again. She looked at Renne's pained expression. I didn't know that our pain could be treated as easily as this. I've always had to take a 'unique' pill that knocked me out until the pain subsided.

"Sounds like you were being used," Alan said, startling the girls. He walked back into the room without a sound and sat at the table, his back facing the girls. "Being knocked out so they can treat you, to me, that sounds like you were just some tool for their experiments."

"..." Audrey didn't respond, as she had no way of confirming if she was just an experiment or not. She then turned to look at Alan's back after noticing a faint crimson-colored glow through his clothing. "I assume that's where your scar is?" Lucianna sat silently as she finished up with Renne. Alan then walked to the end table to retrieve everyone's favorite photo.

"Yeah, my proof of surviving that fateful day. As well as my sin."

"Your sin?"

"Yeah, but long story short, I let everyone I once knew die and only went to save the one I loved. Not a very interesting story, but I don't feel like explaining anymore. It took enough courage just to tell Renne."

Both girls sat in silence as they found it difficult to continue the current conversation due to the heavy atmosphere Alan had caused. The three had a small chit-chat explaining the things that had happened and the goal from here on out.

"So, in other words, against my better judgment, the two of you will stay here for a few days at least." Alan said while acting as if he was annoyed by the suggestion made by the two officers when they dropped off the girls.

"And why do we have to stay with you? You said that there is another room that Renne stays in, right?" Audrey protested, "So why don't we stay there?"

"These apartments can only hold three people at most, and Renee already has a roommate."

"So what if one of us stayed with you while the other went with Renne and the other person-"

"Not a chance!" Both Audrey and Alan said in unison, interrupting Lucianna.

"There is no way in hell I would choose to stay with this 'man' or would I allow Lucianna to stay here alone either," Audrey said, crossing her arms and turning away from Alan. Lucianna chuckled a little as Audrey returned to her usual self. She then turned to Alan, expecting a rebuttal. However, Alan stared blankly at Lucianna, causing her to blush a little.

Lucianna paused to think about why he was staring so hard. After a few moments, it came to her. Since they arrived, Alan had never once asked for their names. "Heh...heh...sorry for not telling you sooner." Lucianna twirled a small piece of her hair with her left hand. Audrey, slightly confused, looked back at Alan and Lucianna and resisted the urge to slap Alan for giving Lucianna a very intense stare. Without warning, Alan leaped over the table and gave Lucianna a tight embrace.

"Whoa-"Lucianna was caught by surprise as Alan hugged her. Instead of complaining about the suddenness of the hug from Alan, she quietly hugged him back as tears streamed down her eyes. "I'm so glad that I can see you once again." She said while squeezing Alan with all of her might.

While the two were having their touchy reunion, Audrey realized she was entirely out of place at the table and walked over to Renne. As she went to sit next to the unconscious Renne, she noticed that her position had changed entirely from how Lucianna had placed her, and she was looking at the two crying in one another's arms. Audrey looked at Renne's face and noticed a few tears fall from her eyes. "So that's how it is," Audrey muttered faintly. "I guess this boy is more important to others than I had thought." Audrey then sat next to Renne and stroked her head.

"Don't worry," she whispered, "I'll help you get with that boy." Renne turned her head towards Audrey, "I don't care how close they once were. I will not allow my beautiful Lucy to end up with him." Audrey then gave Renne a soft smile before looking at the two. Audrey's eyes lit with determination. Not wanting to spoil the moment between her and her forgotten friend, Lucianna let it pass. Deep down, she cannot shake the feeling that this tender peace was just an interlude for a hell yet to arrive. A nightmare where everything she knew would come crumbling down.