Chapter 4:Morning Dew

Eliza was in the bathroom after listening to what her father wrote to her, with her now back in the bathroom to make sure she was still clean.

The bathroom mirror was too tall for her but she could still reach the sink with the help of the small chair that her grandfather, Nikolai, made for her. She looked over her hands that were washed a tad bit too much, with small ridges forming on her fingers that looked like a small labyrinth. When she asked her mother about it she said that the skin becomes like that because it could hold unto things better when underwater that way.

This was all a bit complicated for the mind of a 5 year old child so all that she understood was that the body could do funny things when exposed to certain things, she wondered what are the limits to that.

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After Rachel managed make a convincing enough act of a distraught wife, she then started thinking more clearly, with all the grogginess of the morning wake up call now gone.

She speculated over what Joseph had said many times while he was gone. At first she thought that he was simply overly paranoid of the government after what he experienced in the war and then being forced to go back, at least she thought he was forced.

Signs that things weren't as they seem then slowly accumulated as soon as the seed of doubt was planted into her mind. She started noticing how almost every time she would go out, she would come upon the same strangers just being around her.

Every day they would wear different clothes, different hair colors but they failed to conceal their mannerisms. Of course, if she weren't suspicious of her surroundings, she would fail to pick up on anything out of the usual, these people were professionals after all.

To this day she only managed to find only five agents that have been tailing or observing both her and her daughter. Three men, two women.

The men were the easiest to spot out of all of them as they had almost always decided to stay near the back of the bus when she took it. She decided to differentiate them through their mannerisms and habits.

The first man was around 5'7 and had a habit of massaging the part of the head where the Glabella was and mostly went with disguises that resembled men of high education . His hands were not well calloused and instead had faint marks of ink, probably to better mask him and get people to think he was just a clumsy man that often dirtiest his hands while writing.

The second man was almost as well built and tall as her husband but still lacked in the height department, probably also in the mind as well. He was probably there in case she were to flee or, when she would find out and try to fight, to incapacitate her. His habit was to fidget with his fingers near the thigh of his left leg.

It was probably because he had the habit of fidgeting with a lighter, but because he could not attract attention to himself by making sound, he instead decided to keep his hands in his pockets.

The third man was the hardest the spot both the habits and that he was a spy. He was her neighbor that lived together with his wife, the fourth agent.

The husband would sometimes tail her while in disguise or try to help her with mundane things, like carrying groceries or ask for advice when it comes to his marital troubles.

While acting as her neighbor, he had light auburn hair, brown eyes and a slightly round face. His hair was slowly receding, with a small bald spot being easily noticeable on the left part of his scalp. His hand were lightly calloused and when asked he would just say:

"Oh I used to work in construction before I got my current job, very hard work that was! It gave me plenty of experience and a new found appreciation for more educated folk that would stain their hands with ink and not dust or mud!"

His habit was harder to find because he only tailed her a few times, but once she realized the habit, Rachel almost wanted to slap herself for how oblivious she was.

His bald spot itched due to the toupee.

Every time, he would stop a few times and scratch the left spot of his scalp carefully, as if the material made him itchy, or possibly it was just this habit that led to that bold spot, that was a mystery nobody could resolve.

The two women were the ones that infuriated her the most. The first was the 'wife' of agent Toupee while the second was... Eliza's kindergarten teacher.

Just imagining that vile woman observing her child or asking her things to try and get more information made her blood boil but she had to remain calm so as to not arouse suspicion. First she started thinking about her home.

The apartment that Rachel and Eliza lived in had only four rooms. A kitchen, a bedroom, the bathroom and a living room. There was also a small balcony connected through the bedroom but she never entered it and instead decided to keep it covered.

The apartment was situated in Philadelphia, in one of the less well off areas, with two other apartments situated besides this one. The room they were on was on the fourth floor and had too many windows. There was a small one in the bathroom, two medium ones in the bedroom and a single large one in the living room.

The ones in the bathroom she didn't have to worry about, while the ones in the bedroom both faced the walls of the apartment besides them so it could not be peered through without stilts. The one in the living room was the one that unnerved her.

It opened to the street right in front and had nothing that could hide what was inside. There was also another apartment complex in front with several open windows that could be peered through from above while the sun would mask what was inside during certain times of day.

She considered buying drapes or anything that could block the window but she did not have enough money from her job at a pharmaceutical clinic and she feared that if she blocked their view from outside, they would try to spy from the inside.

Slowly calming down, realizing that she was lucky enough to not have a lot of furniture that could hide possible wire taps, or just hoping she didn't, she then continued recollecting her thoughts of the remaining two agents.

Agent Housewife was the most annoying one to deal with. She was the sociable type, someone you could not help but like to talk to as she just listened to what ailed you and then gave you the solution. Needless to say, she chose a good career.

She was only a bit shorter than Rachel, standing at 5'5, while wearing long heels to try and make herself look taller than she actually was. Whether that was a tactic to make other people think she was self conscious about her height and let their guard down, or an actual thing she had issue with, Rachel did not know.

Her long short blond hair, styled after a character from a play that she saw, was annoyingly bright. Some times Rachel would find herself getting jealous of the woman. She had a supple figure while also having an almost unhealthily narrow waist and her ocean blue eyes made her even more annoying to look at.

Rachel deduced that her hair was dyed that color, and while observing her hair she also noticed her face as well. She had annoyingly good looking dimples when she smiled that made her oblong face look even better. She wore a teal shirtwaist dress with red and blue flower designs on it.

Rachel managed to deduce she was an agent by the way she looked at her husband coldly and without emotion. At first she suspected that Agent Toupee was having an affair and she found out but only the look of the woman was devoid of emotion. Her mannerisms, acts, the way she talks and many more things clearly said that she could not hope to love someone else, but her eyes just looked at him like a co worker or maybe a passing acquaintance at best.

She would always ask slightly personal things and throw off handed remarks when she invited Rachel to her gatherings. The other women were clearly uncomfortable near Rachel, some even tried to sneakily cover their noses and mouths with a handkerchief, when they thought she wasn't looking.

But Agent Housewife, who Rachel won't name differently simply because she found it both funny, demeaning towards the other woman, would always ask her questions like:

"Oh I could never live so long apart from my husband, mostly because he could not tie a tie to save his life, but also because he would always be constantly worried.

He would feel like some no good hoodlum would come and sweep me off my feet and steal me away. Don't you also have that problem Rachel?"

"Your daughter is such a delight to see Missus Derdove. I imagine she misses her father greatly while he is away, fighting to off in another battle.

Why, when my father went off to war back in the day, my mother would always cry herself to sleep while I would try and write illegible letters to him. I think you know the saying. 'The wife of a soldier that is happy is the mistress of another'. Not that I am saying you are harboring such things, perish the thought."

The other ladies were also a bit put off when such questions were asked, but then they thought that it would be natural for someone like Rachel to decide to go with another man, either to better care for her daughter or for... other reasons.

It took a lot of willpower for Rachel to not just punch her stupidly beautiful face, or to throw the tea she usually brewed right in her face. Who knows? Maybe the woman would just melt into a puddle, or at least melt the makeup that makes her look like she is made of porcelain.

She thought that the plan for Agent HW was to make Rachel consider leaving Joseph, and then maybe use that to demoralize her husband, that or to get seduced by another conveniently close compatible partner that would get her to sing like a bird. That or the woman was just extremely annoying.

Agent Bitch was the last one that Rachel managed to find out about, but that was only because she put Eliza into kindergarten only a few weeks ago.

The woman was slightly rotund and wears glasses. Her slightly brown eyes blocked off by both the glasses and her long, slightly red hair.

The woman wore a large red blouse with a dark blue skirt, with both of them having a plain Gingham design that would be dizzying to look at when in motion, not that the woman is often in motion.

Rachel almost spat out her water when Eliza suddenly came and asked if her father truly loved her while he was out at war. The woman's job seemed to be to drive a wedge between Joseph and his daughter while also getting her to talk about what they talked about. The role of the wedge seemed to be to make the child talk about what her father told her in secret out of spite.

The only reason why it did not work as well was because Eliza was smart for her age, though that might just be the proud mother in Rachel talking.

The true reason was most likely because Eliza had a deep respect for her father, and that she did not trust people that 'had inky hands'. The sweat on the palms of the woman seemed to make the ink on her reports stick to her like glue.

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Eliza watched the remaining morning dew that stuck to the window of the bathroom mirror slowly trickle down. It seems that it rained during the night or very early in the morning.

The little girl left to the bathroom so that she could let her mother do her game in peace. The game was 'cry without feeling sad'.

Her mother taught her that game when her father wasn't present so that she could get him to play with her more or to get his attention.

Joseph did not like the game as it 'set a bad example for her', or something similar to that. He was very wrong about that! If the game only brought her good things then how could it be bad?

Recently the girl could not play the game but her mother seemed to do it every time she received a letter.

Eliza always figured out it was a game because she saw her mother cry for real once and she did not sound like she does now.

It was when they were all sleeping together at her grandfather's house. Eliza was sleeping peacefully besides them when she was woken up by her father's back moving weirdly every time lightning struck.

At first she thought that he was just scared, and that was a reasonable explanation since she was also scared by it a lot before.

It changed when her mother woke up to check whether she was asleep. Eliza decided to fake being asleep since she wanted to know what adults did late at night while she slept, but it turned out to be boring and sad. Her mother hugged the frightened man and took his hand, slightly wincing due to how hard he was squeezing it.

She tried to comfort him and tell him it was all okay, that he was back home but every time lightning struck, it seemed like he forgot it all and just got sucked back up into his visions of the past.

His once giant back suddenly seemed small and vulnerable, feeling like he was like a small animal that was encroached upon by a large predator.

Her mother then started crying and whispered something that Eliza could not hear all that well. "....sorry...could not be there....we are here....I love you...".

Eliza was too young to properly understand what was happening as she was only three but it still left a strong impression on her.

She would sometimes dream that she was back to that night, sandwiched between her parents again and feeling useless. She wanted to hug her father too, to tell him she was scared too but that she was still there, like he was for her.

Eliza will forget this memory later in her life, like many children do as they grow. She would sometimes come to dream of being back in that experience, but now she would protect her father from the lightning by catching it with her hands. It was an unrealistic dream, but a happy one nonetheless.

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Rachel slowly realized that she left Eliza alone in the bathroom and rushed to her side quickly, feeling like she started neglecting her daughter too much while being concerned with her current situation.

She could not forgive herself if she were to get injured, but when she entered the bathroom she saw a strange sight.

A five year old girl with charcoal like hair and dark skin was laying on the floor, flailing her arms around while grinning.

After letting out a sigh of relief, Rachel then picked up her child and put her back in bed, happy that while the world of adults was filled with such negativity, she remained as pure as the morning dew.