Elmo wakes up feeling suffocated. He looks down to see Annie lying on him, her arms wrapping themselves around his waist as if she's trying to wrap herself around his whole body. He tries not to move so that she doesn't feel uncomfortable.
He lies there, trying to take deep breaths as he tries to calm his heartbeat down.
Then, he realizes how tightly Annie is hugging him, and he lets out a laugh. He moves his hands to caress Annie's face with his thumbs. She stirs slightly and nuzzles into his hand. She mumbles incoherent words and hugs him tighter.
He lets out a small chuckle and leans down to kiss her forehead. "Annie, honey, it's morning."
She opens her eyes and shuffles around. She looks at Elmo, and her face is slowly draining with color.
"Where's Hilde?" she stammers as she lifts herself and sits straight, still holding onto Elmo.
"Don't know, sweetie. She must've gone off somewhere."
"Is...is she okay?" Annie asks in concern.
"She'll be fine, Annie," Elmo assures.
He takes her hand and pulls her up before leaning towards him and kissing her. He feels something warm dripping on his shoulder as he's doing it. He pulls away and looks at his shoulder to see that he's got blood pouring out of his wound.
"Where did you get that?"
"I... I don't remember," he says. "It must be one of those wounds I got from yesterday."
"You don't remember, huh… That's a pretty big wound." Annie says as she holds onto his hand, "You better wash up first. I'll wait here for you."
"Thank you, love."
Elmo turns around and makes his way to his bathroom. He kneels, grabs a towel from the cupboard, and then sits on the toilet seat. Then he carefully pulls up his shirt only to see a significant puncture wound.
"Where did this come from?" he asks, his voice trembling.
Elmo leans forward and touches the wound gently with the tip of his finger, then winces from the pain it causes him. He wipes away the liquid running down from the injury, then stands up again.
He gets a gauze and rolls it around his abdomen, ensuring no more blood leaks.
"There. It looks good," he says while walking towards the sink.
He turns on the water and fills up a glass, drinking from it. He exits the bathroom, and she sees a little girl standing at their bedroom doorway. When she sees Elmo, she runs over to him.
"Daddy! Daddy!"
"Yes, sweetheart?" he says, putting the glass on the nightstand.
"Are you hurt?"
Elmo chuckles. "Not really."
The girl walks closer to him and hugs his leg.
'OK... Where did this child come from??' He thinks.
"What are you thinking about, daddy?" she asks quietly, her voice muffled by his leg.
"Nothing, just wondering where your mother went off to."
"I think she's in the kitchen cooking."
"Really? Well, why don't you help her with that? You can keep an eye on the pancakes, won't you? And if you want, you can tell me what you were thinking about earlier."
"Ok..." she says, smiling.
Elmo sits down in the familiar-looking living room, on the couch. He looks at the television playing the news and ponders.
'I should have been paying more attention to my surroundings. I was too distracted...' he thinks.
"Dad!"
Elmo hears Tanya yelling his name from the kitchen.
"Coming! Just a second!" He yells back as he stands up and walks to the kitchen.
'There's something wrong.' Elmo stands in the doorway, looking at Annie interacting with Tanya.
'Something's not right...'
"Hey, buddy. Did you eat anything yet?" Elmo asks as he bends down and picks the little girl up.
"No, I haven't had breakfast yet," she replies, hugging him tightly.
"That's ok, but let's have some breakfast, shall we?"
"Yay!" she exclaims excitedly as she throws her arms around his neck, kissing his cheek.
"Daddy, look, she likes you!" Annie says as she watches him walk over to sit down with them at the table.
Elmo looks at Annie, who looks happy. He looks around the kitchen and dining room. And... everything looks... Uncanny.
***
Hilde is at work. Sitting around her desk is tedious, especially since she's not getting any commissions today. And everyone around her is getting calls, yet she's doing nothing, nothing at all. Her hands are starting to shake a little bit, even though she's trying hard to control them. And her breathing seems to slow down every few minutes.
She rubs her temples, which are starting to throb. Her heart beats faster and harder, which has started hurting again.
Her eyes well up with tears in frustration. 'What's with today? Why am I not getting work?' she covers her face with her palms and begins sobbing, shaking her head as the tears start flowing freely.
Something is terribly wrong, and she feels like she's a spectator in a video game... or something along those lines; she's never really thought about it that much.
But for some reason, the only thing she could think of that fits her current situation was a video game. A very long and tedious video game.
At home,
Hilde is sitting on her bed, staring blankly at her ceiling, rubbing her temples with her thumb. She sighs tiredly as the dull sound of static rings through the air. She doesn't realize how late it is until a soft knock on her door.
"Hilde?" Horus knocks softly.
"What do you want?" Hilde snaps as she turns her head to glare at him.
"I just wanted to check in on you. Are you all right?"
"I'm fine. Just peachy!" She snaps.
"All right. You know I'm always here for you if you need me, okay?"
'On second thought, something is wrong with Horus too.' Hilde thinks as she looks at him closely. "I... I didn't mean to snap at you. I'm... stressed, is all, so don't worry about it."
"Well, if that's all you need, I'll leave you alone now."
Hilde nods and watches him leave the room. She falls back onto her bed. She stares blankly at her ceiling, her mind wandering off to thoughts she'd rather forget.
After a few minutes, she closes her eyes and forces her breath to slow down and relax.
Her muscles start to feel relaxed, even though they still tremble. She stays like that for a couple of minutes, taking deep breaths. Once she regained her composure, she climbed out of bed, grabbing her phone and purse. As soon as she puts on her shoes, she goes downstairs to find Tanya.
She goes out of her room and walks downstairs. Walking across the corridors, she passes by a couple of rooms until she reaches Tanya's room. The door is decorated and glittery. It's pink and childish as if a toddler put everything together and glued it to the wall, but she still loves it nonetheless. There are colorful drawings hung up, and her children's music plays softly in the room.
When she comes closer, Hilde stops in front of Tanya's door and places her hand on the knob. She opens the door slowly and then steps inside. Inside, she finds Tanya sitting cross-legged on the floor drawing. Her 'daughter' is wearing a grey hoodie and white shorts with blue stars on them, with a giant white teddy bear sitting beside her on the carpeted floor.
"Hey, baby."
"What's wrong, mom?"