Chapter Two: Traveler
HYACINTH had always hated not just the smell of hospitals but also the scene inside of them. Too many black threads here and there. The smell also churned her stomach to the point of nausea and endless headache. The ambiance is also a bit gloomy just like Sutton City—known for its usual cloudy weather and rain.
The male doctor, in his mid-forties judging by his appearance, checked her up and allowed her to rest on a hospital bed for a while after she regained consciousness. She might not have had injuries but her body still trembled and her mind was in shock because of the recent accidents.
The door opened and the doctor greeted Mr. Bismarck as he entered the room.
She closed her eyes.
"How is she?" She heard him ask the doctor.
"She suffered from shock, Max. She's physically okay but she needed to rest."
Max. So, the doctor who checked her is an acquaintance of Mr. Bismarck. A friend, maybe? A family doctor? Is it someone who owes him a favor?
The door opened and closed and Hyacinth sighed, relieved that the doctor is gone.
"Well, I'm glad you're okay."
Hyacinth looked up and stared directly into his eyes. He's more intimidating up close with his full attention focused on her.
And, damn, those electric-blue eyes zapped her nerves that Hyacinth had to take a sharp breath to gather the strength to face him properly.
"Don't thank me, Mister. I just did the right thing." The stupidest thing! Her mind shouted.
Hyacinth knew the consequences of her actions. She knew that her fate is altered from this moment on.
Of course, she knew firsthand that her peaceful life will soon be over the moment she interfered with the threads yet she proceeded. No matter how much she told herself to look away from the gray threads, she couldn't.
Just like what happened years ago.
"I owe you, Ms. Sinclair. I think I need to compensate for that—"
"I said it's fine."
He called her by her last name. That means Jean already provided some information to the man regarding her identity.
He cleared his throat, his adam's apple flexing. "Jean told me your name. Hyacinth Sinclair, a janitress in the cafe nearby the building."
Hyacinth faked a smile. She's in hiding yet she dared to cross paths with an influential man. Just what is she thinking? What if the media unearths the identity of the woman who saved the powerful Bismarck siblings?
Oh, she was indeed stupid.
"I can offer you a high-paying job in my company if you want or I can provide monetary comepensa—"
"I said it's okay, Sir. I need to rest."
Hyacinth's head ached and throbbed as if someone hit her on the head with a blunt object. She rubbed her temples and closed her eyes firmly. The pain in her temples is a sign that her thread is changing. Her fate is changing.
She can only hope that her white thread remains white. She will hate it if it's ashen or black. She still wanted to live the life that is taken away from her by her parents, mostly by her father.
The door burst open and Hyacinth looked at the doorway. A girl in her teenage years appeared. It is a different girl from the one she saved earlier yet the resemblance is uncanny.
The girl has an eye color that rivaled the ocean's blueness under a scorching hot summer day, similar to Mr. Bismarck's eye color, and her hair is light brown. The girl has thick brows that are a shade darker compared to her light brown hair.
The teenager's eyes sparkled with unshed tears.
"M-Mom..."
Hyacinth gasped. Her hands trembled and curled into a fist.
"Who are you?" Mr. Bismarck's brow furrowed while assessing the girl. His body faced the doorway where the intruder is, then he closed the space between him and the girl with long strides.
"I'm Erin Sinclair Bismarck. I'm your daughter." The teenager sniffled and went to hug Maximillian Bismarck as if she just announced the most natural thing.
Fuck! Fuck!
Hyacinth clenched her blanket. So, this is her altered fate now. She ought to thank her impulsive nature for causing chaos in her future. In his future, too.
Erin is the name she wanted to name her daughter once Hyacinth decided to have a family of her own, but she never knew that it can actually happen. Now, Erin is the proof of that.
This is what Hyacinth feared with interfering with someone's thread. It can tangle with hers. It can change the course of her life. She cursed under her breath. Mr. Bismarck's thread unfortunately tangled with her.
Great. See, Haya? This is your stupidity!
But why is her daughter a time traveler?
Erin is no doubt her daughter. She knows who to trust with her secrets. She declared her existence to Mr. Bismarck without second thoughts. That only means that Mr. Bismarck can be trusted with the Sinclair clan's secret.
Maximillian's face turned beet red. "Who are you?!" He gently pushed the girl away.
Hyacinth sighed. "Mr. Bismarck, she's your daughter from the future."
Maximillian gritted his teeth. "Obviously, Ms. Sinclair, both of you are out of your goddamned minds—"
Hyacinth threw the white blanket to her feet so she could go out of her bed. Gathering her strength, she placed her feet on the floor and marched forward in his direction.
Without a word, Hyacinth touched the thread on his back—now a glittering white, she noticed— and sought some highly confidential information from his past, her eyes firmly closed to allow the threads to show her the information she needed.
Then, it happened. The thread guided her mind to a certain point in his timeline that she sought with her thoughts.
With her eyes closed, there's only darkness to see. But since she touched a thread, her vision is filled with moving images, then her ears twitched as voices and noise echoed somewhere in her mind.
After a few seconds, a teenager Maximillian Bismarck appeared. It seems like the man is trembling in fear as chaotic noises echoed from a tiny gap in the partially-closed room.
Hyacinth could hear it, too. Someone is beating up a woman in a library. Based on Maximillian's thoughts, the man inside was his father beating up his mother.
She could see the poor man cradling a tiny baby in his arms while he eavesdropped from the tiny opening of the doorway.
Hyacinth sighed and stepped back, finally letting go of the thread. "On November seventh, 2005, you cradled a baby in your arms while eavesdropping in the tiny gap of the opened library door. You heard your father beating up your mother and they discussed something about Maine Bismarck being an illegitimate child and you heard stabbings—"
"Who told you those?" His voice contained suppressed fury. He knows that the information she obtained from his thread is a sensitive subject that is only known by him.
Hyacinth met his gaze. "I am a thread-reader and this kid is ours. She's from the future." Hyacinth attempted to touch his back to gain more information about his past but he pushed her away like she was some disgusting person.
"You're crazy." He pushed the lever of the door handle down and opened the door, striding outside with rage.
Hyacinth sighed and turned her gaze to her daughter. Erin's eyes are evident with longing yet she tried to be casual.
"He can be trusted with our secret, Mom. He doesn't believe in the concept of our ability, but he'll eventually do."
Hyacinth nodded. "I know that you trusted him with your life as soon as you saw him. The likeness between the two of you will erase the doubts in his mind. Well, I hope."
Erin nodded. "I never thought that he'll react this way when he spent more than twelve years protecting me and my ability from being discovered."
Hyacinth grinned. "No doubt about that. Your father isn't a happy sort that believes in fairytales." she sighed. "Now, I need to accept this outcome of the altered threads of fate. Nobody died and you existed. The opposite of what happened when I altered a black thread before."
Erin regarded her with tears in her eyes. "Dad told me to not alter the threads or it will ruin the course of my life like what happened to you when I was two years old."
Hyacinth's heart pounded at the revelation.
This is why she doesn't alter with threads. It always comes with ugly and unknown consequences.
She should've known better. She should've locked herself into a room and let nature take its course. If she doesn't bring things back to the way they used to be, then, she'll be forever doomed. This time, she won't be alone to suffer the consequences. "What happened, Erin? Why can you travel back in time? What happened to you when you were a kid?"
Hyacinth was too afraid to hear the answer but she must.
Erin shook her head, casually wiping the tears in her eyes like they were nothing. "Mom, you disappeared in thin air after I saw you with a gray thread on your back."