Ugly Bastard

Half an hour later, Count De la Cour with his bodyguards, rushing towards his own County at full speed on the main road, was met with a carriage that was coming toward them.

It took them just a moment to recognize their own crest and the carriage that belonged to the wife of their Master, Countess De la Cour. It may have seemed strange to anyone, knowing there was no way that carriage could reach here in just a half an hour from his mansion. But Count De la Cour was beyond any logical reasoning at that point.

“You Goddamn whore! Where the hell do you think you're going when I told you to sit and wait for me!” Screamed Count De la Cour jumping out of his carriage and rushing toward the incoming carriage. “You think that fucker O’Sullivan will protect you? You treacherous slut!” 

“Stop! Who the hell are you? What business do you have with our young Master?” Screamed a guard riding a horse in front of the McAlister carriage.

“I don’t give a fuck who your Master is. Get out of the way!” Shouted the count, throwing a punch that shattered the air in front of him, sending a wave that slammed into the guard with such force, it sent the man and his horse, both flying to the side.

“You scoundrel! How dare you?!” Screamed the lead guard pulling out his sword, and rushing forward all other guards followed him from behind. 

“Stop! What’s going on here?” Asked Keneth McAlister exiting the carriage.

“Young master, get back, it's dangerous!” Said one of the guards.

“YOU!” Screamed Count De la Cout at the sight of the young man’s face exiting out of his wife’s carriage. At that moment his face went livid with fury. “Little bastard! Today you die here on this very spot!” He shouted rushing forward.

The guards of the McAlister family went in formation to block him, however Counts' own guards joined the fray. 

Count’s guards were less in numbers, however, none of the McAlister bodyguards could be a match to Count De la Cour and had to face him with a whole group of people.

“Count De la Cour, Your excellency! Why do you attack me? I have no grievance with you!” Shouted Keneth, recognizing the crest on the carriage that the man attacking him rushed out of, as well as the small crests on the shoulders of the guards that fought at his side.

“You son of a bitch! You fuck my wife, my concubine and my daughter! And you have no grievance with me?! Arrogant little shit! You are dead! You hear me? No matter what! I will bury you here today!”

“What nonsense are you talking about? I have never met your wife or concubine! I am a childhood friend of your daughter, but it is only friendship. I have a fiancé. This is some kind of misunderstanding! Please stop and let us speak, Your Excellency. I am sure we can resolve this misunderstanding with a dialogue.” Pleaded Keneth McAlister in fear, seeing as his guards were pushed back by the infuriated Count.

“Misunderstanding? Never met my wife? You fucking piece of shit is here riding the very carriage I gifted to my wife on our anniversary. The carriage that has my family crest on it, and you call it a misunderstanding?” Shouted the Count as he punched McAlister guards left and right.

“What?” Said Keneth startled as he looked back at the carriage he was riding in. His face immediately went pale as it indeed had De la Cour family crest on it. He could swear there was an unknown hilly-billy’s crest on it before.

“This is some kind of mistake, Your Excellency! We borrowed this carriage from some baron family on our way here. We have never even been to your county. This must be some kind of illusion magic put on the crest. Let me just disperse it…”

“What mistake, you little fuck!? I ordered that carriage from a famous artisan. I know every damn curve and bend on it! There is no second carriage like that anywhere else! Shut your fucking mouth and wait there for your death!” Shouted infuriated Count throwing off McAlister guards for a split second, and punching with a blast of energy in Keneth’s direction, before being pulled away by guards once again.

Keneth stumbled back, blown by the energy that went slightly off, hitting him only tangentially. However, even that was enough to crack his humerus bone, making him yelp in pain.

It was obvious that this madman was not holding back and threw his punches with a clear intent to kill. In this state, there was no way to reason with him. Finally, realizing that there was no way to survive if he stayed here, Keneth immediately grabbed a horse from one of the guards and jumped on its back, turning it around and whipping it to run, not even caring for his guards.

“Stop! You little coward! You dare to cuckold me! But don’t dare to face consequences?! Little bastard! Stop!” Screamed the voice behind his back as Keneth whipped his horse harder and harder to force it to run faster.

“There is nowhere you can run! I will find you at the end of the world!”  Screamed the fat man that fended off McAlister guards and rushed into the dark night after Keneth.

“What the fuck was going on?” Though Keneth in a panic. He was going to the party to have a good time with friends, but suddenly this turned into the worst situation before he even reached there.

*****

After destroying and consuming with his degenerative touch every monster that was brought to him, Noah sighed in relief when he finally regenerated enough vitality to not worry about the parasite tree for some time. He was now overflowing with magic energy even with all the mana consumption by the special medallions he lent the girls for the mission. 

The girls were done with the most mana consuming tasks and successfully sneaked into the armory. All that was left now was for them to fill his dimensional storage with everything they would find there and then get transferred back home by Brianna and Aster.

The overflowing mana he now felt inside his body was more than enough for that task, so he did not feel the need to consume any more monsters. So, thanking the Dark Mist Cats for their help, he transferred into his mind realm, ready to go back to the Labyrinth as soon as the mission was completed.

As he appeared in front of the fence surrounding the house inside his mind, where Ugy and Yuko lived he felt a pull at his consciousness from the skill ‘He who hears the call’. Every pull was unique as he learned in months of its use. And this one he knew quite well. He felt it quite a few times in the last months but usually ignored it.

However, this time he stopped in his tracks, contemplating on it for a few moments, before sighing and deciding to answer it.

Maybe it was because he visited the Greenville town or because he thought of her quite a few times himself in the last few days, in the end he decided to go check on the person that called him.

“Lina.” He whispered, connecting with his skill, before his mind was pulled hundreds of miles away, toward Lina Louriat, a sweet receptionist girl from the Adventurers Guild in Greenville town that called out to him.

*****

The entire day after old hag Paula told her that Noah was spotted in the town, Lina could not calm down. No matter what she did, she caught herself thinking of Noah. As she seemed distant and distracted most of the day, all her coworkers noticed her troubled state, coming over and asking if she was alright several times. Even some of the clients that she had to help at the guild noticed that she was not herself the whole day.

At the end of the day, even though the workday was not hard, for some reason Lina felt exhausted more than when she overworked after the Vega Village disaster.

“Damn it.” Muttered Lina with a sigh as she fell into bed. She hated to be reminded of that disaster. Not because of the tragedy that happened there, but because of how infuriating the days that followed it were. 

They needed to fill thousands of reports with statements from witnesses, but all the answers they ever got from adventurers that went into Vega on a mission were the same thing. 

“What happened in Vega stays in Vega, ” was the only thing they answered. Whatever the hell it even meant.

This damn phrase became a saying lately, but for her and all the guild workers that heard it a thousand times, it became a reverse dragon scale. Even now, after several months have passed, the mention of the village Vega irked her so much, she wanted to strangle anyone who mentioned it.

Lina sighed heavily again, turning to the side and closing her eyes. However, thoughts of him didn't give her rest even when she felt totally exhausted.

Twirling in bed like an ell on a frying pan, turning from side to side for several minutes she finally opened her eyes, laying on her back and gazing into the dark ceiling, with a deep sigh.

“You need to blow off some steam.” Said Lina to herself inside her head.

She lay in the darkness of her room for several minutes, as if contemplating the idea.

Then very slowly and gently she lifted one of  her hands to her breast, squeezing the left breast slightly through her nighty, while her other hand found her way into her panties.

With a gentle circling movement of her middle finger she rubbed her lower lips, and gently twirling her nipple between the fingers of her other hand while moaning quietly.

“Mmmm” she voiced a long moan of pleasure as she bit on her lower lip with her eyes closed.

“Oh yes. Like that. Right there, baby.” She whispered as if she spoke with her lover as she kept pleasing herself under the blanket.

As her pleasure was building up with time, she kept gradually increasing the speed of her movements, from deep long slides of her fingers through the entire slit of her pussy to a shorter and quicker rubbing concentrating now only mainly on her clitoris.

“Mmm. Yes. Oh! Yes, baby. Fuck me. Mmmm like that, Noah! Oh Noah, yes. Aaah.” She became moaning louder as she felt her orgasm building up.

“Yes, Noah, fuck me, fuck little hole, baby, yes! Yes. That’s it, Noan. Do me like that! Oh, Noah!! Noah! NOAH YES. OH! NOAH! YEEEES! ” She kept repeating as she finally exploded in a mind-blowing orgasm.

Once the wave of pleasure finally abated after a minute, she sank into the bed with a sense of incredible relief. It took less than a minute after that for sleep to take her.

“Did you really return, Noah?” She muttered as the exhaustion took over, dragging her into the world of dreams.

*****

She slept quite fitfully, her mind taking her from place to place. Several quickly changing situations, murky places and blurry faces. Strange dialogues and bizarre ideas. However, after some time a sense of clarity filled her mind as she awoke to a very familiar landscape. 

Countless hills spread into the horizon, filled with the most vivid colored flowers. It was the dream of her most favorite childhood memory. The one where she once met Noah.

Noah! She thought with a sense of anticipation as she looked around in hope of finding him and true to her hoped he was there!

Noah was coming up the hill watching her with a shy expression on his face. Or was it an embarrassment? Was he feeling guilty that he did not visit her for so long?

Lina did not care. In this world her feelings were outward. Many things that made people constrained or stiff, were stripped away, making her feel truthful to herself. More open-minded. She was happy. Happy to see him, happy he came back. Everything else did not matter in this world. After all this was a dream.

Lina jumped up to her feet and ran through the field toward him, jumping into his hands and hugging him tightly as Noah whirled her in circles with her feet fully off the ground. 

She missed him. Missed his embrace. Even though they were never this close in reality…This was a dream. In dream, she could do whatever she wanted. And she wanted to sink into his embrace and be hugged by him. She wondered what he would feel if he knew she was hugging and embracing him like that in her dreams. Even making love…

“You came back.” She whispered, placing her feet on the ground but still resting her face on his chest while hugging him tightly.

“Yeah…” Said Noah.

“I called you many times…” She whispered again.

“I know.” Said Noah truthfully.

“But you never came. You did not want to see me?” She asked, raising her face to look into his face.

“It’s complicated…” Said Noah with a sigh.

“Did you miss me?” Asked Lina, biting her lip timidly.

“Yes. Very much.” Said Noah looking into her eyes with a gentle expression.

“Even with all the women that you have now? I read it in the newspaper. Those girls are real beauties.”

“I am sorry….” Said Noah.

“It’s fine.” Said Lina, stopping his apology as she pressed her face against his chest once again. “I am not angry. Well…after all you are my fantasy. It would be dumb to spend time being angry at my own imagination. Here you belong only to me.”

“Umm…Lina. This time, I am real.” Said Noah, smiling awkwardly.

“Yeah. You are. When we're here, you always feel so real.” Said Lina smiling. For her, it was a happy dream.

“No, I mean real, real. I am inside your dream.” Said Noah.

These words pulled at her consciousness, as if connecting her with her logic part. It felt as if she was half asleep before but finally woke fully up.

Lina pushed out of Noah’s embrace, stepping backwards as she looked around with surprise.

Now that she was fully awake, she finally realized that she was dreaming but strangely was fully aware that she was inside the dream.

“This is…Lucid dream?” Said Lina aloud.

“In a sense, yes. This is my skill.” Answered Noah.

“We are really inside a dream?” Asked Lina.

“Yes.” Answered Noah nodding.

“And you are not a fantasy but a real, Noah?” She asked as her face started to go red from embarrassment.

“Yes. Sorry. I did not mean to make you emba….”

“Last time! When we….When we….”

“Made love?” Whispered Noah.

“Yes! That! When we did that… it was you? Like…YOU, you. Not a fantasy you?”

“Yes.” Said Noah with a loud sound of slap following right after his words.

“Ouuu. Ok, I agree. I deserved it.” Said Noah rubbing his cheek as he looked embarrassed at Lina, who bore holes in him with her angry gaze.

As she felt a stinging pain from her palm, her anger quickly changed to horror and then turned into embarrassment of her own. 

“Oh my God!” She said hunching down and closing her face with her palms. “That was not a dream? We really did it?” She muttered into her hands. 

When Noah visited her last time she was still half lucid, and she did not remember their dream rendezvous. But now, all the memories of their times together in the dream lit up in her mind as fresh as new.

“They really fucked like rabbits, right in this field! And with her riding him like a horny slut.” Her inner voice screamed at her in her head.

“I am sorry.” Said Noah quietly.

“I don’t know how to face you now.” Said Lina into her palms.

“I…it’s my fault. You have nothing to be embarrassed about. It was my first time using this skill and I did not really understand it back then. It looked like you were aware and did not refute me, so… But I know it’s just an excuse. I should have realized you were not yourself back then and should have stopped it… I was immature in my behavior. Please. Forgive me.” Said Noah.

Lina opened her fingers slightly, looking up at him through her palm as if afraid to show her face.

“But…you wanted it? With me…Like, it was not some….you know dream setting or something…?” Said Lina trying to formulate her thoughts but not finding the right words. “You…and I…it was…”

“I like you, Lina. Yes, I wanted it and was fully aware of it, and I am sorry if you did not…I am sorry if it was not to your liking.” Said Noah quietly. “If you hate me…I’ll just go.”

“No!” Exclaimed Lina.

“No.” She repeated once again quieter.

Lina slowly stood up, pulling her hands away from her face and sighed heavily. 

“I like you too.” She whispered barely audible, but Noah heard it well. “And it felt….good.” She added, as a small smile spread on Noah’s lips. 

Noah took a step toward her but was stopped by Lina’s index finger pressed against his lips. She was not looking at him, still embarrassed to face him, but there was a smile on her lips.

“But…that was umm…too quick. I…don’t do it after just one date, you know? So…”

“I understand…” Said Noah nodding, happy that she did not hate him.

“Let’s…” Said Lina, chewing on her lower lip. “Let's consider it a trial run, ok? Like… To check how it would be…if we did it for real.”

“Sure.” Said Noah with a smile. “But….” Added Noah with a contemplating face.

“But?” Asked Lina, glancing at him with a raised eyebrow.

“But if we think about it, then it was our second date back then. What can you agree to after two dates?” Said Noah with a smile.

“You are pushing it bastard!” Said Lina in a pretentious angry voice, poking him in the chest with her index finger.

Noah raised his hands as if in surrender with a wide smile in his lips. 

Lina lowered her hand gazing into his happy face as a small smile crept to her own lips.

“A kiss on the…” She started to say but was surprised by Noah's lips pressed against hers. 

For a second she stood frozen but the next second she threw her hands over his neck, pressing him against herself harder and kissing him back with abandon.

It seemed like a few minutes had passed before they released each other's lips, breathing heavily.

“Cheek!” Said Lina pushing Noah away. “I wanted to say ‘A kiss on the cheek!’ You! Did you use another skill on me?”

Noah could not help laughing out loud.

“Oh, I see. My charm must be considered a skill in this world.” He said with a smug face.

“You wish!” Said Lina, smacking him in the chest, which only added to Noah’s merry mood, making him laugh harder, and it made her smile in return.

“So…this skill allows you to get in my dream? How does it work?” Asked Lina.

“Not exactly. It’s more like a combination of several skills. I can enter my own dream world or something of that sort, but I can also take a peek at the people who call out toward me…” Said Noah, stopping his words abruptly as if he blabbered out what he was not supposed to.

“Call out…?” Said Lina, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah…it's sort of like a feeling. When someone really wishes to see me and calls to me, whether in their head or aloud, I can feel the pull toward them and can let myself be pulled toward them with my mind. Sort of like answering a call on a far-talking device. Then it’s like an out-of-body experience. I can be in the room with my mind, like the last time we met.”

“So, you are here because…”

“You called. Yeah.” Said Noah with an expression of awkwardness. 

“I called you…” Said Lina, a sinking feeling spreading in her heart.

“You were saying my name…a lot.”

The red that just receded, has started to return to her face now in a tsunami like wave, as realization dawned on her.

“You saw?” Whispered Lina with her face full of dismay.

“I am sorry.” Whispered Noah, understanding that what he saw was her intimate moment that no one had the right to peek at, even if the one she fantasized about was him.

Lina closed her face with her hands once again. 

“I…” Started to say Noah, but Lina stopped him with a palm pointing at his face.

She took another deep breath, sighing heavily before opening her face.

“Alright…it’s not your fault…what I did...it was wrong.”

“No it was not. It was your private moment, and I am sorry I transgressed on it. You don’t have anything to be embarrassed about. Any adult does it.”

“You don’t think that I am…dirty or something…fantasizing of you…in this way?” Asked Lina with a timid face.

“No…it kind of…complementing to be honest, that a girl you like is thinking of you this way...and it was hot.”

Lina looked at him, biting her lower lips once again while contemplating something in her head.

“I like this serious face of yours.” Said Noah trying to lighten a mood. “Makes me want to kiss you.”

“Fuck you!” Said Lina her anger barely audible in her voice.

“Gladly.” Said Noah, smiling slightly as he came closer to her and took her in his embrace.

Lina hugged him in return, sinking her face into his shoulder.

“You are such a bastard.” Said Lina. “I can’t even enjoy myself, thinking of you without having regrets.”

“I am sorry I made you feel any. I don’t want you to have any regrets.” Said Noah slowly stroking his hand on her back.

“It doesn’t mean anything! I just needed to blow my steam off and you were a tool for a release, don’t get any funny ideas in your head, mister.” Said Lina, biting her lip.

“I know. I promise to be a true gentleman and be in my best behavior for as long as you want. We will have as many dates as you wish, before we go further to any other step.” Said Noah.

Lina froze for a second before whispering another concern that she had.

“What about your fiance? How would she react to it…?” She whispered before releasing Noah from her embrace and making a step back.

“It’s complicated, but…they would not mind.” Said Noah remembering Tessa’s words. “The most concerning thing is what you think of it? Would you want a relationship like that? Knowing that I have… other women.”

“Women huh? As in several. Typical noble young master aren’t you?” Said Lina with accusation but there was a smile on her lips so Noah did not feel bad.

“Well those girls in the news sure were beauties. I don’t blame you for wanting them both for yourself. But I sort of was prepared for it when I felt myself falling for a noble. Commoners would never be a first wife. Being a concubine might even be the best the girls such as me can dream of.

“Lina I…” Started to say Noah, but was stopped by her finger pressed against his lips once again.

“I can’t answer your question. I don’t want to hurry. I like you…a lot. But you are right, this is not easy to be able to share a man and I will need time to contemplate on it.” Said Lina.

“As much as you need.” Said Noah before taking Lina’s hand into his and gently kissed the back of her palm, pressing his lips against her skin for a few seconds.

Lina nodded her head as another shy blush rose on her cheeks.

“Besides, you had a promise with me before you met those other women, right? So it’s they that should stand in line. I found you first.” Said Lina, smiling cheekily.

Noah opened his mouth to answer but froze as a sense of wrongness filled him. He could not understand it but something disturbed him. Something was wrong. 

“Lily.” He muttered as he felt this sense of wrongness coming from her.

“Noah?” Asked Lina as she saw him turn his head to the side as if gazing in the distance with a serious face.

“Somethings going on. I sense something is wrong. I need to go.” He muttered as he turned to look Lina in the eyes.

“Wrong? What’s wrong?” Asked Lina.

“I am sorry, but I have to go back. They are in trouble.”

“They?” 

“I sent a team on a mission. I thought we were fine so I allowed myself to come here answering your call, but…something happened. I have to return.”

“Go then.” Said Lina. “We can always meet here. Go.” She said, nodding in understanding.

“Meet here…” muttered Noah as an idea came to him. 

“Maybe not only here.” He said, turning to Lina.

He wished for the ‘homework folder’ page to open and a wide transparent screen appeared before them. Noah pressed his hand into it, and sank it into a thin screen upt to his elbow. Then he pulled it back and held a medallion between his fingers. This surreal scene surprised Lina greatly and she wanted to ask a hundred questions but kept silent as she knew this was not a good time for it. 

“Take this.” Said Noah, giving her medallion he just took out of the strange window. “With this. We can meet more often.” He said, smiling shortly as he placed the round object into her hand.

“What’s this?” Asked Lina, lifting her gaze but found that Noah was already gone.

Just as he was gone from her dream a sense of drowsiness started to fill her once again. As if she was floating in the sea of consciousness while Noah was nearby, but started to sink back into the dream once he was gone. Afraid to lose the object in this floating feeling she clutched at ut with her full force.

“Hello.” Said a strange voice startling Lina a bit, pulling her slightly out of that floating feeling and giving her back a sense of reason. 

Lina turned around and saw a strange girl with a gentle smile. She looked just a bit younger than Lina but there was some sense of childishness coming from her expression.

“Hello. Who are you?” Asked Lina.

“I am Alice.” Said the girl with a smile.

“Hello, Alice. I am..”

“Funny Lady with the stickers. I love your stickers. They are always so funny. I wish I could have one for myself.” Said Alice quickly like a hyperactive child, throwing out hundred words a second.

“Yeah.” Said Lina dreamily. Everything started to feel unreal as if her logical perception of the world simply stopped functioning. It should have startled her that someone knew of her ability, but right now she felt absolutely fine with this girl knowing it. It was a dream, so it was perfectly fine for her dream to know everything about her.

“What’s that?” Asked Alice pointing at the object in Lina’s palm.

Lina looked at her hand seeing a round medallion that Noah gave her and shrugged. 

“I don’t know.”

“It’s beautiful. Your boyfriend gave it to you?” Asked Alice.

“Yes.”

“Lucky girl!” Said Alice with a happy smile making Lina smile in return.

“Can I take a look?” Asked Alice.

“Ummm…” hesitated Lina.

“I’ll give it back, I promise.” Said Alice 

“Alright.” Said Lina giving the object to the girl.

“Oh… It feels heavy.” Said Alice looking up from the medallion at Lina.

“Yeah.” Agreed Lina.

“It might be even a bit too heavy for you right now.” Said Alice clasping the object in her palm. Her face suddenly changed, all childishness disappearing from her expression.

“Why don’t I hold it for you for the time being.” Said Alice taking a step back.

“No… it’s mine. Give it back.” Exclaimed Lina, taking a step toward the girl but her feet felt heavy as if she was sinking into a bog.

“Shhh. No need to worry. You will not remember this for some time anyway.” Said Alice and touched Lina’s forehead with a finger. 

After that it was all black.

*****

Lina jumped up from her bed in a startle, looking around the dark room with worry.

She had a feeling that something was wrong but could not understand what. 

Then she looked down and saw that she was clasping her hand in a fist as if holding something. She opened her palm but there was nothing there…and strangely it felt wrong. Something should have been there. Something has been stolen.

She could remember her dream very vividly. She remembered what happened before she went to sleep, remembered her meeting with Noah, their talk about his skills to peek and travel in dream. And it did not feel like a dream at all. The memory of it did not fade in the slightest. It was a memory. It really happened.

But after that….

She remembered Noah turning away with a troubled face. Remembered him pulling out some kind of object. But she could not remember what it was. Neither could she remember what happened to that object afterward.

Everything after Noah held out the object toward her felt blurry as a dream. Try as hard as she could, she could not remember anything afterwards.

*****

Alice sneaked through the dark hall like a thief, avoiding all the creaking floorings to not produce any sound. Her aunty slept very lightly and could wake up from the smallest of sound.

Once she was past aunty’s door, Alice quickly shuffled through the dark living room, tightly clutching a round object in her palm.

She came over to a shelf filled with her hand made dolls and took a cute doll of an angel, dressed in white long gown and with small wings in its back.

“Hide it in the safest place.” Muttered Alice with a cunning smile. “All heroes are guided by angels. So an angel will guide him!” She whispered a small ‘mufufufu’ muffled laughter.

“I am sorry Lyra.” Said Alice and tweaking the head of an angel, before pulling at it producing a loud ripping sound.

The doll tore, with the angel's head coming half way off its shoulders.

Alice quickly stuffed the round object into the tear in the doll making it sink into the plush filling and brought it up, close to her face.

She closed her eyes and started muttering in a low voice a magic filled the doll making it shine from within for a few moments. 

Just as the light disappeared, Alice heard a creak of the door and someone’s footsteps.

“Alice?” Said Aunty behind her. “What are you doing here?” She asked with worry.

“Aunty!” Said Alice with a tearful voice as she turned to her aunty holding a ripped doll in her hands. “Lyra tore apart!” Said Alice with tears filling her eyes.

“Oh, my.” Said the woman seeing an almost torn off head of a doll. “How did that happen?” She muttered with a strange face. Then she sighed and shook her head. “Go back to bed child. We will sew her back together in the morning.”

“No! Please. I will be silent! It’ll just take a minute. She will hurt until morning. It is all my fault! Please aunty!” Pleaded Alice.

The woman sighed, shaking her head once more.

“Fine. But be quick and back to bed. No loitering around at night.”

“Ok.” Said Alice, her tearful face gone as if it never existed.

Cunning girl. She knows how to use her cuteness against me. Aunty turned back to her room going back to her bed, however she left the crack of the door open, before laying back into the bed and listening intently.

Alice was muttering in the living room for some time before she finally shuffled back to her room and lay back in bed. Only then Aunty relaxed and went back to sleep. “Did she go to sleep with that doll, wasn’t it Fumy’s doll with her tonight?” She thought as she sunk into dreams.