Episode 20: Shadow walkers

Fitz offers Kacey a glass of water while she lies in bed, but she refuses to accept it, so she has to set it down on the nightstand. While Kacey's eyes swelled and turned red from crying, downstairs the other residents buried Elizabeth's body because it had not turned to dust. 

"It's okay," Fitz told her in the softest voice she could muster and held a firm hand on her shoulder.

"No," she stated and shook Fitz's hand from her shoulder.

"No it's not," this time Kacey pleas and covers her face with both hands and sobs.

"It's going to be okay, Kacey," 

"No, it's not. They dead, okay, dead," her voice muffled.

"Come here," Fitz pulls Kacey into her embrace and gives her a firm squeeze.

"I know it's hard but it will be okay, trust me it will," she tells her and adds that after the passing of her biological father, she felt the same way Kacey did.

"Wait, so Mr, Fitzgerald isn't your father?" Kacey asks and Fitz explains that her parents had her when they were eighteen.

"What happened to your dad?"

"He was out getting wood for our fire and got attacked by a bear, he bled out and died on the spot," Fitz tells her and pulls away from their hug.

"It doesn't seem like it now, take all the time you need to cry but afterwards it will be okay that's the only way to go from here," she says.

"I just can't believe they gone, my parents I guess I was too in shock to show any emotion but to see her dead body in that state just made it all the more real that she's gone," Kacey explains and Fitz nods in agreement.

"Yes, I understand what you mean by that," Kacey asks Fitz if she saw her biological father's body after the attack.

"Usually my father would take a couple of minutes gathering wood but this time he took longer so I ventured out to find him, at first I didn't recognize who he was because of all the scars and clawing at his face and body, but when I did, I screamed," Fitz tells her that that was the first and last time she's ever cried.

"I'm sorry that happened to you," Kacey says and hugs her once more.

"See, so take it from me, it will be okay," Fitz finalizes.

Fitz leaves Kacey in her room and goes downstairs; Kacey lies back down and scrunches her sheets at hand. She feels uneasy like something bad was about to happen or rather that something bad was happening before her but has gone unnoticed till now. Why, why was this thing attacking in a similar way, what message is it trying to convey? She thought, her next thought made her slap herself, was it one of us? She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep in the late afternoon of.

… 

In her room, the pink coloured mosquito net did nothing as she still successfully managed to get bit. She scratched the pink spots covering her thighs while getting off her bed and en route to the bathroom. 

"Fitz- Nee its breakfast time," Jiro hollered through the closed door and was about to call for her again when the bedroom door opened.

"Okay, okay I heard you," Fitz with disheveled locks of brown hair.

"What are you wearing?" Jiro asked squinting at her attire of a pink shorts and white cropped tanked top.

"Pajamas, of course"

"Where's the rest of it?" Fitz wide eyed in shock reaches for him and Jiro sprints down the hall.

Fitz readied herself for the day by putting on a pair of white jeans, a pink corset top that admittedly was a bit too tight and natural styled makeup and of course her pink glitter sneakers. She took the lift downstairs and joined the rest of the residents for breakfast. Hungry, why am I so hungry, she thought to herself as she dished up a whole plate of scrambled eggs, beans and five sausages.

"Whoa, hold up there partner you going to pop a few buttons on those jeans of yours" Akira chuckled and Fitz shot him a nasty look.

"Leave me be," she cupped her arm around the plate and walked towards the lift.

"Aww, come on don't go," Akira called after her but she paid him no mind.

After finishing up her breakfast, Fitz noticed a stain on her white jeans.

"Bloody hell!" she exclaims at the brown stain on her thigh.

She undresses and tosses the pants in her white hamper, changing into a black skirt that sat at her thighs. Fitz flops back into her unmade bed and reaches for her phone on the bedside table, she aimlessly scrolled through contacts until she reached her mother's contact. She pressed on the call button and to her surprise it began to ring.

"Hello?" the voice of an elderly mom asked.

"Mum?" Fitz replied, confused at the sound of her mother's voice.

"Macy, is that you?" 

"Mum, where are you?"

"They allow phones there, also why does your voice sound so young," as Fitz's mother asked this she began to cry.

"Mum, I miss you," she sniffles.

"It's alright sweetie- I'll- tell- the- nur-," the call cuts.

"Mum?" she calls out to her to no avail.

Fitz contemplated telling the other residents but decided against it as she wasn't sure she understood what was going on, as her mother sounded so old and voice so frail. She rested her head against pillow and dozed off. 

A small knock came from outside her bedroom door; she got up, fixed her skirt and proceeded to tell the person that she was coming. The knock was persistent this time and repetitive.

"I said coming," she called out while shuffling towards the door, knocks turned to banging.

"I said I'm com-" she begins to say though paused as no one could be seen at her door. The lift bell dings and Jiro walks out to her through the hallway.

"Oh here you Fitz- Nee it's supper time," he says and walks over to her.

"You changed your pants?" he says and Fitz threatens him not to say anything about how short her skirt was.

"Okay," he conceded and left Fitz to wonder what was going on.

Before heading out to dinner, Fitz took a bath, relaxed and got out to put on her black and white spotted pajamas. It was almost midnight, she took the stairs leading to the white double doors of the kitchen and before stepping inside she heard voices that she recognized.

"I thought you guys went to-" she started off though irked to find no one there.

"Again," she groaned and made her way to Kacey's room.

"Hey," with a soft knock at the intricate linings of rose patterns of Kacey's bedroom door.

"Hey Fitz what's up?" Kacey lying on her bed with the journal in hand.

"Macy," she deadpans and Kacey chuckles.

"Yes, Macy," Kacey says and asks her if she can ask a question.

"Okay so, I know that Mr, Fitzgerald is your step father, right, so how did your mum meet him?"

"They were in their early twenties at the time, both studying; my mom had to juggle taking care of me, a job and college. At the time, my grandmother took care of me, it had been almost seven years since the passing of my dad and one night she brought home this man. He was so tall, long black hair and a stern face, but from that moment he sort of adopted me and took me as his own child and got married to my mum," she explained lying on the bed beside Kacey.

"You must really love him," Fitz replied that she does and asked about her father.

"My dad was awesome, he was a scientist and he wore these thick pair of glasses that I loved messing around with as a kid. He used to chase me around the house every morning before work," they giggled.

"Have you heard voices?" Fitz suddenly questions.

"No, why, have you?" Kacey replies and Fitz looks down.

"Hey, its okay, if it's like Jiro just practice tuning it out," 

Fitz walks over to the bedroom door though turns around and asks Kacey if she could walk her to her room and she obliges. She gets into bed, switches off her lamp on her bedside table and dozes off to sleep.

It's that feeling of being watched. It makes the hairs on your nape stand on end. That's what it felt like for Macy Fitzgerald. The prickling feeling, that someone or rather something was watching you, though uncertain of its motive behind doing so in the first place. Curiosity? She thought. A figure stood standing beside her bed looking down at her and that was it. It just looked at her and nothing more. No tugging at her sheets or calling of her name. Just morbid curiosity. 

"Who are you?" Fitz asked it half hoping it would answer.

"You," the voice sounded oddly familiar. Yes it was familiar because it was hers.

This scared Fitz to the point of her running out her room with a sheet wrapped tightly around her waist and en route to Akira and Jiro's room.

"Who's there?" a soft knock startled Akira awake.

"It's me, can I sleep with you guys?" she asked while checking side to side down the hallway.

Akira gets up and opens the door for her; she rushed past him and laid in his place on the futon.

 "Where am I supposed to sleep?" he asked and she pointed to their small couch in the corner.

Fitz didn't sleep much that night, she tossed and turned and replayed the scene in her head a dozen times. The next morning she slept in at Akira and Jiro's, Kacey explained she might be experiencing the same thing a Jiro and the residents chose to leave her be.