𝑶𝒁𝑨𝑹𝑲 .

she felt like she was a little girl giddily showing another her scar. how simple the thing was that brought both of them such joy. but it meant neither of them was crazy. and getting to meet someone else who had been through what they had been through. “a few hours?” her voice seemed genuinely surprised by his answer. “i was gone three days. it was the biggest news around this town. when i got back it’s all everyone could talk about for a year. they all just assumed i got lost and found my way back home. but i knew the truth” she said. “i don’t remember everything. some parts i do. some memories are still there and others are just a blur. but this…” she said standing up walking towards the two large white arches. “this i saw everywhere there. it would never leave my mind.” she said, her eyes locked on the arches. “what about you. what can you remember. what were you given?”

“a feeling like i said. i was blessed with it ever since i was little…ever since i was returned. i just got this read on people sometimes and i ain’t never got a read like i got on you. but i couldn’t be sure about it. until you bent over to help me pick up my groceries. and i saw that scar on your neck. i got one just like it.” maybelle brushed aside her curls of blonde hair, turning to show him the scar on her neck. “i used to tell myself it was from when i fell off my bike. not sure how that is even possible but it was all i could think of.” turning back in her chair, she couldn’t help but smile. sitting across from someone who was like her. someone who could understand what she was going through and what had happened. “i feel like you were meant to be here. meant to be on this case and meant to be sitting across from me right now. all of this. all my work was worth it.” she smiled. “how long did they have you for? i always wondered that.”

her words must have hit something as he nervously ticked in scratched the back of his neck. maybelle felt even more sure than before that she was right and that this risk was maybe going to pay off. “have you ever meet someone and you just get that overwhelming feeling that they might feel how you are feeling? like maybe they could understand you just a little bit. because that’s the feeling i got from you the first day we met in that parking lot. i just sensed something… i never had it happen before but i knew you were like me. i just knew it.” she said. “it’s hard to even say out loud. i forced myself for years to not even think about it. because if thought about it then maybe it would just go away. it would have never happened. but it did mr.adair. you and i were visited by something beyond what most people can even dream of.”

leading him down the shinning white hallway, she stopped at one of the doors. “this is one of our meeting rooms. normally reserved for the upper members of the church but i think an exception can be made given how important this is.” she told him. opening up the large doors she gestured for him to come in before closing the door behind them. the bright white hallways were behind them now as they entered the darken room. illuminated by various candles that maybelle had meticulous lit and arranged while she had waited. the walls and floors of the room were dark giving the floating candles even more look of starlight. the other source of light was the large white double arches in the room near the small round table. “the room was designed to make you feel like you’re outside at night. not as beautiful as the real thing but i find it to be very relaxing.” she said taking a seat at the table. “now mr.adair, i have to admit something to you. and i hope i am not being to forward with you. but…i know a lot more about you than i think you know about me. but one thing i can say for certain is that we are a lot more similar than you might imagine… we both hold such big secrets.”

maybelle watched as gregor left with the other agents, and she couldn’t help but smile. this was perfect, maybe not how she planned on getting him alone but it would work nonetheless. heading back into the church, she needed to prepare for what was going to come. after the large crowd outside finally dispersed, she spent her time making sure the church was cleared away too. letting everyone know that she needed the space alone to work on things. others she was just able to tell them to go. even dad went back to their home to work on his next speech.

out of her old clothes and into something new, she made sure she was cleaned up well for her guest. it was an exciting night, a special night and she wanted to look her best.

the midnight chime rung throughout the church, along the small clicking of her heels on the marble floor as she walked into the entrance.

“mr.adair, i am so glad you were able to join me tonight. i promise you it will be worth all your time.” she smiled. “i’m sure you have many questions and i will answer all of them, if you just follow me this way.”

the crowd was turning more into a mob than anything else. the little time she had alone with gregor was going to be gone soon and her opportunity would be gone with it. this was risky, she knew that but she needed to make her move now. reaching out she grabbed onto his arm, pulling him close to look right into his eyes. in a flash there was something changed in her eyes, the dark black pupils seemed to almost pulse in her eyes before they grew to almost cover the entirety of her blue eyes. “go home with the agents and then come back to the church at midnight. do not tell anyone where you are going.” she told him. the black of her pupils shrunk back to normal and she let go of his arm. the southern smile returning to her face. “i think it’s time for you to go mr.adair. your friends look like they need you.”

      whatever he expected, the shift in maybelle’s eyes were not it. however, he’s fixated by the them, and her words. he doesn’t respond, he just nods solemnly and listens to the instructions. his impulse is to follow them to a t. it’s strange, and he’s not sure he likes it. apparently he retained enough of himself besides the instruction to feel apprehensive about what this meant.   ‘  right, yeah,  ’  he says, nodding again, after things go back to normal... or at least they appeared to. the idea was still firmly lodged in his mind.  ‘  i should get back to them. good to speak with you, mrs. harper.  ’

-- 

“i don’t think any of us are happy to be here but i do think that being here is important. and having all of you here right now is even more important. to help give everyone a sense of safety with all that is happening. and now that you have caught this horrible horrible man.” she told him. looking around the crowd bustled around them more, as all of them were now getting motivated by dad’s speech. she could see some of them moving towards where the agents were standing"mr. adair….“ she started, unsure how to phrase this. "i need to speak to you about something…something in private. it is very important.”

This was going to absolutely exacerbate the migraine he had building up, or knock his ass out for a good few hours. “Incompetence? Conspiracy? Either way, the damn things were missing,” he replied. The thing tasted like burnt Kahlua to him, but it was good all the same. “How ‘bout you, alien man? Anything happen on your end?”

“aren’t cults just gimmicks at heart? just elaborate shticks that win a few people over…. then, snowball effect.” gail offered, shrugging lightly. speaking about it and feigning this nonchalance made her heart ache for cynthia. 

  it struck her as rude to disregard him then, so whichever idea she had got buried in the end. “hypnosis… well, usually CBT is suggested as first line treatment, before any kind of hypnotherapy. when it’s used, is meant to treat anxiety and pain relief, and for getting rid of undesirable behaviors. still, if we were to entertain the idea that any of the harpers’ followers might have been subjected to it to hurt cynthia, it doesn’t make much since since the worst of hypnotic suggestion’s side effects is simply creating false memories, not aggressively straying away from one’s usual conduct—”

   “wait, i am…. not following. what…. hill abduction?”

        gregor paused to think about it, and then nodded.  ‘  you know, yeah. i mean that pretty much covers it.  i meant, more harmless i guess. like it’s easier deal with one murderer than a whole cult of people doing...  y’know,  dangerous cult shit.  ’

“i hope you are finding our small little town nice mr. adair. i know it isn’t much but this whole community has been working hard to improve it. you should have seen it only a few years ago to where it is now. it really is a miracle.” she said, adjusting the bags within her arms. “i was dropping off some things around the town. if you have a moment i would be happy to show you around. give  you a feel what this town is really about. not these horrible murders.”

“harlon harper. it is nice to meet you young man.” he said flashing him a smile. gesturing back over towards his desk, he started up again. “please take a seat. i have not had the privilege to meet with anyone else yet, which is why i am so glad you are here. our little community is hurt and needs your help.” taking a seat in his chair, he paused for a moment to study over gregor. subtle but his eyes wondered for a moment. “excuse my asking but where are you from? i’m a curious type and i cannot place you.”

when it came to the hospitality criteria, gail had always been slightly above average. now, even if some of the small talk ought to have felt like muscle memory, the more clever, gracious syntax evaded her. she hadn’t even realized she had been furrowing throughout the conversation, instinctively. “me too. but i guess the church members didn’t care about the age, so long as he kept up the whole gimmick… uh, no offense to him.” still a skeptic in these matters, it felt wrong — rather, dangerous — to badmouth him. “me? gosh, i’m… not sure. it has ‘alternative spirituality’ written all over it for sure. legally, i can only speak from a medical standpoint, though. you are the ones who see this all the time, so… what do you think?”

Dante gestures vaguely back, the sigh in his bones giving him not nearly enough energy to tell Gregor why he didn’t care for chocolate chips. They had a case to solve with barely enough clues to keep them afloat, and while he would gladly go into a tangent about why, of course oatmeal raisins were a superior mix of cookie—he’d rather much do it on an off day. The immediate high of the coffee was wearing off now, into one of most probably several coffee crashes that today had to offer.

“Me and Doe have the same opinion, then,” he grabbed the still-full cup of coffee and shook his head. “If the field agents dig anything useful up that’d be great, but we should probably get back to banging our heads against the concrete. Unless you want to make what’s left of the coffee… a little Irish.”