Eight - Paranoia (.050)

With a bag of feed in her left hand, Ellyn made her way toward the horse stables in order to nourish the equines. Thanks to the neighboring rooster, Ellyn had hardly gotten any rest the previous night. She spent the majority of her hours of darkness reminiscing on the conversation that went on between Mrs. Brenton and Faven. After being released from the grip of Viviane's eyes, she had slipped through the front door, just in time to hear her name passing though Faven's lips.

"This girl...she could be dangerous." Faven had alleged. That line in particular seemed to remain imbedded on the surface of her thoughts. She was dangerous, well, according to the government. After all, that's why they were hunting for her. If she were going to stay here, she had to be careful. Extremely careful. Being paranoid on a regular basis even seemed necessary. One slip of the lip could cause Ellyn an untimely death that she wasn't ready for.

Upon arriving to the stables, she saw a man carrying a large sack toward the entrance of the barn. Tightly constrained in a white tank, and damp with sweat, each muscle shimmered underneath the rays of the sun. She was sure that it was twin, but from a backside view it was difficult to tell which one it was.

Ellyn made her way into the stable, and immediately, she was thrown off by a horrible odor. Rotten eggs and manure brushed past her nostril hairs and into her lungs. Everything she had eaten for breakfast earlier this morning seemed as if it was ready to meet the ground beneath her. The bag fell onto the dirt as she began to gag repetitively. The dry heaving finally ceased, and she briefly positioned herself against the threshold to regain enough energy to move from her spot. She grabbed the grain; cautiously, she held her forearm over her nose, trying to discontinue the smell at all cost.

She entered the first stable, which happened to be empty. Obediently, she filled the tub with half of the grain and then made her way toward the second stable. The odor seemed to grow more prominent the closer she came to the latter stable.

The same horse she had seen the first day she arrived on the ranch was standing behind the gate. He watched her as she approached. An agitated noise rumbled in this throat, warning her about her closeness. She stumbled back slightly, but kept edging toward him. The horse's eyes followed Ellyn as her hand grazed against the gate. She began to tremble as her nerves got the best of her. Ellyn took a deep breath and slowly unlatched the handle and pulled open the door. The blonde stared him down, their eye contact never breaking, as she slowly crept toward the tub.

Nothing could compare to the feeling she felt when the grain finally emptied from the plastic bag into the feeding tub. She was careful not to make any sudden movements as she exited the stable. The sound of the gate locking made her even more ecstatic. She skipped back to the front entrance and noticed how filthy the place was. Tools and grooming supplies were scattered across the ground. There was no organization what so ever.

She looked around, thinking to herself. Before she realized it, Ellyn began to put the dispersed objects in the chosen places. As she neared completion, she noticed a worn out shelf filled with nothing but cluster. Throwing the rest of the smaller grooming supplies in a bucket, she turned her full attention to the shelf. With the way it was looking, it was going to need all the attention it could get.

Figuring she would work from top to bottom, placed her foot on the bottom shelf. She paused and stood there for a few moments testing the strength of the shelves. Finally, she pushed off the bottom step, holding her breath. Nothing happened. Feeling it was safe to continue, she placed her foot on the second shelf, and then the third. The blonde reached the top, and began to ramble through the contents of a box. 

There were a few CDs, a microphone, and other things you would usually find in the home of a musician. Her hand stopped when it brushed against something plastic and sharp. She retrieved it after snapping her hand back in pain. Attached to the piece of worn plastic, was an even more depleted key. It was hardly even bronze anymore. Rust was consuming the majority of it, but somehow it looked to be still useful.

Ellyn hopped down with the key in her hand. She was so consumed with the mystery of the key that she didn't seem to notice the shelf rocking back and forth and eventually beginning to tumble in her direction. She didn't have much of a chance to get out of the way before the shelf and all of its contents came crashing towards her. Instantly, she blacked out.

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Her eyes slowly lifted from the blurriness. A pair of gray eyes were pleading for her well-being as they hovered over her frail body. Ellyn's head was positioned in the person's lap, which was clearly a man. She blinked a couple of times before she opened her mouth to speak.

"Isaiah?" She whispered.

"Gabriel." What had provoked her to immediately think it was him? She shook her head a few times, trying to free her mind from that possibility. The blonde stopped suddenly when a sharp stinging pain shot through one of the many blood vessels in her brain.

Ellyn pressed her weak hand to her forehead. "Ouch."

"That is what I thought." He smiled down at her. "If I had not gotten there in time that TV would have smashed you to pieces."

"You saved me?" He nodded. She looked up at the twin, studying him carefully. Although her mind was still cloudy with some black dots, she could easily tell there was something different about Gabriel compared to his other brothers. His voice was not deep and putative like his siblings. It sounded like he hadn't used his vocal cords in years. Each time he spoke, his hands would quiver, like they were fighting with the brain waves that tell his hands when to move. All these characteristics were hitting too close to home for Ellyn. She lifted her hands to where he could see them clearly.

"You're deaf, aren't you?" She signed at the man and a smile arose from his scruffy beard.

"Yes." He signed without speaking a word.

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Ellyn finished scrubbing her hands underneath the ice cold water coming from the bathroom faucet. She had been washing her hands for such a lengthy time that she didn't seem to notice her cuticles beginning to shrivel up. Her free will was still lost among her thoughts. 

It puzzled her as to why Gabriel had suddenly asked her, well signed to her, to go out with him to a restaurant. Since she was still a bit dazed and confused from being stuck on the head by some heavy unknown object, she didn't really have a clue what she was saying yes to until Faven had rushed upstairs with her box of makeup and suitcase of clothes. Two combs and five outfits later, here she was at Brandy's Bar & Grill on her very first real date. At twenty-three, that was pitiful, but due to the many circumstances, she didn't have the privilege of enjoying her teenage years.

Although they had clearly stated on the way here that this was nothing more than two friends grabbing something to eat, Gabriel seemed to be on a completely different agenda. He was a sweetheart, there was nothing falsifying that, but Ellyn could see right through his gentlemen customs and overbearing manners. Unfortunately, that wasn't a journey she was ready to make just yet. It was too soon.

As Ellyn dried her dampened hands on the nearest paper towel, another woman flushed the toilet and emerged from the bathroom stall to join her at the sink. How long had she been in there? She looked up at the female, who turned on the faucet, retrieved a pinch of soap and began to cleanse her hands just as slowly as Ellyn had a few seconds ago. Like Ellyn, she was blonde and tall. Legs for months. Freckles were sprawled along her cheekbones and her hair was pinned back, allowing all of her features to be shown off. She couldn't really examine the woman's eyes since they were concentrating on her stirring hands.

The faucet shut off and the woman looked up at the mirror as Ellyn turned away to throw away the towel she was using. 

"Why is her face so familiar to me?" Ellyn thought to herself as she exited the bathroom and trolled into the dining area.

The crowd was descent. Nothing too vast and nothing to small for this early Thursday crowd. This was the first time she had gone out into a public setting since being from under his watch. To her, it actually felt slightly weird without his hungry eyes calculating her every move.

She scrutinized the many tables searching for Gabriel and his hand-me-down jacket. She gazed over at the booth section and trailed over to the bar, where she made eye contact with a few sex-hungry men. As she neared the jukebox and the front entrance, her investigation came to a complete standstill.

Black hair consuming the majority of his firm expression.  An evil mug equipped with a pair of cold, solid emerald eyes. 

Her breathing was no longer with her. Each lung seemed to fail around the same time, and the hyperventilation kicked in. She wasn't sure if he had spotted her, but she didn't want to take any chances.

She immediately slipped into the hallway that was connected to the bathrooms. A few seconds of her time went toward her trying to figure out a barely discernible escape, while the other minute was dedicated to many unanswered questions.

How did he find me? What was he doing here? Who told? Ellyn froze. Viviane. That bitch. I knew I could never trust her. She never wanted to see me happy. I swear if I survived this I was going to end her...

Ellyn shook her head free of the things that were distracting her from getting as far away from this place as possible. The only thing that mattered at this point was that Vaughn had found her.

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Sorry for the wait guys..my Sims game was the BIGGEST pain in my ass this pass couple of days. These last few pictures gave me absolute HELL! Well these next couple if chapters should be easier though...since I guess I found the problem that was crashing my Sims game. But I have to refurnish the ENTIRE farm lot..so there will be some hold up there...and with school starting on Monday, and me getting my first job, ^_^, this will get a little, well, hectic. Thanks for reading and sorry once again!