Flickering Light
It had been two hours, and Danny had neither come up with another pre-Silas person that Laura knew, not had she seen a trace of her. They had used the time for Laf to show her the videos, the many times Laura used books to work out what happened in a scenario, the over-protective father, social awkwardness. It was stuff so easily missed while they were talking with Laura, but watching it again...everything just came into focus.
"Well, we know she's not a vampire, see how surprised she is at the revelation, she's repulsed by blood." Danny sighed as she spoke, glad at least that they could scratch that off of their list of what Laura could be. Along with that there was; fairy, demi-goddess, graduated high school 3 years early, and zombie. Admittedly zombie did not seem logical with everything Laura spoke about, but maybe she was a vegan zombie.
"If we go by mythology she might be a werewolf, however her night with Carmilla was on the full moon, and she would have changed by then." Laf reasoned, adding it to the list before scratching it out, huffing as they tapped the pen on the desk trying to think of anything else that could explain Laura, or even get them on the correct path. They crossed out the high school quickly as being not possible, that would have been a huge point for Laura to brag about and she wasn't exactly the best student.
"Also surely a werewolf would be worse than a vampire? She has very human morals. I don't think she's not human." Danny reasoned, leaning over to cross out demi-goddess (which would have explained the no-mother), and fairy. She had personally been routing for fairy, it would add just another layer to small angry Hollis, but alas it seemed improbable at best.
"We could ask JP? I think he knows student records, there may be something in her file." Laf spoke softly, already standing to get JP before Danny had a chance to reply.
"It's out best option, okay, get JP. Just, make sure he knows I'm not a danger okay?" Danny asked, and Laf looked over her before nodding. She wasn't a danger to him, but any other vampire? Laf left in search, leaving Danny staring at the profile they had built on Laura in Laf's notebook. At the very least it was keeping their mind off of Perry. There was nothing to explain the oddness in Laura's reactions, or even her fathers.
"Miss Danny? You two wished for my expertise?" JP asked, bringing the tall ginger girl out of her stupor. She smiled wearily at him before nodding dazedly.
"Yeah, yeah, JP, do you have student records on file?"
"Only those added before the library collapsed, any changes I cannot tell you. Is there something you needed?" JP asked, wringing his hands in front of him quickly, not stopping even when Laf placed a hand on his arm.
"Something is up with Laura and we need to find out what it could be, we ruled out supernatural entities but there might be something in that file for us to look at, could you tell us anything?" Laf asked gently guiding him onto a chair in the hope of relaxing him enough to answer their questions.
"I can't" He groaned wringing his hands faster in an attempt to calm himself.
"Why not?" Danny asked, eyes narrowing at the Vampire.
"Well, she didn't forbid me to say this, but essentially Miss Laura asked for me to not disclose her file to any of you. She gave me explicit instructions on this." JP told them quickly before his breathing steadied out, hoping that would be the end of it.
"Wait, hold up. Laura asked you not to tell us? Why would she do that?" Danny demanded standing up and stomping her way over to the nervous vampire.
"What can you tell us JP?" Laf asked, giving a warning glance to Danny.
"She seemed frantic, it was just when you had placed me in this body. I had seen her looking at a letter, it looked rather official, and she saw me, asking if her files were in my database as it were." JP replied staring at Laf, now completely ignoring that Danny was in the room.
"Did you see anything in the letter?" Danny asked, and when no reply was given, Laf asked it again, hoping JP was just nervous in front of them.
"Miss Laura begged me not to tell, I have broken her trust already." His hands were pulling at his clothes trying to keep his emotions in check, he did not want to hurt Laura by divulging her secret. She would never forgive him, and she gave out the best blood.
"You bit me JP, I think you owe me this." Laf pointed to the puncture wounds on their neck, which made JP flinch. They hated using it against him, but desperate times called for dubious measures.
"Miss Laura gave me extra blood, to keep my silence, it is not something I can do even for you." JP tried again, shaking his head, long strands of hair falling down to hide his face from their view.
"Laura isn't here, she ran off, and we have to find her. This could save her JP." Danny was almost begging at this point for any help, her nails digging into her palms desperate for her not to fall apart when she was needed. Finally JP turned to look at her.
"Then should we not be out looking for her Miss Danny?"
"It's too dangerous, Carmilla is out there and while I doubt she would really kill Laura, I am a huge target for her." At least, Danny hoped that Carmilla wouldn't kill Laura. It was her who killed Mattie after all, not Laura. But she doubted that Carmilla was thinking straight at this point in time. She had to hope, that was all she had.
"It is not in my place to tell you." JP screamed out. He was not used to being used like this, neither was he used to Laf ignoring the things he said he couldn't say.
"Not your place? You are literally a library database, helping is the best thing you can do!" Danny yelled back, moving as if to slap JP before huffing and storming off back to her chair.
"Danny! Lay off JP okay?" After a moment Laf turned back to JP "I will withhold blood from you again until I find out. I don't want to do this but we need to know."
"Have you not thought of checking her social media? Her online profiles?" It was a desperate attempt to change the direction of the conversation, but still it worked as both Laf and Danny turned their attention back to the computer in desperation.
"There, an old facebook. It hasn't been used in almost a year. The last post is 'I make it easier for people to leave by making them hate me a little - Cecilia Ahern, The Book of Tomorrow'." Laf read out from the profile, nodding at Laura's love of quotes, even if the subject was rather ominous.
"What's the one before it?" Danny asked having sat slightly back from the monitor, leaving most of the investigating to Laf.
"Um, 'You endure what is unbearable, and you bear it. That is all - Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Princess'. Very Laura." It was as if she hadn't changed in almost four years, and the quote seemed very apt for what was happening at Silas. Yet it made no sense that a 15 year old Laura should post so much macabre content.
"But it's not posted by her, Mary Richards posted it on her wall." Danny took over the mouse and clicked on the picture of Mary, only to be hit with photos of someone in hospital gowns as the background photo and the last post which made them all pause.
"'Thank you for your support, and thank you Laura for being there for Mary. She's gone to the Angels now, but don't doubt how much she loved you.' Its them together." Laf pointed to the picture below the most recent message, dated around the same time that Laura's profile went inactive; a picture of her and Mary cuddled on the hospital bed so similar to how Laura had once cuddled up to Carmilla.
"This is it? She was in love with Mary who died, leaving her. It would explain what she said to Carmilla when they broke up, why she wouldn't talk about her." Danny could not help but stare, seeing for the first time that Laura had the same strap around her wrist that Mary did, a hospital band with her name written in bold.
"It explains why she won't talk about Mary, why she is avoidant on the topic of her being in love, but it doesn't explain anything else, the books, the other hidden secrets? It explains nothing." Laf almost growled, and Danny stared at them a moment, wondering if the stress of the situation was finally getting to them.
"Why does she have a hospital band too?" Danny asked, after hearing Laf continue to growl and mutter under their breath, hoping to bring them back to an experiment or investigation, give them something to do. Also she was sure she wouldn't get far without Laf to help her.
"Maybe to identify her while she visited Mary?" Laf clicked back to Laura's pofile, clicking on the friends list hopefully "Her Dad, Mary..." Laf continued through the short friends list, including a couple of proffessional profiles from medical institutions, and only 5 other friends who were Laura's age.
"Amanda Carlton; dead, lost the battle to cancer aged 16, thanks to those friends who kept her smiling. Frank Dreis; in and out of hospital, barely in school, knew both Laura and Mary, mentions that he misses them. James Lee; immunocompromised, unable to see his friends, dead. Lisa Oskal; recovered, beauty queen who makes a point of mentioning her time in hospital. Gregory Salton; first friend she made, see he placed her in the sister place, but there is no real relation." Danny whispered as she read through the 5 names, her heart sinking with each and every one. Even Gregory brought her heart a little lower. If they had been so close that he thought of her as a sister, why was he never mentioned? What on earth was Laura up to?
"Wait, read this: 'Laura, I know you cannot read this where you are, but I wish to apologise for leaving you right when you needed me most. I promised to be your brother and love you like a brother should and all I did was run away. I can't believe you are gone. I miss you.'" Laf read after trying to find posts to Laura from Gregory's profile, and they sank back in their chair defeated "Everyone who loved her left." they whispered out, 3 died, one left because he couldn't handle it. No wonder staying for Laura was a sign of love.
"Wait, he thinks Laura is dead?" Danny whispered looking down at the other comments which all pointed towards Laura being dead, or at least them thinking Laura was dead. It was only the pictures which confirmed that their Laura was also this Laura.
"Her last message seemed like one of goodbye, her girlfriend had died, if no one could contact her it would seem like the correct assumption." Laf tried, hoping that they really weren't dealing with a vampire in denial. They were not sure what to think anymore.
"She knew 6 people, 5 so ill that it affected their entire lives, most of her posts are just meant for her friends." Danny took a deep breath and shook her head "She was in hospital with them wasn't she?"
"JP, please. Is there anything else?" Laf asked, and JP nodded lightly, fighting between their need to know and Laura's misplaced trust in him.
"I will tell her that you talked me round under duress if ever she asks." He told them before moving forward steadying himself for what was about to be revealed. After all, he had to find out what it was that Laura was hiding once he knew she wished no one to know.
"We can accept that, just tell us what we want to know. What is in Laura's file?"
"Laura Hollis, Undergraduate on a Journalism course at Silas University, she was schooled by a professional from home-" He was about to continue when Danny interrupted.
"Home schooled? Maybe it was George that was ill. Yeah, and she only knew him and met the others through him! Her dad is protective so she was hidden from others." Danny seemed desperate in her attempt to stop any idea that Laura could have been as ill as the others. That maybe Laura was the healthy one, she had to be.
"No it doesn't fit, not with anything else. Is there anything in her medical, or personal school files?"
"Laura Hollis, was placed under the care of a private hospital local to the University, where her files were shared with them and the University. Her private files show that she did well in her exams, although the marks were doctored according to a doctor's note." JP told them reluctantly. It had been written on her file that no one was to discuss her changed grades, nor were they to let Laura know that they knew.
"So what? She broke an arm? Got an infection?" Danny asked in desperation once more, didn't broken arms take a while to heal? She would still need to go back to hospital to check on it if it was a recent injury which would show up on their records.
"Not quite, Miss Laura had to be pulled out of school at the age of 5 due to an illness which never seemed to go away. She was withdrawn due to the extensive tests and because it was believed she would do better being home schooled with her illness than being in a classroom setting. There have been many diagnoses since and it was decided before she came to Silas that she was finally well enough to encroach life on her own." JP told them, running through the records in his head, trying to tell them as little as possible, hoping that he had gotten across enough for them to understand. The others were silent, Danny crumbling in on herself tears in her eyes.
"But she isn't cured? You just said she was well enough. Not that she was cured." Danny whispered, dropping her face into hr cupped hands, as Laf slowly stroked her back in a comforting manner.
"It is as you would say incurable. There are no specifics on diagnosis, all that is known by the University is that Laura is incurable and most likely terminal." It was the one thing that JP did not wish to reveal to them, after all, Miss Perry had also gone missing, he was not sure how much Laf could take at this point. Though Danny did not fair anywhere near as well as he had hoped as she broke down even more clinging to herself as tears broke through her walls.
"So, what are the ginger club doing today? Oh wait, I'm sorry, what are two thirds of the ginger club doing today?" The three had been so wrapped up in their bubble that they had not noticed that a blood soaked Carmilla had stalked back in, making her way to Mattie. She was radiating hatred from each pour as if one move would have them killed.