02. Solvigant;
(adj.) wandering alone
4 months earlier
The same dream kept happening every night to the point that they didn't scare her anymore. When she bolts from her sleep, she takes it as a sign to start the day. Even if the birds are still sleeping and the sun still hiding behind the dark hills.
She was nearly out of coffee but there was enough to help her to see clearly and rid the haze in her head. Two sugars today and a glass of orange juice to wash down the bitterness.
She opened the blind and it was still black, with only the faint calls of sheep able to be heard somewhere beyond the fence. The fire still had spots of orange in the grate and a pile of warm ash sat underneath. Surprisingly, the house was still warm so she decided to preserve whatever wood she had left so that she didn't have to chop more tonight when the cold came in.
4 o'clock.
It was more sleep than she had managed to achieve the night before but she was still so tired.
"Early bird catches the worm," Casi mumbled to herself, downing the last of her juice before she'd even started on the caffeine. "Apparently."
No new messages on her phone. No real surprises.
She finished her coffee with nothing to soften the taste it left in her throat. She was out of bread and knew that and the slices of ham in the fridge had been there a little too long for her to risk eating. The apples in the bowl next to the sink were soft and bruised but they were probably the most trusting thing she could manage without having to rummage through the local fields for a handful of strawberries.
She really needed to do a shop, but other things always took precedence.
The yard was still dark when she headed out to the shed closest to the house but she'd walked the path so many times that the gravel wore thin where she stepped. Casi unlocked the padlock with no key in sight and walked into the workshop, pulling at the string for the light as she entered.
Her bike was hidden under an old sheet to stop the birds that often nested in the rafters from spoiling her hard work and just because she loved whipping it off when it was time to ride it.
The leads and dead ends were pinned to an old cork board she'd found amongst the mess of the outbuildings as she'd tidied. Some of the people were already dead, others doing her job for her or time catching up with them and they got away with their crimes.
She was only interested in knowing who killed her parents as she was sure there were others just like her avenging lives instead of living their own.
Casi woke the table with her thumb and its screens flipped awake from hiding. The voice still greeted her parents when it loaded but she didn't have the heart to tell it otherwise.
"It's Casi."
"Ah, yes. Miss Casi. My apologies."
"Anything new?" She asked, sitting down in the chair with her coffee.
"Nothing new to report, Miss Casi."
"Nothing from those names?" Casi flicked through some of her notes now, reminding herself of how far she'd come but nowhere near getting the names of the killers.
"Unfortunately, not."
"Okay, just keep up with surveillance and I'll see what else I can find out."
Casi never got to know her parents. Her auntie had tried her best to share stories of their lives while flicking through photographs. She was a woman of religion, though, and always avoided questions around their work in science. There had been an evening where she'd drank too much and muttered that their death was God's punishment for refusing his way of life. That's when Casi had run away for the fifth time, exploring what her parents had left her in their will.
News of the Winter Soldier and Hydra's latest carnage travelled fast, even in the wilderness of Wales and even if it didn't, she'd hear the rumours as she travelled following a lead. She'd forced herself to read her parents notes about their involvement in it all and had to remind herself that they weren't given a choice.
It was either help or work with a luger to your neck. Or don't and die. Simply just collateral damage in Hydra's path in taking over.
"I'm going to go shopping today, could you keep an eye on the house for me as well?"
"Of course."
Casi would switch his programmed language every so often, switching between English and Welsh but choosing other dialects to challenge herself.
"Nos da." She said and the computer folded into itself and tucked away into the table.
Casi stood now and snatched the canvas sheet off the bike, dust flying all around her as she scooped her helmet off the floor. She tucked her fringe towards her crown as her head slipped into its protection.
The engine roared to life and she flicked the headlight on to help navigate the roads ahead.
She kicked the stand back and left a cloud of dust in her path as she drove away into the first rays of light.
*