Anita
Chapter 10

Anita checked the stalls and locked the door before doing anything else; the last thing she wanted was for some human to run away screaming and cause a scene. Satisfied that the room was clear Anita walked over to the tap, tugging her shirt over her head and placing it to soak in warm water while she scrubbed the rest of her body down with paper towel. Dried blood had crusted to her arms, a few splatters of the substance on her face from when she’d stabbed Robert. She grit her teeth as she scrubbed it away, meeting the stare of her own pale blue eyes in the large mirror.

No wonder Meriam had been so freaked out, she looked like death incarnate. Long auburn hair sticking out in all directions, rage and fear boiling in her eyes. She ran a hand along her crystals, shuddering at the sensitivity. Anita held her hands under the tap, feeling the warm water flow over her skin and brushed her wet fingers through her knotted hair, attempting to achieve some semblance of tidiness.

Finally deciding that she couldn’t get any cleaner with these accommodations she pulled her sopping wet shirt from the red stained water. She rinsed it a few more times, trying to get rid of as much of the blood as possible before tugging it over her chest. Scowling at the discomfort of the fabric sticking to her skin she wandered over to one of the hand dryers and crouched underneath it. Warm arm blew over her body, a pool of water dripping on the tiled floor below her.

It took her several minutes to realise how ridiculous her method was, she was a blue Guardian for pete’s sakes. She could just bend the water away from her. Anita shook her head, standing up quickly and snarling in pain as she hit her head on the fan. Fuck, she snarled, stepping forward a few steps before trying again.

Rubbing her sore head she stood in the center of the bathroom. Closing her eyes she focused on the magic. Her crystals twitched but remained flush with her skin as she quickly drained the water from her clothes, sending the liquid into one of the drains in the sinks. A rapping on the door drew her attention, followed by a grumble, “What the hell?”

“Hey, is someone in there? This is a public bathroom!” Anita flinched at the aggravated shout and sprinted to the door. She unlocked the door and stepped back, smiling cautiously at the angry woman.

“You know these aren’t private bathrooms right? You’re not allowed to just lock the door and hog them all to yourself?” The woman droned on and on and Anita sunk her teeth into her cheek to avoid snapping at her to shut up.

Anita impatiently tapped her foot as she kept talking, she would have just left but the woman was blocking the entrance and Anita didn’t want to start a scene by shoving her out of the way.

“Look, Ma’am,” she kept blathering on and Anita tried again, “Ma’am, Ma’am,” she finally shut up as Anita raised her voice. “Look,” she started again as the woman stared at her wide eyed, “I’m sorry, I was just cleaning up and wanted a bit of privacy, it won’t happen again.” She gently pushed past the woman.

“Kids these days,” the woman mumbled under her breath, “no respect for their elders.” Anita rolled her eyes as she made her way back to Meriam. She paused at the end of the hall, gazing over the different diner style booths and trying to replace the girl in the growing crowd of people. The restaurant had certainly gotten busier while she was in the bathroom. The previously empty booths were filling up quickly, loud chatter drowning out the sounds of the storm outside.

“Excuse me,” Anita muttered, gently pushing people out of her way and attempting to squeeze past the horde.

“Watch it!” someone snapped and an elbow rammed into her side. Anita grit her teeth, holding back the urge to retaliate with a punch to the face.

“Psychos,” Anita grumbled when she finally made it through the crowd of people. Finally passed the line of crazies Anita located Meriam in a corner booth. A steaming mug of coffee clasped tightly between her hands as she sipped at it. The brunette was gazing out the window, not paying any attention to the chaos around her.

Anita couldn’t help a sort of admiration for the girl, she’d kept her cool through the entire mess, well mostly, after the initial shock. She hadn’t called her a monster, hadn’t raised her hand in anger when Anita messed up. In fact she’d been angry for her after learning about the Keeper’s mistreatment. Human decency, Anita never would have thought it was possible but here she was, this complete stranger, brought to rage by the abuse of a different species, an experiment made as a tool, a weapon.

Anita didn’t hesitate any longer, walking briskly over to the booth and sliding in across from the girl. Meriam jumped at her appearance but smiled gently. “Food will be here in a minute,” she said, taking another sip of her coffee. Suddenly frowning Meriam glanced between Anita and the coffee, “Do you want one? I didn’t know what you would want to drink so I just got whatever.”

Anita shook her head, appreciating the gesture but recoiling at the scent of the drink. “No, thank you.”

“Are you sure? It’s good, it’ll help you stay awake too,” Meriam pressed.

“I’m okay,” Anita waved her hand, “I’m used to being up early.” That brought back her frown and Anita scrambled to stop the look. “It’s not a big deal really, if we waited any longer the Herects and...” she trailed off at the look on her face. The anger had returned to her gaze and it was Anita’s turn to frown.

“That’s not right,” Meriam growled and Anita reached over, grabbing her wrist in her hands.

“It’s fine really.” Anita shook her head, confused by her behaviour.

“It’s really not...” Meriam sighed but she was cut off by the arrival of their food.

What a strange human indeed.