The One (Closed)

[Simone Giles]

Another day in the life of Simone Giles. Another day stuck in the same old boring routine of her little empty life that she had lead for the past twenty three years of her life. For the past two years she had been the carer of her grandmother, who brought Simone up since she was six. Life had been hard for the pair, especially since now the only incoming wage was whatever Simone earned from Psychic readings for people in her small town in Cornwall. The only problem with that was her income was never stable, and one week she could get nothing, whereas the next she could get £60 a day. Not only did she have to provide warmth and shelter for her and her grandmother, but she needed to keep food on the table and take constant care over her. It was hard work, and many times Simone had broken down in tears over worries of where the next meal was going to come from, even if it was going to come. She would get a full-time job, but nobody would be able to look after her. The situation she was in, was truly a pickle. She was damned if she did and damned if she didn’t.

Flashing images of a dark haired girl hanging off of a roof clouded her mind. She could sense panic and fear coming from her, and the vision was as clear as day. Other were around her, but what they were she was unsure. Catching a glimpse of what the girl could see, through her eyes, the girl looked down, and was pray to what looked like overgrown dogs. This was not the first time she had seen them, recently they had been becoming more and more frequent of these images of rabid pack animals seamlessly torturing humans and ripping many limb from limb. Horrendous nightmares filled with blood and the most violent, disturbing things one could witness without even being at the scene of the crime. Yet they did not faze Mona, for she had become so used to the visions she could simply shake them off once she woke. However, they didn’t just stop there. Mona had been able to control her power, only just, but she had. There was a while when she was in her late teens where she was a true outcast and the power began to overwhelm her mind, however she had come back from the depths on which she had sunk and raised herself out of the madness in which she was creating. For months she had locked herself in her room and her mind was bombarded with messages, images and whispers of peoples voices of what she couldn’t decipher. None of it made any sense to her and it started to send her mad. None of that mattered now, all that mattered was her caring for her grandma, and getting as much money as possible.

Jumping in a start, she sat bolt upright in bed, hair stuck to her forehead wringing in sweat. She could hear her Grandma moaning in pain. Cringing at the thought of her in anymore pain, she wiped her forehead free of sweat and quickly escaped the tangle of her bed sheets.

“Nana, it’s alright, It’s alright. Here look, here’s your tablets. Here’s your water” she said, placing her delicate hand onto her grandmother’s. She was getting worse by the day, and spending so much time with her, Simone could see her worsening by the hour. It was heartbreaking, but the doctors could do no more. Now her Grandma was content for now, Mona made her way to the kitchen. The bungalow was small and it was only a few steps for her to reach her destination. It was the same routine every morning. Her grandma would wake her up by moaning, they’d have the same talk in the morning, and Mona would promptly go to the kitchen and make her grandma a cup of tea and prepare a small bowl of cereal flakes and smother them in milk so they became very mushy. Filling the kettle, she heard a rapping at the kitchen door. Frowning, she didn’t know who it would be at the time. Finishing up filling the kettle, she put it on the stove to begin to boil before wiping her hand on her nightie and reaching to unlock the door. Opening the door slightly, she looked up at the figure.

“Yes? Can I help you?”

[Deryn Logan]

This mission was an extreamly well thought out one by the Government and he had to be extreamly careful as the woman he was focusing on was not just any woman. Deryn had been given the bungalow opposite her by the Government. It was a simple place, nothing like his home back in Manchester. It had two rooms, one he kept locked at all times, the one with his Government Equipment in, he knew as he got closer to Simone it was likely she would be around here at some point and he could not risk her going in that room. He had been unpacking, making it appear for the past two days as though he had just moved in, and watching her carefully, trying to get to know her, but soon this became apparent that it wasnt enough and in these two days he had not heard anything from Harold so he was silent all around and only has his basic impulses to judge upon. Scribbling down the last few things he had learnt about her, how every morning she woke up to the screams of her ill grandmother, she would talk to her for a moment then go in the kitchen to make her some cereal and a tea. She would then await the carer and head off to work. She repeated this pattern it seemed and he could find out no more now by just sitting back and watching her. It seemed she didnt have a man in her life so that made part of his job easier for him. At least he wouldnt have to try to break of a happy relationship.

Rubbing the back of his neck, his eyes scanned the room, pictures of her and her day to day life hung their, followed by little post it notes and side notes Deryn had compiled. Video images of her too lined the bookshelves and of course the file he already had on her from headquarters. In two days he had learnt quite a bit about her, but now he had to take it upto the next step. Going out of this room, locking it behind him and walking down the hall to the kitchen he made himself a cup of coffee and began to devise a plan on how to get closer to her. He read the morning newspaper and looked out the window, bright as ever. It usually was this time of year in Cornwall. Sighing, he stood up, mail had come through the door. He hoped it was orders, but it wasnt. It wasnt even for Deryn. It was the wrong address but addressed to Simone Giles, by the looks of it it was from a Hopsital somewhere. Deciding this gave him the perfect reason to go round, he picked up his jacket and headed out of the door.

He knew the Government would be tracking his movements somehow, and even if he slept with her or something to that degree, they would know. Though they did not care what he did, as long as he got close to her and got her trust. They knew it would take him a while and in the meantime they were keeping her off the Radar from the Lycans and Malkavians. The Vampires werent looking into this as they had Eve, but the Government knew exactly where Eve was. This had been included in the file as Deryn had needed the full background of both Seers to know what he was dealing with. "Morning!" Deryn said brightly to a neighbour he had met yesterday, "Good morning Mr Logan, Brilliant Day!" Deryn smiled, "Yes indeed it is. Silly postman delivered some womans post to me, Simone Giles." He paused an d flashed the letter, "Know where she lives?" Deryn already knew but he needed someone to think he didnt, "Of course. Just there number seven" Deryn bowed, "Thankyou!"

Walking over to the door, he knew she would be in the kitchen as he rapped lightly on the door and waited. As she answered he beheld the sight, she was even more pretty than the pictures said she was. "Well," Deryn said pulling out a letter, "Someone delivered this to me, must have thought I looked like a female." He laughed and smiled, "Mr Faunton over there told me you live here, that is... If you are Simone?" He gave her a cheerful smile, his browny grey eyes sparkling slightly in the sunlight as he handed over the letter. "Im Deryn, moved in the other day just across the street."

[Simone Giles]

As soon as Simone woke up to her grandmother’s shouts, normally she forgot about the dreams she had, but this one seemed to stick in her head for some reason. Images of the girl clinging on for dear life to the side of a building, and those creatures waiting below for their prize to fall still clouded her mind. It was all rather morbid as the creatures just kept snapping their jaws trying to reach her. The poor girl was so frightened and now Simone didn’t know what happened to her because of her grandmother. It was times like this when she felt guilty, knowing she could help her in some way, but not being able to. Her concentration stream had been broken by the cries of her ill grandmother. It wasn’t long now until Simone would wake up by herself and not by her grandmothers wails and she was dreading that day of her death. She had visions of it in her dreams every so often and the thought of her dying was unbearable. She knew then that she would be all alone but at least her Grandmother wouldn’t be suffering anymore. It was painful to watch her go through it every day.

Pushing her hair back, she pulled out two cups for the tea from the old cupboard and chucked in teabags and sugar. Pulling out the milk on the way to the door, she looked at the curtain on the door window and didn’t know anyone who would be at the house for her at this time. Come to think of it, she didn’t know anyone who would come over to the house at all. She was a weirdo and not many people dared to befriend her, only a couple of the neighbours and the people she did psychic readings for. It was a lonely life but Simone was always too busy to really get down about it. The figure was definitely a man’s, if not it was a very butch woman. Frowning a little she unlocked the door and took off the chain. Pulling the door back she revealed a man with some post in his hand. He was new, or she would of seen him by now.

As he spoke, what he said made her laugh, although unintentionally. It was rare that she laughed these days as she had nothing to laugh about. Nodding her head slightly she opened the door a little wider.
“Yes I’m Simone” she asked gently. Poking her head out of the backdoor, she saw Mr Faunton and smiled while giving him a wave. “Good Morning Mr Faunton, Nice day out” she said before returning back to her original position. Looking back at Deryn she gave a small smile that tugged at her mouth. The sun was out and it was going to be a hot day today. As the kettle whistled she heard her grandmother wailing again. Humming and awing she looked at the kettle, then to Deryn then to the direction of her grandmother.
“Urm, excuse me i’m going to have to see to her, she’s very ill” she said before turning around and leaving the door wide open.
“Feel free to come in and i’ll make you a drink in a moment” she said, jogging out of the kitchen picking up the soggy cereal as she went. It wasn’t a very nice welcome to the neighbourhood for him, being left on the doorstep on a neighbour’s house, but her grandmother came first over anything else at all. Stroking her grandmother’s head, she placed the cereal in front of her and gave her the spoon. “Hush Now Grandma, it’s alright, your tea will be ready in a moment and then you can have the rest of your tablets” she said quietly. Her grandmother soon quietened and happily sat watching television again. Sighing, Simone quickly went into her bedroom and changed out of her nightie into some light jeans and a white vest top. Smoothing it down, she walked back into the kitchen.

“Sorry about that, would you like tea?” she asked walking back over to the kitchen counter.

[Deryn Logan]

Well making her laugh was a good start, he managed that one easy enough. Though the rest of this mission wouldnt be quite as easy, though if Deryn played his cards right he would have something decent to write in his end of week report rather than, Watched, Had Tea with. No trust yet. He was sure Harold would come zipping down here and pull him out straight away. He had heard the rumours of the some of the neighbours, some warned him to stay away from Simone. Himself and Simone were the only young people in this part of the Neighbourhood and one of the old women had told him to find himself a nice city girl, however his sights had been on Simone before he even got here.

"Thats alright," Deryn said, "Family before fun an' all that"

He stepped through the door, looking out for a moment, the old lady who had warned him against her was shaking her head. Deryn gave a little shrug as if to say, You peaked my interest. He went into the kitchen and stood there as though he felt like a plum or something, acting as though he didnt quite know what to do with himself as she tended to her grandmother. He was looking at the pictures that were on a shelf and picking one up he realised it must have been Simone as a child. Smiling to himself he placed it back as though it had never been moved, yet his eyes were still scaning the pictures, trying to find anything that would tell him more about her. Though his concentration was broke as Simone came back in the kitchen and he smiled.

"I dont really drink tea," Deryn laughed and put his hand on the back of his head, "It never was something I learnt to like. Maybe it's the Scot in me but I love my Malt"

A random and useless fact about himself. Though even Deryn wouldnt drink Malt Whiskey at this time of the morning it was just wrong on many accounts. He turned back to look at the pictures, he knew who everyone in them was due to his intense briefing and the files. Everyone she had ever known, Deryn knew about. Everywhere she had ever worked, Deryn knew about. He was able to keep his mind closed around her so she wouldnt be able to try poking around in there, and he could choose what she could, and couldnt see. Thankyou Harold Veldon!

"Has your grandmother seen a doctor yet?" Deryn asked as he peeked through into the living area where she was sat content. Deryn had some medical expertise, you had to in his line of work. That was his cover story, he worked in Scotland in the Scottish General and in Hope Hospital in Salford. If she was to ask of his profession, he was to say he was a travelling doctor as he had techically passed his Medical exam it should be an easy lie to carry off. It was strange having to start out a friendship on a basis of lies. Though by now Deryn was more than used to it.

[Simone Giles]

Normally Simone could sense how a person was in themselves, whether they were good or bad, or had other interests at heart. Usually it just came to her as soon as she set eyes upon them, and she would easily know a whole bunch of information about the person, but Deryn was a tricky one. It seemed he wasn’t giving off very much and she could barely read him. She got the odd flash of images, mainly just a quick conversation it seemed he just had with the neighbour, but the name Kat wandered. She was a bit sceptical as to why he wasn’t easy to read, even the sceptics were like open book. Kat. Hmm. She knew no Kat on the street, so he must of just let it slip. A phonecall from her that was insignificant. Frowning a little, she soon changed her expression back to normal. His next answer shocked her, and she turned back to him, eyes bulging slightly, eyebrows raised.

“You don’t like tea? Well I’m afraid we don’t have much else” she said a little in shame and disappointment. She bit her lip for a moment in thought. “Coffee perhaps?” she suggested, pointing to the coffee jar sat in the corner.
“Thanks for dropping off the letter by the way. If it were in the hands of some others on the street I would never have received it. They can be so spiteful sometimes” she claimed, looking down into the cup jangling the teaspoon in it.

Kat. She could not get that name out of her head, but when she looked back at Deryn, she could not decipher any more information from him. Strange. She began to think why has he been so unreadable? Was he too a seer? Maybe he was, maybe he wasn’t, or maybe he just had the power to stop thoughts being extracted from his mind. Either way, it wasn’t really good news for Simone. Turning around, she looked into the living room to see her Grandmother smiling slightly at the television. Poor thing, being ill as well as having dementia. She had no idea who her own Granddaughter was, Simone. The only one who ever looked after her, and for all the years her grandmother had done the same for her. It seemed even thought her grandmother was here, Simone was still alone. She didn’t know what she would do when her Grandmother wasn’t here, she had nobody to turn to.

A doctor?

“Of course she’s seen a doctor, do you think I like to keep her cooped up in here like this? It’s no life for her! Do you think i’m some sort of sadist?” she protested, although her voice was still quiet, she was inwardly angry. How could he think anybody would do that to someone in their own family. The thought disgusted her, and she turned away from him for a moment and clung onto the kitchen worktop. Taking in a deep breath, she poured the water into the two cups and finished off the cup for her grandmother before walking silently without a word to Deryn to give her the tea. Walking back, she didn’t look at Deryn until she reached her cup and returned to her position of clinging onto the worktop. For a moment she stood arms either side of the cup, and just stared into the brown water.

Why did she not see it before? He was just another one of them, a gawker, getting a cheap thrill of looking at a weirdo.
“What are you really here for Deryn?” she asked in a low voice before turning her head to look at him.

[Deryn Logan]

He knew it was dangerous to not let her see some of his memories, whether they be real or false it didnt matter, Harold had told him to throw memories out to her, if he was completely unreadable she would never trust him and he knew he wouldnt. He could feel her in the back of his mind and it was slightly un-nerving. Though Harold had said he would be able to, a side effect of the Veil but a good one so he knew when to throw her memories. He let out the phonecall off Kat, the time when he was bathing in the swimming pool when he was eight and his mother hugging him. That should tide her over for a while. She was being careful and he didnt blame her, but he had to make her think that she didnt have to be around her. When in truth Deryn right now was the biggest threat to her.

"Well I am Scottish," He laughed, "Part Irish too so it is understandable the fact I do not like certain things, though a coffee would be nice." Pleasantries were always part of the job unless you were facing a Vampire, Lycan or Malkavian, then the pleasantries were not so important. To many people, socialising wasnt working, but in Deryn's job it was. He had to do many things, and he got to see things many people did not. Deryn loved his job and wouldnt change it for the world. "There have been a few who told me to stay away from you," He shrugged, sipping the coffee that he held now in his hands. "Though when people tell me to do one thing I tend to do the opposite. Especially when people tell me to stay away from someone, it just peaks my curiosity as to why. Though you seem like an alright person to me, however first appearances can be decieving. Or so I am told." Deryn placed the cup down upon the side and looked at her, "That letter just gave me an excuse to come and see why everyone was so spent against me coming here. Mr Faunton seemed to be one of the only ones who actually thinks your an alright lass. Oh, no offence intended."

He scratched the underneath of his chin, seemingly unaware that she was looking at him, though he knew she was trying to figure out something else about him. All things come in good time. He wasnt bothered about her finding out certain things, though he didnt want her to find out his job. That would be distasterous. So he threw her out a memory of when he passed his medical exam and when he worked in Scottish General Hospital and Hope Hospital. Deryn was a good doctor, though it had been short lived as he left to join the army. Strange that, going from saving people to killing them. It wasnt what he had intended of course, he had planned to go to the army as a doctor but was soon placed as a soldier.

"Of course I do not!" Deryn bit back, though realising it wouldnt be a good first impression on her if the two began arguing. She had a short temper but he knew that already. Then her question about what he was really here for came out and Deryn sighed. "I am a Doctor," He told her, and sipped another bit of his coffee, "I was transferred down here from Hope Hospital in Salford. So my question came from being a Doctor and being concerned about someone who is clearly sick. Now if that is a crime then I am sorry to say this would not be the first time I have been guilty."

Now if she looked into Hope Hospital, thanks to the Government, it would say he was transferred from Scottish General down to Hope, and then from Hope to the Main City Hospital in Newquay so to Simone, his story was legitamate. He placed the cup down and looked at her. "As it appears I have both angered and upset you I wont take up any more of your time, I see I have intruded upon it for too long," He gave her a small, "Good day miss." Now if she let him leave or not was her choice.

[Simone Giles]

The name Kat still stuck in her mind, but more memories flooded at her in the blink of an eye and she had trouble catching them before she had realised what they were. Images of a young Deryn and what looked like his mother hugging him, and him in a swimming pool. As his mother hugged him, she could sense the high emotions around them, and the actual embrace slightly, as if Deryn himself had just begun hugging her. She could see every detail as if she was seeing it right in front of her, with her very own eyes. She could see clearly the shine of his mothers dark, chocolate brown hair, and her hazely eyes. She was beautiful, and her features were so fragile yet warm to behold. Her eyes were the same as her son’s, both full of warmth and compassion, and Deryn’s full of childish innocence. However, as the visions faded, she was face to face with the grown-up Deryn, and his eyes were empty of the innocence they once held, but now looked like they were full of secrets, thoughts, memories and stories untold. No innocence lay within them anymore, and Simone just took that as a sign that he had overcome hurdles in his life like most people, and realised life wasn’t a fairytale after all. She had once believed it to be one, until she was cast away and left behind.

There was a boy once, when she was developing her skills in her teenage years. She had grown close to him, and he to her. Mason was his name, and he was the most popular boy in school. Simone had been popular once, before people found out what she really was and then she was soon the outcast of the entire school and things went bad. She was the queen bee at school, the most beautiful girl there and the hardest to get. In truth, she was quite shy around boys, and not like the typical bitchy girls in other schools. She was always different, even if it was just her shyness. She began dating Mason, one of the most popular guys in school. Not because it was what she had to do, but because she liked him for him. It was beyond her how girls could date someone like the football captain just because it was the ‘in’ thing to do and the king and queen should obviously be together. Simone wasn’t one for meaningless things, or items for that matter. Her house was filled with memories of people who had once been faithful to her and who had been in her circle of trust. On her last year of school, the truth broke out. She told Mason the secret that had been eating away at her for years. She thought he would understand and embrace what she told him, and her gift, but he was disgusted in her and her ‘lies’. It was then he dumped her on the spot and soon the whole school heard wind of her dirty little secret. Her rank diminished and within days she was a nobody.

“Part Irish too? Well you’re certainly not boring are you? I’m born and bred in Cornwall, just a plain Jane” she smiled slightly. As he went on about the neighbours warning him of her, she sighed as she looked back to her tea and stirred it for a moment before looking back to him with an unimpressed look on her face, to the neighbours not to him.
“Yes, well. What can I say? They are probably right” she replied. It may be true that she seemed a little odd, but who wouldn’t when all people did was judge you instead of getting to know you. “No offence taken. Mr Faunton is an angel in disguise, a real sweetheart he is” she said.

As he bit back at her, she frowned and placed her hands upon her hips looking at him grudgingly before peering into the room her grandmother was to see if she was disturbed by them.
“Shush, i’ve only just got her settled down again!” she whispered harshly. She pulled at his sleeve and pulled him into the corner of the kitchen well away from her grandmothers prying ears. The last thing she wanted to do was upset her again.
Sighing slightly, she looked down as she leant against the worktop. For a moment, she just stared at her feet before letting out a small embarrassed giggle.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t of snapped, it’s just hard you know? I’ve tried everything to get her the best healthcare, but the doctors won’t do anything else”