Mutt can't read? They were so small when it happened, of course, but... She'll read it out for him, of course. If Mom or Dad notices, will they even react? "Um. 'To match the other one, use it wisely, guard those close to your heart, you have much to live up to. Be still, silent, secret, make every time you draw it count.'" The last part makes her grimace as she says it- are they going to need knives? "I guess you probably know what that means."
Mutt shrugs. "I need to use knives a lot. This one might be special, but it's okay. I have other knives I can use."
Arie shudders. How dangerous was that place? "You won't need them as much here," she says, hoping that's true.
With everything that's happened, it's this, the obvious trauma response, that is finally too much for Arie. She drops the note and stumbles blindly toward the front door. She needs air. She needs good clean air and for her skin to stop crawling and she needs OUT
Nul shakes his head as if to dislodge the thoughts stuck in it, and runs to the door to pull it open for Arie.
Vaguely, she can see that he's there, but the idea that she might do or say anything about that completely fails to form. There's just a way through, thank god there's a way through, and she keeps moving and she barely notices when her bare feet sink into fresh Christmas snow.
"Arie?" Ethan looks over in alarm from where he stands with mom and dad... They smile. "It's going to be fine, Ethan. Let her breathe." Their voices come out in perfect sync. Arie, the bottle is frantically thrumming along with your heartbeat, had sped further with Mutt's voice, with the words of 'make every time you draw it count', with the insistence of needing his knives.
With the bottle hanging under her nightshirt, right in the middle of her chest, it's not easy telling it apart from her own heartbeat. One more reason to getoutgetoutgetout and Arie's halfway across the front yard before her skin does stop crawling and she can feel the prickling cold instead. It's enough of an improvement that the possibility that she could turn back finally crosses her mind. Only the possibility, and it's not an appealing one. There's only one person left that she knows, and she'll only hurt Ethan too. She keeps going.
Mutt drops to their knees, running their thumb over and over the spine of their knife. It's okay, it's okay...
Arie, your feet carry you through the woods, and you don't even feel the cold. All you feel is the thrumming hummingbird flutter of your heartbeat and the vial, a spot of warmth above your heart... encouraging you to get more space between you and your ... your mutt.
She hears the voice, though she doesn't process what it's saying. It's a voice she should be happy to hear except that it's been wrong for eleven years and it's even wronger now. If she doesn't seem to react it's only because, now that her bare feet are finding the rocks and pinecones buried under the snow, she can't really speed up the way she wants to.
"Arie!" Shit! "You're gonna hurt yourself! Arie!" He's barefoot, too, and acutely aware of the cold creeping into him. "Arie!"
The snow begins to fall as the two of you race through the woods, snow crunching under cold, cold toes, so cold that soon enough you can't quite feel them. The smell of pine is strong in your noses, fresh air and the bright light of a new dawn slowly painting the white expanse like a warm, beautiful watercolour... ... You don't realize that there's a house buried in the snow until you crash through a drift of snow on the edge of the woods and through the roof.
...Ow. The fall doesn't quite jolt Arie back into any kind of normal frame of mind, but it does leave her with nowhere obvious to go. She scrambles back to her feet as best she can, and stares around with wide eyes at her new surroundings.
Nul doesn't manage to slow himself soon enough to avoid crashing right after Arie does. He sits up slowly, watching to make sure she doesn't run again.
