Chapter 56
The Excursion
(Darcy Renolds)
Something was off about Misha.
Not that Darcy was staring at her constantly, wondering why she was the only one that didn’t seem to be super excited about meeting pop sensation Hasty. No, that wasn’t it at all, instead it was just her being curious about a friend who seemed to be having a bit of an off day.
It all started with a nosebleed of all things.
“You okay?” Darcy found herself asking for what had to be the millionth time.
Misha for her part just held the bloody rag to her nose and nodded. Why Misha of all people had a nosebleed was beyond anyone’s comprehension. They just started right after everyone agreed to an all expenses paid shopping spree, followed by a grand spa visit.
Then almost as if Misha had one of those weird fetishes about seeing Hasty exposed in the spa, she got a nosebleed. Yet, for her part she just seemed to take it all in style.
“Are your allergies normally this bad?” Ms. Delaney asked, concern etched deeply in her voice.
Misha just paused for her part and then eventually shook her head. She had given up trying to talk through both a pinched nose and a bloody handkerchief.
“You sure you still want to go out?” Hasty asked.
Misha just looked first at Jasmine, then let her eyes set on Darcy causing Darcy’s heart to flutter slightly at the intense stare. Then seeing something in Darcy’s reaction, she seemed to pause herself and then nod.
Hasty for her part just looked at the trio, and then seemed to come to her own conclusion.
“Okay, well let’s go have some fun then.” Hasty exclaimed as she led the group out.
Jasmine and Darcy led the procession, forming a form of superfan buffer between Misha and Hasty. While Darcy felt somewhat awkward at the position, she now found herself in, she couldn’t help but want to be close to her idol. I mean this was the dream after all, being here next to Hasty.
Then just when she almost thought her enthusiasm was dying down or about to end entirely all it took was one sympathetic look at Jasmine. Their eyes would meet, and she would see the fire in Jasmine’s eyes and boom once again that childish euphoria was once again ignited in her, and she was set to a stream of steady giggles and an insane smile plastered on her lips. She knew it was wrong and childish, but at the same time she ultimately knew this for what it was, a once in a lifetime event that would never be replicated again.
Only once the limousine finally made it to its final destination did Darcy realize that Misha’s nose had stopped bleeding. She still held the damp red rag in her hand, ready to wipe away any future streams, but fortunately everything seemed to be over.
At least, Darcy hoped it was over, as that was hard to stomach.
“You better?” Darcy asked.
Misha for her part just nodded her head cautiously, as if worried that the sudden shaking might cause more red liquid to drip. Fortunately, nothing happened, though for a moment, at least according to Misha’s face that didn’t seem to always be the case.
“Oh thank God,” Jasmine said, finally turning to watch Misha, though it was clear that for someone who was as physical as Jasmine was. Where she played a contact sport like Basketball and everything, Darcy came to understand one thing about the girl, she was squeamish when it came to seeing blood.
This theory was further proved when Jasmine first tentatively looked to Misha, having had her back to Misha the entire time. Then once her nosebleed stopped, she first glanced out to make sure what Darcy said was true. Then once it was proven to be true, that is when she visibly deflated like a balloon that had half its air released. Only to relax turn to face Darcy head on, which allowed her to see Misha sitting at the back. Which lasted all of five seconds, before her eyes scanned down to see the bright red handkerchief in Misha’s hands, which then caused the big girl to turn and face the front again as all the color drained from her face.
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“You don’t like blood?” Darcy found herself asking the obvious question.
Jasmine for her part just stared straight forward and shook her head as she answered, “no.”
“Well that’s good, because we are here.” Hasty said, cutting in and informing everyone that they had finally made their destination.
With that, the vehicle parked, and Darcy saw no less than five people get out of other vehicles step through traffic and around the limousine, before creating space from the vehicle and the crowd of gawkers who started coming near the limousine that seemed to appear out of nowhere.
“All we have to do is wait for the all clear.” Hasty said, turning her head to the side as she too looked out the window.
With everyone’s attention faced outside, Darcy was the only one who saw the slight twitch in Misha’s face.
Seeing Misha scrunch up her face, Darcy instantly turned to face the girl and found herself asking. “Are you okay?”
With this a myriad of questions came to mind, was she afraid of strangers? Logically she knew that the girl did seem to shy away from large crowds of people, so was this an issue? If this was an issue and she wanted to stay back should Darcy stay with her? Or was she about to get another nosebleed, where etiquette would dictate that she stay with her friend, especially if she wanted to ever progress this relationship further. Then thinking of this scenario she almost wished that Misha would stay back, if only for the fact that she could gain sympathy points with the amazing red head.
“Yeah. I’m fine.” Misha said, but then rather than looking to the right, like everyone else she instead turned her head to the left and seemed to look directly at someone.
Darcy seeing her face suddenly get serious, couldn’t help but wonder what was happening.
Seeing her like this, Darcy decided that this was her chance. Swoop in, get the sympathy points for being a friend who would stay back with her, if needed. Then convince her to go and have fun, a win-win scenario.
At least that was the plan, so sliding over the leather seats, she soon found herself by Misha’s side, and attempted to grab her hand, only to find that the right hand was the one that held the bloody rag in it and quickly decided to just place her hand on Misha’s wrist. Not as intimate of a gesture as she had wanted, but she was not touching that hazmat cloth at all.
Placing her hand reassuringly on Misha’s wrist, she began to speak.
“We don’t have to go if you don’t…” was as far as Darcy got, before Misha quickly moved forward and cupping her rag-free hand against her ear began to speak.
“One of the security detail has been compromised.” Misha whispered, her words sending chills down Darcy’s spine from how intimate the gesture was.
With that a slight shiver went down her spine at the touch and the way the words caressed her ear. Then finally her mind made sense of the words that were being spoken.
Staggering back, Darcy stared at Misha and exclaimed loudly, “WHAT?”
“Shh!” Misha hissed, pulling up her right hand with a finger extended, only to stop herself once she realized she was close to pressing her blood covered rag against Darcy’s face.
Darcy too stared at the bloody rag covered hand like it was a cobra raising its head to strike.
Then before anyone could do anything, Misha lowered her right hand, draping it over her lap as she continued.
“Look, over there.” Misha said, pointing off to the right, where another car that had been filled with armed escorts sat. Darcy for her part turned but failed to see anything other than a crowd of people swarming and getting in the way of the security detail vehicle and the limousine.
Clink, clunk.
The sound of the metal door opening echoed in the limousine at that moment.
“All right, time to go and pamper ourselves.” Hasty said, as she was one of the first to leave. Followed by Jasmine.
Darcy looked at Misha for a moment who was still just staring off in the opposite direction.
“You’re coming right?” Darcy asked.
The words seemed to pull Misha from whatever she was dealing with as she just nodded, and then proceeded to follow Darcy out of the vehicle.
As she got out, Misha found Ms. Delaney the person who had originally given her the now blood soaked rag that looked to be more than useless. That is when Misha held up the used article with a somewhat questioning look on her face.
At that Ms. Delaney just raised her eyebrows in a I don’t want any of that type of gesture, before having a eureka moment where she reached into her large bag she carried. Found something that looked like it held food in it. At which point she emptied out the contents into her bag and pulled out a plastic bag that she opened and held at arms length.
Misha seeing the gesture for what it was placed her used rag inside the plastic bag, at which point Ms. Delaney promptly sealed the bag and then was about to walk over to a nearby trashcan, when a guard team member saw the act and proceeded to take the bag from Ms. Delaney and urged the three of them to continue on their way.
With that gentle reminder, Ms. Delaney placed her hand on Misha’s back to guide her, while Darcy pulled up on Misha’s side. With that the three began to move as one down the entrance while Ms. Delaney rummaged through her bag and then seemed pleased to find a packet of wet wipes, which she then handed to Misha.
Misha nodded thankfully and began using the wipes on both her face and hands, removing any lingering residue of dried blood from her. Before balling the used wet wipes tightly in her hand she moved in close and spoke to Ms. Delaney.
As she spoke Ms. Delaney stopped, and then stared first at Misha, and then looked back in the direction that Misha had been looking for the entire time. At that, a look of confusion and rage filled her face as for a moment Darcy could swear that she saw a flash of lightning rage across the normally polite and courteous woman’s face.
Then there was a slight tension as electricity seemed to build up around the normally composed woman.
Darcy felt the thrum of electricity and could smell the crisp sweet smell of ozone in the air as things seemed to escalate quickly.
Zap.
There was the faintest pulse of electricity coming from Ms. Delaney, at first Darcy wanted to chalk the whole thing up to not using dryer sheets, but there was clearly something more to what was going on here.
Overhead the sky seemed to react as thick dark clouds sparkling with mischief began to thrum and pulse in the sky. Turning the slightly overcast day into complete darkness, at least as dark as the day could get at roughly two PM.
Then Darcy watched in horror as everything she thought she knew about the world was suddenly turned on its head.
THUNDERCLAP!
And the world went ever bright for a moment as a bolt of lightning raced across the sky, and seemed like it would crash down directly into the trio.
Ms. Delaney looked shocked, as if she like Darcy knew they were both going to die at that very moment.
However, standing amongst them was Misha who seemed to stand tall as she held up her outstretched hand at the bolt.
Darcy could only watch on in horror as the massive bolt crashed into Misha. Being so close, Darcy could feel the power of the bolt. A bolt that was so intense that even with her eyes closed she could see the flash of the bolt landing.
Then pausing for what felt like an exceptionally long time Darcy could only pause as she waited for the inevitable. She waited for the force of the bolt to crash down, to throw her back violently, then she waited for her friend to cry out in pain.
However none of that happened, instead what she saw when she opened her eyes only left her with a sense of awe and confusion.
“What?” Was all she could say, it was the only word that seemed to accurately describe the scene before her. A scene that even her overactive mind could not fully process at the moment.