11.

Time continues passing just as it always has. Majella is soon seventeen and not much more than being three months away from turning eighteen. She has received her invitation for a ball, perhaps the ball she has already briefly been too. She is to be a guest of particular importance, to join that group of eight others perhaps, all of whom turn eighteen in the run up to an event of revelation.

She feels the pull of this Ball. It is to be of great importance, an importance she is only aware of to some degree. If answers are to come than they may just do so at this function.

Majella herself has come to be much stronger since her bus journey. She has more a grasp on her own darkness than she has ever before, there is more power, more control over her ability. She has had many moments, some she has walked away from, some she sat back and watched and some she has interfered positively with. Despite her own growth she keeps things simple at home, when she is home that is.

There was a nervousness which comes as part of her awareness, a nervousness she has gotten over though it was there for a time after her return to her family.

***

No return visit to that shelter followed during the couple of weeks after the brief stay Majella had, in fact there was no follow up at all. Majella may have been returned to family though Florence had that need to know. A need to know was never so strong in others who have departed the shelter; indeed, follow up is routine and many do receive some sort of follow up attention. For Majella nothing had been organized however Florence had Majella on her mind so much that she felt it more than necessary to make follow up a priority.

Of course, for many who do come to the shelter in need there are follow on plans made wherever possible for them when they do move on. With the circumstances surrounding Majella no such follow-on plans were made. The plus however and the reasoning in that too was that she was with family and surely all will be fine for her from here on in no matter what records may or may not exist.

Still Florence found it difficult not to think of that girl. Everyone is special but why this girl in particular? Two short weeks it is that has gone by and even with that being what it is perhaps a short unannounced visit could be made.

At the shelter too, before the Smith family left, Majella's sister Lisa left a contact address partly to show that they had somewhere to go and partly for if contact would be needed to be made if for whatever reason such a thing would become necessary. Florence arrived at the address full of nervous energy, why she should feel this way she had no idea. She had visited many a former shelter guest, this is nothing new ... still. Perhaps arriving because of feeling and out of curiosity rather than with an actual reason provided some cause as to why she feels as she does.

A similar kind of energy within the walls of the Smith home was also about to be felt. When the knock to the door came, Majella jumped. She, her father and her sister were all home at this moment though Majella was the closest to the front door and by quite the margin too. In fact, Tom and Lisa were in different rooms away from Majella.

Who is it that is calling in this moment? What could they want? Is someone about to make another attempt to take her? These questions were a cause of fear for Majella especially with what occurred on the bus the first day Majella had been brought to this home.

Despite having yet to reintegrate into the world as it is outside that facility in which she spent years within, Majella would rather attend to the knock at the door than go take her father and sister away from their current locations especially if the possibility of a need for aid may not exist.

Slowly but surely Majella moved to the door. If it were another visit from Darkness himself then there would be no need for a knock at a door, he would simply do whatever it is he wants to do. This in itself gives Majella a cause to calm herself. The calm would not last. As soon as she reached for the door, even before she would make contact with it, she would he hit by a number of flashes. These flashes would be unlike anything she has ever experienced before including the pain of others which Darkness had passed through her.

In the current flash of imagery there is darkness, panic, blood and death, so much blood, all over what she sees. As it is, she has had many a vision before, visions of people meeting an end but nothing as distorted or as violent as this. Yeah, even the visions Darkness had sent her way were unlike what she is experiencing now.

There had been nothing personal in what Darkness had shown her, this right now feels as much an attack on herself as it is on someone else. The visions, being as brief as they are, are also out of sync. She cannot decipher them, and they come to her as such a jolt that it knocks her to the ground.

Just as she was about to fall, Majella managed to reach out to twist and unlock the door. On the outside of the door Florence heard a shriek followed by a thud and as she heard this, she notice the door move ever so slightly. Wondering as to if aid might be required beyond the door Florence pushes it open ever so slightly and ever so slowly. In this too Majella fears some sort of attack or something of the likes is imminent.

It's not long before Majella and Florence see one another and indeed Florence wants to be of aid. Aiding others is in her nature.

'Are you alright?' Florence asks stretching out a hand to help Majella up off the ground.

'You ...' Majella simply says. 'It's you ...' the newest visions are making sense now.

'Ah, hi I am Florence ... from the shelter for ladies ...'

'I know who you are, I remember', Majella begins to get up. Maybe she has some sort of pre warning system within somewhere for it is more apparent now the reason for her to have felt fear. 'He is going to kill you and there is nothing we can do about it.'

'Excuse me?'

'Darkness, he will kill you. If one attempt fails, he will keep on trying until he is successful ... but I feel he ... he may fail but ... I can't be sure.'

Florence is invited in and a very necessary conversation is had. Just as Florence is entering the Smith family home, a boy passes boy outside, a boy approximately the same age as Majella. Majella catches a glimpse of him, he has been near before. She moves to go outside to look a little more clearly at this fellow but by the time she steps outside he is gone.

There is much to weigh on Majella's mind. What had been said to her in her brief visiting moment to a Ball yet to come. Save the boxer and burn the big man in white two moments when they come may have quite the impact. A time to interact in one action will soon come; perhaps one will lead onto the other.