I wasn’t quite finished with the story I was telling by the time 2025 ended and so decided to continue it until it reached an ending point. Then I will start a new one. Besides, I kind of want to see where Penelope ends up. And so we have…
Day 224: Was the little metal bit she was certain was a tracker causing her to be paranoid or did the pills have an extra purpose?
Was the little metal bit she was certain was a tracker causing her to be paranoid or did the pills have an extra purpose? She could easily see herself spiraling into a paranoid world where everyone was out to get her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
“I’m not taking the pills anymore so it isn’t a concern,” she told herself. Penelope opened her eyes. From now on, she would not be accepting food or drink or leaving food or drink un attended in Agent Michaelson’s presence.
“I guess I’ll be traveling with my own water bottle for a while.”
She picked up her things and returned to the house, locking the garden door behind her. While part of her wanted to practice with the plants some more, it was Agent Michaelson who brought them and she didn’t want to think about him anymore.
‘Besides, the healing took a lot out of me.’
Penelope realized that she did feel tired and still a bit thirsty. She also realized that while she was no longer sweating, her hair and clothes were damp.
‘I’ll have to keep the cast out of the water, but it should be easier to shower now,” she thought. Even though she showered that morning, she felt another one was warranted. “And I have to be less careful when dressing.”
Earlier clothing was chosen by which would jostle her arm less. Now even if the cast made her clumsy she could at least fasten buttons and pull zips with ease.
Even securing the plastic cover over the plaster was easier when she didn’t have to worry about pain. It wasn’t the best shower she ever had but when she was done, Penelope felt it was a great deal better than what she managed before.
Now clean, she returned to the kitchen, made herself a sandwich and poured a big glass of lemonade. She could still feel the tiredness from her efforts but with no pain, she wasn’t worried. ‘Still reading instead of working with plants might be a good thing.’
Penelope looked at the book Lenore brought her. It was another book on symbols. While it was something that interested her, at the moment Penelope was more interested in the strange dreams she had.
She ate her sandwich and thought about the ways she might go about finding out more information. ‘The lady at the lake would be a good source,’ she thought. She might not know the answer, but Penelope was certain she wasn’t going to lie to her.
‘But I have to be asleep for that,’ She reminded herself. Penelope thought about her library. A few days prior she asked a question and the books she needed nearly vibrated off the shelves. If the library had any information, she was certain it would be one way to find out. ‘I just have to figure out how to ask the question.’
She turned words over in her mind as she ate, trying to come up with the right phrasing. She thought about dreams but decided the word dreams might throw off the question. The scenes she witnessed didn’t feel like a dream. ‘And dreams rarely restart like they have been rewound to the beginning,’ Penelope thought as she finished her sandwich and took her plate back to the sink.
‘Memories,’ she decided. That might work better than dreams. The scenes felt like memories rather than dreams. “They just weren’t my memories.”
Still turning words over, Penelope went back into the library. She stared at the books. They were sitting innocuously on the shelves, yet when she cleared her throat she could almost feel them paying attention.
“I need to know about accessing a nexus of memories and lessons from others while asleep,” she said into the waiting quiet of the room. There was a soft rustling of paper as though the books were searching their own pages. She heard a soft thump and saw one thick older book was now protruding from the rest of the books on the shelf.
Ten til Midnight 