Welcome to Amityville...
The bed beneath her was unfamiliar, all smooth edges and oddly uniform padding - no lumps, no bits of straw poking her in the ribs. It would almost have been wonderful if it hadn't simultaneously been so wrong. Anna breathed in the tang of industrial cleaner rather than the soft warmth of herbs and hay, and her heart ached again. She was in her new room at Amityville Academy, and no amount of trying to imagine herself home would actually take her there.
< You are distressed. >
She shut her eyes more tightly and shoved her face into the mattress, trying to ignore the voice in her mind. Erasmus hadn't talked like that; his words had been all soft squeaking and warm-fuzz, not distant like Shibey.
Erasmus... She felt the telltale prickle of tears behind her eyelids again. There had been no malice in Shibey's actions that day, no hatred or hunger. The Incubator had simply devoured her little mouse-familiar whole and taken his place inside her mind and within her FEAR.
< You wished for power. >
"I know, I know, please be quiet," she said, voice strangled and muffled against the mattress. "You only did what I asked for. I know, I... just please be quiet right now..." Anna forcibly choked the incoming sob by fumbling her pillow up over her head. She missed home, she missed Papa and Mama, she missed Erasmus-
She felt the bed shift as Shibey jumped up next to her; a moment later warm fur curled against her side. She tensed slightly, waiting to hear his voice in her head, but true to her request the Incubator did not speak. He merely leaned against her, the faint thrum of his breath and heartbeat touching her own as she shook.
After a few minutes, the tears were gone again, the mattress and pillow damp. Not for the first time, and almost certainly not the last. Slowly, Anna pushed the pillow away and pushed herself up with both hands, shifting to sit on the edge of her bed. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Shibey move, the Incubator bounding over the bed and pausing at the nightstand before returning to her side, a tissue held in his mouth. "Th-thank you," she sniffled, accepting the tissue and putting it to good use.
< You are mine to care for, > Shibey said, simply, and sat down next to her once more, his tail waving lazily behind him.
She did not reach out to stroke him, as she often patted Erasmus. Instead, she blew her nose again and surveyed their new 'home' through red-rimmed eyes. Small, sterile... serviceable. Not home, no. Absolutely not.
But it would have to do.
