The next morning, Nalda was released after they poked around her to see if she genuinely didn't know anything about superpowers. It wasn't anything interesting, just a bunch of questions that Nalda answered with honesty.
Because to be fair, she barely knew anything and the information she got was from the letters and even that was limited. After giving it a bit of thought, Nalda assumed that there was probably a proper structure behind it because they never called superpowers, superpowers but gifts and curses.
That meant that there was some sort of classification and classification meant standards had been set and standards meant rules. Another reason why there probably were rules was because despite superpower existing, barely anyone knew. The rules were very strict too from the looks of it.
Nalda wanted to beg that there was a scale too but she had nothing to prove that theory with. For now she'd leave that though alone.
The moment she got out of the police station, she pulled out her phone and called her sister. Her sister answered after the second ring.
"Yes?" Mave's voice came through the speaker. It sounded like she just woke up.
"No good morning? And why did you sleep in? Don't you have work? Or did you already turn into a lazy bum?" Nalda was purposely being annoying first thing in the morning because she needed to fulfil her little sister duties.
Her sister hung up after a few seconds of silence. Nalda stared at the phone and shrugged.
It wasn't the first time it happened so she wasn't that surprised. She just called to announce that she was on her way home, Mave probably picked that up because there was no other reason why Nalda would call her on a Saturday.
Her sister probably expected Nalda to tell her where she was but she clearly hadn't experienced enough of Nalda's nonsense. All the more reason to expose her to more nonsense.
After that, Nalda decided to take the metro home because it was nearby and because it was a little too far to go by foot. In the end she was home in about twenty minutes.
She didn't walk into her home, no, she stormed inside to proudly announce she was home. When she didn't get any reactions she pulled out her next ultimate attention seeking move: making a ruckus with kitchen equipment.
She went into the kitchen, grabbed two pans and started hitting the back sides against each other.
Then she fell deep in thought.
'It's loud but… not loud enough.'
So Nalda continued looking for the best ruckus making kitchen equipment.
That was when she found the timer. It was Mave's worst enemy. It was so bad that her sister didn't even use it and just checked the time instead. At some point she even stopped checking the time because she claimed that she could just feel it when the food was finished.
Nalda thought that it didn't make sense but she didn't really care as long as she had food and as long as the house stayed upright.
Anyways, the timer should work perfectly alongside the two pans.
It was simple now, Nalda put the timer on to go off in ten seconds and put it in her pocket. After that she picked up the two pans and started moving towards her sister's room while singing off tune (horrible screeching).
Before the alarm could go off, Mave rushed out of her bedroom, took the timer out of Nalda's pocket and smashed it on the ground.
Nalda stared at the timer with saddened eyes. "Why did you do that? The poor thing is completely broken now, it was dad's favourite."
Mave didn't answer, she was quiet but when Nalda looked up she saw a glare on her face. Nalda was about to run away when her sister frowned.
"Your eyes are red and puffy." She said, the anger was still lingering in her tone but it was clear that she was trying to not sound angry. "What happened?"
Nalda froze for a second before she found an excuse. "I watched a sad movie yesterday. With my friend." She cringed a bit when she noticed how stiff she must've sounded.
Her big sister did not look convinced and just hummed. Luckily she didn't press and just let it be, instead she pointed at the timer. "You'll buy a new one before mom and dad come back." She said without hesitation.
Nalda was caught off guard but then immediately started to complain. "Hey! You're the one that broke it!"
Mave shrugged. "I wouldn't have broken it if you didn't plan on using it against me."
"You could've just turned it off! How did you even know I was using the timer?"
"A hunch."
Nalda sighed and looked at the pans in her hands. At least the pans didn't get scratched.
"Why are you sighing? Are you trying to become pessimistic?" Mave immediately started to nag Nalda.
"You're my example, sister. Of course, I'd be pessimistic." Nalda decided to hold her ground today.
"Is that so?" Mave suddenly smiled. "Then why don't I show you something truly despairing." She pulled her phone out of her pocket and took a picture of the broken timer. "What do you think will happen if dad sees this?"
Nalda broke out in cold sweat. "Okay, okay! I'll clean it up and buy a new one!"
"Good." Mave nodded and took the pans out of Nalda's hands. "I'll make us some eggs while you clean it up. Buy the new one after breakfast." She said in a commanding tone that left no room for arguments.
Nalda huffed and went to look for the dust pan and brush. It was easier to clean up the mess that way.
***
Nalda was sitting in her room diligently doing her homework. She wasn't exactly a top student or anything but she still got some decent results. She was fairly confident in her studying capabilities.
She was happily doing her homework because it gave her a distraction of everything that was happening. She hadn't seen the letters since yesterday and was starting to convince herself that everything was a dream. The nonsense she saw yesterday was probably just her overthinking.
'Right? There's no way superpowers exist. Who would shut up if they had the ability to fly or read minds or whatever? I sure as hell wouldn't shut up.'
Nalda was successfully convincing herself that she had hallucinated yesterday when the letters showed up again. This time, the letters in her course book where her homework question was, rearranged to form a different sentence.
She almost yelled and jumped away when she saw the letters moving.
'Go to sleep.'
"..." She stared at the letters for a while before she frowned. "Hey, warn me before you pop up like that, okay? And why would I listen to you?"
The letters disappeared and reappeared but bigger.
'Go to sleep.'
It somehow felt threatening so Nalda just looked away and decided to just listen to the letters. So far it hadn't actually harmed her but then again, not even a day had passed since she began seeing these letters.
She happily crawled in her soft bed and got all comfortable. Within seconds she actually fell asleep and found herself in the white void again.
Nalda felt any hope of a good nap disappear. "Wow, it's really trying to make me go bald or something."
Before she could spend too much time thinking about ripping her hair off, a scene appeared before her just like the last time she was there.
This time she saw the male officer. He looked rather stressed.
The male officer was looking everywhere except for in front of him. "I'm sorry, I really don't know what you're talking about."
"Did you forget my nickname? I know that you were there. No matter how much you try to hide it, I know you were a part of the investigation." That was Mave's voice, she sounded very pissed off.
Nalda's eyes widened in surprise. Was her sister involved with these people? She didn't expect that.
'Isn't she supposed to be at work? Is that her job? Wait… does that mean Mave has superpower?'
When the letters confirmed her question, Nalda wasn't sure what to feel. She, of course, felt a great sense of betrayal but at the same time, there probably was a reason for Mave to keep such a secret.
It reminded Nalda that the letters said that she wouldn't ever gain any kind of superpower. Mave probably knew that too and decided to keep it a secret and the reason for keeping it a secret would probably be to protect her.
That didn't mean that Nalda would just forgive her that easily. It didn't feel nice to find out that such a big secret was being kept from you by the person you're the closest to.
The male officer eventually gave into the pressure. "Alright I was there but I promise that we tried to keep the existence of gifts and curses under wraps."
Mave didn't sound pleased by the confession. "What do you mean 'tried'?"
The male officer shook his head, sweat dripping from his forehead. "Ah! I mean that she didn't find out! We made sure she didn't before she left this morning." He quickly explained.
Mave's glare grew fiercer, clearly demanding more information. The male officer shook his head again. "No, I swear that was it!"
She didn't stop glaring until she saw it that there really wasn't anything else. Eventually she sighed and stopped glaring. "Next time you involve my sister in anything, the first person you call is me."
After that she left, leaving the male officer to catch his breathing alone.
Nalda just stared at the scene as it slowly faded away again. The first thought she had was that her sister knew.
The chances were very high that her sister would confront her for not telling her.
Other than that, Nalda learned that her sister was infamous amongst the people with superpowers. Between the male officer's reaction and Mave not hesitating before doing something, it was clear that Mave didn't have a good reputation.
This also reminded her of the female officer whose personality went from calm to stress forced down to make a fake calmness. It only happened after she brought over the phone to contact Mave.
Mave's secret was much bigger than expected. If it had been just superpowers then that was okay but Mave hid half of her life away from Nalda. It made Nalda feel left out and wronged.
It was no exaggeration when Nalda thought that Mave was hiding half her life away, Mave usually spent almost the whole day at work. If her job was something like this and she kept it a secret for so long… well Nalda couldn't be sure of what else Mave might be hiding.
'Find clues about the murder.'
As if to remind her of her original objective, the letters came into existence again.
Nalda didn't really feel the need to answer that. It's not like she had a choice but for today… Maybe she could take a break…
'Find clues about the murder.'
The letters became bigger and moved closer. It made Nalda feel unsafe and threatened.
It seemed that the letters kept repeating certain things until you actually agreed so Nalda eventually just nodded.
After that she woke up again. She didn't feel like finishing her homework and instead rolled around in bed.
No matter what she did, her mood didn't improve. That was probably because everything that happened yesterday was catching up. She'd only managed to keep it together because she was trying to hide it from her sister but now it didn't really matter anymore.
Nalda felt her eyes well up with tears and nausea started to take its place in her stomach. The images of the murder scene kept flashing in her mind, especially the way the letters first appeared.
"Ugh…" She rolled out of bed and rushed to the bathroom. She sat by the toilet bowl and leaned over it. It didn't take long before she puked out her breakfast.
After that she sat there for a while before flushing the toilet and leaving the bathroom again. Her legs felt shaky but it wasn't as bad as yesterday. She was heading back to her bedroom so she could spend some more time wasting away.
However before she even reached her door, she was pulled into a bone crushing hug.
Nalda was surprised by who it was.
"Mave…?"