Too preoccupied with other things at the moment, Billie didn’t notice the sudden change in weight of the thing she was holding in her hand or how the direction of the force it was exuding on her arm seemed to change to a more downwards one. She continued her stride forward as if nothing happened, not bothering to look back.
Taking in Trevor’s words, Billie gradually began to calm down, just a little. She was still not satisfied with his answer and the concern about the thing she had seen back in the shop still lingered in the back of her mind, but she had to reluctantly accept it. She concluded that he wouldn’t have any reason to lie about being a middle man in this operation, and if that was the case, he really wouldn’t be able to know what was going on here. She’d have to pose her questions to someone higher up in this operation if she wanted to get some kind of useful information.
With that in mind, she turned her head towards the stranger girl that had joined the group earlier on and gave her a long scrutinizing look from under the brim of her hat. If the employee of the computer store didn’t seem to be involved, she still seemed extremely suspicious.
Finally, she let out a sigh, gave a reluctant nod, signifying that she accepted Trevor’s response, and followed him through the metal gate. There wasn’t much else she could do here.
Billie responded with a pained, confused look of her own, wondering what else he could have wanted from her, when she realized that she was still tightly holding onto Oswin’s hand. Before the embarrassment caused by this gesture could fully set in, she noticed something odd. Something about Oswin’s hand didn’t feel quite right.
Billie’s eyes slowly moved down her arm, towards where she assumed the kid was standing only to find a whole bunch of nothing in his place. When what am I hol-
She raised up the object in her hand to her eye level, looked over at Oswin who was standing quite a way behind for some reason with mild confusion on her face, then finally back at the object again. Realizing what the object was, she let out something that sounded like a weak whimper and the arm that was holding it up in the air dropped limply.
Finally, when the fact that she was holding Oswin’s disembodied arm fully settled in her mind, all color left Billie’s face together with all signs of emotion, leaving behind a lifeless, empty, deeply depressed stare that could only signify that she was completely over everything that was going on at the moment. Her mind blanked out completely, unsure how to react to the visual information it had just been presented with. It was genuinely impossible to tell based on Billie’s expression if she was about to cry in desperation, break out into nervous laughter or start yelling at Oswin at the top of her lungs. The only things for certain were that she was not having a great time whatsoever and that leaving the arm hang lifelessly in her hand any longer could potentially lead to catastrophic results.
The only coherent thought that Billie was able to form in her mind at that moment was I’m so done with this crap…