Until Father spoke to her, and she would remember again.

"It's sad, like they all are, but especially so in this case," Dr. Adams spoke to the young nurse at his elbow, a thin and dark-skinned man that never spoke much, "She's been here four months and her condition has only gotten worse. Four months since her mother entrusted her to our care and we've been able to do nothing to help her."

The nurse merely nodded and took notes as Adams waved his hand in front of the window, attempting to get the girl's attention.

There was a blur of movement in front of the window at the door. A shifting of light that gave her enough reason to focus her eyes on the small rectangle, something she was rarely able to manage these days.

Everything seemed blurred these days. Everything except the shadows, although Father said she'd be able to see clearer than ever soon.

"Flat and spindly," she said quietly, looking at the hand and ignoring the rest, "Long and boney, hanging skin, meant for holding. Like Father held me in the rain. Cold."

She nodded lightly to herself, shifting slowly away from the shadows and towards the door. This room wasn't that bad, except there always seemed to be more shadows than there should be. More places for things to move in.

"Claire? How are you doing?" Dr. Adams said gently, finger pressed against the button on the intercom built into the door. He watched the girl's reaction with a puzzled resignation, observing how she started and stared first towards the darkened rear of the room before slowly blinking and looking to the door again.

She looked dissapointed.

"I'm fine...pale pale, sunshined hair, glistening green and white orbs... doctor. How are you?" she spoke quietly, sliding closer to the door and into more of the light. Adams was relieved to see that she was still doing well physically; it had been a constant worry of his ever since her increasing sensitivity to light had caused them to have to turn down the illumination in her room.

He still thought that was a bad idea, and constantly suggested the setting be returned to normal.

"Good Claire, good. Now, I understand you had a bit of an incident yesterday on your walk?" he asked, glancing first at his notes and then to the nurse. The other man simply continued scibbling and checking boxes.

When he looked back up Claire's unfocused eyes were following some imagined motion, as if something had swept across her cheek and towards the ceiling.

She shivered and watched it dissapear into the shadows again, and she was anxious for Father to wake up. Blinking, she let her gaze settle on the outline she knew to be the door.

"Yes I," her voice softened more as the fear of those moments crept back into her gentle imagination, "I heard something...big. It was right behind me and nurse Kim...I could smell the old on it...and when it spoke it sounded like Father. Not like Father used to sound, before the wreck...before he held me those days in the rain...it sounded like Father does now..."

She spoke more and more softly...and then there was a brush of sound from behind. A breeze slid over the skin at the back of her neck, teasing the hairs.

Father was awake.

The girl shivered more and Dr. Adams nodded, running a hand through his thinning hair. This was why the girl was in a 'full service' room and not allowed more freedom; her sometimes erratic actions had been deemed dangerous to those around her. She'd broken nurse Kim's wrist when she jerked the woman into the bushes earlier in the day.

"It's ok Claire," he lied, confused and exhausted by his frustration, "In a few hours I'll have Sammy come by with your food and medication. He can even play some music for you...would you like that?"

Her voice was so soft that, even pressed agains the door as she was, he had to strain to hear.

"Yes doctor, I'd like that very much."

Adams smiled a little, wishing he could do more, and took his finger off the button.

"We have little over a month before her mother gets her transferred. Hopefully someone else can do more than we have..." he shook his head and started down the hall. The nurse looked into the glass and shrugged before following.

With the doctor gone Claire moved slowly back to the rear of the room, sliding into the darkness and curling on the floor within it. A warm dry breeze swept gently over her skin, carrying that smell of 'old.'

"Child...you are awake?"

"Yes Father," she answered, sounding genuinely like a child and not a girl in her late teens.

"Good...I have slept long and missed your voice," came the rumbling voice that comforted her so, even if Father was different than he had been before, "Can you tell me another story? Tell me what you've seen..."

He always said that, she noticed as she smiled and relaxed against the shadows. Sometimes he was more curious about how she was and the like, but always those last two lines spoken exactly the same.

She nodded and began to speak of the terror with nurse Kim, and the movement of the sun that slowly ate the sky to leave only crumbs and noisey airships behind.

The sounds of scuttling and leather wings moved back, because there was no rear to the room, and the shadows watched small creatures float in stone gray light and swoop over the ash gray ancient beast.

Torn wings shifted, and a dull scaled tail threw up drifts of dust. A large sightless eye blinked in the space that would have been the back wall.

Brush. Scuttle. Rumble.

The sounds of Father's waking hours.

Claire smiled and kept talking.