The Greatest Sideshow on Earth

[randomness]

((Amanda Tan continued from Notes from An Even Smaller Island))

She'd gone right out of the asylum without thinking.

It wasn't as if it was the worst idea in the world. It was enclosed, it was cramped, and they wouldn't be finding any water in there.

So out Amanda went, barely caring about if the others were there following. They did, but she didn't know why.

Where she was heading next had become a problem. She said she'd think of it later, but later was now and even as they made their way away from the asylum, she had no idea where she was going.

The beach wasn't a bad choice, but even if they did manage to get there, what then? She doubted any of them knew how to set up a desalination plant in the middle of nowhere, and even if they did know, it wasn't like they had the tools for it, right?

And so they just walked on, past the beach, past the bridge, past the radio tower, past half the island to god knew where.

She'd asked a couple times if anyone wanted to go anywhere in particular, but all she'd gotten was a couple shrugs and no strong answers in any direction.

They were completely lost, as if unmoored from time itself, simply wandering from place to place with no aims or objective.
And now they were here. What now?

Split up and look for clues? Yeah. That sounded good. It was something leader-like at least.

"I guess we should look for stuff. Maybe there's a drink left over or something?" Close enough, right?

The place looked run down like everything else they'd seen on the island. Empty bottles lined the shelves, counters, chairs, a wide assortment of things she could only refer to as stuff.

There was the usual glint of cameras too, silently staring at them. They'd been watching them the entire time. Just staring at them as they made their way across the pub floor.

She let out a shriek when she came upon Tessa's body.

"Is she- Oh my god, she's dead."

There was blood. Everywhere. Crimson splatters like a grade school art project gone awry strewn across the body, each and every streak drawing attention to their source, the mess that had once been Tessa's neck.

She needed to say something. She needed to calm people down. She needed to calm herself down.

She didn't, or couldn't, one or the other, thoughts needlessly entangled as she simply stood there, unable to do anything at all.

[D/N]

And people.

Shit.

(Kaitlyn Greene continued from Elapsam bunch of stuff)

So Kaitlyn had no choice but to quickly stumble out of the back room in her sock feet, Tessa's boots in one hand and her gun in the other and the ass end of a ration bar still sticking out of her mouth. She stared at the group coming in. Multiple peoples. Even more shit. And the girl Kaitlyn deemed large and in charge by din of having a gun... well, had a gun. Even if she didn't look about ready to go shooting. Good. Kaitlyn raised her gun a but made sure to point it at anyone.

"Heymp," she said. She held up the hand with Tessa's boots in the universal 'hold on while I swallow what's in my maw so you can understand what I'm saying' motion. Or whatever. But those bars were nothing if not dense and it was gonna take a few seconds to finish. She should say something more substantial, but wasn't about to spit it out and lose those precious proteins.

Besides, Kaitlyn was getting used to these bars by now. They weren't that bad, people.

"Hmmrzd," she said. "Dead, yuh."

For sure she was. Mia had been a pretty nice body, all things considered. Mabes, not so much. Mia'd been a quiet thing on the floor of quiet library. Mabes was sitting in her chair in the middle of the pub like some really ill-conceived alternative centerpiece. Which, come to think of it, summed Mabes up perfectly. A bloody, paranoid, rambling, outta-nowhere hot mess who ran seething into every argument and blew her throat open in the what Kaitlyn guessed was the biggest fuck-you she could think up at the time.

Okay. Just a couple more chews and she swallowed the last lump whole. That felt better.

"I didn't kill her. Obviously."

It was kinda disappointing if that was all her libertarian-power cohort could do, though. Which was also totally Mabes. Kaitlyn had charged into the pub from the library just down the road and saw her sitting there, and was struck enough by the site that her first bout of giddyness didn't come round for minutes and was barely even a shudder.

Nah. Instead Kaitlyn just took those minutes and stared at the dead offbeat friend she had here and felt like pisswater. Kinda good, she thought. That she was feeling that way. Cause that's how you're supposed to feel.

But that time was over now and she had to move on to new feelings and new sensations, like the one Kaitlyn got when eyeing those awesome shitkicker boots that would be so much better than her Vans were. Hell, she was so entranced that she hadn't even gone though Tessa's bag yet. Guess she figured there'd be plenty of time to check out the place first.

Sadly, that guess was off-target. But this was all still a decent salvage. It was just Amanda Tan and friends, after all.

Kaitlyn walked a bit closer to Mabes' body. Gotta protect the turf.

"But yeah, I've called dibs on her stuff."

Half-smile.

"I can share some with yas, though. Don't worry."

[KamiKaze]

((Emma Luz continued from Notes From An Even Smaller Island))

It was going to rain. That was a good thing and a bad thing.

The good news was, if it rained, that'd solve their water problem quickly. Depending on how much, they could easily replenish their stock. All they'd need to do was find a way to collect it. She remembered a few times, people would talk about ways to gather rainwater using a tarp or their roof. Finding a tarp would be tricky, though. Maybe there could be something they could use, though, with a bit of looking.

The bad news: it also meant that they'd have to find another shelter more quickly. It was already a priority to begin with. A good place to sleep was about as important as water. Not to mention... it was getting a little difficult for her, walking around like this. Her legs and shoulders ached. A few times, she'd space out, or even doze a little, only to realize the group was moving. It was clear after a while that she needed a place to rest. While it sounded a bit selfish, she did have somewhat different needs physically, after all. She didn't feel like she could hike for much longer. However,  it would also be good for the others, to find a place to sit down, maybe sleep. Rain, with all the issues that would cause, only made that more important.

Luckily, that issue resolved itself. Amanda pointed out a building that could have some supplies they needed. Emma gave a small smile, and it wasn't just the fact that they had a place to rest and look for things they needed. One of her favorite movies back home had a scene where two of the main characters devised a plan that ended with going to a pub to "get a cold pint and wait for all this to blow over." She could only see the humor in hiding out in a bar.

Of course, her smile faded some after a second. She missed home. Even if they made it back, she knew that student council meetings wouldn't be the same without Joshua or Conrad. And home wouldn't be the same without...

Emma tried to shake that thought aside. It still hurt, knowing that Sabrina and Tina had been killed.

Like the others, she stepped into the pub, and right away, a pungent smell had hit her nose. It was the same familiar smell from the wards. It wasn't long before they found the source. There was blood, spattered all over an armchair and the nearby floor. At the center of it all, a body sat limply. Emma recognized the dyed brown hair, now matted with blood.

"Mabes?"

Another flash of denial hit. Emma ran forward a few feet, the bag hitting her sides. However, she stopped once she got a closer look. Some part of her hoped that Tessa wasn't dead, just injured. That she could be revived somehow. However, even from where she was standing, just some feet away, she could tell they were too late. Her skin had turned sickly gray with splotches. Flies huddled near a large wound near her neck.

Her heart started thumping. Emma slowly stepped back.

She usually wasn't squeamish. Back in school she happily enjoyed dissection in Bio. Emma had seen all kinds of pictures and diagrams that went into detail about how the body worked. Being interested in first aid and medicine meant that she was familiar with all the ways a person could get sick, injured, or killed. Emma had read about ways the body decayed over time. She'd even seen a few autopsy images online. However, nothing could prepare you for seeing someone who once talked about drone attacks over Arizona, who once wanted to create light installations, reduced to essentially a piece of meat. Emma's eyes squeezed tight.

She opened them again when she heard a muffled voice. Emma turned her head, to see that someone else was here. Someone who was alive. Kaitlyn Greene had a protein bar hanging from her mouth, and a pair of boots in her hands. A quick look back at Tessa told her where they came from. Emma looked back once Kaitlyn swallowed and continued talking.

Emma felt her fist clench. Kaitlyn... was acting weird, for lack of a better way of saying it. She had stepped closer to Mabes', and said that she had dibs on her stuff. Yeah, her suspicions were correct. Graverobbing. Even if Kaitlyn said she wasn't responsible and she'd share, there was still something slimy about taking someone's things after they died, even if they didn't need them anymore.

Right now, Emma had so many questions. But she settled on one.

"Kaitlyn," she said. "Do... you know what happened here?"

A few more slow steps backwards.

[decoy73]

((Jaime Steinbeck continued from Notes from an Even Smaller Island))

So it wasn't piss that this place smelled like. That was a relief.

Too bad it was blood. From the neck of a girl whose neck had been blown apart. The only person who might have been a witness was Kaitlyn, and she was trying to make off with the other girl's ... Tessa's ... stuff. All with one of those crap protein bars still in her mouth.

"I didn't kill her. Obviously."

That was a fair point.

"But yeah, I've called dibs on her stuff. I can share some with yas, though. Don't worry." Kaitlyn smiled at that, as if she had a point with that. Jaime just rolled her eyes as Emma asked what had happened here while what had happened here was staring the five of them in the face.

Her neck was blown up. That's what happened.

"You want to share? Sure. Let's see the good stuff."

[Riki]

Lucilly had, she faintly recollected, once been determined to lead her friends to somewhere. Perhaps it would have been happiness and health, but she would not mind the prospect of shelter both warm and well-lit.

She had not, however, taken in that walking was actually difficult. Very difficult, in fact, if you did not do it in three days.

[Lucilly Peterson, continued from somewhere]

She had, as unfortunately as it was, fallen a bit behind on her companions. Not by anything that would be called a great distance. Yet some yards were there. Between her, and the others. Lucilly minded it, but she did not complain. She was, after all, to occupied to spend all her breath on walking.

It was admiration she found for all the others. For Amanda, and her resolute will shining on. For Jamie and her spirits. For Emma and how the death of her own kin haltered her in no way.

Lucilly, however, chose not to step into the pub. She heard a shriek, and she could hear what the other girls said. She, perhaps wise and perhaps cowardly, chose to spare her the image. She chose to wait, safe from the brutality within, and stood still by the frame of the door.

[randomness]

Breathe. She needed to breathe.

She was useless here. What on Earth was she supposed to do about a dead body?

Her mind was stuck, as it had been ever since they'd been here, as if someone had shoved a rusty crowbar into whatever thought processes she was having this whole time. Even her emotions felt stuck, unable to move past that initial shock she'd had ever since she'd seen the body.

And then Kaitlyn here, she said she didn't kill her and she couldn't believe her, but she couldn't not believe her.

It was impossible to believe that anyone could have killed anyone at all, but the dead body in the room made it clear enough that as much as the terrorists might been lying to them, there was, at minimum, one dead body here.

Kaitlyn had a gun in her hand. That marked her out as dangerous, as hypocritical as that seemed. But the girl was far more likely to use it than herself, right? Besides, they said ninety perent of murders were commited by someone the victim knew, right? What if Kailtyn had shot Tessa's neck, just so it'd look like she was blown up by the terorrists?

It was merely a possibility, but whatever happened, staying wary was probably for the best.

"You-", she started, but she had nothing to add. Either Kaitlyn would tell them everything, or she wouldn't and nothing she said right now would really change that. She merely gripped her rifle tighter, hoping that would ward off Kaitlyn trying anything on them.

[D/N]

"Huh?"

Really now, what did they think. Wasn't Emma supposed to be the school president, here?

Kaitlyn motioned to the broken camera.

"Didn't see, but... seems obvious, Emma. I guess she tried something and, well, that happened. I always told Mabes she was too smart for her own good."

Kaitlyn had never told Tessa that before in her life, but it sounded right. She thought.

"But I guess people are doing stuff, you know. I..."

She broke off for a second. OK. Give it a go.

"Ya know Mia Rose? I found her over at the library. There was a syringe next to her. Looked like she'd, y'know, opted out. People are doing that. At least she probably didn't suffer, went peacefully. Can't blame them."

She eased into a chair and moved Tessa's bag closer to her with one foot. Just keeping an easy grip on the gun; not pointing at anyone in particular. Amanda Tan had a grip on hers, too. Kaitlyn tried not to grin at that. Yeah, Amanda Tan.

Kaitlyn dropped the boots and started worming her feet into them. Mabes looked like she'd had pretty big feet for her height and boots like these Docs were usually pretty roomy, so hopefully they actually fucking fit her well enough cause it'd be pretty embarrassing if it turned out they were two sizes small and she had to change back in front of everyone.

"But they don't need their stuff anymore, and we all kinda do, don't we?"

Amanda Tan with a gun was maybe not entirely a joke, but it said enough. That Amanda was the one carrying instead of Emma said more about Emma. And Kaitlyn wasn't entirely sure about the shrimpy junior girl she kinda recognized, who at least had the sense to agree with her; but if she was truly more than she seemed, wouldn't she have the gun? Not that it was even a nice gun or anything.

"Nice gun, Amanda. Reminds me of the one I used to go turkey shooting with my dad with. Uh... don't worry, we're cool here though, right?"

Now that was some quality... subtle boastful warnings or something? Whatever. She was right, yeah. As rain. Speaking of, there were some dark clouds gathering outside, which Kaitlyn wasn't much a fan of. She'd... kinda hoped to spend the night outdoors, away from everyone. Just in case of whatever the announcements were going to say.

"Yeah, right."

She zipped open Tessa's bag and glanced down. Didn't look like much inside from this vantage point.

"So let's see what we've got."

As she reached inside, still making sure to keep her eyes mostly on the other girls, it occurred to Kaitlyn that she was almost back at the bridge, wasn't she? Playing tollbooth again.

Except that here she was just straight up giving stuff to other kids when she actually didn't have to. Yeah, fuck. It was like the complete opposite of tollbooth.

"Water," she tossed a bottle of water on the floor towards the others.

So why was she doing it? Cause she was fucking smarter now, huh. She was playing smarter, and smarter meant you could play a goddamn magnanimous person when you already had a bag full of another girls stuff after you'd... yeah.

"Bread.

"Uh...."

Hey there was a big flat green thing under that loaf of bread. Kaitlyn glanced back up at the group. Glanced back down at the raised letters.

FRONT TOWARD ENEMY

"Holy fuck that looks like a bomb.... yeah. Yeah it's a fucking bomb."

And snapped her head back up.

Her back and shoulder muscles tensed up again in an instant and then she'd raised the gun to make a quarter-circle of the room. Amanda to Emma to.... junior girl. Jamie, she thought. No, not resting it on anyone. Not, she hoped, to make anyone do anything stupid or anything especially since yeah, she had a fucking bomb here. Kaitlyn wasn't going to actually shoot any of these girls, right, so she... only had to make sure none of them were gonna try anything now.

"Kay, so why don't you...."

She coughed to stifle the giggles rising in her throat.

"Yeah I think that'll be mine. Don't fuckin move, kay? Agree that's mine?"

Funny. Turned it actually was how tollbooth was supposed to be all along, wasn't it? Before Alan had come along and fucked it all up. But hey, he'd only been gone a couple hours and look where she was now.

[KamiKaze]

Was "grave-robbing" the right word for what Kaitlyn was doing? Emma had no idea. But it still seemed... unpleasant. True, they didn't need it any more. But, to be honest, that was kind of the problem. It just seemed callous, you know? At least take Mabes elsewhere before you sort out her belongings. Maybe that was just her morals from back home talking. It did seem a little practical, to use what you find. But on the other...

Well, Jaime at least didn't seem to mind that part.

Emma shot her a look. That was a little too quick. Again, taking someone else's things, even if they were dead? Even if efficient, still felt slimy. Amanda was conspicuously silent.

The story Kaitlyn had painted for them, at least, made sense. But it still hurt. Mabes' collar had detonated. By the look of things, it was because she'd damaged a camera. It sounded like something she'd do. Emma rubbed her arm in thought. It seemed like she wasn't the only one nearby, either. Kaitlyn had found Mia Rose dead. Even in her fatigued state, Emma knew just how horrible death by overdose was, no matter what you used. Slow and agonizing, not what you'd want if you just want to... end things. There wasn't a doubt Mia died in pain.

Mabes wasn't the first dead body she'd seen. Everyone had watched Mr. Graham die, and how he was just left there. But seeing it up close like this seemed worse. For a moment, Emma imagined some of the dead in such a state. She wondered if other people descended like vultures onto their things, quietly taking what was theirs. A shudder ran up her spine when she pictured it being Tina and Sabrina.

She really needed to lay down.

However, Emma's tired eyes locked onto a bottle Kaitlyn had put on the ground. Water. That's what they were looking for. Bread too, to a lesser extent. Was it worth compromising your morals for water? Though, Kaitlyn had something else in her hands. Emma squinted a bit, trying to figure out what it was. Was it an odd ration pack, or-

Bomb. Kaitlyn had a bomb in her hands.

Her eyes widened. That's when Kaitlyn pulled a gun out and pointed it at them.

"Easy, easy!"

Emma's hands were up. Her mouth felt dry. She briefly wondered what to do. Didn't she do something like this when she and Amanda first met up? Put her hands up, make it clear she wasn't dangerous? She wasn't sure that'd work with Kaitlyn.

She gulped a bit. It didn't help the dryness in her throat.

"Look... I don't think any of us need a bomb."

Emma looked at Jaime, then Amanda, then to the door, where Lucilly was standing just outside. Maybe they'd have something to say about that. They weren't looking for any kind of bomb, though. At least, it didn't seem something that was high priority. Emma turned her head back to Kaitlyn, and took a deep breath.

"We came in here because... because we needed water. That's all we need, maybe food too."

Tables were good for hiding under, the bar was good for hiding behind. They could turn and run the way they came. Or, there had to be another exit. Another way to escape. Fire exits, windows, anything. She prayed to god Kaitlyn didn't open fire or detonate.

"We can negotiate this."

Emma hoped that Jaime and Amanda agreed.

[decoy73]

So nobody was saying anything. Great. Meaning that Jaime was the only one being useful around here. Kaitlyn threw over some bread and water, before taking out something green ... moldy bread, maybe?

"Holy fuck that looks like a bomb.... yeah. Yeah it's a fucking bomb."

Wait, what?

"Kay, so why don't you ... yeah I think that'll be mine. Don't fuckin move, kay? Agree that's mine?"

Kaitlyn started pointing a gun at them. Emma started to try to negotiate, under the auspices that they didn't need a bomb, just provisions. Not again.

"Fuck, don't point that shit here! Just throw the rest of the bag to us." Jaime was really starting to hate being pointed at.

[Riki]

Lucilly Peterson remained steadfast at the position she had chosen. The occupants of the interior, or the actions performed by those mattered little to her. Not due to the lack of any interest, but due to the mere fact that the wind howling around her ears numbed her bit by bit. That, and her vigilance in keeping her eyes focused on anything surrounding the Pub. On anything that could enter the perimeter, and pose to be either a new-found friend, or an - it was a thought Lucilly dared not to think through - an enemy.

No, no. Although the entirity of her own mind was spend on scanning what was outside, an urge rising in her guts made sure to mention. Made sure to mention that the insides of the pub were just as important as well.

Lucilly Peterson, for this one instance, chose not to act on her gut, but slipped away an inch from the door.

[randomness]

What the heck was happening?

Amanda knew Mia well enough. Was she really dead, too? They'd watched matches more than a few times together, she knew Mia enough to know that she wasn't the type to- she wouldn't just- She-

She didn't actually know.

Things were a mess. She was holding a gun, people were dead, and she had no clue what was happening from day one.

After all that would it be a surprise if Mia was dead?

With people like Kaitlyn, already raiding bags for stuff, showing no regard for the fact that the person it belong to lay dead right in plain sight.

This was wrong.

Completely wrong.

She tossed things, water, food, tossed onto the ground towards them. Were they supposed to pick them up, scrounging for the scraps that Kaitlyn left behind?

And then Kaitlyn had to declare she had a bomb.

The gun went up instantly, defying Kaitlyn's command to not move, and it was only now that she noticed that Kaitlyn's own gun was pointed at them.

"Okay, let's put the gun down." Hypocrite, went a voice in the back of her mind.

"Emma's right. Let's talk things through and not do anything rash here. Take it. Take the bomb."

[D/N]

Kaitlyn glanced among the three and settled on Amanda when she levelled the rifle at her.

After a second, she lowered the gun. And the bag with the bomb. She chuckled. It sounded nervous.

"Hey. Hey. Look, I'm-- I'm sorry, okay. I'm just... nerves, ya know? Sorry. Look, it's not even-- I've got the safety off, so I'm not shooting anyone here. See?"

She hefted the Uzi for a second again, aiming it at no one. Then Kaitlyn set it aside. No one rushed towards her. Of fucking course, haha.

Which was a good thing, cause she hadn't even tried shooting this goddamn thing yet.

"I was with Alan Banks for a while. But he kinda started getting... he kinda went nuts a bit. Last night he tried to take my gun while I was sleeping. I managed to scare him off, but yeah. Left me a bit jumpy. So... hey."

She slowly put the... what was it a landmine or something on the ground next to her gun, and reached into Tessa's bag. There was some papers that she guessed were instructions on how to blow stuff up beside yourself, and a small green box that matched the coloring on the bomb. She set them aside too, and pulled out one more protein bar. Got to her feet, bag in one hand.

And outside, Kaitlyn could hear it starting to rain. She stepped forward.

"Here you go."

A few more steps, and she delicately set the bag down next to the couple supplies she'd already tossed out.

"Peace offering. I fucked up with that attitude. But hey, we need this stuff if we don't wanna starve to death here, right? So we're cool?"

She tried a real smile on for size. It kinda worked.

"Looks like the rain's started; I'm probably gonna hole up here for a while till it blows over. Leave the gun and stuff on the floor, don't worry. You guys're welcome, but it might be a good idea to get Tessa outside."

Well now.

That hopefully gave Kaitlyn one whole night in a warm place with comfy seating. And a whole night to wait for those... fuck those pesky announcements in the morning.

She left the bag for Amanda and Emma and Jamie to decide how to split things and stepped back.

[KamiKaze]

Emma flinched as Jaime snarled. However, Amanda played along. Thank god for that. If it became an argument... well, Kaitlyn had a gun and a bomb. Though, Emma looked again at Amanda. Her heart rate went up more when she realized that her own gun had been raised.

It was only a matter of time before it went off.

Emma shook her head, trying to dismiss that thought. Practical. She had to be practical here, right? Maybe. Her hands were still up, showing that she wasn't a killer.

Thankfully, Kaitlyn was backing down. Nerves, apparently. She had a run-in with Alan Banks, and it sounded like he tried to steal her things. Soccer team, right? Yeah, he was. He... was a bit of a baiter. Alan wasn't someone Emma usually went out of her way to talk to, but him stealing a gun? That was a new low, if it was true.

Was it?

Emma slowly lowered her arms. Kaitlyn had put the bag closer to them, so that was good. Water and food were what they were looking for, weren't they? Emma leaned down, gently touching the strap. Her head felt heavy. But she turned her head back towards Mabes, and felt her skin shake and crawl. A numbness slid inside her arms and legs.

"I... agree," Emma said. "Keeping her here wouldn't be... wouldn't be hygienic, y'know? Dead bodies... they rot and stink. Might be good to... yeah."

It was an appeal to logic. To make the others understand why it was a good idea to move Mabes elsewhere. Logic wasn't the reason why she agreed, though. Emma tore her head away, and raised her hand to her face. She pinched her nose slightly, pushing her glasses up. Her skin continued to shake.

So much had happened recently. It kind of felt like the world was collapsing around her. Emma slid her hand to her mouth. It just...

It just was so hard to stay practical sometimes.

[decoy73]

Kaitlyn put the gun down. Thank god for that.

"Hey. Hey. Look, I'm-- I'm sorry, okay. I'm just... nerves, ya know? Sorry. Look, it's not even-- I've got the safety off, so I'm not shooting anyone here. See? ... I was with Alan Banks for a while. But he kinda started getting... he kinda went nuts a bit. Last night he tried to take my gun while I was sleeping. I managed to scare him off, but yeah. Left me a bit jumpty. So... hey." She rummaged through the bag, taking out what looked like a green thing putting the rest of the bag down closer to the group's feet.

"Here you go. Peace offering. I fucked up with that attitude. But hey, we need this stuff if we don't wanna starve to death here, right? So we're cool?"

Jaime looked at it for a second before quickly stepping forward to grab at it, and stepping back. She looked inside. Water, water, food, food. Nothing that would help them actually survive against anyone else.

"Yeah, sure. We're cool." She looked up, and then immediately looked back down. Stupid ass corpse. Just keep your eyes away from it ... her.

"Yeah, let's ... get her out of here." Don't look at the body don't look at the body don't look at the body.

[Riki]

Lucilly would have done well to ignore the rain - or perhaps the drizzle - and she had done quite well for a while, until something. What something was, or rather what the sentence would be to constitute 'something' was unknown to her.

Something about the current situation of her concerned her. An understatement, and even Lucilly realized as such. Still, there was something even concerning that concerned her. Being concerned, of course, Lucilly would have to do something to stop being concerned.

She looked up to the sky. It was gray, and grayer yet. A few drops fell and splattered into her face. She ignored a few of them, but mind the ones which fell in her eyes.

The thing that concerned her, Lucilly realized, was the fact that she could not hear. Oh, her ears were fine and working as well as they always did, but standing by the door as she did, it was impossible to get a clear sight (listening sight?) of what was within the room.

Lucilly turned around, and stepped into the door frame.