American Horror Story, Starting from Falls Town

Chapter 397 Divination
Lydia heard that Gretchen had been rescued and taken to the hospital, and immediately wanted to visit her good friend.

However, Lydia received the news in the evening, so her visit to Gretchen also took place at night.

In the afternoon, Lydia finally managed to explain the situation to her boyfriend and agent, Lori. When he heard that she was going to visit a friend, he immediately wanted to go with her.

“Lowry, I really am going to see my friend, and you know who this friend is, Gretchen Henderson!”

Unfortunately, Lori seemed terrified of Lydia leaving his side and insisted on staying with her no matter what.

Lowry is clearly a very controlling man. The kind of person wants to keep their partner by their side and will never allow them to leave their sight.

"Then why won't you take me with you? Or are you not even going to see Gretchen Henderson?"

Lydia sighed, looking utterly helpless. Lori had already gone this far, and there was nothing she could do.

"alright, you win!"

Hearing this, Lowry was somewhat smug.

“Bringing me along is definitely the right thing to do! Maybe I can even facilitate a collaboration between the two of you. Gretchen Henderson is the best anchorwoman in the station.”

Lydia was speechless. This was exactly what she was worried about. She didn't want any self-interest to get mixed into her pure friendship with Gretchen.

However, Lowry had already pulled Lydia into the underground parking lot, preparing to take her to the hospital.

Upon arriving at the hospital, Lydia and Lori went to Gretchen's ward, where they encountered someone they didn't expect.

Marian was also in Gretchen's hospital room, and the atmosphere inside was surprisingly nice.

This is quite surprising. The entire ABC network knew about the conflict between Marian and Gretchen. Who would have thought that the two of them would sit together peacefully?
"What are you..."

Marian and Gretchen were startled when they saw Lydia suddenly burst in.

"Lydia, it's you!"

Gretchen smiled; she knew her friend was rather impulsive, so she didn't mind.

Lydia sensed that her best friend was acting strangely, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it, so she asked about their relationship.

"Have you two made up?"

Marian smiled and nodded.

"After going through danger together, we decided to reconcile."

Lydia felt that Marianne's change was even more significant; she had completely lost her former domineering aura, which made Lydia feel very strange.

However, some people do undergo a drastic personality change after experiencing a life-or-death situation. Lydia found it a bit strange, but it also seemed quite reasonable.

Then, more people came to visit.

It was Mike and Franklin who arrived. They went to Marian's ward first, but found no one there, so they came here instead.

When they saw Marianne and Gretchen getting along peacefully, the two of them looked as if they had seen a ghost.

"Why do you look at me like that?"

Mike organized his thoughts.

"We are observing whether you have been abducted and replaced by aliens."

"boring!"

Marian rolled her eyes and walked out of the ward.

Mike and Franklin immediately followed them out, leaving Lydia, Lowry, and Gretchen alone in the ward.

Lowry reached out her hand to Gretchen.

“Ms. Henderson, I’ve been wanting to get to know you for a long time! Hello, I’m Lydia’s agent, Lowry.”

Gretchen didn't reach out; instead, she looked at Lydia with a questioning gaze.

Lydia gave Gretchen a helpless look, as if she was pleading with Gretchen to give her boyfriend some face.

But Gretchen didn't want to give Lowry any face.

"Excuse me, Mr. Lowry, could you give Lydia and me some private space?"

Lowry was very embarrassed by being refused a handshake, but as a junior agent, this kind of thing must happen often.

"No problem, no problem, I'll go out right now!"

Lori gave Lydia a look, then left the ward.

Now only Gretchen and Lydia remained in the room.

"Lydia, I think I heard your voice when I was in the apartment. Did you have someone rescue us?"

Lydia nodded.

"Yes, I went to FEA. You should know this organization, right?"

Gretchen looked thoughtful.

"As expected..."

Lydia felt that Gretchen's behavior was becoming increasingly strange.

Gretchen, are you feeling unwell?

"No, I'm fine, very fine, better than ever!"

Lydia frowned deeply. With her medium's intuition, she felt that something must have happened to Gretchen, but her senses did not detect it.

Lydia didn't want to immediately recognize Adela as a succubus when she saw her open the door.

"Gretchen, would you like me to do a divination for you?"

Gretchen's expression changed.

"No need! I feel really great! Lydia, it's getting late, I want to rest."

Lydia glanced at the time; it was indeed 9 p.m., so Gretchen's decision to ask her to leave was perfectly reasonable.

Upon hearing this, Lydia quickly stood up and apologized.

"Excuse me! Is it already so late? I'm about to leave."

Because of her medium abilities, Lydia has been discriminated against by those around her since childhood, so she has almost no friends.

Therefore, Lydia cherishes Gretchen as a friend very much, and when she found out that Gretchen was in trouble, she immediately dropped her work to come to her.

Lydia kept turning back to look at her, but Gretchen seemed determined to get rid of her and didn't try to stop her.

With no other option, Lydia had to leave the ward. As she stepped outside, she saw Lori chatting with a pretty nurse.

Lydia walked over and kicked Lori in the leg.

Hey! Why did you kick me?!

"You suspected me of cheating before, but I think it's you who wanted to cheat!"

Lowry read all the explanations.

"I'm asking about Gretchen Henderson for you, not trying to pick up girls!"

Lydia didn't believe Lori's words at all, and put her hands on her hips and stood on her tiptoes.

"Oh? Then tell me what you found out?"

"The nurse just told me that Gretchen Henderson and Marian Megan were taken to the hospital and underwent a lot of tests, but nothing was wrong."

Lori looked at Lydia with a serious expression. He hadn't actually asked anything; he had just made up a lie on the spot.

As an agent, lying on the spot is a basic skill, and Lydia didn't notice at all.

"Uh, sorry, I thought..."

"Alright, stop thinking that! It's getting late, let's go home and have a proper get-together, shall we?"

Lori put his arm around Lydia's shoulder, appearing very magnanimous, which made Lydia feel even more guilty.

If it weren't for Gretchen's matter, Lydia would have accepted Lori's invitation.

"I'm sorry, Lowry, I have something to do tonight!"

Hearing this, Lowry frowned. "It's already nine o'clock, what could possibly be wrong?"

“I think Gretchen’s situation is a bit strange, so I’m going to go home and do a divination for her.”

Lowry rolled her eyes.

"Come on! I think that female anchor was just startled, so she couldn't control her emotions. Isn't that a common occurrence?"

Lydia knew that Lori made a lot of sense, but she trusted her intuition more; the medium's intuition had helped her avoid many dangers.

"My gut feeling tells me there's something wrong here! Lowry, just take me home!"

Left with no other choice, Lori had to listen to Lydia.

However, after dropping Lydia off at home, Lori did not leave but instead prepared to follow Lydia inside.

Why did you follow me in?

"Hey! I'm your boyfriend, can't I come into your house?"

Lowry looked a little angry, and Lydia immediately changed her tune.

"Lorry, that's not what I meant! I need an absolutely quiet environment to perform a divination!"

"Sure! I won't say a word when you start the divination. I just want to see what a medium's divination is like."

Lowry made a zipping motion with his mouth, but his face was full of mockery, as if he didn't believe Lydia.

Lydia rubbed her forehead, oblivious to Lori's expression, and ultimately agreed.

"Alright, alright! But you'd better remember what you said!"

Once inside Lydia's house, Lori started looking around and then noticed a family photo.

A blond old man, a red-haired middle-aged woman, Lydia with black hair, a handsome brown-haired middle-aged man, and a girl with black hair.

Yes, this family's hair color is just that casual.

"Lydia, I haven't seen Astrid in ages. Where did she go?"

Lydia was tidying up the room; the house was very messy because she had left in a hurry today.

“I sent her to a boarding school. You know how busy I am with work, I simply don’t have the time to take good care of her.”

Upon hearing this, Lowry immediately began to preach.

"Lydia, I feel this is wrong! Children need their parents' company to grow up healthily!"

Lydia, who was packing her things, was taken aback when she heard this.

"But didn't you tell me before that I should focus on my career? Now is a crucial moment for my career development?"

"So I think it's time to find Astrid a new father."

This wasn't just a hint; it was an explicit statement.

However, Lydia's attitude was rather strange, as if she was avoiding Lori's hints.

"I'm sorry, Lori, I... I'm not ready yet!"

Lowry stepped forward and hugged Lydia, his expression full of affection.

"Darling, it's been ten years already, haven't you gotten over that accident yet?"

Lydia looked sad.

"I am an unfortunate person, and if you get too close to me, you will also be infected with misfortune!"

Lydia's decision to send her daughter to a boarding school was not without this reason.

However, Lori seemed unconvinced and clung to Lydia, refusing to let go.

“Honey, we’ve known each other for a whole year now, and I feel like we should have a future together!”

Lydia bit her lip, knowing it wouldn't be fair to Lori to keep dragging it out, so she nodded solemnly.

"Okay, I'll have a good talk with my family after this is over."

Having achieved his goal, Lori released Lydia and stopped bothering her.

"That's wonderful! Honey, do you need my help?"

"Of course, I need to at least clear out the living room!"

Ten minutes later, the living room was almost tidied up, and Lydia placed a crystal ball on the table to begin the divination.

"Listen, Lowry, once I begin the divination, you absolutely cannot make a sound, not a single sound!"

"Can't I even fart? What if I can't hold it in..."

Lowry clearly didn't take the divination seriously and was even in the mood to joke.

"Then go to the bathroom! In short, from now on you can't make a sound! I mean, any sound!"

Lowry shrugged, then made a zipping motion with her mouth.

Lydia took a deep breath, then placed her hands on the crystal ball, using her magic to influence it.

"Crystal ball, crystal ball! Tell me what happened to Gretchen Henderson!"

A misty cloud of gas began to appear inside the originally transparent crystal ball, which surprised Lowry, and he involuntarily sat up straight.

After Lydia repeated the sentence three times, the gas cloud inside the crystal ball began to change noticeably.

Seeing this, Lowry also curiously approached the crystal ball, wanting to see what was inside.

Unfortunately, Lowry didn't have psychic abilities; he was just an ordinary person, so all he saw was a constantly changing mass of gray mist.

However, Lydia could see the woman she had seen before appearing in the crystal ball.

"This guy isn't dead?!"

No sooner had she finished speaking than the crystal ball suddenly shattered, startling Lydia and Lori.

"What the hell?! What's going on? But thinking about it, it's actually quite creative! Lydia, I think you could try this trick next time you're recording a show; it might cause a sensation!"

Although startled, Lori didn't seem too scared and even gave Lydia advice with great enthusiasm.

However, Lydia was not listening to Lori at all. At that moment, she had a strong feeling of unease, a premonition that only appeared when faced with the threat of death.

Could it be...

The next second, all the lights in the room suddenly went out.

"Huh? Why did all the lights suddenly go out? Is it a power outage?"

Lowry looked out the window and noticed that the neighbor's lights were still on.

"It looks like the circuit breaker has tripped. Don't worry, honey, I'll go check the circuit."

As he spoke, Lowry prepared to go to the basement to take a look.

In typical detached houses like America's, the electricity meter and other electrical components are usually located in the basement.

However, Lydia snapped out of her daze and grabbed Lori.

"Don't go! We're in danger! We have to get out of here immediately!"

Lori placed her hand on Lydia's forehead, looking at her with a face full of surprise.

"What nonsense are you talking about? Are you running a fever?"

Lydia didn't have time to explain to Lori, and grabbed Lori's hand, running towards the door.

"You'll come with me!"

However, when Lydia and Lori arrived at the foyer, they saw a figure standing in the doorway.

Astrid (Jenna Ortega)

　Hollywood's aesthetic sense is getting weirder and weirder these days, and Jenna Ortega is another example. I don't know why she gets so many resources.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)