Quintessential | Joshua Washington

Trauma - VIII

Empty.

Quinn felt empty.

Stuart had been with her since she was 11 years old, he had stood by her through everything life had thrown thus far – and now he was gone. When she'd been absolutely awful to him throughout their first year at boarding school, he'd kept following her around trying to befriend her anyway. When she'd informed him that Wendigo's – mythical creatures from Native American legend – were in fact real, and that her father spent all year keeping them locked up on a mountain in Canada, he had readily believed her. And when she had wanted to travel to said mountain on a suicide mission to avenge her father and rescue a complete stranger...he had willing volunteered to come with her; they hadn't even discussed it, as if him not going wasn't even an option. And as Quinn lay there in the strange, large bed she was finally forced to face facts: she had effectively killed him.

Quinn knew he wasn't capable of fighting off a creature like that, yet not only had she allowed him to come so she wouldn't be alone, she had sent him off with strangers so they'd be out of there quicker. Her selfishness and impatience had gotten Stuart killed. It was her fault, it was all her fault. Lifting her fist to her face, she bit down on her knuckles hard, and clenched her eyes shut...only to be confronted with the image of his detached head gazing up at her lifelessly. Quinn tried her best not to cry out and bit down harder; never since her mother had died hadn't shed a tear, she had told herself never again would she. 

Opening her eyes again made the image vanish, and she was instead confronted by reality – a big, dark, empty room.

Empty, empty, empty – just like her life.

The stinging in her eyes was followed by tears, tears that she hastily tried to wipe away but only seemed to succeed make her face wetter; she sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Taking in a deep, shuddery breath she quietly slipped out of the room in search of a bathroom; tears still flowing very freely from her face no matter how much she angrily wiped them away. Crying was normal, missing him was normal. But Quinn wasn't normal and she found herself unsure of what to do: how was she supposed to grieve over the loss of Stuart when she hadn't even been able to grieve over the loss of her father?

"Is someone there?" Quinn froze, staying completely still; it was Josh's voice she was fairly certain. "Hello?" It was definitely reflex, an instinctive action after being down the Mines, there was no other reason for her to completely freeze up. 

Quinn cleared her throat, hoping to god her tears hadn't affected her voice. "H-hey, sorry, I was just...looking for a bathroom." She saw the figure walk over to her and thanked her lucky stars the lights in the corridor were off.

"Ah, Quinn right? We've not...properly met." He sounded just as awkward as she felt.

"Yeah, you were pretty out of it in the Mines." She suddenly bit her tongue, doubting he would want to discuss his traumatic experience in a dark hallway with a stranger.

"...bathroom's this way." She silently followed his form down the corridor, the bathroom happened to be next to a large window that overlooked the gardens and that moonlight flooded through. "Here you go, light's here." Quinn lifted her hand to flick the switch at the same and his hand covered hers. "What the...?" Josh pulled away his hand quickly and stared at it.

"Sorry..." Quinn mumbled, Josh looked back at her and flicked the switched before dragging her into the bathroom with him. "Hey what the hell?!" Josh looked at her hand again and Quinn saw it was bleeding, he must have got some of the blood on him when he went for the switch. "Aw crap."

"You're bleeding..." He mumbled.

"No shit." She tried to turn away and wash her hand under the tap, hoping her hair would shield her face from him. She grabbed some tissue and ran it under the tap to moisten it before rubbing it across her knuckles, admittedly a little too harsh; she winced.