Lost In Darkness

Chapter 3: Intoxicated

A/N: I'm pretty sure nobodies actually reading this. </3 I'll hold out hope though, but please be lovely, and make my day by commenting, or voting? :D 

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People. So many people, everywhere. It shouldn’t have been surprising how busy the town was at night time, but Jessica hadn’t really been out anywhere for a long time. After everything that had happened, she’d more or less became a hermit, hiding inside her house. Even simple things like shopping and working, she did online now. She sighed, wiping a tear that seemed to have formed out of nowhere. She was going to break this cycle, of hiding in fear from that psycho. She could prove to herself that she could go out and enjoy herself.

“Jess?” She whipped around at the sound of her name. The young girl standing in front of her... Why did she look so familiar? But she was sure she didn’t know any fiery red haired girls. Not personally anyway. She’d pretty much lost contact with her old friends, so was struggling to remember the female in front of her.

“Jess... it’s me, Alison...?” The girl frowned, looking somewhat offended. Alison? But Alison had blonde hair... Jessica mentally face-palmed herself. Of course the girl obviously had dyed it.

“I’m so sorry. I thought I recognised you, but took me a couple of minutes to put two and two together,” Jessica nervously giggled. “So, how have you been? It’s been such a long time since we’ve hung out.”

“And who’s fault is that? I understand what happened to your brother and sister, but why did you cut contact with us?” Alison didn’t look in particularly angry, but there was a certain snappy tone to her voice.

“I know, I’m sorry. I haven’t been myself for a while, but if you’re willing, we could do something now?” Feeling genuinely guilty, Jessica smiled at her old friend.

“Oh, so you want to bother now? Where are you even headed to anyway? I didn’t realise you came out of your house, to be honest.” Wow. So Jessica might need a flame thrower to melt this ice queen.

Taking a deep breath, Jessica replied, “If I am honest with you, I don’t know. Just decided to have a walk, go to a pub. Go back to normality. I am sorry Alison, I really want to make it up to you.”

“Fine, I’m meeting my boyfriend and his friend anyway. You can join, if you really want to make amends.” Alison huffed.

‘Nice invite, can’t say no to that really’, Jessica thought sarcastically, but out loud responded “I’d love to...”

“You have GOT to be kidding me...” Caruso sighed. Burrows, hearing the weariness in his voice, decided it was probably best to sit down. It wasn’t going to be good news, no matter how much he hoped.

“Looks like our stalkers more persistent than before, Burrows. I’d suggest getting home; attempt to sleep for a few hours because we’re gonna need to be up at the crack of dawn for this.” Grabbing his jacket, Caruso made to leave.

“So aren’t you going to explain what’s happened, Sam? I might need a bit of help, because surprisingly I cannot read your mind,” Burrows said dryly.

Caruso looked sheepish. “Of course, didn’t even think about that; forget that phones even have loud speakers on. Let’s say, our killers not only left us a body, but another note. What’s confusing is it doesn’t fit what he’s left before. It feels like this time, he wants the chase. To see how close he can get to Jessica without us catching him.”

“So what does the note say?” Burrows wasn’t sure if he wanted to hear the answer or not.

“Oh, this is great. ‘They say time will heal all wounds, but what happens when the wounds cut so deep they kill?’”

“A sign of what he’s done or going to do?”

“That, my boy, is what we’re going to find out tomorrow. We need a clear head though before we think about it, so go home and sleep. I’ll call you in the morning. Make sure you’re up.” With that, Caruso flew out of the office, leaving a wondering Burrows behind.

 “One more shot Jess, c’mon!” Alison slurred, pushing a shot of Apple Sourz towards her.

“Fine,” Jessica reluctantly agreed. Alison and the two men Jess had met earlier cheered. What were their names again? Everything was slightly hazy. Too much alcohol in her blood stream. Her own fault though. GARY AND DAVE! No. That wasn’t them. She didn’t even know how she came up with those names.

“Jake, baby, get me a vodka and coke please?” Alison attempted to stand a few times, but fell back down straight away.

Ah, Jake and Tim. Now she remembered. Might have had something to do with Alison saying them, but still. Worked it out in the end. Tim had funny hair. It was bright green. But it was brown earlier. She looked down at her hand and gasped. Her hand was green, too! What had the Sourz done?! It was then that she noticed the light above the two. The bright, green light that wasn’t that hard to miss... Oh.

“Are you okay Jess?” Tim asked. Or was he Jim? Or even Jack? No. Tim.

“Yeah, think I might head back home, everything’s spinning a little bit too fast for my liking.”

Taking her hand, Tim announced to the happy couple on the other side, “I’m gonna get Jess home, I’ll see you both later.” He winked.

“Oh no, don’t worry, I’m sure I can manage myself. Don’t go to any trouble,” Jessica babbled. She really did not want to be going home with a strange man.

“You’ll be fine, for God sake Jess. Tim’s lovely. Stop worrying.” Alison glared.

“It’s not like that, that’s not what I meant!”

“It’s obviously that. Why don’t you live a little?”

After that lovely dismissal, Tim grabbed her hand, squeezed it and pulled her outside. Seeing a taxi, they advance towards it.

“Don’t worry Jess, I’ll definitely give you a night to remember...”