Distract and Sedate | Hemlock Grove |

Chapter 11 | Atrophy |

Emma enjoys the drive back to Philadelphia. She's never been able to drive this far of a distance before, and definitely not alone. It's nice and safe. She taps her fingers on the wheel along with the music playing. The drive blurs into one long stretch of grey between the tops of mountains and light snow flurries landing on the windshield.

It's late afternoon when she's dragging her suitcase across campus and back to her dorm. The whole way she can't shake the feeling that something is watching her, looming over her shoulder. She quickens her pace and keeps her head faced forward.

She's far from stupid. Maybe a bit intentionally ignorant, but not stupid. It's the lingering aftershocks of a traumatic event. Or several traumatic events really. It's anxiety and agoraphobia that has been awakened by the new semester. That's it, surely.

Any other ideas are buried deep away.

She walks with Jules and Maggie across campus to get their books for the semester. She laughs along as her friends joke about how expensive books are, and how sick of the dining hall they are. They missed home and she didn't.

Emma needed space. It wasn't that things were bad or weird with Roman. Quite the opposite really. They had spent the last few days of her break together. It takes the ride back to feel it, but it's as if the further away she gets from Hemlock Grove the more anxious she gets. The feeling that she is completely alone in the world suffocates her. It's not healthy.

Even surrounded by friends and new classmates she feels lonely. It's just another semester of struggling to find group project partners. Another semester of wanting to want the right things.

She doesn't know why she had expected it. When her first weekend back comes and goes without a visit from Roman she feels almost abandoned.

- Hemlock Grove -

Roman loathes the word co-dependent. Truthfully, he hates any word that can be used to describe him in any light other than the image is building for himself. It comes up casually when they're making plans for the spring gala at the institute. It's the first one they've had since he had taken over and it needed to be perfect. Or at least that's what everyone keeps saying.

They're discussing dates when Roman casually mentions he needs to check with Emma before officially deciding. He had no idea when her finals were, or what other school things she might have to do. It's kind of cute how co-dependent the two of you are. Roman's not sure who said it, but it cuts through the chatter like a sharp knife. Everyone stops speaking and looks around as if they're trying to find the culprit. Ironically enough, he returns to his office with the message that Emma had called his assistant to check on him.

Roman can't even stutter out a response. He calmly dismisses the meeting and returns to his office alone. It's there at his desk it stews a bit. He tries to distract himself with a late lunch that hardly satiates him. It had been over a week since he'd had a 'proper' meal, and even then he couldn't truly enjoy it.

When he's around people properly it's easy to grow disgusted at the more animalistic parts of him. More than he already is anyways. But it had gotten to a point that he could see the serious concern in both Emma and her mother's face. That wouldn't do.

He carnivorously attacks the cooked meat on his plate. Anything above rare wouldn't do, but he needed the distraction. He hears a bit of a racket outside of his office and the door pushing open. He didn't have any appointments, and Trevor better not have fucked that up. He's ready to explode at the poor man when he looks up.

"Roman," Olivia says softly. She stands in front of him in perfect health. The only indication that anything might have happened to her is the cane she lightly walks with. Roman's heart skips a beat and a burst of delirious laughter threatens to pass through his lips. "I'm sorry to surprise you like this, darling."