Distract and Sedate | Hemlock Grove |

Chapter 15 | Really Don't Like U |

When she returns to the dorm Maggie and Jules are in the middle of a conversation. Emma nods a hello then buries herself under her bedding. There's a bit of muffled whispering she can't understand than a shift in her bed as someone sits on it. "You wanna dye your hair?" Maggie asks as she pulls the covers back.

"Not really," Emma replies.

"Come on, let me do it," Maggie begs. "Have you ever dyed it before?"

"No."

"It'll be fun, I promise."

The slight change in her reflection doesn't feel nearly as weighted as her self-inflicted hair cut last year. It's a pretty shitty dye job, too. Emma wonders if the box of dye has been sitting in Maggie's dorm since her first break-up back in September. It barely sticks to Emma's hair and will definitely wash out within a shower or two.

She almost talks about the night before, but she becomes embarrassed. It's not that she thought her friends would judge her. She's afraid of what they'll think. She's sure they wouldn't judge someone for that, but would they judge her? Would they worry that she liked them? Was she the only judgmental one?

As the dye sits and burns into her scalp, she tries to not think about it. It had been clear from the moment they left that this was a premeditated attack. The couple had known where they planned on the evening going. It had been far from a great sexual experience.

The thing is, when you're only there as an added experience that's all you are. She is an oddity to be observed. The attention was nice but she'd equate it to eating a bag of chips. You'll eat and eat until you're sick but you'll never get full. She'd do it again in a heartbeat.

It had stung a little bit when she realized no one actually liked her there. They didn't want to know her either. She'd felt like there was an actual human connection being made with Jesse, but clearly, it was a ploy.

She had liked her. She seemed cool and had good taste in music- and even better taste in drinks. Jesse looked so cool and confident. She held herself in a way that Emma could never quite achieve. She wonders, if they had met without Jonah could have been friends?

She wishes Jonah hadn't been there at all, really.

- HG -

Roman hates it. He hates the hold Peter Rumancek has over his life. His life had always been destined to be sinister, but Peter only brought more suffering. He had been fine until he showed up on his doorstep that day. Things had been as close to perfect as they could get. He's accepting what he already knew to be true. Whatever bond he and Peter shared was stronger than before.

He wakes up to a nightmare again that night. Almost exactly the same nightmare as before.

Peter's hand is raised to ring the doorbell when the door opens. Roman's stares out, still half asleep to the panicked boy outside. Word vomit erupts from Peter's mouth as he tries to describe what's happening. "This guy in the white mask, I think he killed that family. And I think he killed the mom and her son last night."

"Yeah?" Roman yawns.

"I think he's going to do it again. The kid on the tricycle. He's going to run him over."

"So what are you saying? A psycho freak in a mask is going around killing people?

"Yeah, but he's making them look like accidents."

"Why?"

"I don't know. That's why I'm standing in the last place either of us wants to be at right now. If we can figure out-"

"What do you want?" Roman cuts him off.

"Last year Destiny kept telling me to pay attention to the dreams... I didn't, that's why everything went bad."