- HG -
Roman's mind had been blank for so long that he had forgotten what dreaming felt like. He felt lost in a world that had once become a second home to him. During his coma, he had wandered into places he never thought he would return to. On bad days he wishes he could experience it once more.
The dream he has that cold night is nothing like the bright one he had in his coma. There were no bright gardens outside of the mansion, no golden rooftops with Peter, and no unfamiliar embodiments of his sister. It's nothing of the sorts.
He dreams of a dark night, a white mask, a snake, and a doll. They appear to him like strobe lights, never coming to their full existence. The story is never completed but he still wakes up covered in cool sweat. A hand reaches out to check on him, but he pushes it away and grabs his coat.
The car practically steers itself. Roman doesn't know where he's going, but his gut tells him to keep on the gas peddle until he gets there. He turns down a street he's never been on before and only slows down at the sight of a decaying neon sign.
gone sis
He pulls onto the gravel road lined with mobile homes. His headlights illuminate Peter Rumancek. Somehow, Roman's not shocked. It's almost as if it was a given. Of course, Peter was involved. "Mother fucker," he swears under his breath.
"What are you doing here?" Peter asks as Roman gets out of the car.
"I could ask you the same thing."
"You know why I'm here," Peter snips.
"I don't know why I came," Roman admits. "I had a dream and now I'm here. That's all."
"It's not that simple, Roman," Peter argues and walks closer. "There's a reason we're both here right now. We're supposed to be doing something."
"Yeah? Well, whatever it is we're supposed to be doing, I'd rather do it alone." Roman turns and walks back to the door of his car. Peter runs after him as he drives off, but gives up quickly. Roman was stubborn, and in his own time would come around. Peter just hopes that time comes before it's too late.
Roman passes the flashing blue lights before Peter does. He's about 10 minutes away from gone sis when they fly by but he knows where they're headed. He knows that goddamn gypsy was on to something. He calls the only other person he has to warn. At almost 300 miles away he's sure she has nothing to worry about. But it's a subconscious peace gesture.
- Philly -
Roman's warning crackles away in the back of her mind like a dying fire. It sparks up for a moment, creating a bit of panic that doesn't last. She does, however, double-check the lock on her dorm room that night. He had probably been drunk or high or both and trying to scare her. She doesn't trust him and he doesn't scare her either.
She sleeps in late and pouts when she realizes she'd missed breakfast at the dining hall. All she wants is a plate full of scrambled eggs and toast, but she settles for a cold cut sandwich instead. She has the mother of all hangovers and a dull pain in her right nostril and sinuses. Those rich kids really go hard.
When Jules gets back that afternoon, she turns the overhead lights on without warning. The intrusion of light makes Emma bite back bile in her throat. Her head pounds and she can only squint her eyes open. "It smells like vomit in here," Jules notes.
"There is vomit in here."
"Gross," she mumbles. "Take that shit out."
"Mmmm," Emma groans. She slowly rises from her bed and searches for her slippers. "Okay, okay."
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."
"Well," Roman tries to sound tough. "If this is your way of apologizing for leaving me like a coward, duly noted."
"I was a coward," Peter admits. "It wasn't about the people who trashed the trailer or the cops... I didn't want anything to remind me of Letha- of everything I lost. Everything we lost. You were my only friend and I abandoned you." Peter looks Roman in the eyes, truly sorry for the pain he'd caused him. He turns to leave.
"Peter," Roman calls out as he walks away. "I- I don't know what you're talking about with a tricycle. I'm dreaming the same things as last time but it's ice. It's not anywhere in particular, but I just know it's ice."
"Do you think the two are connected."
"I don't know," Roman shrugs. "Maybe it isn't a killer thing. Maybe it's an accident, the truck slides on ice and hits the kid. It's just coincidences."
"It's not," Peter sounds sure. "I don't know why but he's hunting something. I can feel it in my gut. I know his instincts. He's a hunter too."
"I'll let you know if I see anything else. Good luck. Be safe, okay?" He doesn't wait for a response before going back inside.
He walks back up the staircase and is surprised to see the baby's door is opened once again. When he enters the room and sees that it's just Miranda he feels instant relief. His attempts to convince Peter that things were okay had failed on himself. His mind always goes to Olivia when the baby is involved.
He doesn't say anything as he watches the baby suckle at the unrelated woman's breast. Roman hadn't found an explanation for what had happened when Miranda arrived. She can't explain how she knew the codes to get into the room, she just did. She doesn't know why she began breastfeeding the baby, she just knew she was supposed to.
Roman couldn't find a logical explanation for it. Strange things followed him and those around him, this was no exception. After it had happened, he hadn't explicitly said she could stay with him. There was some unspoken understanding that she could, and should, stay there. The baby called to her and she answered.
He had fucked her that first night she showed up. She had found him strange and a bit intimidating, but he was Roman fucking Godfrey. Miranda didn't know what that name meant then, but she knew that she had been lucky to find him opening that door.
He's lucky to see her standing there, presented to him like a gift. She asks a lot of questions, but she doesn't ask much out of him. She doesn't ask for his attention, she only fights with him when she finds out about the baby. She's happy to be there, and most importantly she is there.
She hasn't been trying too hard to get her car fixed, and he hasn't pushed it too hard either. If he really wanted her gone he could just buy her a new one, or give her the one he gave Emma. Anytime the thought crosses his mind he grows cold. He doesn't want to go back to come home to an empty house. He doesn't want to hear the baby cry anymore. He doesn't want to talk to about it either.
So, he doesn't. He doesn't ask her to sleep in his room with him, but he doesn't ask her not to either. It hadn't been every night, but since Emma's 'visit' Miranda had been avoiding him. Lucky for her, her car parts had mysteriously started arriving. It turns out that she's a coward just like him.
When she sees him standing there he knows that it's time to speak. They both do. She waits until Nadia is fed and asleep before she moves. Placing the baby in her crib in the center of the room, Miranda walks past him. When the door is shut behind them, she stops to lean against the wall.
"I should go," she states.
"What?" He asks, surprised to hear her say that.
"Whatever happened last weekend I don't want to get in the middle of."
"There's nothing to get in the middle of," he chuckles but she isn't amused.
"I'm not a home wrecker."
"No one said you were," Roman says with a puzzled look.
"She clearly thinks I am," Miranda says about Emma. "And I refuse to be insulted or treated like such."
"She was just surprised, that's all. It doesn't even matter," Roman defends the absent girl. "If you really want to leave I understand."
"Do you want me to go?" Roman looks down to think.
"No," he admits. "I don't want you to go. I don't want you to think I'm some cheating piece of shit either. Emma's a friend, she just gets... concerned," he settles on.
"Are you ever going to tell me who the baby's mom is?"
"No," Roman shakes his head. "It's complicated, that's all there is to it."
"But it's not her?"
"It's not her."
- Philly -
They say the only way to push through a hangover is to keep going. Emma doesn't know if that's true but it didn't matter that much anyway. She wants to go out with her friends. The night before had been fun and fine, but it left her with a bad taste in her mouth.
It's strange how one little incident can create so many repercussions. If Emma hadn't gone out with her friends she wouldn't have ended up at the crowded house party. If she wasn't at the crowded house party she wouldn't have had so much to drink that she vomits in the corner of an empty bedroom. She wouldn't have pushed through her discomfort to dance with Maggie to some dumb pop song. If she hadn't been dancing with Maggie that guy in the green shirt wouldn't have groped her.
She wouldn't have pushed her way into the hallway with Maggie being dragged behind her. She wouldn't be in that hallway now saying she wants to leave. When Jules and one of her sorority sisters appear she tells them she wants to go home. None of them seem too interested in going with her.
She thanks the universe for sending Liza her way. She says she's ready to go too so they can walk back together. They giggle at their shivering as they walking along the snowy sidewalks. Emma tries to catch a snowflake or two on her tongue. Her failed attempts seem so funny at that moment.
There comes a fork in their journey. Liza's apartment is to the right, Emma's dorm is further ahead. The bulk of the trip is over and it's time for them to part. With a sigh, Liza releases her arm and pats it. "Have a good night, Em. Drink some water."
"You too," she returns and gives a small wave while walking away.
The layer of sweat on her body has turned cold and her dress clings to her thighs awkwardly. As she pulls at it, she can't shake the feeling that she's not alone. It's Roman's voicemail playing games with her. It's her paranoia fucking with her. It's not real.
Looking around, she assures herself things are fine. She's almost back to the dorm anyways, just a few more minutes. Shivering and crossing her arms for warmth, she picks up her pace. She should have just called a cab.
The sound of crunching snow from behind her has her stopping. Emma glances over her shoulder again and sees nothing. Just her own footprints in the snow behind her. She takes another step forward and hears the strangest sound. It's a loud metallic sound. Her first thought is that it sounds like the noise a baseball makes when it's hit with a bat.
It takes a moment to realize where the sound is coming from. It clicks right before the pain hits. The sound had come from a collision to the back of her head, a deafening vibration runs through her skull. Fight or flight kicks in, and flight wins but it doesn't succeed.
Oops. My bisexual is showing.Marry Christmas and happy Hanukkah!!!! I was going to wait to update, but I'm going to be stuck at family things for the next 24 hours and I wanted to make sure you guys had something to distract you from it all;)I also might a little drunk off of eggnog and writing a drabble right now...