I swear, these chapters are getting longer and longer every time I write them. So much to include, so little time! ahhhhh.
please leave a comment after reading! they matter so much more to me than reads or votes, honestly. I love reading reactions or when you like something or even if there's something you don't get...
Jess is running.
It's dark, a long hallway, and she's running faster than she's run before. Every footstep bounces off the walls, her breathing echoes. Every time she feels she's getting closer to the exit, the hallway stretches out more, the door forever out of reach.
She leans against one wall for support, sliding down until she's kneeling on the ground, hands on the floor in front of her, eyes squeezed shut. Her heart beats out of her chest, her lungs are burning. Jess thinks she can taste blood.
The scene warps around her and when she opens her eyes, she's no longer in a hallway but in a room. A small room - a closet? A cabinet?
There is a girl.
She's small, blonde, skinny in a way that would make someone wonder. Big eyes, dark circles underneath. The girl is crying. She reaches up to rub at the tears with her sleeve pulled over her hand.
Jess falls back against the wall, staring.
The girl sees her. She opens her mouth, eyes darting around, and starts to tremble - "You need to leave, you have to go."
"What?" Jessica says. The girl doesn't seem to hear her.
"Go! You need to leave! I can see her, I can - she's coming back, she's coming back!"
Jess smells something. Smoke. It smells like smoke and chemicals.
"Leave, leave, you have to leave," the child begins to cry. They aren't sobs, not loud weeping tears. Quiet, sad drops fall from her eyes and yet the only noise that she makes are small whimpers and words. Her mouth quivers but she still remains quiet.
Jess shakes her head, "What's wrong? What's going on?"
"Why won't you leave me alone?" She whimpers, looking through Jessica now. Jess turns, but there is no one there.
She means to get closer, but she's stuck to the floor. She can stand but she can't walk forwards. She can't go back or sideways either. Jess is glued to the spot.
The smell grows stronger. Jess notices a discarded syringe next to the girl. That wasn't there before, but now it is, and the child has noticed too.
"She's going to come back. I want to go. You have to go!" The girl raises her arms and Jess frowns, wanting to do something but incapacitated, unable to move. She begins to beat the air in front of her, but it rippled like she's actually hitting a sheet of glass. Her fists hit it over and over again, her voice growing louder. "Leave! Go away! You can't be here, you can't stay here you have to go-"
"Why? What is it? Listen to me!" The girl continues and Jess makes futile attempts to yank herself from where she's stuck. "Stop! Please, just - what is it? What's going on?"
The girl is further and further away. Every step Jess manages to take is heavy, like her shoes are anchors falling in the ocean.
"GO AWAY! GET AWAY! SHE'S COMING BACK!"
Jess starts to scream back - "Let me help you! TELL ME WHAT'S WRONG!"
The girl beats harder and harder and harder - she sobs and sobs, fat tears rolling down her cheek and making a small puddle below her that grows, and grows, until it's a sea of tears and they're both underwater and Jessica is gasping, gasping for air, and the girl is screaming soundlessly -
The water glows bright green, a flash of stark neon purple, and there is the sound of a door opening and a woman's voice -
"Darling," comes a faint voice, "what have you done now?"
Jessica shrieks, and
she wakes.
She's thrashing in bed, tangled in her sheets, disoriented and out of breath. Jessica freezes as she realizes she's staring at the ceiling, the beginnings of a scream lodged in her throat. She chokes on it then manages to swallow it down in favour of breathing heavily.
The smell of smoke remains even after Jessica's caught her breath.
—
Jessica's eyes are cloudy when she shows up in full get-up at the Mountain the next afternoon. She's just out of school (made up an excuse about homework to get out of going to Callum's) and the first thing she saw on her phone was thirty second old news about a bank robbery. Despite the fact that she could hardly keep her eyes open that day, she still races over immediately.
"What can I do?"
Kaldur opens his mouth to answer but Connor beats him to it. "Get in," he says, pushing her in the direction of the Bioship.
One her way she sees Nightwing and quirks a polite smile in his direction. He nods in the same fashion.
Artemis gives her a once-over, narrowing her eyes at the lack of mask.
"What?" Jessica asks, tired and not willing to get into any kind of argument right now.
"Nothing," the older blonde replies curtly. "You look tired."
"Yeah, senior year will do that to a person," Jess mutters. Lies, but no one will question it.
—
When they land, Jess sticks near the back, despite the way her hands feel like they're antsy to get into a fight. She's hyperaware of the news cameras, the swirling helicopters, the S.W.A.T. team...
They're on the roof of the next building, and everyone shoots off in their individual directions. Jess can't hear any voices in her head so either she's blocked it out already or they haven't thought to include her.
"We will keep watch today," Kaldur says shortly, and she looks back at him with a passive look in her eye.
"Keep watch." she repeats slowly. "Okay. Is that your way of saying you're on babysitting duty?"
Kaldur either doesn't hear the last bit (she did try and say it quietly) or doesn't feel like acknowledging it. Jess crosses her arms and looks over at the bank.
Robberies are all too common no matter which city they're in. You'd assume it's Gotham that gets the most of them, but it's actually Quartz and Central. Plus, there's a silent agreement that unless given express permission by Batman, nobody goes into Gotham to do any kind of hero-ing/vigilantism unless you're a bat.
Jess leans over slightly, watching the antsy movements of released hostages and tension in police officers. There's a lot of chaos, a lot of noise. It's the biggest bank in the city, so nearly every cop has shown up.
