Absolute Chaos (Dick Grayson)

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

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!"