nishka//loki (nishka) wrote in repose, @ 2018-01-18 16:35:00 |
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Entry tags: | *narrative, nishka bariss |
Narrative: Nish calls home
Who: Nish and Rob [NPC]
What: Nish calls home for a bit of direction and comfort.
Where: Nish’s room at the motel
When: [backdated] Friday, January 12, 2018, about 11:30pm
Nish sat in bed for a long time holding her phone in her lap before finally tapping ‘send’ and turning on speakerphone. It rang four times before he picked up.
“Hello?” his familiar voice answered, making her smile sadly. It was bittersweet; comforting and painful at the same time.
“Hey,” she said, “can you talk?” she asked. He was working a cover, so she knew he wasn’t always able to answer, and even less able to talk freely.
“Yeah, I’m alone,” he replied, lifting her spirits a little. “How are you doing, Nisha?” he asked, his voice softening a little while using her childhood nickname. She tried to smile, but it came out as more of a grimace.
“I’ve been better,” she admitted, embarrassed to find that tears were prickling her eyes. She swiped at them with her free hand and her fingers came back damp.
“Where are you?”
“Uhhm, I’m in a motel in Repose,” she said, leaning back against the pillows, shifting so that her ribs didn’t hurt as much. “You know, the place where the witness said he came from?” she said.
“Yeah, I remember,” Rob sighed. “Listen, Nish...I know you want to find the person who did this, but you’ve gotta let this go. It was an accident, not some conspiracy,” he insisted, interrupting her retort, “and the police are investigating, but you know they have no leads.”
“What about the witness to the crash,” she insisted, her voice suddenly sharp, biting. “Did they bother to talk to him? That’s why I’m here.”
“The guy’s a ghost, Nish,” he reminded her, and she rolled her eyes with a sigh. Everyone was talking about ghosts lately… “They don’t even have his name, how are they supposed to track him down?” He paused and let out a long sigh, suddenly sounding tired. “Nish…come home,” he insisted. “Slow down. Go back to therapy. Grieve.”
“I can’t do that,” she whispered, “not yet. James is dead, and someone is responsible for that. I don’t believe for a second that it was a random hit-and-run. He deserves justice; we both do.”
“Nish…”
“I’m serious, Rob. Three months out of witness protection and he’s dead,” she said, a hint of anger now in her voice.
“In an accident,” he insisted, sounding very much like someone who’s argued all these same points many times before.
“Bullshit,” she retorted hotly. “I know what I saw - a fucking black SUV with no plates running a light, ramming right into his door and disappearing without a trace? If you were me, what would you think?” she demanded. “Why do you think he was in Witness Protection in the first place if it wasn’t because his life was in danger?”
“He’d already testified, Nish, it was over…”
“So it was a revenge hit, then,” she shot back. He sighed heavily, the air between them silent for several seconds.
“Look Nisha, I know you need closure, but...sometimes there just isn’t any. You need to accept what happened and deal with it, for your own sanity.” There was a pause, Nish biting her thumb and Rob gathering his thoughts. “Are you sober?” he asked her. When she didn’t respond right away, he insisted. “Nish…”
“I can handle it,” she responded quickly over his protest.
“How much have you had?” he asked, sounding tired again.
“Not enough,” she replied, pouting. “There’s a minibar, but it’s fucking expensive…”
“You know that’s not a way to deal with this, right?” he cut her off. She was about to keep going, argue with him, but then she sighed and nodded, picking at the seam of the blanket across her lap.
“I know, Rob, I know,” she said, sounding young, scared. “It’s just…I miss him, so goddamn much...” Tears began chasing each other down her cheeks, dripping onto the blankets.
“I know,” he sighed sadly, “it hurts, and it won’t get any better if you keep picking the wound open like this. Forget about your revenge, Nisha, this is about you, and you need to heal.” She was silent for a minute, letting the tears fall silently, then sniffed and nodded, wiping at her cheeks.
“I know,” she repeated, starting to get annoyed with those two words, “and I will. But I need to do this first.” He sighed heavily, rubbing his forehead where he felt the beginnings of a headache. She heard a sound on the other end and then Rob called out that he’d be right out.
“Nish, I’m sorry, but I gotta go,” he said hurriedly. She smiled through her tears and nodded even though he couldn’t see.
“Go get the bad guys,” she said, and he chuckled.
“Actually, right now I am one of the bad guys. I’ll call you later, okay? Love you.”
“You too,” she said just before he hung up. She sat there for a long time after, first watching her phone’s screen wink out from inactivity, then staring at the black screen in thought.
“He’s probably right,” she said to the empty room, “but I have to do this. I owe him this much.”
‘Don’t worry, Nish, we'll get ‘em,’ Loki soothed, sounding almost as if he were sitting next to her, comforting her, cradling her in his arms. ‘We’ll make ‘em pay.’ With that, she managed a weak smile, and then shifted in bed, turning the light out and drifting off to sleep.