Seeing and Hearing Things
Who: Edison and Kennedy Where: The Hotel (her room) When: Morning
Edison woke up back in his bed. That was the best part. It wasn’t really his bed, but after the medieval times? The bed was a god send. For the first few minutes after waking he didn’t move. The bed was comfortable, a step above sleeping on the floor like he had be. Nothing was trying to attack him. It was calm almost. At least until the screaming started. It was distant, but he could hear it. Someone was screaming. He sat up, looking around the hotel room that looked exactly like it had when he left it. There was nothing out of order, nothing that said someone should be screaming, but he felt like he needed to look into it. Sure, he’d seen enough horror films to know that he shouldn’t, but it wasn’t stopping and the pull was too much to ignore. He changed quickly, dragging his fingers through his hair and heading into the hallway to see if the screaming was there too.
Kennedy's morning started out okay. She seemed to have slept well, and the second she realized she was back in the hotel, she showered. She still looked like shit from the animal attacks and all that, but a shower was glorious. Or, it was right up until her vision sparked and she saw blood running down the walls of the stall. She jolted and stumbled back, losing her footing. She dumped herself out of the shower entirely, landing on her ass in the bathroom. Blinking, she stared, but...yeah, no blood. Just a shower. She squeezed her eyes shut, wondered if maybe she was cracking up, then wrote it off as stupidity on her part. She got back in the shower and quickly finished up. She got herself ready for the day – which in this case included a pj outfit, because after the last few days 'lazy' was the way to go.
Walking out into the hall, she screamed, seeing blood everywhere. The floor was soaked, the walls were splattered, drips even fell from the light fixtures above her head and she quickly reached up to wipe her cheek, where she swore she even felt it drip onto her face.
Edison heard her screaming. That was different than the screaming that he’d been hearing in his room, but the moment he heard it, he was running towards it, slowing to a stop when he saw Kennedy. “Hey! What’s going on?” he asked, hurrying to her and looking around. Everything looked normal. Why was she screaming?
She blinked as, to her, suddenly Edison was standing there. She seemed to have missed the part where he'd run up. “I--” she started, looking around, but it was all gone again. She wiped at her cheek again, like she was trying to get a spider off of it, then looked at her fingers. They were dry and clean. She turned to Edison and grabbed the front of his shirt, locking her eyes onto his. “There isn't blood on my face, is there?” she asked, like the question determined the world's fate.
He wasn’t at all ready to be grabbed, still looking around, trying to figure out what was going on and then there she was pulling at his shirt and staring at him. He blinked twice then shook his head. “Um, no...What happened?” He touched her cheek gently where the scratches ran down her cheeks.
Normally she probably would have swatted his hand, but she was feeling crazy. Unstable at the very least. “Maybe nothing,” she told him, but she didn't sound overly convinced. “...so, honest question – do you think I'm crazy? Like, crazytown bananapants crazy? Please keep in mind I did jump down an elevator shaft, not knowing it wouldn't kill me.”
Edison felt like that was a loaded question. “Um.. Maybe a little bit?” He wasn’t sure how to answer that really. “Why are you asking me if you’re crazy?”
“Is that a real answer? Don't worry you can't offend me,” she told him, really wanting that assessment. “And oh, cuz I'm feeling crazy as shit right now. Like, on a scale of one to ten, I'm thinking I'm topping out at a thirteen.”
“Is that more than when you jumped down the elevator shaft?” Edison asked. He wasn’t sure what to do with her, but he wound up reaching for her hand that was holding on to his shirt, holding it in his.
“No, when I jumped down the elevator shaft, it was just something to do on a whim,” Kennedy said. Then she paused, narrowing her eyes at herself. “That probably says a lot about me,” she added, more to herself than him. Then she refocused on him. “I-” and then it hit again, just as she was thinking she was imagining things. One second she was looking at him, his eyes on hers, his hand just covering her own. The second, for just a flash, he was staring at her like she'd just stabbed him. Which had something to do with the knife she was gripping, sticking out of his chest. She gasped and scrambled backwards, falling on her ass again as she tried to get away, yelling, “I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!”
“A whim?” That wasn’t exactly something he thought anyone would do on a whim. Maybe she was crazy. That wasn’t something he was going to point out though since crazy people tended to act out. He was trying to come up with something to say, but she was reacting to nothing which was far more confusing and distracting. “What? Sorry for what?” Edison moved closer and reached a hand out for her to help her up again. “You didn’t do anything.”
Tears stung her eyes and she blinked at him – Edison, all not dying. Not bloody. No knife. She stared at him, shaking, then curled up and hugged her knees, trying to get herself under control. “I just saw...there was so much blood, and a knife, and...you...you're gonna want to get away from me,” she told him, voice shaking as much as she was.
That was weird. Really weird. Sure she was telling him to get away, but he wasn’t about to listen to her when she was curling up like that. He knelt next to her. “It’s okay, no blood. No knife. I’m fine.” He was about to say something else when he heard it, the screaming. He glanced back down the hall, frowning. “Did you hear that?”
“No, seriously, Edison...” she said, reaching out to push him, though it wasn't hard. It was pretty weak. After seeing her own hand holding a knife plunged into him, she wasn't up for anything more than a weak attempt. “Hear what?” she asked.
He held on to her arm as she pushed at him, not letting her push him away. His eyes weren’t on her though, they were down the hall, trying to place the noise. “Hear the screaming. There it is again,” he said, looking the other way. It was coming from somewhere else this time. How was that possible?
“There's screaming?” she asked, looking at him. Her eyes were red, and she tried to blink at tears. Not a lot got to Kennedy, but this sure did. “Oh god, what if it's happening somewhere else in the hotel? Or I'm seeing future events, or something?” she gasped. “Shit...shit, shit,” she cursed.
“Yeah. I can hear it. In the distance.” He looked back at her, seeing those tears in her eyes and reaching for her more. “It’s fine. I’m sure… You can’t hear it?” Maybe it was just in his head. That would actually be easier because it meant no one was getting hurt.
She shook her head. “No, and quit—back off!” she told him. “Unless you want to be all dead n shit, which I'm guessing isn't your life plan!” she tried to snap, but it came off less bitchy than she would have liked. It was probably due to the fact that she actually liked Edison, and didn't really want him to die by her hand. Or anyone else's, she guessed, but still. “I'm seeing flashes of horror movie bullshit, like, buckets of blood, and I just saw me with a knife stabbed into your heart, so how about you fuck off, and just...like never talk to me again?”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Edison insisted. He liked Kennedy too and he wasn’t about to just abandon her and avoid her forever if she was seeing things. “Do you even have a knife on you? Why would you stab me? How long have you been seeing things?” The screaming paused for a moment and he focused on her, watching her eyes. “Has this happened before? Seeing things?”
“You should!” she told him, trying to drum up more strength, and she managed. “I don't have a knife! I wouldn't stab you! But who knows what the fuck is happening here? This place is fucked! What if I go all Jack Torrence on everyone's asses! He was only one feather away from being a loon himself, and I'm not that far off either!” She just barely remembered to answer the last question. “Not since that time I did LSD! I don't usually hallucinate!”
“If you wouldn’t stab me, we’re good to go. If you go all crazy on me, I’ll lock you up. I’m bigger than you are remember?” Edison reached for her hands to pull her up off the ground. “So good. You’re not prone to hallucinations that aren’t drug-induced. Later you can tell me about taking LSD.” He wanted to know that story for sure. The screaming started again which was a huge reason why he wasn’t leaving her. What if whatever was causing that screaming got her? Nope, he was definitely not letting her out of his sight. “Come on, I think it’s coming from down there.”
“Yeah, that doesn't make me feel better,” Kennedy told him. “Awesome, you go check it out, and I'll wait here. And like, try to work out how to immobilize myself. Are there zip ties anywhere? Handcuffs? Anything?”
“I’m not handcuffing you,” Edison insisted. “Come on. You’re coming with me. I’m not about to leave you alone to run into whatever’s making that noise. Or causing that noise.”
“Fine, I'll find some myself. Or at least something to tie myself up with,” Kennedy stated. “I don't hear any noise. I'm...y'know, just having a psychotic break, or something, which means you should be far away.” She turned back toward her room, to try and get in there and lock herself in.
“Kennedy,” Edison insisted, reaching for her arm again. “Even if you are having a psychotic break you probably aren’t going to go on a stabbing rampage.”
“You don't know that. You don't know me. People having psychotic breaks do all sorts of shit. So, just take off, Edison. Okay? Please? Just head out, and call it good. If you're super worried, there's phones, call me later. If I haven't found some way to murder people or am not in the middle of -” She broke off again as there was another flash, and there was Edison, dead again. Only this time he looked like he was hung, decomposing. She squeaked, then dashed into her room.
“I’m not the kind to just take off,” Edison said, not ready to let her leave. He was too worried about the screaming. Just as he said it though the screaming started and for once it sounded closer and he found himself looking in that direction. As it was, he wasn’t paying attention when she dashed into her room and the door closed in his face before he could catch it. “Kennedy!” he said as he knocked hard on the door. “I’m not...I don’t wanna just leave you here.”
Kennedy leaned back against the door and slid down it. “But I want you to! It's...y'know, cool, or something! Totally won't hold it against you later! Promise!” she tried to tell him, though she wasn't sure that would work, exactly. She hoped so, though, because she didn't think she could handle seeing him dead again.
“I don’t really believe you,” Edison said on his side of the door, hearing her voice get closer to the ground and going with it, resting it back against the door. “I’m not the type. You’re stuck with me Ken.”
“At least call me 'Kenny' if you're shortening my name,” she told him. “And you should. I'm going to go back to bed. Sleep off the crazy, if I can. And if it's still happening later, I'll....er... Call? Or something?”
“I hear Kenny and I think of that kid on Southpark.” He thumped his head back against the door, not liking that he could still hear screaming. It was starting to freak him out. What if someone was being tortured somewhere? He needed to see if he could find it. “Yes. Call me.” He waited a beat before he started again. “Are you going to be okay?”
Nope! Kennedy thought but didn't say. For once, she went with the untrue but better for someone else reply. “Yeah, just...going back to bed,” she promised. “I'm good,” she reached up to rub at her face again, seeing a flash of blood all over her room, though thankfully this time there weren't any bodies.
Edison didn’t want to leave her, turning slightly to look at the door as if he might be able to see her through it. He let out a sigh too quiet for her to hear as the screaming started again. It was closer this time. “Call me when you wake up okay?”
“Okay,” she promised, glad he seemed to be going away. Because seriously, she was just traumatized. It wasn't an easy thing to do with her, usually she blew off everything, even things others would be really upset about. To her, it was usually all water off a duck's back. But not this.
He looked towards the screaming and forced himself to get up. “I’m going to come back once I figure out where the screaming is coming from. And I’ll stay with you okay?” He rested his forehead against the door, wishing he could do more, but she wasn’t letting him. “I’ll be back soon.” He waited a moment more before pulling away and starting off in a jog towards where the screaming was coming from.
She said nothing, just letting him go. She wanted to go back to bed, that was it. Skip this day, and hope tomorrow was hallucination free. She wasn't sure what to hope for, not in this place.