Where: Their trailer
What: Dealing with it
When:A week after this Rating: Low
Status: Complete
Blurb? Quote? Whatever you want!
It had been a week since the night she’d nearly killed Celeste outside Terrible’s, and Abby couldn’t get it out of her head. At first she hadn’t really remembered much but over the next few nights it came back, waking her up suddenly in a cold sweat. She remembered seeing the knife cutting Radek’s (She’d learned his name afterwards) stomach open and then the sudden murderous impulse to tackle and choke Celeste. It made her sick to think she was capable of that, even if she’d been possessed.
She’d killed before, of course. Cougars were predators after all. But never in anger and only when actually hunting for a meal. Certainly nothing like a human!
So far she was holding it together, but there were circles under dull, tired eyes that normally had a spark to them.
Mikey took a deep lungful of air before walking up the steps to the double-wide he shared with Abby.
It’d been a good week out in the middle of nowhere, resetting his head a little, recharging his batteries for another few months under fluorescent lights -- he knew summer was peak business for Cottonwood, but one of the perks of managing instead of working down at the docks was that he could take some time away without leaving things too far out of whack.
He’d gotten enough quiet time to look forward to coming back (which was saying something), and walked up the steps with his pack slung over his shoulder, leaving the rest of the gear in the back of the truck to unpack later.
He swung open the door, calling into the trailer.
“Heya,” he called out, “miss me sis?”
“Mikey!” Abby jumped despite herself. She hadn’t expected him to be back until later in the day, and had planned on either being gone or put on enough makeup that her unsettled state wouldn’t be so obvious. Her twin was her closest friend, but she’d planned to try and work through this on her own rather than bother him with it.
Still here he was. Avoiding him wouldn’t do any good and would just have him asking questions anyway. Abby took a deep breath and climbed out of bed to go greet her brother.
“Hey look at you: all tanned, rested and ready.” She reached up and ruffled his hair with a smile that was only half forced before giving him a hug. “And I always miss you, doofus.”
Mike frowned a little at seeing his sister emerge from the bedroom so late in the morning, looking a little worse for wear as he folded her into a hug. She certainly didn’t look her usual self -- and Abby was usually one of those ‘did a yoga session at sunrise before making myself a smoothie’ sort of folks.
His first thought was that she’d caught something, despite their rather robust immune systems -- but she didn’t smell sick. He briefly wondered if she’d tied one on and was suffering from a hangover, the thought of which made his belly clench a little -- but he couldn’t smell any alcohol in her system, or… other things, so he quickly dismissed that as well.
“Hey,” he said, “you doin’ okay? Rough night?”
“Trouble sleeping, that’s all.” It wasn’t a lie, technically. It just wasn’t the whole truth. Between the full moon the first part of the week and then the nightmares she hadn’t been getting much sleep at all. Abby forced a smile at him and plopped herself down on the sofa, legs crossed underneath her. “I thought I’d take a lazy day today. How was the trip? Did you have fun with the guys?” He’d been talking about this trip out into the backcountry with his college friends for months.
Mikey nodded. “It all worked out pretty well. Kevin can’t cook for shit,” he added, “and Jordyn kept complaining on the hikes, but I sorta figured that going in. I think we’ll go again next year. Sorta make it a tradition?”
He flopped into the easy chair. “What all did you get up to?” He asked, a small wrinkle of worry still between his eyes. “Did the full moon go okay?”
He’d been a little dismayed when the only free time his friends could be available happened during an inconvenient time of the month, but he’d had enough forewarning to plan ahead, and none of them were the wiser. He’d missed running around with his sister, though -- transforming alone was never quite the same.
“Oh not much. It was the moon you know?” Abby deflected, looking down and picking at the hem of her sleep shirt. “There was a fight at Lucky’s on Friday night apparently, big one too. It even made the tv and newspaper.” She went there occasionally now that she was twenty one, but wasn’t interested in alcohol that much and tended toward a coke or virgin daiquiris most times. It was more for the experience and the atmosphere that she went for than anything else.
Mikey snorted. “Yeah. Well.” he shrugged a shoulder. “Drunk people are dumbasses. Anyone we know get hurt?” He asked, raising an eyebrow to see if that was what was bothering his sibling. He shifted a little. “Jeez -- you weren’t there, were you?” He asked.
“No, no, I wasn’t there.” Abby looked up and assured her brother. “I had to work all day that next day so I went to bed early.” She decided she might as well tell him, he knew something was wrong and it would just worry him. “It was the night after, at Terrible’s.”
Mikey frowned. “...What was at Terribles?” He asked. “What happened, Abs?”
“I tried to kill someone.” She said simply, finally looking up at him. “It all happened so fast I didn’t even understand what was going on until it was all over.”
The blood drained from Mike’s face. “Shit,” he exhaled. “Okay. So. I’m gonna need a little more to go off, but… I’m glad you didn’t? What went down? Why did you… was it a thing?” He asked, “you know, a cougar thing? Or…”
“I don’t think so?” She shook her head. “I’d just come back from working a double at the Cove, it was late. I walked into the restaurant and thought I heard something outside, and a few others did too. We went out and tried to find out what it was, then the next thing I know Celeste sliced open a guy’s stomach. He healed so he wasn’t a regular human, but next thing I know I’m on top of Celeste with my hands around her throat trying to choke her to death.”
Mike’s lips felt numb. “Jesus,” he said, “I mean… did you find out about why any of this happened? Like… I’m pretty sure you or Celeste didn’t intend to do any of that -- unless it was some sort of reflex thing? Like, you were trying to protect the guy, and… went too far?” He frowned. “Are you… I mean, are you okay? That sounds really intense?”
“No it wasn’t like that. I remember seeing the blood and suddenly I wanted to kill someone, almost like when we’re changed and on the hunt but a lot more intense. It was like something else was in my head with me, egging me on and making it seem like the right thing to do.” She drew her legs up and rested her head on her knees. “I’ve been having trouble sleeping since after the full moon. I keep dreaming about it.”
Standing abruptly from his chair, Mikey paced around the room a little, his arms tightly folded in front of him. “Okay,” he said, “okay. Jesus, Abs.”
He paused, and took a deep breath, letting it out. “And you haven’t felt that way again?” He asked. “Was it like that for Celeste too?” He paused. “Has anyone else said they’d felt that way after you guys?”
He frowned. “I’m gonna…” he ran a hand through his hair. “I’m gonna help you figure out what happened. That… that’s not good. Jesus. No wonder you’re having trouble sleeping. Why didn’t you call?”
“I think so?” Abby honestly wasn’t sure. “The guy that has the mechanic shop, Mr. Hutchins?” There was enough of an age difference she couldn’t quite bring herself to refer to him by his first name automatically, especially if she wanted her brother to know who she was talking about. “The one who knows magic? He did something and I suddenly knew what I was doing, it wasn’t something I really remembered at first. It sort of came back afterwards. He said it was demonic possession.”
She rolled her eyes at Mikey’s plaintive words and ran a hand through her hair. “You’ve been talking about this trip for months, I thought I could work through it on my own.” And she would have, too. It just might take a little longer.
Mikey snorted. “Yeah, well,” he said, “a trip with the guys is one thing, this is… next time, call, okay?” He asked, sitting down next to her and bumping her shoulder. “And let me know if, you know… it happens again.” He frowned. “I’m gonna talk to Mr Hutchins, see if he has any idea about how to put a stop to it.”
He bumped her shoulder again. “M’ sorry you went through that,” he added. “And… m’ sorry I wasn’t here. I know,” he added, and this time, he was the one rolling his eyes, “but still, that sounds like it sucked, and I’m sorry.”
"Don't be sorry, doofus. It might have gotten you too and there wouldn't have been anything you could have done." She bumped him back and managed a smile. Her twin would always have her back, just like she would his. "Thanks, though. I don't think it'll happen again. Whatever it was disappeared when he did his thing. It's just hard to stop thinking about it, you know?" She needed to put it behind her, but outside of hunting in her were form she didn't have a violent bone in her body. The idea of trying to choke someone deliberately, well...she shuddered.
Mike frowned, and wrapped an arm around his sister. “Yeah, well. It might, and I’m not gonna leave it up to hoping.” He gave her a quick squeeze. “I’m gonna make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
He looked over to his sister. “What would help?” He asked. “Wanna punch the shit out of a bag, or do a yoga session? Nice long run? Eat our weight in Cheetos and ice cream?”
She wrapped an arm around him and laid her head on his shoulder for a minute. They’d always had each other, no matter what else happened. Whatever it was that had possessed her and Celeste at Terrible’s was gone and she was pretty sure it would stay that way, but if Mikey wanted to make sure, well, she wasn’t going to complain about it. “Punching the shit out of a bag and then eating our weight in Cheetos and ice cream sounds good to me.”
He laughed a little. “You are so on,” he said, taking that small worried voice that was full of questions -- who or what was behind this? Why Abby? Was it truly gone? and pushing it aside in favor of the present -- Abby seemed like she didn’t want to dwell.