Who: Johanna Hastings When: May 30, 2049, sometime in the wee hours of the morning Where: The Slate Apartment Complex Rating: PG-13 Summary: The past haunts Johanna. Warnings: Slightly sexual content.
The room wasn't entirely dark but it was somehow obscured, as though Johanna was seeing it through warped glass. There was a sense of foreboding in the air and Hanna's body tensed because it knew what was coming even before she realized it. She turned, instinctively seeking a way out but her movement felt slow, as though she were moving underwater and by the time she turned her head, there was someone else there.
He was taller than she was but not by much but he was entirely faceless. It wasn't that there wasn't a face so much as that the features were indistinct, as though it could be anyone. No matter how much she squinted and stared, she couldn't make out his face. He seemed to come closer and closer until she could feel his breath on her neck.
No, she wanted to insist but her voice failed her. Her body felt heavy and unwieldy, out of her control. All she could do was shake, feeling hot tears slide down her cheeks as cold hands tore at her clothing, powerless against the unwanted touch. Piece by piece, her clothing fell to the ground, the air chilling her exposed skin. She was entirely vulnerable, unable to do a thing as rough hands groped her skin greedily. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to close the world out when he began to take off his pants.
Hanna was shaking violently when she woke up, the covers of her bed thrown to the floor. Her first thought was panic before she realized she was in her new apartment, not some stranger's guest bedroom, and her second was relief, the realization that it was a memory long past, years removed.
With a shiver, Hanna extricated herself from the tangled sheets and walked to the kitchen. She flipped on the light and immediately felt some of her unease dissipate. Ghosts couldn't harm her, right?
Hanna grabbed a glass from the cabinet and turned on the tap, waiting a moment for the water to cool before filling her glass. It had been a long time since she'd had that nightmare and its return shook her to the core. She couldn't actually remember what happened that night at the party, though her imagination had constructed that bone-chilling scene all the same, an imaginary memory that would stay with her as though it were real.
The water was cool and refreshing, washing away the dryness in her throat but it couldn't quite chase away the new image that rose in her mind. It wasn't hard for Hanna to figure out what had brought the reoccurrence of the nightmare, though.
Hanna really couldn't have claimed that running into Aaron in Innovo was entirely unexpected. After all, Aaron had grown up in Innovo and it only made sense that he'd stayed there. Still, she hadn't expected to feel as though she had the wind knocked out of her either. How could four years come and gone still left her wounds so raw?
With a sigh, Hanna set the empty glass in the sink and walked out of the kitchen, turning off the light as she did. She only wished she could shut off her whirling thoughts as easily.