Who: Laurel Lane & Open When: Monday afternoon What: Dealing with Sara's departure Where: Outside Hanover college she works at Rating: TBD Status: Open; Incomplete
The messages on the network confirmed Laurel's worst fear: Sara was gone. Part of Laurel could simply not believe it was possible. How? Why now? She didn't understand, but that was the thing about Madison Valley: it sometimes did things that no one could understand or explain. Sara's departure was just another one of those events that no one could understand or do anything about it. They were prisoners in a sense, subjected to whatever whim this town thrust upon them. There was nothing else to say about it, but that did not mean Laurel had to accept it or like it. This was her sister. Her family. And Madison Valley was her only shot to see her again and now it was stolen away. It was a crushing blow and Laurel was struggling to deal with it.
When Sara had died, Laurel had stifled her sadness with the burning anger for justice and revenge for her sister. Here, there was no one to blame for the loss and you could not fight the town, could you? Besides, there was nothing final about this; Sara had been sent home to face God knows what kind of fate and that was worse in a way than death. She didn't know what her sister was dealing with and there was no way Laurel could help her. It was...horrible. All she could do was hope Sara came back and that she retained her memories of this place somehow. Gideon gave her hope for at least the first part of that and Laurel clung to that. It was all she had.
She'd somehow managed to finish her class for the morning without breaking down, but now, outside of the college, it was not such an easy task. She stared down at the salad she'd purchased from the cafeteria with little enthusiasm. Sara would want her to take care of herself, but right now, food was the last thing she wanted. Instead, she sighed and wiped the back of her hand across her eyes, clearing away any tears that might be threatening to spill. She had to be strong.