Who: Joseph (NPC), Sara, Tim, and Harry What: Facing the monster from her nightmare Where: Hamartia 301 When: Saturday (2/19) afternoon Warnings: Major creepering
Sara walked inside the apartment though she wasn’t sure where she found the strength to move. For the first time in five years she was face to face to the man who had been stalking her since she was eleven years old, and this time she wasn’t coming out of a drug induced haze. He was both terrifying and nothing like what she’d expected. She wasn’t sure what she expected, she didn’t think it was him. Sara couldn’t say anything, or even make herself look away, all she could hope was that the woman was still alive, that she had been able to stop her from becoming another Matt. Sara could feel herself trembling, she didn’t know what to do, if she could do anything. So she just stood there and realized she didn’t want to die.
Joseph was completely caught up in Sara. She walked inside willingly, and his attention was fixed solely on her. He barely glanced over to Daryl as Tim went over to her, and then his attention was back on Sara. “Finally,” he murmured, unable to help himself from stepping closer to her. “I have waited for this day for a very long time,” he explained to her, his tone taking on that of someone who was speaking to a child. “And now you’ve come to me freely.” It was certainly a heady experience, finally having her within arm’s reach.
“This time, you’ll remember everything,” Joseph added, his hand reaching forward to brush against her cheek. His touch was gentle and affectionate, something he had wanted to do for a very very long time. Years had passed, and all he had wanted was that connection.
Sara trembled harder the closer he got to her. She felt sick inside as he spoke to her. He spoke to her like he cared for her, and she didn’t understand. This man had tortured her for years, his memory keeping her awake at night too terrified to go to sleep. Always afraid that if she closed her eyes she’d wake up back in that cabin and realize she’d never gotten away.
Why was he doing this to her? Why did he want her so desperately? She was just Sara. Just plain, ordinary Sara and that was all she wanted to be. She wasn’t special and she didn’t want to be special to this man of all people. “I couldn’t forget.” she chocked out. The minute the words left her mouth she knew he wouldn’t take them how she meant them. He wouldn’t hear the terror, and the pain in her voice. He wouldn’t hear the anger. He had tortured her for years without ever getting close enough to her to touch, and he seemed to think she wanted to be here.
No, no she was only here to help Daryl. No one else was getting caught in this crossfire. No one else was getting hurt because of her. This ended with them. Tim stepped to the side as Adam rushed in, angry for a moment as he was pushed off to the side. He hardly cared about Adam though, his main concern was for Daryl. As much as he wanted to go with her to the hospital, Tim knew he needed to take care of Sara. She was standing there, and he could see how scared she was but it was obvious that Joseph had no idea how she was feeling. She would be alright for a few moments while he assessed the situation.
As he looked around the apartment, Tim noticed the snakes slithering along the floor and his eyes widened for the briefest of moments before adjusting the plan. He turned to Harry then, and whispered, “Animal Control might be our best option. Call them?” Harry was rooted to the spot the moment he entered the apartment. He’d known what to expect (sort of), he’d been briefed the same as everyone else, but it was as if then and now were two separate entities. Two parallel universes completely separate from one another, like in those moves. Passing, touching, but divided by an invisible barrier. This wasn’t real. These kinds of things didn’t happen, people didn’t kidnap people and barter them for kids, that was only in movies and fairy tales. People didn’t have snake familiars, slithering around like
Patterns. Moving patterns. That’s all it is. Living, breathing patterns that will swallow you whole or worse if you step on them or get too close, but only patterns. Like that story.
Tim’s words, a question and a request at the same time, is what finally got his attention, pulled him out of it. He could do this. Just pretend he was Indiana Jones, crusading for Good. Indy didn’t like snakes. Not the point. He Triumphed over Evil regardless, faced down his fears, and Harry could too. He took a breath, then almost seemed to shift, standing straighter, more confident, as if a switch had been flipped, and if even his voice had changed, gaining a hint of grit, of Fearless Adventurer, he didn’t seem to notice. He nodded. “You got it, Kemo Sabe. What’re you gonna do in the meantime?” Joseph stood as close as he dared to be to Sara, though when she said she couldn’t forget, he smiled. So she remembered him, at least a little bit. That thought spurred him on further, and he turned his back to Daryl, not at all caring whether the meddlesome bitch lived or died. He had Sara, and that was all that mattered. “So beautiful,” he murmured, as he brought his hand to her cheek. She wasn’t flinching, wasn’t pulling away, at least not too much, and that only served to encourage Joseph further.
His snakes hissed a warning at him, communicating that Daryl had left, that a man took her. Joseph hardly cared, but when the continued to tell him that two men still remained, Joseph glanced over his shoulder. Timothy and his boyfriend, the name escaped him for the moment, were standing there near the door, confused as to what to do. “Enjoy them, my friends. They will be a good meal for you over the next few weeks,” Joseph hissed back, speaking the language of snakes. He turned his full attention back to Sara. “Have you missed me, Sara Hawthorne? Do you dream of me at night, tucked alone in your bed? I dream of you constantly,” he confided in her, not at all realizing how creepy he might’ve sounded. Sara was pretty sure she threw up in her mouth just a bit when he told her that he dreamed of her. Had she dreamed of him? Only if one thought nightmares and dreaming to be one and the same. After she’d first escaped there was hardly a night she didn’t wake up screaming and since his little message of return she’d been getting less and less sleep. She didn’t understand his hissing but she knew it couldn’t be good. There seemed to be snakes everywhere and Sara wondered for a moment if Daryl was safe yet. She didn’t dare look away from her own personal boogey man, afraid of what he’d do when she looked away, but if she was safe maybe Sara could try to call on Prongs. But then would she be able to hold on to a strong enough happy memory she wondered, if the face of this man and his obsession.
It was finally too much for Sara, something in her broke from the years of fear and paranoia. “I never missed you!” she snapped. The tears of anger and fear finally leaking out. She was so tired of being afraid of this man. She was so fucking sick of it. If she was going to die then she was going to have died unafraid. “You ruined my life! I was finally happy and you stole my last chance at a childhood!” She’d finally been free from her relatives, she’d finally been able to make friends and have a chance at being normal. But he took that away from her, and now all she could see in her dreams was red and a pair of empty eyes. There were tears streaming down her face now, and a long suppressed fire was coming to the surface. Tim offered Harry a warm grin, noting the shift in the other man. He had long since stopped being surprised by this unique talent of Harry’s and merely gestured toward Sara and Joseph. “She’s gotta get out safe,” he whispered quietly, though he stilled immediately when Joseph began to hiss like a snake. A few of the reptiles slithered toward them, as they stood near the door. He was worried for a moment, that they would attack, but everyone’s attention was drawn to Sara as she finally confronted the man who ruined her life.
Tim stood still for a moment, in awe of her, before quickly nudging Harry further out into the hallway and backing up himself. He didn’t have much to defend himself and Harry against snakes, but his clothing was fairly thick so it could be useful against attacks. The snakes, however, were focused intently on Sara. She apparently, was more of a threat than he and Harry were. “Well that ain’t good,” Harry muttered, but it was an observation only. The personality shift had served to sever him from reality completely, for the time being anyway, and in his mind they weren’t a threat. Not really. To the plot, yes, to the parts they played, but not to them. A problem to be removed, but ultimately nothing more than rubber hoses or twisting dots on a green screen to be filled in on a computer later. No real danger. It was easy to be brave when it wasn’t real, and so it wasn’t. Just a game, a movie. Peril now, success later, that’s how it went.
Pulling out his phone, he paged through the screens to find what he needed, then plugged in the number. A few exchanged words and the necessary authorities were on their way, alerted to the probably poisonous snakes in Hamartia and the request that they be removed for the good of all. He hung up, then turned back to Tim, turning his hat backwards to signify that he Meant Business. “So how’re we gonna save her? Unless you’ve got a handy bottle of Snake Repellant on ya, I don’t think we can just barge in there right now without gettin’ bit, but I don’t think we can afford to wait for the Professionals either.” Joseph had certainly not been expecting her outburst, and his face hardened in anger. How dare she speak to him that way. He took nothing away from her! If anything, he gave her everything! His eyes narrowed and he circled her, completely ignoring everything else. When he stopped in front of her once more, his hand shot out to grip her upper arm.
“I took away nothing from you, Sara. I gave you everything! That scholarship, I paid for! Every year I watched you, I saw how you excelled in some areas and struggled in others. I saw your tensions with that snotty boy, and I saw how you always put him in his place. I am proud of you! And you are ungrateful! How dare you?” It was obvious that he was beyond pissed off and his grip on her shoulder was certainly strong.
Her insides froze at his words. He had been behind the scholarship that had let her escape her relatives house? How much of her life had been her own, she wondered half hysterical, and how much of it had been her acting as his little puppet? The most terrifying part of it all was the realization that had he not done it all in shadows, had he been up front with her instead of watching her in secret she likely would have adored him. How many nights had she wished and prayed for someone to take her away from that place that had never, could never be a home? He would have been the answer to her wishes, when in fact he was a far worse nightmare in the making.
“You took away my innocence.” she told him, she did not yell or scream, but sometimes the quiet anger was far more intense. “You made me watch him die! Every night, over and over again, I see him die! THERE WAS BLOOD EVERYWHERE AND I COULD NEVER WASH IT AWAY!” She barely even registered the pain from his grip, too caught up in finally being able to let out everything she’d kept bottled up inside for the past five years. Had she been more in control of herself she would have realized that angering this man was probably not the best plan of action but she didn’t care anymore. One way or another she would be free.
And that was exactly the happy thought she needed to call Prongs. The glowing silver stag appeared between them now trying to ram the man, the threat, away from its mistress. Tim watched the exchange in awe of Sara, a sense of pride blossoming in his chest that reminded him of how Poppy made him feel when she stood up to him about where she wanted to go to school. He realized then, that this had been the best possible outcome, given that Daryl ended up okay. Sara was facing her fears and, as the glowing silver stag appeared, beating it back with a force he wouldn’t want to be on the other end of.
What caught his attention next was the instantaneous movement of the various snakes that had dotted the floor. They slithered with pointed intentions toward Sara and Joseph, many of them appearing tense and ready to strike. “Sara, watch out!” he called out to her, just as he registered the footsteps of people coming up the stairs. Sara saw the movement snake’s from the corner of her eye, and coupled with Tim’s warning Sara reacted. Years of running from bullies and the past five years of paranoia finally paid off as Sara threw herself to the ground. The snakes missed her, instead sinking their fangs into their own master. Sara was too shocked to move, eyes wide as she watched the scene unfolding before her. Luckily Prongs had more foresight than she and quickly moved to stand protectively in front of Sara, ready to stomp on any snakes that thought to try again. Anger was the only focus for Joseph. He was so incredibly angry at Sara. He had provided for her! It hadn’t even been his fault that her stupid friend had died! “He was meddling in things that were none of his concern!” Joseph shouted back, before stepping back a few steps because a silver stag erupted between them. “Attack it!” he hissed to his snakes, who were already on the move.
He heard Tim’s warning to Sara, but Joseph paid it no mind, assuming his snakes would strike true. He smirked triumphantly at Sara as his snakes lunged for her, but at the last moment she was out of the way and his snakes were sinking their fangs into his skin. Even with the amount of anti-venom that had always run through his veins, the sheer amount of poison had him dead the moment his body hit the floor. Tim watched in horror as the snakes lunged toward Sara, but at the last moment she moved out of the way. Immediately, Tim ran to her side, stepping in front of her slightly in an attempt to protect her from the snakes, should they decide to attack them. “Back up, slowly,” he cautioned her, as Joseph hit the floor with a thud. Tim was satisfied that the man was dead, and he wanted these snakes quarantined as soon as possible. Once they were clear of the room, Animal Control took over. Grabbing onto Tim’s arm for support she did as he told her, backing out of the room slowly. Prongs faded slowly as she lost her concentration, and her grip on her happy thought. Once they were out of the room Sara felt her legs give out on her. The enormity of what had just happened hit her full force, and it was too much for her. She had stood up to her stalker, she had looked him in the face, and now he was dead. She was alive and he was dead. She was free.