Thread: Three lost little indians Date: March 2, Friday night Characters: Jaime, Jadyn, and Rachel Location: Ishii house, Berry house, the Hospital Warnings: Electrocution Summary: Jaime needs comfort, Rachel inadvertently puts him in the hospital, and Jadyn is not amused.
Jaime had been catching up on all the work he'd missed while sick when he got the call about Olivia. He'd been confused at first, seeing her name on the caller ID, only to hear who turned out to be her father on the the other end of the line. Jaime hadn't been grasping what the older man had been saying at first, and soon the man's professional tone gave way to anguished emotion as he explained what had happened.
Although he'd been polite in the face of Luke's obvious misery, pleading to be allowed to help with the arrangements in any way before ending the call, Jaime couldn’t really bring himself to believe what he’d been told. How? HOW could this have happened?! To Olivia of all people. She’d been through so much, survived so much, including the storm that seemingly ruined all of their lives. All of that only for her to...
For the first time since he’d returned from the hospital, after seeing his father in the morgue, Jaime felt it all coming apart around him. It wasn’t fair. None of it was fair. It wasn’t fair that half his friends didn’t remember him. It wasn’t fair that Rachel was basically stumbling around in the dark with an unstable ability that could severely wound her, or worse. It wasn’t fair that Olivia was dead!
He never noticed how the glass on his bedside table shattered, or the fact that it was because he was yelling at the top of his lungs. Not until Jadyn was suddenly there, tackling him to the ground, her arms wrapping tightly around his shoulders.
It wasn’t until he heard her whimpered plea for him to calm down that he’d finally quieted. They just stayed in place for a moment, Jaime breathing heavily with Jadyn partially sprawled on top of him, her face buried in his neck. When she finally did sit up, he followed, fully intending to apologize but she’d spoken first.
“You’re bleeding.” She murmured, but when she turned to reach for the kleenex on his desk left over from when he was sick, Jaime noticed that she was bleeding as well. Blood was seeping from her ears...just like it had been with their father when he died. And then Jaime’s mind went blank. One second he was sitting still as Jadyn wiped the blood away from his ears, and the next, he was was knocking on Rachel’s front door.
Rachel was shocked, to say the least, when she opened her front door. She’d been fully expecting another one of her neighbors, bringing yet another casserole, and had already pasted her obligatory grateful smile.
But instead, the boy that she’d shocked in the choir room two weeks ago was standing in front of her, distraught and bleeding. He was also crying, it seemed. Something very bad had clearly happened. “Oh my god,” she said frankly, grabbing him by both of his arms and pulling him inside. She didn’t know what had happened to him, but the fact that he wasn’t wearing any shoes indicated to her that more was wrong than a few physical injuries. Cupping his face in her hands, she pulled his head to her, trying to speak as clearly as she could. “Are you alright? What happened?”
Jaime clenched his jaw, swallowing around the lump in his throat as he tried to keep his emotions from spiraling out of his control.
“Uhm, there was this girl, a good friend of ou-, just, a really good friend and, I just found out that she died, and I wanted...” He faltered, his eyes averted. He shouldn’t have gone to her house. Rachel had enough on her plate, but he didn’t know where else to go. He needed her warmth, and the comfort it provided.
“I just,” He tried again, this time his voice giving out on him as he felt the tears begin to well up.
“Shh, it’s okay.” Rachel gently wiped his eyes with her thumbs, trying to get him to look at her. There was a part of her that was completely alarmed at her own actions - after all, she consciously knew very little about about the boy - but at the same time, she felt entirely comfortable taking care of him. After all, there was no way she was going to let him continue roaming the streets when he was clearly so distraught. “Tell me about her. What was her name?”
Letting her lead him into the living room, Jaime thought about how answer Rachel’s questions. He understood that she was only trying to comfort him, which what he wanted, but he wasn’t sure how much to tell her about Olivia. Did he tell her that they were very close friends, practically sisters in Liv’s eyes because of their separate relationships with him? But then that would only lead to what Rachel was to him, and what he hoped he still was to her.
But Jaime didn’t want to tell Rachel about them. He didn’t want to make a stressful situation for her even more so. He could wait for her to get her memories back. And if she didn’t get them back, he would still wait for her. He would wait, quietly by her side if he had to. He would wait because he couldn’t live without her.
“Her name was Olivia.” He finally answered. He spoke quietly, his eyes still downcast. “She was one of my first friends when I moved here. More than a friend. She was like a sister to me.”
Rachel rubbed his back lightly, keeping a slow, steady rhythm. She struggled for her next words, torn between finding out her own connection with this girl, and comforting the upset boy. “I don’t know what to say,” she said honestly, her voice softening. “I don’t know if I knew her. I don’t know anything about her. But I do know that if you loved her this much - if she meant this much to you - then she was very lucky, and she knew it.”
Jaime nodded, her words almost as comforting as the warm hand pressed against his cheek. He knew that it was selfish for him to have gone to her house, but he was glad that he had none the less. He felt at peace when she was holding him. The events and aftermath of the storm just seemed to kind of fade away.
He sighed, his eyes slipping shut. He was tired. More than that, he was exhuasted. Both emotionally and physically. He really should have gone home then, but instead he subconsciously moved closer to Rachel. He just wanted to be with her for a little while longer, and then he would leave.
"I miss you." He whispered, not even aware that he'd spoken out loud.
Rachel sighed, unsure of what to say to his quiet words.Clearly, her relationship with this boy was much more intimate than she’d expected. She hated this amnesia; she never knew how to reply when the person that everyone missed so much was long gone.
Pulling him gently into a hug she sighed heavily. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Being encompassed by her warmth completely, Jaime lost track of of just where he was, who he was with, or rather, that the Rachel holding him had no memory of what they were to each other. Her touch, her voice, the way she smelled, it was all so familiar to him and he didn’t think twice about wrapping his arms around her, pulling her closer to him and brushing his lips over her cheek. Not until he felt the way she tensed in his arms.
That wasn’t right. It was so far from right that it immediately jolted him back to the reality of the situation. The reality of their situation. He pulled away from her abruptly, his eyes wide with panic and regret and so many other emotions that didn’t belong when they were together.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come here. It was wrong to put this on you. It was wrong to-” He faltered. It was wrong to what? Wrong to kiss her? To need her? To love her? His face crumpled in pain at the thought. How could what he felt for her ever be wrong? Squeezing his eyes closed at the thought, he turned around, not wanting her see how much pain he was in. It wasn’t fair to her.
“I’m sorry.” He apologized again, starting towards the front door. “I need to go.”
“Jaime, wait.” Rachel said, grabbing his shoulder just as he’d placed his hand on the doorknob. He looked back at her with an odd mixture of sadness and relief, his body shifting closer to hers. “I know you’re upset, but just... wait? You’re in no condition to be wandering the streets. Just stay for awhile. Please.”
Her words seemed to spark something in him, and he leaned even closer, until she could feel his lips lightly brushing over hers.”Jaime...?” She whispered, as his kiss deepened, stirring something within her.
It was too much, though. Even as the feeling of pleasure and familiarity overtook her, one of panic overwhelmed everything else. Pulling away, she tried to articulate the pressure building within her, one that she knew indicated a terrifying danger.
She had just gotten out a panicked “Stop, you have to-” when she felt it release, streaming quickly into the boy before her. She let out an audible shriek as his body jerked, tears pricking her eyes and hands flying to her mouth.
Jaime grunted as he roughly bit down on his scream of agony, and his lip in the process. Even as screaming pain surged throughout his body, he was just wary enough to make sure that he didn’t panic Rachel. He knew she must be blaming herself even now as he fell to his knees in front of her, but he couldn’t make her worry anymore than that. It was his fault after all. He’d pushed her too far, too fast, and now they were both paying for his mistake.
A choked cry escaped his lips and he could feel the darkness of his inevitable blackout swiftly creeping over his mind, but he had to let her know not to worry. That he would be fine. He had to. He looked up at her, his vision starting to go fuzzy.
“It’s okay.” He rasped through rapid breaths, as if he were drowning and frantically searching for air. He nodded stiffly. “It’s okay.”
And then he succumbed to the shock and passed out.
“No, no no no no...” Rachel said rapidly, sinking down to her knees beside the still boy. Tears sprung to her eyes as she caught sight of the fresh burns that her out-of-control ability had created. She felt for a pulse, relieved to find it beating steadily. This is why she needed to stay away from people. She was dangerous right now. She could have killed this boy and she had only just learned his name.
After checking to make sure he was still breathing, she ran to the phone, quickly dialing 911. Her Dad had been savvy enough to re-teach her all of the emergency numbers for their home. She just wished she hadn’t had to use it so soon.
She was barely coherent, she knew, as the operator answered the phone, calmly and slowly trying to glean information from her. She somehow managed to get out what was wrong, and was releived when the woman offered to stay on the line. Phone placed on speaker down by the unmoving boy, she held his uninjured hand lightly, tears obscuring her vision. “Please be okay. I’m so sorry. Just please be okay.”