Caleb is the cat in the hat (worth_therisk) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-11-12 16:48:00 |
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Hanna was… she didn’t even know. The onslaught of dreams since Halloween had been draining. She was pretty sure there was one night without a new dream but that didn’t mean she wasn’t struggling. She was closed off, jumpy and she didn’t want to talk about it or think about it. Honestly, right now she was wishing she had stayed living with her mom just because it was easier to come up with excuses while she tried to pull herself together. Because of course Hanna was going to try to ignore it. The way she could swear she heard the sound of a generator at random. The deep chill that went into her blood and bones despite the fact she was dressed for winter. That the mere sound of any sort of electric current made her terrified.
Hanna didn’t want to admit that the dreams were affecting her as much as they were. But somehow? Somehow it was worse than the Dollhouse. And she knew she’d do the same here, anything to protect her friends, even if they were mad at her. That didn’t make it any easier.
Thankful for the fact that it was Friday and so she didn’t have any classes that day, Hanna was hoping that she’d get to sleep in, not deal with dreams and then go to campus to work on some research for a paper in a desperate attempt to not feel smothered by unasked questions and to go about her life as if everything was normal. But this was Orange County and that meant hoping was stupid because of course that wouldn’t be the end of it.
When she did wake up, she was alone. But the dead face of Rollins’ face through the windshield was still staring at her. Even though there was nothing there she could still see it.
“Ohmigod ohmigod.”
Honestly it was as everything just kept piling on in the dreams and with the rapid dreams, she had no time to catch her breath. Shaking, she grabbed clothing before going to shower, as if that would make it any better. The steam did no good to even warm her up and finally she gave up and turned off the water and changed. For now it was jeans and a camisole tank top to put a pullover on later to hide the scars on her back, Hanna wiped at the window and stared in shock before reaching up and pulling a piece of bloodied glass from her hair, transfixed.
Ever since Caleb dreamed about the Hanna doll and had woken up next to it he had trouble sleeping. Part of him wished he could actually sleep and dream, find out what happened to his girlfriend. But part of him was scared to. What if A.D. didn’t let her go? Or worse, killed her? He would never be able to live with himself if that happened. In the dreams or in this life, even if it didn’t technically happen to her in this life.
He got up pretty early, deciding to take Techno for a walk. When he got back Hanna was already up and in the shower. Caleb got started on breakfast. Soon enough it was done and Hanna wasn’t out yet. Weird, it usually didn’t take her that long. He was pretty sure the water had been off for awhile.
Walking over to the bathroom he knocked on the door to announce his presence. “Han?” he asked as he opened it. It wasn’t like there was a need for modesty and he was a bit worried about her still. As he should be, given the scars he saw on her back once he entered. And then his eyes fell to her hand with the bloodied glass in her hand. “What happened?” This was definitely not good.
It said something that Hanna hadn’t even heard the knock at the door, especially since she seemed to have been hyper-aware of both noise and people within her space since she had first woken up on Tuesday. But when there was bloodied glass with freaking Rollins’ blood in her hair and now she was staring at it? She was a bit distracted from seeing his face staring back at her. Lifeless.
Caleb’s voice caused Hanna to jump and look at her boyfriend.
“God, can’t you knock?”
Normally modesty didn’t matter with them. But she was so on edge and out of it, well, it was the first thing that came out before she seemed to shake her head.
“Just dreams. Doesn’t matter.” Because deflecting was easier than talking about it. She didn’t want to talk about it. Talking about it made it all the more real. Talking about it meant she would start crying about something that hadn’t even happened here and not stop. Quickly throwing the glass away, Hanna cursed the fact she hadn’t brought the top she’d been planning to wear over the camisole into the bathroom with her.
Caleb knew Hanna had a temper on her. But it usually wasn’t directed at him. Especially when he didn’t really do anything other than enter their bathroom, which he had done plenty of times before with her in there.
However, Caleb wasn’t even going to bother arguing that he had knocked. It was obvious Hanna was upset even if she tried to deflect. And the scars and piece of glass in her hand wasn’t at all reassuring.
“Han,” he said again his voice soft as he tentatively stepped closer to her. “Of course it matters,” his fingers lightly trailed over her new scars. Not because he thought they were hideous or anything, but because he was worried. “Come on, I made breakfast. You can tell me what happened,” he paused for a moment, it might not be the best idea to push Hanna right now. “Or just eat.”
If there was something Hanna could be associated with at the moment, it was a wounded and cornered animal. Which meant that she was tense as Caleb stepped forward. It wasn’t even that she felt threatened by him. It was just he was in her space and she’d been caught unaware. So she just flinched at his touch, keeping an eye on the door. She wasn’t going to attack him and bolt. But she was still agitated and given the fact that she had most definitely not wanted him to see the scars… well…
Right. Breakfast.
“I’m not hungry.” And she wasn’t. She honestly didn’t know if she’d be able to eat anything. She kept seeing Rollins’ face which worked well for appetite suppressant. “I guess I’ll at least have juice or something.”
Yeah. That was a compromise. Because Caleb was right, pushing her to talk right now? Not a good plan.
Given Hanna’s past it always worried Caleb when his girlfriend didn’t want to eat. But again he knew better to push. Especially not after dreams. Hanna, had been kidnapped after all. And while he was backing off for the moment, giving her space to calm down. He would find out what the hell happened to her and how she got those scars eventually. There was no way in hell he was going to work today.
“Juice it is,” Caleb said with a small smiling leaning in to give Hanna a quick peck before leading her out of the bathroom.
Hanna wasn’t stupid, she knew that Caleb would want answers. But god she didn’t want to talk about it. Couldn’t talk about it. And while he wasn’t pushing, she knew he would hover because that was what he did and it was out of worry and she loved him for it. But it wasn’t what she needed.
At least he wasn’t planning to make her eat because she wouldn’t be able to keep anything down right now. Even juice was pushing it.
Letting out a slow breath once she was alone again, the blonde closed her eyes to regain her composure, went to the room to get the top she wanted to wear and put it on, covering the scars before heading to the dining room, followed by Techno who seemed to decide her lap was a great place to put his head once she sat down.
Caleb dug into his food. Maybe if he was eating Hanna would eventually too. For now though he just handed over the glass of orange juice, smiling at Techno. That dog was quite in tune to his owners. “Morning,” he grinned at her. Maybe a reset would help. At least for now, later he’d find out what happened.