So I actually posted this story initially a very long time ago. However shortly after I started my first teaching job and haven't had a free minute since. So anyway, I am re-posting the story now. I am hoping that I will be able to do a better job staying up on it this time around. Sorry to those of you who were reading it before.
Oh yeah, I do not own Alias or anything related to it. In actuality I don't own much of anything.
Haunted
"He loves me. Nine months is nothing."
He pulled the car over and parked in front of the apartment. He tried to focus on the woman next to him. Taking a deep breath he got out of the car and walked around the other side. His heart and head were in battle. As he reached the other side of the car he smiled and kissed her as she leaned into him. He didn't love her, not really. But everyone had said he needed to move on.
It had bordered on an intervention. They were worried. He was drinking, too much. Not to mention his talking to himself, well not to himself but to her. It had made him feel safe, like maybe he didn't have to face the idea that she was gone. His friends had worried. He never admitted it to anyone but that hadn't even been the worst of it. Once he had stopped drinking and tried to move on it only got worse. That was when he started to see her, everywhere. He knew she wasn't there but it was like he was haunted. But that had stopped months ago. Now he just thought about her, constantly.
He tried to focus his mind, once again, on Lauren, as he held open the door for her. He froze as he glanced across the street at the woman sitting in the car. He blinked and looked again, trying to shake the image from his head. He rubbed his eyes and headed upstairs. He had thought he was beyond this but maybe he wasn't. He turned around once more as another car passed the house and the woman drove off. "No, she's dead," he said to himself and he continued upstairs.
He caught up with Lauren at the top of the stairs. "Do you want to have some wine?" she asked.
He paused. The image of the woman in the car was still haunting him. She had been blonde, but still. He had seen her in enough aliases the change in hair color wouldn't convince his brain he hadn't just seen Sydney. It was impossible though. "I think I need to call it a night," he said. "I feel kind of off." He couldn't handle this tonight. Trying to move on was hard enough when he just thought about Sydney let alone when he thought he had seen her.
"Okay," Lauren replied kissing his cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow then."
"Do you need me to take you home?"
"No, remember my car is here." She kissed him again and left.
Vaughn wandered into the bedroom and shed his clothes. Falling back onto the bed he stared at the ceiling. A thousand thoughts were running through his mind. He tossed and turned for hours before falling into a restless sleep.
His dreams were even more haunted than any waking hour. With his eyes closed his subconscious ran wild with images: Sydney in her red wig, lip swollen sitting across his desk; dinner in Nice; the day they took down SD-6; playing hockey with her; planning the trip to Santa Barbara. He woke up in a cold sweat the memories still overwhelming his mind.
He stared at the clock. The neon numbers read 5:46. Again, the woman in the car came floating back in his mind. He couldn't figure out why he couldn't shake this one. Maybe it was because before when he thought he saw her he could take a second look and reality would have sunk in. This time when he had looked back he still thought he saw her. Or maybe it was that she had looked different. Seeing her before, she had always looked like herself, never like an alias.
He tried to reassure himself. Even if it had been her, she wouldn't have driven off. She would have come to him. Not leave him here alone. But then, he hadn't been alone, he had been with Lauren. Vaughn sat up quickly, realization striking. He threw on some clothes and ran out of the apartment. Ignoring the early hour he hurried down to his car and sped away.
