When Violet Johnson decided to major in psychology she never thought she would be stuck with the world's most boring professor. She loves the friends she's made in class and the challenge of trying to figure out the human mind but her professors monotone voice, sour look and an attitude letting the class know he would rather be anywhere else but there, slowly ruined her learning experiences. She was glad she only had a few months to go before the course ended and she had her masters in psychology.
It was her phone vibrating on the desk beside her book that brought her from her day dream as her professor rambled on about something he went on about three weeks again.
She picked it up to see she had a text from Alicia Clark, a close family friend.
'Can you skip class and come to the hospital. We found Nick.'
Violet felt relief flood her body as she read the words 'we found Nick'. She was instantly filled with dread when and panic of not knowing the state he was be in.
Ignoring the disapproving glare of her professor, the only amount of emotion he ever displayed, she packed up her gear and pulled her car keys out of her bag before leaving the classroom, her friend Annabelle giving her a confused look.
As she walked towards the car park she found Alicia's name in her phones contact list and hit the call button. She didn't have to wait long for the teenager to answer her phone.
"I'm on my way. Please tell me he's alive." Violet pleaded through the phone.
"I honestly don't get why you care so much still, he's been a complete ass to you in the last few months. I thought you would have given up by now." Came Alicia's bitter tone.
Violet rolled her eyes at Alicia's tone. The seventeen year old was like a younger sister to her but she would never understand why Violet couldn't just give up on Nick, Alicia's older heroine addict brother.
They had once been best friends, until almost a year ago when Nick started to push her away.
"You'll never understand," the nineteen year old brunette sighed. "I'm about to get in my car. Are you still there?"
"No, I had to get to school and mom has work so Travis is with him. Mom didn't want to leave him alone."
"That's probably a good idea. I'll call you later."
"Alright," Alicia sighed before ending the call.
Violet couldn't help feel sorry for the younger girl. She knew Alicia loved Nick very much, he was her brother, but like everyone else she was sick of his bullshit, his addiction, the running away and not calling. It was everything he was putting them through that made Alicia want to hate him, but couldn't bring herself to. Violet felt the same. She had the option to forget about him, to hate him and move on with her life but she never could bring herself to do that. She couldn't just forget about their sixteen year friendship. He was a major part of her life. The whole Clark family had been a major part of her life. If it wasn't for them she wouldn't be here today.
The drive to the hospital felt like it went on forever. She was glad when she finally pulled into the car park and went inside. Arriving at the front desk she asked the nurse which room Nick Clark was in. Once the nurse told her, she found his room and stood outside taking a deep breath in and out preparing herself for the worst. He wasn't dead but he could be close to it.
Entering the room she gained Travis Manawa, Alicia and Nick's soon to be step-father's attention. She gave him a small sad smile as she walked to the other side of the bed Nick was asleep in.
A sense of sadness washed over her as she looked down at the sleeping boy. This wasn't his first trip to hospital because of the drugs and he wasn't the first person she'd seen laying in a similar situation to his.
She looked at Travis not really surprised that he was the one watching over Nick. The two didn't get along but Travis was a good guy, who would do anything for anyone, especially for Nick's mom, his fiancee Madison.
"What happened?" She asked taking the sleeping man's hand in her own smaller hand. That's when she noticed the restraints keeping him to the bed. She'd been focused on his bruised face. "Why is he restrained?"
"He was hit by a car," Travis told her. "When they brought him in, he was delusional. The restraints are for his and other people's safety."
Her eyes went wide with shock. It wasn't like Nick to just run into traffic, not unless he was running from something. "Hes not dangerous. He would never purposely hurt himself like that, not in that way."
"He won't talk so we don't know why he ran into traffic."
When she didn't say anything, Travis continued to speak. "The Doctor said he has a bruised rib, contusions, and a busted ankle. He's lucky really."
"He's always lucky," she sighed going to move a piece of Nick's brunette hair out of his face so she could get a better look at the bruise on his forehead.
She jumped back when Nick jolted out of his sleep, a terrified look on his face. The look quickly changed to one of shock when he noticed her there.
"You're having a nightmare." Travis stated interrupting whatever Nick was about to say. The younger man turned his attention to Travis to reply.
"No shit."
"You think that what you saw was a nightmare?" Travis questioned, "Hallucinations?"
"I really want to write it off as that, I do, but that's never happened to me before."
Violet took his hand in hers again as he finally started to open up to Travis. It surprised her a little since they didn't get along but she could tell he was scared of something and needed to tell someone that wasn't his mother. Violet adored Madison, looked up to her as a second mother but anything to do with Nick, she only saw the drugs, not the broken soul the drugs hid and the potential he had to do great things.
Despite the drugs Nick was a good man. He was the most caring and compassionate person she's ever met. He had always been great with his younger sister and other kids. Before the drugs he would do anything for anyone. He was smart, funny, sweet and kind. He was everything a girl wanted in a guy, everything a woman wanted in a son. He was a little wayward but what boy wasn't?
"Hey, maybe I'm losing my shit," he spoke again bringing her back to the here and now.
"The psych eval will determine that. 'How crazy is Nick?' Scale of one to ten, huh?" Travis rambled flipping through the magazine he was holding.
"Hey, can you untie me?" Nick asked his mother's fiancee trying to hold up one of his hands.
"No, sorry." Travis sighed and threw Violet a look to say no when Nick turned his head to look at her.
"Hey, can you?" Nick pleaded with her. "Lettie, please."
She smiled a little hearing his nick-name for her before she gave him a sympathetic look. She knew he only used that nick-name when he was trying to pursude her to do something. Even though she didn't like him in the restraints she couldn't risk him doing another runner. "I'm sorry Nicky, I can't."
"You think I'm dangerous?" He asked turning back to Travis.
"Docs are worried." Travis told him.
"Are you?" He asked looking at the dark skinned man, waiting expectantly for his answer.
"You ran into traffic, man. You hurt yourself." Travis honestly told him in a way he hoped Nick would get the point.
"No I was running from, not to," the terrified look was in Nick's eyes again as he defended himself. Violet held onto his hand a little tighter but didn't say anything. "I was running from what I saw."
His words caught both Travis and Violet's curiosity. Violet placed the hand that wasn't holding Nick's hand reassuringly on his shoulder. Travis moved to sit at the end of the hospital bed. "What did you see?"
"Uh... just a girl, Gloria. You know she's my friend."
Violet was now frowning. She knew who Gloria was. She was her cousin. Rich, spoilt, perfect, could have anything she wanted, so she turned to drugs, throwing everything she had away. Violet wasn't close to her older cousin, she hadn't seen her in five years. Not since Gloria's stuck up mother wanted nothing to do with her brother and his children. She couldn't care less about Gloria and her aunt and uncle. Nick and his family were her family, not them. She hated the way she pulled Nick back into old habits when he was most vulnerable after his dad died. She claimed to love him but Violet knew Gloria loved that she could control him. She always had a thing for control, especially over younger men.
As much as she wanted to say something, she couldn't without upsetting Nick even more. He knew of her dislike towards her blonde cousin. So she continued to listen as he continued to speak.
"And she was - Jesus Christ..." he cut himself off to compose himself and find the right words to say. "Okay, you buy on the corner and you can shoot up at the church. It's junkie communion and -"
"The church?" Travis interrupted her, slightly confused.
"Yeah," he nodded and looked up at the ceiling, avoiding all eye contact. "Glo was -" he stopped to think again. "Yeah, so she was with me when I scored, she was with me when I nodded. She was there. She was beside me." He rambled.
Violet felt like she been punched in the stomach by his words. She felt like what happened had something to do with her cousin. She wanted to leave and confront Gloria herself. And that's what she was going to do.
Feigning that she had to leave, she gave Nick's hand a gentle reassuring squeeze, telling him she was glad he was okay. She said goodbye to Travis and left the hospital and got back into her car.
Violet knew the church he was talking about. It was the same one she had gone to countless times when she was younger to find her older sister. The church had become Rebecca's first home, her actual home was her home when she needed to steal more money to keep her habit going. Not being much older than eleven, there was nothing Violet could do to stop her. She'd tried her best but it was never enough. Rebecca had been beyond help and Nick was starting to head that way, she couldn't let that happen.
Stopping at her child hood home, she picked up a knife for protection. Her brother wasn't home so she didn't have to worry about sneaking it past him.
Last time she'd been at the church some homeless junkie had tried to attack her when her sister, high as the sky, knocked the old man out with a piece of pipe. She wasn't going to risk it again.
When she got back into her car, she made her way to the church. It was almost sunset and she wanted to be out of the junkie haven before dark.
Pulling up outside the church, she got out of her car, grabbing the knife, her phone and car keys. She made sure her car was locked and headed inside.
"Gloria!" She called out to her cousin not knowing if she was high right now, asleep or getting her next fix. "Glo!"
She kept searching and calling out to her blonde junkie cousin but got no response. As she reached a corner she noticed blood smeared all over the walls. Holding out her knife for protection she continued forward even though her thoughts were telling her to run back to her car and never come back.
"Gloria?" She was quieter this time, not wanting to alert whoever may have caused the blood to be there. "Gloria, where the hell are you?"
Jumping as she heard a loud drawn out growl behind her she swung around and held the knife in front of her. What she saw would give her nightmares for weeks.
Gloria was limping towards her as she matched her step for step. She had a knife sticking out of her chest, her skin sickly pale, her eyes showing no signs of life. Her growling became loader as the blood around her mouth dripped to the floor. She wasn't human anymore.
"Gloria please, stop it's me, Vi." She tried to talk to the blonde hoping to see some sort of recognition in her face but there was nothing.
As she continued to move away from Gloria, she fell down a small flight of stairs, letting out a yelp and a groan as she hit the floor. Looking up, trying to ignore the pain she was in, she saw Gloria getting closer. She went to hold up the knife when she realized she wasn't holding it any longer. Her eyes grew wider as she scuffled backwards to get away from the approaching woman.
Groaning as she stood up, she ran as quickly as she could from Gloria. It felt like forever before she reached her car. Fumbling with the keys she eventually unlocked her car and got in quickly locking the doors again. Her panic started to fade as she felt safe in the confines of her car.
Steadying her breathing she pushed the key into the ignition and started the drive back to the home she grew up in with 1001 thoughts running through her head.
She didn't know what just happened. What could have caused it? Why Gloria was like that? What was going on?
All she knew was that she now knows what Nick was running from.
First FTWD fan fiction. Looking for a beta or a co-writer. This story is also posted on my wattpad. This is an unedited version because I don't have the time to full edit it, that's why I'm looking for someone to help me. Message me if you can. We can communicate through email since it's easier for me. I have three other chapters written that I won't post until I get some reviews so I know its worth posting here.