Lydia rolls over on her side, her eyes were red, she barely slept last night. Her alarm clock read 5:23 AM, she rolls onto her back, groaning. She decides that she won't be able to sleep. She gets up and takes a long shower, her wet hair clings to her shoulders as she watches water go down the drain. She licks her lips nervously, closing her eyes for a few beats. When she opens them, the water is red. She gasps, looking at herself. She sees that blood is dripping from her finger tips. She quickly turns off the water, but the blood is still running.
"No no no." She's moaning, jumping out and wrapping a towel around herself. The towel, usually white, was now covered in blood. She drops the towel, shrieking. When she looks at the walls, they're all dripping with blood. Falling on the tiled floor, leaving dark red puddles. She closes her eyes, "Stop stop stop." She opens her eyes to realize she's missing a finger.
Her wedding finger. She shrieks, trying not to cry. She should be used to this by now.
"I'm going to hurt you like you hurt me." She hears, though her hands are covering her face. Lydia closes her eyes again, willing it all to go away. When she opens her eyes, it's all gone. She wakes up to be staring at her bathroom ceiling, the water was still running. She groans, picking herself up, absentmindedly feeling a bruise on her hip.
Her cat, Wilson, is in the doorway, mewing at her.
"Mommy's all right." Lydia coaxes the small animal, getting up and turning off the water. She walks past him, lighting patting him on the head, "She's fine." Though she's not sure who she's trying to convince. She's supposed to be at Alana Bloom's office at 8 AM, it was about an hour drive into town. She blow dried her hair, curled it, applied make up, and got into her clothes.
The clock read, 6:34 AM. She groaned as she walked into the kitchen. She searches through the cupboards, deciding on a blueberry granola bar. She checks her phone, seeing a text from her sister, Haley.
How'd it go, champ?
Lydia grimaces, remembering her.. blackout this morning. Though she types in a cheery reply, the mystery is solved, the city is safe once more!
She turns her phone off, shoving it into her pocket. She takes a bite of her granola bar, looking over at her approaching cat. "You hate granola, we're not playing this game today, Wilson." Lydia gives a small smile to her cat, "You don't think I'm crazy, do you?"
Wilson just blankly stares at her.
"Not that it matters what you think." She sneers, drawing her eyes back to the TV, "It only matters what Alana Bloom thinks."
She's sitting outside of Alana Bloom's office. Nervously kneading her hands together, shooting quick glances towards the door. After her little.. moment this morning, she's not feeling that sure about herself.
Lydia did not want her fears confirmed. To be told how neurotic and unstable she had become through the use of her gift. Lydia wanted to peacefully snuggle with Wilson and watch reality TV all day. She didn't want to be unstable. She didn't want to be Will Graham.
Alana Bloom walks out of her office, Will Graham walking out after her.
Lydia stands up, her mouth ajar. "Um, so. You're supposed to analyze me or something, right?" Her voice is shaky, she's obviously terrified. She shifts on her other foot, kneading her hands together.
"Yes, of course." Alana's face is flushed, as if she's embarrassed, "Come right on in. Will, we'll talk later." She nods to the man, who seems shaken and out of place. Scared.
He only nods, pushing his glasses up his face. "Of course." He shakes Lydia's hand, "Good luck, she doesn't bite." He tries at a joke, but it fails miserably, he quickly ushers himself out of the room.
Lydia walks behind Alana Bloom, assessing her office. It was dark and seemed very cramped. She set herself on the big red chair across from the desk.
"As any of my appointments go, I do not aim to make you feel psychotic. I only aim to see how you are feeling, to see if you are stable to work in this type of situation. We don't want your situation to, eat you alive, for lack of better words." Alana laughs, but it doesn't touch her eyes.
Lydia licks her lips, only giving her a small, "Of course."
"Have you experienced any kind of nightmares? Hallucinations?" Alana Bloom grabs a pen, licking the tip and scrawling 'Lydia Evans' at the top of the paper.
"Yes."
Alana looks up at her, "Which one?"
"Both."
Alana's eyebrows shoot up as she crouches back over the paper, probably scribbling down 'psychopath'. "Use three words to describe yourself."
"Stubborn, fiery, and insecure."
"Tell me why. Explain why you chose these words, go one by one." Alana asks, leaning forward in her chair, placing her head in her hand.
"I'm stubborn because, well, that's just how I've always been. It's my way or else it's not right. I'm used to being right, so I only allow my opinion to be the right one. Anything else is just.. unacceptable." She watches Alana scrawl words quickly, but she keeps going, "I'm fiery because I don't take bullshit that well. Once you betray me you betray me forever, there's no going back. I'm snappy and indecisive. I'm insecure because I'm weak. I can't throw a quality punch and I barely weigh 120 pounds. So naturally, I'm a doe and the world is full of hunters."
Lydia leans forward, eyeing Alana's paper, she reads upside down scrawl the reads.
Borderline unstable.
She leans back in her chair, willing the words away, but they're here to stay.
"Who wants you to replace Will? You or Jack?" Alana's hand seems to be flying across the paper. Lydia is a little taken back that Alana seems to think she knows everything about her after such a short conversation.
"Jack wants me to. He thinks Will is unstable, he doesn't want him out there. He cares about Will."
Alana nods, "Do you think you're unstable?"
The question is so sudden, so raw, Lydia pauses for a moment. "Sometimes I am, but that's only human, right? I think everyone, at some point in their lives, has wanted to rip their own hair out and climb under their covers and never come out. It's human, so yes Alana Bloom, I am human."
Alana gives her a little smile, quickly scrawling down defensive.
"I think that's all I need from you."
Lydia raises her eyebrows, "Really, that's it?"
"Yep, that's it."
Lydia gets up out of the chair, brushing her sweaty hands on her jeans. "Well, it was nice to meet you." She shakes Alana Bloom's hand, who gives her a hearty smile.
"Trust me, the pleasure is all mine."
The twinkle in Alana Bloom's eyes is more unsettling rather than relaxing.
Lydia shivers in her cardigan, a nice olive color paired with a black beanie. She walks into the police station and beelines for Jack's office, wondering what Alana had to say about her. Right as she's about to round the corner, she sees Will and Jack.
She stops, deciding to eavesdrop. She hears her name and feels her heart fall.
"Will, she'll be fine." Jack is reassuring Will.. about.. her.
"Did you see what happened to me? I'm... unstable." Will grimaces when he says the word, as if it physically pains him to admit to it, "Trust me, you don't want one crazy person running around, nonetheless, two. Jack you need to think about this-"
"Do you think I haven't? Will, Lydia is a strong woman. She hasn't let her gift effect her before." Jack puts a reassuring hand on his shoulder, "If anyone can handle it, it's her."
"You thought I could handle it."
Silence.
"Now look at me, you're trying to.. replace me. As if that's going to fix me." Will runs a hand through his ruffled brown hair, "You can't break glass without hurting yourself while picking up the pieces."
Jack squints his eyes at Will, withdrawing his hand, "You're wrong. We can fix you, and we will. Lydia, on the other hand, isn't broken, and the minute I think she is, I'll take her out."
Lydia swallows hard, pressing herself harder against the wall.
"I hope you're right Jack, not just for me, but especially for her." Will says, sighing, realizing he won't win this argument. He walks away from Jack, in the opposite direction of Lydia.
Lydia waits a few beats before going up to Jack, "What did your psychiatrist friend have to say about me?"
Jack looks up, dazed, he blinks the confusion away, "Ms. Bloom? Ah, come into my office. I left her papers in there, I have yet to read them. Perhaps you could read them with me?"
Lydia nods, following him into his office. She lightly closes the door, then walks over to the chair in front of the desk, lightly setting herself in it. Jack shuffles through the papers on his desk, hardly seeming fazed by what Will said. He finally finds the paper, holding it up with a grin. He sits down in the large black chair, licking his lips.
"Fiery, defensive.. borderline unstable." Jack bites his lip, the frustration back on his face, remembering what Will had said. "Ghosts through life, barely there. Hardly aware. Lack of sleep?" Jack looks at Lydia.
She swallows hard, "I had a nightmare, that's all, nothing to worry about."
Jack nods, licking his lips. "Ms. Bloom recommends keeping you out of the field."
"What do you recommend?" Lydia asks, crossing her legs and leaning forward.
"I think, you'd stop a lot of people from getting killed. I think Ms. Bloom is underestimating you, I don't think you're unstable in any way, shape, or form. Ms. Evans, I think you're perfectly sane." Jack sets the papers down, folding his arms. "But it's not what I think, it's not what Ms. Bloom thinks, it's you. Do you think you're sane?"
Lydia thinks back to the bleeding walls, the screams in her dreams. The missing finger, the visions, the fainting spells. She thinks about it all, she thinks about having to leave rooms just so she can breathe. She thinks about the dead woman, she glances at her fingertips, remembering the blood that fell from them. Lydia thinks about it all, she feels raw terror strike through her chest.
She lies.
"Yes, I am perfectly sane."
These first few chapters will be a lot of character development, especially with Lydia. So not a lot of Will/Lydia yet!
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