She's just dozing off on the couch when her phone makes her jump. She groans, sits up. Her mother shoots her a look of concern, having no doubt noticed just how heavy the bags under her eyes have become. Jessica tries to smile, tries to assure her mother she's all right, but her mother sees through it.
She picks up her phone, frowns at it when she doesn't recognize the number. Her heart races as the phone continues to ring before going to voicemail. There's a tremor in her hand, slight, but noticeable. She clenches her fist, as if this will stop it.
"Who was that?" her mother says.
Jessica shrugs, already dialling the voicemail. Her eyebrows shoot up when she hears the message. "It's Chris." She goes back to the missed calls, her finger hovering over the number. How long has it been since she saw him? The Washington Lodge. She doesn't remember seeing him at the police station.
The phone rings out for a few seconds. "Jess! How are you?"
She stands up from the couch, already heading to her room. "Chris? How did you get my number?"
"Mike gave it to me. He said you wouldn't mind."
She raises an eyebrow. "Oh he did, did he?" She pulls the phone away from her ear, about to end the call.
"Wait, wait! Don't hang up!" She replaces the phone, listens to what he says. "At least talk to me for a bit, huh? Ash has been worried about you too. No one's heard from you since..." He doesn't finish the sentence, he doesn't need to.
She stays silent.
"So. How've you been?"
She snorts quietly. "How do you think?"
Chris hesitates. "Mike said you weren't sleeping well."
"Yeah..." She wonders what else Mike has told him, if he mentioned the diner.
"Know how you feel. Is it nightmares or...?"
She feels her stomach drop. He's having nightmares too? What the hell happened at the lodge? Part of her doesn't want to know, the other worries just how her friends fared.
"I see things at night, the...monster." She pauses, wets her lips when she feels them dry suddenly. "I saw it before, when I was out with Mike." Might as well hear it from her, what a whackjob she is these days. "I sound like I'm fucking crazy."
"You're not crazy, Jess. We've all been through a lot."
Once more, words fail her and she rubs her neck, a nervous gesture she's unsure just where she picked it up from.
Chris clears his throat, he's nervous. "Ash has been asking about you."
This does surprise her. "Are you two actually...?"
"Uh...yeah. Yeah!" Jessica can't help but grin. "I forgot you hadn't heard about it. Yeah, we've been going out for a few months now."
Her smile widens till her face hurts. She can't remember the last time she did smile as much. "Finally!"
"It didn't take me that long..."
She snorts once more and rolls her eyes. "Please. Everyone else could see the mega-crush you had on each other." She stops, sighs. "I'm glad you're both happy."
"Yeah, we are. But hey, means I have help in trying to cheer you up."
She raises an eyebrow. Just what's he planning? "Oh really."
"Really. You wanna do something later?"
Her stomach churns and she feels cold all of a sudden. The chill creeps down her spine, into her gut and she feels the beginnings of nausea take hold. After what happened with Mike in the diner, she never wants to leave the house again.
"I...I don't know Chris. I'm not really feeling too great." When the words are out, she feels guilty. Nice going Jess, way to lose friends and alienate people.
"Oh...Okay, that's cool." He sounds disappointed and the guilt becomes worse. "Hey, why don't I give you Ash's Skype and you can talk to her? When you feel up to it, that is." There's a noise in the background, as if he's rummaging for something just out of reach. "I know she'd appreciate hearing from you. She said there was a bunch of Tumblr...stuff, she wanted to show you."
"Chris!"
"What?"
She sighs. "No one's supposed to know about that!"
"Oh…" He pauses as the lightbulb above his head clicks on. "Oh! Your secret's safe with me."
Jessica pouts, aware she's doing so but uncaring of how she looks. "It better be."
There's another pause and when Chris speaks again, she can hear the smile on his face. "There's the Jess I remember."
"Ha! Trust me, she isn't staying long."
"You'll be all right, Jess. Just, don't avoid us this time. We have all been worried about you."
She's quiet again, unbelieving of his words that they've been thinking of her at all, let alone worried for her.
"You still there?"
"Yeah..."
"Right, I'd better let you go. I'll give Ashley your number too, in case you get a call from an unknown number and it freaks you out." He reads out Ashley's number, while Jessica jots it down on the nearest notepad.
She gives a small smile. "Hey, Chris? Thanks for checking up on me."
"Anytime Jessica. See you soon, maybe?"
She says her goodbyes, pins the number to the wall board in her room and for the first time in a while, feels somewhat optimistic about the coming days.