Hello again! Thank you for joining me! It's great to have you back, and good to know that people are interested in my story, i know it is a slow start, but i will soon get into the action, i just need to get the story of Sammy out of the way, believe me, she is simply a plot helper, and will help to hold some characters together in later chapters, as well as giving some characters some common ground. You will have to wait and see for the details! I hope you enjoy this one as much as i enjoyed thinking of it and writing about it!
Encroaching Darkness, Fading Light
Chapter three - Murder
That morning, Carla sprung up at 4:00 exactly, as she could no longer simply lie on the sofa and pretend she was getting some sort of rest, when she simply wasn't.
Walking down the corridor in a determined fashion she swung the door to Sammy's bedroom open, causing it to noisily slam into wall. Laying her eyes on the woman who was now resting in a different position in the bed, Carla knew that this meant she was awake.
"Sammy!" Carla shouted in a determined voice.
A muffled groan came from the woman, whose face was covered by the corner of a pillow she had burrowed her face into.
Carla walked around the side of the bed and yanked the covers off the woman, with a sudden and violent pull, which pulled Sammy onto her back, facing towards Carla.
"Hey! Paula- what the hell?" Dark rings had formed around Sammy's eyes, and she looked even more pale than usual. You could tell something was terribly wrong, and the V was slowly being expelled from her system.
"I should ask you the same question, what the hell happened to you last night?!" But Carla already knew the answer.
"Nothing, I just felt unwell when I got into work, so I came home" Obviously she had forgotten that the vial was left in her palm.
"Don't you fucking spin that bullshit to me, you're on the juice again- I saw the vial!"
Sammy looked down, like a child who had been found with a bag of stolen sweets.
"Who was it from this time?! Hmm!? Who's selling you it?!" Sammy remained silent. Carla lent down and grabbed her arms, making the woman look up at her.
"WHO IS IT, SAMMY?! TELL ME!" Sammy had tears welling up in her eyes, but Carla could not let it affect her, all of this was for Sammy's own good. She didn't like to upset the woman, but she had to, to have a chance of saving her.
"I don't know! Please!" Sammy began to sob.
"Listen, please, don't get overly emotional- I'm trying to help you, you know that V is expensive and we don't have the money to throw at that stuff! We barely have enough to pay for this house together, let alone the food and the bills as well, we barely scrape past and that's the two of us!"
"I'm sorry okay! I just can't stop myself!" Sammy sniffed, pulling the snot that was dangling from her nose back up inside, continuing to sob uncontrollably.
Carla let out a long sigh, scratching the back of her neck.
"How much did you have?" Carla asked, completely calm.
"Two ounces" Sammy managed to choke out.
"Do you realize how fucking expensive that stuff is Sammy?! How the hell did you pay for it?!"
"I didn't" Carla's eyes became completely stoic.
"Did you steal it?" Sammy took some quick breaths, slowing her breathing right down to its normal speed before she spoke.
"Yes" Sammy met Carla's eyes, completely serious. "There's no way they will be able to find out, I left no trace, honest, we're in the clear!"
Carla rolled her eyes, resting her face against her open palm, not being able to speak.
"Paula, we are fine, honestly" Carla said nothing, she just stared down at the woman, speechless.
It was then that Carla's eyes were drawn to a small amount of a dried red substance on the woman's shoulder. She stepped forward, getting a closer look. It was a small amount of dried blood, running down from two small circular holes.
"Oh, so you took it right from the source this time, fucking great" Carla turned around, heading for the door, and for her things, she needed to get out, she felt the heat slowly rising up from the pit of her stomach as she spoke, she needed to get out and calm down.
"Paula?!" Sammy followed her quickly, not wanting to let her go. "Where are you going? What are you doing?"
Carla tried to ignore her voice, knowing that the longer she stayed and argued, the harder it would be to control herself.
"Hey!" Sammy caught her arm and Carla pulled her coat, bag and car keys of the hooks where she had left them the previous night.
Carla gave Sammy a sideways glance, warning her.
"What are you doing, Paula?"
"I need to get out of here, because my roommate is a worthless V addict who doesn't even have the self-respect or personal strength to look after herself! Honestly, you go from associating with hill billy drug dealers to getting involved with the vampire community, trust me, you are making a huge mistake, and you're not dragging me down with you!" Carla swung the front door open with considerable force, slamming it shut behind her, so hard that it rattled in the frame for a few moments.
Carla had driven her car to the only place she really knew apart from the local convenience store in this town. So now here she was, sat outside Merlotte's bar and grill, her legs outside of the car, her hands rubbing her temples slowly, trying to regain some composure.
"You're here early" Carla jumped out of the skin, causing her old car to shake and groan. Sam immediately apologized for frightening her.
"It's okay, I had a fight with my roommate" Carla leaned against the side of the front car seat. "Would you like me to leave?"
Sam shook his head, looking down at her, she met his gaze.
"It's okay, I know it must be difficult to live with an addict" Carla sighed.
"Now she's getting involved with vampires, and I know it can't be pretty" Sam glanced down at her.
"Listen, if you ever need any help, I'm here… I mean if you need overtime, I can give you money for it" Carla turned to her head to him, and smiled.
"I'm fine, we'll find a way to get through this, at least… I hope. I really need this, a place to stay, where I'm safe and secure, feels like I've been on the run for so long, it's never ending" Sam looked down at her suspiciously.
"From your parents?" Carla blinked, realizing she almost gave herself away.
"Yeah" She decided to change the subject as quickly as possible.
"So do you have anything going on in the mornings here?" Carla asked, smiling faintly, trying to take her mind off what was happening at home.
"Trash gets taken away, I usually sweep and mop the place and wipe down all the surfaces if I'm not busy. We have some customers but not all that many, hence why I have most of the employees come in in the evening." Carla nodded in acknowledgement.
"You need some help?" Sam glanced down at her, and she smiled politely. "Oh, you don't have to pay me; it's just a have nowhere else to be" Sam nodded, unsure of accepting her help, but accepting none the less.
"Thanks, Sam" Sam simply saluted lazily, and walked off towards the bar, pulling the keys out of his back pocket. Carla locked up her car and followed him.
Carla spent her day sweeping and mopping the floors of the bar, completely cleaning the place out, by the time she was finished it was time to get behind the bar and serve the first customers. Along with Sookie and Arlene, there was now another waitress, apparently Carla's first day happened to be the woman's day off. She introduced herself as Dawn, and certainly appeared to be an overly promiscuous character, though she seemed friendly enough, so Carla was polite, as she should be.
The night was pretty slow, like the previous one, and as it got to the middle of her shift, Carla's eye lids were already beginning to droop almost closed. The sound of the door to the bar flying open and slamming with a loud clatter into the wooden entry way made her eyes snap open, and her mind become alert.
"Paula!?" Sammy came storming in looking around, all of the people who were previously eating their meals, now looked up and followed this strange woman who had not been seen in the bar before make a scene of herself.
Sam walked quickly out from the back, along with all of the other staff, trying to find out what the ruckus was about.
"Paula!" Sammy repeated as she spotted Carla behind the bar, walking around the bar to get to her. "Paula, I sorted it all out now, it's fine, there's no way we will be getting in any trouble anymore, so I can expect-" Sam cut the woman off, standing in her path to Carla.
"Paula, if there is an urgent issue between the two of you, you can take it outside, not inside my bar" Carla shook her head.
"There is no issue" Carla said, her face completely emotionless and hard.
"Paw…! Please" Sammy whinged from where she stood on the other side of Sam.
"Sammy, leave" Carla said simply, not moving from her position lent against the bar.
"Paw... no... i sorted everything out, were fine-"
"SAMMY, LEAVE!" Carla stepped forward, pointing at the door, her eyes blazing with anger.
Sammy's gaze dropped, as if she were a naughty child receiving a scolding from her head mistress. She walked back to the door where she had entered, leaving without saying another word.
Once Sammy had disappeared through the doors, Carla strode out from behind the bar and down the back, towards Sam's office, for a little privacy.
Sookie followed her, and once she was inside the office, Sookie closed the door behind her.
"Are you okay? Sam told me you've had a rough day" Carla let out a hissing sigh, and met the blonde's eye.
"She just, she's going to get herself killed, and there's nothing I can do" Carla only just managed to hold back tears, she told herself she was in way to deep, and over attached to the girl. However any sort of death, whether it was human or animal deeply saddened her, it was normal for her kind.
Sookie frowned, putting a hand on the woman's shoulder, pulling her into a hug, before suddenly gasping and stepping back, her eyes wide, and her hand on her head.
"What is it?" Carla looked confused. But Sookie wasn't paying attention, she appeared to be seeing things that Carla could not see, her eyes flicked around the room ceaselessly, she looked terrified.
"Sookie? What's wrong?" Carla stepped forward, reaching her hand forward to try and comfort Sookie. Suddenly Sookie tripped backwards, almost falling straight back onto the floor, Carla grabbed her, laying her down gently on the floor. The blonde was completely out of it, it appeared she had fainted.
"SAM!"
Carla and Sam sat next to the hospital bed in the pristine ward of the Monroe hospital, it was around seven and deadly quiet. Carla had her head in her hands, trying to work out what had happened. Clearly something had happened due to Sookie touching her, she just wondered what it could have been.
"Are you sure that's all that happened?" Sam asked out of the blue.
"Yes, she tripped and hit her head" Carla lied, looking up, as Sookie began to move.
Both of them sprung up and went to her bed side, as she stirred, and looked up at the two of them.
As Sookie laid her eyes on Carla, they widened a little, but she seemed to act normally apart from that. Shuffling up the bed, Sookie rubbed her forehead, and then the back of her head.
"What happened?" Sookie was lying, she knew exactly what had happened, Carla could tell by her tone of voice, she straightened up.
"We were in Sam's office, and you tripped and knocked your head, you passed out… are you feeling alright?" Sookie nodded her head, glancing at Carla out of the corner of her eye.
"I feel okay, apart from a bit of a head ache, and probably a big bruise" Sookie explained. Sam let out a sigh of relief, reaching over to squeeze Sookie's hand.
"I'll go and get the doctor, hopefully he can do the checks and discharge you" Sam smiled at them both, and walked out of the cubicle.
The two of them were alone, and their eyes were locked together.
"You're like me" Sookie said simply, a tiny bit louder than a whisper.
"What?"
"I said: You're like me"
"No, what you do mean, like you?"
"Listen- I'm telepathic… I can hear peoples thoughts" Carla looked sceptically at her.
"Right..."
"But I can't hear yours, and when I tried really hard, on your first day, you vomited" Carla's eyes narrowed.
"And when I touched you, this evening, I saw… images, there was a tall blonde boy, a huge, white spotted big cat, and a small group of wooden houses grouped together in the middle of a ring of hills." Carla's eyes widened as the woman spoke, and she stepped back away from the bed, still staring at her.
"That's impossible..."
"Your name's actually Carla, right?" Sookie just appeared curious, unaware of the possible dangers knowing that knowledge put her in.
"Shh!"
"What?"
"Just don't say anything else, once we get out of here… I will explain, but not before"
"Okay"
Sam came back into the cubicle, a small black woman at his side, a nurse. She quickly checked Sookie for any signs concussion, before deciding she was fine, and leaving to sign the discharge papers.
Later that night
"Are you a vampire?"
"No"
"Like a vampire?"
Carla said nothing.
"So what's the deal?" Sookie questioned. Carla sat beside her; they were currently in Sookie's car out in the Merlotte's parking lot.
"The deal is that we are nothing alike, you are telepathic, and I am not, and the less you know about me, the better"
"Why?"
Carla sighed, meeting the blondes stare with intense eyes.
"Because it puts you in danger, and believe it or not, I don't want to see the people around me dead. The less you know, the less you can tell, and the less you can tell, the more likely it is you stay alive"
"But who would be coming to kill me?"
"People who think you know things"
"People such as?"
"God dammit Sookie! Just stop!"
They were both silent.
"Just trust me, you don't want to be involved"
"What if I do?"
"You don't"
Silence.
"But we're both different, we should stick together… look out for each other?"
"No"
Carla opened her car door, getting out and walking over to her own car, it was way past the time she should be home, and she deciding it was also way past the time that the conversation should have ended.
"Paula, come on, we need to look out for one another!" Sookie shouted from her car, Carla was thankful she hadn't called her by her real name, but nonetheless, she was still pissed off at the night's events.
"No, Sookie, go home and forget about it!" Getting inside her car, she started the engine and drove away, heading for home, trying to push these problems to the back of her mind for now.
After parking her car in the driveway, Carla ran up the pathway to the front door, getting her keys out. She couldn't wait to get inside and relax, hopefully Sammy was already asleep, so she would be able to have a quiet night of catching up on the sleep she missed out on during the previous night.
As Carla glanced down at the door, to put her key in the hole, she realized the door was already ajar. Confused as to how and why it would be left slightly open the way it was, she pushed slowly through the door, into the house.
Carla couldn't hear anything in the house, and all the lights were out. Taking a deep breath, she could smell the unrest in the air. Leaving the front door slightly open, as a means of escape, she checked behind it, to make sure no-one was hiding there.
All of the doors in the house were left open, apart from Sammy's room. Carla decided to check if she was okay, considering there may have been a possible intruder, and in light of the night's events.
Sneaking carefully and quietly up to the door, and pressing down on the door handle to open it without too much noise, she glanced inside the room. She saw Sammy laying across her bed in an awkward position, curious. Carla swung open the door, and turned on the main light.
Only then did she realise that the woman was as white as a sheet of paper.
Carla ran over to the bed and climbed on next to Sammy, shaking her to try and wake her.
Sammy didn't respond. Carla began to panic, lowering her ear to the woman's chest, she couldn't hear a heartbeat.
Carla considered mouth to mouth, but feeling how cold the woman was against her thigh, she decided it was too late.
Sammy was gone, and she had been gone for a long time now.
Thanks for reading guys, hope you enjoyed! Please leave me a review telling me what you think, and i know, it is pretty boring and slow at the moment, but i am trying to get this part out of the way as quickly as possible, i am trying to give Carla a reason to stay in Bon Temps, so i guess you can tell who killed Sammy now? :P
Right, thanks guys, hopefully see you next chapter, and thanks for the support!
-Shad out.
