AN: Ugh this has taken a while. Creative energy is being zapped with bloody classes. I can only really say, thanks to those who have read, followed, and reviewed. It is incredibly flattering. Hopefully this is an enjoyable read. It's short I know. But I promise the chapter after this will be D-day 1. So to speak. ^_^ I promise it gets better. (Don't quote me on that ) AN

12 Days Ago.

The awkward creak of the wooden rocking chair had turned to a frustrated squeak under Kari's continuous jerky motions. At four hours, the entirety of her butt and thighs had lost all feeling. Still she refused to move from her place. She hadn't been able to sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, a pair of shining blue eyes burned in her mind. Her fingers traveled to her still tender lips, remembering the cause of their bruising. A warm flush spread over her skin, drifting with the agonizing speed of flower petals over a pond. Her finger tips slid from her lips, ghosting down her neck to glide along her collar bone.

The distant call of an engine snapped her out of her lust filled fog. Kari craned her neck at the sound. A police cruiser thundered down the road. The glint of sunlight over the blue and red on its top being a dead, but irritating, giveaway. She eased back in the chair, terribly disappointed. Her Tupperware container of cigarettes sat at her feet, missing a significant amount of its former content. Next to it was an empty soda can, thoroughly used as an ash tray. Her body had decided that the breakfast of champions this day was carbonated beverages. Truly the healthy of alternative.

For the first time in several months she'd had a conversation with Ava, that wasn't ripe with verbal warfare. In fact, she'd seemed down right concerned, which was in itself unnerving. She'd sought her out to ask if she was ok. Kari had never had to dispel any fears Ava had for her before. Lost in unfamiliar territory, the best answer she could come up with was a nod and a smile. Given her decision to isolate herself on the porch all morning, the answer lost all credibility, rendering it as substantial as rice cake. And just as dry. Kari reached down snagging another cigarette.

Present

Mark turned the small metal case around in his hands. The rhythmic beeping of the machines at Kari's side did little to assure him of her stability. The bottom right hand corner of the case was scratched beyond recognition. He knew what the scratches covered.

Try and quit. Love you always, Mark.

It had been her twentieth birthday present. It had originally held a Boondock Saints decal on the front, but over the years friction had dished out punishment on the little image. His fingers passed lightly over the viscous scratches. The crisscrossing grooves were deep and very deliberate. Kari had never been careless or malicious with her things. Even if there were awkward emotional attachments to the item, her practicality wouldn't let her damage or throw away anything in a rage. The door opened and closed gently, barely breaking over the monotonous beeping.

"I brought you some coffee." Mark glanced up reluctantly accepting the little paper cup Ava held out. Bringing the cup to his lips, he turned his attention back to the case in his hand.

"Why didn't you tell me what happened?" he didn't look at her while he asked.

"She asked me not to," Ava answered. "Babe, we had no way of knowing he'd be that dangerous. He could have been some harmless creep." Mark looked up at Kari, swallowing at the sight of her lifeless form.

"Well he wasn't."

9 days ago

Kari stared at the endless array of sleep aids standing before her. Her heavy hanging eyelids and dark circled eyes clear indicators of her misery. God help anyone stupid enough to ask her if she was tired. The vast majority of the sleep aids were some sort of holistic variation, basically the pill equivalent of herbal tea. She reached for a bottle of Tylenol Pm.

"I don't have a headache," she muttered at the bottle turning it over to examine the instructions

"Hey."

Kari turned at the perky male voice, only to be blinded by an unnaturally bright toothy grin. She squinted at the human representation of shark week.

"Tired, huh?"

And there was her headache. Deciding to disregard the hopefully rhetorical question, she turned her back on Captain Obvious and made a bee line straight for the self-checkout. As she scanned the medication, a tingling shot through her body, slipping across her hips. She turned, half expecting to see her justification for acetophemine, and fully prepared to acquire a reason for an ice pack for her knuckles. Fortunately those scary looking pearly whites were nowhere to be seen. She turned back quickly to continue her purchase, determined not to add hallucinations to her growing list of symptoms. She squelched the sensation of eyes on her and began feeding her cash into the machine.

Her foreboding shivers returned, twice as strong. Anxious to put as much distance between herself and the cause of her discomfort, Kari quickly made her way around the side of the store to the parking lot. Rifling through her pockets, she fished out the car keys. Keeping her head down, she squinted at the little buttons, trying to decipher from the faded pictures which unlocked the car doors. She just managed to drop her exhausted hide into the seat and shut the door when a loud buzzing sound echoed through the little vehicle.

"Fuck!" She shouted at the empty space. This funhouse of days was getting old pretty fast. It was time to break it down and pack it up. Sighing, she snatched up her phone to check her messages.

Hiking 2morrow. Wanna go?