White. Everywhere. White walls. White ceiling. White light.
This surely couldn't be Heaven. Not after everything she had done in life, there was no way she could be in Heaven.
Olivia's eyes fluttered as she fought to keep them open. The light was blinding and made her head hurt. Funny. She thought she wouldn't experience pain after death.
Maybe this was her own personal Hell?
The agonizing pain in her head grew, causing her to groan. Olivia rolled her head around only worsening the pain. Her hand reached up to touch it. Some type of material had been wrapped around her head. Something that felt like a bandage, or gauze.
Olivia noticed a beeping sound coming from her left. Slowly, painfully, she lifted her head to see what was making the obnoxious sound. Was that a cardiac monitor? What was that doing in Hell?
"Good to see you're awake," came a voice.
Instead of turning, Olivia's eyes remained on the machine. The jagged green lines hypnotized her, the beeping sound ringing in her ears. Beep…beep…beep.
She turned to look at the speaker. A man with thin, graying hair wearing medical scrubs. "Am I dead?" Olivia croaked, her voice ragged.
"No, but you've been in a coma for the last two months. That bullet you lodged into your brain really did some damage. Luckily, the doctors were able to save you and repair everything," he explained.
"Oh," Olivia nodded. Her tired black eyes swept over the room again. "Where…where am I?"
"The medical wing of Blackgate Prison," he replied.
"Blackgate?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
The doctor gave her a stern look. "I think we both know why you're here, Miss Rivera."
"Miss Rivera," Olivia muttered. The man's statement was making no sense to her at the moment so she pushed it out of her mind. "Nobody's called me that in years…"
"Yes, well, it seems that everyone will be referring to you as that in these next few months," the man replied. "I'll notify the detective to let him know you're awake. For now you need to rest."
He left, leaving her more confused than ever before.
. . .
"Giiiiiirl's niiiiight!" Sydney bellowed at the top of her lungs.
Brynn plugged her ears shut and grimaced at her friend's voice. She watched as Sydney danced around the room, her wild blonde curls bouncing playfully. In one hand, she held a horror film; in the other, a bottle of tequila.
"Careful with that!" Brynn scolded as Sydney nearly dropped the glass bottle. Her friend grinned at her, taking a large swig from the bottle.
"You worry too much," Sydney teased. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and checked the alarm clock by her bed. "The others should be here by now."
"The others?" Brynn asked. "I thought it was just us tonight?"
"I invited some other girls from the floor," Sydney replied. "They should be here any second."
Right when she said it, a loud knocking rattled the door. On the other side, loud and excited voices were made audible. Sydney practically pranced to the door and threw it open.
"Hey!" she exclaimed and was greeted by excited squeals.
Brynn leaned over to see who Sydney had invited. Standing in the doorway were Malai Po, Erin Schiff, Alana Soellner, and Serena Lamar. She recognized some of them from classes and Erin and Malai shared a bathroom with them. Brynn grinned at them.
Maybe a girl's night wouldn't be so bad. She could use one of these, especially after dealing with the stress from school and All-Stars.
Each girl carried some sort of food item, their arms filled with bags of chips, desserts, and sodas. Serena carried a stack of shot glasses. One glance at them and Sydney's eyes lit up.
"Now it's a party," Sydney giggled excitedly as she made a grab for the glasses. In an instant, she turned from wild college student to bartender.
"We haven't even been here for five minutes and you're already drunk," Alana laughed. She handed Sydney a two liter of Mountain Dew and watched as Sydney mixed it with the tequila.
"Not yet," Sydney declared. She threw back the concoction and swallowed it in one sip.
"She knows how to hold her liquor," Brynn explained. "It'll be a good hour before she starts slurring her words."
Malai and Alana plopped down on Sydney's bed and Serena and Erin sat on Brynn's bed. Sydney handed each girl a shot glass.
"Control yourself, Syd," Brynn said sternly. "You have class tomorrow."
Sydney stuck her tongue out at her. "Calm down, Brynnie. I swear you've turned into such a mom this year. Remember when you used to be fun?"
"Used to be fun? I'm pretty sure I still am!"
Brynn snatched the bottle of tequila and took three long swigs. The liquid had a foul taste and her face puckered up. The other girls cheered.
"Hand it over," Serena said, grabbing the bottle from Brynn. Out of the six girls, it was safe to say Brynn, Sydney and Serena had been the party animals in high school. After Serena chugged the liquid, the bottle was nearly half empty.
For the next hour, the girls gossiped, snacked, drank and told ghost stories. Erin had flipped the lights off and shone a flashlight into her face, her voice taking a sinister turn as she told a murder story. Everyone sat rigidly as they listened to her.
"She walked down the hall, slowly, as the creaking noise grew louder. Creeak. Creeeak. Creeeeak. Finally, she reached the bedroom and pushed the door open," Erin whispered, her lined green eyes wide. The others were stock-still as they waited for the climax. "In the middle of the room was a rocking chair, the culprit of the creaking noise. It slowly rocked back and forth but was empty. Creeeak. Creeak. Creeeeak. The girl walked into the room and stood over the chair. Abruptly, it stopped rocking and all was still. BAM!"
All the girls jumped and screamed. Erin was on her feet now, speaking quickly, moving her hands around animatedly. "The spirit of the dead man attacked her and threw her back against the wall! Like a wild animal, it ripped her soul apart. The entire time she screamed, her desperate cries unheard. Months later, the police found her decaying body in the rocking chair, the horrified look still glued to her face."
"I think I've had enough scary stories for tonight," Malai whispered nervously. She and Alana were gripping each other, their eyes wild.
Erin gave her a demented smile. "But we're just beginning. I have one story about a psychopath who watches college students from their windows."
"Starring Jonathan Crane as the psychopath," Brynn murmured.
Serena shot up and looked down at Brynn. "You know Scarecrow?!"
"Scarecrow?" Brynn questioned.
"Jonathan, I mean. That was the name we used for him back in high school," Serena slurred.
Brynn pulled herself up. Her hair was a wild mess from lying down for so long and her head was beginning to pound from all the alcohol. "You went to high school with the Dweeb Lord? Well that sucks."
"Tell me about it," Serena replied as she took another needy sip of the tequila. "How d'ya know him?"
"He sits next to me in Psychology. I swear he gives me these looks like he wants to kill me or something."
Serena shivered. She ran her hands over her dark arms, trying to warm herself up. "Can we just rant about Jonathan Crane for a second? Because no one has ever freaked me out as much as he did."
The others were leaning forward, intrigued. Sydney passed around the bowl of popcorn as Serena and Brynn started bashing on the boy.
"He was worse in high school," Serena said. "Creepier, I mean. I remember during lunch he used to just stare at people and if you looked at him he wouldn't look away. It was as though he was looking into your soul."
"Still does that," Brynn muttered. "Did he get moved up a few grades or just accepted into college early?"
"He moved up from fourth grade to fifth grade then fifth to sixth. I think he was in the fifth grade for a month at most before they decided to move him up again. And he won everything that was related to academics. Spelling Bee, Geography Bowl, you name it. The kid was a freaking genius. I remember I sat next to him in seventh grade English and we had to write a paper about our family. When it was passed back, I saw that Jonathan had gotten a C on it. I'm not joking, he looked like he was about to cry. Whether it was over the grade or the fact that he had no family, I'm not sure. Though I'm pretty sure it was the fact that he had gotten a C…" Serena's brows furrowed as she tried to decide for herself.
"Aww, he didn't have a family?" Sydney blubbered. By now, she was wasted and talking nonsense. "Poor baby."
"You just referred to Jonathan Crane as 'poor baby,'" Brynn said. Sydney simply shrugged and stuffed more popcorn into her mouth.
"I think he lived with a relative but he didn't have any parents or siblings," Serena explained. "You know, there were times when I felt kind of bad for him. He was bullied relentlessly, didn't have a family, was in a grade where everyone was two or three years older than him. He didn't have a single friend. Even the other nerds picked on him! But then whenever someone would attempt to be nice to him, he was so rude. Jonathan Crane is by far the most arrogant, self-centered person I've ever met. He knows how smart he is."
Brynn snorted. "Sounds like Jonathan to me."
"He doesn't sound that creepy," Alana said to them. "Just really nerdy and insecure."
For the second time, Brynn snorted. "Uh, have you met the kid?"
Serena nodded in agreement. "He's the creepiest person I've ever met. Like I said, he'd just stare at people. If you did manage to strike up a conversation with him—which was hardly ever—he would ask all these personal questions and try to get inside your head. Aw man, he would always ask this one question…oh, what was it…oh yeah!" Serena exclaimed. She changed her voice, making it deeper and more masculine. "'What do you fear?'"
"What do you fear?" Erin asked.
"Yepp. 'What do you fear?' No one would admit it, but we were all kind of scared of him. We used to place bets on how long it would be before he snapped and brought a gun to school."
The room was quiet as the information sunk in. Brynn's theories about the younger boy had been right all along—no friends, picked on, all of that. But Jonathan bringing a gun to school? That took it to a whole new extreme. She had never realized just how screwed up this kid actually was. If other students were scared of a twig like Jonathan and were convinced he'd attempt to kill someone, he clearly had some issues.
Everyone's thoughts were interrupted when Sydney began to snore. Loudly. The bottle of tequila was tucked under her arm lovingly. Drool was beginning to pool on the sheets of her bed.
Malai and Alana stood, claiming they were tired and needed to wake up early for class tomorrow. Erin was on their tail, bidding Brynn and Serena farewell. The two girls, as well as an unconscious Sydney, remained.
"I have a question," Brynn said suddenly. Serena was in the process of smoothing out her brown waves. She raised a plucked brow at Brynn.
"Hmm?"
"In high school…did Jonathan ever carry around a little black notebook?"
Serena paused, trying to recall memories of the little black book. After a moment, she shook her head. "He'd carry reading material around all the time and we usually stole it or hid it from him. But a notebook, no, I don't recall him having one. Why?"
Brynn shrugged, not really wanting to bring up the subject of the notebook she had found in his bag weeks ago. "Just wondering."
"I mean, if he did have one, it was hidden. Jonathan was smart enough not to carry personal things around in case they were stolen."
Then why was he carrying it around in college? She had witnessed firsthand Jonathan being bullied. Heck, she'd even been in the middle of it. If he was still being bullied, why would he risk having something like that stolen?
Brynn pushed the thought out of her head and smiled at her new friend. "I should probably get to bed. Tonight was fun, we should do it some other time."
Serena nodded in agreement. "Definitely. I'll call you this weekend if you want to hang out."
"Sounds good. See ya."
"Bye."
. . .
The room reeked of vomit and alcohol.
Brynn pinched her nose as she tried to get ready for class. In the bathroom, she could hear Sydney emptying the contents of her stomach. The gurgling and coughing made her stomach roll. Brynn grimaced as nausea swept over her.
She felt as though she had been hit by a train. Her head throbbed violently and she looked like death. The hangover she was suffering from was nowhere near as bad as Sydney's but she still felt horrendous.
Unable to deal with the stench any longer, Brynn cracked the window open and sucked in the air outside. It was cold and refreshing, instantly making her feel a little bit better.
Now if only it could do something about her puffy face and red eyes.
"Sydney," she croaked. A muffled reply came from the bathroom. "I need to go to class. If you need something, call me."
Whimpering came next and was soon followed by the sound of sloshing water. Brynn held her breath as she walked by the bathroom, afraid that the smell would only cause her to vomit. She wondered if the other girls were suffering from hangovers as well.
The entire walk to the university building was practically an uphill battle. At one point, Brynn had to stop and take deep breaths, willing her stomach to behave. Somehow she managed to make it to the building and ride up the elevator. Brynn was slightly bent over as she walked into Psychology and practically crawled to her desk.
Don't puke, don't puke, don't puke, she silently chanted to herself. Carefully she sat down and sighed. Jonathan was seated next to her, watching curiously. Out of the corner of her eye, Brynn could see a large, purple bruise that had formed on his cheek.
"You're hung over," Jonathan stated matter-of-factly.
"N-no," Brynn lied. She was so hot. She shrugged her jacket off and began to fan herself with her folder.
"You're lying," was his reply. "You look as though you are about to die."
"It's the flu," she muttered. She coughed, trying to be convincing.
"Really? You were fine yesterday."
What was he doing? His expression was smug so he clearly wasn't worried about her well-being. Most likely he was getting a kick out of seeing her in pain.
"I don't know what you're talking about. I feel fine," she whispered. Her eyelids drooped shut and her head pounded mercilessly. The pain in her stomach was another story entirely.
She heard Jonathan's chair scrape against the tile floor. He was scooting closer, trying to get a better look. Brynn forced her eyelids open and slowly turned her head to look at him. Her mouth twitched into a smile (which looked more like a grimace than anything).
Jonathan sat sideways in his chair, facing her. His smooth chin was propped on top of his hand, a smirk tugging at his lips. His light blue eyes shone with something similar to amusement as he analyzed her. His happiness at her discomfort annoyed her.
"I feel…wonderful," Brynn managed to say. Her stomach lurched and she gripped her chair. The smirk grew wider on his pale face. "Never better."
Jonathan slowly nodded. "I mean, you look hung over to me. Your face is ghostly pale with a green tint; your eyes are bloodshot, your hair's a mess; you look as through you might die at any moment. I must be imaging the stench of vomit and alcohol." He shrugged his shoulders in an I-don't-know fashion. "Maybe it's just me."
"I think it's just you," she agreed. Oh dear Lord, her stomach…
"You know, I heard they're getting a new burger on All-Stars' menu," he said slowly. Brynn's eyes widened. Don't you dare, Jonathan Crane, her conscience screamed. Don't you dare!
"It's supposed to weigh five pounds," he told her. "Can you believe that? Five pounds! It's going to have ketchup and lettuce and cheese and mayonnaise and French fries and meat. Lots and lots of meat."
Brynn clamped her mouth shut as she felt the bile rise in her throat. This wasn't going to end well…
"But forget the burger. Did you hear about that cannibal they found in the Narrows? The papers say he was gnawing on an arm when they found him."
Brynn's eyes widened as she felt the nausea make its way from her stomach to her mouth. She grasped her stomach and covered her mouth with her hand. All of a sudden, she lurched forward.
"Brynn?" Jonathan said carefully. He couldn't keep the grin off his face and was trying hard not to snicker. "Did you just throw up in your mouth?"
She forced herself to swallow and said shakily, "Just a little."
Professor Mapps closed the door to the classroom and began to collect the papers he had assigned the previous day. Brynn blindly searched through her backpack for the essay.
"First the cigarette, now this," Jonathan murmured as he watched her struggle. "When will you ever learn?"
"You know, there's a good chance I might throw up on you," Brynn growled. There was no way she could sit through all her classes today. The moment Psychology was over, she was going straight to her room and sleeping until it was time for her English class. She'd take the quiz and return to the dorm and fall into a NyQuil induced coma.
"Perhaps you shouldn't party on weeknights if not at all," he replied, his know-it-all voice really beginning to piss her off.
"I'm beginning to wish I had left you to those guys last night," Brynn whispered. She closed her eyes, willing the headache to go away. "A bruise on the other cheek would look much better than just one."
That managed to shut him up. Jonathan returned to the correct sitting position and shrugged. Briefly, his hand went to his cheek and gently touched the bruise that had formed.
Mapps collected their papers. He paused for a moment, inspecting Brynn.
"Are you alright, Miss Kiley?"
Her head began to nod but then turned into shaking. Brynn could hardly keep her eyes opened and the room was beginning to spin. When did the lights become so blinding? And why were her senses on high?
Sensing that at any moment she could puke on his tidy floors, Mapps pointed towards the door. "Perhaps you should go back to your dorm, Miss Kiley. You look a little under the weather…"
Unable to protest, Brynn nodded in agreement and dragged her book bag out of the room. Seventy pairs of eyes watched as she half limped, half walked to the door and left. As if on cue, her stomach rolled and bile rose in her throat. She ran to the nearest object (which happened to be a flower pot) and hurled.
Brynn coughed up the remainders of her stomach and groaned. She felt a little better now that her stomach was clear but the headache remained. Regret for the previous night overwhelmed her. What on earth had possessed her to drink on a school night? Had Cadence been right about her being easily influenced?
She pushed the questions from her head and dragged herself back to her dorm, immediately collapsing into bed and slept for the remainder of the day.
. . .
A/N: Chapter 10 was a filler (I think?). A filler is just an informational chapter…right? You'd think after two years of belonging to this website, I'd know all the terminology. Sadly, I don't and usually just nod and smile when it's used, pretending I know what's going on. *Sigh.* I guess it was a filler. I mean, we learned more about Olivia and Jonathan. I dunno… (If anyone wants to get me a birthday present in the future, a terminology book of FF . net would be GREATLY appreciated…)
Warning: kind of a long A/N. I have things to address.
I'm beginning to consider having Jonathan's P.O.V. come into the story sometime soon. They wouldn't be entire chapters, but brief moments every now and then. I'm not sure because of my original idea to have the parts but since so many people have been asking for his P.O.V. I might change it. Idk. What would you guys like to see?
In the next few chapters, the flashbacks of Olivia and other moments will be occurring more frequently. Before now, I had them appear almost every other chapter. Now there will be one every chapter (for a certain amount of time then it will go back to being every few chapters) and there will be some chapters with multiple flashback scenes. I wanted to get the background story going and there's quite a bit of it. Lucky for you guys, the chapters will be longer and therefore more to read… ;)
As I've stated before, Jonathan and Brynn have a rocky relationship. So if anyone has any good ideas for little arguments or awkward situations to throw those two into, lemme know! I've had a few suggestions already and would love to hear your guys' ideas. I have a lot of situations thought of for the story, but I could use a few more "little" plots. You know what I mean? If you're confused, let me know and I'll try my best to explain.
Thank you Musicaddict1, chocolate bear, and AlainHotCoco1 for reviewing! Also to those who followed/favorite the story. I'll admit I was kind of sad when I saw that the chapter didn't get as much feedback as it had the last few chapters. I understand that it's kind of my fault—it was a rushed chapter and IDK, maybe you guys liked the original ending. But the idea of Jonathan just standing there if Brynn were to possibly be assaulted just didn't sit well with me. I mean she wouldn't have but that's pretty much what I had him say. Yes Jonathan's a cold, cruel character. But honestly, I just couldn't see him standing there like, Oh Brynn could possibly be raped. Whateva. Maybe older JC would do that, but at the moment lil JC wouldn't (maybe for someone like Sydney he'd allow that to happen to…). And it wouldn't really make much sense if one minute he's talking her out of a cigarette but allows Griffin and Riley to do something gross to her. Once again, sorry if you guys didn't like the changed ending. In a way, it works better for future events that they left together. I hope you guys aren't mad at me and that's why you didn't review :( Maybe you're all on vacation or something but I think it was because it was a shitty chapter. I'm sorry :(
So yeah, that was a super long A/N. R&R! I'm planning on having one more chapter up before break is over, so plan on having an update Sunday. Have a wonderful New Year's everyone! (Yeah, it's late I know…)