Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from The Ring, only I wish I did, but I don't. Although, I do own Adriana, Calyn and Shane, ha jealous? :P
A/N: Jordan and Penn Law Firm is a fake law firm that Calyn and Adriana are secretaries for. This chapter kind of steps away from the freakiness of The Ring, but just to introduce Adriana's old flame, Josh VanNess. Also, I don't ever remember anyone talking about Ana's body being found so let's just say it wasn't. [This will sort of explain the dream and give a hint for later chapters!] I am sorry this chapter took so long to produce, I've been busy with school.
Day two:
Adriana woke up panting. Her eyes widened with fear as she looked around her room, only to see it was not her room at all. She stood behind a girl in a chair in a very white room. The girl's chair began spinning furiously. Adriana backed up against a wall quickly, scared out of her wits.
The girl stood up; her long, black hair covered her face. She began walking towards Adriana. Adriana quickly closed her eyes, scared of what was hidden under the hair. She soon realized the girl was right next to her as soon as she felt hot breath on her neck. The girl began whispering, "six days."
Adriana opened her eyes and saw that there was no little girl near her and that she was standing against the wall by her bed. Tears slowly ran down her face as she realized what Rachel told her was fake. Angry and hurt, Adriana rushed to her closet and ripped out some clothes to wear. She put on a pair of white jeans and a black shirt. She walked to her hallway closet, flung open the door, and pulled out a pair of black and silver Nikes. Slipping the shoes on, she reached over, grabbed her keys off of the coffee table, and headed out of the apartment, not caring that it was only five thirty am.
Adriana stomped down the stairs and headed into the parking garage. She located her car, got in, slammed the door and jammed the key into the ignition. She didn't dare turn on the radio, for fear of what she may hear today.
She carelessly parked her car and got out. Adriana entered the apartment building and raced up the stairs to Rachel's apartment. She knocked furiously and was greeted by a sleepy Rachel.
"You lied!" Adriana hissed.
"What?" Rachel replied as she rubbed her eyes.
"I copied the tape, but she's haunting me still! She came into my room this morning when I woke up and whispered six days to me! She's not gone; she's after me still!"
"No, no! That can't be possible! You copied the tape! I don't get it; it worked for Aiden and I!" Rachel said suddenly awake.
"Will you help me, Rachel?"
"No." Rachel said bluntly. She took one last glance at Adriana and shut the door. Adriana stood there awestruck. She frowned and turned to leave when Rachel called out, "maybe I'll help you. Come by at noon." By the time Adriana turned around, Rachel was already back inside of her apartment with the door shut.
Adriana smiled to herself and headed back downstairs to her car. She got into the car and put the key into the ignition. She looked in the rearview mirror and saw a girl smiling at her. Adriana let out a small scream and turned around to see nothing but a seat with a single tape on it.
She slowly reached over and looked at the floorboard to see no other tape. She quickly picked up the tape, ripped the key out of the ignition and got out of the car. She rushed upstairs and began pounding on Rachel's door.
This time, Aiden opened the door. His face was blank so Adriana could not tell if he was annoyed, angry, awake, tired, or anything.
"Yes?" Aiden asked.
"Where's your mom?" Adriana replied barging into the apartment.
"She's in her bedroom; I'll go get her." Aiden walked out of the living room and into Rachel's room. He stared at her for a moment and noticed the tears that were falling down her face. "Are you okay, Rachel?" He asked.
Startled, Rachel hurriedly wiped her tears away and nodded. "Do you need something, sweetie? Why aren't you in bed?"
"Adriana's here. I couldn't sleep." He said flatly.
Rachel tilted her head and sighed. Ever since Noah died, Aiden had become quieter and duller than he was before. She slowly got up and watched as Aiden hurried out of her room and back to his.
"Hey, something wrong..." Rachel said slowly.
"Yes! You know how I made that copy, right?"
"Right."
"Well, it's gone! I had left it in my car with the original copy but now all that's left is the original." Adriana said holding up the tape and shaking it.
"Maybe one of your friends took it to scare you?" Rachel tried to look hopeful but deep down inside of her, she knew this wasn't true.
"No, they can do mean pranks and stuff, but they wouldn't do that. But you know what else happened?" Adriana asked.
"What?"
"When I got in my car, I looked in my rearview mirror and saw the little girl again! So, naturally, I turned around to see if she was really there, and she wasn't. That's when I noticed the tape. It's like a sign; you know what I mean? Like, she knew I would turn around and wanted me to see that there was only one tape there." Adriana said with a shiver.
"That confuses me. Would it have been her who took the tape?" Rachel asked.
"How am I supposed to know?" Adriana snapped.
"I don't know, but that doesn't make sense at all! She wanted to be heard!" Rachel said sitting down in a chair.
"How do you know she wanted to be heard?"
"That's why she made the tape, that's why Aiden and I lived, we copied the tape. Us copying the tape would allow more people to watch it and hear her story."
"What story? I saw no story in that grotesque film!" Adriana exclaimed.
"That was her story. Those things, they're all connected to Samara in some way. Why she would do something with the tape, I do not know. But I have every intention of finding out. Adriana, do me a favor, you go have fun, I'll do the research, check in every so often, okay?"
"I will, thank you." Adriana stood up and began walking towards the door. Rachel called out before she left, "leave the tape with me."
Adriana turned, and tossed the tape onto her couch. "Good luck!" Adriana called out as she left. She jogged down the stairs and left the apartment building. She got into the car and put her key in the ignition. She, again, looked in her rearview mirror to see the little girl, obviously Samara, smiling, her head cocked to the side and began chanting, "you're going to die in six days, six days, six days."
"You're not really there; I'm imagining it. You're dead, the tape is fake." Adriana said, turning around sharply. Much to her relief, Samara was not there. She left Rachel's apartment and headed back to hers to get some more sleep.
When inside her apartment, she walked to her kitchen to get a glass of water. She hummed to herself as she pulled the glass out and turned the water on. She closed her eyes and sighed. 'This week is going to be a rough one,' Adriana thought. She opened her eyes and looked down at the faucet and her glass. Intestines were slowly coming out of the faucet and piling into her glass. Screaming, she threw the glass into the sink, causing it to shatter, and backed up against a wall. She covered her mouth, hoping she wouldn't vomit after seeing the intestines.
Adriana was really beginning to hate this apartment. Her head began pounding and she walked into the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet. Maggots began falling out of the cabinet and onto the sink and floor. Adriana let out another scream and left the apartment immediately. She got into her car and rushed over to Shane and Calyn's place.
Once there, she knocked on the door seven times before a sleepy Shane finally answered. He tilted his head to the side and asked with a yawn, "You never slept in as a kid, did you?"
She didn't answer him. She looked up at him and started crying. Shane was one of her best friends and after six days, she'd never see him again. Shane, seeing that Adriana was upset, put his arm around her and guided her inside.
"Calyn isn't here." Shane said slowly.
"She's at work this early? Oh well, I didn't necessarily come here to talk to her."
Shane cocked an eyebrow, "oh really? You came here to talk to Mr. Davis?"
"This isn't fair, Shane!" Adriana sobbed. He rubbed her back soothingly. "Adriana, sweetie, I, I really don't know what to say." Adriana sobbed and told him what happened to her this morning. Shane wrapped his arms around her, in a friendly way, and kissed her forehead. "So wait, tell me about this Rachel-girl again." Shane commanded.
"Well, she's a reporter and I guess that last year she had to deal with this so she's going to do research." Adriana said with a shrug.
"Find out her story." Shane said.
"Why?"
"Because it might help us or something. Maybe we'll see a pattern in the deaths and find out how to skip it. A death pattern probably isn't the case, but just give it a try." Shane replied.
"I'll go at noon, she asked me to come then anyways."
"So, don't you want to get some sleep, or something?" Shane asked.
"I'm not going back to my apartment, no way. That place is messed up!" Adriana answered.
"Well, you can crash on the couch if you want to?"
"Sure, if it's not hassle." Adriana smiled.
"Yes, yes it is, go home! Now I say, now!" Shane joked.
Adriana plopped down on the off-white sofa. She kicked off her shoes and got settled in. Shane went into his bedroom and returned with a blanket, which he tossed onto Adriana's head.
"Good night, Shane!" Adriana yelled as he left the living room.
"You mean good morning!" Shane yelled back.
Adriana grinned and allowed her eyelids to slowly droop. She rolled over on her side and fell asleep with ease.
Adriana stood on a cliff, her arms spread out. She slowly moved forward, allowing herself to fall face first into the icy water. Her head hit the hard rocks, knocking her unconscious. Being unconscious, her body slowly sank to the bottom. Adriana's eyes opened, and the violet eyes of hers were now bloodshot and brown. She got out of the water; her body was a pale blue and bruised. She stared at her reflection in the water and gasped at the sight of her eyes. Adriana walked through the mall with Calyn and Shane. The mall carried nothing but white dresses. Calyn picked one up and said, "oh! This one is cute, get it!" Adriana shook her head. Calyn picked up another one that was the exact same and again, Adriana shook her head. She rushed over to a dress that was the same as the others and ran to a dressing room. She emerged from the dressing room with the white dress on. Her black hair covered her face and her friends began running. "Come back! Why are you running from me!" Adriana called out.
Adriana's eyes shot up and she looked around at her surrounding. She sighed to herself to see that she was, safely, in Shane and Calyn's home. Shane walked out of the kitchen and smiled at her.
"It's 'bout time you got up! It's noon thirty!" He smirked.
"Oh, ha ha, my bad!" Adriana said getting up. She noticed Shane staring at her intently. He tilted his head to the side and asked, "do you have contacts in?"
"No, why?" Adriana replied.
"Because your eyes, they're like, brown and not that freaky violet color."
"Omigod!" Adriana screamed and ran to the bathroom. She groaned and walked out into the living room. "This is so freaky! You know, I had a dream my eyes turned brown!" Shane walked over to her, put his hands on her shoulders and brought her closer to him, examining her eyes.
"Honey, I'm home!" Calyn called while entering the house. Her cheery smile slowly left her face as she saw her boyfriend, standing in his boxers, holding her best friend. "Um, what's going on?"
"Come; come look at her eyes!" Shane called. Calyn hurried over to Adriana and stared at her eyes. "What happened?" Calyn asked.
Adriana told her about the dream and paced the room. She then told her about Rachel and decided she better go check in on her. She kissed Calyn and Shane and left to go to Rachel's. Once arriving at the apartment, she jogged up the stairs and knocked on the door. Aiden answered it and smiled slightly.
"Hello, I'm probably going to see you around here often, right?" He said dully.
Adriana blushed. "Well, maybe, but anyways, is your mom home?"
"No," Aiden stated simply, clearly not wanting to go into detail.
"Where is she?" She asked.
"Library, she said she'd be back at five." Aiden replied, slowly inching the door shut.
"All right, bye, thanks!" Adriana said. She turned around and trotted downstairs. She drove back to Calyn and Shane's house and walked inside without knocking. Adriana smiled at the two who were cuddling on the couch.
"Guess what we're doing today!" She cried cheerfully.
"Um, I don't know, what?"
"Shopping! All day, baby!" Adriana laughed.
Calyn looked at her with one eyebrow raised, "are you ever going back to work?"
"Oh shoot, I have to call in. I think I'll ask for my week vacation." Adriana said heading for Calyn's phone. She quickly dialed the number for Jordan and Penn Law Firm and waited for a secretary to answer.
"Jordan and Penn Law Firm, Selena Rodriguez speaking, how may I help you?" A woman said blandly.
"Yes, this is Adriana Langston, and I was wondering if I could get permission to take my week vacation?"
"Let me check," Selena replied. Adriana could hear pages ruffling, books dropping to the floor and loud sighs. "Well, I'll have to talk to Mr. Jordan. Excuse me." Adriana sighed and listened to the elevator music. She looked at her friends and laughed, "I just love elevator music!"
"Don't we all." Shane replied sarcastically.
Adriana drummed her fingers against the table stand and waited. Finally, after waiting for about seven minutes, Selena came back. "Well, Mr. Jordan says it's fine, he didn't sound too happy about it, but yeah, whatever, go on your break."
"Thanks!" Adriana replied. She hung up the phone quickly and looked at Calyn and Shane. "Well, come on!" She grabbed Shane and Calyn's arms and pulled them off the couch. "Get your shoes on and let's go!" She whined.
"Okay, okay!" Calyn said slipping her shoes on. She had changed from her work outfit and now wore blue jeans, a white t-shirt and white Phat farm shoes. She tossed Shane his Chuck Taylor's and grabbed her purse. Calyn walked outside with Shane and Adriana and piled into her car.
Once they arrived at the mall, Adriana and Calyn were quick to hit the stores, whereas Shane was not, he lingered behind them, gazing at the people and the stores. Shane didn't realize how angry he was at the tape that was killing his best friend. He was also angry at all the people that were going to live when the girl he's known since he was in diapers, was going to die.
"Shane? Are you just going to stand outside of the store all day? You are allowed in, you know." Calyn joked. She walked over to the dress section and pulled out a white dress. "Oh, this is gorgeous! Try it on, Addy! Try it on!"
Adriana looked at the dress, completely forgetting her dream about the dresses; she smiled and hurried back to the dressing room. She emerged from the dressing room and did a twirl for Calyn.
"You look gorgeous!" Calyn gushed.
"Oh thank you, thank you, darling!" Adriana said while blowing kisses at Calyn. "You know," Adriana said tilting her head to the side and examining herself in the mirror, "I think I'll buy this dress." She nodded to herself and went back into the dressing room.
"She must have gone mad!" Shane whispered.
"Why's that?" Calyn asked, her eyes gleaming with curiosity.
"You heard her dream; she went to the mall with us and you picked out a white dress. And then, suddenly, we saw her and ran."
"Well, that didn't happen, so you better not bring it up again!" Calyn snapped.
They waited patiently while Adriana changed. Adriana soon came out from the dressing room and frowned. "I don't want this dress. Let's go, okay?"
"Yeah, sure, here, I'll put the dress on the rack." Calyn reached over and pulled the dress away from Adriana's tight grip. Adriana smiled, not a sweet smile, but an evil smile. She grabbed Calyn's arm and held it tightly. "Thank you, Lynnie. It was nice of you to take my dress back to the clothes rack." Adriana let go and strolled out of the store.
Calyn looked down at her arm to see reddish-brown fingerprints. Pain rippled through her arm and Calyn was beginning to believe they had been burned into her arm. She glanced over at Shane and motioned him to come over to her. "Look at my arm! Adriana grabbed it and now they fingerprints are on my arm, they're, like, burned in!" Calyn whispered.
"Are you sure it was Addy?" Shane replied, examining the burnt arm.
"Yes! I mean, well, this wasn't here before, so it had to be her!" She walked out of the store, Shane behind her, and walked up to Adriana. "Did you do this?" She demanded, sticking out the arm for Adriana to see.
"Do what?" Adriana tilted her head and eyed the arm.
"The burn mark, Addy! The burn mark!"
"Oh, no. No I did not." Adriana said with the same evil smirk upon her face. Calyn stared in disbelief. She huffed and puffed and finally stomped away towards the restroom. "Uh-oh, someone's mad." Adriana smiled.
Seven minutes later, Calyn located Adriana and Shane sitting on a bench in the middle of the mall. Adriana seemed to be her usual self again and smiled, a sweet smile, at Calyn. "Hey babe, you okay?"
Calyn shrugged and sat down. She let out a heavy sigh and looked at Shane. "Baby, what time is it?" She asked.
Shane glanced down at his watch and looked back up at her. "It's two."
"We got a lot of time to kill!" Adriana complained. And for the next two hours, they hung out around the mall, doing random things.
Adriana, very hungry, grabbed Calyn and Shane's arms and pulled them towards Luca Pizza. She barely entered the pizza place when she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. Calyn looked at her curiously and whispered, "why are you stopping?"
"Josh is here." Adriana stated blandly, referring to her ex-boyfriend, Joshua VanNess.
"Uh-oh, here he comes." Calyn whispered sharply. Adriana quickly turned around on her heal but was suddenly stopped when a hand wrapped around her shoulder. She jerked free and spun around. "What do you want, Joshua?" Adriana asked.
"I, well, I just wanted to talk. I mean, well, you know, we haven't, well, talked in awhile, obviously." Josh stuttered.
"Then why start now?" Adriana cocked an eyebrow and put her hand on her hip. "I mean, you didn't have any problem not talking to me for the longest time while we were dating, and then I later found out you had broken up with me without even telling me!" Adriana snapped.
"I told Kevin," he began, referring to his best friend, Kevin Delaney. "To tell you I had broken up with you. It isn't my fault he didn't do his part."
"His part? His part! When did Kevin enter our relationship? You were the boyfriend in the relationship, not Kevin. You should have been the one to tell me you had broken up with me from my enemy!"
"I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm sorry!" Josh said with a stutter.
"I, I, I, I don't care! Stay out of my life!" Adriana replied, mocking his stuttering.
Calyn looked at Adriana and began walking away from Josh, gesturing for him to stay there and motioning Adriana to follow. Adriana walked over and sighed, "yes? You need something, Lynnie?"
"You have less than sixth days to live and you're not even going to talk to your ex before you die? You've been holding this stupid grudge for a year. It's time to forgive and forget."
Adriana stood there for a moment, thinking about accepting Josh's apology. She tilted her head to the side and nodded. "I suppose I could accept the apology." She shrugged and walked back over to Josh. "I accept." She said sweetly.
"Thank you, that's all I wanted. But I want to talk to you privately, would you like to go back into Luca Pizza with me?" Josh asked.
"Sure, Calyn, Shane, you two can go do whatever; I'll be fine on my own." Adriana smiled. Calyn and Shane both gave each other worried glances, praying Adriana wouldn't repeat anything that had happened earlier.
The two slowly sauntered off, watching Adriana and Josh enter Luca Pizza. Adriana went up to the counter and ordered a coke and so did Josh. They found a table far away from the crowd and sat across from each other.
"So, what do you want to talk about, eh?" Adriana asked.
"I don't remember why I broke up with you, and I'm sorry. I was stupid, and I'm sorry."
Adriana fiddled with the straw in her glass and remained silent. She examined the condensation running down the sides of her glass and sighed. She glanced up, but still said nothing.
"I take it you don't want to forgive me for that?" Josh asked.
"I already accepted your apology, I assumed that apology was for every stupid thing you did."
"I miss you, Addy. I miss being with you. I miss everything about you!"
Adriana looked back down at her glass. Her eyes then wandered around the table, finally stopping to stare at Josh's hands. His hands were shaking and he looked very nervous. "Are you all right, Josh?" Adriana said looking back up at him. She moved her glass aside and allowed her hands to cover Josh's.
Josh smiled and maneuvered his hands to hold hers. "I'm okay; I'm okay now."
"Is this your way of asking me back out?" She stared into his sparkling blue eyes.
"We dated for three years, I ruined it. I want us to be together again, so yes."
Adriana's heart started racing. Of course, she still had feelings for Josh, but now with this whole death sentence and all, she didn't think she could date him again. But, she didn't want to have any last regrets before dying. She smiled at him. "I want us to be together, too."
Josh smiled, a big, broad smile, and leaned across the table and planted a small kiss on Adriana's lips. The two slid out of the booths, laced their fingers with each other's, and left the pizza place.
Adriana looked at her watch and turned to Josh. "Josh, could you take me home, I need to do something."
"Yeah, sure, babe." Josh replied walking towards the exit. They zigzagged their way through the parking lot and finally located Josh's car. Josh opened the door for Adriana and she climbed inside.
Josh got behind the wheel and put the key into the ignition and left the mall. He drove close to Adriana's street before Adriana quickly said, "wait, can you take me to my friend's place?" She quickly told him the directions.
"Thank you, sweetie!" Adriana said giving him a quick kiss and getting out of the car. She walked into the building and headed for Rachel's apartment. Once up there, she knocked seven times and no one answered. She sighed and looked down at the ground. She noticed something white sticking out of the door and bent down. She pulled the paper through the bottom of the door space and picked it up and read:
Adriana,
Sorry, I looked and I cannot find any more information. I can't deal with this anymore. She's back and she's haunting my son's dreams. I had to leave; I will be back in seven days. I'm sorry, I hope you can do the research yourself, good luck. It was nice meeting you, even if it were for the wrong purposes.
Rachel
Adriana finished reading that note and glanced down to see another note on the paper in a child's hand writing:
Adriana,
I'm sorry, it's my fault.
Aiden
Adriana stared at the paper, angry and confused. Why is Aiden sorry, what did he do? Adriana wondered. She slowly walked out of the apartment and got onto the city bus. Once off the bus, she burst into her tears and hurried into her apartment. She rushed up to her apartment, unlocked the door and hurried inside. She slammed the door shut and ran to her bedroom.
She examined her room, although it looked blurry, and collapsed onto the bed. She laid on the bed and thought. I'm taking this too lightly. I can't have fun, I have to sit and sulk and hope I get visitors. I can't date Josh. I can't love. I can't laugh. I can't sing, dance, run, jump, shop, I can't do anything. I will spend my last days on earth sulking. That is what I will do.