Crawford walked down the hall, whistling a cheerful tune, and leaving Clarice and Krendler standing alone in the doorway. Clarice started to follow Crawford, but was stopped by Krendler, who grabbed her forearm. Clarice glared at him. He had a peculiar look one his face and was breathing strangely.
"Did you want something, Mr. Krendler?" Clarice said harshly. Krendler stared at her for a few minutes longer, looking oddly like an animal.
"You been looking great lately, Starling." he said roughly, "Bet you'd look even better in bed. What do you say?"
Clarice jerked her arm out of his firm grip.
"You bastard," she gasped, adjusting the files in her arms so she could run away without dropping them. "You fucking bastard." Clarice spun on her heel and walked briskly away from him.
"You'd better watch your back, Starling. It might do you some good to try and impress people in high places instead of insult them." He called out behind her. Clarice turned long enough to flip him off before breaking in a jog, then a run, towards the elevators.
Once inside the quiet of the elevator, Clarice let the tears stream freely down her cheeks. She pressed the emergency stop button, fighting to keep her balance as the elevator jerked to a stop. Leaning against the wall, Clarice slid down and slumped into the fetal position. Sobs racked her body violently. As Clarice lay there, she finally began to understand why someone would take their own life.
No one noticed the elevator doors open fifteen minutes later. No one noticed Clarice Starling scurry out, clutching a stack of folders to her chest, eyes unusually red and puffy.
Clarice hurried past everyone, head downcast so they wouldn't notice the tears in her eyes. She swung a heavy white metal door open and descended the fire escape stairs to the basement. Fumbling for her keys, Clarice cursed as she tried to unlock the door leading to her office. Finally getting it open, Clarice hurried in and slammed the door shut. She leaned against it and took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself. Stepping carefully around the stacks of boxes and papers on the floor, she walked over to her desk. She dropped the stack of folders she was carrying among the others that were already there, and flopped into her chair. She carefully wiped the last of her tears away and took on reassuring breath before flipping the folder open.
Staring at the first sentence on the page, Clarice tried to keep the letters stay in order. Her brain seemed to mixing them all around, making it impossible for her to concentrate. She sighed and slapped her hand down on top of the thick stack of papers.
"Come on, Clarice. Concentrate." She scolded herself. She squinted at the top of the page, managing to de-scramble the first sentence, and then the next. She finally was able to settle into a working mind-frame and finished reading the document.
Clarice closed the folder and rubbed her eyes. She always found it depressing whenever she had to review a murder case. And as she already was feeling pretty low, she couldn't help feeling extra miserable after finishing the reading.
Looking around for something that could possibly lift her spirits, Clarice's wandering eyes landed on the junky stereo she had dragged in to listen to tapes of confessions from witnesses. She smiled slightly, wondering if there could be, for once, a good song on the radio. Switching it on, Clarice turned the dial, going past static and boring talk shows before she finally found a station that would come in down in the basement. It was the end of a commercial and Clarice sat back in her chair, hoping for a song to come on next. The DJ came on, sounding too enthusiastic for this early in the morning. Clarice sneered, waiting for him to announce the next song. He finally did, and there was dead air for a moment. Clarice glanced at the radio, anxious that the batteries in the stereo had died. Suddenly strange chimes filled the room, followed by a hauntingly beautiful voice, capturing Clarice and turning her attention to the lyrics. As the words hit her, Clarice was hit by an odd sense of reality, as if this song was written for her and, oddly enough, someone else:
Your lost words whisper slowly to me
Still can't find what keeps me here
When all this time I've been so hollow inside
I know your still there...
Watching me, wanting me
I can feel you hold me down
Fearing you, loving you
I won't let you hold me down
Haunting you, I can smell you, alive
Your heart pounding in my head
Watching me, wanting me
I can feel you hold me down
Seeing me, raping me
Watching me
Watching me, wanting me
I can feel you hold me down
Fearing you, loving you
I won't let you pull me down
As the song ended, Clarice sat stiffly in her chair. Reaching over slowly to switch the radio off, she could still hear the words of the song echoing in her head. She sighed and leaned forward, setting her elbows on the desk and resting her head on her hands, rubbing her temples slowly. She could already feel a headache coming on, and it was only 10:00 in the morning. Slowly sliding her elbows outward, Clarice rested her head on top of all the papers and folders that covered the small desk. Closing her eyes in an attempt to slow the pounding in her brain, Clarice let her mind wander and soon she was in a deep sleep, dreaming of a man that held her heart as tight as he held her mind.
XXXXX
Author's Note: The song that Clarice hears on the radio is Evanescence's "Haunted". An excellent song, you should listen to it...