Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the Gilmore Girls, I'm just using the characters for my own enjoyment. I'm also shamelessly borrowing from Anne Sebold.
Rating: This story is rated R for mild swearing and allusions to suicide. Please don't read it if you aren't comfortable with the subject matter. Thanks!

Chapter 2 – Welcome to Existence

"Rory?" she heard her mother call. "Are you home? Rory?"

She opened her eyes.

Sitting up quickly, Rory surveyed her room. It was lighter, so she thought that it might be morning. With a sigh, she stood and walked over to the window, gazing out into her front yard, looking at the brightly colored piles of leaves that had collected during the night. The reds, oranges, and yellows seemed to mock her sense of gloominess and depression.

Reaching for the lock that held the window in place, she pushed the glass upward and climbed out the window, accomplishing something she hadn't done in years. Walking down her porch, she started down the steps and into the leaves. With a scream of laughter, she jumped into a huge pile and buried herself in their depths, swimming in a sea of wet dirt and grass. It was like heaven.

After awhile, even Rory had to admit that this behavior was a little childish, so she pulled herself off of the ground and brushed the excess traces of nature from her clothes. Not wanting to go inside to face the mess she'd made the night before, and her mother, she turned toward town, breathing in the crisp morning air that only the east coast could provide in the fall.

Passing Miss Patty's, she stopped and watched her open the studio for her early morning yoga class. As her mind caught on to the time, her body adjusted as well, and she headed toward Luke's to get some coffee.

Pushing open the door to the diner, she heard the bell tinkle and felt a rush of nostalgia. She hadn't visited the diner alone in at least a year, and she couldn't figure out her sudden lack of caring. She knew he'd be there, but it didn't matter. She was free of him now.

Grabbing a seat at the counter, she left the tables to the families who dined early in the morning. Luke rushed by her behind the counter as she called out "Coffee, Luke." He didn't seem to hear her, and picked up the orders that Ceaser had left at the window.

After his deliveries, Luke returned, this time to the register, ringing up the receipt of a disgruntled family. Mumbling to himself, Luke angrily punched at the numbers and successfully created a receipt. "Luke?" Rory called after him. He didn't hear her again.

Frustrated, Rory grabbed a mug herself, pouring coffee from the container. She settled back in her seat, sipping at the warm brew. She couldn't really taste it, but she figured that it was just due to her overwrought nerves from the night before.

Finishing her mug, she left the money at the counter at walked toward the door calling out a quick, "Bye, Luke," as she left. Walking down the street, she paused to look in some of the store windows. Those unicorn shops were growing by the dozens. She hadn't thought about those stores in years, ever since she and her mom...

Well, it didn't matter now. Passing by Doosey's Market, she glanced in the window and saw Dean diligently bagging groceries as usual. It still amazed her that he didn't try harder to be something more than a bagger. He had so much potential. Hell, she shouldn't be one to judge. She'd done the same thing: thrown away her life.

Somehow that idea didn't scare her anymore. In fact, it didn't even produce any sort of emotion in her like it did the night before. Rory felt healed. She hadn't felt this good in years.

Walking up her driveway, she saw that her mom had left the lights to the Jeep on, and she opened the door to turn them off. Sitting in the driver's seat, she couldn't remember the last time she'd driven anywhere in this car with her mother. It was still the same, but the warmth wasn't there.

Touching the steering wheel, she remembered learning to drive, getting hit by the deer on the way to Chilton, and Friday night dinners. Those had stopped after the death of her grandmother. Emily Gilmore had finally succumbed to the cancer that had plagued her for a year. Rory didn't go to the funeral. She was with...him...that day.

Her grandfather had followed a few months later, seemingly from heartache as he never recovered from the loss of his wife and friend. With that chapter of her life over, Rory felt no real connection with any family anymore.

She had stopped calling her father, since their talks always revolved around Sherri and Gigi. Since she wasn't doing anything with her life, she couldn't share any information with him, so their conversations were lilted and awkward. They stopped altogether three months ago, and Rory barely felt the loss.

Pushing open the front door of her house, she looked into the family room to see if her mother was awake yet. The glass had been swept off the floor, and the pictures removed from their resting places, all except the one of her as a little girl, which she'd placed on the mantle the night before.

Walking into the kitchen, Rory pulled out yesterday's paper and began to catch up on the latest news. Not understanding her sudden motive for wanting to know about Stars Hollow again, she didn't question the emotion, but savored it.

Turning to the gossip column, she learned that Kirk had a new girlfriend named Lulu. Smirking to herself, she wondered what Lulu must look like, and how Kirk was handling himself and the situation. She read more mundane things about her neighbors and their yards until something caught her eye. At the bottom of the column, she caught a phrase saying, "Jess Mariano and Rory Gilmore... Hot or History?"

Curious, she read on. "According to our sources, this Stars Hollow teen couple has been hitting a rocky patch in their relationship. Now the question is: who is too controlling?" Rory sighed. "How do these people know everything?" she asked aloud. "Statistics say that most teen relationships die out because one party or the other begins to take a controlling nature over the other. Have the sparks faded? Will this couple last?" Rory smiled before replying, "Of course not."

Reading on, she was astonished to find some gossip about her mother. "And in related news, Lorelai Gilmore has been seen around town with Luke Danes recently. Is this the match made in heaven that the whole town has been waiting for? One insider says: 'The way they flirt over her coffee, you'd think they'd been sleeping together for months.'" With a snort of laughter, Rory read on. "Well, we're pulling for this one folks. And that's the news for this week. Keep gossiping!"

Folding the paper, she heard her mother enter the kitchen behind her, and she twisted in her seat to face her. "Mom, you wouldn't believe what they printed about you and Luke in the paper. It's so ridiculous! It says that you have been sleeping together and everything." Rory laughed. "Isn't that crazy?"

Lorelai didn't respond, but continued with the motions of setting up the coffee filter. "Mom?" Rory tried again. "Okay, I see how it is. You're giving me the cold shoulder. Well, don't worry I understand. I've been doing the same thing for the past couple of months." There was still no response.

Rory stood and walked up behind her, almost whispering in Lorelai's ear saying, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything, Mommy." Rory leaned her head against Lorelai's back, but was jolted back to reality when she felt herself falling forward into the counter. Lorelai was on the other side of the kitchen.

"Rory?" Lorelai called. Rory giggled. Was her mom actually trying to joke around with her like they used to? "Rory?" Lorelai called again, turning toward her bedroom door. Walking across the room, Lorelai twisted Rory's doorknob and opened the door.

Rory was gasping in laughter now, as her mother's calls turned into screams. "Rory! RORY!"

Hunched over, clutching her stomach, Rory made her way across the kitchen up to behind where Lorelai was standing. "Mom, you're killing me," she gasped. "You're killing me! Stop it!"

As Rory gasped for breath to recover from her fit of giggles, Lorelai collapsed to the ground, and crawled across the floor of her bedroom. "Mom?" Rory laughed. "What are you doing?" She entered the room and crossed to her bed and looked at her mother on the ground on the other side. "Mom?" Rory called, laughing less at the look of horror on Lorelai's face. "Mom?"

Picking her way around the clothing littering the floor, she made her way to the foot of her bed. Looking down at her comforter, she saw a huge red stain that traveled across the length of her bed and down off the side where her mother was kneeling.

Reaching out a cautious hand, she felt the stain. It was slightly wet, and pulling back her hand, she rubbed her fingers together, feeling the consistency of the liquid. "Mom?" Rory said again, this time with fear. She heard her mother scream again, "Oh my god!"

As if in slow motion, Rory stepped around her mother and looked with horror at the floor of her bedroom. "Rory!" her mother cried again.

"Oh my god," Rory said aloud. "OH MY GOD!" she screamed, clutching her hands over her mouth. She looked at her mangled body on the floor with her letter opener sticking out of her chest. Blood stained the floor where she'd lain, and her complexion was a bluish hue. Her eyes were opened toward the ceiling, unseeing as they looked upon death.

"NO!" they cried in unison, and it was hard to distinguish who was feeling the most anguish. "No," Rory said. She reached over and touched Lorelai's shoulder. "Mom, I'm right here. This is just a trick. Mom." She shook Lorelai slightly. "Mom." She shook her again, this time harder. "MOM," she screamed, using both hands. Lorelai just sat in shock, wailing cries of "Rory" and "Oh my god" and "No." Lorelai reached out and grasped the arm of Rory's dead body and pulled her against her chest, rocking back and forth. "My baby," she cried.

Rory stepped away from the horror that confronted her vision, and stumbled backward into the wall. "No," she cried. Lorelai echoed her sentiment. "NO! NO! NO!" Their screams echoed in her small room, until Rory hit her head back against the wall and screamed "GOD!"

And suddenly she was falling backward into an empty black hole of nothing but the screams of her mother vibrating in her ears, and the tears falling down her cheeks.

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A/N: Feedback is greatly appreciated! Thanks!