Chapter 3

The silence that permeated the air of the dark house was nearly complete save only for the eerily disembodied noise of a ticking clock combined with the rhythmic dripping noise of the abandoned raindrops outside.

This was lost on the inhabitants who were deeply entrenched in the all encompassing embrace of sleep, hidden beneath the heavy covers. Nothing stirred, the spell of sleep unbreakable, until gasping for breath someone sat up.

Her ample chest rose and fell as she took huge gulps of air, her body and clothes soaked with sweat. With panic in her green eyes she realized that her legs were trapped and restricted. She quickly kicked and grappled till the blankets were at the edge of her bed.

She finally stopped gasping for breath, though her ears continued to pound with the sound of her heart beat. She looked around her room, the shapes of familiar things now twisted and sinister looking from the darkness in the room.

With a slightly shaking hand she reached over and turned on the small lamp next to her bed bathing her room in the soft yellow glow of the bulb, returning the dark, foreign landscape of her room into the familiar setting that it normally was.

She scanned the room, whatever panic that had been in control of her when she woke up gone, reassured that everything was as is it should be the anxious nausea that was loose in her stomach abated and disappeared.

She shivered from the ice cold air against her skin, with a now steady hand she grabbed the bottom of her shirt and pulled it out away from her body allowing the cool air to reach her stomach and chest for a brief moment cooling herself off.

"Calm down," she whispered as she let her shirt fall back into place "It was just a nightmare." But despite what she told herself she didn't feel like calming down, if anything she felt like getting hysterical, but she refused to give in to the urge.

With a great amount of will power she forced herself to valiantly remember what her nightmare had involved...Josh's face floated to the surface...and a dark room where she had been forced onto a bed...and a voice whispering that she deserved it.

She shivered and stopped not wanting to remember anymore, but the voice wouldn't go away it kept nagging at the back of her brain. The voice was the worst part of the nightmare because she agreed with it and because she didn't know who it was, yet it told her that with such certainty.

Without thinking she reached over and picked up her phone, beginning to dial a number that was both foreign and familiar to her. She stopped, her finger hovering over the keypad in mid-dial, staring at the digital readout on the phone unable to figure out why she was calling that number after all these years.

She pushed the end button up and dropped the phone to the bed, wanting to know why her first instinct had been to dial that number. She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs "What is wrong with me?" she asked herself in a horse whisper. She rested her forehead on her knees and then closed her eyes, her minds eyes supplying the image of a messy top of blonde hair, two warm brown eyes and a friendly freckled face.

She opened her eyes and lifted her head shaking her head slightly "Oh Ron, why didn't you tell me I was being so damn stupid?" She unwrapped her arms and retrieved her phone, dialing Monique's number knowing full well that he had tried to tell her, but she had refused to listen.

She held the hard blue plastic phone to her ear and listened to the electronic tone, it was still early morning, so she knew Monique would be asleep but she had to talk with someone. Finally she heard the recorded voice of her friend and it was only a few minutes till it came to an end and she could leave a message "Hey Mon, I know it's late and I'm sorry." She paused and thought about how to continue "Anyway, I just wanted to know if you'd like to come by tomorrow and hang out. Mom and dad are going to be working late and the tweebs are going to be over at a friend's house."

Kim stopped and sighed softly "I'll talk to you later." She hung up morosely feeling as if her heart was breaking again, but she knew better. She replaced the phone on its stand and wrapped her arms back around her legs, resting her chin on top of her knees once more. She knew she wouldn't go back to sleep, not now, she would just wait for Monique and think about her mistakes.

The sun struggled to shine through the slate gray clouds, feebly succeeding for a moment only to disappear once more into the darkly overcast sky. The air was cold, stinging against the skin whenever a breeze would form.

The sidewalks and roads were still a dark gray, the water from the rain refusing to relinquish its hold. The perfectly manicured lawns were turned into muddy swamps, which explained the disdainful look on the attractive face of the smartly dressed young lady walking up a walkway towards one of the houses.

She shivered despite her warm clothing and shook her head causing her luxurious black hair to bounce slightly. She stopped at the door and brushing the hair back out of her attractive face knocked on the door a frown forming on her darkly colored lips creating a small series of frown lines.

She knew Kim well enough to know that something had upset her last night, it had been obvious this morning when she listened to the message, but she wouldn't pry sure that her friend would decide to tell her eventually. The door opened to revealing the familiar sight of her red haired friend, though her attractive form was hidden beneath the unflattering gray sweats.

Kim stared at her with bright green eyes, though if they were bright from unshed tears or not Monique was unable to tell. Kim stepped to the side motioning for her friend to enter "Thanks for coming over Monique."

Monique gave her a small smile and entered, listening with only half an ear to her friend as she apologized for calling her away from her family. Monique shrugged talking absently "Don't worry about it Kim, there was nothing really important going on."

"Well still I'm sorry, your mom and dad are probably getting frustrated." Kim said as she locked the door and turned to follow her friend.

Monique turned to look at Kim giving her a reassuring smile and shook her head "Nah, they understand. I told them what was up and they're completely sympthico." Her smile faded watching was as her friend's face paled and anger began to burn in her emerald eyes.

"Y-you told your parents what he...what he tried. After I asked you not to?" Kim's voice started to rise slightly, her anger becoming more evident, her sense of betrayal showing itself in her facial expressions.

"No, no, god no Kim" Monique said, sounding put off "I didn't tell them anything. I just said that you two broke up." Kim crossed her arms as if hugging herself and Monique took a step towards her looking reproachful "I had to tell them that much."

Kim remained silent however and unmoving, her eyes still shining with anger as they stared at Monique. She began to chew her bottom lip before shaking her head "You're right...it's just things-I'm sorry."

Monique waved it off, walking over to her friend "It's cool, really. My mom told me to give you my best effort before they take me out to dinner and that's what I'm going to do."

Kim nodded slowly "When are they taking you to dinner?" Her eyes surreptitiously glancing at the hallway clock.

"Well they wanted me back home by four thirty..." Monique said, sounding as if it was nothing important.

"So you'll need to leave here about four." Kim absently said as she turned and started into her living room, with Monique hot on her heels talking about her family and what they had planned for her. Kim took her seat on one end of couch joined shortly by her friend, who sat down next to her. Kim stared at the blank TV listening to Monique's breathing, not saying a word. Monique followed her lead and didn't say a word either.

It didn't last for long, they passed maybe twenty minutes in silence before Monique began to talk about her family once more. Kim nodded and made the appropriate noises of agreement where needed, not really paying attention. There was a lull in Monique's flow of words and Kim broke in, an impulse guiding her "Monique back in school, high school I mean, you knew all the gossip didn't you?"

Monique closed her mouth and looked at her friend, she hid her momentary nervousness and then nodded "Well, I used to think so, then last night..." she trailed off and looked down at the coffee table.

"What's wrong? What happened last night?" Kim asked sitting forward slightly.

Monique looked back up "I didn't think, back then...Tara tried to tell me something about Josh." she paused and took a breath "I called her yesterday to see what she'd been up to and to ask about what she had tried to tell me after senior prom."

Kim reached out putting her hand on her friend's arm, her face looking serious "What happened?"

Monique sighed and then explained "Well, you know that the punch had been spiked after you ran off to save the world." When Kim nodded she continued "Tara told me that Josh took advantage of her. He kept getting her drinks till she was so plastered that she couldn't help herself."

"But she was there with Brick wasn't she?!" Kim said looking horrified.

Monique shook her head, a ghost of a smile flittering across her face "He was playing for the other team Kim." when she saw that Kim didn't understand she tried again "Kim, he could have been offered a part on the fab five team."

For a moment Kim just stared at her, and then as if a light went off in her head she got what Monique meant and she grinned then muffled her giggles behind her hand. Then quite suddenly the giggles died and her hand fell back to her side. "So Josh got Tara drunk and...he..."

She narrowed her eyes speaking in slow, barely contained rage "He told me that after I left he just went home, that he was worried about me!" She stood up and stormed back and forth in front of the coffee table "Ron was in the hospital with a fractured femur and I was worrying about Josh being upset with me for leaving. The entire time he was in some closet banging that drunk ditz Tara!" Her final words were shouted and caused Monique to cringe.

She glared at Monique and then threw herself back onto the crouch and hugged her friend tightly. Monique returned the embrace sniffling slightly, but Kim never cried. The embrace lasted for several minutes and then finally they separated settling back into the couch. It was an awkward silence that settled between them, but Monique seemed much happier now that Kim was no longer interested in the past.

"Kim, you called awful early this morning. Did something happen?" Monique suddenly asked wanting to keep Kim from blowing up once more or inquiring about the past.

Kim answered without hesitation "No, I just wanted to spend some time with my best friend."

Monique took her answer at face value and nodded settling back into the couch deciding that she had been wrong. Nothing had been wrong with Kim; it had just been her worrying.

"So, what are you going to wear to dinner?" Kim asked in her fake all is well voice.

Monique put a perfectly manicured finger to her chin and thought "Well, there was this great outfit at club banana. So I'll probably stop and buy it." She rambled on for a bit longer, Kim adding only the occasional comment acting just as her fake voice suggested, that all was right in the world.

Kim watched her friend's car slowly round the corner of her neighborhood and then stepped back inside closing the door with a soft thunk. Almost as if she was sleep walking she turned the locks sealing it shut, She missed Ron; he would have dropped everything and spent the entire day with her. Maybe she had lead Monique to believe that she just wanted to hang out, but Ron would have known better. He wouldn't have kept talking about his world. He'd pry what was wrong out of her, not let her keep it to herself until it had ate her alive.

Kim forced herself to quit thinking about him, he wasn't around. It didn't do any good to think about him, but she still missed him. Which was why she'd asked Monique about the gossip from high school, she had wanted to know what happened to him after the fight, but what Monique had told her drove that right out of her mind.

Shaking her head, she entered her kitchen knowing that Monique was doing her best. But secretly, as she crossed the gleaming tiles and passing the polished table, she was glad that Monique was gone. She paused at the sink, retrieving a crystal clear glass and looked around suddenly missing her mom and dad. With all of the emotions raging inside her she would break down and tell them everything that had happened between her and Josh if they had been there just then.

As she finally began to fill her glass she shook her head knowing that when they got home she would keep it all to herself, determined that no one else would ever know. Sipping her water she listened to the empty house and suddenly felt worse, a fear of loneliness stealing over her.

She finished her water quickly and sat the glass in the sink, her eyes burning from forcing herself to keep from crying. Taking a steadying breath she put a hand to her forehead with her eyes closed and then opening them turned and left the gleaming kitchen. Her sole intention being that of returning to her room, she'd play her radio; she needed noise otherwise she'd break down. Maybe she'd sleep as much of the day away as she could.

Her eyes scanned the pictures in the hallway of her family and then dropped her eyes to the answering machine as it clicked on and began its prerecorded message. "This is the Possible residence," her father's voice intoned followed immediately by her two brothers speaking in turn "If we haven't blown it up." They were followed by the rather happy sounding voice of her mother "So leave a message and we'll get back to you."

Kim felt a small smile forming on her lips, something that was quite rare for her as of late. She started to pass the machine, eyes focused on the stairway, when a hauntingly familiar voice began to drift up from the machine freezing her in her tracks. Her heart beginning to pound and her eyes going wide.

"Hello, Kim? You know I hate these machines, anyway, if your there please pick up we need to talk." the voice was slightly distorted, but it still contained the soothing tone that was so familiar. Kim took one step back and then another, acting as if it was about to explode.

"I know your upset with me right now, but I had a little to much drink. I'm sorry, pick up please." he sighed and seemed to take his voice down a notch "I can't really explain what happened over the phone or a machine, so call me and let me know where and when I can see you."

Kim continued to stare at the machine well after it had stopped, she couldn't make herself move. She took a deep breath and then let it out slowly, walking towards the machine. She stared at the blinking light, beaconing for someone to push its button and hear what it had to say. There was a sudden blooming of anger and disgust inside her and she jabbed the erase button.

With a satisfied look on her face she yanked her hand back, turned on her heel and marched to the stairs, beginning to stomp up the stairs grumbling and cursing him under her breath. Her eyes burned with righteous fire as she stormed into her room and kicked her door closed.

The music that filled the room was slow and filled with heavy notes of bass, which when added to the dull light streaming through the window, created a very depressed mood. One that the person sitting on the windowsill didn't mind, it suited them perfectly right the. They sighed softly their breath fogging up the window slightly, their already sagging shoulders sagged just a little more.

Whatever anger that had been boiling inside her had died , so all that was left was a depressed young woman staring into her back yard absently. Too much in her world had changed and none of it for the better thus she nothing to take comfort in except her despair. She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the glass, concentrating on her breathing. It didn't do much good, the image of a young blonde haired, brown eyed, boy holding a small red plastic flower out towards her haunted her.

She opened her eyes unwilling to stare the image any further and found that her well manicured finger had written the first two letters of the young boys name in the fogged section of the window. She stared at it a moment and then consciously moved her hand over and wrote the last letter of his name; her eyes shown with a pain unseen for a long time and then suddenly she wiped it away.

With a small sigh she stood up, her twisted sweats straightening as she approached her radio her footsteps muffled in her socks. She hit the off button silencing the depressing music. She paused, turning to glance back at the now blank window and unbidden she wondered what had happened to Ron and what was he doing.

She shook her head, clearing those thoughts away "Don't matter," she muttered to herself and started towards her now perfectly made bed, she paused at the bed side keeping her gaze adverted from the glass free frame as she added "And I don't care."

She pulled back the blankets on her bed, preparing to climb in and sleep, unable to take the mind-numbing reality she was facing a second longer. The sheets were cool to her touch and her longing to sleep beneath them became all that much stronger. Just as she slid her first shapely leg beneath the covers and sheets the air was rent asunder by the shrill musical note of the door bell. Frowning she sat there, one leg under the covers considering whether or not to answer the door.

She shrugged and lifted her other leg to slide it under her blanket as well, feeling less than willing to go down all those stairs to answer the door. She laid back pulling her covers up over herself, and listened as the bell rang again, she stuck her tongue out and closed her eyes, but soon discovered that whoever it was at the door wasn't about to stop.

It was a disgruntled sigh that she sat up as a prolonged and very shrill rang flooded the house. She tossed her blankets to the side, her features darkening at the cruelness of being denied sleep and marched towards her door, she pulled it open and then marched down her stairs.

As she entered the hallway the note began to fade, but she didn't pause in her march, knowing that whoever it was would ring that bell once more. She reached the bottom of the stairs grumbling dark thoughts and started towards the doorway, then realized that the bell hadn't ran in that entire time. It didn't matter, her curiosity was peeked and she had to know who was at the door.

She paused at her door and her hand hovering just short of the locks, for a moment seriously thinking for the first time that it could have been Josh. But he wouldn't be able to get her so soon, so she shrugged that off undoing the locks and opened the door. Kim's eyes immediately settled upon the white delivery van and then on the uniformed man that had stopped midway between climbing in the driver's seat. He looked back up at her and smiled climbed back out.

His hair was snow white and his face was wrinkled quite a bit from his old age, he grabbed his blue delivery hat and placed it on his head before grabbing his clipboard and some flowers, then started towards her holding the flowers in front of him and the clipboard folded under arm along with a genial smile on his face. "I was just about to leave, didn't think anyone was home." he said in a good natured way as he approached.

Kim nodded, giving him the false smile she used with Monique and her family as she gave a half truth "I was laying down and it took me a bit to hear the bell."

The old man offered the clipboard with a pen to her and nodded "That's alright ma'am," He paused and smiled brighter than ever "Your Kim Possible right? You saved my granddaughter a few years back."

Kim gave a little bit more of a genuine smile as she began to sign her name "Who are the flowers for?"

The man glanced at them and then chuckled "I think there for you, Kimberly Ann Possible is your full name right?"

Kim nodded handing him the clipboard for his approval. He took giving it barely a glance as he folded it under his arm "Well here you go." He practically beamed at her as he handed her the flowers wrapped in the green plastic.

Kim held them close to her chest studying the various colored flowers, before she identify them as roses. She immediately scanned the flower for the familiar name card, but soon found that it was missing. "Do you happen to know who sent them sir?" She asked looking back up at the old man.

The old man checked the clipboard and then looked back up at her shaking his head "No clue ma'am. The florists said they didn't leave a name and they paid in cash."

Kim sighed and looked back down at them and then shrugged looked back up at him "Well thank you anyway," She gave a reassuring smile and tilted her head "And tell your granddaughter I said hi." He touched his hat with his fingers smiling brightly as he turned heading back to his van.

Kim watched him as he climbed into the van and started it up, she found herself waving on impulse he paused waving back, then pulled out onto the road, heading away from her house. When he was out of view her smile faded completely and she stepped back inside her house and closed the door locking it without a second thought.

She looked down at the flowers she was cradling; she lifted them and sniffed, savoring the fragrance. It had been a while since anyone had sent her flowers, and roses were her favorite. Lowering them she started towards the kitchen to retrieve a vase and water, wondering who had sent them. She knew that they weren't from Monique; she would have left her name, even if she would send flowers.

She searched the kitchen briefly, then realizing they didn't have a vase she grabbed a large glass and started towards the sink. She set it lightly on the counter and for one wild moment she that that maybe they were from Ron. It was just like something he would do, but she quickly realized the stupidity of that thought; if they hadn't spoke in two years then why could she think that he would know to send her flowers.

This left her with only one option, one that made her sick to her stomach, Josh. They had to be from him. She looked down once more at them and for the first time instead of seeing a sweet gesture from a dear friend all she saw something very revolting and counterfeit. She turned from the sink and approached the kitchens garbage can, she paused long enough to stare at the flowers and then dropped them, her voice dripping with poison as she spoke "Nice try."

There was a renewed anger boiling inside her as she stormed out of the kitchen and then up the stairs into her room, once there she kicked her door shut once more, then quickly threw herself on her bed. Her anger rapidly disappeared as she stared at the blood stained face of a boy from bygone years.

Whatever anger that might have been left suddenly disappeared, washed away by her despair that had risen up and consumed her, and by the tears she was now shedding. They were all she had left, the tears. Her body shook from the forced of silent tears, yet never once did her blurred vision waver from the picture on her bedside table with its bloodstained cheek.

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AN:

Nodda to say expect this might of lowered the bar on the fic, but that's something well just have to live with won't we.

Geor-sama