((A/N: Yargh. Still more stuff spinning around in this cranium… Fun. Not too many people reviewed, but that's alright. This is probably going to fit best in the 'Sixth Sense' category, I've decided… But the problem is, they don't have one. Ah well, let's apply for the category anyway. Updates are always sporadic like this, especially with this sophomore year thing going on nowadays. A "The Ring"-themed portion is coming up soon, and don't even worry if you haven't seen one of the three movies featured in this fic… All shall be explained in due course, child. Heck, I might even throw in some references to other cheesy movies, anyway.
PS, I don't listen to the radio in the shower anymore. Too spooky!))
Last Chapter Recap: Ceci, around 19 years old and ready to head off to college in a few days, visits the old apartment building where her mother can be found for the first time since she left it. Dahlia saves her daughter from a group of young men who harass her in the elevator, although their reunion turns out to be short-lived…
Dust to Dust
Chapter 2
...She must have been an angry one, Thought Cole as he stepped onto the lift, shoes squeaking quietly on a damp patch of floor.
The elevator itself was beyond words like 'mess' and 'disaster': there were holes in the metal ceiling and walls that curled inwards, as if something had broken in from the outside; The whole place was drenched in suspiciously murky water that filled the shaft with the odor of rotten flesh; There was also a pile of waterlogged bodies on the floor by the entrance, occasionally groaning and shifting, though he already knew that they weren't dead. And, not to his surprise, it was practically freezing.
Cole shifted the weight of his newly-clean laundry to one side as he reached up to adjust his large glasses, never taking his eyes off of the girl in the corner—Truly, she was a sad sight, though he had seen many worse.
That look in her eyes… She's terrified of me, he thought, though his own facial expression remained thoroughly apathetic. The girl must have only been somewhere in her late teens, twenty at the most, and was dressed for winter. Everything being as it was, it wasn't hard to guess what had happened to her… Drowned, no doubt about it.
"So… Is there something you'd like to say?"
"I—It was an accident." She stammered softly, and then repeated herself with more force as if to try to convince herself that it was true, and not him. "It was an accident. An accident— A… A pipe must have burst or something. Freak chance… Y'know?" Ceci forced a laugh that wasn't very real-sounding at all. Those hazel eyes… They pierced right through her, through her soul.
His answer only served to startle her even more.
"I… see," the tall man responded calmly, his gaze flickering to the guys on the floor before he lowered the hand that had been adjusting his glasses. He didn't sound surprised at all. There was absolutely no trace of skepticism in his features. "At least no one got hurt." A quiet chuckle. He'd just made a joke.
Look at how calm he was.
How could he not know?
Nevertheless, the tall stranger continued. "Never mind. This place is a dump, anyway. Haven't seen you here before—Do you live in the building, or are you just visiting someone?"
What was this—Amiable banter?
"Just came here to see my… My mom." Damn. She couldn't think of a convincing lie in time.
"I see." He nodded understandingly, as if he could really sympathize with her plight. "How is she?"
Ceci felt her face involuntarily twist into an expression of deep alarm, one probably made even more heinous by her efforts to mask it.
Who was this guy? Was he just toying with her mind?
Still, she made an effort to look as if she actually belonged here, although she knew that the façade was over when her throat began to grow hot and tight, and tears pricked painfully at the corners of her eyes. "Not well," she croaked.
Ceci was thankful that her mom had at least bothered to make the elevator look decent before the guy came in—Dry it up, and clear up those holes in the walls. Heck, even Ceci herself was dry. But why was she so afraid of him? Why not just keep him out of the elevator, why not just take him out like the other guys?
His mouth was moving again, saying something to her. She couldn't hear it, and briefly wondered why—Then Ceci realized with a start that the adrenaline was pounding so hard in her ears from sheer fear and panic that it was actually affecting her senses.
"I… I have to go," she blurted, hot tears spilling haphazardly down her cheeks without notice. The elevator had just arrived on the main floor of the complex, and not a moment too soon. Her mittened hand brutally punched the 'Door Open' button and the young girl quickly made herself scarce, slipping through the doors as soon as it was wide enough to accommodate her.
Ceci bolted through the front door, looking back only once. The lobby remained empty-- He hadn't bothered to chase her.
Only when she was outside and the cruel, biting frost of winter stung at her face did she realize that it was stained with tears… And that she was still drenched in that dark, sticky water.
Boop-ee-doo-ee-doop!
A thin, pale hand picked up the cell and flipped it open almost immediately, as if the call had been anticipated. The beeping ceased, and the owner of the phone slowly brought it to his ear, not sounding groggy at all. He'd been up for hours already, despite the fact that it was a Saturday in December.
He didn't sleep in very often.
"Hello?"
"Aidan."
"…Ceci… It's seven in the morning. Is something wrong?"
"Something happened… I… I need to talk. B-but I don't want to do it over the phone…"
"Ceci, calm down. Where are you?"
"On a trolley… You're not busy, are you?"
"No. I don't have to be at work until five. Is something wrong?"
"…Hmm?"
"You sound... wierd. You're not in some kind of trouble, are you?"
"I dunno. I really, reallydon't know. Can I come over in a bit? I just need to talk, but I… I might be a little longer than usual."
"You're never late."
"I might be todayKSSHHEHHEKKSHHH—"
"Ceci? Are you still there?"
"KAAASHSHHREEESHSHSHHSHH."
Click.
Aidan slowly hung up, staring at the phone in his hand once he had done so. His logic told him that it was probably only a bad signal, but something else—something inexplicable—told him otherwise. Although he wasn't one-hundred percent sure, there was an imminent sense of dread pervading his consciousness.
Something was not right.
The memory he most associated that feeling with had occurred years ago, when he was a child-- Just before those terrible dreams had begun to come, before she appeared...
For a few more moments he stared at the phone before snapping it shut and standing, reaching for the digital camera that sat perched on the edge of his desk out of both instinct and habit. It was stowed in his pocket, and afterwards he slipped on a thick coat and exited his small apartment, shutting the door quietly behind him.