Authors' Note: We did warn you it was dark. ;) We're a bit on a roll tonight, so we give you Chapter Two. Enjoy.
The night air was cold, as he walked down the empty street. His arms still wrapped around himself, he kept walking. Trying to ignore the things going through his head. But it was a fight he couldn't win. Slowly he let them all take hold of his mind.
"They don't care." The voice muttered. Sands looked this way and that around him in the dark, for the source of the voice, but no one was visible.
"And they don't know." The voice continued. Sands stopped, looking behind him. Still no one in sight. "And do you realize, Jenna White, although she's a bitch, was very right?" The voice asked.
"Right about what?" Sands asked outloud, his voice cracked and strained, as if he hadn't spoken in a long time.
"It's over, Sands. Your career. You've lost it, you're never going to be able to convince them, you're NOT crazy." The voice said, in a hard tone.
"I'm not crazy!" Sands snapped, turning back and starting to walk again. There was a fine mist in the air, which glowed orange from the street lights over him. He forced his steps to be purposeful, as if he had somewhere he needed to be. But he had no destination, except to escape the voices. And the cold. How could he have been stupid enough, not to be wearing a coat?
"Not crazy...really, ya could have followed me." The voice said. Sands groaned. He couldn't escape it, but he kept walking none the less.
"You were crazy when you tried to overdose on speed. You were crazier when you tried to slit your wrists. And you were at your craziest when you stood on the railing of that bridge, intent to throw yourself off!" The voice shouted.
"I'm not crazy!" Sands shouted, glaring angrily around him. "I'm not! I know I'm not!" His tone slowly softened and in a defeated voice he asked. "I'm not...am I?"
The voice chuckled. "Aww, baby blue." It said in a mock sympathetic voice. Then said as Sands stared at his reflection in the dirty window of the shop he was before. "Tell me is something eluding you sunshine? Is this not what you expected to see? If you'd like to find out what's behind these cold eyes, you'll just have to claw your way through this disguise."
Sands shut his eyes, shaking his head vigorously. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!" He cried angrily at the voice. But all the voice did was start laughing, insanely at his attempts to stifle it's words. Sands let out an agonizing cry, looking all over the streets, before he took off running, in attempt to get away.
Sammy zipped up his jacket, looking around the street as he, Cerise and Sarah stood there in the cold, looking in all directions. "Where would he go?" Sarah asked, looking at them. "Home maybe?"
Cerise shook her head. "No...not back to the apartment."
Sarah looked nervously around. "We've got to find Jeff!" She said desperately.
"We'll...drive around, maybe we can catch sight of him." Sammy said, taking the keys to his car out of his pocket. Neither Cerise or Sarah could think of anything better, so they nodded and followed Sammy to his mustang.
As Sammy pulled out, Cerise in the passenger seat next to him, Sarah in the back, he spoke softly, to Cerise. "Cerise, now that it's just you, me and Sarah. There's something we need to talk about." Sammy said, looking in the review mirror at Sarah, who had visibly paled and was shaking her head no, with wide eyes.
"What?" Cerise asked, looking at Sammy, then at Sarah in the back seat. She was confused, by all of this with Sammy and Sarah.
"Sammy, NO!" Sarah exclaimed apprehensively. "You can't tell her!"
"Tell me what!" Cerise demanded, looking back and forth between them.
Sammy ignored Cerise for a moment, speaking to Sarah in a rigid tone. "Officer Darcy, at this moment, Cerise has a right to know! This involves her, as much as us."
Sarah flung herself back against the seat, staring out the window, tears collecting in her eyes. "It's hard enough on her as it is, you wanna make it harder!" Sarah snapped, looking back at Sammy with hard eyes.
"It's going to be much harder on her if she DOESN'T know!" Sammy snapped, glancing at Sarah through the review mirror as he sped along the streets.
"WHAT!" Cerise cried angrily. "Tell me WHAT!"
Sarah squeaked in the back street and glared at Sammy. Sammy sighed. "Cerise, darlin' there's a chance...that this isn't...Jeff's fault."
"What!" Cerise struggled to make sense. "I don't get what you're saying..."
Sammy sighed as he turned a corner. "I don't know the details, so I can't tell you the details. I just know that it's incredibly possible that Jeff's...break down, may not be his own doing."
Cerise rolled her eyes, in a frustrated way. "Mental break downs usually aren't your own doing!"
"That's not what I meant, Cerise. I meant...Okay, Cerise you know that Jeff used to do a LOT of psychological work for the company..." Sammy said, glancing in her direction.
"Yeah..." Cerise answered softly, looking at him.
"Then it's extremely possible, this is some psychological work gone bad..." Sammy said in the gentlest way he could put it.
"Medication gone bad..." Sarah muttered from her spot, staring out the window, but neither Cerise nor Sammy could make out the words, because at that moment, Sammy was slamming on the breaks and hitting the horn hard as something darted in front of the car, out of sight of the headlights. Cerise caught herself on the dash board, looking through the windshield. Sarah caught herself on the back of Cerise's seat, looking up at the review mirror, where Sammy's angry eyes were reflected back, glaring at her. Sarah shrugged in a defiant manor, sitting back.
"I've always been mad, I know I'm mad...Like most of us have. They have to explain why you were mad, even if you're not mad." Sands muttered, as he walked hurriedly along, breathing hard. His breath appeared before him in puffs of steam at each inhale and exhale.
He stopped a moment, under an orange street light, marvel at it as if it was the first time he'd ever seen it. He held up his hand in front of his face and exhaled, watching the little cloud that quickly disappeared. "Humph, imagine that." He muttered to himself with little humor.
The voice that had been followed him, sneered hatefully, before saying, "If you should go skating, on the thin ice of modern life, dragging behind you the silent reproach, of a million tear stained eyes, don't be surprised, when a crack in the ice, appears under your feet. You slip out of your depth and out of your mind, with your fear flowing out behind you, as you claw the thin ice."
Sands shuddered violently a moment, as if the cold had finally hit him. "I don't want to claw thin ice..." He muttered, before picking up his resolve and began walking again. But the innocent side of Sands insanity, was slowly dissolving.
And he soon wasn't alone...
He stopped on a corner under one of the street lights, looking up and down the street. Two prostitutes stood there as well, and both eyed him. Sands flashed them a quirky grin, before looking up and down the street again, as if looking for someone. "Aren't ya cold sugar?" One of the night ladies asked.
"What?" Sands looked at her slightly confused.
"I asked if you were cold." She repeated her question. He stared at her for a few moments, blinking, then shook his head, turning his head away. "No." he answered.
She was a leggy blonde, her clothes, despite the cold, were revealing, and to this end, she answered. "I am." She said, stepping closer.
Sands looked over at her from staring down the street, with a raised eyebrow and an amused look in his eyes. She didn't see the other look behind the amusement, the dark, dangerous look. "Really?"
"yeah." She said with a saucy grin. "Care to do something about it?"
"Maybe." Sands answered, slipping his hands, with their bandaged wrists in his jean pockets.
"What's your name, handsome?" The woman asked.
Sands was silent two moments, before answering. "Pink. What's yours?"
"Kelly. You're name is really Pink?" she asked with an arched false eyebrow.
Sands gave a grin, half charming, half sheepish. "Yeah, Pink. My parents were hippy freaks obsessed with music. I got a brother named Rolling Stones and a sister called Beatles..." He got a laugh out of the other girl.
Kelly gave him a dark look, to which Sands replied, "Just Pink, sugar butt."
"Alright, Pink...this way then." She nodded down a darkened alley, turning and starting down it, her heels the only sound. Sands watched her for a moment, before following. The other girl having moved off in the direction Sands had come. As he followed her, he hummed softly to himself, singing,
"I am just a new boy.
A stranger in this town.
Where are all the good times?
Who's gonna show this stranger around?
Ooooooooh I need a dirty woman.
Ooooooooh I need a dirty girl.
Make me feel like a real man."