It was late by the time Travis arrived to pick up Patricia from the station. It took him a while to figure out her directions on how to get there, but he finally managed. The Sullivan did not mind in the slightest about having to turn around and help her out. He had offered, hadn't he? And it's not like he could just leave her there. Patricia sounded so scared over the phone, so it had to be serious.
It was quiet on the drive to Patricia's flat, save for her occasionally speaking up to give directions on how to get there. The poor girl was freezing and her eyes stung. She tried not to cry in front of Travis, only letting a small hiccup or two slip by. She was shaking. How else was she supposed to react? She had just been attacked, and her attacker took on her exact appearance in the middle of it. Whatever they were, they definitely weren't human.
"It's going to be alright." Travis said, his eyes leaving the road in front of them for a second as he glanced over at the girl. "Do you want to call the police?"
Patricia only shook her head in response, not trusting her voice. Who would believe her? No one in their right mind would ever believe that she was assaulted by some shape-changing monstrosity! What was telling anyone going to do?
"Nobody would believe it…" she mumbled to herself. "It's too unreal…"
"You'd be surprised by what's real." Travis answered, knowing that he wasn't even being spoken to. "Do you want to talk about it?"
To that, Patricia scoffed. "You wouldn't believe me."
"I believe in all kinds of things." The Sullivan gentleman said. "Trust me."
"I don't even know if that thing was human…" stated the woman after a few moments of silence.
"Like a monster?"
"Yeah…"
"Maybe it was." The author pondered, wondering if what his friend saw was linked to the supernatural. It was possible. It certainly wasn't the first time that one of his acquaintances had been attacked by strange creatures. It was a bit of an odd subject to bring up, seeing as though the man couldn't exactly tell if she was being serious or not.
"How do you know?"
"I've seen some weird stuff."
"Were you ever attacked by a real-life monster?" asked Patricia with some skepticism. Surely Travis was only playing around and trying to make her feel better.
"Yeah." Travis answered. Involuntarily, he shuddered, recalling scenes from the castle of Krampus. He would never be able to get over that. He still had nightmares.
The woman in the passenger seat looked over at him curiously. Travis wasn't much of a talker, so she was left with trying to figure him out based on his face and movements. There seemed to be a bit of a shift from his usual calm, but she had no idea what that was supposed to mean. The boxer leaned back in her seat and averted her gaze toward the road ahead.
"That sucks." She said. With that, things returned to awkward, looming silence. It hung in the air like thick smog as neither of them could think of anything to say. Both were deeply disturbed by memories of their own attacks, and while they did want to talk it out, didn't know how, especially since they didn't know if the other was truly aware of the supernatural. Before long, however, Travis had to say something.
"Which way was it agai-"
BAM!
He averted his eyes from the road for a split second, and out jumps a human figure, crashing into the hood of his car. The author slammed on the brakes, bringing the car to a complete halt. Both of them looked out of the back window, completely unable to say a word. They were sweating, shaking, and overall stunned. Travis just hit someone. He quickly unbuttoned his seatbelt and opened the car door, stepping out in order to see if the person was alright.
"Hey!" he called. "Can you hear me? Don't move, let be call an ambulance!" the author instructed, digging in his pockets for his cellphone. Despite his suggestion, he saw movement illuminated by the red brake lights on the back of the vehicle. Immediately, he stopped digging as the person stood up, bloodied and wheezing. Travis' jaw dropped at the sight and his eyes widened. The person he hit looked just like the girl seated in his car.
He looked to Patricia, who looked back at him with a terrified expression on her face, before looking back again. The man was flabbergasted. The imposter took a step toward him, but he didn't move. He was completely frozen.
"Travis!" yelled the boxer from the passenger seat. She was frantic. Thank goodness, it seemed to snap the Sullivan back to his senses. "Get back in the car!"
Quickly, he did as instructed, not even bothering to buckle his seatbelt again after slamming the door shut. He stomped on the gas petal and took off, leaving the imposter to try to futilely chase them. Thank God, it didn't seem to have some kind of bizarre, supernatural speed or anything. They flew down the street, Travis grabbing the wheel with a death-grip and Patricia digging her nails into the upholstery.
The boxer was terrified- more so than Travis, even. She was too scared to cry and too scared to utter a single sound. What was that?! How did it find her?! What did it want?! The woman had no answers to any of these questions, but Travis seemed to have an idea of what he was doing.
He drove nearly all the way across town, creating a massive amount of distance between them and the shape-changer. When the car came to a halt again, it was in a well-lit area. It was silent, except for the sound of the car's motor and the panicked breaths of the two young adults. The two sat in this anxiety-ridden quiet, shaking almost violently before one of them finally said something.
"What was that?!" Travis blurted out, losing his calm composure. When the girl jumped at his outburst, however, tensing up at the loud noise, he softened again. That was what attacked her, wasn't it?
"I'm sorry for yelling." He said, adjusting his tone. Once again, he started digging for his cellphone. "You just try to calm down, and I'll get us help."
Patricia looked over at him, confused as to what he was going to do. He wasn't going to leave her alone in the car, was she? What if they hadn't lost the imposter, and it appeared while he was gone? Tears fell from her eyes again as she feared for the worst.
"Remember those 'detective friends' of mine?" Travis questioned, pulling his phone out of his pocket and scrolling through the contacts. "The ones who I based the characters in my story off of? They actually deal with stuff like this all of the time. I'm going to call them, alright?" His friend nodded and he offered a reassuring smile before pressing the dial button. Travis took a deep breath in order to calm his nerves before placing the phone up to his ear.
"Hey, Ciel? It's me."
A/N: Well, shit...
Lots of Travis! That's odd. Does this feel odd to you? Like, I've known his character this whole time, but it's kind of odd seeing it in words, finally.
I keep tying to type "Patty" in the narration, so it might've slipped in there a few times. Y'all started calling her that in the reviews and on Tumblr, so I just kinda adopted it, too, I guess.
Also they're being shipped. That was fast. Like, shockingly so. Did not see that coming.
More demonic duo in the next chapter, so until then, my duckies~!
