Chapter 3
The rain lashed down horizontally outside the Arcadia Bay police station as the poncho-clad figure approached it. Abby couldn't tell who it was, or even focus on them. For some reason, her entire lumbar column was on fire and there was a throbbing pressure in her left eye socket. As she tried to push through it and focus on the person, she could faintly hear a male voice she couldn't place.
"Who is this, you stupid dyke?"
As she watched, the person grabbed a rock and threw it as hard as they could at the window, cracking the glass and setting off the alarm. Quickly, they scooped it up and threw it again, this time causing the window to shatter. They hopped through just as the sirens hit the air. But then something weird happened. As soon as they were through, they looked over their shoulder. It was like blinking. Suddenly, there were no sirens. There were no alarms. The window was whole again. The only difference was that the person was now on the inside of the police station.
"Who the fuck is this?"
The voice was disembodied. It didn't seem connected to what she was seeing, especially when the figure looked around the room and Abby saw the calendar on the wall, its current month on December 2013. But what scared her the most was when the figure went over to one of the filing cabinets. After some rummaging, she dug out a file and opened it out to rifle through the crime scene photos. They selected the one they wanted, holding it in their hands and looking it over as Abby heard a voice she recognised all too well: her own.
"It's-"
Abby jolted awake in bed, sweat pouring off her as she sat up with a start, half dragging Lynn with her since she was partially draped over her. The throbbing pressure in her eye erupted into a blinding agony that caused her to scream out and press her hand over it as the other eye started pouring tears that flooded down her cheek. Lynn had been woken up instantly. She threw her arms around Abby, holding her close and trying to settle her. It wasn't working. The pain was way too intense. That was when the inevitable pounding on the door started.
"Abby? Abby, look at me!" Lynn grabbed Abby's face in her hands and stared directly into the eye that wasn't covered up. "What's wrong?"
"It hurts!" It was all Abby could manage. Lynn wasted no time in grabbing her pyjama shorts and going to answer the door. Kate was standing there looking worried, along with a sharp-featured girl with a pixie cut and a girl with honey-coloured hair who was absolutely gorgeous even with the 'just been rudely awoken in the middle of the night' look about her. Abby was certain that others were emerging from their rooms, but they were the three brave enough to approach.
"What's going on?" the honey-haired girl asked.
"I don't know, she just woke up screaming." Lynn was trying to keep her voice calm but Abby knew her well enough to know that she was panicking.
"Well I hope we're not in for this every night you're living here." The pixie cut girl's tone proved to be as sharp as her glare but the other girls weren't going to sit back and let it happen.
"Victoria, fuck off back to bed if you're going to be like that!" the honey-haired girl snapped. "No one loves you. No one even likes you as far as I know. You're not helpful, you're just bitchy. Get out of our hair!"
"Fuck you, Rachel!" Victoria snapped, going to shove her. Rachel was ready and leaned back, letting Victoria overbalance and she staggered to catch her self while Rachel looked to her right and shouted down the corridor.
"Dana! Run and get a first-aider!" Abby went to protest, but as soon as she moved the entire lower half of her back lit up. Every single nerve exploded in the same kind of blinding pain her eye was in. It only caused her to sob harder. From there, it all seemed to be a blur of activity as Lynn let Kate and Rachel into the room. Only Rachel came in as Kate darted off down the hall. Abby wasn't sure where she was going, but she wasn't able to really think about it either as Lynn and Rachel both moved to her side.
"So do you have any idea what happened?" Rachel asked. "Did you catch her in the eye with your nail or something?"
"I legitimately don't know." Lynn shrugged as Abby shook her head.
"It just started while I was sleeping." She tried to move into a more comfortable position but a muscle spasm in her back instantly gave away just how bad the situation was. Being the one who knew her best, Lynn spotted it instantly.
"You tweaked your back carrying boxes, didn't you? God dammit, Abby! I told you to take it easy!"
"I only had one box!" Abby protested. "It wouldn't be fair to sit around deciding where posters are going to go while you carry all those boxes!" Just as they looked ready to erupt into a full-blown argument, Kate returned with a wet lump of paper towel in her hand and handed it to Lynn.
"Here. Press that over her eye. It'll help." Lynn did, slipping her hand under Abby's to force the wet paper towel in. The relief was almost instant and she felt the throbbing sensation intensify as the pain subsided. At her nod, Lynn removed her hand to let Abby take over holding it on as a strikingly beautiful girl who Abby could just about make out through the tears her good eye was shedding, and who she guessed must be Dana, returned with the overnight first aider.
"Okay, who's having problems?" she asked, walking in and setting a medical bag down. She turned to Abby and grabbed a small penlight, getting ready to turn it on. "Take that off your eye when you're ready. I need to check you over. Abby removed the paper towel and braced for impact. She knew it was going to be agony, but she'd been in agony anyway. She wasn't going to be any worse off in the long run. Still, no amount of bracing could ready her for the pain that hit as soon as the light came on. She screamed again and instantly clamped the pad over her eye, knowing there was no way this was settling down without serious painkillers.
"Babe, she needs to take a look." Lynn said gently, sitting down next to her and resting her hand over Abby's.
"It's okay." The medic put her penlight away and stood up. "Her reaction told me all I need to know. She's having an optical spasm. They can happen, usually through stress more than anything else. Classes start up tomorrow. I've seen a lot of different stress reactions in the boarding girls. Acne breakouts, facial tics, PMT from hell... This is a new one I can tick off the bingo card. Unfortunately, I don't have anything to treat something like that with or any knowledge of how to fix it. That literally would be a case of the blind leading the blind."
"This wet paper towel is helping." Abby said, her words strained from the pain. "It's getting warm, though."
"I'll get you another." Kate said, darting from the room as the first aider packed up to go. Lynn shuffled closer to her as Rachel came over and crouched down where the first aider had been kneeling. They sat with her until Kate came back with the replacement paper towel and Abby swapped it over. Eventually, Kate returned to bed. She was dead on her feet, so Abby, Lynn and Rachel all insisted she go back and get some rest. Rest was something Abby would have killed for in that moment, but didn't trust herself to go back to sleep. Deep down, she knew that was going to be next to impossible for the night. She also knew that this was much more than a tweaked back and a stress response. This had all started during her dream and responded so acutely to what went on in it that there was no way it was an ordinary dream.
Author's Note: And the plot thickens! I was going to wait until later to upload this but I just couldn't resist. Hope you all enjoyed it. The next chapter is coming soon and this is where the story is really going to pick up the pace.
