Chapter 5: Regrets Had Been Reinforced

She swam away from the floating phone booth. She was still in the suburbs. Hamburgers, sandwiches and other foodstuffs swam like schools of fish, each having a peeper. Long green stalks with eyeballs float around.

See-weed and see-food? She wondered.

She paddled up for the surface, her head breaking out of the water.

Lightning cracked. Icy sheets of rain poured with the howling winds. A bathtub lurched in the rocky waves and Rhoda managed to climb over it.

"J-j-j-jeepers," she stuttered, her teeth chattering.

She looked around, trying to find out where she was.

Doesn't erase the fact that there are people out there who are willing to hurt you.

Thunder boomed, startling her. She clutched the edge of the tub. In the torrid downpour, she could barely see a thing. Fog swirled around her like ghosts of dead women. The wind whistled high and wild, she could almost hear voices.

"Find her, find her

Tie her to a pole and tear

She looked around wildly, trying to find where the singing was coming from.

Her liver to slivers-"

She frowned, baffled. "Do I have a liver?"

"-Drag her to a hole until she

Wakes up, looks up

Screaming, sees above her,

smiling Jared"

Thunder boomed like a sledgehammer crushing walls. She startled and a shadow loomed behind her. Turning around, the last thing she saw was a giant wave coming down at her.

The bathtub capsized. Her head broke out of the raging waters. She gasped, paddling to stay afloat. Long see-weeds wrapped around her limbs, trying to drag her down.

The fogs whirled with the screaming wind.

"Find her, find her-"

Her arms strained against the weeds. It tangled around her feet.

"Tie her to a pole and tear

Her liver to slivers

Drag her to a hole until she-"

She tried to scream for help but she only swallowed mouthfuls of water.

"Wakes up, looks up

Screaming, sees above her,

smiling Jared"

A ginormic wave crashed down at her and she finally sank. Stunned, she floated in the cold. She struggled weakly against the weeds.

This feels familiar, she sluggishly thought.

It felt like her last day of filming before the next one would begin in autumn.

Rhoda had once again been called to CB's office. When she got there, Jared was also waiting for her.

CB tried to convince her to get back with Jared. She couldn't understand why Rhoda was still refusing when Jared was so willing to mend their relationship.

"Think of your rep, Rhoda!" CB had said with exasperation, "And stop your expensive nonsense. We're already behind the budget because of you!"

She remembered not being able to look at Jared. Not after seeing him with the girl in the alley.

Jared was smirking at her. Either way, he would win. She was his to use or his to dispose.

She was trapped.

Trapped.

No wonder it's so familiar. Unnoticed, the weeds loosened as she floated.

The deep waters were blissfully still. Her vision hazed.

Shadows moved. Her eyes widened slightly and she reached out.

Mater? Pater?

Her human parents had never liked Jared. Her mother said he was too coquettish for a man. Rhoda explained that Jared was only that way because he wanted her to like him. Her mother only pressed her lips together in disgust.

Jared had always guilted her from visiting them in the holidays, pointing out that her parents were trying to tear them apart. When they passed away in an accident, she clung more to him.

Now, she wondered if she had tried to stay in their later years together because she was afraid of being alone.

Was she crying? She couldn't tell underwater.

You must've hate me. I'm sorry.

Her parents' shadowy forms moved in the ocean. The water surrounding her felt comforting, a love that was everywhere and filling her.

Rhoda could hear them singing, this time softly familiar and warm.

"There is one thing that we must say to you

As you face the dance of strife

Always we'll be watching over you

As you sail the sea of life"

Her eyes burned. She reached out for them and they disappeared, broken by a massive dog diving into the water.

Jacques?

He paddled for her and bit the nape of her collar. With Rhoda secured, he swam for the surface.

The torrential rain continued to fall in sheets. Jacques was practically dragging her to shallow ground. By accident or by luck, he heavily landed on her torso, causing her to belch out all the water she had swallowed. Rhoda gratefully gasped for air, hacking and coughing.

He barked loudly. She blearily turned back to see the flood receding. The suburbs looked the same, except for the draped see-weeds tangled everywhere.

"Poor, unfortunate souls," she hoarsely whispered, her voice cracking from the water.

Then she turned. Her eyes widened at what was left of her tent in the continuous downpour of the storm.

"MY poor, unfortunate soul!"

She stumbled into standing and tried to run, about to salvage what she could.

"Rhoda!"

She hacked out the remaining water in her throat. Her ears tried to wipe away the rain from her eyes. But she could still see a familiar silhouette. A silhouette similar to Jared. The only reason she wasn't screaming in horror after the creepy song she had heard, was that she knew Jared wouldn't be caught standing in the rain. It would ruin his hair.

"Jesse?" she said, more in surprise. She was sure she looked like a soggy shipwreck, but Jesse in his trench raincoat and hat looked like a modern divinity braving the elements. He alone was making the pouring rain looked cinematic.

She yelped when he carried her up, drenched and all.

"Thank goodness," he murmured, gripping her close with her head tucked under his chin.

Rhoda was too shocked and too cold to feel their proximity. Thunder boomed. He broke away a little to look at her. "Are you alright?" he asked, wiping her bangs away from her eyes.

Her mind snapped back to her belongings. "My tent!" she yelled, pointing at what remained of her camping site.

He shook his head. "I got your suitcase. Let's go."

Her teeth were chattering as soon as they entered the house.

"S-s-s-sorry," she shivered, numbly aware of the puddles her fur must be dripping.

"No worries," he replied, closing the door. He carried her upstairs without stopping. The chill robbed her of her boundaries, making her lean against his chest for warmth.

He opened a door to a bathroom.

She hugged herself when he put her into the bathtub and turned on the hot water faucet.

"Thank you," she sighed.

Slowly, Rhoda relaxed. Her rabbit ears hung low on her back and floated lazily in the water. Still, she shivered. She rubbed her arms as she watched the wispy steam rose out of the hot water.

"Where did the storm came from?" she asked.

"Bald Mountain of Disney's Fantasia."

She paused. "That would explain a lot."

He began to unbutton his dripping trenchcoat. "Don't you know there's a storm?"

She shook her head as he took it off. True to his ridiculously perfect tooniness, mud didn't even tarnished his shoes. His hair got wet. But it looked slicked and smooth.

To her dismay, the front of his suit jacket and shirt still got soaked. Probably from her sopping fur when she had leaned above the neckline of his coat.

The memory of Jesse hugging her flashed in her mind. Guilt weighed down on her as she realized how much she had worried him.

She patted the water. "Why don't you join me?"

They both stilled, digesting what she had said.

Her ears exploded with steam. "I mean, you must be cold!" Water splashed about as she gestured around, no longer freezing. "You got me out of the rain and you've gotten wet and there's room in the tub and-"

She sank deeper into the water. "I'm sorry," she gurgled. For not helping with dinner. For running out of dinner. For worrying you. For making you wet. For-

Jesse chuckled. "Just think that we're even," he referred to his accidental innuendo back then. He stepped out of the bathroom, still looking amused. "I'll try to find something for you to wear."

Rhoda face-planted into the water as soon as the door closed behind him.

For being your problem.

XOXOXO

She wondered what would her mother think.

Rhoda was standing in Jesse's laundry room, wearing nothing but his black button-down shirt of his signature suit.

She could barely get Jacques to sit still as she blow dry his fur with a hair dryer. He was constantly leaping at her and making a whining, howling sound.

Her hands scratched behind his ears, cupping his face. "I'm here, Jacques. I'm alright."

The washing machine hummed with her clothes, including the ones in her suitcase. She pointed the hair dryer to his fur again as she pondered.

I could've gone to toon heaven. She tugged Jesse's shirt closer to herself.

Jacques nuzzled her when she threw her arms around him. "You saved me, ol' boy." She rubbed his back with full circles. "Thank you so much."

Contrary to popular belief, toons can "die". But they just end up in flowing robes with a harp and wings, floating away to live in the clouds above ToonTown.

She let Jacques licked her face. "I must've gotten you worried." The hair dryer fluffed his fur. "I'm sorry."

Her thoughts wondered to her dreamlike-drowning. Disney animation had a lot of special effects that would last with everything they would draw. She had a feeling its Fantasia quality played tricks with her subconscious.

"Mater," she spoke, tasting the words that she hadn't uttered for a long time. "Pater."

Back when they were still together, Jared had always said she was lucky to be in a relationship.

"Who's going to have you?" he asked, gesturing the rest of her.

She knew that her parents loved her. Never mind that she was a toon and they were humans. But they couldn't accept her being with Jared. That thought had discouraged her more from visiting them.

Maybe she didn't deserve to be loved, being an ungrateful daughter.

After they died in a car accident, her remorse tripled, reinforcing her assumption.

But back there, when she was drowning and seeing shadows of her parents…

You're always imagining things, Jared would say when she would ask about the woman that he was with last night.

Maybe it was all in her head. But it had shown her what she had always known deep inside despite her regrets.

Do you or do you not trust yourself? Edna's voice spoke in her mind.

Rhoda put a hand on her chest, mulling.

Thunder rumbled outside, making her look up.

She touched the glass window, looking at the cottage with dismay. She had boarded the windows. But the heavy leaks from the ratty roof was continuing to damage the flooring that they had just installed.

She also owe Mina a new set of camping gear which was most likely destroyed by the storm.

Her head thumped the glass, wondering what to do next.

XOXOXO

Jesse looked up when he saw Jacques and Rhoda come out of the laundry room. She was back in her signature overalls dress.

"How're you feeling?" he asked.

"I'm alright," she said, straightening her bow tie. She missed the warmth of his shirt. But what would Jesse think if he still saw her wearing it like a coat?

"The guest room's prepared for you."

"I-" she bit her lip, "-that's generous of you, Jesse. Thank you."

His head tilted to the side as he watched her cross the room. She hopped on the window sill and peeped through the glass. The rain was still pounding on.

"Like I said before, you can stay here while you fix the house."

Her ears drooped. She was hoping this conversation wouldn't happen.

"If your trailer is in good condition, you would've used it a long time ago," he continued.

She turned to face him, wondering how much did he know. Or was perceiving.

Her trailer had been repaired and repainted. The problem was, she didn't want crazy fans finding her by her plate number. But now, she didn't have a choice.

She couldn't stay at Mina's place. That would be like accepting defeat. Ash didn't even know where she was right now.

"You couldn't be thinking about camping again," Jesse said, as if reading her mind. "What if there's another storm?"

Her hands gripped the hems of her dress. She would have to get her trailer back.

"Rhoda."

She practically jumped to see Jesse in front of her. He swept back his bangs as he looked into her eyes.

"It's fine." His hands landed lightly on her shoulders. "Just let me do this for you."

He let her go when she looked at the storm again, her rabbit ears drooping. Behind her, her cottontail wilted.

I was going to prove Jared wrong. I'm not anyone's problem!

Her chest deflated with a sigh. Instead...

Circumstances got her pinned by the wrists. Her stupid decisions got her pinned by the wrists. Jesse got her pinned by the wrists.

She hastily shredded the image in her head. Jeepers, that's so wrong!

Rhoda faced him again, hoping that her face wasn't red. Her lips quirked into a grateful smile, covering her own disappointment towards herself.

"Thank you, Jesse. I owe you big." She resisted the urge to touch her shoulders where his hands had been. It felt cold when he had let go.

Instead, she glanced at Jacques, who was allowing Ronnie to groom his head.

Rhoda petted them both. "This might be too much to ask," she glanced up at Jesse, "but can Jacques sleep with me on the bed?" He keeps the bad thoughts away, she didn't add.

She hugged Jacques, burying her face into his fur with a sigh. Her heavy eyes closed for a moment and everything went black.

Author's Notes: And that's the last update for this year. I can't promise when the next one will come up.

What do you guys think of Rhoda's Odd-yssey? Poor Jesse, having to deal with a mess of a rabbit.

All of the songs in this chapter are inspired by "The Mariner's Revenge Song" by the talented The Decemberists.