Chapter 6:
Inside the apartment both girls dropped their stuff off in their respective rooms before sitting in the living room, with Katie pulling up the anime she was talking about for both of them to watch. Rachel was mostly silent through the episodes, giving a few comments on them here and there… before falling silent all together as confusion racked her brain.
"Hey… what's wrong?" Katie finally asked, looking over to the blond.
"... Why… did you kiss Barry? I thought… didn't you say once before… that you only thought of him as a friend?"
Katie was silent after that question. She glanced between the TV and her friend for a bit before sighing.
"... I had a nightmare about the New Year's Incident last night… with that creepy kid… breaking into Barry's cabin and how the kid… the kid stabbed Barry…"
Rachel remembered that… she couldn't remember everything that happened on that day… but she did remember how she, Barry, Katie and Nick all went up to Barry's cabin to celebrate the New Year… only for it to go downhill from there.
They had arrived on New Year's Eve… a day before Barry's parents would have been coming up as they had their own New Years party going on. They had been having fun and goofing off… when this creepy local kid popped up in the window while it was night time. He had a knife and at first seemed like he was trying to scare them… it worked so the kid backed off. They were all kinda scared but had picked up quickly what the kid was just trying to do, and choose to ignore him instead… after all the cabin had a silent alarm system set up in it and there were four people there.
Rachel never knew what changed in the kid's mind… but a while later Barry's phone got a notification that the alarm had been tripped and barely a second after that his parents called to make sure they were alright. Thankfully they did tell them about the creepy kid and the parents let the police know to head over. After the call Barry almost left the room to see if he could find where the kid was but everyone stopped him and convinced him to just wait… safety in numbers after all….
It turned out the kid had more than a knife with him as he also had a gun. Katie tried to talk the guy down… after all he was clearly just a kid… and he was shaking as he held the weapons. She had been hit in the face and told to shut up, in response Barry tried to stop him… but was hit in the gut with the knife… that's where it got a little fuzzy for Rachel… but she remembered when she did come back to awareness she was standing over the kid with a fire poker in her hands like she had just used it as a blunt weapon… and her hands were shaking hard and her breathing was erratic.
"... What…. Exactly happened in your nightmare?" Rachel asked hesitantly after the memories were brought up. Katie looked away for a moment before answering.
"It… wasn't all that different except… Barry hadn't been lucky that he was stabbed in a non vital area…" Katie explained, her tired eyes getting an almost haunted look. Rachel hesitantly placed a hand on the brunette's shoulder in comfort.
Rachel knows that she's not that good at comforting others… but she's seen the others doing this often and it seems to work. Well… for the most part.
Katie closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before pulling up a forced smile and looking back to Rachel.
"So, enough about me… What do you think of the show so far huh? It's really good right?"
Rachel didn't say anything… this was so like Katie… trying to change the topic when she doesn't know what else to say… or didn't want to talk about it. Then again… it was probably better than her own response to usually clam up and say nothing at all.
"... the bugs going into the people's backs… is kind of disturbing…" the blond finally spoke, after a while of silence between the two… it nearly made Katie uncomfortable with how long she took to answer but smiled when Rachel finally did.
"Heh, yeah it really is… but you have to admit little Geko is freaking adorable."
"... I think Panju is a little more interesting…"
Katie snickered a little, causing a confused look to cross Rachel's face.
"I'm surprised you like the stabby little guy! From what I've been able to tell from fanfictions the little guy is a fan favorite. I was expecting you to be more of an Oranju fan is all," Katie laughed, causing the blond to glance away feeling a little embarrassed.
"... Panju has better dialogue… and Oranju is a little to mellow for the show… in… in my opinion at least."
"Here, here," Katie chuckled a little before turning the show back on for them to watch. Both of them having a little bit of a commentary going on through the episodes as they went. They only stopped once it was eight o'clock and Katie asked if Rachel was hungry at all.
"... what do you want?" The blond asked, her friend seemed to freeze in that moment with a 'Shit!' expression on her face.
"Uh… Well what do you want?"
"... you asked…"
"..."
"..."
"We really fucking suck at dinner plans," Katie groaned, flopping back into her seat with her hands over her face. Silence fell over the two for a bit before Rachel, surprisingly, spoke up first.
"What about pizza? Isn't… that usually our default… when we have nothing planned?"
"Yeah well our usual Pizza place closed down and Domino's is spendy after a while…"
"... I got paid this week…"
"... Well shit, we're getting Pizza then I guess. You wanna do online ordering or phone calling?"
"..."
"Oh right… TO THE INTERNET WE GO!"
"... Are we going to pass the internet cat section?" Rachel asked with a small smile, knowing her friend was getting into one of her joking moods.
"And the music section while we're at it!" Katie declared and hurried off to her own room to grab her laptop. It was after all… the only computer that was even in the apartment for the two. When Katie came back with the laptop she was already getting the website up. Sitting down beside Rachel the two started putting what they wanted on their order and finally choose their method of payment.
Now all they had to do was wait… and watch some more shows till then.
….
Nick was annoyed. He lost his computer rights and his parents were practically pushing the sleeping pills on him now since he snuck out late at night. A typical grounding for him by this point, but it was still annoying. He still had his phone access at least so he was able to do a bit of research but it was harder with the touch screen…. And now he was getting a call from Barry ruining his research.
"What do you want Barry?"
"Nick, what is love?"
"Oh my God are you serious right now?"
"I am Nick! I don't know what to think anymore! First I think Katie just likes me as a friend, then she comes up and kisses me and now… Fuck man I have no idea what I'm feeling!"
"... Then why are you asking ME this? I have no experience with girls besides Rachel and Katie…"
"You're the smart guy!"
"Oh my god… This is like the time you 'Turned Geology into Chemistry' back in Middle School isn't it? Look it probably didn't even mean anything."
"No see, she kissed me on the lips Nick! ON THE LIPS!"
"Well then why don't you fucking ask her out instead of calling me? In case you didn't realize it, but I'm grounded Barry."
"... Alright I'll ask her out when she's done with classes tomorrow! Thanks Nick!"
"Ah wait don't- And he hung up… Ugh why am I friends with that idiot again?"
Nick was getting a headache. First his own personal research project was hampered with losing his laptop privileges until he had to go back to school, then he got stuck having to use his phone… which doesn't make it easier on him as he has to zoom in on everything, then his parents expect him to take his sleeping pills at exactly ten o'clock and don't leave him alone till he does… and now he has to deal with Barry getting his first crush back.
"What's next? The dead coming back?" Nick groaned and flopped back onto his bed. He pulled off his reading glasses and held his head in his hands. He just wanted his laptop back… he needed to find answers after all.
….
The next day came and Rachel was feeling a little better. The pain was dulled more now, her hand was still bandaged but thankfully not that bad anymore. Katie asked if she was sure she wanted to go to class today… but Rachel refused to stay at home alone, and also she herself was concerned for Katie who still seemed tired.
As they went to the college some of the students stopped to stare at Rachel, most out of concern from the bruises while others were confused. One of them, a young female with dark blonde, pixie cut hair, came running over with a look of worry on her face and a notepad and pen in one hand. The girl quickly scribbled some words on it before showing it to Rachel.
You okay? What happened?
"... I'm fine Emily…"
Emily glanced down from the bruise on Rachel's face to her bandaged hand. Rachel was glad she had decided to wear a scarf to cover the bruises on her neck when Eric tried to strangle her. Emily took her pen and notepad and began writing more on it before letting Rachel read it.
Don't believe you… Did you get mugged? Did something worse happen?
Rachel was silent, but Katie stepped in.
"It's… more of a private talk topic Em… let's wait till after class alright?"
Emily looked like she really wanted to know as she opened her mouth for a second before stopping herself, looking away and sighing. With an upset look the blond wrote down an "Okay" before following through with the rest of her day with the other two.
After the first day of the new quarter finished Emily gently tugged on Rachel's sweater to get her attention so she could read what she wrote.
If you're ready. What happened?
Rachel read it but kept quiet… it was already hard enough telling her best friends what happened… but telling someone she wasn't one hundred percent comfortable with was much, much harder. Katie almost seemed like she was going to tell for her… but clammed up… she didn't really know what to say either. Their silence seemed to make Emily all the more worried and anxious.
"... it was a mugging…" Rachel finally said. "... I refused to let go of my bag… they beat me up… they left my bag behind... after taking the money…"
Katie bit her tongue from saying anything to blow the lie. But could tell from how Rachel couldn't make eye contact with Emily that she felt bad for lying. It was also hard for her to even talk about it… and it didn't exactly happen to her.
Emily seemed to buy it though… After all it was normal for someone to have a hard time talking about getting beaten, let alone mugged. The other blond then scribbled some more words as she held a concerned look.
What hurts? So I don't accidently cause you pain when getting your attention.
"... my ribs… hand… and cheek."
Emily nodded, taking out a notebook and writing that down, most likely as a reminder.
"... On that note, how are you doing Em?" Katie asked as Emily finished. She paused for a moment before pulling her notepad up and writing on that again.
Doc's say the worst is over. Not allowed to speak for a while though. Gotta recover from surgery.
"That's great! Hey… We should totally get ice cream to celebrate."
I got another class in 30. Tomorrow though?
"You got it Em! You in Rachel?"
"... Sure."
"Fuck yeah!"
Katie was in a much better mood with that plan on her mind. Rachel was just glad she been able to keep her memories for the moment…. Or rather remember the past three days for once… and she hasn't even taken her medication once since then.
… Why is that? ... Why… have the doctors been giving them to me if all they do is get rid of my memories?
….
On their way back to the apartment, Katie was so confused on why she got a call from Barry. Rachel could only pick up one half of the conversation but it seemed like even Katie was kinda confused.
"Uh… yeah I'm free… Wait a date? Whoa slow down there buddy… Date?"
"... Maybe it's because you kissed him…" Rachel offered at the repeated word, surprising Katie a little but she ended up face palming herself.
"Oh geez… Barry… I…" Katie paused and glanced over to Rachel, who was curious on why she suddenly had her friends attention on her… before Katie looked away with a thoughtful look before sighing. "Sure, how about Friday for dinner?"
Rachel was surprised at this answer. She was honestly expecting Katie to say she was sorry and she just wanted to be friends… like almost every other time someone asked her out.
"Yeah really… I'm willing to give it a shot. See ya Friday." Katie hung up at the end and turned to address the surprised Rachel. "... What?"
"... You said yes to a date…"
"Well… Might as well give it a shot you know. Besides unlike Eric, Barry is much nicer about rejection… I mean he's dealt with me saying no multiple times before when we were in Middle School."
"..."
"Besides… I'm not really sure… you know what never mind. It's not that important."
"... Okay…" Rachel responded, she wasn't going to push her friend on something she didn't want to talk about.
"Come on, I gotta get ready for work. I don't know about your work schedule but you should probably get ready as well." Katie grinned as she dragged Rachel back home. The blond herself smiled a little, the familiar words about her smile coming to mind once more as she did. Soon after instead of getting the pang of sadness… she thought she saw a familiar hooded figure on the opposite side of the street.
Zack? She thought, turning her head entirely with wide eyes… only to see that she was mistaken and that it was just someone in a similar colored hood. She felt disappointment raising up and replacing that small sense of hope she had.
I… still don't remember much about Zack… but… do I… really want to see him again? Even as she questioned that… she found herself glancing back at the hooded person in hopes that she had been wrong in thinking it was someone else… but the person was already gone, along with that small amount of hope she didn't know she had left.
….
Nick was home alone now… and he snuck his laptop back. His dad wouldn't be home for another four hours, his mom and sister were out shopping and knowing them it will be another two and a half hours till they get home… three and a half if they decided to get their hair done.
Dad should have thought harder on where to hide it. The sock drawer is literally the first place I looked this time. Nick thought with a smirk as he logged on and brought up the internet to begin his search anew.
Instead of typing in the Back Alley Murderer…. This time he began a new search topic.
Rachel Gardner.
There were a few different results… but he found the ones he wanted. From the time she had at the hospital… and an apparent time where a few months after she had been kidnapped from said hospital. This… this was new to him. Rachel was kidnapped a second time? Huh, the more you know.
Reading through he found that the main suspect was… Isaac Foster… the Back Alley Murderer… This was the first time Nick was able to get the guys name… and see a picture of him. Well… a kinda picture as it seemed really blurry as if the guy couldn't hold still at all. This was seriously the best picture they could get of the guy?
Must have had ADHD or something… or just a major problem with sitting still… is his skin white or something? For sure his hair's black… but seriously I'm having a hard time making out these details! Nick fumed as he studied the image for a bit. He decided to save the image and send it to his phone so he could try and pick out any characteristics later. After all he was pressed for time.
Acquired Blurred Picture.
Oh wait… they also had a police sketch of the guy. Might as well get that one as well. After all it had better details in it then the blurred one.
Acquired Sketched Picture.
After getting the pictures he continued reading the article, practically absorbing the information in it.
She was kidnapped from her room… her door was blocked from the inside well before the sound of the window breaking happened. All that was found in the room after they forced the door open was the chipped knife Rachel had brought in claiming to be hers. From the sound of it… she didn't put up much of a fight to get away from the guy… rather she seemed to help him by stalling the orderlies and doctors with the blocked door.
He came to the end of the article and quickly switched tabs to the second article he found. He soon closed out of it as it didn't provide any new information, he did the same with the third one but the fourth one… that one was about five months after the last one… and from the date on it about two months before she first went to their Middle School.
She and the killer were found trying to cut through an Alleyway to get away from pursuing cops… Isaac was killed on sight and Rachel was in clear distress after that… There's not much else on what happened to her after that… except she was kept in the hospital for a while and never seemed to be found after that.
He tried to find any more articles for information… but none seemed to get past that point. He then tried looking up Isaac Foster… but found even less on him then there was on Rachel. That actually pissed him off… because it was almost like this guy didn't exist with how little information there was.
"Who the hell were you Isaac Foster?"
"Better question is what are you doing with your laptop back young man?" The voice of his mother startled him… and made him glance from both his mother and the time at least twice before speaking.
"... You're home early…"
"You're avoiding the question Nicolas Sherman West."
Ah, the classic full name… Nick's mother truly was mad at him if this was going on.
"... You guys should know I'm always going to find a way to the internet. Though you really need to think of better hiding places. I've practically mapped out every hiding spot by now."
His mom was angered at that moment… but was cut off from a coming rant when her oldest child walked into the room… and took the laptop from her younger sibling.
"What the hell Joan?!"
"Isn't it obvious? You're not supposed to have this idiot," she responded while closing out of his tab and shutting the computer down. "So I'm gonna be the one hiding it now."
"Right like there's any place you can hide it."
"There is one place that if you even think of touching you're dead meat."
Nick pondered what she said for a moment… before it rammed into him like a bullet train and his expression turned to one of horror.
"You wouldn't…"
"Watch me."
"Besides you're not supposed to have it now anyways," his mother supplied as the two women left the room with the confiscated item in tow. Nick knew where it was going to be placed now… but he really didn't want to try grabbing it now... Nor did he think he ever wanted to touch it again when he did get it back.
Now how am I gonna finish my research? Nick thought to himself before hitting his head lightly onto his desk.
….
The Reverend was settling down in his home for the night. Internally hoping that tonight would be like the other… no one getting the bright idea to sneak into his Church just to lay eyes on the resident ghosts. It was hard enough to get them to remain calm sometimes… having so many people in one setting in the middle of the night seemed to set them on edge or rather…
How interesting of you to show up once again after all these years Rachel Gardner. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that Daniel would be much more excited at your presence… but Edward on the other hand surprises me a little more. I thought that he got over that crush four years ago now, the priest thought to himself as he opened the top to a snake terrarium and dropped in the proper amount of food to the two white serpents inside. The two snakes eating their food eagerly as their owner wheeled towards the small study of his home.
In the room the auburn haired boy sat at the table scribbling something into a leather bound book with some schematics and placement ideas for a new grave underneath it. He still wore the closed up jacket from the other day but it seemed as if… blood was starting to appear in a long vertical line on the chest. He seemed so engrossed in his writing that he didn't even turn or even say a small greeting to the reverend, nor seem to notice the growing blood stain he produced. "Black" could only guess what had the kid so wrapped up in his own writing.
"Thinking about trying to find Rachel once again?" That caused Eddie to jump, a light blush on his face at being caught.
"NO!"
A quirked brow from the Reverend made the boy fidget a bit.
"... maybe…"
The priest sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. It was bad enough he had to find ways to keep Danny from going after the girl… and keep Cathy from purging the sinners that came to the confessionals. He really didn't want to add more work to his already hectic life by finding ways to keep Eddie from sneaking away. He is just one man in a wheelchair after all.
"You know very well that you shouldn't."
Eddie was silent at that. He knew very well he shouldn't… but he was just curious. After all… she seemed different after all these years… and he wasn't dumb enough to not notice the pain she was in or the bruises.
The reverend had sighed at the silence and went over to the kid's side to look at the schematics and placement chart. They were due to hold another funeral within the coming week after all and it was best to have a solid plan for the grieving family.
"... The placement around space H 9 seems more appropriate," the elder offered, getting straight into official business and to remove the bitter look on the child's exposed face. Eddie perked up at that and held up the placement chart he made.
"Personally that would have been my second choice, J 3 was more my first one. After all it's a newer space and from the information on this person they had a rather extensive family…. Better location to move around and place the kind of grave stone they wanted."
The two discussed the arrangements some more before coming to an agreement and the Reverend to decide to turn in for the night.
"... Oh and Edward."
"Hm?"
"You're ruining another lost coat. Make sure to properly clean it when you have the time and put it back in the lost and found."
Eddie flinched before glancing down and glaring at the invasive red that made its way onto the… borrowed coat like it was the most hateful thing in the world. He took the coat off and underneath was his normal outfit… or rather the one he died in… right down to the large deep slash in his chest that stained the front of his white shirt red and even got a little on the overalls.
He hated it more then anything… except maybe the one who caused the death wound.
If I ever see Zack again… I'll make him regret what he did to me.
….
A loud sneeze startled the few people who heard it. The one who caused it was so much more confused though.
I'm fucking dead how the hell can I catch a cold?! Zack thought with confusion clear on his bandaged face. Then again… many things about this afterlife didn't make sense to the killer.
"Movies made more sense then this bull shit…" he grumbled to himself outloud. He really didn't want to deal with anymore bullshit… after all he spent almost an entire two days trying to find Rachel. It was easier said than done really.
"Have a good night Derek!"
Perking up at the voice, Zack turned his head and felt his eyes widen as he saw the person he was looking for stepping out of a closing down Bakery across the street. Luck was finally on his side it appears.
He noticed rather quickly a bag of the baked goods in her arms… and the small smile on her face. It was just like how he remembered it. It sucked… but it looked really good on her. He watched as she started on her trek… to where? Hell if he knew… but he was determined to catch up to her by this point. He's waited too damn long to find her and like hell he was going to let her get away that easily.
He was about to run across the road only to quickly pull himself back as a car raced by.
"FUCKER! CAN'T YOU SEE I'M…." Zack shouted only to pause then slap a hand over his face. "I'm fucking dead duh… I'm a dumbass…"
With that in mind he dashed across the street, not caring about cars this time and was quickly catching up to the blond… who seemed to have heard his oncoming footsteps and paused for a moment.
"RAY!"
His excited shout caused her to actually stop moving altogether and for her to slowly turn around with wide blue eyes.
"Zack?"
Fun Fact 6: Barry and Katie are the only romantic end goal in this entire story in all honesty and even then it's mostly going to be in the background. Those two became mine and my friend's OTP when we were making plans for this story... though an unexpected one popped up and will be seen a little more in the future, that one isn't much of an end goal like Katie and Barry though.