Chapter V
Traumatizinger Than You Dreamt It

(A/N: Okay! Another chapter up! *dances*
Not much to say at this point, except that the title refers to something that happens at the end of this chapter. Oh, and I still don't own POTO *pouts*.)

Adeline walked out of the doctor's office, letting her mother lean on her. The doctor had told them that it was just common arthritis, and that Lurline should take an arthritis medication that neither she nor her daughter could pronounce.

Once they were in the car, Adeline pulled out of the parking lot, eager to get home as soon as possible. Her mother chattered aimlessly about whatever came to mind, driving Adeline up the wall. As usual.

"...so then I turn to him an' say, 'Lookey here, mister! I don't care what your wife is sayin'. I'm a respectable lady and when I say that this is a parkin' spot, then it sure as hell is a parkin' spot!' And then the wife turns to me an' says..."

Adeline fought to ignore her mother, but to no avail. Lurline had a naturally loud voice. Instead, Adeline reached over and turned on the radio. It started blaring Tik Tok.

Her mother turned to her. "Addie, I raised you better'n that! What'chu think yer doin' trying to drown me out?"

Adeline shook her head and started singing along at the top of her lungs. "...Don't stop, make it pop, DJ blow my speakers , I'mma fight 'til we see the sunlight, Tik tok, on the clock, but the party don't stop, no..."

Lurline rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine. If yer gonna try to drown me out, at least do it with proper music." She leaned over and switched the dial to a country station that was currently playing Big Green Tractor.

"We can take a ride on my big green tractor. We can go slow, or we can go faster. Down through the woods, and out through the pasture. Long as I'm with you, it really don't matter..."

Adeline screamed and shut off the radio. "Mom!" she gasped for breath. "I hate country music!"

Lurline cackled. "Exactly."

Adeline groaned and rifled through her CD's, keeping one eye on the road and one knee on the steering wheel. Finally choosing a CD, she popped it into the player.

Lurline frowned, evidently not recognizing the song until the chorus.

"All around the world now, like a big bright cherry cloud. Traveling from home to home, TV sets and telephones. Here it comes just like a storm. Bathe in it and be reborn. Time to let the world know. Welcome madness, say hello..."

Lurline gaped at her daughter. "You got the farewell CD?"

Adeline smirked. "Yep. Live from the Universal Amphitheatre, Halloween '95."

"I took you and Kenna to that concert!" Lurline exclaimed, bouncing up and down in her seat. "You were only eleven and Kenna was nine, but you two were so excited!" She smiled brightly at her oldest daughter. "Do you still have the T-shirt?"

Adeline laughed. "How could I get rid of it? Oingo Boingo was my favorite band growing up!"

The two women laughed and sang along with the CD all the way back to Lurline's apartment.

(POV change)

Erik glanced at the clock hopefully. Damn. Ten minutes left. How am I supposed to occupy twenty hyper children for ten more minutes?

Said children had finished their auditions without much incident. They were all lounging in the red auditorium chairs, chattering animatedly.

Erik sighed in defeat. Might as well just let them carry on.

Ten minutes passed in this fashion, until Darren looked at his watch, proclaimed it was three o'clock, and led all the children out the auditorium doors. Erik followed them, bemused by their leming-like mentality.

(POV change)

Ellie hopped into the passenger seat of her older sister's car. "Hiya, Carolynn!" she exclaimed, smiling brightly at her.

Carolynn pressed the pause button on her CD player and smiled back. "So, Ells, how was your day?"

"Good," she answered. "We had a substitute in Music today."

Carolynn nodded, pulling out of the parking lot, only half paying attention to her little sister. "Was it Mr. Remo?"

"No. It was some new guy. Mr. Carriere."

Carolynn froze. "Carriere?"

"Yeah. He was really weird. He was tall, and had a creepy voice, and his face was weird."

"W-weird how?" Carolynn asked, trying to focus on driving them home.

"Well, it was like he was wearing a lot of that cover-up stuff you use when you have a really nasty zit."

Carolynn sucked in a deep breath. "Are- are you sure his last name was Carriere?"

"Yep." Ellie reached over and turned the CD back on, not liking awkward silences.

Carolynn's breathing sped up as the first familiar chords sounded, and the song began.

"In sleep he sang to me, in dreams he came..."

(POV change)

Adeline walked into her apartment, making sure to lock the door behind her. He threw her bag and green jacket onto the floor and collapsed onto the couch.

She stood up after a few minutes and switched on the TV. She turned it on Mtv, attempting to catch a rerun of ABDC, but they'd apparently stopped showing it until the new season. Instead, it was showing one of those two hour shows full of music videos. Currently playing was Telephone.

Adeline rolled her eyes. Well, it's certainly better than Big Green Tractor, she thought. She glanced over at her ancient answering machine. A big "1" glowed red on it's display screen. Sighing, she pressed the "PLAY" button and heard the tape whirring to life.

"Hey, Addie. Brendan, here. Um, I suppose that's rather obvious considering we've known eachother for nearly three years...Right. Anyway, His Eminence the Director has given me a shitload of work, and I'm not going to be able to get off work until eleven most nights this month. Talk about bad timing, huh?" A laugh. "Well, I'll call you when I can. Bye."

The tape clicked as it ran its length. Adeline paled. I completely forgot about him. Oh God. What if he finds out about Erik? Would he believe me? Would he get mad? Jealous? ...I bet Christine felt like this...

Adeline picked up the phone and dialed Brendan's number. There was a beep as his voicemail activated. "Hey, Brendan. Sorry I missed your call. I must've fallen asleep early or something," she lied smoothly. "Mr. Shadow of God must've been in a pretty bad mood to pile you up like that. I thought you were his favorite." She laughed. "Hey, if you're free on the weekend, do you want to come over for dinner Saturday? My mom said she was comin'. She invited herself. Just like her, ain't it? And Kenna, David, and the three little demons might make it in time. I don't want to have to deal with the family by myself, you know? Hope to hear from you soon! Bye."

She hung up, and attempted to put the phone back in the cradle. It slipped and fell to the floor. She ignored it, putting her head in her hands.

"Who's Brendan?"

Adeline's head shot up. "What the-? How-?"

Erik sat across the room from her, in an overstuffed flea market armchair. He was dressed similarly to how she'd first met him, the only difference was that he was wearing his mask and the wide-brimmed fedora. "I noticed the locks on your door. Very smart. Although your door's biggest defense against burglars is that it's too big for the frame and makes a loud creak when it opens, thus alerting you when someone enters without your permission."

"Then how-?"

"You don't lock your windows."

Adeline blinked. "So, you climbed in through my window while I was on the phone?"

"Yes."

"I'm on the second floor!"

"Yes, but there's a tree right beside your window. And now, back to my original question. Who is Brendan?" The whole time, his voice and expression had remained neutral. Adeline couldn't see his eyes, because the fedora cast a shadow over them.

"He's my friend." She couldn't help but feel a little flustered. "We used to work together at the Metropolitan Museum of Art."

"Is that all?"

"Yep," Adeline lied again.

"Are you sure?" This time his voice was lower, more menacing.

"Yeah."

"Good," he said, obviously relieved. Then he chuckled.

"What?" Adeline asked, suddenly worried.

"Your shirt."

She glanced down at her T-shirt. It was dark blue, with gold words that said: "HOGWARTS RULE #31: I DO NOT HAVE A DALEK PATRONUS." Underneath was a picture of the afore mentioned robot. "What about it?"

"Considering all the spare time I've had, I've read the Harry Potter series, yet I have no idea what a 'dalek' is. Would you care to enlighten me?"

Is he serious? "Er, well, it's a robot/alien thing that's pretty much bent on exterminating all forms of life in the universe other than itself. It's from Doctor Who." She smiled sheepishly. "Whatever you do, do NOT get me started on that."

Erik nodded. He looked at the TV. "What the Hell?"

Adeline looked over at the television. "Oh! Uh, yeah. That's the music video for Telephone."

"I think a small part of my brain just died."

"Yeah. Lady Gaga's a little out there..."

"I can tell." He blinked and shook his head, as if trying to forget what he'd seen.

Adeline bit her lip, trying to decide how best to phrase her question. "Um, not to be rude or anything, but why are you here?"

"To inform you of when our next lesson will be. Will next Tuesday work?"

She blinked. "Let me go check." She ran off into the kitchen to try and find her calendar. Ten minutes later, she returned. "Yep. Tuesday's fine. Uh, Erik? What are you doing?"

Erik was standing in front of the shelf on which Adeline kept her movies. Adeline was rather well known for putting post-it notes on books and movies, and writing a sort of review on them. Erik was currently holding one in his hand, with a shocked and disgusted look on his face.

Adeline hurried up to him. "What movie is- Oh." She took it from him. "I'm still traumatized after my last time of watching it."

"R-rats?"

"And the wig. We mustn't forget the wig."

(A/N: Let's just thank God that Erik didn't put it in the DVD player.
And I actually like Lady Gaga, but no matter how twisted of a phanphic he's put in, Erik won't.
Until next time!)