Much like how Hearthome was similar to a college campus, the dormitories were similar to those you would find for students as well. There was a small lobby-like area at the entrance with a few benches and the main stairs dominated the middle of the dorms, with windows extending at every turn of the stairs as they zig-zagged up the three floors of the dorm, with an elevator rising between. The actual basement of the dorms, where those that weren't allowed to roam Hearthome freely, could not be accessed from this entrance, but rather from another guarded way in behind the building in a fenced off area. Each of the floors had twenty rooms on either side, with odd numbers on one side and even numbers on the other, bouncing to either side of the staircase in ascending order, with rooms 1 & 3 on the left side of the staircase, and rooms 2 and 4 on the right side. After ten rooms on either side, the corridors would turn sharply ninety degrees, so if one were looking at the dorms from above it would look like an upside-down horseshoe. Noah's own room was in Floor 3, Room 37 while Robyn resided on Floor 2, Room 2.
Yet they weren't outside either of their rooms. Instead, they were standing outside Floor 1, Room 13 and Noah was starting to feel anxious all over again. Doubts were creeping into his mind again and it seemed like whatever emotions he was feeling after speaking with John were starting to fade away. Yet Robyn seemed to have none of those nerves and instead smartly knocked on the door of Conner Shepherd. When Noah had asked how she knew where his room was, Robyn had shrugged and said she knew where most of the more interesting residents were. Or at least, the residents Robyn considered interesting.
With no response, Robyn knocked again, happily smiling to herself. She nudged Noah in the ribs. "Y'know, this is like a really cool fantasy adventure. We're gathering up our party members to prevent a world-shattering disaster, although I suppose in this case it's more like a home-shattering disaster… Heh, a Hearthome-shattering disaster…" She had quickly fetched her camcorder from her room before they arrived and was holding it out in front of her like a firearm. "Oh man, he's taking forever."
"Maybe he's not in?"
"Hmm, maybe. But where would he be? It's not a full moon so—" Whatever Robyn was going to say was interrupted by the door being thrown wide-open. Noah got a glimpse of Conner's shaggy hair, and his topless chest covered in strange marks, before Conner's eyes narrowed.
"Fuck right off," with that Conner slammed the door shut as if he had no care he was living in a communal area.
"…That was simple," Noah mused, not exactly surprised by the retort.
"Bah, he's just being shy," Robyn bravely – or naively – knocked on the door again. The third time her fist hit the door, it swung open again.
"You keep knockin' I'm going to break your knuckles."
"I'll stop knocking after you hear what we have to say," Robyn replied, as sweet as honey. Conner actually seemed taken aback by the matter-of-fact response, his teeth grinding against each other.
"At three in the morning?"
"What's wrong with three in the morning?"
"The fact that it's three in the fuckin' morning, that's what." Conner yawned, running a hand through his messy hair. "You know what, I just can't even be bothered with whatever you have to say. Who even are you, anyway? I recognise you –" Conner jabbed a finger at Noah. "Been here longer than most, right?"
"I'm Robyn, nice to meet you!" With her free hand, the one not holding the camcorder, Robyn happily offered it to the man. Conner stared at it as if someone was playing a practical joke on him. Noah observed Conner's face and was surprised to find he wasn't scared of it. After his vision, he thought he would react strongly to seeing the killers face but Conner's face as it was now was nothing like that murderous one Noah had seen stab a man's eye out with a pen. Sure, he was cranky and generally pissed off, but that didn't strike Noah as anything unusual.
"Uh-huh. Cool. Now bugger right off."
"Don't you want to hear what I have to say?"
"No."
"Go on, it involves you, you know?"
"Not surprising, considering you're talking to me. Still no."
"We both know I'm going to keep bothering you until you talk to me, right?" Noah was actually impressed. He hadn't seen this side of Robyn before. Her demeanour reminded him of the plucky reporter types from superhero comics. He only knew Robyn for her stories, but perhaps there was a lot more behind the girl that Noah had never considered.
"If I couldn't see the tits on you, I'd be impressed at your balls," Conner sneered.
"Has anyone ever told you you're a crude man?"
"Often. Couldn't give two shits. Fine, come in. Why not, I'm awake now anyway. The quicker you say whatever the hell it is you want to say the quicker I can get back to sleep. I got a meeting with the quack doctor in the morning which I can't seem to avoid." And with that, Conner stomped back into his room, leaving the door open for Robyn to slide in and Noah to follow behind.
Conner's room was surprisingly well lived in. It wasn't strange for residents to personalise their rooms within the restrictions given to them, but Noah had expected Conner's to either be a complete mess, or completely sterile. It was neither. There were posters up on the wall with the gaudy designs of bands. Some popular ones and some more niche ones and ones that Noah had never even heard of before. On a desk sat an open notepad with mechanical pencils sitting beside it, although Conner was quick to brush the notepad shut. There were a few clothes here and there but nothing strange. In fact, it was normal. Other than two particular things. First was the dartboard that hung on the wall opposite his bed. There were three darts stuck in around the outer ring and the reason this was surprising is because residents were not allowed sharp objects and those darts, even though they looked plastic-tipped, definitely counted and even if they weren't considered sharp, the things hanging above Conner's bed definitely were.
There was a cabinet tucked up high on the wall, so the top of the box touched the roof. It looked as if it were made of some kind of glass, though it looked slightly different than normal glass. There was an expensive looking metal lock keeping the door of the cabinet shut and sitting inside the cabinet were a set of five knives. Their blades gleaming in the lamplight, black leather handles all matching. Had Conner somehow snuck them in? It was almost impossible to think that even the best behaved person would be allowed things like that in their room.
"Don't worry," Conner evidently caught Noah staring at the knives. "They didn't make a key for that lock." The man sat on the edge of his bed, still shirtless, and Noah got a good look at the markings. They weren't just markings – they were scars. Hundreds of small tiny scars extending around his surprisingly lean body, all the way down to his fingers. There wasn't much thick muscle around Conner's body, but the muscle he did have was clearly cared for. Conner pulled the chair by the desk out and motioned to it. "One of you can sit. Don't have much in the way of seating."
Robyn was the one who took the seat, and was excitedly looking around like a kid in a toyshop. "Oh my god, this room is amazing. Oh man, such an eclectic selection of bands, I love it. And how did you get darts? Did you bribe the orderlies? Do you play with the orderlies? Can I play with them?"
"You didn't tell me you wanted to socialise and I've got no interest in it. Skip the pleasantries and the squawking. What is it you want?"
Noah realised that he hadn't actually planned with Robyn what they were going to say but he supposed he would have to trust in Robyn's words. Already he was feeling his throat tighten up and knew that he would struggle speaking with Conner if questions were directed his way.
"Okay, fair, sorry. I get distracted easily, y'know?"
"And if you're planning on filming me I'll throw that camera straight out of the window. Although…" Conner narrowed his eyes. "Is it a toy? I don't see any lights on."
"I guess I'll get straight to the point," Robyn said briskly and Noah didn't fail to catch the avoidance of Conner's question. He knew the camcorder was one of the only things Robyn didn't like to talk about. Noah had never asked about it and didn't particularly want to. If carrying around a camcorder with no battery and pretending to film everything made Robyn happy, then Noah wasn't going to get in the way of that. "Whatever you're planning on doing when you meet Doctor Evans, don't do it."
Conner's narrowed eyes actually looked a little confused as he blinked slowly at Robyn. "What?"
"You don't have to do it, you know? I get it, we all get frustrated when talking with the doctor, especially when it gets personal, but you don't have to listen to the voices in your head, especially if they're tempting you to do things you don't want to do."
"What the hell are you talking about? I don't like jokes and I'm starting to feel like you're trying to make me feel like the butt of one. My good mood is fading fast, girl."
Robyn leaned forward and Noah realised what she was going to say and wasn't able to stop her. The good thing about Robyn was that she wasn't afraid to talk and was quite good in the art of conversation. The bad thing was that she could be blunt as a brick sometimes. It was fine for people like Noah who didn't really care what was said but when it came to people with a little easier breaking point… "You don't have to hurt Doctor Evans."
"Hurt him?!"
"Or worse, you know? If you get the temptation to grab something nearby, like a pen for example, you just have to ignore it, it's not worth the trouble. That's why we're here, to stop you from doing something you'd regret. I—"
"That's enough!" Conner snapped, standing straight up off his bed. Whatever patience he had been exercising was lost. "Whoever put you up to this, whoever is spreading rumours, I don't want any part of it! I was promised when I came here that the past would be the past, that Hearthome was punishment enough. How dare you accuse me of planning something like that! I don't like being here but it is what it is." Conner shook his shaggy head back and forth. "Or what, you a plant from them? Did they want you to prod me to see if I'd react? Well I'm not a fuckin' guinea pig, alright! I took the fuckin' deal and that is that. I've not even been here for four months and you're already checkin' to see if I'm planning on bloody killing anyone? I've not had fresh blood on my hands in over seven years, alright, and you know that so get the fuck outta my face before I decide to make you!"
"I don't know what you're talking about, but we're not working for anyone, as much as I would absolutely love being a secret agent. See, Noah here had a vision of you… being violent—"
"You abso-fucking-lutely did not just say that this prick over here had a vision of me killing somebody?" Conner's anger fully surfaced and he got right up in Noah's face. Noah surprised himself with how analytical his mind was. He didn't feel fear or even the urge to defend himself, even though that was probably the smart thing to do. "You wanna wave drugs in a former addict's face, is that it? See if you can tempt ol' Conner Shepperd. 'Oh, the Ripper loves to be violent, all he wants is the chance to spill some blood', well you can take that and fuck right off with it!
I don't care if you had a vision, a dream, or a goddamn message from God himself, if you saw me do something that I haven't done, then there is no grounds for anything. You want to accuse me of something you dreamt up, then you go right fuckin' ahead but I'll not fall for the trap. Those days are over, that life is over, I've got nothing anymore, nothing!" For a moment Noah thought Conner was about to strike him, but instead he reached across to the wall and plucked out the three darts from the dartboard. "Look, you want proof? Take this back to your bosses-" Conner threw the dart with such ferociousness that Noah wouldn't have been surprised if it smashed through the wall entirely. Instead it hit the outer ring with a soft thunk. "I can't hit a single target anymore!" He threw the second dart, this one hit the wall with a faint ping and bounced off. "I try and I try and I've never hit that bullseye in all the time I've been here." The third dart sunk outside the rings in the dark black material of the dartboard.
A strange sound emerged from Conner and it took Noah a shocked moment to realise the man was sobbing. His eyes were red and puffy, tears streaming down his cheeks, teeth clenched tight like a horse to a bit. "I used to be perfect! I could hit anything I wanted to without a thought. That was taken from me! My past was taken from me, my aim was taken from me, everything was taken from me! And you gutless cowards want to come to the place you banished me to, to taunt me, to poke me, and prod me, well congratulations! You've prodded and look what you got!" Conner's chest was heaving, his breath catching at every word. His whole body was shaking. He wept like a child. "So tell your boss that Conner Sheppard is just a shell of who he was, and that shell has cracked and broken and is on the verge of crumbling completely. If that was your goal, you've achieved it! I will live in Hearthome and I will die in Hearthome, that's my reward for helping you… That's all I got… So just… fuck off… leave me in peace. Forget about me. Throw away the key. Come back when I'm six feet under." Conner sobbed, falling back onto his bed, head in his hands. "That life is gone. I don't kill. I couldn't even if I wanted to. That's over and done with. The Ripper is dead… Completely and utterly dead…"
Robyn and Noah were silent after Conner's outburst. It was strange to see Robyn so speechless. It was even stranger that Noah felt the compulsion to speak. He walked in front of the bed and sat down cross-legged so he was looking at Conner's knees.
"Neither I nor Robyn work for anyone. The vision I had was just that, a vision. It is something I have had before and the implications of it means that those who died in that vision have their fates set. The last time I had a vision like this, it was an accident, an electrical fire at a club. I was able to prevent that accident but it meant that the survivors were put on a list, a list where they were slowly picked off, one at a time. This time, this vision that I had showed you murdering seven people, including myself. I saw you wield a pen like a knife. I saw you use a book as a weapon. I saw a wildness and a ferociousness in your eyes that will stick with me for such a long time. Yet I don't see that now, and I didn't see that when I first looked at you when you let us in. You're right, what I saw didn't happen. Yet. That is why we're here, to prevent you from doing the things that you did. I don't know about your past and quite frankly I don't care about your past. All I ask is that you postpone your meeting with Doctor Evans. That's all."
"You know… A lot of people are scared of me, because of the way I look and the way I act… I get it… I don't make friends," Conner stayed with his head in his hands, his voice hoarse. "You two showed no fear. I respect that. Even with my outburst. I don't know what the hell you are talking about. Visions, lists, I don't get it. Here's the thing, though. Let's say I believed you. Let's say that this vision was a vision of a future that never came to pass." Conner removed his hands and stared at Noah with bloodshot eyes. "Then that means I have the potential to kill again… and that fuckin' terrifies me."