Note: I had two ideas for this week's rewatch drabble and I couldn't decide which one I wanted to go with, so surprise! You get a bonus chapter this week! As I watched this week's episode, I couldn't shake the thought that Graham deserved better. So much better. He didn't fully realize it until Emma showed up, but I can't help but believe he had moments even before when he sensed that something just wasn't quite right.
He'd dreamt of the wolf again.
The dream was incomplete, no more than a jumble of images, a feeling of freedom, but the wolf was always there, his guide and companion.
It was such an odd dream. As the sheriff of a small town in Maine, he'd seen the woods, of course, but he'd never seen a wolf, and certainly not one with a bright red eye like the one in his dream.
Graham knew in his head that he had a good life. He had a satisfying job, a girlfriend, a sleepy little town full of residents he liked.
But every now and again, he couldn't shake the sense that he wasn't truly happy. Something was wrong, and he didn't know what. It was like that nagging feeling when you know there's something you should remember–something important–just at the tip of your tongue, but you just can't access it.
Yesterday had been one such day.
He'd been going about his normal routine, reading the paper as he sipped his morning tea, when he'd had the strongest urge to go to find the newcomer–Kurt Flynn–and detain him for drunk driving.
He'd tracked the man to Regina's office and had just started to take the ranting and raving man into custody when suddenly the man shoved something off of Regina's desk and Graham had felt a sudden, intense pain in his chest, a pain so strong it dropped him to his knees.
For a moment, for just one single moment, he'd been confused, suddenly wondering what he was doing. This man wasn't drunk driving; he wasn't even driving. Why was he so compelled to arrest him for a crime he obviously wasn't committing? He didn't want to do this; it wasn't his choice. How many other times had he been compelled to do things that he didn't truly want to do? Why was this happening? Was he losing his mind?
But then Regina had retrieved the small wooden box and returned to it some sort of red, glowing object that Graham hadn't gotten a full glimpse of, and his mind cleared once again.
He had a job to do. He had to detain Kurt Flynn for drunk driving and keep his son Owen from leaving, no matter what it took.
He got to his feet and gave chase.
Now, this morning, he puzzled over the entire affair for another moment as he laid upon his bed trying to fully wake.
But then his mind went once again blank. He suddenly somehow knew that Regina wanted him to make a stop at her house before work. He best get to it.