experimental weirdness, part 10
Title: An End Has a Start
Rating: R, definitly this chapter
A/N: so... I was watching 'The Office' for half of this, so I wasn't really paying attention to what I wrote. I hope it's ok.
A/N 2: seriously, I didn't intend or expect this to go on so long, and I hope it doesn't feel like it's dragging or anything.
A/N 3: for previous parts, follow the tags
“Look,” she said, sitting down across from him. “Let’s just… time out, ok?”
“Fine,” he said, trying to be strong. He needed to be strong.
But she was so beautiful and even though it had been almost a year since he’d last seen her, god help him, he was still in love with her.
It was Summer.
He’d always be in love with her.
“I get that you’re mad at me, for not believing you when you first told me about this stuff. And I get that you’re mad at me for running away. But I think you’re being stupid about it.”
“What?” he said, reeling back a little.
That he hadn’t expected.
“I’ve had a lot of time to think about this, and… I think you’re being stupid. I mean, how could you expect me to believe you? You were talking about demons, Cohen. Why in the world would I just up and believe that?”
“Taylor believed Ryan,” Seth accused, even though he knew he shouldn’t.
“First of all, we’re not talking about Taylor and Ryan, we’re talking about us. And second… look, Taylor’s been a good friend to me, she’s been a good friend to you, and she was a good girlfriend to Ryan. Having said that, she’s not… without her faults, and independence is not one of them.” Seth didn’t know how to answer that, so he just avoided Summer’s eyes. “I mean, if Ryan had gone to Taylor and told her that aliens were invading earth, she would’ve gone out to the store and stocked up on water and canned food and like… tin foil, and holed herself up in the basement waiting for them to attack.”
“Fine,” Seth grumbled, keeping his eyes on the floor.
“And I know it’s like, totally not fair to even bring them up, but if your dad had done that, if he’d started ranting about demons and vampires and stuff, would your mom have believed him? Especially if he’d just been through this huge trauma.”
He managed not to make a sound when he felt his heart try to rip itself apart.
“So what,” he said, his voice low, “are you saying you want me to apologize?”
“No,” she said, shaking her head.
“Then what, are you trying to apologize?”
He was confused. His head was reeling from her presence and his heart hurt and he didn’t know what she wanted from him.
“Maybe,” she sighed. “Look, I’m not… I’m not apologizing for not believing you. I’m not apologizing for leaving, either. It was what I thought I had to do, and I’m not sure I regret it. Maybe us being apart was a good thing. You know, time to figure stuff out? But I am apologizing for hurting you. It wasn’t what I wanted. And maybe it’s not fair for me to even assume or anything, but I came here to tell you that I’m sorry for hurting you, because I do love you, Seth. I think I always will, you know?”
Seth.
She called him Seth, not Cohen.
She only did that when she was really upset.
And he knew she was waiting for him to tell her that he loved her, too. And he did. He loved her so much it hurt, but for some reason, he couldn’t make the words come out.
Everything she said made entirely too much sense and he knew she was right, but it didn’t stop him from feeling like she’d abandoned him. I didn’t stop the fact that she’d run off right after his parents had been killed. She had her reasons, and they were legitimate, but it was just too much work for him to be understanding right now.
So he said the first thing that came to his mind.
“Thank you, Summer. That must’ve been really hard for you to say.”
Then he stood up and left the room.
…
Ryan sighed as he leaned against the Rover and looked into the empty bag of Cheetos.
Something made him look up and he saw Seth standing on the other side of the parking lot. Summer wasn’t with him and he didn’t look good.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey,” Seth said back, walking over. “Got any more Cheetos?” he asked, looking down at the bag in Ryan’s hand.
“All out,” he said, tilting the bag so Seth could see inside.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Kinda how my night’s going.”
“Your night’s like an empty bag of Cheetos?” Ryan asked, attempting a smile.
To be honest, his night kind of felt like an empty bag of Cheetos, too.
“Wow, Ryan, that’s really profound,” Seth snarked, but his heart wasn’t in it.
“C’mon,” Ryan sighed, pushing off the Rover. “I’ll buy you a bag.”
…
“So you’re just giving up?” Taylor asked as she watched Summer pack her bag.
“Yes. I apologized to him and he walked away. He’s a big boy, Taylor, he’s made his decision,” Summer said as she snapped her suitcase shut. “I’m not gonna stay around here and be this pathetic girl chasing after some guy, you know? I don’t do that.”
“Yeah,” Taylor agreed, standing up now that Summer was done. “It’s just…” Summer looked over at her and she shrugged. “You were like, my first friend, Summer. I want you to be happy and in your own dysfunctional way, Seth makes you happy. And like, I missed you.”
“I missed you, too,” she said, trying to smile. “Sorry I called you a crazy bitch.”
The tension broke and Taylor snorted. “Well, it’s ok. I am a crazy bitch.”
“Eh, not so much with the bitch anymore,” Summer smiled. “At least you’re not trying to steal my boyfriend anymore.”
“What is with people bringing that up?” Taylor sighed. “It was a long time ago.”
“Who else brought it up?” Summer asked, dropping the joke.
“Oh, um, Ryan. He said something about… Parker. Being like Seth.”
“Like Seth?” Summer said, scrunching up her nose. “I mean, he’s like, kinda nerdy, but…”
“That’s what I said! Well, I didn’t so much say it, but I thought it.”
Summer giggled and Taylor joined her. After a few seconds they died off and they stood in awkward silence.
“So, I should get to my flight,” Summer said, voice low.
“Yeah.”
“Call me,” Summer said, picking up her suitcase. “I promise I won’t yell at you this time.”
“You know,” Taylor said as they headed out the door, “I was kind of afraid to call you last week, considering how the last one went.”
“Taylor, you called me three weeks after I left Newport to tell me Seth and Ryan had sold the house and disappeared.”
“And you called me a crazy bitch,” Taylor reminded her with a smile.
“Yeah.”
“Excuse me,” a man stopped them on their way to Taylor’s car.
“Um, yeah,” she asked and Summer looked at her. She shrugged a little; she had no idea who this guy was.
“I’m looking for someone; I heard he lives in this building. Parker Phillips?”
Summer looked over at her, but she didn’t say anything. The guy was creepy and she was getting a weird vibe off him.
“Sorry,” she said, taking Summer’s arm and moving around the man. “Never heard of him.”
“Really?” the man asked, moving with them.
“Really,” she said and this time Summer read her mind and started walking faster.
“That’s strange,” the man called after them. “Cause I smell him all over you.”
…
“Here’s one,” Seth said, spinning his book around on the table so Ryan could see.
“Lamia,” Ryan read. “Looks human.”
“She was,” Seth said, looking at the page upside down. “She was a queen of Libya. Apparently the Greeks had this myth that she was one of the women boinking Zeus, and Hera got angry and stole her children. Then she turned into a monster in her grief and started eating human babies.”
“That’s a reasonable reaction,” Ryan commented drily. “It says she can take out her eyes.”
“She has the power of prophecy, which may account for the red?” Seth offered.
“But it says she’s half woman, half serpent. Did you see anything serpent-like?”
“Besides the red eyes?” Seth asked. “No.”
“And I think you would’ve seen her like, slither away,” Ryan said. “Her bottom half is a snake.”
“Like a mermaid on land,” Seth nodded, taking his book back, “and without the nifty seashell bra.”
“And the baby killing,” Ryan added.
“Alright, we’ll put her on the list, but I guess we should keep looking,” Seth sighed, closing his book. He stood and put it back on the shelf, scanning other titles for something that looked interesting.
He turned, though, when something told him to.
It was weird how sharp his senses had gotten.
“Parker,” he said, nodding at the guy. “What’s up?”
“I need your help,” Parker said, face completely pale. “I found this at my apartment.”
He put a Polaroid on the table and sat down, letting his head drop into his hands. Seth made it to the table just as Ryan was picking the picture up, and he felt himself freeze up.
It was Summer.
And Taylor, but his eyes went to Summer first.
Her arms were up, head dropped down, like she was unconscious as she hung from the ceiling.
“What the fuck?” Ryan said, voice low and dangerous. “What the hell is this?”
“I don’t know, I just found it taped in an envelope to my door,” Parker groaned, face still in his hands.
“Ryan,” Seth whispered, unable to take his eyes off Summer.
“Where are they?” Ryan asked, ignoring Seth and staring at Parker.
“I don’t know,” Parker repeated.
“Fuck this,” Ryan snapped, standing up. “C’mon, Seth.”
Seth nodded and tried to make himself go into hunting mode.
But just like the last time Summer had been involved, he panicked instead.
“Dude, we have to find them,” he said, following Ryan up the library stairs.
“I know, Seth,” Ryan grunted, voice still tight. “We will.”
“Wait,” Parker called after them, almost tripping as he tried to run up after them. “I’m coming with you.”
“No. You’re not a hunter,” Ryan snapped.
“But that’s my girlfriend,” Parker gestured down at the picture that Ryan was still holding.
Ryan opened his mouth to say something, but Seth cut in.
“Look, we can stand here and argue, or we can go find them.” Ryan turned to look at him, but Seth didn’t flinch.
He didn’t give a shit that Ryan didn’t like Parker. He didn’t care about Ryan’s jealousy or whatever the hell was going on.
He just wanted to find Summer.
…
Summer opened her eyes slowly.
The first thing she noticed was that her head hurt.
The second thing she noticed was that she was upright, but she wasn’t standing.
Her legs were limp under her, and she was confused for a few seconds how she wasn’t on the ground. She managed to put her feet flat on the floor and stood up and the movement made her shoulders ache.
Her arms were above her head.
She looked up and saw the chains around her wrists, most likely attached to the ceiling above. As it was, her feet barely touch the floor, and she was stretched out as she hung, and she wondered how she hadn’t noticed that before.
Then she realized it was because her arms were completely numb.
She tried to move her fingers, but she couldn’t tell if anything was happening or not. She couldn’t feel anything in her arms and the only thing that told her that they were still attached - beside the fact that she could see them - was the awful pain in her shoulders.
There was a slight noise to the side, and she saw Taylor hanging next to her. Her head was down, body completely limp as she hung, and Summer tried not to stare at the blood oozing from her head.
“Taylor,” she whispered, voice ringing in the dark room.
She couldn’t tell where they were and she couldn’t remember what had happened.
She’d been leaving for the airport. Then that man had come up and… and asked for Taylor’s boyfriend, and then she remembered him saying something really creepy and Taylor had grabbed her arm and they’d started running…
And then she couldn’t remember anything else.
“Taylor,” she whispered again, slightly louder. When the girl didn’t answer, she lifted her leg sideways and prodded at Taylor’s leg with her foot. “C’mon wimp, wake up.”
“Sorry,” a voice said from in front of her and she almost had a heart attack.
It was the creepy guy from the parking lot and how the hell had he snuck up on her?
“I think I may have hit her harder than you,” the guy said, smiling.
“What do you want?” Summer asked, wondering whether her arms would support her if she tried to kick the guy.
“Nothing from you, don’t worry,” he said, with that same smile. “And you’re lucky. You get to live for a while. Well, until Parker shows, of course.”
“Why don’t you just kill us now?” Summer asked before she really thought it through.
What the hell? Why in the world would she say that to some psycho killer? That was like… the most cliché thing possible.
Seth would lecture her for that.
“Because if Parker doesn’t answer my first invitation, I’ll have to send more,” the guy said, waving a camera at her. “And he won’t exactly show if he thinks you’re already dead. Smile,” he said and lifted the camera.
The flash was bright in the dark room and there was a blinding pain in her eyes from it.
She shut her eyes tight as they watered and tried to think of some way to get out of this.
But she couldn’t see and she couldn’t feel her arms and Taylor was still unconscious and this guy was creepy.
“You know,” the guy was saying, like he was just talking about the weather. “I wasn’t expecting Parker to take this long. I mean, the guy’s not the brightest bulb in the box. He’s gotta know it’s a trap, but he’s always had that fun little thing you humans like to call ‘a conscience’. I figured he’d be here by now.”
Summer tried not to react as the thought hit her.
Seth and Ryan.
Parker had gone to get Seth and Ryan.
“He’d better get here soon,” the man said, looking over his shoulder with a huff. When he turned back around, his teeth had changed completely and Summer felt the blood freeze in her veins. “I’m getting hungry.”