Nightmares [OPEN]

[kennedyk]

 She hasn't been seen in three days. Wait, four? No, it's been five days. The last person to see Kennedy was Iris during their girls' night in Kennedy's apartment. Her shop has been closed ever since, and she hasn't been seen outside of her apartment. 

It happened the day after Iris left. She thinks? Her vision blurred, heart racing as she felt the overwhelming drowning sensation of a premonition. A storm, vague like trying to remember a distant dream days after it happens. She tried to paint the scene, but couldn't remember details for the life of her and trying to produce what played in her mind onto a canvas frustrated Kennedy to a point where she tossed her brush and paints onto the floor. Even more frustrating than trying to paint the vision was cleaning her own damn mess. She cursed herself for losing her temper so easily and before she could completely wipe up the vibrant red from the wood floors, paint seeping between the cracks, her mind was attacked by an onslaught of visions.

Storms, murder, death, police, water, love, loss, the sounds of a life torn apart.

This continues for days.

It's confusing. Overwhelming. Locations range from seaside to plains to snow covered cities. Every time a vision fades, Kennedy is left weak, but driven to paint. It's a compulsion she can't break away from. She scratches messages and crumbling buildings into a notebook. Her walls are now covered in canvases--some streaks of violent colours everywhere, others with full scenes, dark and haunting. The visions repeat in a cycle and she can't sleep. She's long lost track of time, barely eating and sleeping. When she does sleep, the visions become worse, playing into her imagination and morph into truly horrifying nightmares that wake her up screaming and shivering. They've infected her mind. 

She finally passes out from hunger and sleep deprivation at 3pm Saturday afternoon and wakes up at seven Sunday morning. Perched gingerly at the edge of her bed like she's afraid to move or she'll shatter like glass, Kennedy takes several deep calming breaths and waits for the next wave of visions to strike. After thirty minutes of freedom, she ventures to get out of bed. This leads to washing her face, changing clothes, brushing her hair, and stepping out of her apartment--all movements that are automatic, her body taking control to care for itself while Kennedy's mind runs a-mile-a-minute, paranoid and anxious.

Next thing she knows, she's in front of Quill. There's a coffee in her hands, though she doesn't remember ordering it. She wipes her cheek and she's surprised to feel tears. When did she start crying? And before she can put the breaks on her emotions, she's sobbing on the sidewalk. A girl sobbing uncontrollably on a sidewalk with her coffee. 

Comments

[neriumoleander]

Nerium has a good sense of what's going on in Siren Cove and its inhabitants at any given time. Its knowledge, information to be filed away to remembered, or occasionally to unfold like a very personal soap opera. But Kennedy is different. Nerium has kept close watch over her comings and goings and the darkness that's swirled around her these past few days.

So when Kennedy breaks herself out, takes to the town, Nerium is out the door almost simultaneously. Even if it means venturing out during hours outside her comfort. She ties a black scarf around her neck, dark sunglasses, and makes her way to the Quill.

She stands in front of the girl, hand with handkerchief extended towards the sidewalk. "Kennedy, come along. This is no place for this."

[kennedyk]

Her eyes go wide when she sees dark glasses and a scarf, but there's no mistaking her cousin. It's a good feeling when she recognizes Nerium because she wants this to stop. She wipes her face, nodding. "I know. I don't do public displays of breakdowns, I don't know what's wrong with me.

It won't stop, Nerium." She says it quietly, desperately.

[neriumoleander]

"Not until you learn how to control it." She beckons Kennedy to take her hand. "I can help. But you can not wear weakness like this."

"Wipe your eyes, clean yourself up, and come with me."

[kennedyk]

"I want to learn to control it." She wipes her face, already feeling a headache coming on before taking Nerium's hand. "It's never been this bad before."

[neriumoleander]

Nerium helps the girls up, and with her other hand puts three fingers against Kennedy's forehead, whispering a few words. "That should ease the pain for now."

She leads the girl away from the center of town, moving towards the woods. "Your power is growing. You're a Grimhilde, our potential is unmatched. But it will consume you if you do not know how to handle it."

She smiles, somewhere between delight and calculation. "Fortunately, you came to the right town."

[isaiahward]

There's a girl standing on the sidewalk in front of him, coffee in hand and tears streaming down her cheeks. He had felt her devastation before he'd turned the corner, and he's wondering now why he kept on walking in her direction when he knew what would be waiting for him. One the one hand he feels like he should turn away and pretend like he didn't see anything, but on the other, she looks like she's in distress, and who would he be to keep walking without even checking if she's okay?

Quietly, he approaches and ducks his head down to peer at her.

"Hi, are you okay?"

[kennedyk]

Great, just great. She hates crying in front of anyone, especially complete strangers. So she nods her head, but that nod quickly becomes a shake and she suppresses another sob. She's not okay and she can't even fucking lie about that fact.

"I'm very, very tired," she explains with an attempt at a smile. "I'm being silly, stupid and silly."

[isaiahward]

"Crying isn't always silly," he says, and concentrates on projecting calm and it'll be okay. It's probably crossing a boundary, doing it without asking, but she looks like she needs it and he doesn't really feel like spreading around what he can do anyway.

"Anything I can do?" He asks instead, all the while careful to keep relaying a subtle wave of gentle projection.

[kennedyk]

She feels a weird sensation of relaxation and her sobbing stops. Kennedy eyes the man a bit because weird.

"Mind knocking me out for a few days? That'd be A+ of you." Uninterrupted sleep would be heaven right now and she looks at him like "No, really, knock me out, please."

[callmeemily]

She's actually got a mission. She's got soup for Spencer, soup for Joel, a box of cookies to drop off at the fire station (that one's actually for work) - it she had more to carry, she'd be at the point that she'd need a little cart or something stupid to help her. But she shoved it all into a giant bag, and she's off to be the food-deliverer when she just-

There's a girl who's crying, and she can't not. She can't not go over to her, her voice low. "Hey- Hey, are you okay? Do you need help?" Her head tips to the side as she tries to catch the girl's eye, and she's trying to dig into her bag for napkins - sure, they're not tissues, but they're something.

[kennedyk]

She's in the middle of telling herself to suck it up, buttercup when she hears a voice and glances over to see a girl digging in her purse. "I'm fine, really," she reassures the girl and then she looks at herself and smiles through the sobbing. "God I look ridiculous right now, don't I?"

[callmeemily]

"You look like something sucks, which isn't really ridiculous." She holds out the napkins, and she obviously doesn't believe that she's fine, really, but she'll let her say whatever she wants. In general, Raleigh's not about the pushing.

"Here, I've got some water, too?" She digs in her bag for her bottle of water, and holds it out - it's one thing to dry your tears, but then you end up with sticky-face forever.

[kennedyk]

"My brain sucks. A lot." Kennedy takes the napkins and wipes her face. She manages to turn the waterworks off now that someone's existence has her distracted and she takes the water bottle, splashing a bit on her hands to quickly wash her face. The cold water feels good on her hot cheeks and she thanks the girl.

"I hate crying. Stupid emotions make you puffy and red and leave you with a God-awful headache."

[owenphillips]

He’d bought groceries – after all there were only so many takeaway places in Siren Cove. And his physiotherapist had explained that if he wanted to get back into the shape he was in before, he needed to start eating better. Which was true, there was only so many times he could eat pizza and Chinese and all the other junk currently filling his bin. So he’d been heading home, groceries tucked in a little case on the back of his chair when he’d seen Kennedy stood outside the Quill. He’d called out a small hello and got no response.

“Kennedy?” He’d called out, noting that she looked upset, but she was still not reacting to him. After a second of nothing, he grabs his stick, forcing himself up to his feet and taking a slow and calculated step in front of her. “Kennedy, can you hear me?” He asked softly, lifting his free hand to gently shake her shoulder. Owen didn’t however as she suddenly began crying.

[kennedyk]

His voice snaps something in her brain and Kennedy actually sees the world in front of her, sees Owen's face looking concerned and it's a gut reaction to reach and grab onto his arm that rests on her shoulder, like she's been drowning and needs a breath of air. She finally nods, breathing slowly to try to calm herself down. "Hi Owen, why am I looking up at you?" she asks, reaching for the most off-topic question that's running through her head right now.

[owenphillips]

It’s weird how much Owen can relate to this exact situation. To the point where he hopes whatever has upset Kennedy doesn’t leave the empty ache he feels in his chest most of the time. And even then there are people going through worse pain that he’ll ever have to face. The corner of his lip quirks up at the question, it is strange really. He is after all relatively tall and Kennedy is quite petite. “Oh, I am quite literally stretching my legs.” He replied, hooking his cane over his wrist and pulling a clean tissue out of his pocket. Folding the corner over, he gently wiped at the damp patches under her eyes as though it was nothing, adding, “And I’ve been wondering for ages if I could use you as a chin rest when I’m back to walking again.”

[kennedyk]

His height has properly distracted her and she laughs. "For a hot minute, I thought I'd missed a miracle." She lifts her chin a bit to allow him to dab under her eyes, her mind still filled with a million thoughts and she's trying to remember if any of the visions over the past several days had anything to do with Owen. "Think it'll work? You may be too freakishly tall."

[tarnishedbadge]

There were some things that Levi was absolutely not equipped to deal with and crying women were one of them. First of all, their thoughts tended to be a mess and for an unwilling telepath it usually just meant a headache. Still, he would have to be a completely uncaring asshole to just pass her by without asking if she was alright.

"Is it the coffee?" Levi asked as he took a seat next to her on the sidewalk. "Because I just got a cup of it myself and if the coffee is that bad I'd rather know about it now."

[kennedyk]

She's replaying the nightmares and the visions in her head, trying to make sense of the chaos but failing miserably when she feels a presence next to her. Kennedy would normally jump, maybe smack the person for sneaking up on her, but she's too tired and her reactions are way off their game. She glances at the man and shrugs.

"I think you're good as long as you keep it from my hot mess of a self."

[tarnishedbadge]

"That bad, huh?" Levi asked, taking a sip of his coffee as he tried to get a read on the girl. He wanted to make sure that she was unhurt and safe, if nothing else. Once that was established he could see about prying a bit more.

"Because I can switch hands to hold it further away from you but I was thinking you could keep it warm, too, being a hot mess and all that."

[kennedyk]

She frowns at her coffee. "Salty coffee or cold coffee, which is the lesser of two evils?" Kennedy's never been the best at hiding how she feels or when something bothers her. She doesn't like to cry in front of others though. She wipes her cheeks on her sleeves and huffs at herself.

[littleredsiren]

Iris is just delivering another plate of food to Kennedy's room when she notices the ones she'd brought the last few days have been knocked to the side, clearly by the door opening. Pressing her ear to the door, she can no longer hear her friend frantically scratching away at canvas and moving her supplies around.

She drops the plate onto the pile as she realizes that Kennedy has clearly left her room finally and she has no idea where she's gone. Cutting herself off before she works herself in a tizzy, she sprints down the stairs and out into the streets, scouring the town for her friend.

Iris finally finds her having a meltdown in front of the Quill and scoops her into a hug. "There you are! And you're out of your room! What's the matter?" she coos, brushing damp hair away from her cheeks. "I was so worried!"

[kennedyk]

Kennedy falls into the hug with a hiccup. She feels dumb, but she's glad Iris has found her. "I can't stop seeing bad things," she manages between sobs. She knew Iris would be worried and feels guilty for it. "I'm sorry, I didn't know how long I was in there."

[littleredsiren]

"A couple days... You were having visions that whole time?" she asks, very concerned now. "Come. We'll get some food into you and we can talk about it, if you'd like."

[kennedyk]

Kennedy nods. "Over and over. Food sounds amazing," and as she says it, her stomach rumbles and Kennedy looks at Iris pathetically.