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Jessica pushes herself up off the ground slowly. Her head is pounding and the dirt under her fingers is soft. She uses a nearby tree to hoist herself up and presses one hand to the tree while the other rummages through her pocket. Her fingers connect with a small metal flashlight, she pulls it out and flicks it on.
She's in rosswood again, she decides as she sweeps the flashlight across the ground looking for a path. There's one just a few feet up the hill from her. She follows the path and uses her other hand to search the rest of her pockets. She finds nothing else. She’ll have to hike out of the woods and hope her car will be somewhere near here. Without a phone, she can't call Tim to come to pick her up.
Jessica has blackouts like these more often than she likes to admit. She goes to bed safe in her home and wakes up in the middle of rosswood with a blistering headache. The first time was scary but by now it's just another thing on the list of shit she has to deal with. It’s why she goes to bed in her clothes with her phone and a flashlight instead of pajamas like a normal person.
This is her version of losing time, she thinks. She hasn't lost even a day since Tim found her. Instead this happens and frankly, she doesn't know which occurrence she would prefer more.
A few feet ahead of her Jessica sees a flash of blue across the path. Her grip tightens on the flashlight. There's no way that was an animal.
“Whos there?” she calls, trying to put some force behind her voice but it doesn't work very well.
“Don't hurt me!” a woman's voice returns, she sounds about as scared as Jessica felt a moment ago.
“I won't alright, just come out so I can see you,” Jessica says. There's some shuffling and the woman pokes her head around a tree, long dark hair falling around her shoulders. She approaches Jessica slowly and cautiously. Jessica extends a hand towards her, she looks so scared.
“Are you okay?” Jessica questions, taking the woman's hand in hers. There's a hospital bracelet warped around her wrist. SARAH REID SEX: F AGE: 29
“My feet hurt,” she says. Jessica looks down, her feet are bare.
“Sarah, huh?” Jessica questions, the name is familiar but she can't quite place it, “I’m Jessica,” she says.
Sarah nods. Jessica walks in front of her, pulling Sarah along.
“Don't let go of my hand alright? I’ll get us out of here,” Jessica says.
“Okay,” Sarah replies, some level of ease returning to her voice.
After a few minutes of walking Jessica spots the streetlights above the parking lot through the trees. She tugs Sarah along a little harder. They finally reach the end of the trees and Jessica hopes the grass feels better on Sarah’s feet. Jessica's car is parked under one of the streetlings.
“Thank god,” Jessica breathes out. Once they reach the parking lot Jessica lets go of Sarah's hand. Sarah stands right where Jessica left her like she doesn't know what to do.
“Get in on the other side,” Jessica tells her, and she follows along. Jessica scoops her phone off the floorboard and sends a quick text to Tim, ‘rosswood again. im driving home now’, slides into the driver's seat and turns the key, still situated in the ignition. While Jessica backs her way out of the parking spot Sarah fiddles with the radio until it flips onto some random pop station. As Jessica pulls onto the road a wave of tiredness washes over her. All she wants to do is go straight home and sleep. She has work in the morning.
“You can stay at my place, alright?" Jessica says. Sarah just nods. The music is a soothing distraction as they move closer towards Jessica's apartment.
Jessica guides Sarah up the open stairwell to her apartment. Sarah is ostensibly like a lost puppy and follows Jessica like she's a lifeline.
Jessica maneges to get her clean clothes and helps her wash her feet and put bandages on them. Sarah's soles are covered in blisters and smaller cuts. Jessica winces, the vague memory of the second time she was in rosswood resurfacing in her mind. Her feet had ache'd for days and they weren't nearly as bad as Sarah's. How long had Sarah been out there?
"Alright," Jessica says as she presses the last band-aid to Sarah's foot, "I'll get you some blankets. You can sleep on the couch."
Sarah stills for a moment, looking at Jessica with a flash of fear on her face.
"Something wrong?" Jessica questions.
"I don't wanna be alone," Sarah says. Jessica simply does not have the energy to fight her on this, she sighs.
"I guess my bed is big enough for two," she concedes, extending her hand to Sarah yet again. She leads Sarah to her bedroom and lazily pulls over the covers for the both of them. Sarah slides in next to her but keeps some distance between the two. Jessica is thankful.
Tim curls around on himself automatically and instinctively. The world around him is cold and black and it seeps into his bones. He blinks his eyes a few times and the world comes into better light. The room is tiny, a mish-mash of dirty concrete and chipped plaster. there's a figure in front of him, head tilted but otherwise indistinguishable. Tim steps closer, he's so cold. He gets just close enough to see the face swallowed in the shadows. Tim could recognize that long face and those big eyes anywhere.
"Jay?" Tim questions, hand moving towards him.
Jay's head snaps up and his arms move, gripping the bottom of his shirt and pulling it up. Across his left side is a massive gash that weeps blood as soon as Tim's eyes meet it.
The blood trails down Jays leg and onto the floor. A wave of nausea hits Tim, he falls to his knees.
"Jay..?" He questions again, this time weaker, more hoarse than before. The blood pools around Tims knee, soaking into the fabric of his pants. Jay remains stock still.
The blood never stops, it fills the room and curls around Tim's body as it rises. The nausea remains persistent, and pins him to the floor. It lifts him up and he clings to jay. He doesn't want to lose him again.
Tim’s whole body jolts awake. He turns over on his side and curls in on himself. Tim’s phone buzzes on the nightstand. He swats at it but it doesn't buzz again. Tim picks the phone up and looks at the screen.
JESSICA
TWO NEW MESSAGES
He taps the screen, opening his text messages.
2:45 AM
“rosswood again. im driving home now”
6:37 AM
“You don't have work today, right? I need you to come over before I leave for work.”
Tim texts back “I’ll be over in 20.” while pushing himself up and out of bed.
Tim fiddles with his spare key and pushes it into the lock of Jessica's front door. He pushes the door open and inside the first thing he notices is the hot sound of something sizzling against a pan. Tim rounds the corner and inside the kitchenette, Jess is frying eggs in a pan and a woman is standing next to her with her arms lazily hanging off Jessica's elbow. The woman notices Tim almost immediately and flinches away, jerking Jessica away from the stove.
“Hey, it’s just Tim, he’s okay,” Jessica reassures her. Now that he can see her face Tim finds himself confused.
“Sarah?”
“What’s the last thing you remember before Jess found you?”
“I was in a hospital room I think,” Sarah replies, shifting in her seat at the counter. Jessica’s already gone to work so now it’s just Sarah and Tim. Sarah drags a piece of toast through some runaway egg yolk on her plate.
“That explains the armband,” Tim says. “Anything else?”
“A poster?” she says. Tim rolls his eyes.
“But you don't remember me?” Tim asks.
“Am I supposed to?” Sarah questions.
“We worked on a student film together,” Tim explains, “but it’s probably for the best you don't remember it.”
“Did something bad happen?” Sarah asks.
“Yeah, don't worry about it.” Tim replies. Sarah pushes her seat back into the table and puts her plate in the sink. She yawns and stretches her arms out.
“You should go back to sleep, you guys were up late last night,” Tim suggests. Jessica rubs her wrist instinctively.
“Okay,”
Sarah naps for a long while, bundled up in a ball on the couch. Whilst she sleeps Tim tidys Jessica's apartment, although there's not much to do. Jessica doesn't have a lot, neither does Tim. What Jessica does have, however, is a comfy armchair for Tim to plop himself down in. he does just that and scrolls for a bit on his phone. The room is warm though, and before he knows it Tim is fast asleep with his phone resting comfortably on his chest.
Their sleepy stupor doesn't last forever unfortunately, and Tim finds himself being shaken awake.
“Tim. Tim, where is she?” Jessica asks, as he cracks his eyes open. Tim could've sworn it wasn't so bright when he fell asleep.
“What?” he asks, confused.
“Sarah. Where is Sarah?” Jessica reiterates.
“I thought she was-” Tim stops himself, where Sarah had been on the couch is now empty. The blinds, which he’d closed for Sarha, are halfway open, and something seems to be caught in the window.
“She Was on the couch,” he says. Jessica pulls the blinds open and the window up. Caught in the window is an object the both of them had only seen in footage. A plain white doll, with limbs too long to be human. It's unmistakable.
“Shit,” Tim hisses out.