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The federal agent, Cooper, seemed to be walking very stiffly as he made his way to the car. Carrie followed slowly, still feeling without direction. She did not know what they were doing here, she was not Laura Palmer, had never been and no woman named Sarah Palmer had ever lived here. She had no one in her life, no one bug herself. Cooper stepped out into the street. He then stopped and turned.
"What year is this?"
Carrie just stood there. It seemed like a strange question, but then she thought, what year was it? The answer would not come to her.
And then, as though the very question had pierced her mind, it all came to her.
"Laura" a disembodied voice called out. "Laura"!
She screamed, horror filling her. She screamed as loud as she could. And then...
"Laura", Sarah Palmer's voice called into her room. "Wake up now or you'll be late."
Laura opened her eyes. She felt like she had been sleeping for a long time. Her eyes felt full of sleep. "What year is this?" still echoed in her head, the question from the guy in the dream. It's 2014, she thought. What had she been dreaming about again. A bunch of vaguely remembered images from the last night flashed through her head, a room with red curtains and black and white tiles, a dancing little man, an extremely tall and thin man with a chiseled face, a girl swallowing a bug, then she was recalled to the waking world by her mother's voice. "Coming!", she yelled and rose from her bed. She seemed to have fallen asleep earlier than expected as she was still in her clothes from yesterday. She changed and brushed her hair. When she descended the staircase to join her mother for breakfast, she found her mother smoking a cigarette as usual. Laura hated them but her mother didn't seem to be able to quit. Combined with everything she was drinking, she did not seem like she was going to live the longest. So she did her best to make her displeasure with her mother known and kept glaring at her while she ate. Sarah didn't seem to notice. She asked Laura what she was planning on doing over the weekend. Laura replied, "I think we are planning on having another slumber party. At the Hayward sisters' house of course. Their family would be OK with only two more people in the house. "Great, you'll be back in the morning, right?"
"Yes". Laura knew her mother would be glad to have her out of the house. She left for school and was halfway there when she met her close friend Ronette Pulaski. "Just one more day to go", she said to Laura when she saw her. "Then we can finally party all night."
"Yeah, this should be nice", replied Laura. Their junior year of high school was drawing to a close and she couldn't wait to get it over with. After this, it should be smooth sailing until she graduated. Then she could leave Twin Peaks behind. It was her hometown and she liked it for what it was, but it carried a lot of dark memories for her and there was only so much excitement to have in a town as small as this. She still wasn't completely sure what her plan after graduating was. College was the default choice for high school graduates. But she wasn't sure what she would study. Occultism?
"There you guys are!" a familiar voice called out. It was Laura and Ronette's only other three friends, the Hayward sisters. Donna, Harriet and Gersten. The voice had been Gersten's, the youngest and most outgoing sister. Laura liked her a lo0t, but Donna was her oldest friend and had been the only one for a long time. But as they approached. But as they approached the trio, Laura's eyes drew toward the middle one, Harriet. Their eyes met and Harriet smiled shyly. Ever since their relationship upgrade a few months ago, she had been the bright star in Laura's life. She was looking so good now, with her hair down and in one of her black outfits. She used to have this weird fuzzy hairdo, but she must have eventually decided she looked better without it and Laura agreed. Laura stepped forward and they leaned in for a kiss. It was just a quick peck for a greeting, but it felt good.
"You guys sure you want to do this out in the open?" asked Ronette. "Just relax", said Laura. Twin Peaks was more progressive then one would expect for a small town in inland Washington and hardly anyone in school seemed to be fazed by their relationship. The only thing they were worried about was their parents knowing as they could very well put a stop to the time they spent together.
After the horrific experiences of her childhood, Laura had not known if she could ever fall in love. But as she had entered adolescence, she began to realize she loved Donna. When she had talked to Laura about some loser guy at their school, she had felt angry about it. At first she had thought it was just her anxiety about her and Donna growing up, but she later realized that she was jealous. How could Donna value any guy over her? The answer was, of course, their incompatible orientation. Donna was, by her own confirmation, completely heterosexual. Laura was bisexual, attracted to both guys and girls. She had known this for years, but had not had the nerve to confess her crush to Donna until last year. However, Donna did not react harshly, though she was a bit surprised. Laura has long accepted she was out of reach and had pretty much given up on her reciprocating. But then she began ton notice her sister more. Laura had been close to Donna's sisters since childhood, but it was only recently that Harriet had begun to stand out to her. She was intelligent and studious like Donna, but always seemed more in touch with her artistic side. While Donna tried to be normal, Harriet was never afraid to stand out. Her and Gersten sometimes came to school with weird clothes or hairstyles. But it wasn't until she entered high school that her looks started blossoming. Once, while hanging out at their house last year, Laura had complimented how pretty she was becoming and Harriet had blushed in response. She didn't even make eye contact with her for the rest of the evening. That got Laura curious. Could Harriet be attracted to her? She had never shown any interest in guys as far as Laura knew. She was still a freshman at the time so it was not like she had much history to base her guess off of.
So as time went by, Laura began liking the idea of dating Harriet more and more. Aside from looks, she had a snarky and rebellious personality Laura had always liked, even when they were children. And while her body was not especially developed yet, Laura supposed she could wait. It wasn't until; a few months ago that she had gotten the nerve to successfully make a move on her. She had told Donna of her designs on her younger sister and Donna was neither surprised nor angry. She had simply resolved to find a way to get her alone together. So while their parents were away, she had convinced Gersten to go hang out at the malt shop. She agreed, probably expecting something to be up, leaving Laura and Harriet alone. For a while, they had just sat there in her room , giving each other furtive glances. Eventually, Harriet seemed to gather up the confidence to hit on her, as she posed the question "Any particular reason you are hanging out in my room here?", while giving Laura a sly smile to indicate the question was not asked out of annoyance, but suggestion. "I just wanted to see if you needed any help with your poetry". She was trying to sound witty and flirtatious, but she didn't think she could manage it. But Harriet seemed to catch on and asked her "Is there any other subject you would like to teach me about?"
Laura blushed. "Well", she stammered, "I am not really an expert on this subject either." "We all have to start somewhere."
She then leaned in and Laura did the same. They kissed for the first time in either's life. They broke apart, looked into each other's eyes, then kissed again and began passionately making out. They were still at it by the time Donna and Gersten returned.
They had been an official couple since then and though they made no secret of it at school, where no one really cared, they had never told their parents. Not out of fear of a homophobic reaction, but it would likely mean no more sleepovers.
When classes started, Laura found herself daydreaming, mostly about Harriet and the upcoming night. But there were also other things, such as the strange visions from her dream. When she told Gersten about it in an art class they took together, she told her it sounded like she had been reading too much about occultism.
"Yeah, I think it is working its way into my dreams. All this stuff by Dion Fortune about black and white lodges and I think that guy from it was named DB Cooper or something like that." Though he is more of a figure from the realm of unsolved mysteries rather than occultism. Gersten replied, "But let's forget about last night and think about tonight. It's gonna be a night we'll never forget."
After school, Laura went to the Hayward house. It was a while before Ronette would get there, but she didn't like being at home with her mother. Donna and Gersten were hanging out by the lake so her and Harriet had the house to themsleves, which was great for making out uninterrupted. When Ronette, Donna and Gersten finally got there, they sat in the living room watching Netflix and drinking soda. They got pizza for dinner, ate more junk food and made fun of classmates' social media profiles. As it got late into the night, Harriet and Laura found themselves snuggled in the corner of the room away from their friends/sisters, who were now mostly glued to their phones. They began kissing again and Laura began to feel increasingly bold and excited. She moved her hands from around Harriet's neck where they were usually positioned to her chest. Her breasts were not especially developed compared to Laura's, as Harriet was a scrawny sophomore, but they were something and Harriet began to breathe more heavily. Harriet slipped her hands down Laura as well. Laura didn't think she could ever have felt it, but she was beginning to get a tingly feeling.
She looked into Harriet's eyes and she read the lust in them. She didn't know if her childhood trauma had somehow stampered her sexual instincts or just delayed them until later than usual. She had never felt as horny as she did now, but she had begun to feel interested in sex. She often fantasized about seducing older men or women, as a way of moving from the victim she had been in childhood to becoming powerful in her sexuality. But she thought it would be nicer to start with someone closer to her age.
Harriet whispered in her ear. "Do you want me, Laura?" She said it teasingly. "Do you want to fuck?"
"Not right here and now, babe." "Yeah, not while my siblings can watch us. I meant at some point." She made some suggestive motions with her fingers, scissoring her index and middle fingers together. "I know I want it" Laura whispered back. "But I don't know if I, like, feel ready yet. I have technically had sex before, just not the good kind." Harriet's beautiful eyes darkened. "It was your father, wasn't it?" "Yes. And it didn't stop until he blew his own brains out by the waterfall." Her so-called father, who had never done anything less than pure evil to her. Laura thought she might someday legally change her name to Laura Novack. "Laura, honey, that doesn't matter. You're not defiled. When we do it, I'll be the one who takes your virginity. Just as much as you will take mine." She gave her a deep kiss. Laura returned the kiss. She had lived with the feeling of being dirty and defiled since childhood, but now she was starting to feel like Harriet would be able to make her as pure as ever again. The couple continued kissing and cuddling, even going so far as stripping down to their underwear, before drifting off. It was now very late and Laura did not expect them to rise until the afternoon tomorrow. "I feel like I'm going to dream tonight" she whispered in her girlfriend's ear.