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Post by Arden Patricks on Sept 23, 2007 18:48:10 GMT
I stare into a potions book, not understanding more than a stray word here or there. My whole mind feels jittery, matching the rest of me, like I had too many cups of coffee after extensive blood loss.
Being tortured by an old neighbor could do that to a person, I guess. Not to mention everything else that was going on lately.
I shake my head and try again to focus... then jump two feet when I hear a slight crash, breathing shallowly and clutching the chair behind me.
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Post by Morgan Row on Sept 23, 2007 18:51:56 GMT
"Ooh bollocks..." Row mumbles to herself as she drops the heavy book she was holding and then stumbles over it by accident and into a shelf, knocking a couple of books off from near the top.
She stands still a moment, twisting her mouth into an annoyed grimacing shape, then starts trying to put the books back up on the shelf.
Her hands were shaking again, they had been for a while now and they wouldn't stop.
No matter how many times people told her it'd be okay...it just wasn't.
She tries to jump up and put a book on one of the high shelves but still can't reach, muttering some incoherent profanities to herself, she just stands there, glaring at the shelf as if it were it's fault that she couldn't reach, that she couldn't stop shaking, that everything was wrong.
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Post by Arden Patricks on Sept 23, 2007 18:55:21 GMT
I close my eyes slowly and try to stop shaking, taking deep breaths.
Okay, Arden... calm down now. You're acting like an idiot.
I nod to myself and stare into the book, knowing I can't possibly concentrate now. I'm unwilling to move just yet, however... afraid I'll be unsteady on my feet and crash into a shelf. Now that would calm me down.
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Post by Morgan Row on Sept 23, 2007 19:02:41 GMT
She gives up on glaring at the shelf and just shoves the books haphazardly onto a lower one, before picking up the book she'd been trying to study for transfiguration and half-cradling it to her chest as she made her way to a table, pulling back a chair and dropping the book on the table.
She looked up at the girl opposite her, "Sorry," She says quietly, forcing a weak smile.
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Post by Arden Patricks on Sept 23, 2007 19:04:24 GMT
I jump a little again at the thump of a book on the table I'm sitting at, but look up and smile weakly.
"Were you the one who set off the cannon?" I ask shakily.
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Post by Morgan Row on Sept 23, 2007 19:06:16 GMT
"Cannon...?" She says bemusedly, then realises, "Oh, yeah...I'm too clumsy for my own good," She laughs weakly, "Sorry."
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Post by Arden Patricks on Sept 23, 2007 19:11:22 GMT
"It's okay." I shrug and shake my head. "I'm just a little rattled lately." I pause a minute, smiling, and then remember to introduce myself. "Arden Patricks by the way."
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Post by Morgan Row on Sept 23, 2007 19:13:31 GMT
"I know the feeling," She replies, smiling very weakly now, "Oh, Morgan. It's Row though. I like my surname better."
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Post by Morgan Row on Sept 23, 2007 19:13:51 GMT
"I know the feeling," She replies, smiling very weakly now, "Oh, Morgan. It's Row though. I like my surname better."
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Post by Arden Patricks on Sept 23, 2007 19:16:56 GMT
"Hi," I say, giving a little wave and continuing to smile weakly. Then I sigh. "Is it just me, or is everyone's life getting more and more fucked the last few months?"
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Post by Morgan Row on Sept 23, 2007 19:24:30 GMT
She returns the small wave, then her smile falters but she laughs anyway. Only it was slightly tinted with hysteria.
"No, I don't think that's just you."
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Post by Arden Patricks on Sept 23, 2007 19:28:44 GMT
I wince slightly, sympathetically, knowing that my situation is hardly one of the worst.
"I'm sorry... can I ask what's fucked in your life, or do you want to try and forget about it?"
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Post by Morgan Row on Sept 23, 2007 19:32:12 GMT
She sighs and shrugs slightly, "The same as practically everyone else. I've lost a fair few people, my sister, my-...my boyfriend. And..." She shook her head, not wanting to say it out loud, "It doesn't matter anyway."
"How about you? What's fucked you up?"
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Post by Arden Patricks on Sept 23, 2007 19:37:11 GMT
I shake my head, unable to speak for a moment.
"Nothing that bad," I say quietly. "Just some memory loss... and meeting an old friend who's not quite what I thought he was." I swallow, mouth feeling suddenly dry, and laugh a little before I add, "And getting crucioed by another old friend. It's nothing really. Not compared to some." I smile weakly again, feeling terrible on her behalf.
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Post by Morgan Row on Sept 23, 2007 19:39:40 GMT
She nods slightly.
She wasn't sure what was worse. At least for her, it was over. They were lost, and that was that, now she could move on with her life.
Or not quite. A small voice reminds her at the back of her head.
But being betrayed by an old friend and having to suffer the changing of another...that wasn't over so quick.
"I'm sorry," She says, "I know it doesn't mean much, and it's said far too much nowadays. But I'm sorry about...your friends."
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Post by Arden Patricks on Sept 23, 2007 19:43:33 GMT
I shrug. "No... it's okay, really. The torturing friend was never all that close, and the other.... he isn't as bad as they say. I swear he isn't." I say this last part more to myself than her, then look up and shake my head again, smiling slightly. "It's okay. I'm making more of it than it is. And I'm sorry for... for what's happened to you."
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Post by Morgan Row on Sept 23, 2007 19:46:24 GMT
"Me too. But people die, it's just part of life," She smiles weakly, with a slight shrug.
She stayed silent for a moment, "If it's not terribly nosy of me, can I ask who your friends are?"
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Post by Arden Patricks on Sept 23, 2007 19:52:39 GMT
I shrug a little uncomfortably. "I... well... no it's not that nosy." I pause and swallow. "It's just that everyone I meet and mention my friend's name to... well, they don't seem to like him much... listen to too many rumors. But the other friend..." My voice gets colder and quite bitter. "The one who was really more of a neighbor and... well. His name's Chris Hunt. Bastard." I shake my head.
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Post by Morgan Row on Sept 23, 2007 19:54:21 GMT
She chokes slightly, "Chris Hunt? Like...like the one who goes by Ian Hunt now?"
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Post by Arden Patricks on Sept 23, 2007 19:57:55 GMT
"I..." I pause, frowning. "Um... yeah, maybe... I think I heard something like that, that he changed his name and all. Why?" I ask, curious.
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Post by Morgan Row on Sept 23, 2007 20:02:34 GMT
"He was my sister's boyfriend before she killed herself. He's like my best friend. I-...are you sure-...? He wouldn't-...I mean-...He's-...He's-..." She trails off, He's perfectly capable of anything. He's hardly in possession of a conscience.
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Post by Arden Patricks on Sept 23, 2007 20:07:45 GMT
I wince again, badly. "I... maybe he's not the same person. I never really heard the name Ian... I think. Um... crazy pyro with a wicked temper... brother named Rowan?" I ask cautiously, hoping that we really aren't talking about the same person.
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Post by Morgan Row on Sept 23, 2007 20:10:53 GMT
"Uh-huh," She nods timidly.
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Post by Arden Patricks on Sept 23, 2007 20:18:23 GMT
Oh, damn...
I know perfectly well what it feels like to have others tell you that your best friend is a bastard... and now I've done it to somebody else.
"I... maybe I was mistaken, maybe it wasn't him, or... or he didn't really..."
That was Chris, you moron, and you know it. And he didn't really do anything bad? He tortured you!
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Post by Morgan Row on Sept 23, 2007 20:23:24 GMT
"It's-...It's okay, I know what he's capable of," She smiles shakily.
It's not okay. Now I'm scared of him...more than normal. And I have to live in the same house.
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Post by Arden Patricks on Sept 23, 2007 20:27:19 GMT
I look down at the table, feeling sick and not sure why.
"I... I'm sure he didn't mean it.... He said he didn't mean it. Nothing personal, he said."
'Cause then it's so much better... and why are you defending him? He was in the wrong!
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Post by Morgan Row on Sept 23, 2007 20:30:59 GMT
Her hands started shaking again, so she slid them off the table and clasped them in her lap.
"But he still did it," She points out quietly, "He said he wouldn't...he promised...he said unless it was Logan, he wouldn't hurt anyone else and I-...God, I'm so stupid to believe him all the time."
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Post by Arden Patricks on Sept 23, 2007 20:36:36 GMT
I shake my head and start to reassure her, then freeze when she mentions Logan.
"He... he didn't really hurt me," I say quietly. "And... just out of curiosity... when you mention Logan..." I swallow hard. "You would be okay with it in that case?"
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Post by Morgan Row on Sept 23, 2007 20:38:17 GMT
"Of course!" She says immediately, "Of course I'd be okay with that-...He-...he's a monster. He deserves everything he gets and it's about time someone teaches him a lesson."
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Post by Arden Patricks on Sept 23, 2007 20:44:35 GMT
I flinch visibly, anger flaring up immediately despite my attempts to control it. My mouth works through several potential replies, each nastier than the last... or, polite but very untrue.
"I might say the same about Chris," I finally say coolly. "Especially having experienced his idea of teaching Logan a lesson."
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