Haunted by the Past (Doc)

[Nerissa Clemming]

Nerissa straightened up and listened intently to Doc. She frowned at this comment that it was just her mind playing tricks on her, but if that turned out to be the case, then she would accept it. This was the whole reason she was there, to find the truth.

"Shortly before this happened I was attacked by some humans. They struck the Quarantine Zone during the day and I had a hard time dealing with them." She didn't like admitting her weakness, but at this point she had gone to far and revealed too much to stop now. "I think it was a few days after that that she started appearing." She folded her arms. "If it is just my subconscious, it could be that I'm becoming more paranoid about getting attacked again." She had become more cautious as she went about town, always making sure she wasn't followed or completely alone. It made sense to her that her paranoia was manifesting itself in this manner, but at the same time she felt conflicted. A part of her wanted Rachel to be real so that she could be with her friend again.

She opened her mouth to say something more, but movement caught her eye. She looked down and saw her shadow quickly grow and surround the chair she was sitting in. Confused she turned around to see what stressed her shadow and froze once she saw a young girl standing in front of the door. The girl had long curly brown hair and was wearing jeans and a white t-shirt with a rainbow flower covering it. The girl looked at Doc intently as though she was judging him and ignored the shadow's reaction to her presence. The air seemed to get colder as the girl continued to stare at Doc as though she was challenging him.

[Doc]

Doc’s attention keyed in on the words, ‘attacked by some humans’. Yes she said she had a hard time dealing with them, but he knew numbers could make a difference. One well trained vampire, could be taken down down if they got trapped and were out numbered. He had seen it happen with Lia. He wasn’t going cast recriminations on the girl. Of all the places that Nerissa should feel a modicum of safety, it would be the Quarantine Zone, and she was still young, her sire was awol. So his first comment, was a side bar comment, he leaned forward, and looked at her sternly, as she seemed distracted.

“Alright, this is what we are going to so.. Nerissa,” He was staring at her, and waited for her turn back toward him before he continued. She was staring toward the door, like she wanted to bolt. His voice firm but determined without being demanding. “We are going to set you up with a training schedule. You need to hone your instincts. Being physically adept and able to fight is one thing, but training your senses to pick up on things that, just aren’t right, as they happen around you.. well that is half the battle. Hearing and smell. Humans stink with smells. Sweat, deodorant, cologne, bad breath, they waft around humans all the time. We,,, you and I, need to start training you. You need to start getting in tune with the smells you ‘used’ to take for granted. If you know they are there lurking, before they see you.. you have the advantage.”

Doc leaned back. “If it is your subconscious, with some training, you will be a ******* bad ***, and they will be paranoid that you are coming to hunt them. If it isn’t your subconscious.. you are doing what she wants you to do. Prepare to fight.”

[Nerissa Clemming]

Nerissa heard Doc trying to talk to her and with great difficulty she turned away from girl standing at the doorway and stared at him, her eyes wide. She could feel the girl's presence behind her, but she tried to ignore it and listen to what Doc told her. The idea of training sounded smart to her and she liked the idea of becoming stronger with her senses. She had learned how to used weapons easily enough, but she was still struggling to adapt to her new senses. Most of the time she tried to ignore them, thinking it would be easier to just stay close to herself for now, but now she had someone who was willing to teach her how to use them properly.

She tried to relax and opened her mouth to say something when her shadow started to slide off of the floor and wrap around Nerissa, blocking out the light and making her seem darker than the rest of the room. "What..?" She looked up and saw the girl stand right next to her, still staring at Doc. "Rachel?" Nerissa asked softly, closely examining the familiar features of her friend's face.

Rachel ignored her, or maybe didn't hear her, as she opened her mouth. The words were very quiet like before, but Nerissa could make out a few words. "What......you do.....hurt....friend?" Rachel then raised her hand and knocked some papers off of the nearby desk. Nerissa glanced at Doc and said "I didn't do that, did I?"

[Doc]

Doc realized he had read Nerissa’s reactions all wrong. She hadn’t been thinking about bolting out of the door, she was looking at something.. someone. He realized this as she called out the name Rachel in a questioning tone. He stiffened, he didn’t see Rachel, but Nerissa was acting very much like someone who was engaged in a conversation with someone else. He was about to ask Nerissa about Rachel when a folder on his desk went flying.

When Nerissa asked whether she did it or not, Doc didn’t know how to answer. He had been watching the area that seemed to have Nerissa’s attention, not his desk. Could Nerissa have done it? Possibly, with slight of hand she could have. The odds were against that. But if Doc told her she hadn’t done it, when she had, he would be feeding into her delusion. Nerissa’s proximity to the file of papers that went flying was too close. He knew that people tended to believe what they ‘wanted’ to believe, not what was the truth. So illusions could make a ‘believer’ believe something false, with the right sort distraction. The distraction in this case, was Nerissa looking toward the door, while the papers on the desk went flying. Was there the opportunity for an illusion? Yes. Was it likely? He didn’t know. He had no proof either for or against it.

“I am not sure, Nerissa. I was not looking that direction.” He did know that it wasn’t a conscious effort to deceive him, if it turned out she did do it. Her voice as she questioned the action herself, told him that. She seemed more determined than ever to get the bottom this, than before. “Is Rachel here?”

[Nerissa Clemming]

"Yeah,"Nerissa said quietly as she continued to stare at Rachel. What was she doing there? Why did she seem so upset? "Rachel, what's wrong?" she asked, but Rachel ignored her as she moved to stand between Doc and Nerissa. Nerissa had never seen her friend with such an angry expression, she always had a large smile and laughter, always looking on the bright side of life, but now she looked like she was out for blood.

Rachel went over to a nearby bookshelf and shoved the books onto the ground. "..... me now?" Nerissa just stared at Rachel in both disbelief and fear. Could this really be her friend? It seemed so unlike her, maybe she really was just a figment of her imagination and somehow she herself was causing things to move. Nerissa wanted to stand up and reach out, but she was glued to the chair, partly from fear and partly from not wanting to leave the comfort of her shadow's protection.

Rachel then picked up one of the books still on the shelf and with a cold expression she threw it at Doc. Nerissa's reaction time was too slow and by the time she registered what was happening it was too late to do anything.

[Doc]

Doc watched Nerissa’s gaze move, as though she were following someone’s movement across the room. However, Doc still did not see Rachel. His gaze was intent as he watched Nerissa and then turned his head to look where she was looking. She was staring at his bookcase. It was across the room from the both. He was about to turn and look back at Nerissa, when several of his books went tumbling to the floor. He went completely still. Short of Nerissa having telekinetic abilities, there was no way she did that. And of all the vampires he knew, none of them has that ability, so he presumed it was a safe bet she didn’t either.

He looked back at Nerissa, “That you did not do.” He went silent as he mulled over this recent turn of events. He ran a hand through his hair; it was an unconscious gesture he did when he was thinking about a puzzle. And this was a puzzle. He had the ability to see wraiths, but he could not see Rachel. Why? What was it about her in particular, that kept him from being able to see her? And where there others like Rachel.. his thoughts were broken, as he caught the look on Nerissa’s face. Maybe it was her eyes going wider, or maybe she tensed, whatever the reaction was, Doc turned to look toward the bookcase, just in time to get hit on the side of his head with a book.

Tensing immediately and getting to his feet so quickly that his chair fell over backwards, he turned to face the bookcase while biting out in an angry voice, “Tell her to ******* stop!”

Or what? What would he do if she didn’t stop? What could he do? He had no idea how he could enforce the demand, he couldn’t even see this entity that obviously did not like him. It wasn’t the being disliked that bothered him, it was the lack of being able to retaliate that frustrated him.

[Nerissa Clemming]

Nerissa jumped when Doc yelled out, which seemed to bring her back to her senses. She stood up, forcing her shadow to shrink back onto the floor where it belonged, and glared at Rachel who was getting ready to throw another book. "Rachel, stop! What is wrong with you?" Nerissa scolded, sounding a bit like a mother scolding her child. From all that had transpired that evening everything pointed to Rachel being real and not her subconscious, so she felt responsible for her actions. "Rachel, you're acting like a child! You would never hurt an innocent person, so why are you doing so now?"

Rachel held the book in her hand, poised to throw it, when she finally looked at Nerissa. She frowned and tried to throw the book, but dropped it instead in frustration. Nerissa relaxed inwardly now that her friend was no longer armed, but she still kept up her stern air. Rachel opened her mouth and tried to speak slowly, hoping Nerissa could understand what she wanted to say. "But he hurt you." Nerissa watched and listened to her friend carefully. "He hurt me? Is that what you said?" She asked confused. Rachel nodded excitedly, which made Nerissa even more confused. Obviously 'he' was Doc, but she shouldn't think of anything he did to hurt her. "Rachel, he didn't do anything to hurt me. I'm just fine."

Rachel shook her head and said something while sliding her finger down her face from her eye. Nerissa cocked her head slightly, "Tears?" then it dawned on her, "Oh, Rachel, I wasn't crying because of him. He's trying to help me." Rachel turn to look at Doc, said something too quiet for Nerissa to hear, then sat down on the floor next to the fallen books. Nerissa looked at Doc and said "I think she's done now."

[Doc]

In agitated frustration, more borne of the fact he wanted to retaliate than anything else, Doc growled low in this throat and bent to collect his book off the floor. He read the title, it said, "Sherlock Holmes and the Bloody Prints?" Well **** me. He started to count, he slid a calculated look at Nerissa. He watched her as she spoke to the ‘apparition’. Apparently, Rachel knew more than Nerissa let on, but the irony of the situation was completely lost on Nerissa. That told him, Nerissa was clueless, but the apparition was not. That solidified it in his mind, the apparition was real.

Listening to what Nerissa said, he gleaned the basic details. Rachel thought he meant Nerissa harm. He turned toward the bookcase and sighed. His face wore an exasperated look. What the actual ****? Could Apparitions not hear? Or could they not see what was happening in front of their *******...aura? Nerissa came to him… he didn’t drag her in here. He wanted to grab Rachel by the throat and squeeze, but she was already dead. The little ***** would more than likely just laugh at him, making him all the more frustrated.

“Thank you Nerissa,” Doc turned back and gave Nerissa a genuine look of gratitude. “Apparently some people.. “ he paused and looked at the bookcase, “and by..” another pause for emphasis, “‘some people’ I mean .. ******* dead apparitions that can't make themselves coherent...or understood” He counted to five, “can’t see what is happening .. in front of their ******* view!”

Yes. Doc was irked. He had just been hit in the head by a book, flung by something he could not retaliate against, because it.. ‘misunderstood’ things. The universe ******* hated him.

[Nerissa Clemming]

Nerissa nodded to Doc in response to his thanks, then Rachel scowled at Doc's angry outbursts and stuck out her tongue at him, folding her arms. Nerissa chuckled softly and sat down on the floor facing Rachel, feeling both confused and curious at the same time. Now that the drama had passed, she could finally process what had happened and what all of this meant. Her childhood friend was sitting in front of her, still dressed in the same clothes she died in, but without the blood or holes. She almost looked alive until on further inspection the bookcase could be seen through her. But still something in the back of her mind prevented her from accepting this fully and a part of her wondered if she would wake up soon and find out it was all a dream. "Rachel," Nerissa asked softly, "Why can't I hear you?"

Rachel frowned and shrugged. She then appeared to be thinking about it, then pointed to her head and opened one of the books. Nerissa looked confused, then turned to Doc and said in a soft tone "She pointed to her head and then opened a book. What do you think that means?" She hoped that Doc would be able to calm down enough and help her figure out the answer.

[Doc]

Even though he couldn’t see Rachel, he could see the book being opened. He didn’t know about the part where Rachel pointed to her head. He doubted that the book that was opened was specific. It was most likely just a prop. An open book, which was slang for having things out in the open. But that was not Nerissa. Nerissa was quiet, a loner type. Maybe Rachel was referring to the fact that Nerissa was not an open book? Not open to suggestion? Not open to things she could not prove that were real?

As Doc puzzled over what Rachel meant, he rubbed his chin before finally asking, “Are you a big reader?” He wondered if she had a favorite book that maybe Rachel was referring to, because, his original thought didn’t ring true to him. Because wouldn’t Rachel have made the ‘not’ sign somewhere? He would have. But then again, maybe she did and Nerissa missed it. ******* female apparitions. “Or .. did you have a favorite book? Because .. right now.. I am picturing .. head-book.. or facebook. And I am pretty ******* sure, she doesn’t communicate through facebook…”