SHE SCREAMS, AND HER VOICE IS STRAINING !

[* LEAH MAY PARKER.]

SLEEP-WALKING. actually, it was more like sleep-running, but either way it was a habit of leah's. usually it was just sleep-talking, which got her old roommate very aggrivated. she talked in her sleep far too many times for her own good, and it was quite the relief when her roommate switched dorms. that meant that there was less of leah being tormented in her sleep. her old roommate, you see, would talk to her in her sleep, which was never never really good. talking to sleep-talkers messed with their head, and it caused lots of problems for leah and her dreams. she would get more than her usual amount of nightmares. the only good thing about her roommate was that when she slept walk, she would get right up and do the proper thing - follow her and attempt to guide her back to bed. waking up a sleep-walker could prove to be quite the mistake. however, it was also quite the mistake to leave a sleep-walker in her own room without someone able to hunt her down.

LOCKS. the nurses and administrators thought that it would be best if they put locks on the door. however, locks weren't quite meant to be on level two doors. so, they couldn't place locks on her door - especially if she got a roommate. without locks she could easily break out whether she was wide awake, or sound asleep. this was the sound asleep part. she stood up, her bright blue eyes distant. her long blonde hair was done in two, tight french braids. her side bangs let loose. she was wearing red plaid pajama shorts, a white camisole, and a black, too-big, zip-up sweatshirt. although she was wearing white socks, they were thin and exposed her ankles to the somewhat chilly air. she didn't feel it. somehow she found her way to the door in a silent hurry.

SPRINT. that was what she was telling herself. he wasn't far behind her. that thing that haunted her dreams, followed her on occasion throughout the day, and constantly sent chills down her spine with that cold laugh of his. what was he? a figment of her imagination? then why was he so clear? nobody ever seemed to have the answers for her, at least not the ones she wanted to hear. and he was telling her things she didn't want to hear while she was telling herself to run, to get away from him. it worked for a little while. through some hallways, down some stairs. it didn't take her long to get to the furnace room. one would find it pretty amazing that she could practically run down the stairs while asleep. then she fell.

COLD. the floor was cold. concrete wasn't the most comfortable thing to land on, it did turn the lights off though, only for a few moments. then it snapped her awake; she bolted upright and she screamed. hell, she screamed like she was being murdered or something because right there infront of her face was him. quickly she covered her mouth with her hand, keeping herself balanced with the other. she was too scared to worry about the throbbing in her head, or the small cut she recieved from the cement floor. she was confused. so confused and so scared. he always did this. he showed up and talked to her. he told her horrible things, showed her ways he tormented people and how he would do the same to her one day. he would dissapear and whisper things into her ear. that's how he got his kicks and that's how he got her to pull her knees to her chest and rock back and forth like a three year old. he would stop talking to her, and she would calm herself for a moment; then he would continue again, and she would close her eyes as tight as she possibly could and jam her fingers in her ear to make him stop, but he wouldn't go away.

TEARS. leah hated them. crying made her feel helpless and weak. they were too warm; warmth was comforting, except for in the form of salty tears. that's why she wasn't quite comforted. looking at her, she must've been a riot. a grown girl, ripe age of sixteen, at the bottom of a set of stairs crying like a baby, unaware of her surroundings. no wonder she was sent to an insane asylum.

status: complete.
tags: jayden.
notes: poor leah. yay thread.

[/size][/blockquote][/justify]

[zee]

fly back, my hands are dry .,
notes: sorry this took so long :O words: eight thirty seven. tagged: open.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Somehow, walking around the asylum at night offered JJ a sort of sweet retaliation against the other inmates, it sent shivers of pleasure up his spine and cleared his mind. No destination was ever really present, but he didn’t seem to mind, his lean, lithe figure moving easily in the shadows as he made his way around the grounds. It wasn’t prohibited, or at least, anyone who noticed him moving quite so absently didn’t seem to make word of it to any of his controllers; they hardly had it within themselves to care what he did and he wasn’t going to protest to those thoughts. The only thing was how much he wanted to remember, and it seemed moving around helped him to do so. It was with this in mind that his lithe figure found it’s way into some shorts, careful not to disturb the sleeping female in the bed next to his. How they managed to allow inmates to have co-op dorms amazed him, when he could remember to think about it. What if one of them got raped? It seemed like it would make better sense to separate them, but then it wasn’t like they didn’t somehow get together anyway. He couldn’t lie to himself about having snuck into other people’s dorms at night.. Or at least, his scars couldn’t lie to himself.

Because JJ was a peculiar boy. His wrists, arms, all the way up to his shoulder blades were covered in dates, usually scrawled permanently in a manic hand as he found himself desperate to remember. At his wrist, the birthday of his first school crush. That was at twelve. He’d worn long sleeves for a month. At his elbow, the day he’d gotten a hundred on his math final. It was progressive, considering he’d always had trouble on tests, given his memory. But he managed to pull through and it’d done him some justice in sending him at least to a facility that didn’t completely suck. Not bothering with a shirt, JJ brushed his thick brown hair away from his features and ran a hand absently over the contours of his stomach, pressing a kiss to the lips on the mirror that his female roommate had stuck there just because he couldn’t remember what they tasted like, and gently eased his way into the darkened corridor.

At night, all the nurses had gone home and only two orderlies or so watched over the entire wing. Well, his wing anyway. Level ones had it pretty easy and he couldn’t help but notice how they got the first floor, the one with the best view and most amenities. He wondered if he’d requested it, or if he’d ever been on another level of the building before. Maybe even the hierarchy. Slightly frustrated by his lack of recollection, JJ sighed heavily and turned a corner. Down another long hallway he went, his transition smooth and passive, his mind on other things in the future, particularly because the past was such a damn blur. Why couldn’t he remember? Why couldn’t they just let him out because he was totally sane. He wasn’t crazy in the least for wanting to remember things. For wanting to be normal in his thoughts, but instead all he was given was a horrendous thought process and human validity had gone out the window with it. Because memories were things you needed and he just didn’t have them anymore.

It was around this time that he paused in front of a heavy metal door. JJ, surprisingly, knew where it led. Somehow he’d managed to push it to the back of his mind with a little effort. The furnace room. He wasn’t really pleased with fires in general, although some were all right, but normally he ignored the need to light something and went instead with a microwave. Good stuff, those microwaves were. So he avoided the fiery pits of the building and their dark, shadowy corners. It left a lot of people paranoid, and usually it was locked… but the door was pushed slightly ajar now, and it was clear someone had been here not moments before, because he could smell them. It was a female, he noted. JJ’s sense of smell had always been overly keen, and he knew this was slightly problematic in social settings, but until that actually effected him he felt he’d let it go. Yes, a female.. And then the scream echoed, and the loud sobs. He jumped, he wouldn’t be afraid to admit it, but it wasn’t much of a choice for him by way of reaction.

JJ was down the stairs in record time, his thin lips pursed in concentration as he merely made it to the bottom and perched on the lowest step. “Hello, dear. I don’t believe we’ve met.” it may have seemed frightening, but for god’s sakes they were in an asylum and he couldn’t be bothered to make niceties when it was so much fun to fuck with people.

[* LEAH MAY PARKER.]

REAL. the voice was real this time, all too real actually. it was less cruel - didn't sound like it was ready to slowly tear her limb from limb. and that wasn't how he spoke. he normally spoke harshly, and would never pull the 'have we met' card unless he really wanted to freak her out. this time it didn't freak her out though because it didn't sound like him, at least not as much. nope. since she was blocking her ears, she could barely hear this new voice. his voice she could always hear. if someone were to chop her ears off she would still hear him. sure, that was proof enough that he was only a thought, a terrible creation of her mind, but he was just all too real to forget. this though, this new voice, was far more real and more distant. she slowly unplugged her ears just to catch the last bit of his words. it was different, so different, and that made her glad.

LAST. she willed it to last. it didn't last. the sense of slight security she got from knowing it was a different voice just left her when she slowly looked up. there was a boy there. around her age, probably a year or two older than her, but a boy nevertheless. he was so calm. how the hell could he be calm? what was calming about knowing that there was someone out to get her? what was calming about that? nothing. nothing was ever really calming here. sure, leah got by. she had a few friends in the asylum. got along great with the people willing to get along back. except for one person. him. it all came back to him. there were some times when he would dissapear and leave. maybe he'd be replaced by a sweet child, wanting to play, or maybe she'd just see a light rainstorm. rain calmed her. where was the rain when she needed it?

HUMAN. here was a human when she needed one - something she knew was real, and hopefully wasn't going to torment her in cruel ways. however, she couldn't trust that. leah wasn't a paranoid child. she was a sweetheart, patient and pretty outgoing when she wanted to be. she loved photography, music, dance (she was an irish step dancer). she loved the simple things in life, so why was she put there? because of him. it all led back to him. he made her paranoid on occasion. more like... just really jumpy at night and when he decided to pop up. so she was nice, and she was jumpy, and scared, and here was someone she couldn't quite recognize in the dark. his own shadow covered her face, while the light from the door shined on her. her bright blue eyes seemed somewhat distant. she was thinking really, whether or not she was still hallucinating. the dim light from the hall was real though. it was a strange adjustment from dark to light. she couldn't decide whether or not to be happy at the sight, or still afraid. it was foolish, wasn't it? to be afraid? she was in an asylum though, so it wasn't that foolish.

SPEAK. she had to say something. she didn't know if she'd met this person. her memory was fairly good, but she couldn't really see the person, and the voice didn't sound all too familiar to her. she willed herself to say something, answer back, but her mouth just kind of opened without thought. quickly realizing how she must've looked, she wiped her eyes with her sleeve, and responded, "i'm leah." and that was all she was going to say. she wasn't going to say anything else until she figured things out and calmed herself down. it was proving to be difficult though. too much had happened in the last thirty seconds; the fall, him, his words, and now something real. it was too much. her head hurt.

tags: jj.
notes: no worries, no worries. i forget if we said whether or not they already knew eachother...

[/size][/blockquote][/justify]

[zee]

fly back, my hands are dry .,
notes: C: words: six seventy two. tagged: open.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As if he weren’t sitting in a furnace room, completely surrounded by darkness and being chased by the sound of mice claws against the dirt floor, JJ reclined in his position, spine tilted against the stairs and his head leaning slightly back, rejoicing in the loud pop that his ankle seemed to give off as he stretched it further, letting all hints and reminders of pain flow out of him. “And I’m JJ,” he introduced himself blankly, wondering perhaps if they’d met before but siding against himself on that particular argument. It didn’t seem plausible that he could find himself in the company of such an adorable little figure and still manage to forget about it. He would have carved her in, somewhere, and as his bare chest could attest, she wasn’t on there anywhere. Then, it’d been a while since his last slice and dice session, the thought of which brought a slightly amused smile to his lips. “lovely to meet you under such typical circumstances,” he quipped, his voice low and baritone against the reverberating walls. Half of him began to wonder if someone would descend and find them there, in the middle of perfectly good conversation. Pushing himself up on his elbows, JJ frowned lightly as he glanced at her and noticed the sort of tears trailing down her cheeks, her angelic features marred by obvious signs of pain, be it mental or physical. Glancing at her for a moment, he moved down another step and curled his knees to his chest, long digits running unceremoniously through his hair as his toes curled against the chilly cement.

“If you don’t mind my asking, what exactly is it you’re doing down here?” because the furnace wasn’t exactly a place he’d opt to go to if a scream didn’t entice him in further, and force him to sit down on the bottom step, have a lovely conversation with a lovely girl. Especially at night and with no apparent reason. A sigh might have emanated from him in a past life, but as of now he was far too controlled to give in to such weaknesses and thus found himself content with merely a slight shift of position; he leaned forward. ‘And crying, no less. It doesn’t seem like somewhere I’d really want to go to pour my heart out.” he might have sounded cold, but JJ was really honestly intrigued by her, and her small, fragile body. Her seemingly confused state and deer-in-the-headlights overall judgment. Her voice was nice enough, her behavior responsive… she might have been crazy but she wasn’t really showing it right now.

He himself was merely covered in a variance of depth, from birthdays to deaths to everything in between, from head to toe. Had he been wise, he might have purchased a journal to keep his thoughts in, but as his therapist kept trying to drill into his brain, he was crazy. crazy people did crazy things and he was, no matter how exceptional in other areas, not any different from the other people he seemed to be surrounded by. Like the other day in therapy, as he’d banged his head against the glass door in a sort of careful contemplations of his surroundings; and as an effort to tune out the droning, ridiculously unpleasant sound of his therapist’s voice. Could she be any more monotonous? And so as if to punctuate this, he scratched his cheek absently and wrinkled his nose. Attesting, if you would. “Although I wouldn’t advice a therapist either. They seem to be more focused on the end result then on getting you better, yes? Paychecks do come last, you know.” he shrugged, nose still wrinkled until she felt it necessary to show some sign of caring about what he was saying. Even with her head buried, she wasn’t about to escape him.. She wasn’t going to run away from humanity because that wasn’t good enough for JJ. He wanted an explanation, and he wanted one now.
.

[* LEAH MAY PARKER.]

CHILDISH. she must've looked so... childish. at least the boy wasn't showing too much pleasure in the scenario. he wasn't laughing at her which was a good thing. it was nice not to be laughed at. she wouldn't find amusement in a situation like this if their roles were switched because she understood. she understood that some things were out of peoples control, that everyone was different, had feelings, the whole what is taught in kindergarten sha-bang. the problem with leah though, was that her schizophrenia caused her to laugh at innappropriate times. she went to a funeral once and had to be removed because she started laughing. she laughed hysterically at a funeral. somebody was being placed in the ground because their life had ended, and leah was collapsed on the ground, tears streaming down her face because she was laughing so hard. she didn't find it humerous at the time. not at all. leah just couldn't handle herself. she hasn't been to another funeral or serious event since.

TYPICAL. sure, this was a very typical circumstance in which to meet a new person. jj was his name, and actually, it was kind of typical for leah. in her nightmares. she never actually thought that she'd get herself into a situation like this where she's stuck looking like the girl dumb enough to fall down stairs after sleep-running and then proceeding to believe that to some extent it was typical. it had just been a long while since leah had done such a thing. they were in an insane asylum as well, so it kind of made up for the obscurity of the situation and could be classified as "typical". at least the comment made her crack half of a smile. so jj clearly wasn't him, who so constantly chose to follow her. he wouldn't make comments like jj had. he wouldn't lighten the mood even a little bit, but jj had and for that leah was thankful.

AWKWARD. the classic teenager stuck as a third wheel on a date came to mind while she was searching for the words to answer him. it was always the teenager that would randomly say, 'awkward,' to 'lighten the mood', which really just made it a whole lot more awkward. more so than it had to be. however, this wasn't really awkward. it was more like... she was half coming off as mute, even though she had already introduced herself. still, she couldn't find the words, so for a while, she just listened to him, trying to piece things together so they'd sound less crazy. he didn't seem the type that would take much pleasure in her momentary silence for much longer. so she decided she'd speak up, or at least try to collect herself. his place to pouring his heart out and therapist comments made her small smile a little bigger too, which helped her calm slightly. at least she wasn't crying anymore.

STORIES. stories took time to tell, and this was quite the story. kind of. how was she supposed to explain it? it was actually pretty simple if she let it be. "well," she started calmly after taking a breath. "so," she didn't know how to say it without coming out and saying it. whatever, she would have to do it anyway. it was late, maybe he'd forget by the next day? "i'm schizophrenic." that was a lovely conversation starter. "and so i was having a nightmare and... i sometimes sleepwalk... i kind of fell down the stairs and then i woke up and..." this was the part she didn't know how to word. "and i thought i saw something so i screamed and." she stopped there. it sounded so lame. "it's stupid." but it wasn't stupid. not to her. to her it was a good reason to cry and be afraid, and scream. "sorry if i woke you up." she doubted if anyone could hear her from the basement anyway, but maybe if they were really light sleepers? she kind of wanted to fall back asleep, but she knew she wouldn't be able to. her head was still throbbing (which was getting very annoying), and now that she was scared silly she was going to stay awake.

tags: jj.
notes: i'm pretty sure i got wayyy too distracted typing this. haha.

[/size][/blockquote][/justify]

[zee]

fly back, my hands are dry .,
notes: C: words: six thirty one. tagged: open.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

JJ found himself enticed by her seemingly innocent aura, and undeniably adorable expression on her features. Like a puppy dog. Or maybe her face was just arranged that way, he mused, his lips pushed together in something of an admirable smirk as he looked at her, watched her listen to his own voice, echoing around them. A furnace room. It really was the perfect setting for a lot of things, this included.. conversation was so much easier when nothing was noticeable from the light surrounding you. But then, he mused, something must have been obvious about his scars. Of course, only the outlines of the ones on his shoulders would be visible in the backlit atmosphere but that really wasn't saying much. He paused in his contemplation just briefly as she seemed to struggle with verbiage, and then resumed his thoughts as silence fell yet again. Observing her reaction to his joke, he also offered a smile and a delicate sort of curve of the lips seemed to overtake his face. JJ had a nice smile, but he often couldn't be bothered, unless it was that annoyingly pretentious smirk that seemed to capitalize his expression nearly twenty four-seven. He wasn't that nice of a guy underneath it all, but the mask on his lips said otherwise and that was ultimate proof he was a boy, wasn't it? Play nice, but you don't actually have to act how you play. Rules to live by. Brushing his hand through his hair, he waited for her to begin the explanation, semi-patiently. JJ was never fully patient, and although he was quiet, the majority of his actions proved the fact further.

Her voice, when not choked with tears, was quite adorable, really, and he found himself letting a grin slide over his features as she hesitated. It was rude, but he was amused with it to the point of smiling.. a real smile. Which was infrequent for the boy. His memory really didn't permit him to laugh about things that had happened in the past, and the things that were happening now really weren't that funny. “No, you didn't wake me,” he murmured, fascinated by her easy description of the affliction from which she suffered. “I couldn't sleep.” he admitted, the dark circles under his eyes suddenly seeming to acquire some sort of weight. No, he wasn't ill, not really. Didn't suffer from anything like schizophrenia and he didn't seem to develop any of those symptoms the further he went into the asylum. He was just as normal as could be, with a small carving problem and a bit of a taste for pain, because pain stood out in his mind when nothing else did. Everything else was pretty blank and then all of a sudden, whala, he had pain to keep him in tune to what was going on, and honestly he didn't find himself at al ashamed about it. Not even in the slightest. But it did scare some people and he had the tendency to try and avoid that, so he kept the scars from his markings under cover for most of the night. “Well, Leah,” he stated, enjoying the roll of her name off of his tongue. “It's good you didn't hurt yourself tumbling. Do you remember your dream?”

Such a truly exquisite creature, and he found himself enchanted by the majority of her movements. Something about broken people really truly intrigued him, and he didn't know what it was about them. For someone who spent the majority of his life defining people and places, that was a horrible thing and frankly, he was quite annoyed with himself. “Something that must have led to the furnace room.. how unique.”

[* LEAH MAY PARKER.]

ATTRACTIVE. this boy before her, jj, was a very attractive man. very attractive. he had a strong jaw line and his eyes were intriguing. something about his eyes was enough to make leah squirm - which she refrained from. she was still very shaken and had no time to gaze deep into his eyes like someone from a poetic love story would. this was because, first off, they were not in some poetic love story; they were in an insane asylum. the two were very different. a correctional facility and a poetic story within those walls was very difficult to come by and leah expected to find that sort of romance once she got out of this place. second off, as to why she wouldn't gaze deep into his eyes, was because they just met and that would be very strange. back to the whole teenager saying 'awkward' in that scenario. it'd just be strange, very odd indeed. she would probably get a little nervous if he gazed deep into her blue eyes. unless they were in a poetic love story (which, remind you, they were not). she kind of wished she was. perhaps not with him, because she didn't quite know him - she only knew his good looks - but she wanted to find that romeo and juliet kind of romance... minus the whole death incident.

GLOW. the glow from the dim hall light made him look kind of angellic, just to add to his strikingly handsome appearance - not that she could really see much. his shadow fell across his face, though her eyes had adjusted enough to see most of him. she just hadn't looked that far into him to notice what the glow was illuminating. along his shoulders she noticed marks on his body that looked different from... well, different from the dark form of his body that she could see. they were scars. she couldn't quite see what they were of, but they seemed to have been done intentionally, in a way that could potentially be seen as an art form. leah didn't see it as an art form though because she didn't understand. it wasn't her place to ask, not yet anyway. she was open about her problem, and now she potentially saw his. he carved himself up for one reason or another. maybe he'd elaborate on it later. maybe he wouldn't. leah wasn't about to pry, especially since she was asked a question before.

REMEMBER. did leah remember? why, that was a wonderful and easy question. she remembered the big things, but nothing that would help her really answer the question. what she remembered could be considered an answer. kind of. how was she supposed to explain that though when she couldn't remember the details? well, she did remember some things in bits and pieces. it would be difficult to explain without filling in the blanks which would go back from quite some time ago. it would be a very long story to tell. he didn't seem to mind though, after all, it was a question that could be expected to have quite the answer. at least she was given time to think of a way to put her dream together - or what she knew.

UNIQUE. he assumed that showing up in the furnace room was unique. it was more like random. though, she was a pyromaniac so it kind of made sense that she'd run to the furnace room. perhaps in her dream she was aware of the fact that the boilers might be on, or maybe something told her to go there where there was potentially a fire going which gave her comfort. still, that wasn't answering his question. so now her dream was unique because it brought her to the furnace room. wait until jj got the whole story.

UNSURE. leah was unsure how to word her dream. to hide the lack of confidence with what she remembered about the dream that was shown through her bright blue eyes, she tilted her head into his shadow which she hoped made a difference. "my head hurts," she admitted, "i don't really remember much." she didn't want to worry him however. leah wasn't even sure if he'd get worried. she fell down the stairs after a nightmare, sure her head would hurt. her hair fell infront of one of her eyes, and also covered the little cut. she didn't make a move to tuck it behind her ear. it hid half of emotions that were all too apparent in her eyes. she forced herself to remember and stop worrying about leaking secrets through her eyes. that was a ridiculous thing to worry about. so to save herself from her silly worries, she began what she could remember.

"UM." that was how she started a lot of things, "i was being chased by a guy. he's kind of been..." she didn't know how to word it. not haunting, because he wasn't dead, but he was telling her an aweful lot of ways she was going to die. "popping up everywhere scaring me, and he was in my dream. i thought he was trying to kill me so i ran. i don't really know what happened beyond the general chase sequeance. even once i woke up i knew he wasn't real, but still." she probably sounded like a total girl, which was to be accepted considering she was in fact, a girl. leah looked to the ground, waiting for his reaction.

tags: jj.
notes: none.

[/size][/justify]