Steps

Step 18: Sunlight in the East

Leah was tired. Dried tears caked the edges of her eyes and her nose was still partly clogged with the kind of snot that only really came out in force during ugly cries. And oh, had it been an ugly cry. Her body still tremored every couple of minutes as another wave of mixed-up emotions washed over her. The pain was intense, but finally, she was cried out.

The horrific visions dancing in front of her eyes though, those hadn't seemed to have worked their way out of her system yet. It was a never-ending loop: Jae Yone lifeless in her arms, the nip of the cold at her skin, the endlessly dark sky, Cisco taking Jae Yone's place, pale and lifeless, and the shrill screams she fought to bite back every time they rose to fill her throat. What a nightmare. She'd dragged herself to the couch after Cisco had stormed out, desperate for some sort of escape from the encroaching walls. It had helped clear her mind a little, but not nearly enough. Leah just wanted it all to stop.

The sun cast a radiant orange glow through her window as it rose over Granite Peak, the curtains diffusing the light further to warm the room with the soft light of morning. Morning. It was morning. A weight eased down the length of Leah's body. She hadn't slept. Cisco had left and the hallucinations never stopped and she hadn't slept and now it was morning. Hallucinations... Leah could have slapped herself. The pills.

The doctor had taken off her cast with little to no issue but had warned there might be some pain. So, he'd sent her off with pills and Leah had stupidly taken them without looking at what they were. She felt her jaw clench as she pushed off the couch and slowly hobbled into the kitchen. The small amber bottle sat on the counter innocently. Picking it up, Leah scanned over it, face wrinkling up as she read the offending words. "May cause hallucinations." She set the bottle aside to throw away later.

The rest of the morning passed uneventfully, most of it spent in the silence of the still apartment. Every once in a while something would flicker in the corner of her eye, but Leah easily shook it off. Nothing nearly as menacing as the visions from last night. She was safe, she repeated like a mantra, she was safe.

But the thought of Cisco never really left her mind completely. Shit. She'd really blown it this time. But how had he known about Jae Yone? There was no way he could have known unless he'd looked up parts of her past. And that was just plain creepy. Leah squeezed her eyes shut as a wave of pain slammed against her head. Too much thinking. Too much everything. She really needed sleep.

Pushing herself up off the couch again, she headed to the kitchen to get a glass of water before going to finally lie down in the artificial darkness of her bedroom. A wisp of green floated in the corner of her eye as she stuck a glass under the sink tap. It was nothing, she repeated to herself. Just a hallucination.

As she turned off the water, there was a low rumble that passed under her feet. Just a hallucination she muttered to herself. But the rumble grew steady and stronger - just...a hallucination- until the whole apartment began to sway and tremble. Leah fell to the floor and threw her arms protectively above her head, squeezing her eyes shut. This was most certainly not a hallucination. This was real. An earthquake.

Glass shattered around her and Leah yelped. This was not good. Not good at all. She was thinking of anywhere she could go hide when the ground ceased shaking everything around her stilled. Before she could even open her eyes her arm was snatched up in a rough grip. There was a man in an orange and green suit standing over her. His lopsided grin chilled her to her core.

"Arpa," he snarled in her ear, "you're mine."