SUNNYVALE

(39) FUNERAL AFTER-PARTY AND DRAMATIC COLLAPSING

After Megan's longly-awaited funeral, that was held only days after Lindsey's, Lynn's and AD's (police procedures on corpses being the main argument for the delay of a few weeks) in the Westside, the group of friend went to The Circle in order to drawn their tears in alcohol. There were Tierna, Tobin, Crystal, Kelley, Becky, Christen and Sonnett - so all of the Westside girls that have been knowing each other for a very long time and were bound together once again by the loss of one of their own. 

Christen, who had been discharged from the police station for lack of proofs a few days ago, was shattered by all of this: her grandma dying before her very eyes, and before her some of her very long-time good friends... This was all too much. 

As Kelley, Becky and Sonnett were laughing over memories from their time with Megan - small and joyful anecdotes of their countless parties, funny moments, and so on... - Christen couldn't laugh: she was grieving her friend, and laughing about her wasn't the right way for her - at least it was how she felt. 

Rather than laughing, she joins Crystal who is sitting at the bar, thoughtfully watching her glass of gin.

"So, um..." Christen hesitantly starts, but as soon as Crystal looks up and orders a second drink for her friend, the dark-haired sighs. Of course she could talk with Crystal - she always has - so she asks: "I've been meaning to ask you... did you, uh, experience with your powers? Like, has it happened since with Shelina?"

Crystal shakes her head.

"I'm too scared to just mess people's mind up" the girl honestly responds, shaking her head slowly. 

As the two girls drink their glass bottoms up, Christen continues:

"Yeah I get it but, like, hasn't it happened since?"

"No, I've been wearing gloves and don't touch people's hands anymore - I've seen enough, first with Lynn, then Megan, then Shelina... And I can't stand it."

"How did it feel, when you used your power?" Christen insists, highly curious.

"I don't know, honestly: I've just had huge headaches the hours following"

"Uh, funny" the dark-haired lets out, thoughtful. As Crystal watches her with an angry frown, she is snapped out of her trance and adds: "I mean, not funny funny, but I have the same side effects after using my powers."

Crystal raises her eyebrows.

When she removes her gloves and touches Christen's hand carefully, she did see her friend's deep pain and sense of being lost in space - she also sees every test the dark-haired had been through while under the malicious care of Dr Naeher, as well as her grandmother getting killed by shadows, and so many other things. When she removes her hand from Christen's, Crystal finds herself grasping for air: her power was still there.

The headache starts again, as she nods, thoughtful. 

"Well" Crystal lets out, staring at her glass that had been refilled by the bartender in between, "at least it's still there."

Christen frowns, realising that her powers weren't Crystal's biggest concern - and, somehow, she guessed what was.

"What's up with you and Shelina by the way, uh?" she carefully asks in a soft voice.

Crystal rolls her eyes.

"Considering that I am a girl who saw her darkest moments without her consent that has to fight a hundred-years-old malediction and defat an evil gay witch, nothing is up with Shelina and me" she blurts out, her voice shaking. Although she was trying to hide her pain, Christen saw right through her, especially when her voice breaks when she says: "Whatever I may feel for her, I just can't put her life in danger, 'cause I wouldn't survive losing her."

With that said, she drinks her glass bottoms up again, before walking in the bathroom, probably half-puking and half-crying, joined by Christen after a moment. But the dark-haired doesn't dare talking about the Canadian her friend so visibly is in love with.

Rather, she just holds her with every ounce of friendship she has for her, hoping that it would get easier with time.

*** 

Kristie takes her morning pill when arriving to high school: last night, she probably had ran errands without even being conscious, because she woke up covered in mud and blood again. And, in the morning news, another body, unidentified because their face had been scratched so badly that they had to do fingerprints tests (since there was no blood left in the body to be analysed).

Another news had dropped, also frightening: due to the recent events, the city's mayor had decided to restrain the Eastside's high schoolers to go back to their usual high school, therefore forcing them to stay in Westside High for the remainder of the school year, which is many months away. Instead of letting the youngsters go back to school in their preferred neighbourhood, another project has been developed: a private clinic where only the richest would be provided with care.

Fed up with everything happening around town, and also frightened because she could still feel the stranger's blood on her skin, Kristie pukes in the non-binary toilets, feeling her head spinning: she knows it, the despicable truth that she, inexplicably, is The Bathtub Killer, because every time she woke up with blood on her after a memory-less night, a victim was found the next morning. 

Feeling sick to her stomach and heart, Kristie walks out of the bathroom after taking an extra few pills to calm her anxiety down - which rises again when she bumps into Tobin Heath.

"Watch out you fuck-" the brunette starts, before realising who is standing in front of her - or, as one may say, barely standing. Frowning, Tobin immediately lets out: "Woah, Mewis, you look like you've just seen a ghost. You okay?"

Kristie smirks but doesn't respond at first. 

As a fight between Kelley O'Hara and Mapi Leòn had just broken out in the middle of the corridors, Tobin has the reflex to grab the blonde by the arm and drag her in an empty classroom. 

After a while, Kristie still wasn't talking, so Tobin insists:

"What's wrong, Krisite?"

Everything, the blonde thinks to herself, unable to say it out loud. Instead, she just whispers:

"Nothing, I'm gonna be fine : I just need to be alone."

"Krisite, what-"

"I'm gonna.... go.... home...." 

Right after her last word, as she was opening the classroom door, Krisite collapses in the middle of the school, as she had stopped breathing...