Vivamus, Moriendum est (Rorschach x oc)

31. Mary, are you okay?

Mary's P.O.V.

Something was striking the roof. Rain, maybe? It had become loud, and I attributed that to being what had woken me up.

The room was dark and as I my eyes adjusted; I could make out only fuzzy outlines of furniture. And I had become keenly aware of my need for the washroom.

Shakily I hauled myself out of bed. Finding my footing had been an endeavor but I managed. I managed reaching the door as well, though I knocked into every bit of furniture on the way. As I stepped into a darkened hallway it occurred to me that I had no idea just where the washroom might be. During the day this wouldn't be much of a problem. The ranch house didn't seem that large itself. But now it was dark, and I apparently was very disoriented.

Resolving that I'd find the washroom eventually, I fumbled along the hallway clinging close to the wall. 

"Ah! Oh, my word!" Came a shrill hiss. 

Somewhere on the other side of the hall I could make out bright red hair.

"Ugh, it's you." The figure sighed.

"You're alive after all. If those jerks picked a dead girl over me-" She scoffed.

"What are you doing anyway? Out here crawling around in the dark?" She demanded.

"Washroom?" I croaked hopefully.

"Oh, down the hall."

I nodded my thanks, which was probably useless in the dark and began carefully making my way down the hall.

"Other way." The girl said.

I paused and directed my stumbling in the other direction. I heard no more from her, so I assumed she had gone off to wherever she had been headed.

An indent appeared in the wall. Excited I ran my hand over the assumed door looking for a knob. It had become apparent that I found it when suddenly the knob twisted, and the door opened quickly. Having been leaning on it and not even knowing I fell forward into whatever room that lay before me.

"Ugh! I said down the hall! All the way down the hall! At the end!" Came the same voice as before.

I hoped I managed an apology before quickly closing the door and walked off. I decided not to lean on the walls this time. A faint light emitted from farther along. I decided to follow that. 

Walking further and further. End of the hallway and... ooh. There came a drop in the floor. A railing being available to grip beside me I clutched that and just managed to stop myself from tumbling down a staircase.

"A rich girl!" A voice called angrily from below.

"I didn't know at the time! She looked like she was from the streets!" That one sounded familiar. English. Roger?

"Did you just ignore all the missing posters? Is that it?" This voice sounded like the smooth deep one from the man on the porch. What was his name? Roger had said it. Falla? Talc? Trevor?

"It was possible she wasn't the girl from the posters!"

"Oh really! Not like her face and name matched the posters plastered all over the damn city!"

"I'd only seen her face the first night we met and mind you I was bloody wasted! And do you know how many Mary's there are? It's like the most popular name on the whole damned earth!"

"Her last name for Christ's sake!"

"She told me it was O'Hannigan!"

"She obviously lied!"

"Why would it occur to me that she lied? Why would she lie? And need I remind you again I was wankered!"

"Of course, you were! When are you not boy? You're just like your damned father."

"I'm nothing like him." Roger's voice had taken a sharp edge to it.

"Well, you've sure got a lot of growing up to do if you want to prove that now, don't you?"

"You should not have just taken this girl along with you."

"She wanted to come-"

"Open your eyes, Roger! You took advantage of her."

"I wouldn't do that. I never-it's Ollie."

"You can't just go and blame everything on James. Maybe you could a while ago but that don' work no more now does it? You have to start taking accountability. You have your own brain now use it damn it! This girl is far from home now and away from her family. You don't know that she wanted to leave New York. She's been missing for close to a year and instead of asking her anything and maybe trying to help her you let James Oliver take advantage and just went along with it. And lucky you she could be that Maddox girl which means she's from a high position and people are looking for her. Roger, listen to me boy you have the chance to do the right thing here for once in your life. Stop letting that creep make all your decisions. If you don't cut him out I will, and I'll remove you with him."

There wasn't much more after that. But footsteps started coming in my direction. Toward the bottom of the staircase. I leapt up, a little too fast and fell down the first few steps. I caught myself on the railing, freezing to see if anyone had heard.

Sure enough, I heard a concerned 'what was that?' emitted. Immediately, I jumped up and scampered back down the hallway rushing back to my room. Leaping onto my bed I shut my eyes tightly and tried to even my breathing. 

The door to the room opened a minute later.

"Mary?" Someone hissed in the darkness.

I closed my eyes tighter and clutched the sheets.

"Huh." The door closed softly again shutting me in. It'd be a few minutes before I could try to find the washroom again, I concluded.