Split

Reunited

It was strange having the run of the place unsupervised once the girls were taken care of-someone had returned and gotten rid of the bodies by the time I'd woken the next morning but I didn't ask who or what they'd done with them.
Barry had been clearing up around the building while I followed him, pestering him about seeing Dennis again.
He was growing increasingly irritated and I could tell he was trying not to snap, "look, maybe when all this has quietened down, maybe, you can see him."

"That's not good enough!" I argued, "he has a right to be out here as much as you do!"

"He would if he hadn't just murdered seven girls, Casey."

"He didn't kill them, and he tried to stop it from happening, please, you don't know the full story-"

"And you know what? I don't wanna know! I don't want to hear what's happened-"

"Then you won't understand anything from another angle, will you?"

"I don't have time for this, I have work in two hours and this place needs to be clean."

"Why?"

"This place has been ruined by the Horde... do you know that this was my little hide away? This is where I spent most of my time before they took over? Then they threw together a new room and screwed bolts on the doors... it feels wrong in here now. I need to get it all back to the way it was."

"Can't I just see him for half an hour? That's all I'm asking, he saved me and I never got to thank him properly..."

"I don't want to think about you 'thanking him properly'," he scoffed, "I just need to get on. Go and watch TV or something."

"I want to see Dennis," I huffed, standing my ground.

"If I say that you can see him tomorrow, will you leave me alone?"
I nodded and he sighed in frustration, "Whatever, see him tomorrow, just let me get this stuff sorted out."

I planned to pass the time until the next day by watching television and reading as the time seemed to go by painfully slowly.
I heard Barry leave for work and wandered to the kitchen to get a drink. I found some fruit in the fridge so took that back to my room, along with a coffee that I'd made.
I sat down on the sofa and wrapped the blanket around me, sipping the hot drink that I hadn't had in weeks. I tried not to think of the time while I waited for Barry.

When he returned I was straight to him and he let out an exaggerated sigh, "my God, girl, you're relentless..."

"I just want half an hour, just to see me him for a while," I said quickly, not giving him a chance to argue.

"Jeez, fine, I'll let you see him if it gets you off my back..."

"Thank you," I hid a smile, glad that I'd won and that I got to see Dennis sooner than he'd promised.

"Remember, if anything goes wrong then tell him to get me. I've come to an understanding with Hedwig and we both control who gets the light now."

"Okay," I said, wanting to hurry him along.

Barry looked pretty annoyed with me by the time he left, and usually I wouldn't want to be the cause of that, but it was hard to care when all I could think about was Dennis. I could hardly contain myself when he stepped back through the door and I saw the familiar glasses and dark clothes. I couldn't help smile as we both stood staring at each other. It was like neither of us could quite believe that this had all happened. I didn't for a second think that anything would work out okay, but it seemed like maybe there was a chance that we could make this work. He stepped forward, taking his hands out of his pockets and holding his arms out for me, and I ran into them, "I'm so glad to see you," he mumbled into my hair and I hugged him tighter.