CONTROL ➳ D. HALE [2]

23 ; shaken

23 ➳ SHAKEN

February 15, 1993

Perry tried to do something nice for Valentine's day. He set up this beautiful picnic on one of the hills near the Kidwell's estate. I tried to enjoy it, but I just couldn't stop thinking about it.
It's always there. Just out of earshot. Just far enough away that when I do spot it, its gone in an instant, hidden in the shadows.
But I know its there.

It always is.

➳

Hot, searing pain rippled through his shoulder. The air left his lungs as his back slammed into the ground. The dim light filtering through the window from the recent sunset illuminated the room around him just enough to make out the figures surrounding him, blocking out the familiar walls of his old home.

Elise's face peered down at him, shock and something else washed over her features. Fear? No, not Elise. Concern? Maybe, but not for him. No, it had to be for the one he could've never imagined her caring about, but when they were together, it looked so natural.

"Dad?"

The voice had changed so much, but somehow, it was just how he'd pictured it sounding after all these years.

The pain in his shoulder deepened as the blackness ebbed deeper into his vision.

Elise jumped awake, the warm glow of the setting sun shining into her eyes as they shot open. She gasped for air, looking around in the panic. When had she fallen asleep? She glanced down at the bed next to her, finding the rough cover of Everett's journal peering back at her. She must've drifted off while reading. Her hand flew to her shoulder, expecting to find her shirt soaked with her own blood. Instead, she found no wounds. That's because it wasn't me. She ran a hand through her hair and tried to tame her racing heart.

"Elise?" Derek called from deeper within the loft.

"I'm alright," she responded, her voice hoarse as she moved to get up from the bed. Once she was standing, Elise recognized that the darkening sky cast shadows throughout the loft. Her heart seized in her chest. Whatever was going to happen, it would happen soon- maybe even in mere moments. She briskly grabbed her jacket from the foot of the bed and made her way toward the door. "We need to go," she notified Derek as she moved past him, drawing his attention away from the papers on his desk.

"What? Where?" he asked.

At that, Elise froze. Where was she going? She dug into the farthest corners of her mind, finding that the vision was already beginning to fade. She remembered the familiarity of the place, but the estrangement from the person she was witnessing. "My house," she concluded, moving to the door with Derek hot on her heels. "Someone's going to be hurt."

➳

By the time Elise and Derek had arrived at the McCall home, it seemed that whatever was going to happen was only moments away. Elise leaped from Derek's car, and before her feet hit the ground, a terrified scream reached her ears. She and Derek shared a worried look before racing toward the entrance to her home and throwing the door open. Elise sprinted into her home just in time to see her father fall bleeding to the floor, one of the attackers from the previous night standing behind him with a bloodied blade.

The air grew solid in Elise's lungs as her mother dropped to her knees next to Rafael, pressing her hands against his bleeding wound. The shadowy figures shifted their attention to Kira and Scott, prompting the latter of the two to move protectively in front of his friend. Her brother's movement snapped Elise back to attention, and before she could even register what had happened in its entirety, she found words leaving her lips.

"Mom, the ash!" Elise shouted as more figures appeared from within the shadows. Melissa flashed a hesitant look toward Elise's barely conscious father, prompting her daughter to speak again, more forcefully this time. "Go! I'll get him!"

Melissa nodded, jumping to her feet and rushing to a nearby cabinet to find the vial that would trigger the mountain ash that Deaton had helped the McCalls build into their home. The sibling's mother was the only one that could trigger the ash, seeing as no one else present could even touch it. Elise's father's eyes were lidded as blood seeped steadily from his shoulder. She pressed her hands over his wound, earning a pained hiss from the man, but it proved to do little to help his condition.

A flash of movement caught Elise's attention, and she glanced up just as the window above her shattered, sending a storm of glass down upon her and Rafael. The brunette leaned forward as the shattered window rained down, doing her best to shield her already injured father from the shards. She heard two sets of feet land heavily on the hardwood floor next to her, and she looked up to find Ethan and Aiden jumping to Kira's defense.

Together, they grappled the shadow figure, forcing it out of the window frame they'd entered through. Out of the corner of her eye, Elise saw Scott throw the figure he'd been battling out of the window. Derek did the same, forcing one of the figures out of the back door where he and Elise had entered.

Without missing a beat, Melissa McCall jumped forward, smashing the vial of ash against the doorway. Elise felt the air around her shift as the ash sent a protective barrier through the house walls.

Elise's attention shifted back to her father as he muttered something incomprehensible. A wave of concern washed over the brunette. His skin was a sickly shade of white and a sheen of sweat had broken out across his brow.

"Dad?" Elise asked, her voice soft ad she leaned closer to him, though she couldn't discern what he was saying. "Mom, I need you over here!" Elise called. Almost immediately, a commotion of footsteps erupted as the other McCall's made their way toward Elise and Rafael. Melissa knelt down next to her daughter, Scott hovering behind them. "How bad is it?"

Melissa McCall tugged her bottom lip between her teeth as she surveyed the situation. "Based on the way his arm is rotated, the blade could've torn a tendon. If it did..."

"What?" Elise asked, nerve prickling at the back of her voice. "What'll happen?"

"Then his lung will collapse."

Elise sucked in a breath, casting her eyes back to her father. His eyes were nearly closed, and there was no sign that he'd heard them, but she knew that he had.

"Mom, those things won't leave until the sun rises," Scott whispered.

"That isn't for another twelve hours," Elise frowned. "What do we do?"

On cue, Scott's phone rung, and he lifted it to his ear. "It's Allison," he whispered to Melissa and Elise before he slipped out of the door, not wanting his father to overhear the conversation.

"Here," Melissa whispered, moving her hands over her daughter's and gently nudging the young woman aside. "I'll take him from here, honey. Go clean yourself up."

Elise cast a hesitant glance toward her father before nodding. She slowly pulled her hands away from his shoulder and Melissa replaced them with her own, pressing a cotton rag against the wound. The younger brunette slowly got to her feet and left the room, wandering toward the kitchen. She turned on the sink, submerging her bloodied hands into the hot water.

Only then did she realize that she was shaking.

➳

It's really hard to write Elise's visions because I don't know if I should write them from Elise's perspective or from the perspective of the person she's watching?? Her visions are basically her witnessing a scene through someone else's eyes, so I feel like I should use her perspective but it's not her that's experiencing it?? I think from now on I'll do them through whoever's perspective she's seeing it through. Also, I'm at that point in the story where I'm so excited for the next part of the series (season 4) that I want this part to be over so I can start writing the next season, which means I never take time to write this season. Oops.
Also this chapter was really short and kinda crappy so I apologize but as I've said, my writer's block had been crazy lately and I'm just trying to push through it.
Words: 1429

Feedback is most appreciated <3