AFTERMATH [until dawn]

Chapter Fourteen

JESSICA

"Jessica." The low, gravelly voice again.

"Oh, fuck, not again..." Jessica groaned as she found herself, once again, in the chair opposite of the one and only Dr. Hill.

"Now, Jessica" the old man clicked his tongue and leaned back in his chair, scrutinizing her the way he always did. "Is that the way you address your psychiatrist?" he leaned forwards and sighed. "The man who is trying his best and doing all he can to help—you?"

Jessica simply huffed, annoyed, and eyed the old man suspiciously.

"You? Trying to help me?" She gestured at herself. "And what, do you think you're actually doing anything? Making me better? Because—" Jessica spread her arms. "I feel like I'm only spiraling down the dark hole of loneliness and insanity; you're not doing anything."

Dr. Hill was unfazed by her comment and crossed his fingers on the table.

"I understand that you feel stressed and pressured, Jessica. I know you may have a lot of doubt and insecurities in your heart, and that you—"

"Stop." Jessica was tired of the doctor's nonsense. "Just spit it out. What do you want to say? What's your point? Or do you even have one?"

The man across her sighed and rubbed his nose. He looked at her with a desperate expression, hoping to get his point across.

"Jessica, I'm here to help." Dr. Hill said slowly, emphasizing every word. "You have changed, and not in a good way." Jessica started to protest, but Dr. Hill held up one hand to stop her. "See? You were never this rude or impatient. You would have never snapped at another person the way you just did to me." He smiled when he saw Jessica seriously considering his words. "You know I'm right. You know you've changed a lot."

"It's not my fault," Jessica whispered in a low voice. "I can't help it. It's—It's already happened."

"I am not blaming you, Jessica." Dr. Hill said gently. "I know how chaotic the last 24 hours have been. The reunion was difficult enough—and your fears were basically confirmed when Michael told you about your friends being attacked... And then, Mike almost attacking you? That was the final straw."

"They're so stupid," Jessica moaned. "They should have known better than to come here. They put themselves in danger just to come here and see me..." She wiped at some tears in her eyes before continuing. "Mike, too, he really scared me, I don't understand what happened with him..."

"I don't know about Mike, but... I do know about your friends. They care for you, Jessica." Dr. Hill said gently. Jessica was surprised at how warm his tone was. "Don't push them away. Understand that your friends are here for you and let them help you. If you isolate yourself—you will suffer." He paused, seemingly lost in a memory. "Trust me, I know."

"So what do you want?" Jessica responded after a period of awkward silence. "What are you going to do? To "save" me, or whatever?"

"I want to understand the root of your anxiety," the old man replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I want to find the source of your problems and help you remove that."

"Pschh," Jessica scoffed. "I don't buy that psychiatric shit. You know my problems, we've talked about it enough." She mimicked Dr. Hill's snarly voice. "'It's your guilt, Jessica. You blame yourself for the tragedy that befell the Washingtons. You must stop thinking that way, or you will keep sinking into a deep hole of negativity and sadness,' and all that." Jessica sucked in her teeth. "You know everything—and yet you aren't doing to help. What are you doing here, old man?"

For once, Dr. Hill had nothing to say. He studied Jessica for a short moment, as if he didn't know what to say. Then, he smiled at her creepily.

"Ah, Jessica Riley," Dr. Hill said, amused. "Everyone seems to underestimate your intelligence. You really are more observant and analytical than I thought." He stood up and move towards his window, the way he always did. "This is... Very interesting."

Jessica opened her mouth to respond but found that she couldn't. She felt it again—the strange feeling of reality tugging at her, of floating, of being unsure of where she was—

Jessica opened her eyes and found herself in her bed, all alone.

Oh, god, she thought. I just wanted a nap, not another therapy session in my head...

Jessica stood up slowly and stretched, before reaching for a jacket by her bed. That man, Dr. Hill... He was acting so strange. She put her coat on, accidently knocking over a pill bottle in the process. Jessica winced at the sudden thump from the glass bottle falling on the ground. Thankfully, it didn't break.

"Well," Jessica spoke to no one in particular as she leaned over to pick it up. "That was clumsy of me."

She glanced at herself in the mirror one last time before leaving the room—and the image made her pause. Oh my god, I look so fucked up. Her clothes were rumpled, her hair was a mess, and the bags under here eyes were practically purple. Jessica ran her hands through her hair and managed to tie it back into a bun, but she didn't know what to do with the rest.

I guess I could put on makeup, but... Jessica touched her dark circles gingerly. I don't really want to? Shaking her head, Jessica turned away with a disgusted expression. Never mind, nobody's going to see me anyway.

She continued to wonder as she exited the bedroom. One year ago, I would never have allowed anyone to be with me if I didn't have a full face of makeup on. Jessica listened to the low voices of her friends outside, before taking a deep breath and walked towards them. How the tables have turned...

"Hey, Jess!" Ashley greeted her happily from her spot on the sofa. Chris sat beside her, one arm draped protectively over her shoulder. Sam stood to the side alone and nodded at Jessica when she entered. Jessica was surprised at how empty the place was—it took her a while to recall Mike's story about the events last night. Oh, right, the rest of the people are in the hospital.

"Hey," Jessica replied softly before sitting down on a chair at the dining table. "What time is it?"

"Almost 5:30," Chris responded in a kind voice after a quick glance at his phone.

"Oh." Jessica wasn't sure what to respond and simply nodded. The couple seconds of awkward silence that followed felt like an eternity, and Jessica nervously drummed her fingers on the table out of habit. Wow, we're an awkward bunch...

"Well," Sam's voice shattered the silence, and all eyes turned to her. "Now that you're up, I think we should go visit the people in the hospital. Emily called and said that everyone except the old man was cleared to leave." Jessica was surprised to see Sam biting her fingernails—a habit she'd never noticed the confident blonde girl have.

"So..." Jessica went over the details in her mind. Emily broke her arm, the old man was injured, and... Matt! "Matt woke up? Is he okay?" She was concerned for the kind boy who had saved her life last year. Even though she was fighting with Emily at the time, Matt still watched out for her and helped her through the mines. He had multiple opportunities to simply abandon her and run—but he chose to stay and hide with her.

"Matt?" Sam raised an eyebrow at her question.

"Yeah?" Jessica responded, mimicking Sam's tone.

"He's fine," Ashley quickly interrupted, before the conversation could turn ugly. "Emily called and said that he woke up and went looking for her."

"Oh." Jessica responded simply again. "That's great."

Her friends studied her silently.

"What?" She asked, a little defensive.

"Aren't you going to ask about..." Chris suggested tentatively. "Mike?"

"Oh, yeah." Jessica couldn't help but shiver a little at the memory of her most recent conversation with him. He was... Sick. Murderous. I saw a side of him that I never knew existed. "Emily said that was everyone was cleared to leave, so I just assumed he was okay..." She explained to her friends hurriedly. They seemed surprised that she would put a friend before her boyfriend—and, to some extent, Jessica was surprised as well. "He IS okay, right?" Now that she thought about it, she was worried again.

"Oh, no, he's fine!" Ashley quickly explained.

"Did Emily explain what happened to him, then?" Jessica asked.

The others exchanged looks and shrugged.

"Nope," Sam said, looking kind of annoyed. "Emily told us to visit them, she said she'd explain there."