Survivor - Connor x OC

Haunted

Evanescence - Haunted

Taylor tapped her key against the lock and stepped into the heat of her hotel room, still shivering. Even after changing out of the android outfit and into her clothes, the snow seemed to be clinging to more than just the fabric of her coat, down to her very bones.

The silence of the room enveloped her like a crypt. An automatic light flickered on as she stepped toward the bedroom, and the light stream followed like spotlights as she went straight for the cellphone left sitting on hotel pillow, off.

Her finger hovered over the power button. She stared at her reflection in the blackened screen, knowing that she needed to move with urgency now. Twenty-four hours without the device in her hand had felt strange, but now she almost didn't want it back.

Sighing, she powered the cellphone on. It came to life instantly in her palm, vibrating, an angry wasp, notification after notification lighting the screen. She groaned at the number of missed calls and texts that she had.

Ignoring all of them, Taylor unlocked the phone and opened her contacts, dialing her best friend. The phone rang twice before the line clicked on. "Taylor?"

"Hey," she didn't miss the frantic tone in her best friend's voice, so she held the phone away from her ear a couple of inches and braced for impact.

"Where the hell are you?" Rachel didn't yell. Taylor had to press the phone back to her ear to hear her properly. Her voice seemed to get lower with every word as she continued, "Did you listen to anything I told you the last time I saw you?"

"Rachel, I'm—"

"Don't." Rachel snapped on the other end of the line. "Don't you dare say that you're sorry. You're not sorry. You knew exactly what you were doing. You're reckless. You don't care about hurting me, or Alex, or Jake, or anyone else who gives a shit about you."

"I'm in my hotel room." Taylor spoke quietly into the phone, listening to Rachel huffing on the other side of the line. "I left because I had to help Markus, the leader of the android revolution. He came to me a couple of days after I got to Detroit and I've been helping him ever since. I was worried if I kept working with CyberLife and the police that I might jeopardize everything. That's why I disappeared."

Rachel didn't say anything. Taylor started tugging on a loose thread on the lapel of her coat, twisting it around her finger. "You were right, before, about L.A. too. I just can't give you any details. I'm not trying to keep you guys out, but this is really important to me."

"So important that you couldn't say anything. I don't want to know how much danger you've put yourself in. I thought the biggest thing I had to worry about was Anthony Jacobsen." Rachel sighed. "You roped me into this, you know. I helped you get access to the tower not knowing I was really helping the deviant leader broadcast that message. If anyone finds out about that, I might never find work as a journalist again."

"You've done worse for stories," Taylor said defensively.

"By choice! My own choice!" Rachel screamed, making her wince. The guilt started to claw its way through her chest, rising in her throat, tears stinging at her eyes. "Who knows, maybe I would have agreed to this if you'd just told me the truth. We'll never know now."

"I know." She exhaled through her nose, nostrils flaring. It wasn't fair for her to cry, not now. "I'm a shitty friend. I know."

"So what do you want from me now, Taylor?" Taylor's fingers tightened around the phone. Nothing, she wanted to say. How could she ask for anything more? She squeezed her eyes shut and remembered she wasn't doing this for herself.