Lost Fic: Find a Map and Draw a Straight Line (2/4) (Juliet)
*So remember how I said this fic would have three parts? I lied, it’s having four but it’s totally not my fault livejournal seems to think it’s too long for one post. Whatever, livejournal your face is too long. This doesn’t really change anything because parts 2 & 3 are both going up right now. I just wanted to say if you guys who are reading this crazy fic want to just comment on part three I completely understand because I intended for these two sections to be read as a whole anyway.
Title: Find a Map and Draw a Straight Line (2/4)
Characters: Juliet, Desmond; ensemble (Multiple Pairings, ultimately Juliet/Sawyer)
Rating: R
Words: 5,418
Spoilers/Warnings: Spoilers through “LA X”. This fic features multiple pairings for both Juliet and Desmond, so read at your own discretion.
Disclaimer: Not mine. Title from “Set the Fire to the Third Bar” by Snow Patrol.
Summary: Juliet always thought be careful what you wish for was nothing more than a stupid cliché. Turns out she was wrong. This is the part where Juliet admits her mistakes and realizes she’s probably only going to make more of them.
Part One
Juliet honestly can’t remember ever having a more uncomfortable plane ride in either life. They don’t speak beyond necessity, just “pass me this” or “don’t forget your passport.” She had hoped she could talk him out of joining her, but Kevin is not an easy man to shake once he’s set his mind on something.
It’s eleven o’clock in the morning when they arrive in London and past noon by the time they’ve checked into their hotel. Kevin mumbles something about lunch, but Juliet ignores him. Somehow she’s convinced herself that the moment she finds Desmond everything else will snap into place.
They hail a cab and Juliet tells the driver their destination. Beside her, Kevin stares out the window.
“I always wanted to see Europe,” he says softly.
Juliet sighs and leans her head against the cool glass of her window and watches London go by in a blur. The sensation makes her dizzy so she closes her eyes, pictures James in her head, covered in dirt and blood, his arms wrapped around her silently willing her not to let go.
I’m trying not to, she thinks and hopes that somehow, somewhere he’s listening.
***
“Excuse me, is Desmond Hume here?”
The two young women behind the desk exchange a look before the taller one shrugs. The other girl tosses her long black hair over her shoulder and puts on what Juliet can only assume is supposed to be her professional smile, although in actuality it’s mostly just creepy.
“He’s not in today, been a bit under the weather, poor bloke. Can I take a message?”
Juliet forces herself to smile; she’s come too far to be put off by a couple of bored college students barely earning their paychecks. She leans in slightly to read the shorter girls nametag and the girl takes a step back.
“Anna is it?” she asks as sweetly as she can manage.
The girl nods cautiously.
“I’m Juliet Burke, an old friend of Desmond’s. I’m only in town for a couple of days and I would really love to see him. Is there anyway you can give me his address?”
Anna shakes her head, her eyes wide as if Juliet just asked her to shoot the next person who walked through the door.
“Sorry ma’am, that’s against the rules. I could lose my job.”
“Do you have a number for where I can reach him then?”
Anna still looks uncertain and Juliet’s patience is waning. Kevin clears his throat and steps forward from where he was lingering behind Juliet. He grins and leans against the table. Juliet has to stifle a laugh when Anna’s cheeks immediately start to redden.
“Excuse me there Anna, I know it’s not regulation but we’ve come an awfully long way and Des would love to see us. I promise you we won’t cause any trouble. Just slip us an address and we’ll disappear.”
Anna bites her lip, but the other girl rolls her eyes and slides a slip of paper across the desk towards Kevin.
“It’s just an address, Anna. Don’t be such a prude.”
Kevin winks at the girls.
“Thank you ladies, you two have a nice day.”
Kevin is already heading towards the door, the address clutched in his hand. Juliet has to jog to catch up.
“Thank you,” she says.
He shrugs and takes the steps two at a time.
“I just want to get this over with.”
***
The cabbie drops them off in a beautiful neighborhood lined with buildings that look like they were ripped straight out of a Dickens novel. Juliet checks the address on the paper the girl gave her and then makes her way up the path to the nearest brick house.
She hesitates before ringing the bell and glances at Kevin who quickly looks away. Kevin’s right, the sooner they get this over with the better. She pushes the button and listens as the chimes echo through the house.
After a moment the door opens, and it’s Desmond Hume himself standing right in front of them. Juliet is hit with such an overwhelming sense of relief she nearly laughs, but there’s something about the distant politeness in Desmond’s eyes that gives her pause. He smiles at them expectantly.
“Yes, can I help you?” he asks.
“Do you remember me?” Juliet asks hopefully.
Desmond shakes his head slowly and there’s not so much as a flicker of recognition on his face. In fact, he looks down right confused.
“No, I’m sorry. Are you from the theatre? I haven’t been well…”
Kevin rests his hand gently on Juliet’s elbow and tries to tug her away from the step.
“We’re sorry, we must have the wrong house,” he says.
Juliet shoots him a look and he lets go. She turns back to Desmond who’s looking more and more baffled by the minute. She can still remember how he looked in her dream, crouched and shaking, how astonished he had been that she could see him. That man had wanted to be found. She swallows hard, steadying herself and then jumps straight in.
“We were on the island, together.”
“An island? I’m sorry sister; I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Desmond glances at Kevin who smiles apologetically, as if Juliet’s just having some sort of episode. She clenches her jaw, trying very hard not to panic.
“Desmond, please. You were there for three years, just like me. You lived in the hatch. Just think about it, you have to remember.”
Desmond frowns, his expression clouding over ever so slightly.
“I think you and your girlfriend should go,” he says to Kevin.
“Alright, we’re sorry we bothered you. Come on, Juliet. Let’s leave this guy alone.”
Juliet looks from one man to the other and then shakes her head. She can’t leave. She was so sure that this was the answer, that Desmond would know what to do. She can’t just walk away it’ll feel too much like giving up.
“No.”
“Juliet,” Kevin warns.
“He knows,” she hisses. “What I don’t understand is why he’s lying.”
Desmond laughs and moves to shut the door, Juliet catches it.
“Let go,” he says. “This isn’t funny anymore. You’ve made a mistake; I’m not the man you’re looking…”
Desmond’s voice trails off in midsentence and he reaches up to touch his nose, when he pulls his hand away there’s blood on his fingers. He stares at it blankly before falling forward, Juliet catches him but his weight is too much and they both end up on the ground with Desmond half-sprawled in her lap.
“What the hell---“ Kevin starts, but then Desmond opens his eyes.
He let’s out a shaky laugh when he sees Juliet.
“You heard me?” he mutters.
Juliet nods and she can’t stop the grin that’s spreading across her face. For the first time in three months, Juliet doesn’t feel like she’s completely alone.
“Do you know what’s happening to me, sister?”
Juliet shakes her head, but she’s still grinning.
“I have no idea. But we’re going to figure this out and then I’m going to get us home.”
Juliet is only a little astonished to realize she actually believes this is true.
***
Juliet and Kevin help Desmond to his feet, his legs are trembling beneath him and he has to lean against the door frame for support until it stops. The three of them slowly make their way to the couch in the living room and Juliet can’t help but notice the pictures lining the walls. They’re all of Desmond and some smiling woman with blonde hair. They look happy, in love---Juliet watches Desmond’s face as they pass the photos, he barely glances at them.
“I keep waking up in this house. It’s happened at least fifteen times since September. One minute I’m at home with Penny and the next,” he waves his arm helplessly. “I’m in bloody suburbia with a woman who says she’s my wife. But I saw you, you were in my dream.”
Juliet smiles lightly. “I thought you were in mine.”
“Hang on. You two are serious, you actually saw her in a dream?” Kevin asks incredulously.
Desmond nods and sinks to the overstuffed couch as if the idea is too exhausting to contemplate on his feet. Juliet sits next to him and Kevin perches on the arm.
“Aye, brother. I was on the island again, running away from the hatch. I didn’t push the button…”
“The flash---“Juliet says and Desmond nods again, his fingers rubbing at the blood starting to dry on his upper lip. He casts a glance around the room before turning back to Juliet; he looks desperate suddenly.
“I was lying in bed, reading a story to Charlie. Something about a rabbit, and then I wasn’t. I keep going back and forth and every time I promise Penny that it won’t happen again, that I won’t leave her. But I keep ending up here in this house. That woman in the pictures? Her name’s Libby, she gave me her boat once. The boat I took to that bloody island.”
He pauses and runs his hands through his hair. His body is still trembling and Juliet wonders if maybe he’s in shock.
“Is this hell? Are we dead, is that why this is happening?” he asks.
Juliet tries to find the right words, but ends up just shaking her head helplessly. She hadn’t thought about this part, the part where she would have to explain what had happened, the part where whatever was happening to him now was probably because of what she did.
“I set off a bomb, and I saw this world and I thought, thank God. I fixed everything. But I was wrong. I don’t think I fixed anything---I think I did this to you. To us. I think it’s my fault.”
Desmond leans towards her slightly, his brow furrowed.
“A bomb?” he asks quietly.
“Yes. There was this white light when I hit it, just like in the dream...”
Desmond smiles sadly at Juliet and she can’t help but feel confused. There’s something almost sympathetic about the way he’s looking at her.
“Where were you exactly?” Desmond asks, but the tone in his voice suggests that he already knows the answer, at least part of it.
“I was at the Swan site, in 1977. We were trying to stop them from ever building your hatch.”
Desmond laughs, his hands are shaking.
“I think we’ve solved one mystery, sister.”
Juliet arches an eyebrow. “What’s that?”
“Why this is happening to us.”
***
This Desmond the one that she knows is barely there for twenty minutes before he clutches his head and blacks out. When he comes to he’s disorientated and complaining of a splitting headache and insisting he has no idea who Kevin and Juliet are or why they’re sitting in his living room drinking tea.
Libby chooses this exact moment to return home from her shopping trip. She takes one look at the scene in front of her, Juliet and Kevin hovering uncertainly by the door while Desmond rocks back and forth on the couch his head in his hands, and she sighs wearily.
“I don’t know you people,” Desmond mutters. Libby crosses over to him and rubs her hand soothingly across his back. Juliet can see blood still dripping from his nose and she shivers.
“It’s alright, Des,” Libby says. She turns to the strange people standing in her foyer looking oddly apologetic. “I’m sorry about this, how long did the episode last?”
Juliet and Kevin exchange a quick glance, this woman seems awfully nonchalant about finding two strangers in her home.
“About twenty minutes,” Juliet says. Libby nods and reaches for her purse, she rummages around for a moment before producing a small leather bound book. She jots something down and then turns her attention back to her guests.
“Now, who are you exactly?” Libby asks politely.
“I’m Juliet Burke, this is Kevin Callis. Desmond and I are old friends.”
“No, we’re not,” Desmond insists. He wipes angrily at the blood on his face; Libby squeezes his arm trying to keep him calm.
“I don’t know these people, Libby. They came to the door going on about islands and hatches and the next thing I know we’re sitting on the couch and we’re drinking bloody tea.”
“Island?” Libby asks slowly and Juliet can tell this isn’t the first time the subject has come up. “Can I talk to you two in the kitchen for a moment?”
Juliet nods, but Desmond doesn’t seem terribly pleased by the idea, in fact he looks positively angry at the prospect.
“They’re insane. We shouldn’t be talking to them, we should call the police.”
Libby gets up and presses a kiss to Desmond’s cheek.
“Just give me a minute with them Des.”
He still looks reluctant, but he seems too tired to argue. He nods and Libby gestures for Kevin and Juliet to follow her.
***
“How do you know my husband?” Libby asks.
The three of them are seated around a small table watching each other warily. Juliet isn’t sure how much to tell this woman, she’s not even sure Libby is someone she can trust. There was something about the way she entered the house, how she seemed completely unconcerned to find two strangers in her living room---it doesn’t sit right with Juliet.
“I told you, we’re old friends.”
“Yes, but from where? School? You don’t sound Scottish to me.”
“Not school,” Juliet says. Libby cocks her head to one side, surveying Juliet.
“You’re being evasive and kind of defensive. This is my house you know. I could have let Desmond call the police.”
There’s a hint of amusement in her voice. Kevin shifts in his chair and Juliet places a hand on his knee to keep him still. She wants to handle this herself, she wasn’t planning on using the direct approach with this woman, but she’s already tired of playing this game.
“I know him from the island.”
Libby crosses her arms, a thin smile on her lips.
“You mean the island he made up?”
“No, I mean the island we were stuck on for three years,” Juliet says coolly.
Libby sighs and leans forward, resting her arms on the table. Juliet thinks she looks deflated somehow, her entire face has changed. She no longer looks guarded, she looks exhausted.
“My husband is delusional, Ms. Burke. I think he’s having some sort of psychotic break, I don’t appreciate you encouraging him.”
“He’s not delusional. Whatever he’s been telling you is absolutely true, I promise you that. It’s happening to me to.”
Libby turns to Kevin who is busy examining his hands, he looks up at Libby and smiles dryly.
“Is that true?” she asks.
Kevin shrugs. “Something’s happening to her. She’s not passing out like your husband in there, but she seems awfully convinced that she’s not who she was a few months ago.”
“And you believe her?”
Kevin hesitates for a moment and Juliet knows he can see her watching him out of the corner of her eye.
“Yes, I do,” he says finally.
Libby stands up and leans against the counter. Juliet can’t quite read her expression. She seems to be somewhere between shocked and annoyed. Finally, she lets out a deep breath and looks at Juliet, her gaze steady and serious.
“Do you think you can help him?”
Juliet doesn’t hesitate.
“I can try.”
She doesn’t mention the part where the kind of help she intends to offer is the kind that would wrench Libby’s husband away from her. She figures they can cover that part later, preferably after she’s had a chance to talk to Desmond properly.
“Then I guess you’re going to want to hear the whole story.”
***
Libby excuses herself for a moment to help Desmond upstairs, but when she gets back she settles into her chair and begins to talk.
“It began in September while Desmond was in Los Angeles. He called me from the marina where he had woken up with no recollection of how he had gotten there. I told him to cut his trip short and come home. I saw it happen myself for the first time the night he got back. One minute he was fine and the next he was panicking and disoriented, demanding to know where his wife was. I tried to keep him calm, to tell him I was right there, but he wouldn’t listen.”
Libby pauses for a moment, trying to collect her thoughts before she continues.
“I started keeping the journal the next day. I document the duration of each episode and the details of his delusions. He seems convinced he’s time travelling, that he was on an island, that he has a wife named Penny and a son named Charlie. We’ve been to at least a dozen specialists, but they’re as baffled as we are. They couldn’t even explain the nosebleeds.”
As she finishes, Libby bites her lip and Juliet feels a pang of sympathy when she sees the woman is trying not to cry.
“It’s happening more often now and the bleeding keeps getting worse. Sometimes he has these blank spots in between, where he just stares at nothing at all. It’s as if he’s not even there. I’m a psychiatrist, I feel like I should be able to help him…but I don’t know what to do anymore. I just want my husband back.”
Juliet takes a sip of her tea, it has grown cold while she listened to Libby talk. Still, it lets her buy herself a moment before she has to say anything. She thinks she’s beginning to understand what’s happening to Desmond, but part of her hopes she’s wrong because if she’s right, getting back to the island is going to be the least of their worries.
She sets her cup down and turns back to Libby who is watching her expectantly. This woman deserves an explanation, Juliet just wishes there was someone else here to give it to her.
“I think there are two Desmonds, the one you know, the one you married and the one I knew on the island. This has happened to him before, not this exactly but something similar. He’s moving back and forth between two lives, like his consciousness is…unstuck.”
Libby snorts. “Like Billy Pilgrim?”
Juliet smiles. “Exactly.”
Libby begins to laugh and she can’t seem to stop, it’s so infectious that Juliet can’t help but join in. Beside her Kevin chuckles nervously, watching both of the women with a bemused smile.
“That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,” Libby chokes out.
Juliet nods, still laughing.
“I know.”
***
There’s a sudden thump upstairs and Libby looks up at the ceiling nervously.
“I need to check on my husband,” she says.
As soon as she hears Libby’s footsteps on the stairs, Juliet turns to Kevin.
“Do you really believe me?” she asks.
He sighs and rubs a hand across the back of his neck. Juliet tries to push her excitement away. Despite her fears about Desmond, she’s finally beginning to see a way out of this and the relief of not being alone anymore is making her giddy. She keeps forgetting that this man next to her stands to lose a hell of a lot in this. She reaches over and covers his hand with hers.
“Kevin?” she prompts.
He finally meets her eyes and tries to smile.
“Well if you’re crazy it seems to be catching. But what I don’t get is why Desmond is flitting around like he’s got a whole heard of people in his head, but you, aside from the island adventure stories; appear to be the same Juliet I’ve known for the past year?”
Juliet leans back in her chair, considering this.
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s because there’s two of him and only one of me.”
Kevin looks stricken. “What do you mean?”
Inwardly Juliet groans. Rachel must have forgotten to mention that part.
“I…died. On the island. But I don’t think it’s happening to the others. It wasn’t happening to James…at least I don’t think it was,” she says.
“Can we go back to the part where you died?”
She smiles sadly. Kevin looks a little queasy at the thought. She shrugs; she’s not sure what to say. There aren’t a whole lot of people who have an opportunity to remember how they die. She thinks that’s probably a good thing.
“How did it happen?” he asks.
She sighs and wraps her arms around herself. She doesn’t want to think about it, she doesn’t want to remember his face; she doesn’t want to remember leaving him. Mostly she doesn’t want to remember the pain, how every damn part her felt like it was ripping in two. She closes her eyes.
“Can we not talk about this right now, please?”
He nods slowly and gets up, letting it drop for the moment at least. But he seems to have honed in on another part of the conversation.
“James,” he says bitterly. “That the guy you’re doing all of this for?”
She hasn’t mentioned his name to Kevin before now. She’s sure Rachel told him about James, she must have and he knows that he’s the man from the hotel, the one she slept with, the one he must blame for tearing his life apart. But it seems wrong to talk about him to Kevin not when he’s here beside her and James…well James thinks she’s dead and buried.
“I’m doing this for me, Kevin,” she says flatly.
Kevin looks like he wants to respond, but Libby appears in the doorway and motions for Juliet to get up.
“He’s asking to see you.”
“Is he...” Juliet trails off trying to find a delicate way to phrase it. Libby looks uncomfortable.
“He’s back, the other one.”
Juliet nods and follows her out of the room and upstairs. Libby stops her at the bedroom door and whispers in her ear.
“The episodes have never been this close together before and his nose, there’s too much blood…”
Juliet nods.
“He’ll be okay,” she promises.
She shouldn’t because she knows what that blood means. And she knows okay is probably not going to happen if they can’t find a way to stop this fast. Any giddiness she had felt over finding Desmond was quickly evaporating.
She shuts the door behind herself, leaving Libby on the other side. She turns to find Desmond standing in the corner staring out the window, his face is pale and there are blood stains on his shirt.
***
Desmond fills in all of the missing pieces: the hatch, the failsafe key, how he woke up in the past, all of it. Juliet listens until he’s finished and then she tells him her side, about time travelling and James and bombs and waking up in a new life.
Then they sit quietly side by side on the bed, their shoulders slumped in twin pictures of exhaustion.
“God, I’d do anything for a pint of Guinness, right now,” Desmond says finally.
Juliet snorts.
“So what should we do?”
Desmond sighs and gets to his feet. He rubs at his temples, his eyes clenched in pain.
“It’s going to happen again,” he mutters. “Listen Juliet, I need you to find Daniel Faraday. He can help us, he helped me before.”
Juliet shakes her head. “What if he’s not here?”
Desmond doesn’t answer, just clutches his head, blood already beginning to drip down his chin.
***
Kevin and Juliet say goodbye to Libby and head back to their hotel room. Juliet is exhausted, there’s no part of her that doesn’t just want to curl up in a warm bed and sleep, but she keeps seeing Desmond, bloody and so lost in her head.
He told her to find Daniel. She’s not entirely sure where to start looking. The last time she saw him he was riding off with Jack and Kate, setting all of this in motion. But he had died. Just like her.
“I don’t even know where to begin to look for him,” Juliet says.
Kevin takes one look at her and reaches for her hand.
“He’s somewhere. We found one guy, we can find two. But I’m going to put a vote in for waiting until morning if it’s all the same to you. It’s cold as hell out here and you already denied me lunch.”
Juliet laughs gently and Kevin reaches for one of her curls.
“Come on, Goldilocks, let’s get out of here.”
She nods and lets him lead her to the street.
***
They eat hamburgers for dinner. They’re good, but for some reason the smell reminds Juliet of Jack and she doesn’t have the energy to chase any more ghosts tonight. She leaves half of her food untouched on the room service tray.
Kevin looks more relaxed now stretched out on his own little bed, shoes kicked off, but she can almost hear him thinking. He finishes his last fry (chip, Juliet reminds him) and rolls over on his side to face her.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Of course,” Juliet says already dreading wherever this conversation is heading.
“If you loved this guy so much, then why the hell would you try to erase your life with him?”
Juliet leans back against the head board and closes her eyes.
“Ask me something else.”
Kevin snorts and she can hear him shifting his weight on the bed.
“I don’t want to know something else.”
There’s no way around this, Kevin has a lot of wonderful qualities but letting things drop is not something he excels at and he’s already given her one pass today. She sits up and crosses her legs, giving him her full attention. Kevin watches her expectantly waiting for her to begin. The problem is Juliet’s not sure where it began, so she starts with the only thing she’s certain of.
“Because I thought he would be better off.”
Kevin looks skeptical. “Without you?”
“Without me,” she echoes. “There was this other girl, he hadn’t seen her in years, but then she came back. And the thing is I know he loved me. But they never really had a chance, you know? It was like she was this big question mark in his life. What might have been? I thought…I thought he should have a chance to figure that out.”
Kevin props his head up on his fist and looks thoughtful. “You say he loved you?”
“Yes.”
“Then might have been is just might have been. Hell, I always wondered what my life would have been like if I had caught Celeste Davies’s eye back in high school, but I’m not going to jam my finger on the reset button to figure it out.”
Juliet looks down at her hands. “It was more complicated than that.”
“Then explain it to me.”
She doesn’t want to. Explaining it to him, means admitting it to herself and that’s something she’s been avoiding since she hit that damn bomb. But Kevin’s watching her, waiting for a real answer and she’s too tired to come up with a lie, even if she hates herself a little bit for the truth. She pushes her hands through her hair and lets out a shaky breath.
“It’s never me, Kevin. Not with Edmund, not with Goodwin, or Jack…but I thought with James that I was finally enough. That I had someone who loved me just as much as I loved him, but then…it’s so stupid, there was this sweet older couple on the island with us and they were saying all of these beautiful things about being together and how it’s all worth it if you’re with the person you love and I looked at James…I looked at him and he was looking at her.”
Juliet pauses.
“And I just…I thought I would rather give him up than make him stay somewhere he didn’t want to be.”
Kevin’s quiet for so long that Juliet can’t stop herself from looking up. He’s staring at her, his face all but unreadable. His voice is hoarse when he speaks; his expression is so damn earnest it almost hurts to look at him.
“You know the difference between me and this guy? I would have never looked at anyone but you.”
Juliet gets up and joins him on his bed. They’re so close their knees are pressed together. Kevin instinctively leans towards her. She reaches over and threads her fingers through his.
“I know. And you have no idea how much I wish I could tell you that I felt the same way, but I love him and I don’t think that’s ever going to go away.”
Kevin nods and releases her hand.
“So if I love you?” he asks slowly.
“You have to let me go.”
They sit together for a moment, not saying anything at all. She knows this is killing him and it’s hurting her too but she doesn’t know what to say to fix it. She could lie, she could give up right now and get on a plane and go back to Miami. She could have a wonderful life with this man and Rachel and forget about all the rest, but she would never love him as fiercely as he loves her, she would never stop thinking about James, about the sister that was still waiting for her to come home. And one day she would walk out and never come back. He deserves something more than that.
He presses a quick kiss to her temple before getting up.
“We better get some sleep if we’re going to find this Daniel guy tomorrow.”
He turns off the light and Juliet silently gets up and crawls into her own bed, wishing desperately that she could make herself love this man if only to keep his heart from breaking the way hers did on that damn island.
***
That night she dreams of their house. She’s lying in bed and he’s beside her, they’re facing one another and he’s grinning at her.
“Morning Sunshine, thought you were going to sleep all day,” James says.
She smiles, wraps her arm around his waist and pulls him towards her. He feels warm like he’s been standing in the sun all day. She burrows her face in the nook of his neck, her lips brushing against the steady thrum of his pulse.
“I missed you,” she whispers.
He pulls back and the sun in the room seems too harsh suddenly.
“Did I go somewhere?” he asks playfully.
Juliet brings her arm up to cover her face, shielding her eyes from the light.
“Why is it so bright?”
James reaches over and gently pulls her arm away from her face, forcing her to squint to protect her eyes from the glare.
“Don’t worry about that. It’s just the storm.”
She sits up and shakes her head. “What storm? It’s the sun, James…”
He makes a trail down her back with his fingertips, his hand stops where her scar should be.
“If a leopard loses its spots, does that make it a lion?” he asks.
Juliet ignores him, her eyes drawn to something etched in the wall. She gets up, pulling the sheet behind her and walks over to the spot. Up close she can see that it’s a sequence of numbers. She traces their shapes with her finger, 4.81500, 162.342000.
She turns back to James.
“Has this always been here?”
James is on his stomach, face buried in his pillow.
“You bought the curtains, Blondie. I just put ‘em up,” he mutters.
She returns to the bed and stretches out beside him again, he rolls over and she gasps. There’s blood seeping through his white shirt. She quickly pushes the fabric up, her fingers searching for a wound. He grabs her hand, forcing her to still.
“Don’t you worry about that, we got bigger problems,” he says.
“You’re hurt,” she counters. But she can already hear the ticking sound ominous and familiar; she catches a glimpse of black smoke out of the corner of her eye.
“I think it lives under the bed,” he whispers. “What a fucking cliché.”
Juliet wakes up with a start and immediately wrenches open the drawer of the nightstand.
“What are you doing?” Kevin murmurs his voice thick with sleep.
“Looking for a pen,” Juliet replies shakily.