you only ever had her when you were a fever
After all the crazy stuff which had happened the week before, Serena was actually glad things had quieted down. Maybe the events around her remained far from peaceful, but her own life had slowed back to dull. She'd had enough of everything being weird and messy; it was a relief to trade chaos for calm.
Calm and boredom went hand in hand, however, and after she and her copy of The Sun Also Rises had been chased from the rec room by the jukebox's insistence on an afternoon of polka music, she'd given up on reading. Pulling a fitted, floral-patterned sundress on over the one piece, she slung her Chanel bag over her shoulder, grabbed a towel and headed out. Still in search of a little quiet, with her Hemingway novel tucked atop the towel in the crook of her arms, she made her way to the nearer of the two waterfalls. She could always expect a little peace there. Dropping towel, book and bag to the ground, she was just slipping out of her shoes when she caught a glimpse of something out of place.
There, tucked between a couple of rocks at the edge of the water, was an envelope -- a folded piece of fine cardstock, secured with a gold seal.
It wasn't hers, Serena told herself. She would just pick it up and take it to the post office, if there was a name on it. It had to belong to someone. She wouldn't read it. Still, once she came closer and kneeled down, she stretched out her hand and found she could barely make herself take the note. A strange apprehension stole over her. It wasn't her note. Maybe she would just leave it.
Darting her hand out, she grabbed the note and flipped it over, feeling her stomach turn and her body go hollow with the same plummeting speed. "How --" The sight of her own name was a shock, and she eased up to sit on the rock before opening the envelope. Something slipped out to fall into her lap, but she ignored it for the moment. She read the note and read it again, her hands starting to tremble by the third read through. Waves of anxiety slammed through her.
S -
Memories can fade.
A video is forever.
♥ G
Hurriedly closing the note, she bent double to grab her purse and stuff the envelope inside before fumbling for the object which had fallen. The flash drive was small, sleek, black and silver. There should have been nothing so ominous about so ordinary an object. Tied to it with a golden ribbon, though, was a small tag bearing the pink lipstick print of Georgina's lips and the words Watch me, and Serena knew there was nothing ordinary about this flash drive.
She didn't know how it had got there or how Georgina had filmed what was on the drive, but she had no doubt now of what it was. Memories flared up that she had spent the last year and a half ignoring. "No," she murmured, shaking her head, "no. No, no, no, no. Oh god, no..." She was going to cry, dear god, she was going to break down right there where anyone could see. Anyone could see. It took more effort than it should have done to shove the flash drive inside her purse, her breathing heavy as she pushed to her feet, biting hard at her lower lip. No. Georgina wasn't there. Georgina couldn't be there. She wasn't watching. It was coincidence, it was some kind of sick coincidence, and she'd prove it. She'd find Blair -- no, she'd find Chuck and he'd help her look. He'd help her make sure there was no Georgina Sparks here. There never had been. Serena just had to be sure.
God, she'd thought she was safe here.
She pushed herself harder, running faster, barely able to breathe. A prickling burning started up in her lungs and she forced herself to ignore that, too. She hadn't waited long enough to put on her shoes, and as she ran, clutching them in her fists, the heels slapped dully against her thigh. She just had to run, to get back to the sanctuary of her room. Even that didn't seem safe enough. She needed somewhere she could lock the doors. She needed to be sure.
Her feet pounding bare against the path, her head turned down, she could barely see where she was going. She didn't notice the person ahead of her until she'd slammed into them, and all she could hope as she stumbled backwards was that it would be anyone but Georgina.