Room 324, Thursday Morning

[vanillajello]

Fire. There's someone on fire. But Kate can't see who it is until the figure turns around and it's her but not her but her and she's standing there and the flames lick up her arms and she's on fire but then it's Mitchell, wild-eyed with a fire inside, and it's Hannibal and the flames go from hot to cold from hot to cold in time with his eyes, and then it's Jack and Emma and Karla and Sebastien and David and Bod and Marshall and Max and Tara --

And then it's Annie, serene calm beautiful Annie like that time in the cellar, and everything stops for a single awful second as she smiles.

And then the flames swallow her up and there's nothing but the fire.

-----

Kate had been very, very glad to not wake up screaming. She had been very glad to wake up, period. Her subconscious was not the place to be right now, her dreams had made that abundantly clear. She'd had no trouble getting out of bed since she'd craved a cold shower to fully wake her up and make sure nothing lingered on.

After the shower, she'd changed her clothes, put on some music, opened the door, made her bed and then flopped down on it with a notebook to make plans for a third floor welcome she wasn't sure she'd even organize.

Saturday wasn't shaping up to be a day to be bubbly and welcoming.

[ooc: Open post, open door. ETA: I would like to call all Mitchell stuff NFB, please and thank you!]

Comments

[vanillajello]

Kate looked up from where she'd been doodling a row spirals along the edge of the page. That was totally productive.

"Hullo," she replied, trying to seem... neutral, at least. Not wanting to inflict her emo on him too much.

That wasn't going to last.

[therewaslife]

Bod could already tell there was something wrong just with that greeting alone. He frowned and crossed his arms, trying to get a read on what this was.

"Are you all right?" He didn't know if he expected truth or a lie there.

[vanillajello]

And Kate wasn't sure which one to give him. She hesitated for a moment, then landed on stalling.

"Could you close the door?"

[therewaslife]

Bod panicked for a moment, thinking this was going to be about them and he was about to lose her again. He couldn't help the residual trauma from the last time they'd broken up.

He stepped inside and shut the door, leaning back against it just in case. "Kate? What's wrong?"

[vanillajello]

Kate raised her eyebrows a little when he chose to stay by the door and didn't come closer.

"Why are you --?" Oh. Yeah, she had enough all that stored up to guess what he might be thinking. "It's not, it's not about us."

[therewaslife]

Bod nodded, embarrassed that he'd thought that before finally taking a few steps towards the bed. "What's the matter that the door needs to be closed?"

[vanillajello]

"Can't stuff just be private?" Kate hedged, pushing herself into a more upright position before putting the notebook away.

[therewaslife]

"...should I even be here?" Bod asked hesitantly, stopping his track over to her. "If it's private, I don't want you to feel like you have to tell me."

[vanillajello]

Kate shook her head and beckoned him closer. "Come here and lay down."

[therewaslife]

Bod finally did make his way over quietly, settling down beside her and propping himself up against the headboard. He glanced over at her and smiled slightly.

[vanillajello]

Kate moved to lean against him and rest her head against his chest. "So," she started, "Mitchell called me at work yesterday."

[therewaslife]

"All right," Bod said slowly, starting to wonder if Mitchell ever brought good news with him. It didn't seem like it.

[vanillajello]

"He's gonna come back on Saturday," she added, almost idly. It wasn't pertinent information, just something she'd rather say than the really bad stuff. "But there's -- Did I ever tell you about Annie?"

She was pretty sure she hadn't, that she'd talked about a ghost but not named her, and maybe mentioned Annie but not said what she was.

[therewaslife]

"The name sounds familiar but I don't think I've gotten more than that," Bod replied, looking down at her. "Who is she?"

[vanillajello]

"One of Mitchell's roommates," Kate replied, quietly. "A totally awesome girl. And a ghost."

She was shying away from verbs for the moment for a reason.

[therewaslife]

"All right," Bod said quietly, nodding and putting a few more pieces together. "You've told me you've met a ghost and now I know that Annie is that ghost. Go on."

[vanillajello]

Kate stayed quiet for a moment, closing her eyes and rubbing her cheek against the top of his chest. She had a lot more undertanding for Mitchell and his endless silences yesterday, now. The words were evil and shouldn't have had to be said.

"She's gone," she said, flatly.

[therewaslife]

Bod didn't really understand considering she was already a ghost. "She's already dead. Wouldn't she already be gone?"

[vanillajello]

"Even if she was a ghost, she was still there," Kate pointed out. "To be seen. Sometimes. But she was exorcised. She's -- not there at all anymore."

[therewaslife]

"So, she was...returned to her graveyard?" Bod asked, trying to frame this with what he knew. "Does no one know where that is?"

[vanillajello]

"It doesn't work like that there," Kate replied, shaking her head a bit. "The ghosts don't hang out in a graveyard. Annie was killed in the house Mitchell lives in, that's why she was there."

[therewaslife]

"I don't...understand how she's just gone," Bod admitted, frowning. "Ghosts can't just be taken off their plane of existence."

[vanillajello]

"Maybe not where you come from," Kate sighed. "But then it also sounds like everyone is a ghost after they die where you're from. It doesn't work like that there. It sounded pretty final, from what George told me."

[therewaslife]

It wasn't something that Bod understood but he nodded anyway. "I'm sorry for your loss. I'm very sorry."

[vanillajello]

Kate had never really known what you were supposed to say to tht phrase, so she just said, "Yeah."

She gave a heavy sigh. "And there was other stuff too. There always is."