[center] [h1]Thursday[/h1] [color=cd9575][h1]Tessa Gray[/h1][/color] [img]https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/4d/22/6b/4d226b6d9f34499322ce877cfa61343a.jpg[/img] [i][u]Location[/u][/i]: Therapist’s office [i]Interacting with[/i]: Therapist; Nina and Austin via text[/center] [hr] [hr] Tessa stood outside the office building that housed her therapist, a brightly colored umbrella blocking her from the rain. She hated the location of his office, right across the street from the park where Janice had been killed. Tessa was convinced that was on purpose, though there was no way it could be. She would probably be late if she waited on that cool step much longer, but she knew exactly what the doctor would bring up. Tuesday. So much had happened Tuesday, that thinking about it gave Tessa a headache that wasn’t associated with her power. It wasn’t as if she had seen Rachel’s body. She had been very careful since then to avoid anything that may have had an image of the girl. Tessa had barely known Rachel. Then again in the first murder spree she hadn’t known many of the victims. Their faces, all of them, flashed through her mind. Ending on her sister’s face, one that looked so much like her own. Tessa had seen those pictures. It had been hard to avoid. The picture of her identical twin sister dead. The casket where she had been laid forever. Tessa’s face identical to the dead sister. Those images were impossible to get out of her head. Her phone chirped, one minute warning. Tessa looked up at the sky, rain hitting her face, it was a miserable day perfectly reflecting how she felt. She sighed and climbed up the last steps and walked into the small medical building. The receptionist smiled and greeted her. “He’s ready for you, go on in.” Tessa did, giving the receptionist a smile and a nod, leaving her umbrella sitting on a mat left there just for that purpose. Admittedly the office of Tessa’s therapist wasn’t intimidating, it was homey if anything could describe it. He did his sessions in a room separate from his actual office. The session room was small, and held two high backed chairs. A tea table separated them, as usual there was a pot of coffee sitting on the tea table. Her first session he asked which she preferred, and since then there always a pot of coffee for her to sip at. He had explained once that the warmth from a hot cup of anything did wonders for people. Tessa wasn’t certain if that was true, but she did enjoy the feeling either way. “Hello Tessa.” The doctor gave her a genuine smile. “Please have a sit.” All part of the formality he played out for them. Routine was good. [color=cd9575]“Hey doc.”[/color] She took her seat, poured herself a cup of coffee, then added her cream and sugar. “We have a lot to talk about today.” He started. Tessa looked at his face closely and saw a pinched worried look etched into his features. They had only been having sessions for a few months now, but she could tell when he was particularly worried about her. This was one of those times. [color=cd9575]“I suppose we do.”[/color] Tessa started. [color=cd9575]“I spoke with Nina.”[/color] His frown deepened a bit, but he took the bait. “How did that go?” Tessa gave a small shrug. [color=cd9575]“It could have gone worse. I told her I didn’t blame her, which is true. Now anyway. Once upon a time I did, but she did what she thought was right.”[/color] “When did you speak with her?” [color=cd9575]“Tuesday morning. She sent me a text later, and I’ve seen her around since then. She even walked me home from the clinic yesterday. I think we're actually going to be friends again.”[/color] “We should talk about Tuesday.” His frown thinned a bit. Tessa wasn’t surprised. “Were you at school?” [color=cd9575]“No. I wasn’t feeling well so I was at home.”[/color] He didn’t want to ask her straight forward. He didn’t want to say ‘When Rachel was murdered’. No one in town really did. “How do you feel about the events?” [color=cd9575]“I kissed Austin.”[/color] She blurted out. The doctor raised an eyebrow. “Those weren’t exactly the events I was talking about.” [color=cd9575]“We actually kissed a lot. It was nice. Or maybe I should call it snogging. He is British after all. I once knew someone who thought snogging was fucking.”[/color] He pursed his lips at her cuss, he knew her mother didn't approve of cussing, but he rarely said anything to her when she did. “Did you kiss Austin to avoid feeling?” It was Tessa’s turn to frown. [color=cd9575]“No. The opposite. For the first time in years I feel alive. I feel as if I’m not a shadow left over. You know when nuclear bomb goes off and the people leave shadows behind, the one’s who were vaporized in that flash of light. I felt like I was that. That shadow left behind, nothing but a reminder that Janice once walked this Earth and now she doesn’t. Austin didn’t know Janice. He moved here after all of that. He’s only ever known me. Only ever seen me. Not the person I’m not. Everyone who knew Janice sees her when they look at me. They see how she’ll never grow up, never become whatever it was that she was meant to be. I’m a lump compared to her. I was never outgoing. I was never the star. She lit up the world so much that with her gone there is nothing but darkness left. Austin was never blinded by her though. His eyes see my light as their own thing.”[/color] Tessa paused and drank from her coffee. The doctor across from her didn’t say anything for a moment. “You are not a shadow of your sister. You carry your own light, others can see that just as well as Austin.” Tessa gave a shrug. [color=cd9575] “I suppose that’s true. Grant and Nina told me as much.”[/color] “Oh?” [color=cd9575] “Well Grant told me my strength gave him strength, that’s sort of the same thing. He and I ended up talking a lot last night. Not about anything in particular but just chatting it was nice. Nina told me she missed me, and to be honest I miss her. There’s just so many memories with her.”[/color] “And not with Grant?” [color=cd9575] “Well sure, Thanksgiving has gotten more boring without Janice, but Grant’s a cousin, almost as good as a brother. He also didn’t betray my trust.”[/color] The last bit was said mostly under her breath, and with pain. Even with all that had happened the last two days it still hurt to think of how Nina had betrayed her. She was moving past it though. Even though it hurt she could be around Nina and not want to cry. In fact the walk home with her had been one of the safest she had felt since Rachel had died, other than in Austin's arms. “The crux of your issues with Nina.” Tessa sighed and rolled her eyes, of course he had heard her. “You said you didn’t blame her, is that true?” Tessa shrugged. It was mostly true. She could be mad and not blame her, right? “How else do you feel about the rest of the events on Tuesday?” That was an obvious answer, and he didn't even know about what all happened Tuesday evening. Only that there had been an earthquake. Even with a super power she was vulnerable. She could be smelled out, or touched, or if she made a noise to draw attention to her presence she could be seen. How could she explain that feeling to her therapist? The surge of empowerment she had had Monday had been stripped from her Tuesday. Not even twenty four hours had she enjoyed the endless possibilities. They sat in silence. He knew her moods well enough to know she’d answer eventually. Tessa sipped her coffee again. Too much sugar she decided. [color=cd9575]“Like when I look in the mirror I see her lifeless eyes again.”[/color] The doctor was one of the few people who knew about the gripping waking nightmares that she had. The flashes of Janice she saw. He knew why she had broken her mirror in the bathroom that first week after Janice’s death. He knew why she had used those shards to tear into her skin. He knew the real reason she had died her soft brown hair red. [color=cd9575]“I’m changing, my face has gotten thinner. I have more freckles, but my eyes are the same. I thought about buying colored contacts.”[/color] She stared at her cup of coffee, there was a piece of coffee bean floating around the rim. “Did Austin’s presence help?” Tessa only nodded. How could she explain that the strange boy made her feel safe? Made her feel human, made her feel real, and not invisible. “How long have you known him?” [color=cd9575]“Just a couple of years. He moved here after everything was supposedly over.”[/color] The doctor paused in his nodding as she said supposedly. “Tessa,” She looked up at him from the coffee cup. “What do you think is happening?” [color=cd9575]“That either the man in jail now is not the guilty person, or someone is copying him. Neither possibility is particularly reassuring.”[/color] The doctor nodded again. [color=cd9575]“If the first, then the man in jail was a fall man. Or maybe an accomplice. Maybe it took so long for the murders to pick back up because the original killer needed a new accomplice. The accomplice theory makes more sense since they caught the first guy in the act.”[/color] “This isn’t the first time you have had this thought is it?” [color=cd9575]“No. I used to sleep with my window open. Even [i]knowing[/i] the killer was in jail I couldn’t. Nothing’s changed, except now I know for sure I’m not safe. No one is. Not even now.”[/color] She mouthed the last sentence. The world crashing around her. The images of the shadow man from Tuesday night burned through her thoughts. [color=cd9575]“I don’t want to be scared. I wish I was stronger and better, but I’m not. I wish I had a way to protect, but I don’t.”[/color] [i]I can only turn invisible. I can only watch if something happened, because I’m still the same Tessa. I can't protect my friends, only follow them and then pass out.[/i] “You are safe.” [color=cd9575]“Bullshit. No one is. No one ever is. Nothing has changed except we know the boogeyman in our closet. Especially if this is a true copy cat.”[/color] Tessa set her cup down. She was angry, and scared and everything that had happened in the last few days seemed to be closing in on her. She needed air. [color=cd9575]“I’m done.”[/color] “Tessa, please sit down.” She was halfway to the door. [color=cd9575]“Why should I?”[/color] Tessa paused and turned to face him. She was supposed to convince him to have her mom un-ground her so she could see her friends without sneaking, that plan was out the window. [color=cd9575]“What will this do? Hm? It isn’t going to fix anything. It won’t bring Janice back. Or Rachel. Or Everett’s parents. The only thing this does is pokes a sore wound. That’s all this town ever does. Poke at a wound that can’t heal.”[/color] She was yelling now. Her eyes burned, and she knew she was about to cry, but she couldn’t stop now. [color=cd9575]“This town is a disease. I hope the monster behind these attacks takes us all out. Wipes the city clean. Erases this blight that we are upon the Earth completely. Everyone just wants to live in the past. Never forget. Our own little 9/11. Our own tragedy that we cling to as an identity that sets us apart. A sick twisted desire to hold it up proudly. Look at us we had a serial killer. One of the most horrific since Henry H. Holmes himself. Ours displays his victims. Maybe he’s been trying to tell us something and we’re too dense to listen.”[/color] She was crying now. The doctor took her by the shoulder and led her back to her chair and sat her down. “The point of these sessions is to help you Tessa. Do you truly feel that everyone in this town should die?” Tessa through painful gasps shook her head. “I didn’t think so.Tell me why you said that then.” [color=cd9575]“Were you there?”[/color] She snapped at him, once she gained her breath again. “Where?” [color=cd9575]“At the memorial.”[/color] “Yes.” [color=cd9575]“Then you know why I said it.”[/color] “You said you weren’t there though.” [color=cd9575]“No, but I was there the year before. Where they read each name. I was there when they planted those damn trees. I was there during the speeches that talked about the tragedy of the whole thing. It was dumb and pointless last year and it was dumb and pointless this year.”[/color] “Some people need it to heal.” Who the hell needed that show to heal? That was stupid. It didn't do anything but make things worse. Clearly someone wanted to make a statement about the whole thing, otherwise why kill the first person outside the memorial? [color=cd9575]“Can I just leave?”[/color] “Not yet. Just because you don’t need the memorial to heal doesn’t mean those who do should die.” [color=cd9575]“Everyone hates it though. I wasn’t the only one who ditched it. Everyone just feels obligated to go.”[/color] She snapped again. [color=cd9575]“Then what happens someone is murdered outside while we all try to reminisce about the worst years in our history. He just dragged it right back out for us.”[/color] This time she was out the door before the doctor could stop her. Outside she took a deep breath, raised her umbrella, glared at the damn park again, and started toward Simone’s. She sent a quick message to Nina and Austin. “Be at Simones in five.” She would be damned if her mother was going to keep her in lockdown. Tessa hadn't gone far, even though she was giving the playground a wide berth, when she ran face first into a wall. She hadn't noticed it, but as she rubbed her face confused she saw a pale blue translucent wall in front of her. Tessa reached out with her hand that wasn't holding her umbrella. The wall was solid, despite its translucent nature. As Tessa considered the implications, her thought process was just a fraction too slow, something hit her hard on the back of her head. Her head, thrown forward, hit the wall again with force enough to make her see spots. A lot of spots. Tessa opened her mouth to scream but a hand covered her mouth and the scream was lost. Her brain, fuzzy from the hits, tried to go into overdrive. Invisibility was out of the question, for now at least, but if she could get out of sight. Tessa flailed against the person who held her. Her struggle was pointless.