MS - Rav's newest story

[Ravynlee]

Thanks sis

Nothing wrong with me as a character. In my mind (I haven't even reread the last stuff) I think I said sth about going after Mike. It's feasible I'd push you away just like Rob did but maybe it's possible as I stated I've just been going downhill since the attack and this is me hitting rock bottom. Either way think of it as you see fit. I'm sure I have uses for a washed out reporter now wallowing in self pity looking for a way to get revenge on Mike now that Chester's out ;-) haha

 

And I find it surprising you'd side with Mike - actually not really. For all intents and purposes Mike is getting his act together now. Chester has to prove his worth now. See what happens now he's a free man. And as far as the romance goes, well, that's what you wanted. AND it suited the story perfectly. Some loving in the drama, yes? Glad you liked. Dunno how often I will be able to update but hey so long as the ball is rolling again now I guess that's the main thing.

 

Enjoy guys. Let me know what y'all think. Appreciate it.

[Pheonix791989]

ABOUT TIME YOU UPDATED!!!!! where have you been mum? living under a rock and well.... well you do live on the other side of friggen world!!! UPDATE AGAIN!! pwease?

[woodyloveslinkin]

I know ay ^

She lives only about 1000 kms away for me!

Ma's been living under a rock in the middle of the Barrier Reef, or so I assume.

[Ravynlee]

Just been keeping a low profile is all.

 

---

 

Ravyn stared at the sidewalk feeling faint and desperate. She couldn’t believe it. Still able to hear doctor Woodland’s refusal to renew her prescriptions echoing in her head Ravyn looked up at the city street that surrounded her as if all its walls were closing in on her from all sides.

This wasn’t happening, surely this wasn’t happening!

For months she had listened to the doctor’s suggestion she wean herself off her medication and adopt more beneficial help like therapy with a dismissive nod, but now in her state of urgency and need Ravyn was berating herself for delaying it, for not agreeing sooner, for not doing something, anything that she had to in order to not end up at this point where she was now – strung out and with no relief in sight. Feeling tears come and go she swept them away and instead grit her teeth, locking her jaw to encourage her anger. Anger was always far more useful than tears any day. Surveying the street and getting her bearings Ravyn quickly made her way around the corner past Alice’s café and the Bank of America with its scarlet red pennants to the neighbourhood drug store. She had it in mind to make up some story that she had been mugged or maybe lost her prescriptions and if they checked her files they would just assume she was legit and give her what she wanted, but even as she set foot into the cramped crowded store she all but felt defeat bearing down upon her. She cursed under her breath, ignoring the disparaging glance some African American woman gave her. Trust the weather to be so messed up it brought all the sickos out for their daily dose of Vicodin, goddamn it!

She waited in line impatiently only to be told when she eventually reached the counter that she was out of luck without the relevant paper work. She pleaded without making herself look too desperate. If she learned anything at all from watching Rob over the years she knew that people who acted suspiciously usually warranted the wrong kind of attention. Skulking from the store she lingered on the sidewalk watching people pass her and feeling like an abandoned dog, looking for direction and her master to show up and take her home, or at least somewhere safe. But the sun was going down soon and evening was fast settling in. There was no where you could hide in this city, or at least class as safe, not while the likes of her attacker still roamed the streets, and the covers of newspapers, like Jesus Himself incarnate with his untouchable grin. It was sickening. The sounds and the smells and the bright flickering lights of traffic and neon shop signs only agitated her further, making her frayed nerves more unstable. Thinking of her sister, and feeling bad for a split second that another day had passed and she still hadn’t made contact, Ravyn hunched her shoulders and with a disparaging huff made her way across the street away from the payphone as if making a very literal statement.

What did she need her for anyway, she had Officer Wonderful Joel Madden there to take care of her now, she snorted, hurrying across the street to the buzz of the pedestrian walk signal. Rob hadn’t been gone a full six weeks before Joel had eased his way into her sister’s emotions and most likely her underwear too, preying on the poor woman’s vulnerabilities and coming across like the perfect saviour, the healing salve to mend her broken and mourning heart. Huh, Ravyn had seen through his act the moment she had met him, and her distrust of him only continued to steadily grow since Rob’s passing. Okay granted Rob had many faults, probably more than even she cared to admit now not wishing to speak ill of the dead, but at least he had been genuine enough to be a real prick when the situation dictated. Joel was nothing but a fraud using her sister for his own selfish purposes and Ravyn realised very early on that no matter what she said or did Joanna had already been blinded by him even well before the dissolution of her marriage. As much as she was never one to back down from a good fight Ravyn knew with dismal clarity that she was wasting energy trying to stay and convince her sister of these facts. In truth she wanted to get away from that house altogether, away from the sounds of a baby crying and the smell of lotions and baby food and the visual reminders everywhere she looked that her niece was growing up in a household without her father. And everything was just a painful trigger anyway to past memories that kept coming back upon her. Besides, the morning the cops had stormed in with their warrants and some such paperwork demanding to relinquish Joanna of much of Rob’s personal possessions, for purposes she wasn’t at that time allowed to know of, had been the straw that broke the camel’s back for Ravyn. The fact that the city seemed too ready to believe that Rob of all people was the face of hypocrisy and Joanna did little if nothing to counter it only pissed Ravyn off more. Rob had worked hard and he had sacrificed too much to simply wander off interstate like a victim and kill himself, regardless what the papers and the rest of the NYPD said. Even if she was the only one thinking it Ravyn couldn’t bring herself to confront her sister about it. She wasn’t completely heartless after all. Joanna was grieving and she had every right to do so. But Ravyn would no sooner believe Rob would take his own life, as he would sprout wings out of his backside and fly. If it helped Joanna sleep at night she had to keep her opinions to herself, but she didn’t have to stay there watching the repercussions of such insidious claims take their toll on what was left of her broken family. It was better in her state for everyone concerned if she got out and got away from Joel and everything he falsely represented and have Joanna think she hate her than have to stay there and watch the NYPD slowly pick away at her sister like vultures over a dead carcass. Even a life on the street had to be better than living a half-life like that.

But the mean city streets of the Lower East Side did not feel as welcoming to her as they had once done in her memories. With its graphitised walls and monotonous red brick apartment buildings Ravyn wandered her old neighborhood feeling familiar doubts and fears plaguing her. She wandered without direction and without much of a purpose. In truth she wasn’t that terrified of being shot or stabbed or raped in some darkened side alley because technically the worst had happened to her already. Good on him if he wanted to climb down from his ivory tower to finish the job he’d started so many months ago, Ravyn snorted to herself with wet slitted eyes, but something told her that now that he was a recognizable face on the street Mike Shinoda wasn’t about to risk dirtying his hands again on the likes of her. Besides, the medication already built up in her system all these months assured she didn’t feel much of anything now anyway, especially fear. She was emotionally numb and deliberately so, wandering around in a daze for hours watching the sun sink and the darkness settle, and the crowds on the street metamorphosis like creatures of night and day shedding their outer skin. Loud music pumped into the darkness and women laughed loudly as they cried out lyrical insults. Doors slammed. Sirens sang. Car exhausts back fired. Over the drone of the city taking place all around her Ravyn listened to it all without hearing a single thing. She was moving in circles, wearing paths on the muddy sidewalk, tempting death to confront her around the next corner or with the next passing pedestrian or with the next car that slowed past on the asphalt. Coming to a stop on the curb she stood with a few others waiting for the red lights to turn green and contemplating the moment of impact if she were to step out now into oncoming traffic and meet her late ex-husband and son in the next final heartbeat.

[Ravynlee]

That’s when she heard a voice calling to her from a nearby shop doorway. She turned and looked watching a man approach, wearing a hat made of wool with those flaps that looked like dog-ears hanging low either side of his clean-shaven face. Exactly the kind of headgear that stood out she mused, and the kind that would get the owner shot if someone took offence to it, if not beat up, she mused cynically. He was young, tall, and not terribly much to look at with pale skin and a gaunt face made worse beneath the horrid amber glow of the nearby streetlight. Before he even so much as drew his hands out of his jacket pockets Ravyn already picked him well as a pusher and stood staring at the tip of his nose that was pinched bright pink as he sniffled wondering if it were really due to the falling temperature out or maybe a side effect of the wares he was peddling. She began to move away to show she wasn’t interested and found that the young man had surpassed her with his lanky stride and stood blocking her exit. As it turned out he didn’t look that old or that drawn out the way the unsavoury types often did she realised, and noticed with narrowed eyes that he obviously wasn’t from around these parts. Though he was definitely selling something the way his pale eyes continuously scoured the road ways around them suggested that he full well knew he was muscling in on someone else’s territory and was taking a dangerous risk in doing so. Checking to ensure that the passing cars were not marked with the familiar blue and white of a squad car, Ravyn watched him pull out a handful of pills all in small bound plastic wrapped bundles. That’s when she realised why he seemed so insistent to sell to her. He had obviously been lingering near the drug store waiting for someone like her to come along to make a few bucks off. Shaking her head Ravyn muttered something and went to walk away again. The man called out to her.

“Come on lady, I’m just trying to make a living. Hey, don’t I know you?”

Ravyn stopped and reluctantly turned around.

“I doubt it,” she said.

With her hair dyed a sombre copper red and having shed several pounds now even since Rob’s televised memorial service Ravyn had deliberately gone out of her way to make sure she wasn’t noticed, bulking up in big, baggy nondescript clothes and wearing thick heavy doc martins that bordered on imposing and masculine. If anyone at all from The New York Times were to pass her on the street now she was almost convinced they wouldn’t even so much as give a second sideways glance in her direction, which is just how she wanted it. But this stranger had seen through her and she suddenly felt defensive. Though she couldn’t be one hundred percent sure that she didn’t know him from her past dealings as a reporter Ravyn studied his face and his mannerisms as if committing him to memory. In truth she was in no mental or physical state to absorb much of anything but again she remembered her snippets of advice from her late ex-husband who told her to confront, make eye contact, and give any would-be attacker the impression you were mentally assessing them just in case you needed to pick them out of a line up later on. But this man certainly wasn’t playing into the role of attacker. He seemed almost desperate to palm of his wares for any price that she had to give him. He needed the money he said, and his fidgeting and nervousness backed him up unconditionally.

“What do you need? I’ve got everything. Name your poison and I’ll cut you a deal.”

Though Ravyn knew she was making the wrong decision she still found herself a few minutes later handing over what little she had left of Rob’s parting estate in exchange for some small green pills that promised to make this numb cotton wool feeling in her head remain intact as she preferred it.

The glare of light and the howl of sirens confirmed her worst suspicions as she ended up moments later face first against a wall with her hands clamped behind her back in handcuffs. In truth she should have been shocked but she couldn’t feel anything. Watching uniformed cops filter out of the darkness and read her Miranda rights Ravyn blinked back like she was watching it all unfold on some life sized TV. Seeming almost arrogant and uncaring she was led towards the squad car where she was loaded inside and whisked off to the nearest precinct in a flash of lights and whirring sirens.

 

---

 

*lmao*

[Ravynlee]

---

 

“Yep, we definitely have a little boy,” the doctor said.

Grinning at the ultrasound images Rashell chuckled through her tears. She could barely focus on the amber figure moving on the screen such was her joy as she blindly reached out for a hand to squeeze. She stopped and looked back over her shoulder. Mike wasn’t there, that’s right. Oh well, the new nanny was. She picked up her smile as she acknowledged the young woman with the straight hair and the glasses standing at the far end of the room and silently implored her closer. Though she hadn’t really known what to think when Mike had told her about hiring a nanny, Rashell had been pleasantly surprised by the young woman’s sincerity. She was young and her experience was limited but if she was good enough to raise a doctor’s child then Rashell was more than happy to have her on board. Clasping to the young woman’s hand she continued to grin as she returned her focus back on the screen and to the 3D face of her baby in utero.

“Mike’s going to be so thrilled,” she squeaked as she swept at her eyes.

In the ride home in the limousine later on Rashell sat smoothing out the material across her stomach with the same smile she had been wearing since leaving the clinic. Across from her Jos was her usual silent self. She didn’t talk much, and Rashell assumed it was only because she was still settling in to her new position in the house, but she was still feeling awkward wishing she had someone more approachable she could share everything with especially at such an exciting stage of her life like a best friend. Though she was a sweet girl, and not much younger in age, she seemed to hold herself together like a woman of maturity. Smiling back when Jos met her eyes Rashell attempted to say something then thought twice about it. Outside, beyond the tinted windows, she saw promotional posters all bearing her husband’s malevolent face. Her smile wavered unsurely. Stroking her stomach again she sunk back into her seat with a sigh and cast her eyes in the opposite direction wondering as she usually did where Mike now was and when she would see him again so she could tell him their wonderful news. Pressing a series of buttons on an onboard panel beside her armrest Rashell listened to the cell phone dialling with her heart raising and falling with each unanswered ring.

“Still busy, huh?” Jos asked watching Rashell disconnect the call a few moments later.

Rashell nodded with her smile distracted.

“Meeting,” she sighed.

Jos nodded.

The vehicle turned a corner and looming high rises peeled back from the curb enough to allow smears of green foliage and pink flowerbeds to sprout up. Watching the gardens pass with her forlorn eyes Rashell drew up her shoulders to look back at the younger woman and smile congenially.

“So what about you? Mike didn’t tell me much about you. Do you have a special someone back home wondering where you are?”

Jos smiled and with red cheeks confessed that she didn’t.

“I used to,” she said, obviously uncertain as to what level of frankness she could share with someone like her employer’s wife or even if she strictly wanted to. “He was busy all the time too. We wanted different things. I guess we just grew apart. I guess.”

Rashell nodded in a knowing way still smiling back at her. There was no exchange along the lines of hoping Jos would meet someone and things would turn around for her or anything to that effect. Riding the rest of the way in silence Rashell merely sat stroking her stomach and watching the city pass without appearing to see any of it.

Inside the townhouse the high ceilings and large open spaces as always amplified the silence. The sound of their footsteps clicking across the polished bamboo floors seemed exaggeratedly loud and lonely. Watching the driver excuse himself Rashell peeled off her coat as Jos closed the front door and lingered on the landing looking about as if not knowing exactly what it was she was expected to do next for her employer.

“Would you like a coffee? I’d like a coffee,” Rashell said, making her way through to the kitchen. “I know I shouldn’t and Mike would probably kill me if he found out but what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him,” she said. She giggled to show she was joking but whether it was the sheer silence and stillness or the strange wistful pitch to her voice she didn’t seem at all surprised when Jos dutifully followed but didn’t echo the sound back with equal enthusiasm.

Together the two women settled around the living room sipping from their mugs and smiling amiably as the stillness once more settled around them. They spoke for a while, making idle conversation, more than anything simply to pass the time as Rashell kept her eye on the clock and another on the window hoping to catch sight of Mike coming home like a small child waiting a much-anticipated surprise on Christmas morning.

“So, how did he take the news when you first told him?” Jos inquired.

Rashell’s restless smile softened as she met Jos’s eyes and seemed to consider it.

[Ravynlee]

“Oh, you know, he was a bit shocked by it at first,” she said. “I mean we had talked about it maybe one day but it just sort of came out of the blue. I know he was a little disappointed it was sort of bad timing, what with him being so busy and all these days. I know he feels bad he can’t be here with me much and appreciate it, but he’s… he’s happy, yeah.” Rashell nodded.

Pouting at her lap she was all but reliving the minor confrontation she had had with Mike not long after Christmas morning when she had first delivered him the news in a less than conventional fashion. She had been planning on telling him in a more appropriate manner for weeks and knowing how special it was she had been planning on making it as creative and as memorable as possible, but as usual his flippant attitude saw him ruin it in place of his work and had him come home in a huff one afternoon several days later and tell her he was pissed off she hadn’t sat him down face to face and told him about it sooner. It wasn’t that he wasn’t happy to be a dad, he rationalized later, but the timing as always was just plain wrong for where they both now were in life. She had impulsively suggested, in a hurt voice, if he felt so strongly against it why didn’t she get an abortion and they could just try again later, and Mike’s momentary hesitation in answering made something inside of her heart break - its pain lingered still as she sat here now remembering it. While he had apologized and they had, eventually, spent quite a while just the two of them celebrating in the expectant manner, Rashell had never quite gotten over the nagging doubts that Mike’s apparent joy at fatherhood was little more than act he put on for her benefit. What hurt her more was the fact that she felt like the only one who could see through it and not even Mike could see he was faking and drowning in all this supposed sincerity, which was only going to get worse soon when he told his news to the media. But again all Rashell could only reprimand herself and reign in her hormones that were apparently going haywire and making her feel like an insecure idiot. Of course now sitting here reliving it all with wanton smiles Rashell couldn’t help but feel nervous at the prospect of Mike’s upcoming interview and the fact he had planned to come out and tell the world then about his exciting news in such a public manner. It was daunting but not because she had waited so long to tell people what was now starting to become physically obvious. Though Mike had told her they had to keep it a secret for as long as possible, and figured it was him just being his overly cautious and concerned self for her and their baby’s eventual welfare, some tiny part of her didn’t believe it. After three or so months living the high life of the New York scene Rashell was beginning to feel like a square peg being forced against her will through a round hole. Though this baby should have been the glue that bound her and Mike together forever she couldn’t shake the feeling that it was one more splinter in the wedge slowly driving them apart over time. Of course she didn’t confess any of this to anyone, not even Jos, and didn’t want to risk Mike’s reprimanding stare if he were to hear of it, always looking at her on such occasions like she were crazy and losing it and he was contemplating having her sent away like a dirty secret so he could adhere to this perfect life they idealized in the media, but which Rashell knew first hand was all bullshit. She sat now as she always did, in the silence, in splendor, smiling slightly because that was how she was meant to look even if no one was really around to see it. Even inside her own front door she was never sure if Mike or one of his crazy lackeys were there lingering just out of sight like ghosts residually carrying over from a bad dream. Though Rashell should have been on cloud nine she wasn’t making a very convincing job of it. She was happy but not as happy as she could have been. The truth was after almost two years of marriage she was starting to feel invisible and she wasn’t convinced that bringing a baby into this mess was going to do anything at all to save her. What she wanted to do was find herself again as an individual separate from being Mike’s wife. She needed a purpose. She needed a reason, besides morning sickness, to crawl out of bed every morning when Mike was away on business so often. All she needed now was direction, and ultimately, Mike’s permission to do so.

 

---

 

Hmm...

[crazy robster]

Awww my sis *huggles* I don't like the condition you are in at the moment (in the story always). Hope you find happiness soon enough! There's only so much misery one can take huh? At least now with your arrest and all you'll get to come to terms with my significant other at last! You know what I think? The moment Ravyn becomes more accepting when it comes to her sister's relationship with Joel as well as more accessible and willing to let her sister support her, then her life will improve. I know her pride tells her that she has to make it on her own but that's just stubborn. We all need a little help from people who love us ^.^ Awwness about Rashell's baby!!! Awww even a thick-skinned person like Mike would be softened by this... I think...0_o Hope we read more soon my beloved, that was brilliant as always *hugs*

[woodyloveslinkin]

Well. This story has come a long way hasn't it? It's really good to see more updates Ma.

Yeah, I'm with Jojo. ^^

[Pheonix791989]

well living under the barrier reef would explain alot. Come on Ma you cant just leave me hanging here... its getting really good. Reread AATM last night. got uber bored. but yeah yeah update!! again pwease?? and screw the low profile.... im just not on because there is nothing to do I have school work...or something along those lines.

[Ravynlee]

Don't live UNDER the reef, but that would definitely be a great excuse if I did - change of scenery and all that. Aside from that am studying too. And working. So things aren't as free as they used to be. Am working on it. As for AATM goes you wouldn't believe I actually started another spin-off to that last week and I just really had to trash it. I mean it's like that Cherie and Lambchop song that never ends crap... how many times can you flog a dead horse huh? But oh well, I have to admit I do miss the old days. The old crew. Ah memories.

Hope you didn't get too bored with it

 

For those of ya waiting for an update here, sorry, at least another day away. Penned a chapter and thought it was too early to insert. Need to fill in with something else before I post it. I have ideas and a direction I want to go but I'm a lazy sod and if you feel inclined throw suggestions at me and see if it triggers the old grey matter... I might actually feel inclined to pen something else I hadn't been thinking about. Always nice to get inspirational surprises. Surprise me.

 

Happy to see people are reading it again. Thanks. Hope to add more soon. Check back.

Rav

 

Oh and just as a side note, sorta unrelated, but have you stopped to consider my sig pic looks like Mike's taking a whiz on the city or sth? I find that hilarious... and strangely befitting. Haha. Now you'll never look at that pic (or this story for that matter) the same way again

Just had to mention it.

[crazy robster]

Haha actually sis, believe it or not, last night I was browsing around LPF and my boyfriend saw your sig and asked me: "Is he taking a pee or something?" He must have read your mind when you used the specific sig with the specific posture sis...LOL

[andrea]

Just caught up and I want to say that I'm glad to see that you back at writing this story. I was being to really miss it. Your you still going with Mike plans on making Rashell lose the baby? Just asking because so much has chance in this update. Anyways can't wait for more when you're able to.

[woodyloveslinkin]

Haha actually sis, believe it or not, last night I was browsing around LPF and my boyfriend saw your sig and asked me: "Is he taking a pee or something?" He must have read your mind when you used the specific sig with the specific posture sis...LOL

 

:rofl:

I must say that was a good call. I never really thought of it that way...but now that I think of it...

[Friðbjörn]

cool updates, I love how this is progressing

can't wait for more =)

 

 

I don't exactly comment all the time anymore but I do try and read when I have time

[Ravynlee]

Thanks guys, yes I know we're all leading busy lives now so it's okay.

Rashell, nothing's changed that drastically. It'll make sense eventually.

And as for my sig, well, that's what I thought when I made it... but then again Mike doesn't strike me as the type to take a whiz out on a beam overlooking the city without all the security and stuff... but then again maybe he just might Depends on who's pissed him off enough to warrant it in the first place :rofl:

Thanks guys.

More soon.

[Ravynlee]

Oops - double post - my bad. But have lots to update here so bear with me

 

Hopefully this will make sense of some changes between the updates, and if not stay tuned. Am getting there slowly. I endeavor to finish this as soon as I can manage it without compromising the story as I have it in mind. See what eventuates I guess.

 

Thanks again for reading and taking the time to tell me what you think. As always comments and suggestions gratefully accepted... unless it's derogatory in which case I should probably just be flattered you bother come in here just to insult me, so then thanks for the thread count Haha.

 

Jokes aside here's today's post. Bear in mind its HUGE (someone's been busy when she should be studying) and equates to around 20 MS word pages, that's Microsoft btw, Mike doesn't have exclusivity on that acronym alone

As always any dramas or inconsistencies let me know and I'll either fix or talk my way out of. Enjoy.

 

---

 

The first thing Sarah did when she heard the news was panic.

She usually turned the television on each morning as she got ready for work and this morning was no exception. She rarely paid attention to what was on or what was said, it was a distraction against the silence as Ava and Matt slept. Only this morning the sound of a familiar name made her stop mid step and drop the bottle of milk she had returning to the refrigerator. She gasped as it shattered on the floor but not from the sound. Straining forward to see in to the next room Sarah felt her heart practically seize up in her chest as she saw the head story playing on the TV screen.

Chester Bennington was out. He was free. The one-time drug lord of New York City, convicted felon, and father of her only child had been released from prison. It was to Sarah the only thing short of Ava’s death that truly terrified her. Even though she had spent the last five years toying with scenarios of what she would do if this day ever came she had been lulled into a false sense of security by the legal system that assured the world that he was going to spend the better part of his natural life behind bars never to be released – and yet here he was. With no contingency plan, no way of really grasping the enormity of the moment, and having only just woken up, Sarah was literally frozen to the spot. For a few minutes she couldn’t think at all until she felt a tugging on her sleeve and almost leapt from her skin before she realised it was Ava staring up at her. Her bright blue eyes were wide with worry as she asked her mother what was wrong. Sarah smiled though she felt like crying. How and where did she start explaining to her baby the extent of her worries? So Sarah did what all parents who want to save their children undue harm do, she lied.

“Nothing’s wrong baby,” she said, hugging her child a little too tightly. “Mommy was just a little… clumsy, that’s all.”

She urged her away under the guise of cutting her little feet on the broken glass. Whether it was her mother’s anxiety, the worrying pitch of her voice struggling to sound authoritarian and coming off snappy, or maybe something biologically instinctive, Ava was left on the carpet staring at her mother with her bottom lip quivering. Sarah stopped, looked down at her little girl, and forced out a loud deep breath to steady herself. She asked Ava to go see if her uncle Matt was awake yet, knowing that even if he wasn’t Ava would ensure he soon would be. Watching the little girl dart from the room Sarah finally let her defences down. Cupping a hand to her mouth she gasped. She turned and looked at her modest little apartment. Mentally she was already marking what she would be able to pack with her now and what she would have to leave behind for Matt to take care of. The thought made her grimace but it only got worse when Ava returned a few minutes later to tell her that her uncle wasn’t in his bed as he usually was this time of the morning. Thinking that he was just being stubborn and had instructed Ava to cover for him, Sarah strode over to investigate assuring that now was no time to be playing games with her – then stopped.

He wasn’t there.

Normally Matt was harder to rouse from bed than Ava was, but this morning the blankets, the pillow, indeed everything in the cramped little guest room was untouched as if he had never slept in it. On top of already worrying developments Sarah was really beginning to panic. The truth was as strong as she tried to appear on the outside that she needed someone’s guidance, she didn’t trust her own judgement, and especially now when part of her brain was scolding her like a chastising parent for apparently overreacting – but she couldn’t help it. She missed Jos and cursed aloud under her breath at the thought she hadn’t fought a hard enough to keep the young woman’s services. Though she knew that the allure of working for a big shot like Mike Shinoda had obviously dazzled her young counterpart Sarah felt like she had cheated herself by not playing on the one thing that someone like him could never give anyone – years of loyal friendship. But that was all over now. Now that she had only her brother to rely on Sarah could feel her emotions slipping away like some proverbial landslide. If she didn’t get a reign on them soon she didn’t think she would be of much use to anyone, especially Ava, if the unforseen happened and Chester came knocking to play his version of happy families.

At that Sarah snatched Ava into her arms just as there came a knock to the door.

“Oh my god,” Sarah gasped. Surely to god he hadn’t found them already! As wild ungrounded thoughts now sprang to mind of her little baby growing up in the seedy underworld of drugs, prostitution and murder without her, Sarah was already making her way to the door searching for anything at all she could use as a weapon with her fingers trembling and cooperative.

[Ravynlee]

“Who is it?” she called back, bracing herself for the sound of his voice, a soft voice barely above a mutter, which she could only recall now from her memories but chilled her through to the bone as if it were nothing short of a primal scream reigning down upon her. Ava was heavy and trembling in her arms. Those few short steps from the hallway to the front door seemed longer than the harshest desert as Sarah grabbed up the only thing she could find in her quick search, and hoisted the closed umbrella over her head threateningly.

Just then, as she peered forward to steal a glimpse through the peephole, she heard a thud and a groan and realised with sickening clarity it was her brother on the other side of the door.

“Matt?” she almost cried angrily. As equal amounts of relief and agitation washed over her Sarah wrenched open the door to let her brother inside.

“Where have you-?” she began to blurt but all words suddenly stalled themselves in the back of her throat at the realisation that her wayward sibling was not alone. Whether it was residual fear or something else it took Sarah an exaggerated moment, and the quick glimpse of the gold and blue badge, to realise that the man standing there escorting her brother was none other than a plain-clothed Narc.

Sarah watched, feeling her previous defences sink to her stomach sickeningly fast, as she lowered her makeshift weapon and slunk back allowing the two men inside. She already knew what the detective was going to say before he said it, it was a scenario she had lived before, and had long since dreaded would repeat again as it was now with all the dejection of an exasperated parent. She watched the stocky bald-headed cop swagger in and survey his surrounds with something of a cocky smirk. Snorting to herself beneath his lazy gaze Sarah wrestled to keep Ava in her arms, and could barely face her brother as Matt skulked in looking every bit ready for her lecture as she was ready to throw at him.

“Detective Madden, NYPD Narcotics Enforcement Unit, Ma’am,” the cop greeted.

Sarah nodded as Ava managed to wriggle down on to the floor and hide behind her legs warily. The cop went on to tell her that Matt had been arrested for selling illegal prescription medication, most of it stolen, and narrowly avoiding several other felony charges with resisting and so forth that was anything but news to Sarah’s roll of the eyes. As the cop elaborated and Matt sunk into the sofa looking every bit downtrodden as he deserved, Sarah couldn’t help wondering why one of the city’s finest was here taking charge of her brother’s case personally – and that was when the proverbial penny dropped.

“Ma’am, we have reason to believe that your boyfriend, a Chester Bennington, may be on his way here right now to see you.”

Swinging her eyes at her brother Sarah could only scoff as she struggled to grasp the situation.

“Uh no officer, he’s – he’s not my boyfriend.”

“Well that’s not how your brother’s been telling it.”

No, Sarah berated to herself and to the top of Matt’s down turned head as she glared bitterly at him. Of course it wasn’t. How many years ago had he tried to use her one-time bad decision against her for his own personal gain by trying like hell to get inside Chester’s Inner Circle? When she had found out she was pregnant the two of them had made a pact and for a while at least even while Chester was out living as a free man yet to see the inside of a prison cell she had managed to hold him to it, but apparently not anymore. For whatever reason Matt had sold her out again and if this cop knew that meant virtually everyone in the city had to know, or would know soon enough. There weren’t enough words in her vocabulary to fire off at him at that moment so all Sarah could do was stand and stare at the carpet and watch in her peripheral vision the looming slump of her brother still saying nothing by way of self defence and the cop in the baggy ensemble and shaved head eyeing off her daughter as if he had it in mind to run back to the station with the little girl in his arms like a trophy to lure the one time drug lord to him – but of course Sarah knew she wasn’t thinking clearly and tried as best as she was able in such early hours to get abreast of her mounting emotions. When the cop suggested she make herself scarce for a while and voluntarily enter into some kind of protective custody agreement, at least until they could find Chester and in his words ‘have a talk with him,’ Sarah looked up into his dark eyes struggling with the impulsive fear that this wasn’t a cop at all but some kind of elaborate set up that would ensure the exact opposite to what he was touting - and somehow Sarah could almost readily believe that Matt and his one time buddy pal Chester Bennington had set this up just to get Ava away from her. But the cop seemed to sense her discomfort and suggested if she wished to be escorted by uniformed officers, something a little more ‘trustworthy’ than a man with his arms covered in tattoos and bulked up like a seasoned bouncer with a badge and a side arm regardless what the name on his billfold said.

Begrudgingly she nodded listening to him radio in to his dispatch, unable to face her brother and indeed anything else aside from her daughter, left wondering to herself with a degree of delayed shock, how she had allowed herself to get so caught up into the circus that was the Bennington way of life. Thanking the officer and watching him depart downstairs to wait for his relief, Sarah was about to open her mouth before Matt stormed from the room, taking her daughter in a panicked squeal with him. There was a moment of disbelief followed by hysteria as Sarah found herself screaming out for the cop as Matt ascended the stairs at a frantic pace. She gave chase but was quickly outrun. A moment later her brother and her daughter had all but disappeared and Sarah was left standing alone in the stairwell staring off into space like the victim of a car crash wondering where it had all gone so terribly wrong.

 

---

[Ravynlee]

---

 

The first time Jos met Mike face to face he was not particularly in the happiest of moods. It was just before breakfast and Rashell was still upstairs still nursing a damp towel over her flushed face from another stint in hugging the toilet bowl as Jos made her way down stairs towards the kitchen to get the poor woman some ginger. She had heard footsteps earlier and knew that her employer was up, but half way down the staircase she stopped to the sound of a ringing phone and heard Mike’s voice carry through the empty lower level of the townhouse like an ominous threat.

“I thought I told you not to call my house,” he murmured.

Hesitantly Jos paused, lingering mid step, and listening. She knew immediately something was wrong but having only been in this grand house for a handful of days she still wasn’t comfortable or confident in her obligations within it. Supposing to continue on as if nothing was amiss, Jos crept down into the kitchen craning her head in the silence to assure the coast was clear with her bare feet slapping at the polished floors. Mike must have been in the next room, she heard footsteps start and stop again over the sound of traffic droning out through the opened back terrace doors. Over the manicured gardens and the still waters of the pool the city skyline still glimmered like fantastic jewels against the first rays of dawn.

“What do you mean he has a daughter? What the fuck am I paying you people for? Jesus Christ!”

Practically choking on a scream Jos back peddled a step to find herself face to face with a stern-faced Mike Shinoda. It was clear while he hadn’t expected her to be within earshot he had no intentions of forcing frivolities now that they were standing within inches of each other. Merely staring down over her as his caller could be heard rationalizing something at length in his ear, Mike blinked at her, surveyed the room over her shoulder, then cupped a hand to the receiver and excused himself from the room.

 

 

Later, when a tall, thin, dark haired woman came calling, Jos again watched in a mute kind of silence as she greeted Mike at the landing of the stairs before he kissed her cheek and led her up with a quick determined stride to the third floor. While she only saw her from a distance Jos was sure she knew the other woman from somewhere, but she wasn’t given the time or opportunity to investigate further. She shrugged with a worrying pout. Despite the fact that she had well been warned never to venture up there to Mike’s private quarters still Jos lingered staring up like a kid at a taboo jar of cookies, wondering what was going on as the pair closed themselves away without so much as another word passing between them.

Though Jos hadn’t been in her surrounds long enough, and she certainly had no experience living with the rich and famous, she didn’t know what life was like by their schedules of endless meetings and social events and strange all-hours phone calls and visitors, she did suspect things were not as rosy as they seemed in paradise, and found herself gravitating with a newfound sympathy for Rashell especially in her pregnant state. Though she wasn’t beautiful by modern day standards, and especially not in a city where it seemed everyone who was anyone was a painful size 0 and took pleasure in the fact they could afford the best of anything yet deprived themselves of the most basic of sustenance, Rashell was still by classic standards a pretty woman. She had an honest face and in some ways she looked almost childlike with her pale skin and propensity for wearing pink in almost every setting, in direct contrast to her brooding half-Asian husband. It amazed Jos even now in the few days that they had been living under the same roof just how laid-back and normal the elusive Mrs MS herself really was. Jos had been anticipating some fiery Angelina Jollie type who put on all the airs and graces for the media but reverted to something of an erroneous tyrant behind closed doors but nothing could have been further from the truth. It still amused her to think how someone like her, an average woman from a working class family from California, could capture the heart and attention of one of the city’s most prominent and powerful businessmen like Mike Shinoda. Despite the few days she had been there, Jos had yet to see them as a couple interact beyond a quick kiss on the cheek or one-armed hug as he embraced her on his way past into another room, and he was almost always distracted with another person or with the phone held to his ear. Though Jos still barely knew either one of them at all she did find herself wondering how Rashell managed, indeed how she was likely to cope, once their little bundle of joy came into the world to the fleeting acknowledgment of his father. It was part of the reason why, when she saw Mike and this strange woman known only as Phi, make their way up to Mike’s third floor office area, that Jos began to suspect – with some horror that his wife remained sick on their second floor bedroom – that her employer was probably embroiled in an extra-marital affair. She didn’t think it was her place to say anything to Rashell, after all the woman obviously had enough on her plate to deal with, but something told Jos that Rashell was in some ways as responsible for her fate as she was compliant in allowing it to happen right there in front of her. After all, what kind of woman would just let her husband let strange women in to her house and be alone for so many hours at a time without allowing for interruptions, and indeed what kind of man did that make him to do that in the family home of all places, knowing there were witnesses around to prove it? Did the man simply have no feelings at all for anyone beside himself? So it was, very early in the piece, Jos started to feel conflicting emotions for the most powerful couple in New York City. She started to see both Mike and Rashell in a less than flattering light, and ultimately, in the end, would lend a hand to their and her eventual downfall.

 

---

[Ravynlee]

---

 

It was not the highlight of Ravyn’s career to be led out of her holding cell and into the waiting arms of her sister and her sister’s other half in handcuffs like some common thug. Beneath Joel’s gaze, as she signed the relevant forms and agreed to whatever the officer was telling her, Ravyn couldn’t help but feel life had taken on a whole new low in ways she hadn’t fathomed before this.

“We were so worried, sis,” Joanna was telling her, but Ravyn was really not listening.

Out of the corner of her eye she was looking at Joel as he watched her, unable to stop that stupid voice in the back of her head that told her that he was the reason she had found herself in this mess when she wholeheartedly knew it was all her choice to begin with. But that still didn’t stop her from projecting her usual defensiveness as they ushered her outside to the waiting car and started as she expected they would with their usual barrage of concerns and interrogations.

“Sis, what were you thinking? Hasn’t this family been through enough? Haven’t I been through enough lately?”

“That guy you got busted with, Stenners, have you dealt with him before?” Joel wanted to know.

Groaning into her hands Ravyn shook her head, repeating what she had already told his counterparts ad nauseum for the last several hours.

“No. I’ve never bought anything off anyone before.”

“So it was just dumb luck you happened across this guy, huh?”

“What do you mean, this guy?” Joanna asked a little defensively.

When Joel went on to explain, as best he could muster at such a relatively early hour in his good-cop tone of voice, that Stenners was a known associate of the Bennington mob, both Joanna and Ravyn sat back in their seats in respective silence. By now it was no secret that Chester Bennington himself was out. CNN, CNBC, GMA were running the story like nobody’s business. It was on all the papers and on every TV screen across New York City. Chances were if you had been living under a rock the last few years and didn’t know who Chester was before that morning then you were sure to by now. He had gone from bad memory to Iconographic anti-hero in a matter of hours and the whole city had been buzzing now since his release scrambling like maggots on fresh meat trying to get the first glimpse of the man that had knocked MS off the cover of The New York Times for the first time in months now.

Mike Shinoda’s camp was understandably silent as of that moment.

Joel told them in a steadily exasperating tone of voice that now that Chester was free all the old members that had followed his posse, or had rivalled it, were springing back into action like he’d never gone away. The city was chaotic he said, even if physically little if anything had changed on the surface. For his squad the threat was imminent. There was going to be a turf war and it was going to be soon and the fact that Stenners was suddenly back up to his old tricks again told Joel, with a heavy dose of sarcasm, that the war had really only just begun. And Ravyn, unwittingly, was walking headlong straight into it.

“I just bought some pills to help me sleep was all,” Ravyn uttered, calling into question Joel’s uncharacteristic flair for the dramatic.

“Well you’re lucky someone other than us saw you,” he stated in a way that painfully reminded her of her late ex-husband. “If that had been one of the other rival gangs or someone else we’d be identifying your body now, you think about that next time you do something like this,” he said.

Pursing her lips at him through the rear view mirror, short of giving him the finger, Ravyn rolled her head back and with a groan slouched into the backseat watching the car pull away from the curb and sidle up the street and into the early morning mid-city traffic.

For a while Ravyn rode in silence as Haily woke and slumbered fitfully in her baby capsule beside her. When the car eventually made it through road works and out towards the Brooklyn Bridge Ravyn sat up in her seat and began to pay attention.

“Where are you taking me?” she uttered, “This isn’t the way home. I live back that way,” she said, knowing full well that no one was really paying much attention to her.

Sniffling into tissues and on the frigid misty air Joanna stole her attentions and told her as sincerely as she could manage that they were taking her somewhere where she could get better, and that they were doing it, naturally, for her own good.

Blinking back silently Ravyn merely sat there saying nothing. She knew what it meant but the notion was so laughable she was rendered speechless by the shock of it. This had to be a dream, surely to god, she wasn’t crazy and she certainly wasn’t an addict, this was insanity at it’s worst, it was over-the-top, and watching Manhattan fall away and the urban grittiness of Queens rise up around her Ravyn began to feel panic swell in her chest at the thought that she was being taken out of the picture in a strategic move on behalf of the Narcotics cop’s possessiveness. That’s all this was, she thought, it was Joel’s final act at taking the last hurdle away between himself and Ravyn’s grieving sister. Practically choking on her rage Ravyn stared out the window contemplating a final act of defiance and wondering what would kind of damage she would sustain if she threw herself out of the moving vehicle and miscalculated her leap of blind faith – the last thing she needed to do was end up a helpless vegetable and be unable to rescue her sister from another bad relationship should things turn down that path, which she knew was more than just inevitable.

“Oh sis, please don’t look at me like this,” Joanna said turning around in her seat to acknowledge her. “I’m worried about you. We’re worried about you. You haven’t been yourself for so long now, and I miss you. We’re only doing this because we care about you. We want what’s best for you, really.”

“What about what I want?” Ravyn grit out. Maybe she only thought it because Joanna, with her tearful smile and shimmering puppy-dog eyes turned back around in her seat and didn’t answer her. Though the rest of the ride was long, it was silent. With Haily blissfully asleep and Joanna sniffling to herself disparagingly on the off-drivers side seat, Ravyn clenched her jaw and rolled her eyes aside out the window and completely shut off contact from her sister altogether.

 

 

Green Meadows sounded like a retirement village, not a rehabilitation clinic, and the first thing Ravyn expected to see when they pulled up in the sweeping drive was white-suited orderlies come out with a wheelchair and a straight jacket and a condescending grin as they shook Joel’s hand and signed the deal before whisking Ravyn away Hannibal Lecter style to the nearest Electroshock therapy room – but that didn’t happen. As Joel waited behind the wheel of the car Joanna hugged and led her inside to the clinicians that would take over care of her mentally defective sibling. She answered their questions and signed their forms all the while holding onto Ravyn like she was afraid her stone-faced sister would turn to ash if she let go and disperse into memory like the rest of her loved ones.

Yes there was a history of mental illness, she acknowledged. Yes there was a history of depression. Yes as far as Joanna was aware her sister had attempted suicide several times before, most notably after her son had been buried and Ravyn was found in the bathroom cutting into her arms and wrists with razorblades – hence her addiction on and off of years worth of medication. Yes she had had therapy years ago. Yes there had been significant traumatic triggers in her life. No there was no other family left besides Joanna with whom Ravyn had to rely upon. Of course Joanna agreed that her sister was stubborn and headstrong and too proud sometimes for her own good and she didn’t like accepting help from anyone even when she probably needed it but Joanna was sure that she would respond well to treatment here, because, she smiled in her eternally hopeful way, she loved her sister and just wanted to see her get better again no matter the cost. And cost wasn’t a deterrent anymore now was it, now that her late husband’s estate was footing the bill for it. Kissing her sister’s cheek and squeezing her hand Joanna mumbled words of love and encouragement into Ravyn’s neck before she drew away and watched her sister being taken away by the nurses to be admitted into treatment.

“I will never forgive you for this,” was the last thing she heard her sister say to her – but Joanna pretended she didn’t hear it. She didn’t want or need to; lord knew this moment was hard enough without making it any worse for either one of them. Not that there would be a chance to for a while to come.

[Ravynlee]

No contact for 28 days. No phone calls, no excuses, nothing.

Though the prospect of complete separation almost terrified Joanna she knew in the back of her mind that she would still sleep easier at night knowing exactly where her sister was and that she was finally getting the help and counselling she’d so blatantly refused – and apparently needed – all these years. Maybe she hoped it would help her to deal with the grief of what happened to Nick all those years ago and now Rob and maybe if she was lucky the trauma of her attack too – maybe she might even get past her blind rage and be at least open to the possibility that Mike Shinoda hadn’t been the one that almost killed her. After all if the cops thought he was innocent it was probable he was, and the last thing she wanted to see was her sister spending the rest of her life holding a grudge on one of the most powerful men in the city - people were even suggesting the possibility he could be running for mayor before the next election. But regardless as to whether or not he was innocent, and after a lifetime of seeing almost all of maledom (minus on occasion Rob) as the enemy, Ravyn had to get past her grudges sooner or later – or she’d never be happy alone or with anyone else as Joanna knew she deserved to be.

Still, she knew she had a long road to face, and an uphill one at that especially once Ravyn got out - it was after all a long overdue intervention – and Joanna did in some small way feel a little hurt that they had to go to this extreme in the first place. It was a far cry from joking around months ago with Rob about having her sister locked up in a nut house but to actually do it was something completely different altogether, and made worse by what had transpired since then now that Rob had accidentally taken his own life too - and she was scared and terrified of course about damaging future relations with her sister, but in the end, the end justified the means in some regards. She only had the best of intentions at heart, both for herself and her sister, and selfishly in some small way for relations between her and Joel too. She was only just starting to get close to him; she didn’t need her crazy sister making things worse between them no matter how cruel life may have been to her at times. She just hoped one day, maybe in a month’s time or so, Ravyn would be better again and they could all go back to the way they used to be, to the way they should have been, happy and healthy and together.

 

 

Outside in the car she held on to Joel and poured out her heart for what felt like lifetimes. Though she felt like a failure she felt an enormous amount of relief and gratitude too. Without his support and without his guidance helping her get her sister into such a reputable treatment facility as this Joanna confessed she was almost certain she probably wouldn’t have been able to cope as well as she had after all that had happened. Coyly Joel told her that it was his pleasure, more than that it was his civic duty, he wanted nothing more than for her and Haily to be happy and after so much trauma in their lives it was the least he could do to possibly help. Besides, he knew first hand what happened to people in her sister’s predicament, he said, they were only lucky she had been caught so early before her addiction to medications got any worse and possibly grew into anything far dangerous – especially with the likes of the Bennington Crew lingering on the sidelines.

“I won’t let my sister get caught up with the likes of him,” Joanna vowed, gritting her teeth with fierce determination in the way a lioness protects her cubs, thinking how ironic it was after all these years that Ravyn had gone from writing such sordid articles to practically starring in one. “I don’t care what it takes,” she said. “I owe her this much. In some ways I owe Rob too. I’m doing this for both of them,” Joanna sniffled, then in Joel’s loving arms Joanna finally broke down and cried.

 

---

[Ravynlee]

---

 

The sun bore down as Frib cast an eye skyward, watching a plane coast overhead to the booming backdrop of his commanding officer’s voice. They had been at this for hours now and the young detective was almost certain now he could manoeuvre the circuit with his eyes blindfolded, but gripping the firearm in his hands, he huffed out a determined grunt, signalled his readiness and waited for the signal to commence again.

“Hey, Friðbjörn, you still with us?”

Blinking up to the sound of his name Frib stalled. The firing range of his training years melted away into the past behind him as he squinted up through the glare of the midmorning sun beneath his partner’s curiosly cocked brows.

“Uh yeah just... thinking,” he lied.

Wiping a band of sweat from the back of his neck Frib looked up at the woman who’s large portly frame filled her suburban doorway. The look she was giving him was like a cuckolding parent. Dipping his blushing cheeks Frib stepped back to lean against the low brick fence as he listened to Karl thank the woman for her time before retreating down the steps with a cordial nod by way of parting.

“Okay, want to tell me what that was all about?” Karl asked him.

Making their way to the unmarked car Frib shrugged as she surveyed the street again, letting his gaze wander freely over the dilapidated brownstone buildings, gaping chain link fences, and overflowing trash cans with his shoulders falling beneath the starched material.

“Nothing,” he sighed as Karl could be heard getting into the car. “Just... didn’t think this is what I’d be signing up for when I joined the team, that’s all,” he murmured.

He heard Karl scoff and smirked himself listening to the car engine grumble into life. Hearing loud music blast from an approaching car Frib immediately looked up to watch a tall haggard homeless man skulk past. Something in his chest tightened but only for a second. He supposed it was natural to still be thinking of his old partner again he assumed and watched the old man dissapear around a corner before he opened the car door and closed himself inside.

“So, what’s the deal with this missing girl then?” he asked as they made their way through the dingy city streets.

“She’s Bennington’s kid,” Karl said seriously.

“No way. Really?”

“Do you think I’d make something like this up?” Karl asked with his strange smile. In the few months since Rob’s death Frib had had a difficult time warming to his team member’s grave façade – if Karl joked with him it was usually laced with such sarcasm it was hard to know whether to answer or merely go with the flow and cop the snide remark on the chin. Playing it safe Frib merely shrugged back and settled stiffly into the backrest.

“So how come no one knew about her earlier?”

“Don’t know,” Karl confessed at the road. “Apparently he had an affair with some woman who was studying as in Intern out West.”

“A doctor? No shit?”

“No. No shit,” Karl agreed. “She kept it to herself and he went to the slammer. The only way he found out about it was through his attorney apparently. Some anonymous source dropped off a note explaining everything and she checked it out. She apparently broke the news to him. You can imagine what that did for his case, can’t you?”

Frib nodded to himself. Though he had only been in Narcotics less than a year he had already seen one too many thugs being let back on the streets on the appeal of witless judges who were remiss on tearing so-called happy families apart.

“But… doesn’t explain why we’re the ones out playing child services?”

“Think about it; Chester’s out. His little girl’s also out there somewhere. Someone’s trying very hard to either get them together or to keep them apart. Either way, eventually, we find the kid and we’ll find her father. Chester might like to think he’s beyond the law but once we catch up with him, it’s only a matter of time before we send his ass straight back where it belongs.”

“I thought he was keeping his nose clean now?”

Karl scoffed. “Please. Give him time. Besides, if by some miracle he doesn’t fall straight back into old habits, parole violation still warrants an automatic arrest. Either way he’s going down. Someone like that, who falls so far so fast like he did, he’s going to be itching to get back up top to where he thinks he belongs. And when he does that’s when we come into it. Slap a stamp on that ass my friend, we’ll finally be done with him.”

“So, this woman he had an affair with… where will we find her?”

[Ravynlee]

“We don’t. She’s not missing. One of our patrol’s already have her,” Karl frowned as he indicated at a set of lights. “For her own protection. As you can imagine, she’s scared out of her mind.”

“Sleeping with Bennington in the first place would be enough to do that to a person,” Frib murmured into his fist boorishly. Then he shrugged it off. “Why would someone as smart as a doctor be interested in a stoner like him anyway? I don’t get it. Women, I don’t get them I mean. What did she think would happen the minute she found out she was carrying his kid for gods sake? Gives me a headache just thinking about it.”

Karl s******ed but it was hard to tell whether he was laughing along or at his younger counterpart. The city continued to slide past the windows as the two men rode in a contemplative silence a few more minutes. Outside on the sidewalk the smell of fresh cut flowers intermingled with the scents of hot dogs and the stench of bumper-to-bumper traffic. Stuck behind a commuter bus with the familiar monochromatic scowl of the city’s favorite underhanded son, Frib sighed and sat gnawing at his fist irritably. Karl was uttering something in his chesty drawl that even after these few months still sounded flat to his ears. Gazing aside at the sun struggling to break through the towering high-rises and to warm the city from it’s unseasonable chill, Frib heard a familiar name spoken and asked Karl to repeat it.

“Uh, a doctor Sarah Woodlands. Sister to our favorite little parasite Matthew ‘Stenners’, never a dull moment in that household, I’ll bet.”

“Woodlands? Are you sure? Woody, uh… Sacred Heart right?”

“No Sacred Heart’s in Jersey. But you’re close. That’s what they call her, why? Do you know her or something?”

Remembering back to his first week as a rookie fresh from the academy Frib recalled the night he and Rob had discovered a young battered man and had followed the ambulance in where he met the young doctor for the first time. He smiled then but it was with a degree of remorse as he remembered the way she seemed to fawn over Rob and almost virtually ignored him. In a strange way it made sense now why she seemed so interested in his previous partner now that he thought about it; after all, hadn’t Rob been the one responsible for putting her baby’s father away in the first place?

‘Don’t do what I did,’ he heard Rob’s voice repeat ominously that day back at the cemetery all those months ago. It almost seemed like another lifetime ago as he sat looking back on it. ‘Don’t trust anyone, especially those around you. I don’t know how far it goes but I know it’s there; Mike’s influence, I know it’s there in the department. The corruption claims are only the start.’

Hearing the sound of a car horn blast Frib snapped to attention only to realize he was staring face-to-face with that printed representation of Mr Manhattan himself Mike Shinoda and Frib felt a watery sensation ripple ominously down his back.

“We need to talk to him,” he said, as if speaking aloud to himself. Beside him Karl was frowning back concernedly.

“Who?” he grunted.

“Him,” Frib said nodding with a scowl towards the poster. The eternal visage of Mike’s face seemed to leer at them as the bus shuddered and pulled away before it turned a corner and disappeared completely.

“Are you crazy?” Karl challenged, but Frib could only goad him on with a smirk.

Yes it was possible he was crazy, he figured, especially if he was still taking advice from his dead ex-partner, but even in death Rob hadn’t steered him wrong yet – and Frib couldn’t help but feel that strange tug at his subconscious where the precinct’s counselor couldn’t reach to think that Rob had known so much and no one seemed ready to believe him, not even Frib – like the mythological Cassandra gifted with premonitions that no one would ever believe. Now he was laughing from his watery grave but only Frib seemed to be able to hear it. Crazy seemed a moot point in retrospect.

 

---

 

More in a few days

[woodyloveslinkin]

Wow.

Fucking awesome. So much better reading your story than reading stupid 1700 word essays.

Wow. Again. I'm so lucky I wasn't reading this in a lecture and disguising this as my "notes" cos I would just fall off my seat or yell at the piece of paper....but man, there's so many connections you've made with your story to my story...

Interesting story about the name "Woodlands". My drama teacher thought that was my name, cos all the guys had made up that nickname for me, so she followed their advice and even put on my assignments that name. lol. And then she only realised it wasn't the correct way of spelling it when I told her ^^ but that was funny of you to use that, reminded me of my old drama teacher.

I was expecting Chester to jump out of a bush in front of Sarah and scare the living daylights out of her at one point of the story.

This is Sarah's planet hell literally!!....Chester being released from jail and all. Oh god. If I was really in that situation, I would barricade me and my child in my house or move to another country. For once me and Matt aren't together as a couple, that was entertaining to see you pull away from that cliche. But I would also kill my real life brother if he ever did the stunt that Matt did to Sarah. Well at least now, Ava's been found, *phew*.

Congrads Ma. I stopped messaging people back, stopped listening to my music, it really drew me in and fuck....I'm speechless now..just for Bravo!

Btw. Sacred Heart is in Chicago not Jersey lol just for a random fact. And Sarah needs to learn to keep her legs shut.

[Ravynlee]

Hahaha - that cracked me up! Bless ya

But I based it on yours but if you remember correctly from the start I said it was near Jersey, so technically its sorta a lil white lie on my part - it's a fictional place for my purposes. Like the place my character is in now. Doesn't exist. But works well for my purposes ^^

And your lil girl hasn't been found yet - no not yet. And yes Matt is a bad boy isn't he?

As for Chas well... admittedly I've sorta been bad and haven't been keeping up with yours so far. Just a few pages as of recent. I know, I'm bad, I need to catch up. The posts are sooo long though! Oh well...

And glad ya liked. Thanks very much!