_{BLOODLETTERED.}

_{it’s  twisted   ——    &   she  hates  herself  for  it,      but  part  of  her  resents  her  younger  sister  for  this.       people  are  dying  without  a  choice  whether  or  not  they  get  to  live  their  life.      rachel  herself  almost  lost  her  life.     that  was  beyond  anyone’s  control  at  this  point;      so  to  see  her  do  something  so  seemingly  harmless  (    in  comparison    ),     yet  still  so  life-threatening,     by  CHOICE  made  audrey  angry.        she  survived;     why  wasn’t  she  THANKFUL  for  that?     the  worst  part  is  that  she  knows  she’s  still  a  target,      &     by  association,     rachel  will  never  truly  be  safe.      that  kills  her.       a  look  of  shock  is  sent  back  at  her,      &     she  quickly  shakes  her  head.       ❛    i  don’t  have  time  for  fun.    ❜        what  she  means:      she’s  too  busy  trying  to  save  her  friends  after  putting  them  in  this  situation  in  the  first  place.       even  if  piper  would  have  eventually  made  her  way  to  lakewood,      audrey  had  given  her  a  push.      ❛    people  are  DYING!     ❜       a  comeback  to  everything.       ❛   i  don’t  have  time  to  relax  or  to  have  fun  or  to  stop  thinking  about  this  because  it’s  only  going  to  keep  getting  worse,      &     i   almost  lost  YOU!      do  you  get  that?       i’m  not  okay  with  that!    ❜}

_{people are  dying.    she  knows,  and would like to think she has just as much of an  informed opinion  as her  sister,  but here’s the problem:    her friends aren’t the ones being lead like  lambs  to the slaughter.     ❛     you know that ain’t what i meant.     ❜     she’s not expecting audrey to  stop  thinking about other people.    knows her better than that,  even after  three years.    but she also knows the lengths she’ll go to if it means  protecting  the people  close  to her without realising she’s caught right between the crosshairs.    or maybe she  does,  and just doesn’t  care.     ❛     yeah,  but you  didn’t   –––   i’m still here.     ❜     emphasis on  here,  alive and breathing even though she feels a lot less.    a lot less something.    maybe not less of a person but less  deserving  to be when girls like  zoë vaughn,  her polar  opposite,  are buried six feet underground.    can’t imagine how  bitter  survivor’s guilt must taste to  emma duval.    how heavy the blame sits on audrey’s shoulders.     ❛     yo,  audrey,  chill  for a second.    you’re givin’ this  sick  psycho exactly what he freakin’ wants.    ‘n you know what ?    you’re gonna stretch yourself thin if you keep this  shit  up.    then you won’t be able t’ have  anyone’s  back ‘cause you’ll be all  locked up  in a psych ward or some shit ‘n throwin’ yourself against walls in a  straightjacket.    stop worryin’ ‘bout  me  ‘n everyone else ‘n think about you.    when’re you gonna stop fuckin’ blamin’ yourself ?    this ain’t your  fault.     ❜}

_{BLOODLETTERED.}

_{she  closes  her  eyes  briefly  as  her  sister  raises  her  voice,         knowing  how  much  it  probably  pains  her  to  speak  that  way.        &      so  badly,      she  wants  to  tell  her  to  stop  AGAIN,        only  to  go  against  her  wishes  to  not  tell  her  what  to  do.         she  can’t  help  it     ;      it’s  in  her  nature  to  be  protective  of  those  close  to  her.          even  if  they  hadn’t  been  close  in  YEARS  ——   rachel  was  the  most  important  person  to  her.          she  wants  her  to  be  BETTER       (     she  needs  it    ).         she  looks  back  at  her,       scoffing  at  her   attempt      &      keeping  the  cigarette  away  from  her.         she  wasn’t  going  to  let  her  continue,        not  when  she  is  like  this.        ❛    do  you  really  think  that’s  what  this  is  about?       i  don’t  care  that  you’re  in  my  room   —–     ❜          though  part  of  her  did  wonder  why,        but  she  isn’t  mad.        she  finds  it  strangely  endearing  that  she’s  here.         ❛       why  are  you  always  doing  this?     why  are  you  constantly  trying  to  risk  your  life?          it  can’t  be  fun  to  be  this  reckless  all   the  time,         is  it?     ❜}

_{she  isn’t.    despite what everyone else might believe.    all those  preconceived notions  about living on the streets,  what it  does  to a person     –––––     they’re all true.    the past  three years  have taught her a lot about taking  risks,  and there’s a sick  irony  here that she feels the need to  point out.    audrey doesn’t have a leg to  stand on.    she tries to imagine a world where the roles were  reversed.    where  her  friends were the ones being terrorised and  slaughtered.    waking up,  fearing what the day will bring.    wondering who’s going to die  next.    tries putting herself in audrey’s shoes,  the minute that trunk  unlatched  and she found her sister laying there,  still as a corpse,  blood  soaking through into the upholstery.    it’s a gut - wrenching thought.    maybe,  in this parallel universe,  bullet would be going to the  ends of the earth  to  protect  her.    (    as if she isn’t doing so already.    it’s the  only reason  she hasn’t left home and found her way back to skid row,  slit throat or no slit throat.    audrey’s  worried  about her,  and all the while she can’t help but think that she’s the one who needs protecting.    the killer  didn’t just attack bullet.    he attacked audrey  through  bullet,  deliberately,  to taunt her.     )     she looks up.    doesn’t quite know  how  to respond without dishing out  sarcasm.     ❛     the hell would  you  know about havin’  fun ?    you’re so goddamn stressed out,  your hair’s turnin’  silver.    you ever quit worryin’ about  other people  ‘n start worryin’ ‘bout yourself for a change ?     ❜}

_{CRAVESFREEDOM.}

                ^{❛  it is sick.  ❜  he takes note on her pun ( whether she meant to make one or not ),  ❛  but seriously, with everything that’s going on around here & — what happened to you, i think the less DEATH we talk about the better, even if that means crippling my number of conversation topics.  ❜  he shakes his head, letting out a weak laugh  ;  though shame does not manifest in him easily, he finds himself feeling more meek towards his QUIRKY, if not unnatural interest in serial killers, & the horror genre in general,  ❛  so, why don’t you throw a fact at me?  ❜}

_{she bristles.    becomes cold,  distant.    doesn’t appreciate being  reminded  of the night that turned her whole world inside out,  until she remembers:  he experienced the same trauma.    but that doesn’t make her feel  better.    it almost makes her feel worse,  somehow,  knowing that the lakewood six have been suffering at the hands of piper shaw’s masked accomplice.    gaze dips,  then levels,  shoulders rolling out a fair bit of tension.     ❛     a’ight     –––––     but i’m gonna be comin’ after your ass if someone ever puts a  gun  t’ my head ‘n asks me how a  prairie dog  whoops up on a ground squirrel,  ‘cause guess what ?    homegirl ain’t gonna have the answer.     ❜     she’s fortunate to have enough  animal trivia  on hand to keep them here a while.     ❛     octopuses have three hearts ?    ‘n their tentacles are sentient,  ‘cause over half their  neurons  are there,  so the octopus can be,  like,  goin’ about its business ‘n their arms are just doin’ whatever else.    they  literally  got a mind of their own.     ❜}

_{CRAVESFREEDOM.}

                     ^{❛  duly noted.  ❜ he clears his throat from the bit of second-hand smoke he’s just inhaled. can he actually keep his lips sealed ?  ;  it’s a question of which of the jensen’s WRATH he’d rather face,  ❛ well, — since you like animals, let’s talk about my favorite FUZZY serial killer  ;  the prairie dog. ❜  a dramatic pause, waiting for her unimpressed expression to lift,  ❛ —- total herbivores, but they routinely MURDER their competition: the ground squirrel.  ❜  a chuckle presses past his lips, almost nervous,  ❛  i would go into detail on how, but it’s probably too graphic.  ❜}

_{audrey’s a force to be reckoned with.    but so is she.    it all seems so  trivial  in hindsight.    lakewood has a lot more to worry about than underaged smokers,  and  audrey  probably has more  important matters  on her mind than what bullet’s doing to her lungs.     ❛     no shit ?    knew they were tough li’l fuckers.    didn’t think they were  killers.     ❜     animals facts.    the one thing that  never fails  to spark interest and keep the conversation above water.    mostly.     (    and it’s worth mentioning that she  noticed  that.    how could she not,  when his little  nervous tics  are staring her right in the face ?    she almost cracked a smile.    )     ❛    aw,  don’t hold out on me like that !    i think i’m man enough t’ handle it.    y’ know the  bubonic plague  can still wipe out entire  colonies  of prairie dogs,  right ?    it’s  sick.     ❜}

_{❛     you  tell her  about this,  i’ll kick your  ass.    ❜     she shouldn’t be smoking,  but she is.    hand cupped around the spark of a flame,  tobacco burning.    listless gaze levels while pocketing the lighter and exhaling,  courteous enough to keep from blowing it in his face.     ❛     …  got any more trivia for me ?     ❜     //  @cravesfreedom}

_{BLOODLETTERED.}

                               _{she  stares  back  at   her   sister  blankly,         at  a  loss  for  words  as  her  eyes  dart  between  the  cigarette      &      the  younger  girl,       clearly  not  at  all  concerned  about   her  being  in  her  room,      rather  what  she  was  doing  there.       her  room  was  clean,      for  the  most  part   —–    but  that  was  only  because  she  barely  spent  any  time  in  it.         all  she  really  cared  about  now  was  that  her  sister  was  being  reckless        (      something  she  expected  out  of  her  but  HOPED  would  calm  down  given  her  current  condition      ).       ❛       rachel,      is  this  some  kind  of  idiotic  prank?          you  can’t  smoke  right  now!     ❜          she  said,     quickly  moving  over  to  her   to  tug  the  cigarette  out  of  her  hand,      as  if  she  had  any  kind  of  real  authority  over  her.          ❛      can  you  maybe  just  try  to  deal  with  ONE  bad  thing  at  a  time   —–     like,     i  don’t  know,     that   bandage  on  your  neck,        ❜          she  said,     her  tone  slightly  mocking  as  she  pointed  towards  her  neck.         ❛    you  survived,     you’re  not  invincible.      no  smoking,      ❜       she  repeated,     but  this  was  all  because  she  cared  about  her  sister.       she  had  lost  her  for  so  long   —–  now  that  she  was  finally  back,      she  wanted  to  know  she  was  SAFE,       &     she  was  prepared  to  do  whatever  she  had  to  to  ensure  that.}

_{her sister’s bedroom looks a lot different,  but somehow still the same.    the same  personal touches  that made it so unmistakably  audrey jensen.    the same purple fucking walls she used to hate.    bullet’s seemed all too impersonal by comparison.    it belonged to a ghost.    to rachel jensen and the girl she  used  to be.    not the junkyard bitch who’s been staying there.    she prefers audrey’s because she hated it a little less than her own.    felt at ease despite how it changed,  but didn’t know how to say that.    and even if she  did,  she wouldn’t have bothered.     ❛     yo,  don’t tell me what to do !    ❜     it puts a strain on her throat to even raise her voice above a  conversational level,  but she manages with only  minimal struggle.     ❛     give it back,  ya thievin’ ass punk !    i’m not playin’,  yo,  c’mon,  this ain’t funny !     ❜     makes a grab for the appropriated cigarette at least twice before giving in,  waving a hand in dismissal and taking a step back to lean against the windowsill.     ❛     you ain’t gotta give me a speech,  a’ight ?    you’re all worried ‘n shit.    i get it.    yo’ room,  yo’ rules,  blah,  blah,  blah.    ❜}

_{❛     yo,  listen    ––––    i didn’t touch  nothin’  up in this bitch.    everything’s all …  organised chaos,  just the way you  left  it.     ❜     more worried about audrey being pissed at her for being in her room unattended than anything else.    the bandage on her  throat,  for example,  that could’ve used changing.    or the cigarette she was holding and about to light.    at least she had the courtesy to crack open the window first.}     //  @bloodlettered