_{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}

_{ORIGINALGRILLA.}

_{‘     but if you stop ‘n  reflect,   all that shit’s piled up in the same sandbox.    afraid,   panicked,   pissed off    —    whatever.    adrenaline don’t discriminate.    it’s the  rush  that’ll make you stupid.     ’       the laugh that comes unsolicited almost makes him choke on a lung full of cigarette smoke.       ‘     what’d you do,   get him stuck on his li’l hamster wheel ?    negligent homicide    —    ?     ’}

_{❛     damn.    you some kinda  expert ?     ❜    expression drops into a deadpan stare,  the barest trace of amusement lingering behind.     ❛     ha - ha,  very funny.    nah,  but f’ real,  it wasn’t my fault !    how was i supposed t’ know you didn’t have t’ give ‘em a bath ?    i was  ten,  yo !     ❜}

_{ORIGINALGRILLA.}

_{‘     think they call that  hysterical strength.    only happens in life or death situations,   when your brain snaps into  overdrive.    people can do some pretty fucked up shit when they’re scared.     ’       it’s a good measure of what someone’s  truly  capable of    —    but with any luck,   most of them won’t ever find out.       ‘     naw !   you gotta take ‘em two or three at a time.    my scrawny ass would’a got  dragged  down the damn street if i tried takin’ seven bully breeds for a stroll.    your folks ever let’cha have a dog ?     ’}

_{❛     yeah,  but what about when they’re not ?    ain’t always gotta be  scared of somethin’  t’ get that adrenaline rush ‘n kick some  serious  ass.    i mean,  it’s kinda better if you’re not afraid,  ain’t it ?    fear makes you stupid.     ❜     she shrugs,  hands pocketed.     ❛     p’ft.    you kiddin’ ?    hell no.    said i wasn’t  responsible  or whatever ‘cause they got me a hamster when i was  ten  ‘n it died.    its name was meatball.     ❜     yes,  she did cry.    (    in private.    )}

 _{ORIGINALGRILLA.}

_{‘     it’s the adrenaline.    slows everything down ‘n speeds it up at the same time.     ’       something else that doesn’t need explaining,   to her of all people.       ‘     boardin’ school don’t sound half  bad,   playa.    i bet you  aced  that class without even tryin’.    hey,   yo    —    dogs are the bomb,   no doubt.    grew up with seven of ‘em,   you know,   pitbulls.    you wanna talk about  pickin’ your battles    –––––––     ’}

_{❛    ever heard them  whack stories  about moms lifting cars up off the  ground  t’ save their kids ‘cause the adrenaline’s pumpin’ all hardcore ?    didn’t believe poochie when he told me,  just ‘cause he likes t’  exaggerate  shit,  but f’ real,  it can happen.    ❜     something about adrenal glands and using more percentage of muscle.     ❛     boarding school was fuckin’ lame.    full of  yuppie bitches.    …  pit bulls are badass,  yo !    how’d you take ‘em all on a walk ?    you get like,  seven leashes  ‘n take ‘em all at once,  or what ?     ❜}

_{ORIGINALGRILLA.}

_{‘     damn right.    s’all about  strategy,   knowin’ how to pick your battles.    see,   ‘cause they ain’t that different from us.     ’       he doesn’t have to tell her that.    bullet knows how  predatory  people can be.       ‘     —    so you’re gonna be a  vet,   huh.    i’m guessin’ you’re a dog person,   too,   am i right ?     ’}

_{❛    ‘cause we got them  survival instincts.    that fight or flight shit.    ❜     she thinks back to the afternoon beneath the bridge,  on the outskirts of tank’s squat,  where she thought she might find kallie.    about how she chose not to fight that battle because she knew the odds of walking out unscathed were slim.    and that’s  intuition.     ❛     been the dream ever since i was a li’l kid.    took all them classes at my boarding school ‘cause i thought it might get my foot in the door or somethin’.    …  yo,  who  don’t  like  dogs ?     ❜}

_{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.    ❜}

_{ORIGINALGRILLA.}

_{damned if there isn’t a part of him that  wishes  it was bullshit.    those few weeks    —    months    —    with her in a coma,   coupled with trying to cover up the death of a decorated police lieutenant    (   responsible for the rape and murder of at least forty young girls   ),    were some of the worst he can remember.       ‘     linden shot him.    you want the full story ?    sit your ass down.     ’}

_{what that  jank - ass cabbie  did to kallie was  sickening  to watch.    (    her skin crawls just thinking about it and she wants to climb out of it,  scrub herself clean.    )    but joe mills isn’t the man who targeted and terrorized those girls on the streets.   he isn’t the man who stuffed her in a trunk with a throat slit open,  a collapsed lung and broken ribs.    the anger she once felt may have tempered,  but she wants an explanation.    figures he  owes  her that.     ❛     don’t fuckin’ lie to me.     ❜     a word of warning before sinking down into the chair behind linden’s desk.}

_{ORIGINALGRILLA.}

_{she doesn’t relent,   and he can’t blame her    —    but he still moves to pull that office door firmly shut,   mindful of anyone who might have been drawn to the commotion.    he has to  wait  to get a word in,   sharp,   not as loud as it could be.      ‘     he ain’t  walkin’  anywhere.    he’s fuckin’  dead.    alright ?    skinner’s dead.     ’}

_{she isn’t  finished  with him yet.    even tries sidestepping to cut him off before he can close the door,  prattling on about joe mills and the pied piper until the last second.    (    until he drops that bomb,  and she’s suddenly feeling like there’s a slew of things he hasn’t told her.    )    she pauses.    lets the weight of it sink in.     ❛     …  bullshit.     ❜}

_{ORIGINALGRILLA.}

_{‘     hey    —    keep your voice down.     ’       he already knows  exactly  where this is going.       ‘     shut the door.    what’d you hear about mills ?     ’}

_{❛     screw you !    don’t tell me what to do !     ❜     spat out in that same caustic tone,  gaze pinned.    she’s beyond reasoning.    furious with him,  with the entire department for covering this up.     ❛     joe mills is a piece of shit,  but he ain’t the pied piper !    i saw him,  holder,  with my own two eyes !    he slit my fucking  throat,  killed kallie,  killed all of those  girls  and you’re just gonna let him fuckin’ walk ?     ❜}