dead girl

Nora had trouble relating to his fear of settling down. Ever since she was young all she wanted was a white picket fence and someone who’d always be there to come home to. She wanted to cook dinner, or at least try to; Nora wasn’t exactly talented in the kitchen. She wanted to have kids and dogs and a family, but that wasn’t really a possibility now. Nora thought of the baby at home, the baby with no name and no parents that she’d rescued from the forrest. He was the closest she’d ever come to that white picket fence. “Why’s it so terrifying?” she asked, her tone curious, “I’m sure traveling all the time is nice, but it’s nice having somewhere to call home all the time, don’t you think?”

“Not the partying type? What brings you here then?”

Trying to find a place to steal away to in order to get away from the crowd, he couldn’t find one that wasn’t occupied. The best he could do was stand against a wall near a woman who seemed to be watching everyone else and not enjoying the night herself. Slowly eating some fries, he tried to look around for some of his friends, but they were likely all up at the bar chugging as many beers as possible. Looking up, he saw one of them getting up on the bar counter and starting to shout something he couldn’t even understand. “Jesus…” he muttered, shaking his head as he ate another fry. Thankfully, he was designated driver, as always.

Nora shook her head, wondering why she’d decided to come tonight, when suddenly she heard someone to her left. A faint smile graced her lips as she heard him and how he sounded like he was just as out of place as she was. “Not much for parties, huh?” 

“Well, I was born in the next town over, and then my parents moved me here, so I went to school here, but then I moved back there for a while, and now I’m here again.” Here. That’s all she could really say about herself. She wasn’t back, at least not in the sense that she was before. She was just here. “Where are you from, David?”

Nora jumped a little when she heard the man’s voice, too caught up in her own mind. 

“Of course you are,” she said, “But you know, I think the soberest girl in the whole room could use a glass of water. And maybe some of those hors d'oeuvres I’ve seen around here.”

      Stupidity. The only explanation for why he was pushing into Nora’s apartment, thoughts drowned out by the sound of a wailing child mixed with a wailing woman, was that Gunner Bautista was an actual idiot. That’s what she did to him, though, and as his darted between Nora’s shaking body and the sobbing child nor far from her. Sighing, he knew that she was right in her texts and she’d been right in the forest: they needed to help each other. If she was going to be more stubborn than him and commit to this kid, he couldn’t make her do it herself.

      Tentatively, he scooped up the child, rocking him back and forth like he assumed was right. “You’re okay. You’re okay now. I’ve got you.” Idly, he wondered if this was the time where he was supposed to feed the baby or change his diaper, but the child quieted and Gunner settled on the idea that the baby just wanted attention. Holding the infant was foreign. His muscles were too tense and there was nothing soothing about the small fists that closed around the fabric of his shirt.

      Once settling the baby, Gunner turned his attention to Nora. Setting the kid (God, if they were going to keep this thing for any amount of time, it needed a name because he could not keep saying the baby) down on a blanket he assumed she’d put down to lay him on, Gunner hovered as he watched the little human wriggling on his back and stare up with large doe eyes that seemed to take in everything and nothing at all. No swell of paternal instinct overtook him. Truthfully, he grimaced in response. Shaking his head, he moved to sit against the wall and pulled Nora into his arms. When her visions got like this when she was alive, he’d be used to sitting through them with her. Whether it was like this for all psychics, he wasn’t sure, but now that she was a Banshee they seemed to be no better.

The world around her was blurry, out of focus. That’s how the visions usually started. When everything became clear Nora looked down to see the baby. They were in the same part of the woods where she found him, at the same tree -- only this was different. There was no blood on him, his clothes were unstained. He looked up at her, his eyes wide, almost afraid of what he saw. Nora felt something drip down on her head, and surprised took a deep breath. A metallic taste tainted the air that filled her lungs, and as she looked down again she saw the blood on her own body, her torso covered in bright red. 

Nora screamed, but no sound came out. She kept screaming, trying to wake herself from the nightmare, but the baby just looked at her, just as afraid. She wanted to run, she wanted to protect the baby, she wanted to get out of here. Nora wanted to wake up. She could feel the strain on her vocal cords as she kept yelling, but the world around her was still silent. 

Afraid, and not sure how to solve her problems, Nora picked up the baby. He started screaming, and suddenly the world went dark. 

When Nora opened her eyes again the world was once again blurry, but when it came into focus all she saw was Gunner. She was partially relieved, but she couldn’t help but feel frustrated and confused. Sure she texted him to come over, but Nora was desperate when she did that, and if she was being honest with herself she didn’t think he’d come. 

Suddenly she became aware of the silence that filled the room. The baby had stopped crying. Did he do that? 

“I--,” she almost started to apologize for earlier. She shook her head, as if to rid the thought from her head. She didn’t want to apologize, she just wanted him here, and she already had that. 

Deciding to take a breather, the girl grabbed her essentials - phone, wallet and walking stick and went out the door. She didn’t really have a particular place in mind at first but after walking a few blocks down, she felt hungry and was craving for some sushi. After having located the restaurant on the map in her phone, she immediately changed direction accordingly without realizing that she hadn’t exactly reached the crosswalk yet. 

It was only when she heard a car screeched that she jumped back with a short scream, tripping over the curb and landing flat on her ass. “S-sorry! I didn’t .. “ She stammered as she was still too disorientated from the shock.

“No, sorry!” she said, apologizing more for her yelling than anything else, Nora offered the girl her hand. “Are you okay?”

      “What do you mean ‘what do we do’?” It was the first question he could ask and Gunner idly wondered if that was what his father had asked his mother before he’d left. Maybe it was in his genes, but the fear of the child was instant. He’d never wanted kids, didn’t want to be near them or have anything to do with them so the answer was simple to him.

      Get rid of it. There were orphanages. There were other people who could take care of a baby. There were hundreds of other options, so he wasn’t quite sure why she needed to ask in the first place. It went without saying that he was not keeping it and he wasn’t going to let her. A baby just didn’t fit into the equation.

Nora was a fair tempered person. She rarely raised her voice and she wasn’t the type to start an argument. Keeping her emotions in check was something Nora had no problem with, at least most of the time. When it came to her death things were different. When it came to children things were different. Nora knew her life would be different now, and that there were things she’d always wanted that she couldn’t have, but she had trouble accepting it sometimes. 

“Just abandon him then? Abandon a baby who I found in the woods covered in blood?” 

Nora’s voice was shaky, her eyes were wet. What she was feeling was a mix of anger and frustration and sadness, and Nora hated it. All she wanted to do was help; that’s all Nora ever wanted. 

“How can I in good conscience just drop this baby off at a shelter? He’s not mine Gunner, I get that, but he’s a baby and I can’t just drop him off somewhere. I can’t leave someone like that.” 

But Nora had left someone like that, someone she knew a lot better than this baby, and someone who needed her just as badly. Nora left Gunner years ago when he needed her and she wasn’t going to do that again. This baby didn’t need her, but he needed someone, and Nora wasn’t just going to hope someone else would take that just as seriously as she knew she did.