#para001.

Annika had forgotten what it was like, the ability to stop and enjoy life rather than constantly be thrown into the fast-lane. Each city that she attended knew her name, they fawned over her looks and spoke in chatters about her personal life. Never to her, always to one another. She had grown accustomed to being an outsider in a place where people wanted to delve deep inside of her life and act as though they'd prefer to know her personally. It was nothing to take to heart, she learned to take what she could get and ignore the rest. So, she smiled when they spoke to her and laughed along with their jokes, whether or not she actually found them to be humorous. Not any people were able to see a genuine smile or laugh from the young woman, though most were easily fooled by the mask that she had practiced each morning in the mirror and only took off at night to fall asleep in her much too large bed. Her own family didn't know her anymore, not really. She barely spoke to her siblings, her mother only spoke to her to talk to her about a photoshoot or ask if she had gotten a particular film deal. Acting, modeling, if it could pay a bill, it was important to senora Montaya. Otherwise, it wasn't anything worth holding a conversation over.

Her old hometown was a strange place to find herself. It had been a stop along the way, as she ventured to a few cities over to work on a photoshoot that she had in roughly two weeks. Curiosity had taken hold of her as she wondered if any of her old friends would still be there. Her family had since relocated, but she wasn't particularly interested in seeing them anyhow. It would only mean more fake laughter, insincere smiles and love that just lacked. She was instead locked in a hope that maybe, just perhaps, she would run into high school friends, people who knew her as someone else. As a person who enjoyed dancing around in the hallways to no music in particular, as the girl who fell down a single stair and still managed to fracture her ankle. Not as a familiar beauty but as someone who could equate to them. She supposed it was much too much to ask for, maybe a little too poetic and highly pretentious but she had already decided not to tell anyone her real reason for having sought out the old town.

She had moved away for college. It was then that she had been discovered for modeling and eventually a little while later, for acting. While she hadn't played a leading woman or even a leading male's love interest just yet, she supposed the time would come soon enough. Her agent was working on something great, something that she wasn't even in the 'know' about. Acting and modeling were vastly different, albeit most might not think of it that way. She preferred to see it as art, a type that people could enjoy without ever having to be too terribly interested in. She sighed, her mind echoed how pretentious she could be and reminded herself to act like herself when she ran into anyone.

The sky outside read an in-between of night and morning as Chloe sat with her knees to her chest on her family's roof. There was a certain silence that only came with that particular time, on that roof, with a cigarette burning between her index and middle fingers. She rolled it slightly between them, fixated on the smoke that slowly burned. There was a certain chill that caused tiny bumps to raise on the skin of her uncovered arms, though it didn't cause her to reach inside to grab a sweater. She easily could have. On her bed lay scattered were several different articles of clothing, all of which only required half of her body inside of the window to pick something to cover herself with. Instead, she remained outside, a black half-shirt that only covered just above her belly button and read a band's name just barely legible and a dark red skirt were all she had to keep her body warm.  With warmth on her mind, she brought the cigarette to her lips, inhaled deeply, and then flicked the cigarette off of the roof. As she stood slowly, she exhaled, and watched as the smoke dissipated into the air. She stood still, glanced at the ground, and with a sick curiosity, thought about the last time someone she knew was on a roof. Perhaps it wasn't the last time, she didn't know anyone well enough to tell if anyone had the same hobbies as herself, the same safe spaces. The redhead closed her eyes but before she could even consider taking a step forward, she felt a vibration in her pocket.

"Don't forget. Party tonight. Victoria."

Chloe sighed after she read the text, jammed the phone back into her skirt's pocket and wondered for a moment why jeans made for women had to be so small. It was then that she turned around and reentered her room through the window. Her room was by far, one of the biggest messes that she could have ever hoped to create. That much she was sure of, she thought, with a smile as she shut the window. Already dressed and ready for the day, Chloe was able to spend the rest of the day in a lazy haze. She laid in bed listening to music for the rest of the morning, eventually threw some clothes into her closet in an effort to clean just a little bit, and then surfed the internet for a little while longer. By the time Max found her way to her place, she was what she considered to be ready. "What have you done all day?"

"Just chilled," Chloe's voice had a tendency to sound more like a purr, "Something you wouldn't know if it bit you on the ass." Chloe reapplied her make-up in a cracked mirror that she had since her father gave it to her birthday as a child. The strangest gifts were what she had been able to hold onto. Even when they were dirty, trashed, or otherwise broken, she simply couldn't fathom the loss of them. She supposed that was a weakness, her inability to let go of the possessions that were from him. Still, she said nothing on the subject as her friend blabbered on about something or another. Her powers. The deaths. Everything that had happened, Chloe's near deaths.

"Are you sure that you're going to be able to get along with her for long enough? Maybe I should do this." Max seemed nervous. Which, to be fair, she almost always did. Chloe watched her, a bored expression etched into her features. She sighed as she twisted her red-blonde locks in her hair, a polar opposite of the blue that she had only months prior. She thought it was homage to Rachel, but perhaps she desperately needed the change. "Chloe."

"Yeah. Yeah, whatever. I'll get the princess and we'll figure out a way to occupy our time." Her voice, this time, was less flirtatious and more of a growl. Hostile. She didn't want anything to do with any of this mess, but she supposed it was the only way she would find out about Rachel. About what had happened to Max and to everyone else. How her life had turned upside down so quickly. How she had almost died. She swallowed hard at the thought and then looked around. The outside of the establishment that they had found themselves outside of looked normal enough.

Christian had been back in town for a few hours. He found time to spend time everywhere that he didn't need to be. From bumping into old acquaintances to downing an entire large coffee so he could prepare himself for this particular encounter. He had deliberately, before leaving, made sure that he left inconspicuously and without any good-byes. It wasn't in order to harm anyone nor was it so that he would alarm anyone. Not that he worried much over the latter, he didn't have too many people who could really be afraid that something may have happened to him. In fact, the only person that he knew for sure would either have a reaction or already had enough reaction over his disappearance and now his sudden reappearance was his sister, Elizabeth. 

His first stop was to the law firm where he worked with her. It was a long shot, he wasn't even entirely sure what time it was. He was wide-awake from going over what he might say in his head, even if he was most kept so energetic because of the dread that he would have to eventually speak to her when she was found. He walked inside, spoke to the sugary sweet secretary that always leaned forward with a laugh and he did the same in return. She handed him over a few files that he needed to an upcoming case. He probably should've notified his job that he would be gone for so long. From how she spoke to him, he could only assume that Elizabeth had spoken to them about his disappearance. He had been gone awhile, after all.

His next stop was the manor. His car got him there in almost no time, even if he had taken a more scenic route in an attempt to kill a little bit of time. Once in the driveway, he cut the engine and stared down at the house as if it might grow a pair of eyes and stare straight back at him; to dare him to get out of his car and enter it. He wondered if he should've called at some point but decided that any time after he left was probably too late, especially at that moment. With a loud exhale, he opened his car door and closed it as he looked up once more. He walked up the pathway and towards the front door. He tried the knob, it was locked. As he discovered that his key still worked. He walked inside and took in the views.