Sleep Journal - 190206 - Fairge Anma
Feb. 16th, 2019 08:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kimurhoSleep Journal
06 February 2019
Craig Stevenson
JJ and Craig rode the rest of the way up to the third floor in silence. JJ started to speak once, glanced at his companion and closed his mouth, words unspoken. The lift doors opened, they were in a small side-hall off the long hall running the length of the building. The suite of offices housing the Parapsych group were to the left, on the downward side of the building, looking out over the city instead of up toward the centre of campus. They turned that way.
Up ahead, at the end of the hall, they spied Mrs. Logan, struggling with the door to the office.
JJ stretched his legs, calling out. "Mrs. Logan! One moment. I'll get that for you."
Mrs. Logan spun around to face them, blinking with suprise. "Oh! I was sure that you'd get up here before me. I saw the two of you in the lift going up just as the doors closed." She held a small mailing package in her lap. With a small chuckle, she added, "I couldn't understand why you left the door locked."
"We only just got here," Craig replied. He lifted his chin toward the package. "What's that?"
"I don't know, dear. It was delivered a little while ago. For Doctor Monaghan." Her expression of amusement shifted into one of concern. "How are you feeling? Shouldn't you be resting?" She glanced over toward JJ.
"I feel fine," Craig answered shortly.
"He's too stubborn to stay in bed unless I tie him down," JJ sighed, answering the unspoken question. He stepped aside to let Mrs. Logan wheel her chair in. "I figured it was better to bring him here and keep an eye on him than leave him home to do God only knows what."
Mrs. Logan deftly maneuvered herself behind her desk, setting the package on one corner. A loud cry came to them. Mrs. Logan looked around, looking toward the source of the sound, the breakroom.
"That's odd," she observed. "What are those two up to? Dr. Stillman, did you tell them to do this?"
Heading for his office, JJ paused and looked first at Mrs. Logan, then in the direction she was looking, toward the conference room. Craig followed their gazes. The window closest to the door was papered over with pages of familiar looking runes. JJ made an exasperated sound.
"Of course not. This isn't a game." He went toward the conference , reaching it just as Joe started shouting angrily.
Mrs. Logan tsked her tongue. "What are those children up to now? They've been at it all morning. Worse than cats and dogs, they are." She paused, looking expectantly at JJ, standing just outside the room. "Dr. Stillman?"
In a strange voice, JJ called to Craig. "Come here, carefully, and try to get in."
Craig looked from the rune-sets to his friend. "Oh no! You mean those two ... did it?"
Mrs. Logan rolled her way from behind the desk, asking anxiously, "What is it? What's wrong?"
JJ stepped back, gesturing for the younger man to take his place. Craig slowly put his hand up, expecting it to continue in but it was stopped just inside the door frame. Frowning intently, he raised his other hand, exploring the limits of the barrier.
"It's not pushing me back," he reported. "But it covers the entire opening." Then he looked through, to the drama playing out inside.
Joe and Nikki were not arguing with one another for once. Their acrimony was focused on a third person, seated behind the table, head down, shoulders shaking.
"There's someone else in there with them." Joe was yelling accusations, Nikki was trying to hold him back. The third person raised their head and Craig felt a shock run through him.
"Sarah!" he hissed. Behind him, he heard JJ murmur, "That's her? Well, I guess that explains it." Mrs. Logan expressed surprise, saying "She's still here? She came in before I went downstairs, wanting to see Dr. Stevenson. I told her he wouldn't be in today."
Craig heard them both, but the bulk of his attention was on the girl at the table.
Tears were streaming down her face. She tried to speak, shaking her head, but the other two were not in a mood to listen. Joe lunged forward and grabbed her arm, jerking it upward.
More loudly, Craig called her name again, urgently. He pounded on the solid nothing that filled the opening that framed the door.
Sarah punched Joe ... below the belt, a solid blow that made Craig wince even as he applauded the action. She pulled her arm out of Joe's weakened grip, spinning the chair around on its base and throwing herself out of it. As soon as she hit the floor, she bounced back up, coming to a crouched position, hands up and ready in a way that bespoke of some martial arts training.
"Joe Gowan! Joe! Stop this immediately!" JJ yelled. Craig called out to Sarah. Nikki knelt down to help Joe, screaming at Sarah for hurting him.
Joe pushed Nikki away, hard enough to cause her to stumble. His eyes were fixed on Sarah, his expression grim. Sarah didn't take her eyes off him either.
Joe got to his feet, body bent over his stomach. He said something then, something about getting her out of there.
JJ called through, saying, "Joe, don't be a fool. Come away. Don't make it worse on yourself. Nikki! Stop him."
"He won't listen to me!" Nikki cried back.
Craig yelled for Sarah to run, to get away from the irate intern. Joe looked beyond angry. Dangerous. Craig yelled again, calling for Sarah to move away from Joe.
Neither Joe nor Sarah paid any mind to the people calling to them. It was as if they couldn't hear him.
Joe reached for Sarah again. Sarah, her expression set and determined, slashed one hand downward in a graceful arc. Craig could see her lips moving, but he couldn't hear what it was. He wasn't even sure it was voiced.
Whatever it was, it stopped Joe in his tracks.
Completely.
In mid-lunge.
Nikki screamed, spun and ran, shoving past the astonished Craig and JJ and from there out the office. Mrs. Logan spun around and followed her.
Craig pounded on air again. "Sarah! Joe! Somebody, let me in! God damn it! Let me. Sarah!"
She straightened slowly, turned her upper body, and looked straight at him.
At Craig.
An expression of shock and horror crept over her features. She shuddered, twisted around so her back was toward him, and sank down out of sight behind the table.
Craig's world stopped.
Up until that moment, despite all the evidence to the contrary, he had remained convinced that Sarah couldn't have been responsible for the barrier over the entrance to the library study room. As Laura said, as JJ suggested, whoever set that field in place specifically hated him - Craig Stevenson. Sarah Farris was his friend. She didn't hate him.
He recoiled, his lips forming a silent 'Why?'.
JJ took his place at the doorway. Craig barely noticed. He heard JJ talking to her ... to Sarah ... calling her 'Miss Farris' and introducing himself, but it was all so far away.
She hated him. She really and truly hated him. Just like Laura said. But why? What had he done that was so heinous? Or not done. How could he have missed the signs?
He thought back through every interaction they ever had, from the first moment he sat down beside her in class until the last one here; the card-turning trials a week ago.
There wasn't anything to miss. They got along great; better than he usually did with people.
She never seemed repulsed by his company; she smiled when she saw him. She never expressed impatience with his admitted odd sense of humour. She laughed at his jokes! How could you hate someone and still laugh at their jokes?
She talked to him. She argued with him. She offered to lend him her notes.
Justine entered the office, looked around at JJ, talking through the door into the breakroom. He was trying to get Joe to respond now, with as little luck as he had with Sarah. Justine went over to stand by Craig. "What's going on?"
"I don't know. I don't know anything. I do not have a single frigging clue whatsoever what the bloody hell is going on."
Justine's eyes widened and she blinked, edging away and raising her hands defensively. "Well, don't take it out on me. I just got here."
JJ looked around and saw Justine. "Oh good. Justine, get in there and take down those runes. There's something very odd going on."
Justine did a double-take. "There's another set here? How did they get here?"
"Just get them down," JJ said wearily.
Bracing herself, a smug little smile on her face, Justine confidently stepped toward the doorway ... and bounced back. Craig watched without interest, lost in bewildered misery.
For a moment, amusement broke through. "Feels weird, doesn't it?" he said harshly. She twisted her torso, gave him a startled look, then she turned back around.
"That can't be right." She stepped to the side to examine the sheets of paper taped to the window. "These are exactly the same as the ones in the library ... aren't they?"
JJ hurried to his office and returned with a manila folder. Together, he and Justine compared the pages in the folder to the new ones on the window.
"Not exactly," JJ concluded. "These new ones don't have the caim spell on them."
"You said that wasn't necessary," Craig said, growing interested in spite of himself.
"I didn't think they were. You know the girl," JJ said, turning toward Craig. "Why would she do this? Why would she come here and block off this particular room?" Justine continued to study the posted sheets of paper.
Craig shook his head.
JJ tried again. "Mrs. Logan said she came here today to find you; do you know why?"
"JJ, to tell you the truth, I'm beginning to think I don't know her at all. I thought we were friends. I don't understand any of this."
Justine stepped back. "JJ, come look at this." She pointed at one of the pages as the older man came forward; Craig followed in his wake. "Look there. "Is there ... another page behind that one?"
JJ bent forward for a closer look.
"I can't make it out."
That was when Doctor Monaghan arrived. He stopped just inside, looking around. Mrs. Logan was not at her desk. JJ and Justine standing near the door to the breakroom, studying something posted on the window. Craig was standing in the middle of the office looking shell-shocked.
"What's going on here?"
JJ straightened, sighing with relief. "Douglas. I'm glad you're here. We have a situation here." He gestured toward the breakroom.
Douglas Monaghan stepped forward, looked at the rune pages on the window, peered through the opening at the immobile Joe, and reached out with one cautious hand to touch the barrier across the opening. Then he looked at JJ.
"I can't wait to hear this one."
06 February 2019
Craig Stevenson
JJ and Craig rode the rest of the way up to the third floor in silence. JJ started to speak once, glanced at his companion and closed his mouth, words unspoken. The lift doors opened, they were in a small side-hall off the long hall running the length of the building. The suite of offices housing the Parapsych group were to the left, on the downward side of the building, looking out over the city instead of up toward the centre of campus. They turned that way.
Up ahead, at the end of the hall, they spied Mrs. Logan, struggling with the door to the office.
JJ stretched his legs, calling out. "Mrs. Logan! One moment. I'll get that for you."
Mrs. Logan spun around to face them, blinking with suprise. "Oh! I was sure that you'd get up here before me. I saw the two of you in the lift going up just as the doors closed." She held a small mailing package in her lap. With a small chuckle, she added, "I couldn't understand why you left the door locked."
"We only just got here," Craig replied. He lifted his chin toward the package. "What's that?"
"I don't know, dear. It was delivered a little while ago. For Doctor Monaghan." Her expression of amusement shifted into one of concern. "How are you feeling? Shouldn't you be resting?" She glanced over toward JJ.
"I feel fine," Craig answered shortly.
"He's too stubborn to stay in bed unless I tie him down," JJ sighed, answering the unspoken question. He stepped aside to let Mrs. Logan wheel her chair in. "I figured it was better to bring him here and keep an eye on him than leave him home to do God only knows what."
Mrs. Logan deftly maneuvered herself behind her desk, setting the package on one corner. A loud cry came to them. Mrs. Logan looked around, looking toward the source of the sound, the breakroom.
"That's odd," she observed. "What are those two up to? Dr. Stillman, did you tell them to do this?"
Heading for his office, JJ paused and looked first at Mrs. Logan, then in the direction she was looking, toward the conference room. Craig followed their gazes. The window closest to the door was papered over with pages of familiar looking runes. JJ made an exasperated sound.
"Of course not. This isn't a game." He went toward the conference , reaching it just as Joe started shouting angrily.
Mrs. Logan tsked her tongue. "What are those children up to now? They've been at it all morning. Worse than cats and dogs, they are." She paused, looking expectantly at JJ, standing just outside the room. "Dr. Stillman?"
In a strange voice, JJ called to Craig. "Come here, carefully, and try to get in."
Craig looked from the rune-sets to his friend. "Oh no! You mean those two ... did it?"
Mrs. Logan rolled her way from behind the desk, asking anxiously, "What is it? What's wrong?"
JJ stepped back, gesturing for the younger man to take his place. Craig slowly put his hand up, expecting it to continue in but it was stopped just inside the door frame. Frowning intently, he raised his other hand, exploring the limits of the barrier.
"It's not pushing me back," he reported. "But it covers the entire opening." Then he looked through, to the drama playing out inside.
Joe and Nikki were not arguing with one another for once. Their acrimony was focused on a third person, seated behind the table, head down, shoulders shaking.
"There's someone else in there with them." Joe was yelling accusations, Nikki was trying to hold him back. The third person raised their head and Craig felt a shock run through him.
"Sarah!" he hissed. Behind him, he heard JJ murmur, "That's her? Well, I guess that explains it." Mrs. Logan expressed surprise, saying "She's still here? She came in before I went downstairs, wanting to see Dr. Stevenson. I told her he wouldn't be in today."
Craig heard them both, but the bulk of his attention was on the girl at the table.
Tears were streaming down her face. She tried to speak, shaking her head, but the other two were not in a mood to listen. Joe lunged forward and grabbed her arm, jerking it upward.
More loudly, Craig called her name again, urgently. He pounded on the solid nothing that filled the opening that framed the door.
Sarah punched Joe ... below the belt, a solid blow that made Craig wince even as he applauded the action. She pulled her arm out of Joe's weakened grip, spinning the chair around on its base and throwing herself out of it. As soon as she hit the floor, she bounced back up, coming to a crouched position, hands up and ready in a way that bespoke of some martial arts training.
"Joe Gowan! Joe! Stop this immediately!" JJ yelled. Craig called out to Sarah. Nikki knelt down to help Joe, screaming at Sarah for hurting him.
Joe pushed Nikki away, hard enough to cause her to stumble. His eyes were fixed on Sarah, his expression grim. Sarah didn't take her eyes off him either.
Joe got to his feet, body bent over his stomach. He said something then, something about getting her out of there.
JJ called through, saying, "Joe, don't be a fool. Come away. Don't make it worse on yourself. Nikki! Stop him."
"He won't listen to me!" Nikki cried back.
Craig yelled for Sarah to run, to get away from the irate intern. Joe looked beyond angry. Dangerous. Craig yelled again, calling for Sarah to move away from Joe.
Neither Joe nor Sarah paid any mind to the people calling to them. It was as if they couldn't hear him.
Joe reached for Sarah again. Sarah, her expression set and determined, slashed one hand downward in a graceful arc. Craig could see her lips moving, but he couldn't hear what it was. He wasn't even sure it was voiced.
Whatever it was, it stopped Joe in his tracks.
Completely.
In mid-lunge.
Nikki screamed, spun and ran, shoving past the astonished Craig and JJ and from there out the office. Mrs. Logan spun around and followed her.
Craig pounded on air again. "Sarah! Joe! Somebody, let me in! God damn it! Let me. Sarah!"
She straightened slowly, turned her upper body, and looked straight at him.
At Craig.
An expression of shock and horror crept over her features. She shuddered, twisted around so her back was toward him, and sank down out of sight behind the table.
Craig's world stopped.
Up until that moment, despite all the evidence to the contrary, he had remained convinced that Sarah couldn't have been responsible for the barrier over the entrance to the library study room. As Laura said, as JJ suggested, whoever set that field in place specifically hated him - Craig Stevenson. Sarah Farris was his friend. She didn't hate him.
He recoiled, his lips forming a silent 'Why?'.
JJ took his place at the doorway. Craig barely noticed. He heard JJ talking to her ... to Sarah ... calling her 'Miss Farris' and introducing himself, but it was all so far away.
She hated him. She really and truly hated him. Just like Laura said. But why? What had he done that was so heinous? Or not done. How could he have missed the signs?
He thought back through every interaction they ever had, from the first moment he sat down beside her in class until the last one here; the card-turning trials a week ago.
There wasn't anything to miss. They got along great; better than he usually did with people.
She never seemed repulsed by his company; she smiled when she saw him. She never expressed impatience with his admitted odd sense of humour. She laughed at his jokes! How could you hate someone and still laugh at their jokes?
She talked to him. She argued with him. She offered to lend him her notes.
Justine entered the office, looked around at JJ, talking through the door into the breakroom. He was trying to get Joe to respond now, with as little luck as he had with Sarah. Justine went over to stand by Craig. "What's going on?"
"I don't know. I don't know anything. I do not have a single frigging clue whatsoever what the bloody hell is going on."
Justine's eyes widened and she blinked, edging away and raising her hands defensively. "Well, don't take it out on me. I just got here."
JJ looked around and saw Justine. "Oh good. Justine, get in there and take down those runes. There's something very odd going on."
Justine did a double-take. "There's another set here? How did they get here?"
"Just get them down," JJ said wearily.
Bracing herself, a smug little smile on her face, Justine confidently stepped toward the doorway ... and bounced back. Craig watched without interest, lost in bewildered misery.
For a moment, amusement broke through. "Feels weird, doesn't it?" he said harshly. She twisted her torso, gave him a startled look, then she turned back around.
"That can't be right." She stepped to the side to examine the sheets of paper taped to the window. "These are exactly the same as the ones in the library ... aren't they?"
JJ hurried to his office and returned with a manila folder. Together, he and Justine compared the pages in the folder to the new ones on the window.
"Not exactly," JJ concluded. "These new ones don't have the caim spell on them."
"You said that wasn't necessary," Craig said, growing interested in spite of himself.
"I didn't think they were. You know the girl," JJ said, turning toward Craig. "Why would she do this? Why would she come here and block off this particular room?" Justine continued to study the posted sheets of paper.
Craig shook his head.
JJ tried again. "Mrs. Logan said she came here today to find you; do you know why?"
"JJ, to tell you the truth, I'm beginning to think I don't know her at all. I thought we were friends. I don't understand any of this."
Justine stepped back. "JJ, come look at this." She pointed at one of the pages as the older man came forward; Craig followed in his wake. "Look there. "Is there ... another page behind that one?"
JJ bent forward for a closer look.
"I can't make it out."
That was when Doctor Monaghan arrived. He stopped just inside, looking around. Mrs. Logan was not at her desk. JJ and Justine standing near the door to the breakroom, studying something posted on the window. Craig was standing in the middle of the office looking shell-shocked.
"What's going on here?"
JJ straightened, sighing with relief. "Douglas. I'm glad you're here. We have a situation here." He gestured toward the breakroom.
Douglas Monaghan stepped forward, looked at the rune pages on the window, peered through the opening at the immobile Joe, and reached out with one cautious hand to touch the barrier across the opening. Then he looked at JJ.
"I can't wait to hear this one."
