Lorissa still hadn't been able to sleep much, though she had passed out sometime in the early hours of the morning, curled up in one of the plush armchairs at Ace's new place. Of course, the tiny girl did not stay asleep long. Like the rest of the things that had been bothering her lately, it seemed as if the moment she closed her eyes, she was drifting through a sea of visions. Her dreams were hardly ever good, and most of the time came from the memories of others that she couldn't stop once she'd touched something. The most recent of which had been a double header, two for the price of one. Her dream started, much like that night did with the tiny goth girl walking away from the Hookah, the crazy pyro following her as she walked towards the surf shop. Once there, the snake, Jack, slithered out of his hiding place and slid around Lori for warmth, protection, comfort? Who knew? The dream changed, skipping over, to Lori taking off a single glove and touching the snake curled around her, if it wasn't Jack, she would be in trouble.
But it was Jack, that much was known in an instant as the first flash was of a younger Jack, in some sort of cell. Pain, she felt it even now, in her dream, they were in pain, aching everywhere, with bandages. Someone slid in a tray of food, which made everything worse. Screaming started, with the power of rage, yelling to be let go, trying to reach through the slot food had been pushed through, and then, the dream flashed, a different scene, in a pool, with, a wolf. A very unfriendly wolf at that, yet again the dream flashed, and the snake turned into the pyro and Lori jerked a little in her sleep. More pain, heaped upon someone so young they had no defense against what was hapening to them. Just a boy, scared, alone in the world, left to his own devices, found he could manipulate fire, and then was used by his own family.
Haunting flashes of torture throughout so many years. So much pain, so much abuse, the dream changed again, and Lori was running across the beach as fast as her feet could carry her. She was terribly frightened. Something was wrong! Was she being chased? What was going on? Suddenly there was a roaring fire, in front of her, the Kapua was up in flames! She turned her back on the building, and the fire vanished, leaving behind the charred remains of the once loved coffee shop. Anger was left, this growing fury, she faced the darkness consuming her, and both the snake, and the pyro stepped out of the shadows, each one looking at her with haunted eyes. She shared their pain, had seen their misery, knew their secrets, but when she would have stepped forward, the dream turned red, the beach filled with blood, swirling around the tiny girl, until it was an ocean around her. She turned, just in time to see the wave coming, huge, and swift, the force capable of destroying anything in it's path for miles. It hit her with the power of hell, and Lori screamed!
She was awake almost immediately, her breathing ragged, soaked in sweat but chilled through to her very soul. Lori shivered. It had only been another dream. Lasting no longer than maybe an hour or two. She got up, and walked to the kitchen, getting out a beer. Already she wanted to drown the memory of it. No wonder the poor girl didn't sleep much and drank constantly. While in the kitchen, she caught a glimpse of yesterday's newspaper.
Fire at the Kaupa, the charred remains of a body had been identifed, and the name released. Blue-green eyes read further, scanning the article until. Julian. NO! That was why she had not seen the shy fox... He was dead... In Jack's shop. Lori took a deep breath, trying to hold back but a tear slipped down her cheek, and then she was running through the house, the paper left behind to fall on the floor. With everything running through her mind, she ran outside flying over the sand, until she fell, unable to move any further and screamed, while the tears flowed. A scream of pain, loss, fear, anger. The desperate cry of a wounded soul.
