Author: X_tremeroswellian
Email: [email protected]
Disclaimer: Liz, Max, Alex, Isabel, Michael, Maria and any other people you're familiar with such as Diane Evans or Kyle belong to Melinda Metz and Jason Katims and the WB. Alyssa and Matthew and Alan and Pete and Tonya and the ones you don't recognize are all mine.
Rating: R for language, violence and content.
Category: Well, a lot of this is about Liz, but it's also M/L, A/I, and M/M...
Spoilers: Up through "Blood Brothers" from the tv show, Roswell High book 5, and my fic, "Matters of Trust."
Author's Note: This is a sequel to my fic, "Matters of Trust" and if you haven't read it, I strongly suggest reading it before you read anymore of this one. Hold on guys, this isn't even half finished yet, I don't think...There's a long road ahead...
Ghosts (Part 13)
Michael was in a maze. He ran his hands along the walls, trying to find a way out, and when he couldn't, he kept calm and continued walking down the twisted hallways.
What the hell is this freak dreaming about anyway? he wondered.
He had been in Alan's dream for a good half-hour and hadn't even come across him yet. How was he supposed to scare the guy if he couldn't even find him?
Michael stopped walking and sighed in frustration. "Alan!" he shouted, waiting for a response, but none came.
He was beginning to wonder if he had gone into the wrong dream orb.
Just as he was about to pull himself out of the dream, he saw Alan a few feet away. Michael set his jaw and walked up to him, his eyes filled with hatred. "I have a warning for you, Freedman."
Alan sighed. "What now?"
"Stay away from Liz. I swear to you that if I find out you've done anything to hurt her or any of my other friends in any way, I will make you suffer."
"I haven't done anything to any of your stupid friends, okay? Just leave me alone," Alan grumbled, turning away.
"Don't forget it. You don't want to find out what happens if you hurt someone I care about," Michael said darkly. Then without another word, Michael left his dream.
Max knocked on Liz's door about 8:30 that night, but she didn't call for him to come in like she usually did. One of the hallway lights flickered above him, and he glanced up and down the hall, his shadow blending with other various shadows on the floor, stretching all the way to the exit. A chill crept up his spine as he knocked on Liz's door again.
How had she gotten into his room? How had she not only gotten into his room, but ran back to Jewell Hall in record time without him even catching a glimpse of her as he raced out of Stoddard? It just didn't make any sense.
Max bit his lip and thought about going next door to Isabel and Maria's, but something told him Liz wouldn't be there anyway. After a second he waved his hand over the door lock and stepped inside the dark room. "Liz?" he whispered.
He nearly tripped over her bookbag that was lying in the middle of the floor, and then frowned as he stooped to pick up a pile of books that she had apparently just thrown off her bed and left there, as well. He set the books on top of her desk quietly, and tiptoed over to her bed.
Liz lay sleeping, her face turned away from him, one arm hanging over the edge of the bed. She hadn't even bothered getting into her pajamas. She had fallen asleep in the same jeans and sweater she had been wearing all day.
Max leaned over her, his frown deepening as he realized she had undoubtedly been asleep for at least an hour. But how could that be when she was just in his room twenty minutes ago?
He silently untied her shoelaces and slipped her shoes off and placed them under her bed. Then he grabbed the blanket off her top bunk and draped it over her gently, staring down at her. Even in slumber she looked different...not peaceful like usual. He kissed her forehead softly and headed for the door again, remembering to dodge the bookbag. But when he glanced down, the bag was sitting by her desk, out of the way.
He shrugged. He must have moved it when he moved her books.
Max had reached the doorway when he turned to look at her one last time. Everything inside him screamed for him to stay there, not to leave her alone tonight. He swallowed hard and then stepped back into the room, closing the door and locking it. Then Max grabbed the pillow off Liz's top bunk and dropped it onto the floor.
He laid down on the floor beside Liz's bed, facing her. He wasn't sure why he was staying, but Max had learned not to ignore his instincts. And he had a feeling that if he left her here alone tonight, something terrible would happen.
The floor wasn't the most comfortable thing to sleep on, but he didn't want to take the chance on waking her by climbing up to the top bunk. Besides, he couldn't see her if he was up there. The floor would do.
"Did you get in?" Maria asked as Michael sat up in her bed a few minutes later.
"Yeah, I got in. Message delivered." He yawned and glanced over at her. "Man, I'm tired."
Maria yawned. "Me too. Wanna stay here tonight?"
"Yeah...I'm too tired to walk across campus right now anyway." He crawled under her covers and she crawled in beside him, laying her head on his chest. Michael kissed her forehead and a few moments later they were both asleep.
Alyssa yawned for a third time in five minutes. She needed to finish her paper for her World Religion's class, but her eyelids were drooping by 8:45. This was unusual. She was a born night owl.
She stretched her arms above her head and jumped when the phone rang. She reached over and grabbed it before her answering machine picked it up. "Hello?"
"Hey," a soft voice said.
Alyssa smiled. "Hey yourself."
"What's going on?" her fiance Matthew asked.
She sighed and flopped back down on her bed. "Well, I was trying to write a paper but I was thinking about going to bed."
"Are you sick?"
"No, I don't think so...I don't know why I'm so tired, though..."
"It's only nine there isn't it?" Matt asked in confusion.
"Not even." Alyssa muted the volume button on her tv where Fox Mulder was attempting to tell his partner, Dana Scully, that a vampire was responsible for the death of a man in Texas.
"Well, is everything okay?"
She yawned again. "Yeah." Alyssa paused. "Hey, Matt?"
"Yeah?"
"I had something really strange happen tonight."
"What?"
"I ran into this girl in the hallway...She was crying, and I felt this...Connection with her somehow. And a few minutes later, when I tried to meditate, I felt like I was going to be suffocated by this wave of sadness. Has anything like that ever happened to you before?"
"No. Who was the girl?"
"I don't know. She lives in Jewell a few doors down from me, though."
"Hmm..."
Alyssa could picture his face perfectly, and she knew without actually seeing him that he was frowning. "I visualized my shield and managed to block it, but it was really strange."
"I'll talk to some people and find out if they've ever experienced anything like that...Are you going to be all right? You sound exhausted," Matt said worriedly.
"I'm really tired, but I'm okay. I think I'm going to go to bed and get up early and write my paper."
"If you need anything, I'm only a phone call away, all right?"
"I know. Thank you," she said softly.
"I love you."
"I love you too," she murmured before she hung up her phone. Alyssa stared at the picture she had of him on her night table. She wished he wasn't so far away. Florida seemed like a eternity from Blueridge. And right now she really wished that Matt was here with her, with his arms wrapped around her, keeping her warm.
She stood up and pulled her blinds closed on the window and picked up her books off her bed and moved them to one of her desks. Then she crawled under the blanket and shut her eyes.
Liz opened her eyes and sat up in bed, frowning. Her room was...different somehow. She looked around the room, trying to figure out what it was.
"Oh, my God," she whispered, as she realized that her bed was on the opposite side of the room as it had been before she went to sleep. Not only that, but it was as if her entire room had been reversed. Her door was on the opposite side of the room, too. Liz's eyes widened. "What the--?" she gasped.
"Hello, Liz," a voice whispered from the shadows of her bunk bed.
Her heart began skipped a beat and then began pounding double its normal rate. "Who are you?"
"You know who I am, Liz. I've been watching you."
She still couldn't see who it was, but she vaguely recognized the voice. "What do you want?"
"I want you." He stepped away from his hiding place, but his face was still drenched in shadows. She saw the knife gleaming in his hands and she froze in terror.
The figure reached for her and she screamed--
Ring, ring!
Liz sat up in bed, gasping for breath as her telephone rang again. Everything was so dark. She reached for her lamp that was on her desk pushed up against the headboard of her bunk bed. She shrieked when she couldn't find the switch.
A second later she felt arms around her waist and she screamed in horror. "Liz! Liz, it's me!" Max whispered in her ear. "It's okay, Liz!"
Ring, ring!
"Max, turn the light on! Please!" she cried frantically.
He leaned over, letting go of her long enough to flick the lamp light on, bathing the room in a warm glow against the darkness.
Liz's hand quickly shot out and grabbed the telephone. "Hello?"
Max watched her in concern.
"Dad?" She looked at her clock. It was 2:15 in the morning. "What's wrong?" She could tell he was having a hard time speaking, and it sounded as though he had been crying. Liz took a deep breath and tried to calm her racing heart. "Dad?"
"I'm so sorry, Lizzie..."
"What happened?" More alarm edged into her voice. She was dimly aware of a knock on the door, and even less aware when Max moved from her side to go see who it was.
"Liz, I'm sorry, but your uncle Charlie died last night."
"What's going on? We heard a scream," she heard Maria say.
Max motioned for her to be quiet and he turned his attention back to Liz, who appeared to be frozen in shock. He hurried to her side and Michael wrapped his arms around Maria, who stood shivering in the doorway of Liz's room.
"...Funeral is Tuesday morning. We'd like you to be here, if you can take a couple days off."
"Yeah, yeah. I'll be there. I'll come home today." She drifted in and out of awareness as her father said a few more things. "I'll see you later."
Her hand wouldn't let go of the phone so Max reached over and gently pulled it out of her fingers. "Liz? What happened?" he asked.
She stared into space, unblinking.
Maria looked at Michael fearfully and they both went over to her. Maria knelt down in front of her best friend and looked up at her. "Liz? What's going on? What did your dad say?"
"He's dead," Liz answered without emotion. "Uncle Charlie died last night."