and then, it rolls on. (Dated Father's Day)

[drownedindreams]

It didn't matter that the kitchen was still covered in blood. It was streaked with her blood, and Jax was waiting for Scott - he'd made the phone call because he hadn't known who else to try, but it didn't matter - the dog still needed walked, and the fact that Macha's paws and tail were spotted a dark, rusty red and Tara's boots had left footprints on the stairs, the hem of her jeans was darkened. There was the smallest streak on her cheek that she didn't know about, and another one the back of one of her hands.

It was hers.

It was hers, in her kitchen; the fork, too - $4.99 at Macy's, two years ago, on clearance was her only thought - that was hers, hers from home.

Home. That was an odd concept now, because she knew. It wasn't just blood and the fork and thicker things that had come from 'Home', to her home, here. It was the file. It was the file with photographs and a coroner's report and police reports, it was the thing that said she died the day after she'd come here. Home - here - wasn't home -- and the home she remembered in California... that wasn't either. Home was where she was buried, where she was nothing but a memory and a crushing regret for some and her absence a triumph for others.

Her eyes were dead, red-rimmed and swollen from the tears she'd shed when she'd thrown up in the bathroom, when she'd stared at Jax and threw the tumbler against the wall where it'd shattered. Still, Macha needed to walk, and Tara wasn't thinking about where she was or where she'd been, or that they both had blood on them - she just let the dog lead the way.

Comments

[whofelltoearth]

"Tara," Abel says, the name dropping from his mouth heavy with startled surprise, edged with concern. He recognizes her. He isn't half-bad with faces, which is one of his better qualities. He recognizes Tara, remembers her name, but more important is the expression on her face, her eyes dull and fish-like. She doesn't look well at all.

When he comes closer, he notices the mess on her face and knows, without having to think on it too deeply, what it is that it smells like. He's dealt with too much blood in his life already. But not so much that he could even for a moment consider ignoring it.

Something is wrong. He doesn't know where he's coming in on the situation or how he can help, but he can't ignore it.

"Tara," he says again, moving to stop her in the sidewalk without concern about the dog. "It's Father Nightroad. What happened? What's wrong?"

[drownedindreams]

"You're the priest." She almost breathes the words, blinking as her brows furrow together.

"I... I had to take out the dog, because the blood-" And she just sort of stopped, like she remembered what was happening, even though she looked over her shoulder like she didn't know how she got there. "I'm dead," she said half to herself and half to him, and she swallows thickly, looking down at the dog leash like she's got no idea how it got there. "She needed to go out for a walk."

[whofelltoearth]

"I am," Abel says slowly, studying Tara with cool, pale eyes. I'm dead could mean any number of things; in this context, he's sure that none of them are pleasant. Very probably, anyway, between her dazed state and her bloodied face.

"It's blood, isn't it? You've got it on you. Why in God's name are you out walking the dog right now? What happened at home? Are you safe?" He knows that he's full of questions, and he knows how unhelpful it probably is. He reaches out, gently as possible, to touch the crook of her arm. Maybe he can lead her somewhere to sit down while he gets a handle on her situation.

"Please talk to me. I'm worried."

[drownedindreams]

It's when he says it's on her that she blinks, when she suddenly wipes at her cheek even though that's not where it'd been. "I went home, and Jax was there, and the kitchen was covered in blood. My- My blood. I'm dead back home, and- and apparently something thought the blood neefed to be here. The blood and the coroner's report, and- and Macha needed- What else can we do? Jax- He's got somebody. Somebody's going to help clean it up, I had- I had to leave, because- because it was mine." She looks up at him, impossibly tall, and she shakes her head. "I don't know how it happened. I don't know how any of this happened."