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Rogue stared out the window, watching the rain fall softly to the ground. She had always greatly enjoyed the rain. She loved how it felt against her skin, how it made the world before, during and after it fell, how it made the world look and smell.

It soothed her when she was upset, calmed her when she was angry. Before she’d come to the mansion, before her parents had run her off in a fit of rage for what she was, she would sit on the porch of their house and simply enjoy the rain when it came.

Down south, the rain could often be short-lived and somewhat violent. But it never mattered to her. Because after the rain, the world was cleaner, newer somehow. As for all the other kinds of weather, well she knew plenty of people who loved the snow, people who loved the falling leaves and people who found the wind something to behold.

She even knew people who found beauty in thunderstorms, hurricanes and tornadoes, as crazy as that might sound to others. They could keep them all as far as she was concerned. All she ever needed was the rain; but for the first time that she could ever think of, this time it brought her no comfort.

It had been three months since the accident where she gained new powers at the expense of another student’s life. Three months since she had awakened to the cold knowledge that she had killed someone. And it had been only half that long since Jennifer’s parents had come to the mansion granting her the forgiveness she had needed to truly begin to heal from the tragedy.

It still seemed strange to her that it was that forgiveness that had given her the strength to face the next daunting hurdle in her suddenly dramatic life; suppressing Jennifer’s personality which had been alive and well inside her mind.

The task had seemed overwhelming and Rogue had felt a true sense of fear when she had talked with the professor about what they would have to do in the coming weeks. Even the professor hadn’t been sure of the success of what they were trying to do; no way of knowing whether the personality could be suppressed at all. That in itself was had scared Rogue more than anything else; the uncertainty of it all. She had never expected such doubt from the gifted mutant.

But it had worked and she had learned to function once more. Even more importantly, she had begun to learn how to use her newfound powers. With this new control, over both her mind and abilities, she had thrown herself back into the social circles inside the mansion’s student body with a confidence that surprised even her.

And, surprisingly enough, she’d been readily accepted back into the fold. Even Jennifer’s closest friends were civil, even sympathetic. For a short time it seemed that things had begun to turn around; until a few days ago, about a week before her successful flying lesson with Ororo.

She was in the library, reading quietly alone when she felt a sharp, piercing pain stab her between the eyes. She dropped the book that she was reading, clutching her head, her eyes closing against the sudden searing pain. It pulsed and throbbed for a few seconds and then just as suddenly as it appeared, it was gone.

She sat in the library for several moments, her ragged breathing echoing in the stillness as she tried to calm down, wondering just what had caused the pain. Hearing another student entering the library, she bent to pick up the book, flashing them a fake, covering smile as they walked by.

Since that day in the kitchen, the pains only grew worse and more intense. They were also getting more frequent and lasting longer. Sometimes, when one of them overtook her, she blacked out and went away for awhile.

In affect she realized that she was losing time. Not a lot usually only a few moments here and there. But sometimes, when she finally came back to herself, she found herself in other parts of the mansion, often no where near where she had been when the pain first began.

She was never harmed by her wandering and she never left the mansion, or did anything embarrassing so far as she knew. But it was starting to frighten her. She had no idea what the blackouts could mean and she was too terrified by it all too even think what might be causing them.

So far she hadn’t told anyone about them, afraid that she was finally losing her mind. But she knew that if she just let things continue on as they were, eventually she would do something stupid or embarrassing or even something that got her or someone else hurt. Then everyone would know about her losing time. And it would be just one more thing that set her apart from everyone else. She wasn’t sure she could handle anymore isolation.

That afternoon was the worst and it was what finally drove her into hiding in the mansion. She left Logan and Ororo outside for a few moments, going into the kitchen to fix something to eat. The session with Ororo was very strenuous and she was starving, feeling a strange lethargy overtaking her limbs as she began making a sandwich.

She was humming to herself, spreading mayo on a piece of bread when she felt something shaking her arm. She looked up to see Ororo standing there calling her name, a panicked expression on the older woman’s face. She forced a smile at Ororo, apologized for not hearing her and continued making her sandwich.

The older woman looked at her for several moments, almost as if she wanted to say something more. But then she simply shrugged and helped her finish making lunch.

The entire time that she stood next to her mentor, Rogue was covered in a cold sweat. She had no idea how long Ororo had been shaking her and no idea how long she had stood in the kitchen in her blackout before Ororo had come in. But the pile of finished sandwiches told her that it had more than a few minutes.

Rogue sighed loudly, reaching up to touch her head, the throbbing at her temples distracting her from the memories for a brief moment. She rubbed one of them absently, trying to regain control of her thoughts as she turned her eyes once more to the light rainfall outside.

“I didn’t know it was supposed to rain today.”

Rogue jumped at the unexpected sound of someone’s voice behind her and whirled around. She saw Jimmy standing in the middle of the room.

She’d seen him around several times since he’d been pulled from the Canadian lab by Logan. She’d even talked with him a few times; on Christmas, one of her better days, she’d pulled him out of his shell enough to play several games of pool with her and Remy.

But he was normally a very solitary person, keeping mostly to himself. She could only count a handful of times when she’d come up on him in the halls of the mansion. And of those times, she’d always been the one to speak first. She wondered what had changed that.

Jimmy didn’t mean to startle Rogue the way he had. He’d been standing in the doorway for several minutes waiting for her to notice his presence. But she hadn’t. And it gave him a few moments to study her while she was relaxed, not knowing that she was being watched.

She stood at the window, shadows of pain dancing across her face as she watched it rain. There were dark shadows under eyes again and he could see that she was unconsciously clenching her jaw. Every few moments, she would reach up and touch her temples, closing her eyes as she tried to rub some pain away.

He didn’t know how Rogue had been before the accident; he had no idea what she was normally like or at least what she’d been like before Jennifer’s death. But he knew a great deal about pain and sorrow and wounds of the soul. He knew a great deal about guilt turning deadly.

And he knew a great deal about how sometimes, guilt lessened giving a short reprieve only to come back stronger and more unbearable than before. If given the chance, ghosts of the past could and did come back to rip at the soul and grind the bones of their victims until all that was left was a quivering, sobbing pile of flesh with no defense against the evil inside its own heart.

He’d seen himself standing on that precipice more than once and yet he’d crawled back from the abyss; with the physical and emotional scars to prove it.

So as he stood there staring at Rogue, he found himself wondering how far into the abyss she had tumbled, and just how far she would fall before she caught herself and clawed her way free.

Logan had told Jimmy that Rogue was starting to make some real progress. The forgiveness of Jennifer’s parents seemed to have really given her some closure on the whole incident and she made some great strides in healing since then. But Jimmy wasn’t so sure.

He could see something inside of her, still lurking, deep down where it had managed to hide itself. And it was just waiting for the chance to be free again. No amount of forgiveness was going to save Rogue from that resurgence. Only Rogue’s own strength of will would do it. But looking at her now, Jimmy wondered if it was too late.

He’d seen the truth of it for himself earlier that day. She was wandering down the hall, her eyes open and vacant as she walked. He raised his hand to wave and she smiled at him, saying hello.

His hand froze in mid wave as he realized that whoever it was in control of her body at the time, it wasn’t Rogue. The mannerisms were different, the way she walked was different and most importantly, her voice was different. She had no accent when she spoke. The southern twang that he knew so well from their previous but brief conversations was gone. Seemingly swallowed up by the stranger now in control of her body.

She kept walking, oblivious to the fact that he saw anything wrong. But he knew and he was frightened by it, frightened for her and what that wrongness about her might mean.
So, he decided to find her, after his last class and talk with her to try and understand just why he might have found a stranger inside of her body when they last met.

He walked towards the window, ignoring her startled expression. He needed to tread carefully, get her to relax and open up. So he kept his tone light and his movements slow.

“Although rain can be cleansing; people sometimes forget that.”

Rogue turned to look out the window again her face pensive. “Ah’ve always thought so; at least Ah used ta think so.”

Jimmy stepped up next to her, watching her faded reflection in the window as she stared out into the gray sky.

“You don’t find it soothing anymore?” He looked over at her, his words quiet and soothing. He wanted her to open up but he didn’t want her to think he was prying.

She shrugged, not taking her eyes off of the dark sky. “Ah don’t know, maybe. Or maybe it’s just today.”

“What’s so different about today?”

She sighed and then reached up to touch her temple, a pained expression on her face.

“Nothin’ really, it’s just this damned headache Ah’ve got. It’s makin’ me a little twitchy. That and the fact that Ah can’t go out and fly in the rain.”

“Why not?”

She snorted, a smile crossing her face.

“Ororo won’t let me; she said Ah need ta learn more control before we make it more difficult.”

He shrugged. “Sounds like a good idea. Besides, things have been difficult enough lately don’t you think?”

“Yeah, they have.” She turned to look at him, a strangely measuring look in her eyes. “But then you’d know more about ‘difficult’ than Ah would.” Her voice was soft and her words were a simple statement but he could sense the underlying question in them.

“Probably, but I’ve had a bit more time to accept it than you have. And I didn’t have some foreign presence ripping around inside my head neither.”

She nodded and turned her attention back to the falling rain. For a few moments, there was silence between them. When she finally spoke again, her words were so soft, he nearly didn’t hear them.

“What was it like for you?” She turned to face him, something strange burning in her eyes. “Being trapped inside that lab?”

The question shouldn’t have caught him by surprise. But it did. He should have expected one of the students to ask him about it eventually. He just never guessed that it would come so soon and from the person it did. He took a deep breath, looking out the window, trying to collect his thoughts.

She stood next to him, silent, waiting for his answer.

He thought back for a moment to his time in the lab. He felt a surge of rising panic, his heartbeat beginning to speed up as he took another deep breath trying to calm down. With effort, he pushed the panic down and began to try and explain to her what it had been like without telling her anything that he might have been forced to do.

His voice shook as he began but leveled off as he continued.

“Imagine a place so desolate, so full of hatred and horror and violence that you feel yourself gagging whenever you think about it too hard. Imagine a place where they force you to do things so hideous, they would make the worst serial killers known look like nothing more than misbehaving children.

“Imagine a place so full of pain and torture and bloodshed that to dream about, even in your worst nightmares would drive you beyond the brink of your sanity until it shattered your mind and left you as an empty screaming shell. And the only way to escape the truth of that place was to retreat so deep inside of yourself that even God couldn’t find you anymore.” His voice was quiet, his eyes unfocused as he found himself drawn back into the lurid memories of that place.

For a moment he was afraid that his rescue and his life at the mansion since were little more than a tantalizing dream. And any moment, he was going to wake up to find the dream gone with nothing more to show for it than hazy recollections to haunt him for the rest of his days.

He felt Rogue reach out and take his hand in her gloved one. Unexpectedly, he felt his eyes begin to burn with unshed tears and he mentally shook himself to keep from breaking down in front of her. He squeezed her hand in gratitude. He looked up at her and saw the pain and sorrow on her face and her own eyes shining with unshed tears.

“How on God’s green Earth did you even make it until Logan found you?”

He shrugged looking out the window once more as he tried desperately to shove away the pain the memories still caused him. He wasn’t here to talk about what had been done to him; he was here to talk to her.

“I don’t know. I don’t think I ever will.” He paused and then turned his attention back to her. “But he saved me and I think the reason he was meant to save me because I was meant to save you.”

Rogue let go of his hand, confusion written all over her face.
“Me? What are you talkin’ about? Ah don’t need savin’.” She turned away from him, crossing her arms across her chest.

He took a step closer, feeling a wave of fear coming off of her as he pressed the issue.

“Don’t you? I saw you today Rogue, in the west wing of the mansion walking down the hall. I saw your body but the person inside of it wasn’t you.” If he hadn’t been looking so closely, he would have missed the small wince she gave as he spoke.

She scoffed, almost laughing as she replied.

“Of course it was me. Who else could it have been?” Her voice was cheerful but there was an underlying tone of tension in it and he could tell it was forced.

Jimmy dropped his voice a bit, reaching out to touch her shoulder.

“You can’t fool me Rogue. I was trained with deadly earnest to be the best assassin the world has ever seen. I know that wasn’t you today in the hall. You might fool most of the people here, but you can’t fool me. It might have been your body, your face but your walk, your smile, your voice, none of it was yours.”

“Ah don’t know what you mean.” Her voice was whisper soft and she shook off his hand, still trying to play it off.

Jimmy sighed never taking his eyes off her as he kept pushing.

“You don’t have to pretend with me Rogue. You don’t have to lie to me, or yourself. What’s going on? Tell me, or I go to Logan and I tell him everything.” He watched her as she mulled it over. He could see the fear on her face, feel it come off her in waves. But whether it was fear that he might indeed tell Logan, or fear over what was happening to her he couldn’t tell.

After a moment, she turned back to him, a strangely determined look on her face.

“What do you know about the accident?”

Jimmy shrugged. “Logan told me what happened if that’s what you’re asking.”

She sighed, again rubbing her temples.

“Did he tell you what happens when Ah touch someone?”

Jimmy nodded.

“Did he tell you that this time was different, and not just because Ah killed someone with it?”

Jimmy shook his head.

“When Ah killed Jennifer, her personality was trapped inside my head. But no one knew until it was almost too late. Ah was supposed ta feel guilt about what had happened, that’s only natural. But the professor told me that because Jennifer’s personality stayed so strong, so alive in my mind for so long, it amplified that guilt. She was slowly killin’ me with my own pain.

“If nothing had been done, she would have eventually overwhelmed my personality and taken over. Ah would have died all because of a sense of guilt.”

Jimmy nodded absently, his mind whirling. Suddenly, many things about her behavior made sense to him.

“But that didn’t happen.”

“No, luckily the Professor was able to suppress her personality and soften the guilt Ah felt about what had happened.”

Something clicked in Jimmy’s mind as her fear spiked once more.

“Something’s changed hasn’t it? You don’t think its working anymore do you?”

Rogue shook her head. “Ah’ve been having headaches, real bad ones too. They come on real sudden and leave just as fast. And in the past few days, Ah’ve been blacking out and comin’ to in places Ah don’t remember goin’ to. Ah haven’t hurt nobody but it scares me.” He voice quivered slightly as she spoke.

He watched as she fought for control and knew this was the real source of the fear he felt from her. That something was causing her to lose control over herself once more when she had only just regained it.

“You think it has something to do with your work with the professor?”

Rogue shrugged. “Ah don’t know. Ah’ve been afraid to tell anybody. Afraid that they might think Ah’ve finally gone out of my mind.” She looked down at the floor, unwilling to meet his eyes.

He reached out and touched her shoulder, squeezing it until she looked back up at him.

“You aren’t crazy Rogue.” His voice was gentle and his face was sympathetic.

There was a sudden flash of anger in her eyes. “Ah know that. But if this is her tryin’ ta break free again, what do Ah do? If the world’s strongest telepath can’t tie her down inside my mind, what hope do Ah have?”

Without thinking, Jimmy let his gut instincts take over and said the first thing that came to his mind.

“Leave here. Go somewhere with someone you trust. Just whatever you do, leave the mansion.”

She looked at him surprise, not quite comprehending what he’d just said.

“What? Why would Ah do that?”

“Did you ever think that maybe the reason she’s stayed so strong is because of the memories she has of this place? That maybe the reason she can’t stay quiet long enough to fade away is because everything around you keeps her awake?” Even as he spoke, he realized that the words made a great deal of sense.

Rogue shook her head, her face puzzled. “No, Ah don’t think Ah’ve thought of that.”

“I don’t think the professor has either. But I think you need to leave and fast, before she gets any stronger.”

“But where would Ah go?”

Jimmy shrugged. “Somewhere she doesn’t know somewhere she’s never been. If there’s nothing to call to her, there won’t be any reason for her to struggle any longer. She’ll quiet down and fade away like the others did.”

Rogue snorted softly at his words and turned her attention back out to the window.

“How could you possibly know anything about this? You’re just a kid.”

He grabbed her shoulder and turned her to face him. His face went still as he let the truth shine out from his eyes. Suddenly he didn’t look like a carefree teenager any longer. Suddenly he looked tired and old; like a battle hardened veteran.

“We both know that I haven’t been a kid for a very long time now. Just give it some thought. It can’t make things any worse than they already are.”

Rogue simply nodded silently.

Jimmy left her standing at the window watching the rainfall.

Rogue stood at the window for a long time after Jimmy left, staring at the rain, not seeing it as she thought about what he’d said; his words rolling around in her head over and over. A litany she couldn’t forget or even stop thinking about. She wondered if he was right, if there really was no other option for her.

Leave the mansion.

The phrase haunted her. How could she leave the mansion, the school, the team? How could she turn her back and simply walk away when she’d been through hell and back just to get here in the first place? How long would she be gone? Would she ever come back?

The questions troubled her. This place was her home; the people here were her family. They had been for the past three years. Ever since she’d discovered that she was a mutant; ever since the day that her father had run her off in a fit of misguided hatred and rage and shame. And being here had taught her to dream again at point in her life when she thought dreaming far beyond her. How could she possible leave that behind, for even a short period of time?

Sighing loudly, she turned from the window one final time and headed back to her room. Despite the gravity of her thoughts and fears, she still had some homework to finish. Perhaps after she’d spent some time doing that, she could once more turn her attentions to whether or not she would take Jimmy’s advice.

She opened her door and walked in, surprised to see Remy standing and looking out her window. Smiling, she walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head against his back.

He reached up and touched her gloved hands, sighing as he did so.

She sighed as she leaned into his back, relaxing at the feel of him against her, her face pressed against him, feeling the tension melting from her body at such a simple touch.

“Remy ‘as been looking for you, petite.” His voice was soft, his accent strangely thick and heavy on his words.

She let go of him and he turned his head slightly to look at her, his red eyes seeming to glow like red coals as he touched her hair gently, being careful that only his two gloved fingers touched her face. She shivered slightly at his touch.

“Ah’ve been thinking fer awhile. There’s been some stuff on my mind. Have you been waitin’ fer me?”

Remy nodded and he turned to gaze out the window once more.

Rogue caught a glimpse of something strange in his expression, sadness in his eyes that she didn’t understand. Concerned, she draped her arm around his waist, standing next to him, lending him her strength.

“What’s wrong?”

Remy shrugged slightly, never taking his eyes from the rain outside.

“Not’ing petite; Remy ‘as just been t’inking.”

“Did it help?”

He shook his head. “Non.”

“Do you want to talk about it sugah?”

Again, there was a cryptic expression and shrug as he pulled away from her slightly.

“Remy is not sure he should talk to you ‘bout dis.”

Confused, she dropped her arm from around his waist, crossing them as she turned to look at his profile.

“And that would be because?”

Another shrug. “It be about Logan.”

She shook her head, not really understanding for a moment.

“Logan? What about him?”

“You know dat Remy does not like da man.” There was a hint of exasperation in his tone, as if he were explaining something important to a small child who couldn’t seem to grasp the concept.

His words surprised her and yet she had been expecting them for some time. She knew how Remy felt about Logan; only a fool would have been blind to the hostility between them. But she had never expected Remy to admit to her that he had a problem with the feral mutant. Largely because Remy knew how close the two were and he was no fool.

Speaking badly about Logan to her would be very, very foolish and, up to this point, it was something he had never ever done. But even with this surprising admission, she was still clueless as to exactly what and why he was trying to tell her.

“Yer right, Ah do know that but yer gonna have ta tell me more than that if you expect me ta understand just what the hell is going on.”

Remy sighed. “Remy knows dat you care for him, dat he holds a special place in yer heart. Remy does not wish to…tarnish dat for you.”

Several times before, when Remy had come to her upset and unwilling to speak, most often after an encounter with Logan or Ororo, Rogue had left him be. Because she knew what had caused those periods of silence and because she knew that to ask him about it would be to open a door to an argument she simply wasn’t ready to have.

It was one of those subjects that they both knew intuitively to avoid; much as very old friends and companions unthinkingly know what can and cannot be said to each other. But it seemed that now the time had come to broach the topic. Forcibly caged emotions had been building and they had finally reached the point of needing to be released before they caused an emotionally explosive venting that would do far more harm than good.

And yet, even as Rogue realized this, and even as she realized that Remy was still trying to protect her by avoiding the issue, she felt a touch of frustration and annoyance at the whole damned mess. It spurred on the pounding in her head and made her grit her teeth even as she tried to keep her voice level and calm.

“Remy, your personal feelings towards Logan are just that, your personal feelings. Ah don’t expect you ta like everyone Ah do and what you think about the man isn’t going to change what Ah feel about either him or you.” She reached up, absently rubbing her temples, noticing as she did so that he looked at her with true concern. She let her hands drop trying to draw his attention away from her headache.
“Besides, Ah know him in a way you never could; Ah don’t expect you or anyone else ta understand that. So spill it. What’s all this got to do with Logan?” She waited for a moment, fearful that he would ask her about the pain; waited to see if he would broach the topic of her headaches again.

For a moment he looked as if he might say something more and she held her breath. But then he turned his attention back to the rainfall outside, saying nothing about it.

“Remy has tried to live wit da fact that his Stormy is dating da Wolverine. But Remy cannot.” His voice was quiet but there his words were colored with pain and weariness.

She reached out to take his hand many things finally beginning to make sense.

“Is that why have you been such an ass these past few weeks? Because you’re upset over who Ororo’s dating?” She kept her tone light, teasing him; poking fun at his anger. There was a sly smile on her face as she tried to dissolve some of his anger.

“Remy was not an ass, he was upset.” His tone would have sounded indignant coming from anyone else. But for some reason it sounded childish and pouting to Rogue.

She giggled slightly not bothering to hide her brilliant smile.

“Sometimes with you there’s not that big a difference.”

A ghost of a smile touched Remy’s stern face and he fought to contain himself as he tried to maintain his stoic expression.

“What’s dat s’pposed to mean?”

She touched his arm, letting her laughter die away. She knew that she would more than likely need to soothe his ego later.

“Just what I said sugah. Sometimes I can’t tell the difference between the two. This time wasn’t any different.”

Remy shrugged but remained silent as he stared out the window.

After a moment of waiting, she nudged him to get his attention again.

“So are you gonna tell me what happened or not?”

He sighed loudly. “Remy tried ta talk ta Stormy but she wouldn’t listen. Dere was a fight between us.”

She groaned softly at his clipped words, knowing very well what the fight had most likely consisted of. She touched her hand to her forehead gently as the pounding at her temples moved to settle like a thundercloud behind her eyes.

“Please tell me that ya haven’t done something phenomenally stupid.”

He chuckled, the sound deep and full of mirth.

“Why would you say dat petite?”

Frustrated, she turned her full ire on him and let him have the verbal lashing she was holding back.

“Because Ah know you and yer damned pride is only exceeded by the size of yer ego.”

Again he chuckled. “Very funny petite.”

She waited but he said no more.

“By yer silence Ah’d say ya did do something stupid. So just what’d ya do?”

He sighed looking at her, trying to make her understand.

“Remy told Ororo da truth, dat he did not t’ink Logan was da man for her.”

She reached out and slugged him, mindful of her new strength but still giving him enough to make it sting.

“Remy you pompous ass, can’t you see how happy they are?”

He grabbed his shoulder, rubbing it ruefully as he stepped back out of her range.

“Yes he can, but dat still does not change da fact dat Remy does not approve.”

Rogue resisted the urge to hit him again, running her hands through her hair instead and giving a small scream of annoyance.

“Remy sometimes you can be so damned dense.” Suddenly a new thought occurred to her. She stepped towards him, jabbing him in the chest. “Somehow Ah don’t think this is the end of the conversation. What happened when you told this to Ororo?”

He shook his head, grabbing her by the shoulders, stopping her tirade.

“Dat does not matter. Remy only came to find you to tell you dat he is leaving da mansion. Remy cannot stay here anot’er moment.”

She looked at him in confusion, not understanding a thing he’d just said to her.

“Leaving, but why?”

Remy let go of her, turning away, his agitation growing as he began pacing the room.

“Because Remy cannot be happy here any longer. He is going back to New Orleans for a bit. He came to say good-bye.”

Rogue’s eyes nearly popped out her head as she tried to keep pace with his sudden frantic movements. She couldn’t believe what he’d just said; couldn’t understand what he meant. Or even why he was contemplating leaving.

“What? You’ve got to be kiddin’ me. You can’t leave like this.”

Remy threw his hands into the air, real anger finally beginning to surface. The first time he’d shown the emotion since she’d walked into the room.

“Remy has no choice. Ororo made her choice, now Remy must make his.”

She reached out, grabbing his arm and stopping him in mid stride.

“Choice, what choice? You aren’t makin’ any sense.”

Remy turned to face her, his red eyes glittering strangely as he reached out to take her gloved hands in his own.

“None of dat matters now. Remy is leaving. But he does not want to go alone. Come wit me.”

Again, she felt a sense of shock as she stood there, astonished at his words. Dimly she heard herself give the expected response, that part of her suddenly divided from her conscious control.

“Remy, this is my home, I can’t leave.”

“Please petite. Remy needs you to come wit him. He has seen how unhappy you are here since da accident. Come wit me to da swamp; it is very peaceful dere. It might help.”

She took a deep breath meaning to tell him no again when she felt herself pause. Unbidden, Jimmy’s earlier words came back to her.

Leave here. Go somewhere with someone you trust. Just whatever you do, leave the mansion.

A few moments before, those words had filled her with fear and anxiety wondering if she should follow the advice. But now, as the words floated back up from her memory, she felt a sense of calm come over her. The fear had disappeared.

There was a sense of rightness to the decision; almost as if she’d been waiting for just this moment to make the decision. As if she’d been waiting for the right person to come to her with the same words.

Leave the mansion.

She smiled slightly feeling the utter certainty of her decision. She squeezed Remy’s hands in her own, her eyes never leaving his as she gave her answer.

“Alright, Ah’ll come. When do we leave?”

He smiled at her, kissing her gloved hand as he led her to the closet.

“Today, pack as quick as you can.”

She nodded, turning her attention to packing up some belongings. As she passed her desk, she glanced down a notepad catching her eye.

“Just let me leave a note.”





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