Mind Games

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Hailey thought about what he was saying, it seemed like he had thought about it. At least he didn't feel like they should do it on the spot - and thinking about it, she realized that he was right. Where they were standing at the moment wasn't such a good place to do it at. She hadn't thought of the fact that there could be people who would see them, in her world there had only been him and her. But of course, she reminded herself, the rest of the world was also there. They weren't alone although it felt that way to her. In a way, she was happy that he had thought about it, since she, clearly, hadn't.

She nodded slightly as he talked about him going to her place. That wouldn't feel good, he was right. She looked at him as he thought, and she tried to think as well, figuring out a place for them to be, but beside her own, she didn't really know. She looked at him again as he spoke, immediately more attentively than before. His place? Well, where else would they be? She decided that it'd be the best place for her to be, although she wasn't too happy about staying at his place since she still didn't know him, but not having any better options, she accepted it.

As they walked through the alley on their way out from there, out into the streets, Hailey felt rather worried, although she felt calm in a way, at the same time. She glanced at Drey and then she looked at the road ahead of them again. She didn't want to walk into something or not be paying as much attention as needed, since she still felt that she wasn't all like she used to quite yet. Maybe it was the thought of him still being in her mind that made it slightly difficult for her to focus on where they were heading, or simply the fact that she was following a stranger to who knew where?
 
Drejan was both relieved and concerned with her suddenly docile agreement and he kept a close eye on Hailey as they walked the streets. Her mind seemed to have...stalled in a way, like it was finally trying to figure out what was going on at a deeper level. Or trying to figure out how to fight off the 'foreign' invasion of his own gift. He really, really hoped it was former thing and not the latter. He hated the latter and his head was already killing him.

He pushed the thought away, refusing to acknowledge the sharp throbbing behind his eyes any more than he had to, concentrating on reaching their destination. They came to a busier section of the city and Drey stifled a groan, his hand coming up to his temple, rubbing gently though he knew it wouldn't help. His filters weren't quite as effective right now as his concentration was split between keeping everyone out and helping Hailey, but Drey managed. He'd always managed.

Still, it was a relief to come to his building and go inside. They climbed the stairs - Drejan stayed far away from the elevator - to the third floor and he unlocked the door with both a keypad and a key itself before walking in. The apartment itself was sparsely decorated, but what was in it was nice. There was a dark brown couch, a recliner and a glass coffee table in the living room and the kitchen was clean, all the appliances black with dashes of blue here and there. A small hallway led to three doors one would assume was the bathroom - decorated in shades of green - and perhaps two bedrooms. A sliding glass door from the living room led to a small balcony and there was plenty of light with the curtains drawn back over the large windows.

Drejan set his keys on the small table just inside the door and looked around. What his eyes caught on was not the furniture, however, and in truth no one really noticed that right away either. No, what was noticeable first when coming to Drey's apartment was the near covering, almost floor-to-ceiling of the paintings on the walls. They were everywhere and each one was as different as the next, the colors vivid and bright. They didn't seem to depict any type of scenes one would recognize. They were swirls of colors and abstract patterns the most of them, but a few had words written in scrawling handwriting; things like random thoughts and desires, obviously not Drejan's own. Each picture spoke a story to the male, each swirling pattern were like the thoughts he heard every day. They spoke to him, each color each swirl and he knew most people didn't understand that at all.

"Make yourself at home. Want anything to drink?"

Oh, damn, he'd forgotten to get food...
 
Hailey followed him up the stairs and went inside as he opened the door. She looked around slightly and took her shoes and coat off. She noticed the paintings on the walls and looked at them for a moment till she heard Drejan's voice. She turned towards him and smiled slightly. "No thanks", she said.

A few minutes later, Hailey was sitting on the brown couch, glancing at the surroundings now and then. It's a nice place, she thought, smiling a little to herself. She glanced towards the kitchen where she heard that Drejan was doing something, while waiting for him in the livingroom.

She thought of what would happen next - would he make sure that everything worked out fine? Would she, eventually, be able to walk away from there the way things had been from the beginning? No images or sounds invading her mind - she was looking forward to it. She was used to it though, but it was always scary. She hoped that this time he'd be able to help her, as he had said he would. She thought that he'd be different than the thers though - but of course, she couldn't be all sure about it. Up until now, things had been working just fine, and there wasn't really any need to worry. She tried to think about the good things of being where she was instead of the bad things.

Knowing that he was in her mind was still something that made her feel slightly annoyed - not being left alone to think by herself. She reminded herself of the fact that he was actually only trying to help her, though she still couldn't relax.
 
Drejan popped at least ten ibuprofen, downing them with a glass of water and then he gripped the counter tightly, feeling his head pound with a pain that would have dropped someone else to their knees. He was used to it, though. Hated it, yes, but could tolerate it and Drey now focused on breathing as he shifted, resting his elbows on the counter and his head in his hands, fingers in his hair as if he could just stop the pain by pressure alone. He must have stayed that way for a good ten minutes before slowly straightening, feeling just the barest edge of the pain being taken away as the medication started to work. It would barely touch the pain in his head if he was truthful with himself, but at least it would do something.

He finally pushed away from the counter and steadied before coming back into the living room where Hailey was, running a hand back through his brown hair, erasing the damage his fingers had done to it as it was pretty messy anyway. Drejan took a seat beside Hailey - though, he was sure she would have liked him across from her - but kept a suitable distance between them as he started speaking.

"All right, I've never actually done this with someone like you before. I call the images and sounds in your head 'thoughts' but they aren't. They can only be controlled like thoughts. They almost seem to have a mind of their own, so I am going to start filtering them to you, but I can't guarantee that the pace will always be the same or that some might not escape my hold. I will try to keep them contained until I sort through them though."

Drejan met her eyes, his own serious but not unfriendly, hiding the pain he already felt. "I am going to have to touch you. It makes everything easier. Do you understand everything I've told you?"
 
As Drejan walked into the livingroom, for a second, Hailey almost felt as if she was captured. She knew it was a silly feeling, he wouldn't hurt her, but for some reason everything felt a bit confusing. As he sat down beside her instead of in front, she bit her lip. Why did he do that? The distance was OK though, as he started speaking, her looking down in her lap and once in a while glancing at him.

She had a hard time listening to what he was saying, it was almost as if it was too much at once. She tried to think of what was important - to her - rather than what didn't really matter, such as the images and sounds not being 'thoughts', but something else. One of the things she felt was important though, was the fact that he couldn't guarantee that he would be able to control everything. Hailey was pretty sure that whatever he did would be better than those images and sounds flashing back and forth, as they normally would.

Damn. Touching. She looked at him as if she wanted to run away rather than have him helping her. She didn't move though, as he apparently was still speaking. She nodded slightly, just wanting to run away and skip it all, get her mind invaded by herself, alone. But then she reminded herself that it would probably be better if he helped her, and that nothing bad had happened yet.

His fingers on her temples. She felt the urge, the instictivly feeling, of backing off, but she didn't. She forced herself to stay where she was, determined to do what had to be done. She had to deal with it, after all. She put her hands underneath her, sitting on them, hoping that it'd help her not to lose control. Not too fast, at least.

This time she was more prepared as the, still unusual, feeling got to her. This time she knew what it was, though. She tried to remember to breath as it came back to her, sounds and images. She flinched slightly as she heard the sound of water, voices somewhere far away. Under water. As she realized that she was under water, she felt her heart speeding up a bit, but tried to calm herself down. It wasn't real. And then, stuck. Trapped. Dark water. It didn't make any different whether she tried to move or not, nothing changed. She tried taking a breath, which resulted in more water. Really? No, it wasn't happening. No matter how much she tried to tell herself that it wasn't for real, she couldn't get away from the fact that it felt real. "I can't do this, I can't", she whispered, wanting it to be over before she lost it completely.
 
Drejan had started sifting through the images and sounds, putting things together that made sense and sending them through at a controlled rate. It was hard, incredibly hard. The 'thoughts' once he let one through clambered upon his shield, all wanting to go through and he had a difficult time keeping them contained even as he sorted through them. The only good part was that they'd stopped streaming in. What was already trying to get through was all there was to get through and Drejan worked through them far more quickly than he sent them to Hailey.

He kept erecting new shields, new 'pens' to keep the images that belonged together, made sense together in the same place. He wasn't always sure that they were one and the same event or happening, but he started to develop categories and some of the first he released to Hailey involved water. Drejan didn't have to the time or the energy, the strength to look at details about the images or sounds so he really had no idea what they'd do to Hailey.

And it would appear that they'd cause her to near-panic. His eyes were closed, teeth gritted as sweat gathered on his brow and his fingers on Hailey's temples trembled, but despite how preoccupied he was, Drey heard her words and they pulled at him. He wanted to comfort her, tell her everything would be all right, but he didn't know how. She didn't trust him, was barely tolerating this and all that she could focus on were the images, very real to her.

Wait.

The idea sparked like light in darkness and Drey paused momentarily in his work to dig through his own memories with a speed that was far more rapid than how he dealt with her thoughts. He found what he was looking for and drew it forward. Then he did something he didn't often do, something that usually caused insanity in large quantities, but something he was pretty sure might actually be helpful to Hailey. He blended his own memory, certain aspects of it, into what she was already experiencing, weaving the images tightly together. A breathing mask. That was what he infused into her thoughts and he begged silently that it would work as he forced himself back to the task at hand.

It was going to take a while and he was already straining against exhaustion and a headache from hell.
 
No. It wasn't over, it wasn't going to be over. She swallowed as she could feel the air again, being able to breath, at least not suffocating. Although it made her calm down some, being able to breath, it made her realize the control he had. He hadn't stopped. In a way, it made her wanting to hit him, hurt him for making her stay. On the other hand, he wasn't forcing her into anything. She tried to remember that, he had just been trying to help her. There was nothing wrong with that. He wasn't forcing her. At least that's what she told herself. She was in control and he knew what he was doing. She couldn't get the feeling away though, the feeling of anxiety, knowing, in a way, that he was in control. He was controlling it, everything. Who was she trying to fool? If he'd like, he could just let it all go, she realized, which made her want to hurt him, once more. Thankfully, she was still sitting on her hands.

It was slippery. She walked, as fast as she felt was safe making sure not to trip, on the street. The rain was pouring down, with no end of it, it seemed. It was dark outside, and cold. The raindrops made it hard for her to see, but yet she could hear footsteps somewhere. She didn't have the courage to turn around, so she just kept walking, very aware of the noise every move that she made would make. She wanted to sink through the ground as she heard something else, something that she wasn't really sure of. Dripping water, it seemed. Not the rain, but something else. Still walking on the street, she listened to the sound. It got more intense, and soon it was all just rain dripping down. Someone was after her, she sensed it. Behind her. She walked faster, every feeling even more intense, a scream somewhere far away. He heart was racing as she hid behind a wall, carefully listening to what was going on. And then, out of nowhere, a laughter. Seconds later she felt the hot water as it hit her body, and then the cold water, right afterwards, lying on the cold ground. Laughter. They were laughing at her. He was laughing at her.

As she felt someone grabbing her, her wrist and her ankle, she screamed. She had to escape, she couldn't take it anymore. A hand on her mouth, making her unable to even make a sound, preventing her from getting away. She was trapped. Just as before. Laughter once again as she tried to resist.

Hailey hit her head with her hands, covering her ears but without the sounds stopping. She reached towards him although she was clearly disoriented, trying to hit him and then herself. She curled up as she put her palms towards her eyes, pushing them, as if she was trying to pull her eyes out, but inwards. She moved her mouth although there was no words or sounds coming out from it, then hitting herself again, any place she found.
 
Drejan knew she'd said not to grab her, but he couldn't just sit there and let her hurt herself. His hands left her temples and caught her own, entwining their fingers tightly together. There was nothing personal in it, he was only attempting to keep her from hitting herself anymore and he knew that grabbing her wrists would freak her out even more. He couldn't hold her down and this was the only option he felt he had.

This wasn't working. He'd thought maybe having the visions - because that was what they were, weren't they? - come more slowly would help her stay in control, but that didn't seem to be happening and Drejan had been hesitant to take a more direct, more hands-on approach than he already was. As time went by, however, and Hailey just seemed to get worse, it became harder for him to not want to do SOMETHING for her and the more he thought about it - when he could afford to think while dealing with the demanding visions - the more he realized that she wasn't going to be happy with him for any of this anyway.

It was worth the risk of her anger to see if maybe he could actually HELP. He'd told her he could help her stay grounded and right now he wasn't. She was floundering, drowning and he might as well not be here at all. For all he knew, he was only prolonging the process.

That made up Drey's mind and he abruptly stopped letting the images and sounds through, his mind rapidly working through the visions that were left, taking each and every one of them and studying them more closely, seeing what they were about. And then he changed them subtly, put something in each one. He'd said he'd ground her and Drejan was determined to keep his word so in each vision, depending on what it was, he put a safety net of sorts. If it was water, there was ground, something solid. If it was storming, a shelter. Fire, then water. Pain, relief. Capture, a shield. Fear, something to fight it - usually a wolf, odd as that seemed.

Only when he'd covered ever single base did Drejan let the visions stream again. Blood ran from his nose now and his entire body shook with pain, his head feeling like fire but if this worked, if she chose to use what he'd given her, then he'd consider everything worth it.
 
As Hailey felt Drey's hands holding hers, their fingers close, she stopped trying to hit herself, simply since she couldn't when he was holding her hands the way he was. And then, all of sudden, it seemed like the images and sounds weren't as fast any longer. She had some time to actually try to make sense of anything, but not really managing to do so, made her even more anxious. She had just began to move again, curling up and down and shaking her head, as she felt something. A difference, this time. Something was happening, coming towards her.

She could smell the forest as she felt the grass on her palms. She looked up, seeing trees, lots of trees, all over the place. It was daylight, it seemed, that was shining through the leafs in the trees. And yet, everything seemed rather quiet. No sounds, at all. For a moment, she felt anxious about it. Had she gone deaf? It wasn't long before the feeling of a rather peaceful place disappeared, replaced with the same, anxious and panicking feeling as before, of being followed. Someone was out to get her, it seemed. She gasped for air as she heard footsteps in front of her, but without seeing anything, or anyone.

And then, as if it magically appeared, a fire right in front of her. It grew bigger in a matter of seconds, and before she even realized it, she was in a sea of fire, almost. She climbed a tree, feeling the intense feeling of anxiety in her chest, knowing that she'd probably die either way. Sitting in the tree, hearing the branches crack, she closed her eyes, waiting for the fall. To her surprise, once she hit the ground, there was water. She relaxed as it took away some of the burning sensation she had gotten because of the hot fire, and realized that she was deep under water, once again. There was ground this time, something that felt real, something that made it feel less scary. She took a deep breath, and this time it actually worked, before being dragged down further, further away from the surface.

She gasped for air for a few seconds as she realized that there actually was air, she could breath. Her heart was still racing though, but she began feeling not as shattered, at least. She concentrated on her breathing as the feeling of being underwater slowly left her, making her able to feel reality again. The real reality. She opened her eyes and after some time, she was able to focus her gaze on Drey. "I'm sorry", she said quietly with quite a shaky voice, as she saw what he looked like.
 
The images were gone, the last of them filtering through and Drejan knew it had worked. She'd stopped fighting, had seemed calmer if not okay and when he stopped feeding her the visions, she'd gained a lucid expression that relieved him. Drey nodded slightly at her words, barely hearing them as he released her hands slowly, his fingers feeling cramped. Everything felt painful, like he was in a fog of fire and his mind felt raw as he withdrew completely from Hailey's head, glad that she seemed to be stable.

"S'kay..." he slurred out, rising unsteadily from the couch. The world spun as his limbs trembled with exhaustion and he could barely think past the pain that pounded in his skull. The nausea building up demanded that he move, though and Drey knew he wouldn't make the bathroom. He just about made the kitchen sink, his hands gripping the counter, looking for something stable as he wretched, nothing but liquid bile coming up, mixing with the blood dripping from his nose. He shuddered as his body stopped heaving and wiped his mouth on his sleeve as he sank down to the floor.

His fingers cradled his head as if it might break at any moment and he almost wished it would if only to relieve the pressure. Drey didn't know where Hailey was and in the back of his mind he hoped she was all right - or maybe she'd already left? - but he couldn't bring himself to look around for her or even open his eyes. He'd shatter into a million pieces if he had to concentrate on anything. Or at least that's how he felt.
 
Hailey sat quietly on the couch as she watched Drey making his way out of the livingroom. She couldn't help but to feel a bit guilty about it, but on the other hand, what could she have done? It was his choice, after all, and nothing that Hailey could do anything about. At least that was what she thought as she heard him in the kitchen. She sat in the livingroom for a few more minutes, just to make sure that everything was as normal as it usually was, before she glanced out of the livingroom, wondering what had happened to Drey. She did worry some, she did, but she wouldn't admit it, really.

After one or two minutes of listening, she decided to walk over there, or at least not to sit still in the couch. After all, he had actually helped her quite a bit, and it didn't seem like he was looking too well when he lad left her. She soon found him on the floor, and she stopped, standing in the doorway to the kitchen, looking at him. He seemed to be in pain. Hailey wasn't sure of what to do, but felt that she wanted to at least try to do something, since he had helped her, and she could tell that he wasn't alright.

As she filled a glass with water standing in front of the zink, she thought about it. Hadn't he said that he was OK? She grinned slighty as she put the glass on the zink, glancing at him, with a rather worried gaze. That he was OK was probably not true, she thought, but she didn't think too much about that. She took the glass of water and sat down in front of him, although there was quite some distance between them. "I have water for you", she said, and put it on the floor closer to him, in case he wanted to reach for it. "It's on the floor beside you", she said, sounding pretty calm.
 
His pain wasn't under control in the least - or at all really - but Drejan found that even though he felt like he'd fall apart if he so much as moved, when he actually did, his head held together. His clouded gray eyes met Hailey's lucid gray-blue and the male blinked for a moment before registering her words. He looked at the water then and took it gratefully, swishing it in his mouth before swallowing with a grimace. He set the glass down carefully and sat back, leaning against the cupboards behind him as he brought his fingers back up to his temples. The pounding hadn't abated, but his mind at least seemed to have settled a little and his shields were up again, keeping any thoughts around him out of his raw mind.

Drey let his hair fall around his eyes, blocking out some light and his voice was just above a whispering, inwardly hoping Hailey would take the hint and be quiet as well. "Are you okay?"

It didn't seem to matter to him that the lower half of his face was covered in blood and the front of his shirt, too or that he barely seemed able to function. Drey had made up his mind to help Hailey and he still held that mind set. He was stubborn and didn't care for people unless he came upon someone he felt drawn to. At that point, they had his loyalty and his demeanor seemed to change completely, as if he were two different people.

And right now, he was still slightly worried about Hailey and he hoped beyond anything else that all the pain he was in now had been worth it.
 
Hailey looked rather worried as she watched him. Was he really alright? She knew that there was probably not much that she could do, though. Maybe it was similar to when she had a hard time, people not knowing what to do, and yet they wanted to help her. She sat still watching him, feeling calmer than before, finally being able to rest some, not having to focus her mind on herself, at least. It felt pretty good not to be in the center of attention for now, she thought, as she looked at his bloody face and shirt.

"I'm fine", she said, not thinking too much before answering, and she quickly realized that he was probably looking for a real answer, not one of those automatic once that you always say when someone asks you how you are. She looked thoughtful for a moment before opening her mouth again. "Really, I am. I feel much better now", she said, being a bit surprised that he asked about how she was doing when he seemed to have such a hard time. She didn't really get that.

She looked at him for a few more minutes before she grabbed the glass and stood up, putting it on the zink. She glanced at him. "Maybe you should rest some", she said, thinking that she usually rested some after having one of those "hallucinations", as others would call it. She did actually feel like resting some herself, but didn't feel like leaving Drejan the way he was at the moment. "I usually rest when I've had... one of those... things happening, like what happened right now", she said.
 
Drejan smiled just a little at her words, humor in his expression as he looked up at her past his brown hair. "You mean a vision attack from hell?" He didn't really expect an answer to that, didn't require one as he worked his way to his feet, swaying slightly as the pain surged through his temples. Damn, it had been a while since it had been this bad. Just went to show him that he should never go shopping for food ever again. Better to starve...

The male grimaced, but now that he'd sat for a while, he seemed to have gained some marginal control over his body and even if he couldn't stop the trembles that betrayed the pain he was in, he could make his limbs obey him and he did so now as he went to the cabinet and got out the ibuprofen again. He didn't even count how many he downed - it had to be have been somewhere near fifteen or sixteen pills - and then downed the water that Hailey had put back on the sink.

He gave her a slight smile after that, his gray eyes glazed over, but his mind tentatively willing to function again, at least enough to think about whether or not she was going to stay. "Don't worry, I'll crash in a minute. Do you want to stay or go home? I have a spare room, but I can always just write down my address if you wanna go."

As he spoke, Drey had moved out of the kitchen and as he went by the couch, the world spun again and he caught onto the couch with a curse, breathing past the dizzy feeling. Well, so much for control...
 
((If you want to, feel free to fast forward... feel like I didn't contribute with a lot for you to keep writing on.))

Hailey smiled slightly as she heard Drey's comment about what had happened earlier - "a vision attack from hell". She looked a bit worried as he took the pills, weren't that a bit too much? She didn't say anything though, since she thought that he probably knew how to take care of himself. At least she knew that she knew how to take care of herself - if she took that many pills usually, she wouldn't like it if someone all of sudden said something about it. When anyone questioned her decisions or actions, she usually got a bit irritated, since she thought she knew best herself.

As he asked if she wanted to stay or go, Hailey looked thoughtful for a moment. She hadn't really thought of whether she was going to stay or not - the main thing had been to be able to function normal. Thinking back, she realized that she probably would have went right out the door if it hadn't been for Drey being in such a mess himself. Now, she wasn't that sure though. It wasn't that she worried about Drey since things had got better and he apparently knew how to take care of it, but just the fact that she was still there. It was so unusual for her.

She realized that he had moved out of the kitchen - she had been too busy with her own thoughts to notice that - and followed him to the couch. She looked at him, thoughtfully, as she leaned against a wall. She thought of whether to stay or to go - did she have anything she had to do at the time? "I guess I could stay till tomorrow at least", she said, after thinking for a while.
 
Drey nodded at her decision and after mumbling something about how she could help herself, the room was down the hall and don't let anyone in, he stumbled his way to his own room. He shut the door behind him and collapsed on the bed, curling as the pain spiked again, but this time giving into the darkness that swept over him.

If he was lucky, the pain would have abated to something tolerable in the morning and if not...

---------------------------------------

The sunlight woke him first and Drejan groaned, moving away from it, but forced to blink and wake up slightly all the same. He found himself staring with blurry vision at the time; 12:03 pm, and wondering if that was supposed to make him want to get out of bed. Well, if he could get out of bed. The male blinked slowly and tested each of his limbs with careful movements, feeling relief when none of them cramped. His chest felt slightly bruised from the hits Hailey had given him - she was stronger than she appeared! - and his fingers were a bit stiff, but there was no real pain in any extremities and he knew that was good, lucky. His head, though...

Drejan moved it cautiously, wincing a little as a sharp, but tolerable pain spiked through his temples. Well, better than yesterday, that was for sure. Sighing, the male finally made himself sit up, his hands coming up to hold his temples as the world spun and then settled. He felt a dull throbbing behind his eyes, information overload, but while he usually would have gone right away to letting it out through painting, right now he wanted a shower. He could feel the crusted blood on his face and shirt, and frankly that just wasn't the look he was going for.

After a shower and dressing, Drejan's mind wandered to his house guest. Would she still be here? Good stars, please say she was still lucid! He didn't think he was ready for a repeat of yesterday. Though, he knew he'd do it if she needed help again. He was kind of stubborn - and stupid, his mind quipped - that way. He rolled his eyes slightly, but exited the bedroom, continuing to towel dry his shaggy brown hair so it wouldn't drip onto his gray shirt.

He moved out into the living room and let his sharp gray eyes scan everything, wondering if Hailey was up...and if she was even still here.
 
Hailey let him go away, she didn't mind helping herself. As long as she knew where to sleep, which Drejan had told her right before he left. She went down the hall, and right away found the room that he had been talking about. Don't let anyone in, she thought, wondering what he had meant by that. Were there others in his home, wasn't he alone? Was there anything he hadn't told her about? For a moment she felt a bit anxious, looking around as if someone would be sitting in the bed already. She realized that she was alone though, and tried to think of other, safer and familiar things, as she helped herself and got everything ready to go to sleep.

~

She woke up hearing a noise outside of the window. She had been waking up frequently over the night, having weird dreams and only being half asleep. She turned around and picked the pillow up from the floor before glancing out the window. It was still dark outside. She sighed and yawned, she was tired, she really was. She closed her eyes, hoping for at least an hour of sleep in a row.

~

The sun was shining, not too bright, but it at least made her sure of the fact that it wasn't night any longer. She didn't feel tired, which made her rather relieved - she wouldn't like to be a walking zombie in this stranger's house, after all. She wondered how he was doing, as she thought of yesterday and what had happened. She glanced out the window, but realized that it was too high for her to sneak out without anyone noticing - or hearing - it. Getting away from there had been her first thought, but after a few minutes, she decided that it would be better to stay, at least to see that things were OK. After all, if she remembered things right, the man had told her the night before, that he was going to help her. Whatever that meant, she thought, as she realized that he had actually helped her out of one of her visions. She smiled slightly as she remembered what he had called it - a vision attack from hell.

Soon she had got herself dressed and put everything back where she had found it. She was sitting in the kitchen with a cup of tea. At first she had hesitated - would he mind if she took a cup of tea without asking? But thinking about it, she thought that if he wanted, she could make it up to him somehow. Maybe paying, she thought and smiled slightly as she drank some of it.
 
Drejan was actually a bit surprised to see Hailey in his kitchen, to see that she hadn't left, but not upset about it. He gave her an acknowledging nod before moving past her and to the medicine cabinet again. He frowned, not finding what he was looking for and then realized he'd never put the ibuprofen back and it was still on the counter. He dumped out a moderate dose of eight pills and moved to the fridge to grab a coke. The caffeine would help the pain in his head too....at least a little.

He downed the pills and then moved to the table on silent feet, sliding into the chair opposite Hailey. Drey moved his hair out of his eyes then and gave her a smile as he let his mind barely brush over her own, assessing her mental state just so he wouldn't be surprised if she started flinching or smacking him again. He felt relief to see that she was actually quite stable at the moment and the tension in his body seemed to ease away.

"Glad to see you lucid still." He spun his coke slowly between his fingers, studying her for a moment before speaking again. "Well, you stayed for a reason even when you could have left. Does that mean I can ask about you without freaking you out or are you planning on splitting after you're done with your tea?"

Sure it was blunt, but then, so was Drejan when the mood suited him.
 
Hailey looked at Drejan as he entered the kitchen. She watched him as he had a couple of more pills, reminding her of too many pills down her own throat a few years ago. Empty bottles and the wish to break free. She looked out the window instead, not wanting bad memories like that get to her. Especially not with Drejan in the room. She looked back at him as he spoke and smiled slightly. Soon, she looked quite thoughtful, as he continued. In a way, his words didn't come as a surprise - she had been expecting something like this. Maybe. At least preparing for it, in a way. Maybe she had just hoped that it wouldn't happen.

She shrugged as she drank some more of her tea. She wasn't sure of what to say. She certainly had mixed feelings about it - she knew it would be best to leave as soon as possible, not to let anyone too close, keep a safe distant. On the other hand, she couldn't stop thinking about what had happened the day before. He had helped her. He had done something for her - that was rather unusual, and she didn't feel like letting go of something like that just yet. "You can ask me... depending on what you're going to ask, I can't promise I won't freak out, though", she said, not really feeling like breaking down once again.
 
"Fair enough. I guess I could say the same thing to you, after all."

Drey frowned a little, studying the designs on his coke bottle as he weighed each question in his mind and the importance of them. He discarded some, knowing they were more for curiosity's sake then to figure out how to further help Hailey if she was willing to let him and when Drejan finally did speak, it wasn't in a hesitant way, but he did seem a bit cautious. He didn't want to trigger her again and he didn't want to ask her any question she could potentially turn back to him, seeking the same information. Basically, he'd ask her only things that he'd be willing to answer himself right now.

"How long have you had this power? The ability to see the future....and can you see the past or the present, too?"

It had been hard for him to tell yesterday. The images moved too fast, too much noise and he'd been coming into the stream with no prior history, no knowledge about how they worked or what they were at first. He was lucky he'd figured out how to help Hailey at all.
 
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