Issue 1 Downtime

After passing the door four or five times, Professor Sackville finally knocked.

Muttering disagreeably, Brigid finally came to the door. Looking through the peephole, she blinked in surprise, and opened the door.

"...Professor Sackville?"

Haley sat up in her bed, rubbing her eyes.

"The hell..." she mumbled sleepily

"Oh, Miss O'Hara. Right, you're in this room, too. I came to check on Ha...on Miss Crusek. I heard about what happened with Miss Rourke," he said, awkwardly.

"Uhm... Haley, it's for you apparently," she said, giving Roland an odd look.

what in the hell....

"Uh...sure. I'll be out in a sec, just let me put some clothes on, I guess."

Haley motioned for Brigid to close the door, and once it was closed stepped out of bed and rummaged around in her dresser for a pair of flannel pants to slip into underneath the oversized (ridiculously so on her small frame) "everything's bigger in Texas" tee she was currently wearing.

"Sorry...uh...not really sure what this is about..." She said to her roommate, cinching the drawstring on the flannel pants, sliding into a pair of slippers, and opening the door to go out into the hall to meet her professor.

"Uh... hi?"

"Haley. How are....I mean, that is to say, I heard what happened with Miss Rourke earlier, and I wanted...you know, to check. To see if you were doing alright..."

"At midnight?" she asked, looking him in the eyes briefly and then instantly regretting it. She looked scared for the brief moment bride she looked away, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Is this a bad time? I mean, I could come back later, I just assumed, being high school students and all..."

"High school students with an 8 am English class? No. It's fine," she said not really looking him in the eyes. "I'm wide awake now...."

dont go alone with him! No...no, it's fine, don't be stupid

Haley was, to her credit, keeping her thoughts to herself.

"It's fine. We fought but...uh...I dunno. Kinda talked it over afterwards?"

"The grapevine has more than just 'a fight' happening," Roland said. "Rumors travel fast..."

"....the hell did you hear?"

"I heard you went catatonic. Briefly.

I also noticed you spacing out in class. I'm concerned about you Haley."

"Cata what now?" she asked

"Look, so I saw some shit...a lot of it. That she'd gone through and it was hard, but...I'm fine," she lied.

"I'm not a telepath, Haley, but you're clearly not fine. Do you want to talk about it?"

"I..."she fumbled

not with you

Which Roland might well hear. And he's definitely getting a flash of her, in a village that seems awfully familiar. He's there, holding a sword and wearing very familiar armor. And then he rushes Haley and strikes her down.

Roland took a half step back, and shook his head.

"What...how...?"

Haley shrank back against the wall, looking terrified, having apparently experienced the scene again in her head (from her perspective).

"Ohgoddon'tkillmeIwon'ttellanyone!"

It would seem she thought that attacking her in real life was the next logical step to Roland's dastardly plan.

Roland was a master tactician, having learned from the best. He had trained under Ceasar, studied Alexander's methods, been trained in the art of Bushido.

His years of tactical training led to one conclusion.

He dropped the box he had been carrying, and ran like a bat out of hell.

Haley slid down the wall, falling into her door, hyperventilating and starting to cry.

oh god he really was gonna kill me