Bones

Jamie sees her there, and he knows she’s not really there because that’s impossible and illogical and terrifying. It’s Laura, all lank blonde curls and empty blue eyes, her once pretty face swallowed by dark circles and hollow cheekbones. It’s Laura, the girl he loved too much.

It’s Laura, the girl that taught him all her tricks. And it’s Laura, the girl that jumped off a bridge.

She smiles lightly and crosses her toothpick legs clad in dark grey stockings that stick out from under her dress, all the way down into her pink Doc Martens. “How have you been,” she asks, genuine curiosity in her voice.

Jamie closes his eyes tightly, willing the hallucination away away away away away, but when he opens his eyes she’s still there, still smiling, still taunting. She reaches out, fingers brushing his knee and he jerks away instinctively. He tries to still his shaking hands, clasping each side of the kitchen chair but it’s not helping him with his poor attempt to grasp reality.

“Go away, go away, go away.” He repeats it like a mantra, his eyes shut tightly. “GO. AWAY.” Jamie’s voice isn’t a scream, but a whisper exploded in his mind. “GO AWAY.” His hands shift from the chair to the edge of the table, and as his voice begins to rise, he shoves it away from himself; standing too quickly a wave of dizziness hits him with the clack of the chair on the tile, at the same time a headache starts to wiggle it’s way through his temples.

Breathless, he opens his eyes praying she’s gone, please please please. And he opens them slowly, breath hitching as he sees the swish of someone disappearing behind a corner and into the hall.

And as he sees his brother’s fingers leave the corner (because those are Nick’s finger, Jamie knows those hands), he feels his heart stop in his chest.