xp_logs | Log: Final Blow: Tuesday evening, nineish

Following this 'fire drill', Lorna is wandering the second floor keeping an eye on things when she sees something she really doesn't like.

Lorna wasn't really the type to idly wander the halls in the "not guarding anyone nope" fashion that Alison has perfected but after the 'fire drill' of that evening, she thought it was better to be safe than sorry. Of course, the fact she was avoiding anywhere near where Manuel's room was, was a sheer coincidence. The fact she was prowling near the girls' dorms, where, as far as she knew, a certain Spanish empath would not be, was also coincidence.

So it was actually something of a shock to see Manuel coming out of 201, a room she knew for a fact he didn't inhabit. It was even more of a shock to see Amanda half-follow him, hovering in the doorway and giving him a kiss that was definitely more than 'just friends'. Both teens looked mussed, and had that particular 'just had a really good time' look.

Lorna's eyes narrowed. Once she could understand, but to still go back, even after the other day? The girl was a monster. She watched Manuel disappear down the corridor, obviously still too intent on the happy feelings he'd gotten with Amanda to notice the wave of rage-fear Lorna was generating, and then made her move.

Lorna wasn't like Alison or Marie who could attempt to save another in spite of themselves. She didn't have the non-judgmental even-handedness of Jamie or Shinobi. And while she was somewhat off her game due to recent times, Lorna was not suited to swallow indignities so as not to cause a scene. Lorna loved scenes.

"Amanda." Lorna didn't have many piercings herself. Ears twice was the extent of it actually and she rarely wore anything in her second holes. But on other people, Lorna quite approved of them. They were like handles. Being yanked around by them probably hurt. Judging by Amanda's yelp,
it probably hurt quite a bit.

"What the bloody fucking hell are you..." Amanda's outrage came to an
abrupt halt as she realised just who was yanking her around by her piercings. "Oh, 's you."

"What kind of twisted little cancer are you?" Lorna continued to drag Amanda toward her, the girl nearly tripping over her own feet at the pace Lorna forced her to maintain. Possibly, in a more sane moment, Lorna would be horrified by her actions. This wasn't that moment. "How can you fuck that thing?"

Distracted by the acute discomfort, Amanda didn't realise just what Lorna meant until she'd come to a stop in front of the angry woman. "What the
fuck are you talkin'... oh."

"Oh, indeed." Lorna released her grip on Amanda's piercing with a contemptuous gesture. "You little bitch, do you know what he did to me? Of course you do, because you fucking did the same damn thing to half the school."

Amanda flinched. "I didn't do it on purpose!" she said, knowing how lame it sounded. "An' I got hit too." Her hand moved up to her neck to cover a fresh lovebite. "Manny... you wouldn't understand."

"Like hell I wouldn't," she hissed. Lorna spread her arms wide, "Do you see how much I weigh? Yeah, I get trying to destroy yourself. But at least I wasn't getting help from someone who rapes people's heads for fun. You want to kill yourself, Amanda, then just do it." She shook her head, disgusted, "He and you deserve each other."

Something broke in the girl's eyes. "Maybe we do," she managed to choke out. "I know it's wrong, I know what he done, an' I still go t'him any way. I have to. He's the only thing I've got left."

"That's bullshit and even if it wasn't, it's your own fucking fault." Lorna dismissed Amanda's excuse with a sharp gesture, "You've been tearing around this place like you'll never have to suffer for it. Well, suffer. The rest of us have to for things that aren't our fault, you damn well have to for the stuff that is."

"I am. I do. I'm out of me head half the time with the cravin's, an' I'm seein' what this is doin' t' me, t' the people around me, an' I want it t' stop only I can'. It's too much, it's too big an' I can't take it any more!" Amanda's voice rose nearly to a wail. "I just want it t' stop!" And with that she turned and bolted away from Lorna before she could react.

Following this scene, Amanda runs into Angelo. Angst ensues. Warren is called in to be the knight in shining armour.

Angelo was heading back to his room from an evening snack run to the student kitchen when he heard raised voices coming from the direction of Paige (and Amanda's) room. He paused, concerned, and it was at that point that Amanda burst around the corner and came tearing blindly down the corridor, crashing straight into him.

It took a moment for Amanda to realise she'd collided with someone, let alone who. All she could think of was escape, from Lorna, from the cravings, from everything. She pushed ineffectually at the hands holding her still, sobs racking her small frame.

Angelo looked down at her, frowning partly in reluctant concern, part in a desire to run far away - but he couldn't just leave her like this. His loyalty, once given, ran deeper than that. "Amanda? What happened?" He glanced at back the way she had come, wondering.

Through the roaring in her head she vaguely remembered doing something, saying something to Angelo, that he was angry at her, but she didn't care now, it didn't matter. She clutched at his shirt, pulling him towards her. "I can't do it any more, Ange, I just can't." She leaned her forehead against his chest, shoulders shaking.

Angelo put his arms around her instinctively, trying to offer comfort. "Can't do what?" he asked neutrally

"Can't... keep feelin' like this, doin' these things. I'm scared an' I want it t' stop, an' Manny's link is the only thing that makes it stop an' I know it's wrong, what he did t' Lorna was wrong, an' then Lorna saw us an' the things she said..." Amanda gulped out the words. "I need t' get out of here, Ange."

Angelo's eyes hardened, and he filed away what she'd said about Manuel and Lorna away for future use. "The things she said? What did she say?"

"That I should suffer an' we deserve each other, an' I don't want t' be like that but it won't stop hurtin'. I tried, I really did, but it's gettin' worse, an' I'm scared of what I might do. I'm fuckin' over everyone that cares an' I don't want t' keep doin' it." She looked up at him, desolation in her eyes. "I want it t' stop."

Angelo looked away, not wanting to see the pain in her eyes, but he couldn't ignore it in her voice. "Yeah. Fuckin' over, and fuckin' up. But you already knew that, didn't you?" He sighed. "Forget it. We can talk about that later. As for it stoppin', well... don't see what I can do for you there. Not sure anyone but you can make it stop, in the end."

Amanda's face twisted, and she pushed herself away from him. She'd done her job too well, hurt him too much, and the realisation was like a knife to her heart. "I'm so sorry, Ange," she whispered. "I..." She shuddered, and then said, in an almost unnaturally calm voice: "I can, can't I? Make it stop. Lorna said I should. 'S the only way."

Angelo looked down at her, suddenly scared by something he heard in her voice. "What do you mean?" he asked warily, very much afraid he already knew the answer.

"She was right.," she continued, in that small, eerily calm voice. "'S the only thing I can do." And with that, she shoved past Angelo hard, much harder than her size and state would have warranted, breaking past him and running for the stairs. The stairs to the roof.

Angelo staggered back against the wall, having not expected the shove. He took a few moments to recover, then took off after her as fast as he could, despite the pain of his bruises and cracked ribs. "Amanda!"

The night air was cold on her tear-swollen face as she reached the roof, and she paused for a second, letting the sensation comfort her. The flight platform was ahead of her, and she remembered learning to fly with Marie, the feeling of weightlessness, of freedom. She couldn't fly any more, they wouldn't let her have the power she needed to, but she'd still try. One last flight.

Angelo was only seconds behind her, bursting through the door to the roof in time to see her reach the platform. Knowing he'd never get to her in time on his feet, he ran as close as he could get as she climbed onto the platform and, without even thinking, shot out tendrils of skin from his fingers to cross the remaining distance and wrap around her near arm and ankle. "Amanda. Stop", he managed, out of breath.

"Ange, don't, you have t' let me do this, it's the only thing I can do," she sobbed, tugging against his restraining skin. "I can't take any more of this. You know what this is makin' me do, an' it's only goin' t' get worse. I can't be trusted, I'll only hurt you. All that matters is me next fuckin' fix, an' I can't live like that, I don't want to."

"You're stronger than this," he told her, almost angrily, not releasing his grip. "You know you are. An' I'm not lettin' you out of this that easy. You can die right now an' be remembered as a junkie - 'cause I'll make damn sure everybody knows, if you go off this roof right now - or you can make this better. An' I'll tell you somethin' - I probably couldn't stop you jumpin', but I'm not lettin' go. So choose - live, or die knowin' you're killin' me too."

She glared at him, torn. Another memory, of her telling Cain that no matter how bad she got, she'd never be involved in the death of an innocent. And Angelo was her friend, even if she'd probably screwed that up. But all she wanted was rest, rest without waking. A long moment passed, a moment in which things could have gone either way, but the angry compassion in his eyes undid her. Then she dropped to her knees, a long keening wail escaping her.

Angelo let out a long breath he'd never admit he'd been holding, relieved beyond words that his bluff had worked. Then he hurried to her side and cradled her, murmuring soothing nonsense as she cried, laying his anger and hurt aside (at least temporarily) in the urgency of the situation.

It was the cold that helped him decide what to do next. She probably wouldn't thank him for it later, but things had gone beyond the need for keeping secrets. He let go of her carefully and moved to the red phone located conveniently close, never taking his eyes off her. Warren was closest. Dialling the number, he spoke tersely when it was picked up on the other end. "Warren? We got an emergency on the roof, by the flyin' platform. Need your wings. Can you come up now, please?

"What? What is it?" Warren asked, alarmed.

"Problem with Amanda - need you to get her down to Dr. MacTaggart, soon as you can."

"I'll be right there," he said. He tossed the phone onto his bed and ran as quickly as he could to the flyer's platform.

Angelo returned to Amanda's side, and wrapped his arms around her in an attempt to both comfort her and keep her warm.

"What's going on?" Warren asked, arriving to find Angelo wrapped around a clearly upset Amanda.

Angelo glanced down at Amanda, realising she was probably too distressed to really hear what was being said, and answered, "She tried to jump. She needs Dr. MacTaggart, but I don't want people to know. Could you fly her down, an' in through the back door?"

Warren made his way over to Amanda and carefully took her from Angelo's arms. "It's okay, Amanda, we're taking care of you," he murmured in her ear, in an attempt to calm her down. He scooped her up and pulled her to his chest. "Will you be going to the medlab, Angelo?"

Angelo nodded curtly, eyes still on Amanda. "I'll meet you down there."

Warren turned back to the girl. "Here we go, Amanda," he told her, and took off into the air. He flew quickly but smoothly, and was careful to stay out of any areas where others might see them.

As soon as they were out of sight, Angelo headed as quickly as he could back inside the house, and down to the medlab to meet them.

And this concludes the game of "Let's See How Much One Character Can Take" I've been playing. *eg* Let Mental Health Month roll on!