Unasked Question
Tears ran faster down Laura's face, her hands once balled into fists shook free to grip onto the hem of her shirt in a desperate attempt to comfort herself in any way possible. Her distress became evident when Danny placed a hand on her shoulder only to have the smaller flinch away as if she had been burned.
"Don't touch me!" The broken scream caused everyone to stand still, staring at Laura, as she stepped backwards away from Danny, shaking her head violently. When Laf tried to pull her away Laura pushed her back and ran into her chair curling up with her knees to her chest shaking her head.
"Laura, please, I'm so sorry." Danny tried, stepping towards the chair, only to have Laura pull tighter into her ball, rocking back and forth as she tried to work out what had happened in the last few minutes. How everything had gone so wrong. Danny knelt down beside her, pulling her hands away from her legs where they were digging in painfully, only for Laura to push further away from her.
"Don't come near me, leave me alone please." Laura begged, her voice breaking as fresh tears made tracks down her face. Once more flinching as Danny tried to pull her in for a hug. The rooms occupants watched the distraught girl slowly pulling away and making their way out into the corridor. Danny was the only one who refused Laura's request.
"She killed people Laura. She tried to kill me." Danny stood clenching her hands, staring at Laura imploringly.
"I just want the death to stop." The broken sound cut through the air like a knife, and this time Laura didn't move away when Danny placed her arms around her. Both drawing comfort from the other.
"I can't promise that Laura. I have to defend my friends. I couldn't let her get away with it." Danny whispered into the silence, placing her cheek on the top of Lauras head before being pushed away, Laura glaring at her with such venom that Danny was taken aback. Laura had yelled, screamed, disliked, distrusted but right now Danny could only see her rage, and it was one on pars with Carmilla's.
"You will! You have to promise me!" Laura stared at Danny begging the taller girl to sit before continuing "Promise me, that you will stop, don't listen to him again, protect but never kill again please."
"Why does it mean so much to you?" Danny asked defeated as she slumped back in her seat, shaking her head as she thought of what could happen if she dare make that promise. How many more sisters would be lunch for a vampire if she didn't protect them? She would do much for Laura but not this.
"Why does it mean so little to you?" Laura paused trying to level her breathing before once again continuing "They breath, they walk, they talk, they eat! Sure they drink blood rather than milk but, they are alive. I don't want any more death to happen here."
"They kill too."
"Then aren't you just as bad as them!" Laura stood pushing her chair away before forcing her way out of the door. Danny sat staring at the spot that Laura vacated as Laf looked in, their hand shaking already. They made their way over to Danny, who was shaking slightly in her seat as she tried to fathom what Laura had just told her. In a logical world it might have been true, but morality was grey, and surely killing for protection is a lesser crime than killing for fun?
"Where has Laura gone?" Laf asked, shaking Danny's shoulder, before moving to the window and looking out their movements becoming frantic as they saw the effect it was having on Danny.
"What do you mean?"
"She ran outside!"
"What? How? She knows Carmilla and Vordenburg are out there! We have to find her!" Danny stood and began to run to the door only to be stopped by Laf and pushed back to keep her away.
"Danny, if we go out we are in just as much danger. She might come back." Laf tried to reason with Danny as they held the struggling tall girl, expecting to have them thrown off or even for Danny to step back. But that didn't happen. Instead Danny's body shook as sobs wracked her body.
"You didn't hear her. She hates me." The words were repeated over and over.
"Laura is bad at communication, she probably didn't mean to sound as she did." Laf pulled Danny, as best they could, into a comforting hug, trying not to mention the elephant in the room that was currently lying beside them.
"Screaming and crying generally indicates someone hates you."
"I don't know if you've noticed but she doesn't react well to stressors. She doesn't know how to speak openly about emotions when she cannot read them out of a book. There is no guide to help her in this situation, none of her books discuss what to do when your friend kills your ex-girlfriends sister when you handed them the weapon. She is out of her depth, and you were here for her to yell at." Laf gave up trying to ignore Mattie, hoping it would snap Danny out of it, hoping to continue with the line of thought that had plagued their mind for weeks. It was simply odd that Laura depended on books for social interactions.
"How do you know all that?" Danny asked, narrowing her eyes at the shorter ginger. Danny wasn't sure what Laf was saying but she knew that she wouldn't like it. Laf looked as if they had figured out something that neither of them should have known.
"I've been trying to re-watch everything, working out how I can help Perry. What happened to her." Laf looked away and it was Danny's turn to comfort Laf, pulling them into her arms. There were not enough sorry's to cover what had happened that night.
"She's a journalist she doesn't need a book to tell her what to do." Danny spoke softly trying to pull Laf's mind away from Perry, keeping them from thinking to hard about what could have happened to Perry. It seemed to work as Laf pulled away shaking her head.
"She bases her idea of journalism on Veronica Mars, and Lois Lane. There are no real journalists that she knew before her course." Laf insisted, their eyes shining as they rubbed away the tears that had begun to fall at the thought of Perry being dead, or whatever else may have happened to her.
"Laf, I have no time for this, Laura could be anywhere by now!" Danny shook her head, having no idea what Laf was talking about. Had losing Perry affected them that much? Was this an attempt to blame Laura again?
"Just answer me this; have you heard Laura mention anyone from before Silas?" Laf asked, tentatively as they looked over Danny biting onto their lip as the tall girl's brow furrowed in confusion.
"Her dad?"
"No one else?" Laf asked, their eyes glancing at Danny as if waiting for her to drop, instead the tall girl sank down once more, a hallowed expression darkening her face "I'm just saying, I know you trust her, but she's keeping something from us."