Home Tonight • •

[hayden octavia wylde]

Hayden didn’t want to spend her life a quivering wreck, only able to function from day to day with the assistance of a cocktail of pills. It hadn’t exactly been part of the future she had dreamed of when she had been a little girl, but that future also hadn’t included the trio of gruesome scars on her torso. She hid them with her clothes, avoiding bikinis and the fashionable cropped tops that had made a return the summer before. To a stranger, Hayden was just another girl on the street, but unfortunately most of the college and her friends knew the truth about the attack that had left the young blonde woman a mere shadow of her former self. Hayden would have done anything to get that girl back; the bubbly bouncy one with the excellent social skills. Instead she was jumping at the shadows in the corner of her eye, and too scared to leave her apartment once the sun went down.

If it wasn’t for school she might have been living the life of a recluse already. Friends couldn’t understand no matter how hard they tried. Hayden didn’t expect them to either. She wanted to get back to normality, and everyone from the doctors in the hospital to the psychiatrist she had seen during her initial recovery had told her it would be for the best, but Hayden couldn’t escape the nightmares or the fear that Michael had left her with. She had tried everything the books said, everything other survivors had recommended in blogs and survival stories, but she still felt like she had come no further in the six months. Her apartment was a fortress, kitted out with the best security system her father could find. He had paid for it and watched the men come to install it, helping Hayden change all the codes once they had left; something she now did once a week for her own peace of mind. It was designed to make her feel completely safe once she was inside, safe enough to relax, but that wasn’t always the case.

She had come straight home after her shift on campus that afternoon, and tried to crack on with some studying, but her neighbours had been blasting music for a long time, and then just when she did settle there was a fight outside. The yelling made her jump at first, but she was used to jumping at things. It was only when something thrown hit her window that the panic set in and no matter how many logical thoughts raced through her mind to tell her that it had nothing to do with her, and that Michael was behind bars awaiting trial, she couldn’t calm herself down. Close to a panic attack, sinking into the corner furthest from the window while the fight raged on outside and more debris was thrown at the building, aimed at who she suspected was her neighbour, Hayden fumbled for her phone and hit the speed dial for Oliver. By the time he answered the tears were streaming down her cheeks. It was a combination of fear, frustration at herself, and guilt for calling him again. “Oliver, I’m sorry…but I can’t...” She sobbed, breaking down. Hayden hated herself for turning to him every time this sort of thing happened, but she had no one else who could calm her down and reassure her. “Things keep hitting my windows, and they’re all yelling down there, and I can’t think straight...” Breathless and panicking, she rambled, wishing it hadn’t come to this.

• • •

TAGGED! Oliver Aaron Wolfe
WORDS! 601!
OUTFIT! Scared Sweetheart!
LYRICS! Sheila Take A Bow - - - The Smiths
NOTES! <3

[Oliver Aaron Wolfe]

If Oliver would have had a choice, he would have returned to duty as if nothing had ever happened to him; just like every other time he'd been injuried on a mission. But those other times had been different, they hadn't been ever close to the almost death that he'd experienced that last time. But he had loved being a Navy SEAL, knowing that even though he name wasn't officially on the books, he was doing something good for the world. He had loved the feeling of being part of a team and while he loved being a detective and putting his SEAL knowledge to good use, he wasn't really a part of a team. Their department wasn't a large group that worked together like some of those law shows. They were a team but they were partners first. That had been what Oliver had needed to get used to the most. It hadn't mattered that he wasn't the team leader because the group he called brothers had always taken turns on who would lead each mission.

Things ran differently in New York, not better, not worse, jut different and it had taken some getting used to. Oliver couldn't ask his team to help out, divvy up responsibilities between the lot of them, everything was on his shoulders. It was a bitch but he was making it work; if only because he couldn't return to the SEALs. He had been honourably discharged, returned to civilian status forevermore. And God how he hated it. He missed everything about being a SEAL and when that had been taken from him, well, it had taken a long time to process, to deal with it. Hell, he was still dealing with it but solving cases helped a lot. He had something to focus on other than his own eclipsing depression. He was not soft or weak, he wouldn't succumb to the depressing moments like some had. He was determined to come through the other side of these few years on top. His feelings on his own recovery had been why he'd agreed to give Hayden his private number.

She had a lot of issues to work through and he understood that better than most. It didn't matter that their issues weren't the same, they both needed to cope and move on from what had happened to them. Plus, with his PTSD induced nightmares, it wasn't all that uncommon for Oliver to be up in the middle of the night on the treadmill or the elliptical with his headphones secure in his ears and a loud play list wrecking havoc on his eardrums. He was on the treadmill when Hayden called actually. And instead of what he knew a lot of his fellow detective's would do, he answered the call. “Okay, it’s going to be alright. It’s probably just a bunch of rowdy college kids. I’ll come by and check it out, okay? Fifteen minutes.” He said before ending the call on a promise that he would actually go over. Then he grabbed the coat from the hook, his keys from the basket at the door and left after telling Tango to grab his leash. It was too far to walk over to Hayden’s place but Tango was an intimidating German shepherd for anyone who didn’t know the giant teddy bear.

Oliver parked half way down the block, just so he could walk up with Tango at his side, put a little fear into whoever was making all the fuss outside the otherwise quiet building. He was right, it was a group of rowdy kids just getting a little out of control. He would have said a quiet something, maybe flashed his badge and gotten them all to scatter if one of them hadn’t thrown a stray rock in their direction and Tango started barking, disliking the threat to himself and his master. Oliver was an intimidating looking guy to begin with, thanks to the serious training from the Navy, add in a vicious looking, over protective purebred shepherd, he looked terrifying. The fight broke up with the participants scattering before he could even open his mouth, which was fine by him. Thinking it best to call up first, Oliver dialed Hayden’s number back as he let himself into the building, slowly but surely making his way up to her apartment after an affectionate pat on head for Tango’s good job. “Hayden? I’m on my way up the stairs, just a flight away.” He said when she answered the phone.

Tag || hayden octavia wylde
Words || 755
Clothes || Intimidating Detective
Music || Goodbye --Sam Hunt
Notes || <3

[hayden octavia wylde]

Hayden wished she could go back to how she was before. She had loved her life back then. She had been a social butterfly who loved her college classes, hanging out with her friends and going to parties on the weekends to blow off some steam. Now all of those things felt like terrifying concepts to her, and once the sun started sinking in the sky all Hayden wanted to do was get home and find some modicum of security. It was nearly impossible to do that when she lived in one of the busiest cities in the world and there was never a moment of silence. Even if there was a second of silence, Hayden was tense, waiting for something to leap out of the shadows and grab her. Everyone told her that it would pass with time, and that time would heal her wounds, but she couldn’t believe them. They weren’t the ones having nightmares whenever the sandman came-a-calling. They didn’t have three grotesque scars across their abdomen, making them terrified to wear anything that might reveal them to the rest of the world; revealing not only some mangled skin, but also the horrors she had been a part of.

People went to college to learn more and to have fun. They didn’t go to meet a guy who would attack them just because they wanted a break. Hayden couldn’t escape that, and most of her faith in humanity had been shattered after Michael. She was a wreck, only barely coping thanks to a cocktail of drugs prescribed by doctors. It wasn’t the life a twenty-four year old was supposed to be living. Her parents wanted her to come back to Avalon, but Hayden didn’t want them to see just how bad she really was, even if she thought that maybe home might be the best place to feel safe. She didn’t want to hide out with mommy and daddy for the rest of her life; she had never been that girl and she wouldn’t be that girl. She felt so conflicted. She wanted to be strong, to be as independent as she had been before Michael had tried to leave her for dead in the middle of the university campus, but at the same time she just wanted to reach out to someone and tell them that she wasn’t strong at all, but rather that she was weak, and needed someone to lift her up and show her everything was going to be alright.

Knowing Oliver was coming over settled Hayden slightly, but she still hated herself for calling him in the first place. She didn’t want to have to keep reaching out to him, but she found herself doing so. Still, the sounds kept coming from outside, the group out there getting rowdier. She repeated Oliver’s words over in her head about it just being college kids, but it did little against her own voice which was being the devil on her shoulder, whispering the words about Michael being a college kid when they had met. The noise they were making got quieter, but Hayden didn’t trust the silence any less. She jumped when her phone rang, fumbled it in her hands before answering it when she realised it was Oliver. “I’ll be by the door.” She moved over to it, hand on the first of the four locks, eye at the peep hole. The minute she saw Oliver she began unbolting and unchaining the door, pulling it open and practically falling on him, relieved once again that he had come to her rescue. Many may have thought her dramatic if they could have seen her now and not known her story, but Hayden needed this; she needed to know that there was someone who could tell her the bumps in the night were nothing to be so scared of. “I’m sorry for calling you. I just panicked again.” She sobbed into his chest, feeling foolish like she always did by the time Oliver got to her.

• • •

TAGGED! Oliver Aaron Wolfe
WORDS! 675!
OUTFIT! Scared Sweetheart!
LYRICS! Sheila Take A Bow - - - The Smiths
NOTES! <3

[Oliver Aaron Wolfe]

Oliver’s job had been a difficult one before he’d ever chosen to continue a career in New York. For him the city had far more things for people to be scared about than he’d ever seen as a Navy SEAL. The scariest things weren’t the ones that went bump in the night but had a smooth, innocent and charismatic smile and said the sweetest words. If any case or anyone’s story could attest to that, it was Hayden’s. It had been one of the worst things Oliver had seen in his entire life and that included all the missions he’d gone on in his previous career choice. But she was made of stronger stuff and proved it by staying in the city when most young girls would have run home to their parents to rethink everything and figure out what they really wanted to do next. Some didn’t even ever recover from what happened to her. So the fact that she did just proved how impressive she was.

So for him, it didn’t matter that she needed to have him as a sort of lifeline. If she needed to call him for reassurances and to check under her bed for any lingering monsters, he would do so. It wasn’t as if she was interrupting a particularly fascinating life outside work hours. She never called him for anything frivolous. They were things that legitimately frightened her and would at the very least give a small start to anyone alone who had watched too many horror films. So for as long as Hayden needed him, Oliver would keep going to her side. She was a brave girl who just needed someone she could trust to turn to when she became overwhelmed. He’d tried getting her to talk to friends, have a couple more therapy sessions and maybe even get out of the city for a little while but she was a stubborn young woman; too stubborn for her own good some days. But she hadn’t left yet and he knew women who would leave the city in their rear view mirrors and not look back for a hell of a lot less than what Hayden had endured.

He’d been lucky this time that it was just a group of hooligans causing a scene and that they’d scattered quickly, he knew he would have only been able to hold one while he called for back up. As it was Tango’s growl had them running away, no doubt fearing the dog as well as the owner. He had expected trouble, there was usually always trouble when college kids were involved. Though he was pleased getting into the building was problem free. He really didn’t feel like dealing with much else. Oliver didn’t mind coming to Hayden’s rescue, that had never been the issue since this started, his issue were the idiots who thought it was funny in their drunken stupor to start a losing fight with the detective. “Okay.” He said before hanging up. He dropped Tango’s lead when they reached the right floor, though the dog remained at his side. He’d expected her at the door, not to throw herself at him in the hallway. He’d been unprepared for that and staggered back a couple steps before righting his balance. His arms were around her, holding her to him in case he did fall. His leg wasn’t all that great late at night, after a long day at the station. “It’s alright. I don’t mind you calling me. You know that.” He said, awkwardly rubbing her back. “Come on, let’s get your back inside.” He said, stepping carefully forward into the cosy apartment.

Tag || hayden octavia wylde
Words || 666
Clothes || Intimidating Detective
Music || Goodbye --Sam Hunt
Notes || <3

[hayden octavia wylde]

Hayden wasn’t trying to be tough or prove a point by staying in the city. She was there because she just wanted to get through college. She hadn’t wanted to return to Avalon and start up again when she was so close to finishing her schooling on the east coast. Hayden couldn’t say she was happy being there, but going home would just be hiding away and giving into her fears. She knew enough to know that if she went back to Avalon there would be more whispers, more chances to just hide away and let her parents do things for her again. Hayden needed her independence, even if it came with a fistful of fear and it took a cocktail of medication just to get through the day to day. She wished it could all go back to how it used to be, back to when she didn’t jump at shadows, but wishing had never granted her anything in life. Wishing hadn’t stopped Michael going crazy and coming after her and attacking her, leaving her for dead in the quad. She still had to build up strength to walk by the spot where she was found by the campus security.

Hayden hated herself and what she had become because of him. He might have been behind bars but he had won in her mind. She was a wreck, forced to call a detective because some kids were having fun outside. Living in the city that shouldn’t scare the living daylights out of her, but it did. She was ashamed of it. Oliver was a brilliant man, but he shouldn’t need to keep responding to her every beck and call, though she was entirely grateful that he did. She didn’t know what she would do without him. Hayden needed him more than she would ever tell anyone else. She had nightmares where she called him and he never came, where he mocked her for what she jumped at. She knew when she woke up that Oliver would never do the latter, and the former had yet to happen, but they were still horrible, horrible dreams. Sometimes she had been tempted to call him, to find that reassurance in his voice, but she hadn’t done it so far. She had gotten as close as staring at his name in her phone, finger hovering over the call button, but she had never hit it yet. Not in that situation anyway.

Before all of this she had never been the damsel in distress type. If there was trouble outside of her building before she wasn’t afraid to shout out of the window and tell them to move along before she called the cops. Now she was too afraid to go anywhere near her own windows even when it was daylight and she was boiling in her apartment. They stayed shut and locked at all times. “I hate it. I hate it. I wish I didn’t need to.” She whispered into his chest, shaking her head against the fabric of his shirt. She followed him back into her apartment and then locked the door tight again. It didn’t matter who was in there with her, Hayden always kept the locks fastened securely for her own peace of mind. She couldn’t sit still if the chain was off or a bolt was unfastened. “Can…can you stay awhile?” She asked timidly, raising her eyes slowly to meet Oliver’s. The danger might have passed outside, but the fear was still very real. She needed something to take her mind off what had happened because she was not ready to deal with what had been racing through her mind. Hayden wrapped her arms around herself to stop the shaking and bit her lip hard enough to draw blood.

• • •

TAGGED! Oliver Aaron Wolfe
WORDS! 675!
OUTFIT! Scared Sweetheart!
LYRICS! Sheila Take A Bow - - - The Smiths
NOTES! <3