TØUCH, WHERE IT HURTS | mulder + scully

C H A P T E R E Ī G H T;

Apparently a lot can happen in three weeks,

The next few weeks pass by in a dazed blur for Fox Mulder. He does the things he does without really knowing why he does them.

After the come down of his high, he had promised himself he would never touch that stuff again, he would never do anything like that again. There was just too much at stake, too much of a risk. He never wanted to feel like that again.

Yet, somehow come that following Saturday he found himself at yet another party, taking more of the same substance.

'Where do you buy this stuff?' He asked the boy who had given it him in the first place.

'I can sell you some if you want, discounted, mates rates and all.'

Mulder agreed. The high of this substance was too much to pass up, it was a get away from the stress of uni, he felts less homesick, and there was this childlike giddiness it gave him too. Sure the come down was a feeling of completely despair, like he was just inches away from death, but the more he did it, the less frightening it became and the more euphoric it seemed. He had found nirvana in a couple of little white pills.

He was by no means addicted, no it hadn't been long enough for that yet, it was a choice, his choice, as a consenting adult. He new what he was doing every time, he new the consequences. He told himself there was nothing wrong. The substances helped him finish work on time. It was simply a positive.

So he went on as normal, just living his life, attending his classes, doing his work, going to parties. Just normal teenage things. No one has noticed, well no one had said anything if they had noticed at least.

He's in a lecture. Something about the minds of serial killers, he'd be interested at any other time, but his heads some place else, somewhere far away, from lecture halls and serial killers.

☾

Life is going great for Dana Scully. She's getting top marks in college, she has a hot boyfriend and she hasn't seen stupid Fox Mulder in weeks, though for some reason, this worries her, she doesn't know why.

He used to come to the cafe at the very least once a day, but he's not been in weeks. She doesn't know why, but she's saddened by this, the fact he's moved on, found somewhere else, she feels cheated. It's almost as though she misses him, she shakes her head at the thought.

It's four pm on a Friday, her shift finishes in half an hour, then it's straight home to shower, change and get ready for a date with Mike. She's excited.

And so as expected, in her giddy state, the next half hour flies by. There are a couple of customers who come for take out orders, but that's it mostly. And within no time it's four thirty.

Scully grabs her bag from the staff room in the back of the shop, hanging up her white apron as she does so.

'Enzo' she calls, 'I'm off, see you tomorrow'

'Goodbye Dana' the cheerful Italian calls back.

She leaves the shop. Suddenly out of nowhere, just as she steps foot out of the door, she is very nearly knocked to the ground by an unknown heavy force.

She looks up.

She bites her lip.