A Zoo in the Fog (PersonaxZoophobia)

Backside of the TV

            Jackson woke to a ringing in his ears, groaning quite a bit as he shifts to move himself up. Sunlight had hit the room. It was already morning? How long had he been out? Jackson wondered as he tried to get past the pains of this headache. It could've all just been a horrible dream, but why did he wake up on the ground with a sizeable lump on his head? He was worried that all of that may have been real. That the woman he saw, Camilla, was out there, scared and hurt. He went to test putting his hand in the tv but was interrupted by a knock on the door. Jackson looked back. The rapidness of the knocks told that whoever was knocking was clearly worried.

"Jackson? Jackson are you there?!" It sounded like Zill and something had him worried. Jackson looked to a clock that was hanging on the wall and was shocked at the time. It was almost twelve o'clock. He must've hit his head really hard if he was out for that long. He heads to the door and opens it and finds a worried Zill sighing with relief. "Oh, thank god. You weren't answering your phone, so I thought you were... like..." Zill was panting heavily, as if he flew or ran with all his might to Jackson's home.

"Believe it or not Zill, I just woke up. I hit my head on the coffee table pretty hard and it knocked me out." As soon as Jackson said this, Zill began looking over Jackson's head worriedly.

"It wasn't someone who broke in right? You're not hurt right?!" Zill was obviously freaking out over something, but what?

Jackson moved Zill's hands away and looked to him. "Nothing usually has you worried like this Zill. What's going on?"

Zill looked to the ground, as if gathering the courage up to say something. It took a good minute or so until Zill let out a few soft words. "They found someone. Dead and strung up to a telephone pole." Jackson just looked on in shock. Someone was killed in Safe Haven? Something like that hadn't happened in many years. This had to have been a joke, but Jackson couldn't work up the courage to ask and check. "When I tried calling you, you didn't answer. I had assumed the worst and..." Zill trailed off before just hugging Jackson. "I'm just glad you're ok." It was understandable Zill was acting this way. A killer hadn't struck this town in so long, that the police force, although trained to handle a situation like this, would laugh at the mere idea of it happening. Jackson was still having a hard time believing it himself.

After a few moments, Jackson would ask shakily, "W-who did they find dead?"

Jackson's heart sunk at Zill's response. "Her name was Camilla. She was one of the other students at the school." The images last night flashed back in Jackson's head. The girl writhing in pain, yet still alive. He thought back to putting his hand into the tv. If he had gone in, could he had saved her? Could he have done anything? Zill noticed the worried look in his eyes and asked "Jackson? Jackson what's wrong?"

Whilst shivering, Jackson slowly said "I saw her last night... I saw her..." He could barely make up a real sentence. He held his arms, trying not to panic.

"Hey, hey, Jackson. It's ok. You're ok." Zill did his best to comfort his friend, rubbing his back and moving so that they could sit down on the couch. "Now take this slow. Where did you last see her? And what was she doing?"

Jackson took some deep breaths, exercises that his counselor Ms. Cameron Walden taught him. It took him a bit, getting as calm as he could be before speaking. "On the tv, it was this weird show at midnight. I couldn't make out anything but her. Zill... she was in pain." Jackson's words brought curiosity to Zill, but also terror. "Something was hurting her, and I couldn't stop it."

Zill could barely respond to something like that, so he continued to try calming down his friend. "Hey, it's not your fault Jackson. You couldn't have truly known where she was."