Suffocating

Unravel; V

The curtain closed, blocking Roxanne away from the world, from Claire. The changing room had become a safe haven, it seemed. Claire used to be her safe haven. And now she was brooding and sulking and glaring at her as though she'd committed an unspeakable crime. And maybe, maybe she did, but...

Claire didn't have to be such a bitch about it.

Roxanne rested her head on the mirror, hugging herself. The t-shirt she'd been 'fawning over' was thrown uselessly to the ground. She didn't even like it. She just wanted to get away from Claire.

Did Claire think Roxanne understand nothing? Because even before Angel, before all of this madness, Roxanne already understood enough.

She knew Claire had something to do with Angel. And judging by how pissed off she was, it couldn't be anything good.

Angel had hinted something about dangerous people that even she couldn't get rid off, for whatever reason... and Claire had hated Angel, since the beginning...

Could Claire be-

Her phone buzzed. She tried to ignore it, but it kept buzzing.

Another death threat.

A sob wrecked through Roxanne's lips. An unhappy smile formed in her lips.

Of course.

Of course, they wouldn't stop trying to hunt her down.

Of course they would have to keep sending her messages to make her feel uncomfortable in her own home, so much so that she wanted to leave it, get away from everything.

It was hard enough pretending as though she was happy in front of Claire. But now Claire had to act that way. Why?

Her phone buzzed. It wasn't a message this time, but a call. From Mister Grover.

Roxanne waited, in this stuffy hot room, wearing this horrible turtleneck that made her sweat like crazy, until the call was over, leaning all of her weight onto the mirror, both of her hands dangling uselessly at her sides.

Roxanne didn't want to go to work today. She didn't think she could handle it, especially with her mind as screwed up as it was, and not with him being caring and kind and intuitive and- fuck, just being a damn good man.

She heard footsteps coming from in front of her. Shit. How long had she been here, crying her eyes out? Ten minutes? Fifteen?

Roxanne looked up at the reflection. She didn't like what she saw. She hated that if it were not for her glasses and her bangs semi-covering them, everyone would see how little sleep she had and how much she'd cried. She looked ultra-pathetic.

Roxanne remembered the promise she made with Rick, cringing. She didn't want Rick to see her like this. She didn't want anyone to see her like this, especially not Claire, not with how much of a jerk she was being.

She wiped away her tears, thankful that no new ones threatened to fall down her face.

The footsteps grew louder. Claire must be pissed, having to wait for her for so long. Fuck her.

"Holy shit. I told you! I fucking told you, Mom!"

Oh, wait, no. It wasn't Claire. It was... some other girl.

She sounded... young.

"Jessica, be quiet. Someone might be here."

Young enough to be going to the mall with her own mother, apparently.

"So? Who the fuck cares?!" Roxanne winced at that. That's not how you're supposed to talk to moms... But what did she know? She, of all people, was the least qualified to know about this shit. Who knew? Maybe the mom was in the wrong here. "I told you something weird was going on! I told you I saw something! And you didn't believe me!"