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xxxlocation: City Streets/Dinah's Apartment xx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxoutfit: here
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xxx"Heroes can be found in the most unlikely places.
xxxPerhaps we all have it within us to do great things,
xxxbut may simply lack the circumstances
xxxor the reasons to be heroic."
x
Max smiled softly and nodded but didn't say anything. Her hand tightened into a fist. She checked her phone again, just in case she had missed a notification or she had silenced it without thinking. There was nothing. No texts, emails, calls. In the past few days. Max started walking again, a little faster than she had intended and tried to force herself to slow down. She wasn't going to push Willow faster for her own, probably unnecessary, fears. She could injure her ankle further. Max wasn't that selfish.
Dinah lived a couple streets over and to the right of the university. It was a nice part of town, but nice like a suburb. Everything ultimately looked the same and the security was somewhat lackadaisical. They figured it was a nice enough place to live, but not so nice that people would bother breaking into places. When they got to the front door of the apartment, Max found the dark green key on her ring and inserted it into the lock. Dinah had given her a spare a few years back in case of an emergency. She had used it from time to time to water Dinah's plants or to visit while Dinah was off.
Thankfully, the apartment was only on the second floor and their elevator was working. She pressed the up button and waited. "It'll just be a minute..." she insisted. "Just a minute..." The doors opened with a charming dink and Max stepped inside, waiting for Willow before she hastily pushed the "door close" button and then the number 2. The elevator rose and the closer she got to Dinah's apartment, the more nervous she became. She unconsciously began picking at her nails and the dead bits of skin at her fingers. It was a bad habit she picked up as a teenager. Even more so once she started working at the clinic where people practically bathe in hand sanitizer which tends to dry out the skin. She hissed as she pulled at the skin too far and a drop of blood started to form. She sucked on it as she waited for the doors to open. The elevator gave another charming ding followed by a robotic voice telling them they had reached the second floor.
Max tried her best to keep from taking off down the hallway. When she saw the door in sight, she did take off at a run and got to the door just in time for her to pull out the light green key and stick it into the lock. To her relief, it was locked which was a good sign. Some of her fear eased its grip around her heart and stomach and she turned the lock. She took a deep breath and waited for Willow to walk up. "Sorry about that." She said quietly. "You see. Dinah's an old friend and it's very unlike her to disappear like this..." There was the fear again. She took another deep breath and turned the knob.
She wasn't sure what she expected when she pushed the door open. Villains on the other side with a knife to Dinah's throat. The place ransacked. Dinah sitting on the couch cleaning her guitar or practicing her vocals they way she taught Max to. Which reminded her, she needed to start doing that again. She stepped into the apartment and her air stood on end. Something was wrong. She knew it. But why? The place was as pristine as it usually was, which was to say, the place was definitely lived in, but not filthy. Dinah might've been a bit of a disorganized person, but she wasn't messy. "Dinah?" She called out, but there was no answer.
She thought for a moment, maybe she wasn't home. While unlike her it wasn't entirely uncommon. It tended to happen most when she spent the night in the arms of a stranger. Max was about to turn and leave when she noticed Dinah's bag on the table. Normally her keys were right beside them. Maybe she left her bag? Max decided to look around a bit more, starting with the master bedroom. She raised her hand to knock first but decided it was better to just go in. She turned the knob and pushed the door open. There was a blonde head resting on the pillow beside a mountain of blankets. Max sighed in relief. "Dinah? It's Max. Sorry to barge in, but I hadn't heard from you and you know how this city is lately and--Dinah?"
Max crossed over to the bed and gasped, stumbling backward to get away from what she was seeing. Dinah's pale blue eyes were staring up at the ceiling, lifeless and glazed. The sheets were dark with dried blood. There were bruises and other cuts all along her body and, to top it all off, a hole in her chest where a knife had been. Max choked. "Dinah?" Max reached out to her as she dropped to her knees. Breathing was becoming difficult. The air was warm in here and tasted of blood. In fact, Max was surprised she had missed it before. The whole apartment smelled of old blood. It was filling her nostrils and her stomach was sick with the smell. I have to get out of here... The walls suddenly seemed to close. And she could smell blood on her clothes.
She pushed herself up and took off running. Down the hall, and up the stairs. She ran up, up, up, until she reached the roof. It was the purest air she could get plus there was a breeze. And it was bright compared to the darkness of Dinah's apartment. Max gulped lungs full of clean-ish city air, but it didn't change much other than clear out the reak of blood in her nose. Her head was spinning, her stomach clenched forcefully and she tasted her breakfast. She ran to the metal trash can bolted to the roof for people who like to drink, eat, and/or smoke up here, and vomited into it. Every time she closed her eyes, all she could see was her friend's lifeless body, which of course sent another wave of sickness through her. It took her a moment to remember she hadn't been alone. "Willow..." She managed to choke out.