The Life & Times of Sara Sidle
- Thread starter quoth_the_raven
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Guest
Guest
Ah, that was great! Poor uncomfortable, insecure Sara! 
Keep up the great writing!
Keep up the great writing! quoth_the_raven
Corpse
Thankies, guys!
Living Room of Unknown House- 6:34 pm- January 12, 1990
Sara sighed deeply to herself, sitting on the black couch indian-style, one of her knees bouncing back and forth. With her hands resting in her lap, she kept her eyes fixed on the floor in front of her, trying to ignore the drunk people stumbling past her and the overwhelming smell of alcohol and cigarette smoke. Sara knew these smells all-too well from her childhood- the smell of alcohol from her parents and the cigarette smoke from the hookers her father used to bring home to his wife and daughter.
Sara wrapped her arms around herself tightly. She was not going to do this. Not here, not now. She was a big girl now, she would make it through this. She was not going to let those memories come back now to haunt her, wasn't that what sleep was for? Now was not the time to think about her drunk father coming home reeking of rum and whiskey. Now was not the time to think of that night her mother finally stood up to him. And now was definetly not the time to think about Matthew...no, it was really not the time for that line of thinking.
Flinching a little when she came back to reality, she took a deep breath to try and compose herself. She needed to calm down, or she was going to have a panic attack right in front of all these people. She was going to show them all how emotionally unstable she was, and she was not about to let that happen. She was not going to reveal that to the entire world, because not only would they learn that, but they would learn about her past, and that was something she could not afford to let happen.
She closed her eyes, lowering her head. Happy thoughts, she told herself. Happy thoughts, happy thoughts, happy thoughts. Think of that bunny from that sticker you got at school that time...no! No, too close to home. Alright...think...of that little dancing green dinosaur from that televison show at the hospital with Jos-- no! No, quit thinking about the past!
Sara tried her best to get those thoughts out of her mind, but the more she tried, the more the thoughts came flooding back. She lifted her knees up to her chest as they all came back to her, shutting her eyes tightly and wrapping her arms around her knees. Finally opening her eyes and taking in her surroundings again, she looked at the open beer bottle to her right.
She slowly reached for it and took it in her hand. She stared down at the bottle, her eyes running up and down the mouth and the bottom of it. So this was what her mother and father used to look at all the time, huh? This tiny brown bottle was their release, their comfort, what they used to temporarily seperate themselves from reality.
Sara ran her fingers over the bottle. This bottle took their pain away...took them away from what was right in front of them, from what was ailing them. This small bottle could take the painful memories of her past that were resurfacing in front of her. It was practically screaming at her to drink it, calling her name.
Sara slowly looked back and forth, as if to check to make sure no one was watching her. Everyone else was off doing their own things and she slowly turned back to the bottle. Holding it in one hand, she raised the nose of the bottle to her lips. She hesitated. Should she really do this? Should she really try this form of release, choose to do this to take those bad memories away? She made her decision when she saw Matthew's face flash back into her mind and shoved the bottle between her lips, the liquid entering her mouth.
One sip to clear her mind. Two sips to forget her father. Three sips to remove the pain of his fists against her skin. Four sips to forget her last birthday with her parents. Five sips to forget going into foster care. Six sips to forget her therapy session.
Sara threw the beer bottle down as it was finished and reached for another in a cooler in front of her. Throwing the cap off, she shoved it into her mouth, starting the sequence once again.
Seven sips to forget school. Eight sips to forget Josh trying to move away. Nine sips to forget Matthew's face.
At this point, things started getting cloudy. Closing her eyes, Sara wondered if this was enough. Enough to forget. She decided it wasn't. It was not enough, she could still think...she could still hear their voices, see their faces, feel his hands on her...god she could still feel his filthy hands on her body.
Throwing the bottle to the floor, she quickly opened another bottle and gulped it down as quickly as she could. She continued this for about a minute or two until she couldn't drink anymore. She let out a deep sigh, falling back against the couch and closing her eyes. Everything was muted out. She couldn't feel the present, she couldn't feel the past. And that was the way she wanted it.
When she woke up from her drunken slumber, she opened her eyes to try and figure out where she was. She sat up slowly, only to put a hand on her head to try and control the pounding in her head. Groaning quietly, she leaned against a wall only to feel a jerk in her stomach. Jumping to her feet and running to the room next to her, she was surprised to see a toilet and sink; it was a bathroom. She fell to her knees in front of the toilet, emptying the contents of her stomach. She didn't know how long she continued to retch. She stood up and turned on the light of the bathroom. She was in her dorm, how she got there she did not know.
She turned the faucets of the sink on and cupped her hands together. Throwing water onto her face, she grabbed a towel and wiped the water away from her face. She set the towel down on the counter and walked out of the bathroom. Swaying, she held her arm out and leaned against the wall near her bed to keep herself from falling. After steadying herself, she collapsed on her bed, breathing heavily. Now she was drained. She couldn't remember what happened that night, she could've ran through the entire campus naked and she didn't know it.
Closing her eyes, she fell into a deep sleep, her head resting at the foot of the bed.
Living Room of Unknown House- 6:34 pm- January 12, 1990
Sara sighed deeply to herself, sitting on the black couch indian-style, one of her knees bouncing back and forth. With her hands resting in her lap, she kept her eyes fixed on the floor in front of her, trying to ignore the drunk people stumbling past her and the overwhelming smell of alcohol and cigarette smoke. Sara knew these smells all-too well from her childhood- the smell of alcohol from her parents and the cigarette smoke from the hookers her father used to bring home to his wife and daughter.
Sara wrapped her arms around herself tightly. She was not going to do this. Not here, not now. She was a big girl now, she would make it through this. She was not going to let those memories come back now to haunt her, wasn't that what sleep was for? Now was not the time to think about her drunk father coming home reeking of rum and whiskey. Now was not the time to think of that night her mother finally stood up to him. And now was definetly not the time to think about Matthew...no, it was really not the time for that line of thinking.
Flinching a little when she came back to reality, she took a deep breath to try and compose herself. She needed to calm down, or she was going to have a panic attack right in front of all these people. She was going to show them all how emotionally unstable she was, and she was not about to let that happen. She was not going to reveal that to the entire world, because not only would they learn that, but they would learn about her past, and that was something she could not afford to let happen.
She closed her eyes, lowering her head. Happy thoughts, she told herself. Happy thoughts, happy thoughts, happy thoughts. Think of that bunny from that sticker you got at school that time...no! No, too close to home. Alright...think...of that little dancing green dinosaur from that televison show at the hospital with Jos-- no! No, quit thinking about the past!
Sara tried her best to get those thoughts out of her mind, but the more she tried, the more the thoughts came flooding back. She lifted her knees up to her chest as they all came back to her, shutting her eyes tightly and wrapping her arms around her knees. Finally opening her eyes and taking in her surroundings again, she looked at the open beer bottle to her right.
She slowly reached for it and took it in her hand. She stared down at the bottle, her eyes running up and down the mouth and the bottom of it. So this was what her mother and father used to look at all the time, huh? This tiny brown bottle was their release, their comfort, what they used to temporarily seperate themselves from reality.
Sara ran her fingers over the bottle. This bottle took their pain away...took them away from what was right in front of them, from what was ailing them. This small bottle could take the painful memories of her past that were resurfacing in front of her. It was practically screaming at her to drink it, calling her name.
Sara slowly looked back and forth, as if to check to make sure no one was watching her. Everyone else was off doing their own things and she slowly turned back to the bottle. Holding it in one hand, she raised the nose of the bottle to her lips. She hesitated. Should she really do this? Should she really try this form of release, choose to do this to take those bad memories away? She made her decision when she saw Matthew's face flash back into her mind and shoved the bottle between her lips, the liquid entering her mouth.
One sip to clear her mind. Two sips to forget her father. Three sips to remove the pain of his fists against her skin. Four sips to forget her last birthday with her parents. Five sips to forget going into foster care. Six sips to forget her therapy session.
Sara threw the beer bottle down as it was finished and reached for another in a cooler in front of her. Throwing the cap off, she shoved it into her mouth, starting the sequence once again.
Seven sips to forget school. Eight sips to forget Josh trying to move away. Nine sips to forget Matthew's face.
At this point, things started getting cloudy. Closing her eyes, Sara wondered if this was enough. Enough to forget. She decided it wasn't. It was not enough, she could still think...she could still hear their voices, see their faces, feel his hands on her...god she could still feel his filthy hands on her body.
Throwing the bottle to the floor, she quickly opened another bottle and gulped it down as quickly as she could. She continued this for about a minute or two until she couldn't drink anymore. She let out a deep sigh, falling back against the couch and closing her eyes. Everything was muted out. She couldn't feel the present, she couldn't feel the past. And that was the way she wanted it.
When she woke up from her drunken slumber, she opened her eyes to try and figure out where she was. She sat up slowly, only to put a hand on her head to try and control the pounding in her head. Groaning quietly, she leaned against a wall only to feel a jerk in her stomach. Jumping to her feet and running to the room next to her, she was surprised to see a toilet and sink; it was a bathroom. She fell to her knees in front of the toilet, emptying the contents of her stomach. She didn't know how long she continued to retch. She stood up and turned on the light of the bathroom. She was in her dorm, how she got there she did not know.
She turned the faucets of the sink on and cupped her hands together. Throwing water onto her face, she grabbed a towel and wiped the water away from her face. She set the towel down on the counter and walked out of the bathroom. Swaying, she held her arm out and leaned against the wall near her bed to keep herself from falling. After steadying herself, she collapsed on her bed, breathing heavily. Now she was drained. She couldn't remember what happened that night, she could've ran through the entire campus naked and she didn't know it.
Closing her eyes, she fell into a deep sleep, her head resting at the foot of the bed.
G
Guest
Guest
Poor Sara! Yes I need to know too! How did she get there?!?! Great chap, Sara drinking away the pain, I can totally see her doing that! She must remember!
quoth_the_raven
Corpse
Thanks guys! Again, sorry for the delay in the new chapter, stupid writer's block has struck again...!
Living Room of Unknown House- 6:34 pm- January 12, 1990
When Sara awoke that morning for the second time, she was completely and utterly confused. Where was she? How did she get wherever it is that she was? What had happened? And what was causing the dizziness and nausea that she was experiencing at the moment? Actually, why couldn't she remember anything at all in the first place?
Sitting up, her mouth opened wide with a yawn and she covered her mouth slowly as she woke up. Looking around the room she was in, she saw two beds- one she had been lying on and another to the far corner of the room, which was messy and un-made. From looking around the room, she noticed pictures of her and her foster parents, Josh, the letter he had written her, and then around the rest of the room were old band posters. Now she knew where she was.
She was in her dorm room.
Now all she had to find out was how she got here and what had happened the night before that made her so oblivious to everything around her. Getting to her feet, she swayed slightly and caught herself as she began to fall against the wall near the bathroom. Catching herself again on the sink, she looked at herself in the mirror. She looked terrible, she realized, as she took in her full appearance.
Her hair was an absolute mess. Her face was so pale she looked as though she'd seen a ghost, and under her eyelids lay some of the darkest circles she had ever seen. Her lips were almost as pale in color as her face was.
Licking her dry lips, she turned to her left to see the toilet. The nausea that was in her stomach was starting to grow stronger and stronger, and finally she jerked herself forward onto her knees and collapsed in front of the toilet, emptying the contents of her stomach. Something seemed strangely familiar about this whole sequence, Sara realized when she finally finished. Had she done this earlier? Maybe she had...she didn't know at the moment, everything was just starting to come back to her, her mind was still a bit fuzzy...
Sara paused when she heard someone talking outside her dorm room. She knew that voice, it belonged to her roommate. She had certainly heard her voice enough to even be able to decipher it among a large group of people...
"See you guys later!" she could hear Cassie saying outside through the thin walls. "I'll talk to you guys later, I have to wake up my roommate," she told them as she searched for her key. After a few seconds of jumbling her keys around in her hands, Cassie found the correct key and slipped it inside the keyhole. When she turned it and the lock clicked, she walked inside only to discover her roommate no longer laying in bed. "Sara?" she asked, looking around.
"Right here.." Sara said quietly, still propping herself up by the wall, looking up at her as she breathed heavily from retching. Her roommate looked as though she had been up for a while- she was wearing jeans a t-shirt and had on a black knitted cap. In her mouth she held a candy bar still in its wrapping, and in her hand she had a can of soda.
"It's about time you woke up," Cassie told her with a small smile. "I was starting to get worried. I almost called the hospital or something."
Sara rolled her eyes. "Glad to know you were so concerned. I suppose that's why you left?" she said sarcastically.
Cassie just shrugged and walked over to her own bed, jumping on her knees and opening her soda. After taking a long sip, she set it on the window-sill by her bed and opened her candy bar, taking a big bite.
"You were really out. You really surprised me last night, you know that?" she asked as she chewed the candy in her mouth.
Sara blinked. "What?" she asked. "Last night? What about last night?" she said, walking over to her bed and sitting down, looking over at Cassie.
"Oh, that's right, you don't remember," Cassie said with a wink.
"I...really don't," Sara admitted.
"Oh..." Cassie said. And then she realized how she could use this situation to her advantage. A small smile formed across her face, her lips curling in a grin as an idea popped into her mind. "So...you really want to know?" she asked her, taking another bite of her candy bar.
"Yes, just tell me," Sara said, almost desperately.
"You slept with one of the seniors. I'm surprised no one else told you, I almost had to pry you away with him when we finally came back to the campus," she said with a laugh.
Sara felt her blood run cold. No...that didn't sound like her. That didn't sound like her at all. It sounded more like Cassie, actually, but Sara? No way. She wasn't that careless, she wasn't that stupid...although the thing with Matthew had made her reconsider that...but that wasn't the point. That was then, this was now, and she wasn't that careless anymore, she was careful. Very careful.
"..What?" was all Sara could manage to get out. What if...she was telling the truth?
Cassie burst out laughing, Sara was surprised the soda she was taking a sip of actually didn't spurt out of her nose. The entire room filled with the girl's laughter, and Sara only stared in confusion. What was so funny?
"Nah, no, no, I'm totally kidding," Cassie said with a laugh. "Oh god, but the look on your face was priceless! Girl, you should've seen your face when I said that, that was absolutely hysterical!" she said, bursting into another laughing fit.
Sara just lowered her head. Anyone would've normally found that funny...it was just a joke, afterall...but to Sara...it wasn't funny. At all. For a minute there, she really thought she was serious, and if she had been...Sara would've felt like a complete idiot, having done something so careless...again.
"That's not funny," Sara whispered, her hand clenching into a small fist. "What really happened, Cassie?" she asked a bit firmly.
"You collapsed in the middle of the room," Cassie told her, shrugging. "But you did really surprise me. You should have seen how many bottles you had around you!" Cassie exclaimed. Walking over to her, she rose her soda to her lips. "You're quite the little boozer!" Cassie told her before taking another sip of her soda, patting Sara on the back.
Sara's eyes widened. She...had drinken so much that she had passed out? That would certainly explain the vomitting and the nausea that was still lingering in her stomach, as well as the dizziness and disorientation (and lack of memory from what had happened the night before, Sara realized), but...would she really do something like that? Talk about being careless.
Cassie noticed the surprised look on her face. "Hey- don't look at me like that. I didn't force you to do anything. I was the one who got you back here, mind you," she said. "Just lookin' out for you, Roomy!" she told her, ruffling her hair and walking out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
Sara was left to stare blankly at the wall in front of her as Cassie walked off. Cassie had no idea what she was talking about...she didn't know Sara all that much, she didn't know what had happened to her in foster care, or what had happened with her parents for that matter. She didn't know why Sara acted the way she acted. No one did.
And...now that Sara thought about it, she was utterly ashamed of herself. Now she was no better than her parents, really...she turned to the bottle as a last result. She drank so much she collapsed. Just so she could forget. Just so she could forget about those in life who had hurt her most and what they had done to hurt her, even if it only was temporary...and she had promised herself that she was never going to be that careless again. That she was never going to become her parents. And this was basically one more step further down that road.
The more Sara thought about it, the more and more she felt ashamed of herself. Embarassed that someone had seen her like that...scared, vulnerable...desperate. She had been so scared the night before, she didn't want to break down and lose it in front of all those people...they would have thought something was wrong with her. That she was insane...though she was pretty sure she had crossed the line of sanity long ago.
As she felt the warm tears form in her eyes, Sara fell down on her bed and let them fall down her face. Her body racked with sobs as she started to cry. She wrapped her arms around herself tightly as she brought her knees up to her chest and curled into a tight little ball. Shaking herself back and forth, she just cried. She let it all out, she felt so alone...and now, again, she felt no better than her parents...
What would become of her? Would she go back to the bottle again? Would she just become a hopeless alcoholic working on the street as a hooker or something to get money for...more alcohol? Would that be what would happen to her? She thought she was going to come to Harvard for a reason...to enrichen her education so that she could one day persue a career as a CSI...and not come to Harvard just to end up going to a college party with the seniors and getting so drunk that she collapsed.
Now that Sara thought about it, maybe a life on the streets wouldn't be so bad. She could even work at a strip club...there had sure been enough people in her lifetime that had wanted to take advantage of her body, she was sure she would make enough money to live off in that field. What would her stripper name be, she wondered?
And then Sara started laughing. Softly at first, and then louder and louder. More tears ran down her cheeks as she continued to laugh. How could she even think of doing that? Then she would not only be no better than her parents, but no better than the strippers her father brought home for kicks when she was a child. It was sad, she thought, that she was even considering this. That she could actually picture herself taking her clothes off and watching as men threw their money away just so they could fantacize about being with her.
It was pathetic.
And Sara...wasn't pathetic.
She wasn't going to throw her life away.
Not today.
She was going to persue her dreams.
She was going to bring honor to her family name for once in the history of her family's life.
And she was not going to become her parents.
Sitting up, Sara wiped the tears away from her face and dried her eyes. Walking into the bathroom, she tried her best to not sway back and forth as she leaned over the sink and threw some water onto her face. She dried her face and then looked up at herself in the mirror. Today was a new day. And she was not going to make a stupid mistake like that again.
Walking out of the bathroom, she grabbed her bag that held her notebooks and textbooks for her classes, and slid her jacket onto her shoulders. Zipping it up and throwing her bag over her shoulder, she looked at herself in the mirror of the bathroom one last time.
She wasn't pathetic. She was going to graduate and become a CSI. A damn good CSI at that, and she was not going to throw her life away...not like her mother and father. She was better than that.
Turning the doorknob of her dorm room, she walked out and closed the door behind her. Walking off, with her hands in her pockets, she found a small smile forming across her face.
It was a new day.
Living Room of Unknown House- 6:34 pm- January 12, 1990
When Sara awoke that morning for the second time, she was completely and utterly confused. Where was she? How did she get wherever it is that she was? What had happened? And what was causing the dizziness and nausea that she was experiencing at the moment? Actually, why couldn't she remember anything at all in the first place?
Sitting up, her mouth opened wide with a yawn and she covered her mouth slowly as she woke up. Looking around the room she was in, she saw two beds- one she had been lying on and another to the far corner of the room, which was messy and un-made. From looking around the room, she noticed pictures of her and her foster parents, Josh, the letter he had written her, and then around the rest of the room were old band posters. Now she knew where she was.
She was in her dorm room.
Now all she had to find out was how she got here and what had happened the night before that made her so oblivious to everything around her. Getting to her feet, she swayed slightly and caught herself as she began to fall against the wall near the bathroom. Catching herself again on the sink, she looked at herself in the mirror. She looked terrible, she realized, as she took in her full appearance.
Her hair was an absolute mess. Her face was so pale she looked as though she'd seen a ghost, and under her eyelids lay some of the darkest circles she had ever seen. Her lips were almost as pale in color as her face was.
Licking her dry lips, she turned to her left to see the toilet. The nausea that was in her stomach was starting to grow stronger and stronger, and finally she jerked herself forward onto her knees and collapsed in front of the toilet, emptying the contents of her stomach. Something seemed strangely familiar about this whole sequence, Sara realized when she finally finished. Had she done this earlier? Maybe she had...she didn't know at the moment, everything was just starting to come back to her, her mind was still a bit fuzzy...
Sara paused when she heard someone talking outside her dorm room. She knew that voice, it belonged to her roommate. She had certainly heard her voice enough to even be able to decipher it among a large group of people...
"See you guys later!" she could hear Cassie saying outside through the thin walls. "I'll talk to you guys later, I have to wake up my roommate," she told them as she searched for her key. After a few seconds of jumbling her keys around in her hands, Cassie found the correct key and slipped it inside the keyhole. When she turned it and the lock clicked, she walked inside only to discover her roommate no longer laying in bed. "Sara?" she asked, looking around.
"Right here.." Sara said quietly, still propping herself up by the wall, looking up at her as she breathed heavily from retching. Her roommate looked as though she had been up for a while- she was wearing jeans a t-shirt and had on a black knitted cap. In her mouth she held a candy bar still in its wrapping, and in her hand she had a can of soda.
"It's about time you woke up," Cassie told her with a small smile. "I was starting to get worried. I almost called the hospital or something."
Sara rolled her eyes. "Glad to know you were so concerned. I suppose that's why you left?" she said sarcastically.
Cassie just shrugged and walked over to her own bed, jumping on her knees and opening her soda. After taking a long sip, she set it on the window-sill by her bed and opened her candy bar, taking a big bite.
"You were really out. You really surprised me last night, you know that?" she asked as she chewed the candy in her mouth.
Sara blinked. "What?" she asked. "Last night? What about last night?" she said, walking over to her bed and sitting down, looking over at Cassie.
"Oh, that's right, you don't remember," Cassie said with a wink.
"I...really don't," Sara admitted.
"Oh..." Cassie said. And then she realized how she could use this situation to her advantage. A small smile formed across her face, her lips curling in a grin as an idea popped into her mind. "So...you really want to know?" she asked her, taking another bite of her candy bar.
"Yes, just tell me," Sara said, almost desperately.
"You slept with one of the seniors. I'm surprised no one else told you, I almost had to pry you away with him when we finally came back to the campus," she said with a laugh.
Sara felt her blood run cold. No...that didn't sound like her. That didn't sound like her at all. It sounded more like Cassie, actually, but Sara? No way. She wasn't that careless, she wasn't that stupid...although the thing with Matthew had made her reconsider that...but that wasn't the point. That was then, this was now, and she wasn't that careless anymore, she was careful. Very careful.
"..What?" was all Sara could manage to get out. What if...she was telling the truth?
Cassie burst out laughing, Sara was surprised the soda she was taking a sip of actually didn't spurt out of her nose. The entire room filled with the girl's laughter, and Sara only stared in confusion. What was so funny?
"Nah, no, no, I'm totally kidding," Cassie said with a laugh. "Oh god, but the look on your face was priceless! Girl, you should've seen your face when I said that, that was absolutely hysterical!" she said, bursting into another laughing fit.
Sara just lowered her head. Anyone would've normally found that funny...it was just a joke, afterall...but to Sara...it wasn't funny. At all. For a minute there, she really thought she was serious, and if she had been...Sara would've felt like a complete idiot, having done something so careless...again.
"That's not funny," Sara whispered, her hand clenching into a small fist. "What really happened, Cassie?" she asked a bit firmly.
"You collapsed in the middle of the room," Cassie told her, shrugging. "But you did really surprise me. You should have seen how many bottles you had around you!" Cassie exclaimed. Walking over to her, she rose her soda to her lips. "You're quite the little boozer!" Cassie told her before taking another sip of her soda, patting Sara on the back.
Sara's eyes widened. She...had drinken so much that she had passed out? That would certainly explain the vomitting and the nausea that was still lingering in her stomach, as well as the dizziness and disorientation (and lack of memory from what had happened the night before, Sara realized), but...would she really do something like that? Talk about being careless.
Cassie noticed the surprised look on her face. "Hey- don't look at me like that. I didn't force you to do anything. I was the one who got you back here, mind you," she said. "Just lookin' out for you, Roomy!" she told her, ruffling her hair and walking out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
Sara was left to stare blankly at the wall in front of her as Cassie walked off. Cassie had no idea what she was talking about...she didn't know Sara all that much, she didn't know what had happened to her in foster care, or what had happened with her parents for that matter. She didn't know why Sara acted the way she acted. No one did.
And...now that Sara thought about it, she was utterly ashamed of herself. Now she was no better than her parents, really...she turned to the bottle as a last result. She drank so much she collapsed. Just so she could forget. Just so she could forget about those in life who had hurt her most and what they had done to hurt her, even if it only was temporary...and she had promised herself that she was never going to be that careless again. That she was never going to become her parents. And this was basically one more step further down that road.
The more Sara thought about it, the more and more she felt ashamed of herself. Embarassed that someone had seen her like that...scared, vulnerable...desperate. She had been so scared the night before, she didn't want to break down and lose it in front of all those people...they would have thought something was wrong with her. That she was insane...though she was pretty sure she had crossed the line of sanity long ago.
As she felt the warm tears form in her eyes, Sara fell down on her bed and let them fall down her face. Her body racked with sobs as she started to cry. She wrapped her arms around herself tightly as she brought her knees up to her chest and curled into a tight little ball. Shaking herself back and forth, she just cried. She let it all out, she felt so alone...and now, again, she felt no better than her parents...
What would become of her? Would she go back to the bottle again? Would she just become a hopeless alcoholic working on the street as a hooker or something to get money for...more alcohol? Would that be what would happen to her? She thought she was going to come to Harvard for a reason...to enrichen her education so that she could one day persue a career as a CSI...and not come to Harvard just to end up going to a college party with the seniors and getting so drunk that she collapsed.
Now that Sara thought about it, maybe a life on the streets wouldn't be so bad. She could even work at a strip club...there had sure been enough people in her lifetime that had wanted to take advantage of her body, she was sure she would make enough money to live off in that field. What would her stripper name be, she wondered?
And then Sara started laughing. Softly at first, and then louder and louder. More tears ran down her cheeks as she continued to laugh. How could she even think of doing that? Then she would not only be no better than her parents, but no better than the strippers her father brought home for kicks when she was a child. It was sad, she thought, that she was even considering this. That she could actually picture herself taking her clothes off and watching as men threw their money away just so they could fantacize about being with her.
It was pathetic.
And Sara...wasn't pathetic.
She wasn't going to throw her life away.
Not today.
She was going to persue her dreams.
She was going to bring honor to her family name for once in the history of her family's life.
And she was not going to become her parents.
Sitting up, Sara wiped the tears away from her face and dried her eyes. Walking into the bathroom, she tried her best to not sway back and forth as she leaned over the sink and threw some water onto her face. She dried her face and then looked up at herself in the mirror. Today was a new day. And she was not going to make a stupid mistake like that again.
Walking out of the bathroom, she grabbed her bag that held her notebooks and textbooks for her classes, and slid her jacket onto her shoulders. Zipping it up and throwing her bag over her shoulder, she looked at herself in the mirror of the bathroom one last time.
She wasn't pathetic. She was going to graduate and become a CSI. A damn good CSI at that, and she was not going to throw her life away...not like her mother and father. She was better than that.
Turning the doorknob of her dorm room, she walked out and closed the door behind her. Walking off, with her hands in her pockets, she found a small smile forming across her face.
It was a new day.
G
Guest
Guest
Great chapter! It's nice to have the old Sara back!
saraXsullivan
CSI Level Two
Awesome chapters!!! I haven't read the fic in a while so... yah! Glad you finally updated!
----------------
~Saraa_*
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~Saraa_*
quoth_the_raven
Corpse
Hehe, nope, melbel, far from it! Here's a new chapter, again I apologize for not posting one sooner! Bugman makes an appearance in this chapter! Oh, and I went on about two or three different sites to learn this stuff about tarantulas, so I'm not an entomology expert, FYI :lol:
January 14, 1990- 9:18 am- Classroom
Gilbert Grissom was a curious man. He had always been a very curious fellow, ever since he was a little boy. He used to go out in the front yard and purposely hunt down an anthill. Most other kids grabbed a magnifying glass and torched them; he instead lay sprawled out on the grass in front of the anthill resting his head in his hands, his arms propped up on his elbows. Gil had always had an undying love and interest in insects.
Perhaps that was why he became an entomologist.
At the moment he was sitting at a small wooden desk in an empty classroom at Harvard College. He had been travelling around conducting entomology seminars, and he had always wanted to come to Harvard. His temporary desk was surrounded by his little friends that each had six to eight legs, multiple eyes and hairy thoraxes. Looking down at his watch, he noted that he still had about twenty minutes until his seminar began, and he reached behind him and lifted up a clear plastic specimen container.
Setting it down on the desk, he opened the box and held his hand inside. The creature inside moved around, looking up at his hand. Slowly it crawled onto his fingers, its hairy legs tickling his hand as it maneuvered its way towards him. When it had finally crawled onto his hand, he pushed the container away and held his hand over the desk.
Watching it move around, Gil grabbed his mug of coffee and took a sip, his eyes fixed on the tarantula. Setting his mug down, he also put the tarantula down on the desk, watching as it crawled around. He wondered what the tarantula was thinking at the moment- it was probably wondering where it was and trying to get used to this new environment. It looked around at some of the pencils and pens layed out on the desk in interest before moving towards his mug of coffee.
"Eeeeew!"
Gil quickly looked up when a squeaky female voice filled the room. His tarantula quickly recoiled and moved toward his hand.
"It's a spider! Someone kill it!"
Gil just sighed as he lifted his tarantula into his hands and set him down in his specimen container. Looking over at the blonde-haired girl, he adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose. "It's a tarantula," he told her. "He's completely harmless. He's very gentle," he explained. "But he doesn't like loud noises, you frightened him," he said.
The girl just rolled her eyes, heading out of the classroom. Gil shrugged- everyone had their opinions. That girl obviously didn't know what entomology was. She probably thought it was some form of African voodoo, he figured. Leaving his tarantula on the desk, he watched as the classroom slowly filled up with more people, and he sat silently and still, waiting patiently for his chance to begin.
"Uggghh," Sara grumbled, heading down the hallway. She had been woken up much too early for her liking this morning, the alarm clock was sent to 4:30 instead of 6:15 (Cassie obviously didn't know how to set it). So after waking up almost two hours earlier than necessary and rushing to get ready only to discover she didn't have to leave for classes yet had put Sara Sidle in a very grumpy mood.
Adjusting her bag over her shoulder, she looked at door to door to make sure she wasn't passing the room she needed to go to. She had heard something about an entomology seminar and she decided she would attend. She had never known much about entomology, it would be a learning experience, she decided.
Heading over to the classroom, Sara's mouth opened wide with a big, tired yawn. Covering her mouth, she headed into the classroom. As she re-opened her eyes, she looked over at a man sitting at the front of the classroom. He looked to be in his late twenties, yet his hair was already becoming a salt-and-pepper gray. He had oval-rounded glasses positioned on the bridge of his nose, magnifying his baby blue eyes. Sara had to stop for a minute. His eyes were so blue...so very blue. A deep blue...like the sky, it was mesmerizing.
Sara's breath caught in her throat when she noticed his gaze had fallen on her. When they made eye contact she quickly looked away and headed toward the back of the classroom, trying to control the flush red color of her cheeks. She was blushing...why was she blushing? Heading to the back of the classroom, she took a seat and looked down at the floor, fidgeting shyly. Part of her didn't want to be in the back of the classroom...but another part of her told her to because...she didn't want to be that...dangerously close to this man.
Gil's gaze had fallen on a tall young brunette student that had walked through the door. She looked exhausted, he deducted. She kept yawning and when she finally opened her eyes, he got lost in gazing into her deep brown eyes. He just sat there for a moment, dumb-founded...there was something that seemed spell-binding about this moment. He couldn't tear his eyes away from this girl. She stopped and returned his gaze, he could tell her eyes were staring straight into his. And then finally she broke eye-contact and headed to the back of the classroom.
Gil watched as she stared down at the floor, fidgeting and squirming in her seat. She actually reminded him very much of himself when he was her age. He was a ghost. He didn't want to talk to people, they didn't want to talk to him. He wanted to get through school and fufil his life's worth, that was what he wanted, and this girl seemed to be the exact same way.
And...Gil had never been very interested in other people...but there was something about this brown-haired girl that fascinated him.
Finally the seminar started. Gil got up from his seat and stood in front of the white board, staring at everyone in the room, but his gaze really falling on that girl in the back of the room. "Hello.." he said, actually forgetting what he was supposed to be doing for a split second. Quickly snapping out of his trance, he spoke again. "My name is Gil Grissom, I'm an entomologist."
Sara watched this Gil Grissom man with interest.
"I have been travelling to all sorts of places- universities, high schools- to conduct entomology seminars."
Sara kept her gaze on him, her head resting in her hand, her elbow propping her arm up on the desk. For a minute she forgot what he was talking about and just watched his movements. He seemed a bit nervous...he had probably done this seminar and said these exact same words before, Sara thought, but he obviously didn't like to be in front of crowds.
Well, they had something in common, then.
"I actually have a specimen here on my desk," Gil said, looking down at the plastic specimen container holding his tarantula. "Tarantulas invoke many different emotions in people," he said, taking the lid off of the container. He watched as one girl towards the front of the class cringed. "Tarantulas, though harmless to humans, invoke fear in many," he said, holding his hand in the container. "Jeffrey, here," he said, taking him out of the container and holding him in his hands. "This species of tarantula is the Eurypelma californicum, the most common species of tarantulas found in North America, hence the name."
Sara watched as the dark brown tarantula crawled around in his hand. Sara had never been a spider person...she didn't like spiders, and even though tarantulas were harmless, she still got that feeling in the pit of her stomach when she saw any spider.
"There are more than 800 different species of tarantulas," Gil continued. "The colors of these creatures vary from brown, to a dark reddish brown, to black," he explained. "Yet there are many different species that have completely different colors. The Mexican Red-Legged Tarantula has bright-red markings on its legs," he said. "And the Cobalt Blue Tarantula has deep-blue colored legs."
Sara thought about this, trying to imagine one of the hairy spiders like the one he held in his hand, except different colors.
"A tarantula has eight eyes all-together, and they are all spaced very closely together," Gil said, moving his other hand up to allow the tarantula to crawl onto it.
Sara just watched as the tarantula crawled onto his other hand. He obviously knew Gil, she thought, because he seemed to trust him and know what to do. The tarantula did not seemed scared by him, and allowed Gil to talk without being disruptive. Actually, Gil was interrupted more times by annoying students in the classroom then his tarantula.
Finally the seminar was over and Gil sat back down at his desk, holding Jeffrey in his hands. Setting him down on the desk, Gil waited for all of the students to exit the classroom. When the students started leaving, his gaze fell on that one brown-haired girl sitting in the back of the classroom once again. She was getting up and putting her books in her bag, brushing a strand of hair away from her face. Gil watched her for a minute, just observing her movements. She ignored the other students in the room and headed straight to the door. He remembered that during the seminar when he looked over at her she looked absolutely mesmerized. She was deep in thought and quite focused. Gil had yet to discover such a student attending one of his seminars.
When there was about only three or four students left in the room, not including her, he spoke up. "Excuse me..?"
Sara quickly turned around, feeling her stomach drop as she heard his voice. He wasn't talking to her. He couldn't be talking to her...right? Turning around, she froze as his eyes immediately stared into hers. "..Yes?"
"...What's your name?" Gil asked. This was very unlike Mr. Gil Grissom. He had never been one to socialize, especially with a student at one of his seminars...but there was something that seemed to have possessed him at the moment and thus squeezed the words out of him.
"...Sidle..I mean Sara..I mean.." Idiot. "...Sidle is my last name...Sara is my first name..." That went great.
"Well...Sara Sidle..." Gil started. "..Would you mind taking a seat?" he asked. What are you doing, Gil?
"...Sure.." Sara said, walking over to the desk and taking a seat in a chair she pulled up from a desk. Looking over at Jeffrey walking on the desk, she inhaled sharply, slowly recoiling away from the tarantula, but trying not to show her discomfort.
"He's harmless, don't worry.." Gil assured her, picking Jeffrey up. "He says hello..."
Sara smiled, watching the tarantula crawl around.
"Would you like to hold him?" Gil asked.
Sara blinked, slowly shaking her head. "N-No...thanks.." she told him. "It's...nothing personal, I just...don't like spiders."
Gil just nodded slowly. "...What if I helped you?" he asked. "...Come here for a minute.."
Sara blinked again, trying to register what he just said. He wasn't asking for her to do anything stressful or inconvenient, she just had to walk over to him...right? "Okay.." Sara said, slowly getting to her feet. Walking over to him, she stopped right in front of him.
"Okay..." Gil said. "Hold your hands out..."
Sara swallowed hard, but did as he asked and held her hands out. She grimaced as he brought Jeffrey over to her. "I'm just going to gently set him down in your hands," he told her. Sara just nodded. Gil slowly set Jeffrey down in Sara's hands. Sara grimaced once again as its hairy legs brushed against her skin, though it tickled at the same time and she smiled.
Gil's heart was pounding. He was simply handing Jeffrey over to this girl to hold for a moment, but there seemed to be something about this non-sensual gesture that was making his pulse race. "...There," he managed to find his voice again, handing Jeffrey over to her.
Sara watched as Jeffrey looked up at her. "...He's...very.." Sara looked for the right word. "...Calm."
"Isn't he?" Gil asked.
Sara just nodded slowly, watching Jeffrey closely. For about a minute Jeffrey danced a silent graceful dance in her hands until a sound erupted from the hallway of the building that shattered the moment into pieces.
A loud scream erupted from one of the senior boys in the hallway near the door. Someone had ran at him and tackled him to the ground as a joke and he screamed for added effect. He fell to the floor and they all started laughing, but Sara and Gil did not find this humorous.
...and nor did Jeffrey. Seconds after the scream erupted from the hallway, he recoiled, frightened. Out of his fear he did what he thought to do on instinct, and sunk his teeth into Sara's wrist, looking for an enemy.
"Ouch!" Sara said as soon as a wave of pain hit her.
Gil quickly looked down at her hands and saw Jeffrey biting her. Taking Jeffrey out of her hands, he set him back in his specimen container. "I'm sorry.." Gil sighed. "He's never done that before to anyone..." he said. "He must've gotten scared."
"It's okay.." Sara said, wincing involuntarily. She didn't want to make him feel bad, but...it was painful.
"Okay.." Gil sighed. "Let me see." Sara watched as Gil took her hand in his and lifted up her shirt sleeve to look at her wrist where the bite was. The simple gesture was sending jitters up her spine. "Okay.." he said. "I'm going to get some hot water," he told her. "Stay here, I'll be right back."
Sara just nodded, watching as he walked out of the room. Looking down at her wrist, she watched as blood was beginning to trail from the bite.
"Okay." Gil's voice made her jump. "I have some hot water," he told her, taking a seat again and setting the cup of hot water down on the desk. "I have some soap and antiseptics in my desk, I keep them on me all the time, just incase," he explained, reaching into one of the drawers to retreive the items. Grabbing a small cloth, he dipped it in the cup of hot water and took her wrist in his hands, gently rubbing the small puncture mark with the wetted cloth. "The hot water should ease the pain," he told her. "And then I'll wash it with soap and an antiseptic."
Sara nodded. He was right, there hot water was making it feel much better. When he removed the cloth she instantly missed the warmth of the cloth and his hands and he grabbed some soap, slowly rubbing it against the mark. "Sorry..." he apologized. "It probably stings."
Sara nodded. "Yeah...a little bit," she winced.
Gil apologized again before taking the antiseptic and dabbing it against the mark. "This is going to hurt even more.." he sighed.
Sara winced again, nodding, though by now she thought that she should be accustomed to pain. When he finished Gil looked up at her. "By any chance...have you gotten a tetanus shot recently?"
Sara blinked. "Yes..."
"Good," Gil said. "Then you're all set, though I reccomend letting the wound bleed freely."
Sara nodded, heading towards the door after grabbing her bag.
"Where are you going?" Grissom asked.
Sara blinked, turning around. "I.."
"You can leave, I just thought we'd...talk a little more." Gil really had no idea what the hell he was doing. This was certainly not like him.
"Oh, okay," Sara said, walking back over to him, a small smile creeking around her mouth as she took her seat once again.
"So where are you from?" Gil asked.
"I'm from California. Crazy valley girl with a dream," she smiled.
"And what is your dream?" Gil asked.
"I want to become a forensic scientist."
Gil started laughing, looking down at the floor. Sara was confused, she didn't know why he was laughing and she found it a bit insulting to say the least.
"I'm sorry..." Gil apologized. "I'm a forensic scientist myself. I work at the Vegas Crime Lab, I've been there for a few years, it's just a strange coincidence."
Sara smiled, getting a laugh out of it herself. "I see."
"So what made you want to become a forensic scientist?" Gil asked.
Sara was hesitant on her answer. She didn't know if she should mention all of the reasons for her wanting to become a forensic scientist. When she was younger the only reason was because she was fascinated. But as she got older there were more and more reasons, such as the fact that her childhood rapist was convicted with the help of strong forensic evidence found at the crime-scene. "I've always been fascinated by it," Sara finally said.
Gil just nodded. "I'm sure you'll make a great forensic scientist. You have wonderful focus, and a curious mind never hurts either."
This earned him a genuine smile from her as she again tried to control the flush red color that was taking over her cheeks. Looking away, she said, "And how do you know that?"
Gil was about to say that he had been watching her, but he thought that would sound freaky, even to him. He didn't want her to think he was some freaky stalker. "I saw you during the seminar...you're very focused when you're deep in thought." That sounded better than saying he was watching her, he decided.
Sara smiled. "Well, thank you...Mr. Grissom, was it?" she asked.
"Gil Grissom," he told her. "And it's been a pleasure, Ms. Sara Sidle, but I do believe I have to start packing up my things now. I have to leave for a plane later today to go back to Vegas," he explained, holding his hand out. "So I guess this is goodbye."
Sara smiled, taking his hand and gently shaking it. "I suppose it is."
"Maybe...we'll see eachother again some time," Gil said. "Maybe I'll hear about you in the papers or on TV." And then he laughed. "Who knows, maybe we'll even be working in the same building one day."
Sara smiled. "Maybe."
"Well...goodbye, Sara," Gil said.
Sara stopped in mid-step near the door and turned around, looking over at him with a big smile across her face. "Goodbye, Gil."
Gil nodded, smiling as she walked out of the room.
Sara stopped, walking into an empty classroom when she was far enough away from him. She wanted to giggle like a giddy schoolgirl, she didn't know why, she just wanted to. She had butterflies in her stomach, she wanted to jump and shout and dance around screaming. Instead, she composed herself and walked out of the room with the same big smile on her face before.
Here's a new chapter, again I apologize for not posting one sooner! Bugman makes an appearance in this chapter! Oh, and I went on about two or three different sites to learn this stuff about tarantulas, so I'm not an entomology expert, FYI :lol:January 14, 1990- 9:18 am- Classroom
Gilbert Grissom was a curious man. He had always been a very curious fellow, ever since he was a little boy. He used to go out in the front yard and purposely hunt down an anthill. Most other kids grabbed a magnifying glass and torched them; he instead lay sprawled out on the grass in front of the anthill resting his head in his hands, his arms propped up on his elbows. Gil had always had an undying love and interest in insects.
Perhaps that was why he became an entomologist.
At the moment he was sitting at a small wooden desk in an empty classroom at Harvard College. He had been travelling around conducting entomology seminars, and he had always wanted to come to Harvard. His temporary desk was surrounded by his little friends that each had six to eight legs, multiple eyes and hairy thoraxes. Looking down at his watch, he noted that he still had about twenty minutes until his seminar began, and he reached behind him and lifted up a clear plastic specimen container.
Setting it down on the desk, he opened the box and held his hand inside. The creature inside moved around, looking up at his hand. Slowly it crawled onto his fingers, its hairy legs tickling his hand as it maneuvered its way towards him. When it had finally crawled onto his hand, he pushed the container away and held his hand over the desk.
Watching it move around, Gil grabbed his mug of coffee and took a sip, his eyes fixed on the tarantula. Setting his mug down, he also put the tarantula down on the desk, watching as it crawled around. He wondered what the tarantula was thinking at the moment- it was probably wondering where it was and trying to get used to this new environment. It looked around at some of the pencils and pens layed out on the desk in interest before moving towards his mug of coffee.
"Eeeeew!"
Gil quickly looked up when a squeaky female voice filled the room. His tarantula quickly recoiled and moved toward his hand.
"It's a spider! Someone kill it!"
Gil just sighed as he lifted his tarantula into his hands and set him down in his specimen container. Looking over at the blonde-haired girl, he adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose. "It's a tarantula," he told her. "He's completely harmless. He's very gentle," he explained. "But he doesn't like loud noises, you frightened him," he said.
The girl just rolled her eyes, heading out of the classroom. Gil shrugged- everyone had their opinions. That girl obviously didn't know what entomology was. She probably thought it was some form of African voodoo, he figured. Leaving his tarantula on the desk, he watched as the classroom slowly filled up with more people, and he sat silently and still, waiting patiently for his chance to begin.
"Uggghh," Sara grumbled, heading down the hallway. She had been woken up much too early for her liking this morning, the alarm clock was sent to 4:30 instead of 6:15 (Cassie obviously didn't know how to set it). So after waking up almost two hours earlier than necessary and rushing to get ready only to discover she didn't have to leave for classes yet had put Sara Sidle in a very grumpy mood.
Adjusting her bag over her shoulder, she looked at door to door to make sure she wasn't passing the room she needed to go to. She had heard something about an entomology seminar and she decided she would attend. She had never known much about entomology, it would be a learning experience, she decided.
Heading over to the classroom, Sara's mouth opened wide with a big, tired yawn. Covering her mouth, she headed into the classroom. As she re-opened her eyes, she looked over at a man sitting at the front of the classroom. He looked to be in his late twenties, yet his hair was already becoming a salt-and-pepper gray. He had oval-rounded glasses positioned on the bridge of his nose, magnifying his baby blue eyes. Sara had to stop for a minute. His eyes were so blue...so very blue. A deep blue...like the sky, it was mesmerizing.
Sara's breath caught in her throat when she noticed his gaze had fallen on her. When they made eye contact she quickly looked away and headed toward the back of the classroom, trying to control the flush red color of her cheeks. She was blushing...why was she blushing? Heading to the back of the classroom, she took a seat and looked down at the floor, fidgeting shyly. Part of her didn't want to be in the back of the classroom...but another part of her told her to because...she didn't want to be that...dangerously close to this man.
Gil's gaze had fallen on a tall young brunette student that had walked through the door. She looked exhausted, he deducted. She kept yawning and when she finally opened her eyes, he got lost in gazing into her deep brown eyes. He just sat there for a moment, dumb-founded...there was something that seemed spell-binding about this moment. He couldn't tear his eyes away from this girl. She stopped and returned his gaze, he could tell her eyes were staring straight into his. And then finally she broke eye-contact and headed to the back of the classroom.
Gil watched as she stared down at the floor, fidgeting and squirming in her seat. She actually reminded him very much of himself when he was her age. He was a ghost. He didn't want to talk to people, they didn't want to talk to him. He wanted to get through school and fufil his life's worth, that was what he wanted, and this girl seemed to be the exact same way.
And...Gil had never been very interested in other people...but there was something about this brown-haired girl that fascinated him.
Finally the seminar started. Gil got up from his seat and stood in front of the white board, staring at everyone in the room, but his gaze really falling on that girl in the back of the room. "Hello.." he said, actually forgetting what he was supposed to be doing for a split second. Quickly snapping out of his trance, he spoke again. "My name is Gil Grissom, I'm an entomologist."
Sara watched this Gil Grissom man with interest.
"I have been travelling to all sorts of places- universities, high schools- to conduct entomology seminars."
Sara kept her gaze on him, her head resting in her hand, her elbow propping her arm up on the desk. For a minute she forgot what he was talking about and just watched his movements. He seemed a bit nervous...he had probably done this seminar and said these exact same words before, Sara thought, but he obviously didn't like to be in front of crowds.
Well, they had something in common, then.
"I actually have a specimen here on my desk," Gil said, looking down at the plastic specimen container holding his tarantula. "Tarantulas invoke many different emotions in people," he said, taking the lid off of the container. He watched as one girl towards the front of the class cringed. "Tarantulas, though harmless to humans, invoke fear in many," he said, holding his hand in the container. "Jeffrey, here," he said, taking him out of the container and holding him in his hands. "This species of tarantula is the Eurypelma californicum, the most common species of tarantulas found in North America, hence the name."
Sara watched as the dark brown tarantula crawled around in his hand. Sara had never been a spider person...she didn't like spiders, and even though tarantulas were harmless, she still got that feeling in the pit of her stomach when she saw any spider.
"There are more than 800 different species of tarantulas," Gil continued. "The colors of these creatures vary from brown, to a dark reddish brown, to black," he explained. "Yet there are many different species that have completely different colors. The Mexican Red-Legged Tarantula has bright-red markings on its legs," he said. "And the Cobalt Blue Tarantula has deep-blue colored legs."
Sara thought about this, trying to imagine one of the hairy spiders like the one he held in his hand, except different colors.
"A tarantula has eight eyes all-together, and they are all spaced very closely together," Gil said, moving his other hand up to allow the tarantula to crawl onto it.
Sara just watched as the tarantula crawled onto his other hand. He obviously knew Gil, she thought, because he seemed to trust him and know what to do. The tarantula did not seemed scared by him, and allowed Gil to talk without being disruptive. Actually, Gil was interrupted more times by annoying students in the classroom then his tarantula.
Finally the seminar was over and Gil sat back down at his desk, holding Jeffrey in his hands. Setting him down on the desk, Gil waited for all of the students to exit the classroom. When the students started leaving, his gaze fell on that one brown-haired girl sitting in the back of the classroom once again. She was getting up and putting her books in her bag, brushing a strand of hair away from her face. Gil watched her for a minute, just observing her movements. She ignored the other students in the room and headed straight to the door. He remembered that during the seminar when he looked over at her she looked absolutely mesmerized. She was deep in thought and quite focused. Gil had yet to discover such a student attending one of his seminars.
When there was about only three or four students left in the room, not including her, he spoke up. "Excuse me..?"
Sara quickly turned around, feeling her stomach drop as she heard his voice. He wasn't talking to her. He couldn't be talking to her...right? Turning around, she froze as his eyes immediately stared into hers. "..Yes?"
"...What's your name?" Gil asked. This was very unlike Mr. Gil Grissom. He had never been one to socialize, especially with a student at one of his seminars...but there was something that seemed to have possessed him at the moment and thus squeezed the words out of him.
"...Sidle..I mean Sara..I mean.." Idiot. "...Sidle is my last name...Sara is my first name..." That went great.
"Well...Sara Sidle..." Gil started. "..Would you mind taking a seat?" he asked. What are you doing, Gil?
"...Sure.." Sara said, walking over to the desk and taking a seat in a chair she pulled up from a desk. Looking over at Jeffrey walking on the desk, she inhaled sharply, slowly recoiling away from the tarantula, but trying not to show her discomfort.
"He's harmless, don't worry.." Gil assured her, picking Jeffrey up. "He says hello..."
Sara smiled, watching the tarantula crawl around.
"Would you like to hold him?" Gil asked.
Sara blinked, slowly shaking her head. "N-No...thanks.." she told him. "It's...nothing personal, I just...don't like spiders."
Gil just nodded slowly. "...What if I helped you?" he asked. "...Come here for a minute.."
Sara blinked again, trying to register what he just said. He wasn't asking for her to do anything stressful or inconvenient, she just had to walk over to him...right? "Okay.." Sara said, slowly getting to her feet. Walking over to him, she stopped right in front of him.
"Okay..." Gil said. "Hold your hands out..."
Sara swallowed hard, but did as he asked and held her hands out. She grimaced as he brought Jeffrey over to her. "I'm just going to gently set him down in your hands," he told her. Sara just nodded. Gil slowly set Jeffrey down in Sara's hands. Sara grimaced once again as its hairy legs brushed against her skin, though it tickled at the same time and she smiled.
Gil's heart was pounding. He was simply handing Jeffrey over to this girl to hold for a moment, but there seemed to be something about this non-sensual gesture that was making his pulse race. "...There," he managed to find his voice again, handing Jeffrey over to her.
Sara watched as Jeffrey looked up at her. "...He's...very.." Sara looked for the right word. "...Calm."
"Isn't he?" Gil asked.
Sara just nodded slowly, watching Jeffrey closely. For about a minute Jeffrey danced a silent graceful dance in her hands until a sound erupted from the hallway of the building that shattered the moment into pieces.
A loud scream erupted from one of the senior boys in the hallway near the door. Someone had ran at him and tackled him to the ground as a joke and he screamed for added effect. He fell to the floor and they all started laughing, but Sara and Gil did not find this humorous.
...and nor did Jeffrey. Seconds after the scream erupted from the hallway, he recoiled, frightened. Out of his fear he did what he thought to do on instinct, and sunk his teeth into Sara's wrist, looking for an enemy.
"Ouch!" Sara said as soon as a wave of pain hit her.
Gil quickly looked down at her hands and saw Jeffrey biting her. Taking Jeffrey out of her hands, he set him back in his specimen container. "I'm sorry.." Gil sighed. "He's never done that before to anyone..." he said. "He must've gotten scared."
"It's okay.." Sara said, wincing involuntarily. She didn't want to make him feel bad, but...it was painful.
"Okay.." Gil sighed. "Let me see." Sara watched as Gil took her hand in his and lifted up her shirt sleeve to look at her wrist where the bite was. The simple gesture was sending jitters up her spine. "Okay.." he said. "I'm going to get some hot water," he told her. "Stay here, I'll be right back."
Sara just nodded, watching as he walked out of the room. Looking down at her wrist, she watched as blood was beginning to trail from the bite.
"Okay." Gil's voice made her jump. "I have some hot water," he told her, taking a seat again and setting the cup of hot water down on the desk. "I have some soap and antiseptics in my desk, I keep them on me all the time, just incase," he explained, reaching into one of the drawers to retreive the items. Grabbing a small cloth, he dipped it in the cup of hot water and took her wrist in his hands, gently rubbing the small puncture mark with the wetted cloth. "The hot water should ease the pain," he told her. "And then I'll wash it with soap and an antiseptic."
Sara nodded. He was right, there hot water was making it feel much better. When he removed the cloth she instantly missed the warmth of the cloth and his hands and he grabbed some soap, slowly rubbing it against the mark. "Sorry..." he apologized. "It probably stings."
Sara nodded. "Yeah...a little bit," she winced.
Gil apologized again before taking the antiseptic and dabbing it against the mark. "This is going to hurt even more.." he sighed.
Sara winced again, nodding, though by now she thought that she should be accustomed to pain. When he finished Gil looked up at her. "By any chance...have you gotten a tetanus shot recently?"
Sara blinked. "Yes..."
"Good," Gil said. "Then you're all set, though I reccomend letting the wound bleed freely."
Sara nodded, heading towards the door after grabbing her bag.
"Where are you going?" Grissom asked.
Sara blinked, turning around. "I.."
"You can leave, I just thought we'd...talk a little more." Gil really had no idea what the hell he was doing. This was certainly not like him.
"Oh, okay," Sara said, walking back over to him, a small smile creeking around her mouth as she took her seat once again.
"So where are you from?" Gil asked.
"I'm from California. Crazy valley girl with a dream," she smiled.
"And what is your dream?" Gil asked.
"I want to become a forensic scientist."
Gil started laughing, looking down at the floor. Sara was confused, she didn't know why he was laughing and she found it a bit insulting to say the least.
"I'm sorry..." Gil apologized. "I'm a forensic scientist myself. I work at the Vegas Crime Lab, I've been there for a few years, it's just a strange coincidence."
Sara smiled, getting a laugh out of it herself. "I see."
"So what made you want to become a forensic scientist?" Gil asked.
Sara was hesitant on her answer. She didn't know if she should mention all of the reasons for her wanting to become a forensic scientist. When she was younger the only reason was because she was fascinated. But as she got older there were more and more reasons, such as the fact that her childhood rapist was convicted with the help of strong forensic evidence found at the crime-scene. "I've always been fascinated by it," Sara finally said.
Gil just nodded. "I'm sure you'll make a great forensic scientist. You have wonderful focus, and a curious mind never hurts either."
This earned him a genuine smile from her as she again tried to control the flush red color that was taking over her cheeks. Looking away, she said, "And how do you know that?"
Gil was about to say that he had been watching her, but he thought that would sound freaky, even to him. He didn't want her to think he was some freaky stalker. "I saw you during the seminar...you're very focused when you're deep in thought." That sounded better than saying he was watching her, he decided.
Sara smiled. "Well, thank you...Mr. Grissom, was it?" she asked.
"Gil Grissom," he told her. "And it's been a pleasure, Ms. Sara Sidle, but I do believe I have to start packing up my things now. I have to leave for a plane later today to go back to Vegas," he explained, holding his hand out. "So I guess this is goodbye."
Sara smiled, taking his hand and gently shaking it. "I suppose it is."
"Maybe...we'll see eachother again some time," Gil said. "Maybe I'll hear about you in the papers or on TV." And then he laughed. "Who knows, maybe we'll even be working in the same building one day."
Sara smiled. "Maybe."
"Well...goodbye, Sara," Gil said.
Sara stopped in mid-step near the door and turned around, looking over at him with a big smile across her face. "Goodbye, Gil."
Gil nodded, smiling as she walked out of the room.
Sara stopped, walking into an empty classroom when she was far enough away from him. She wanted to giggle like a giddy schoolgirl, she didn't know why, she just wanted to. She had butterflies in her stomach, she wanted to jump and shout and dance around screaming. Instead, she composed herself and walked out of the room with the same big smile on her face before.