Hello all! LifelongObsessor here!

This will be my second Veronica Mars fanfic by the time I have finished, my first multi-chaptered one in this category. I'm excited. Are you excited? Maybe not as much as me.

This fic is meant to take place post season three as my version of what could have happened after the show's conclusion. Loose ends make me jumpy.

I have based this fic loosely off Michele Jaffe's teen novel Rosebush. It's a creepy read and a great story if you have the time to check it out! This is NOT, however, me re-writing Rosebush with the Veronica Mars characters. What I have taken is the initial premise - a teenage girl in hospital, confined to her bed and struggling to figure out what happened to her.

The prologue is short, but chapters will get longer, I promise.

Also, I feel it goes without saying, but I DON'T OWN VERONICA MARS. If I did, helloooooo Logan. ;)

PROLOGUE

Veronica hated driving at night; in fairness, Veronica hated doing anything at night these days. The dark always brought up dark memories of gunfire on rooftops, roofies at parties, shaved heads in parking lots and hang-out time in a burning refrigerator. She had been through a lot of trauma for someone still in their teen years to be sure, been through trauma that would have sent grown men crying to their mothers and vowing to never again leave the house. Veronica, however, didn't have a mother to go crying to, so she had picked herself up, buried the feelings of terror her memories of night-time still brought her and continued to have a life that included star-lit excursions.

Driving, however, still gave Veronica a hard time. Every time she drove under a streetlight, Veronica found her eyes darting to a mirror, searching for any signs of glinting, evil eyes watching from her backseat. She doubted that feeling would ever go away, no matter how much time passed, so she usually went out of her way to avoid night-time driving all together. Luckily for her, it was only about 7:30 now so the sky was still rather light, even if it was a tad darker than usual from all the nasty weather Neptune had been hit with lately. Even if had been later, Veronica still would have driven; tonight it would have been worth it.

Someone was about to get it, a full-out Veronica Mars bust. It had been a while since she'd verbally blown someone's hair back with a wave of sought-out truth, and Veronica was looking forward to it. She felt almost entitled to this moment; she'd had a pretty garbage time lately, with the craziness of the year before, her endless roller-coaster ride with Logan, the trials of her and Piz's relationship over the summer, not to mention all the events from earlier that day alone … But no. Veronica wasn't thinking about that. She was thinking about how good this bust was gonna feel, how good the look on the perpetrator's face was going to be when she blew this case wide open.

The outline of the Neptune Grande came into view against the sky. Veronica began to smile as she turned in that direction; her moment was so close. Maybe solving this case could even get her back in her father's good graces, prove to him that she was capable of more than he gave her credit for …

She pulled her eyes away from the majestic hotel and briefly took in some of the other sights around her. A woman walking a small energetic dog. Two kids buying ice-cream cones. A pair of birds dancing in the darkening sky. Veronica grinned wider as she turned her eyes back to the road – maybe night-time driving had something to be said for it after all.

That was when Veronica saw the headlights barreling toward her.

The car was mere meters away and driving at a heightened speed. Veronica didn't even have time to swerve. She strained her eyes, trying to at least get a good view of who was driving the car. If her life didn't end just now, and there was a good chance it might, she was going to I.D. this driver when it was all over. Veronica squinted. Her jaw dropped.

"Oh my god … It's you," she whispered. The two cars collided.

Veronica heard the scream of metal meeting metal, the crush of the two cars making impact. Then she didn't hear anything.

You know what would be positively swell? Some reviews! Shoot some my way please please pleaaaaaase? ;)

Thanks for reading!