[ BTS ] Scenario One - IC

Started by Moraline, September 03, 2013, 02:20:50 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Moraline

[ BTS ] Scenario One - IC

Beyond The Supernatural






Please Tag your posts with (place any dice roll links directly under it):
[color=maroon][b]Character Name[/b][/color]
[b]Location[/b]:
[b]Tag[/b]:
[hr]


Link:  [ BTS ] Scenario One - OOC

Moraline

Chapter 1 - The Night Terrors


How it begins...

There is a field of mist laying over the parking lot of your school.  The colors are all washed out and it's night but the lot is full of cars.  In the window of an upper floor classroom you spot a shadow that strikes a familiar chord.  It beckons in an ethereal cold voice.  "The time has come..."  It repeats a few times but fades into a whisper.  The essence of sleep fades...

You wake with wide frantic eyes, jolting upright in a shivering sweat and your breath billows out as ice cold mist.  The blackness of your room has a surreal feel for a moment.  You are sure you don't belong here and the urge to run away grips you.  All around is darkness and the heavy air of a warm humid summer night.  Off to the right of your bed the alarm clock reads 12:00.  Shadows dance around the room as you sit on the edge.  Did those shadows look like little people?  The thoughts of an addled mind it is safe to assume.  You need air so you move to open the bedroom window.  Looking to the ground below a creeping fog retreats down the street, slinking over cars and around the neighbors buildings.  It almost feels like it's running from you, shrinking... contracting.  It's a feeling you can't shake. 

This is going to be a long sleepless night and you've got school in the morning.



TheHangedOne

#2
Alfred "Al" Birche
Location: Baker family house*
Tag: No one, open
At 2013-09-03 15:24:02, TheHangedMan (uid: 12227) rolls: 1d100 Result: 46



The Baker family were nice. A man and woman, married for a few years. They never could have children, so for them, taking in Al was something close enough to make them happy. Al, however, did not like the set up. He never liked the other families he was with, either, no matter how nice they were. Maybe he was just being a picky brat, though.

Even after all these years, he still had nightmares about some of the things that happened when he was still living with his biological parents. So for him, these new dreams were a reprieve of sorts. They were disturbing in their own way, but also elicited a sort of keen curiosity in him. Plus, he didn't wake up screaming from them, which his 'family' found to be a pleasant change.

Sleepless nights were not new to him. He managed to always find some inner wellspring of willpower to draw upon, though, to help him get through it. Even with how young he is, he was capable of a high degree of persistence that would likely serve him well in the years to come.

The half-imagined figment person in his room was not a new sensation, either. And in the back of his mind, he could hear his father's voice, cold and harsh, threatening, like a knife held to the throat. "Go the fuck back to sleep", he'd say, and he could hear his mother crying in the background. He didn't really breathe until he stared down the darkness, and realized that, no, his father was not there, haunting him. 

A little pin-prick, followed by a loud purring sound, drew his attention to the little ball of fluff that had previously been curled up right next to him, tiny paws and arms and legs wrapped around the human boy's own arm. The little boy kitten, named Mori, was probably six or seven months old. Al had been taking care of him for about three months now, having nursed him back to health when he found the furball whimpering and crying on the street.

He had instantly felt a sort of kinship with the cat. And now, the two were practically inseperable. Mori would follow him around, room to room, like a dog, unwilling to leave its saviors side. When Al went to school, the cat would hide in his room, or else perch in the windows, and watch, and wait, for his return.

The little ball of short, black fur, with a white, heart-shaped spot on his chest, was a comfort. He spent some time petting the kitten, while the kitten nuzzled back against him, and thrummed a song of happiness. Frisky and playful, no matter what time of day it was, Mori winds up trying to climb up on his chest, but instead ends up merely cradled in the boys arms.

"Meow! Mmm...meow!" Mori was hungry, and wanted to let Al know. Or, perhaps it was thirst. "Meow." The boy meowed back at the cat, finding nothing strange about the idea. Crawling out of bed, he would tiptoe through the house, keeping the kitten in his arms.  Mori was happy there, content to nuzzle, and purr up a storm, for he felt safe in Al's arms. 

Al figured he'd give Mori some dry food to snack on. He always had a bowl of it down, alongside a bowl of water, in the kitchen, but for whatever reason, Mori seemed to have a preference for being hand-fed. Al liked doing it, too. He'd get himself some crackers from the pantry, too; a salty snack might help him get back to sleep. If not, it'd give him the energy to play some games.

He frowned a bit, though, as he stared outside through the kitchen window. Usually, there were some crickets chirping.  At least, he thought that sound he always heard was crickets.  That seemed weird. Come to think of it, he didn't hear much else, either. It was way, way too quiet. All he could hear was the furry one's continued purr.

He set Mori down on the counter. Usually, his parents would get upset at him for doing that, but he wasn't planning for them to be awake or awoken. He'd get himself some saltines, and some dry food for the kitten; and while he fed himself, he also fed Mori, who enjoyed standing up on his hind legs to take the bit of food out of Al's hand, held above him.
A&A's and O&O's *Status: Here and there | Games: Aiming for punctuality*
"In prosperity, our friends know us; in adversity, we know our friends."
"In the ocean of knowledge, only those who want to learn will see the land."
"Before you roar, please take a deep breath."
Check out my poet tree!

London

#3
Robert Long
Location: His bedroom followed by skateboarding at the old railroad.
Tag: Al


At 2013-09-03 18:19:21, London (uid: 4265) rolls: 1d100 Result: 87

Robert took several long deep breaths as he looked out the window. Watching the fog slip away he shook his head to try to clear the dream from his head. Moving to the nightstand he picked up the glass of water he always kept there. Taking a long drink his heart started to slow as he calmed down some. Looking at the clock again, he groaned as he thought about going back to sleep.

Getting out of bed, he quickly dressed in jeans and a t-shirt before grabbing his army jacket. Tucking his smart phone and tucking it into a pocket, he picked up his skateboard and backpack before moving to the bedroom door. Listening for any sound of his family being awake, he slipped out of his room he slowly made his way to the back door of the house.

Running through the damp grass of his backyard, Robert made his way down the road before jumping on his board and riding away. Trying to force the memory of the dream from his mind, he pulled out his headphones and started up the playlist on his smart phone. The steady clicking of the skateboard wheels echoed through the empty streets, all but drowned out the music in his ears. To wrapped up in his own thoughts to notice anything, he jumped the curb before crossing the street to get to the land owned by the railroad.

Skating passed a few old buildings, he road up one of the old ramps that lead to a deserted warehouse. He loved the way the old building still had so many things he could use to do tricks. After riding around for a while, he sat on the old loading dock before pulling out his smart phone. Looking at the time he groaned when he saw the time. Hoping he doesn’t wake anyone up, he sighed before calling Al. “He said he never sleep much... I hope he’s awake… I hate to wake people up…” he said to himself as he listened to the phone ring.

Lithium

Jeong Soo-Jin
Location: Jeong household
Tag: No one
Perception Roll: 75



Jin sat up in bed, feeling quite perturbed as she watched her breath come out of her mouth in what genuinely seemed like a cool mist, which clearly didn't make any sense. Dreams were just chemical reactions happening in her brain while she slept, even recurring ones (she'd done some research after the first few nights), so she wasn't particularly distressed about them, but she didn't see how it physically made any sense for her breath to be coming out like this. Maybe her science teacher could explain, Jin considered, promising herself that she'd go ask him the question tomorrow.

Or later today, rather, since she glanced over to her night table and saw that the digital display of her clock was reading 12:07 AM. The shirt that she'd been sleeping in was soaked with cold sweat, so she got up and pulled it up over her head before dropping it in her laundry basket. Jin knew the layout of her room by heart, of course, so she was able to do so without having to look. Once she did take a look around, however, she noticed that her room was much darker than usual. There was usually enough light creeping through even with her curtains shut to keep the room from being totally pitch black like it was right now. Maybe the street right nearest to her window had gone out or there was a power outage? No, not a power outage, that was stupid since her clock obviously worked.

Stepping to the window, Jin pulled the curtains open to investigate. The streetlight was definitely working just fine, and yet it seemed like the light wasn't making it all the way to her room for some reason. Outside, it was foggy and the fog was drifting away down the street, but she figured it was just the direction of the air current. Turning back around, Jin checked again to make sure that she wasn't just imagining the darkness, and sure enough it was still unnaturally dark.

Her head snapped to the side suddenly as she thought that she saw something move. One of the darker shadows perhaps? But from what though...? Everything seemed perfectly still. Her window was closed, so the curtains weren't being waved around by the breeze, and outside the air seemed relatively still, certainly not enough wind to make the branches of the tree right outside her room wave around. Then Jin thought she saw it again.

Stupid dreams, she thought to herself, blaming her fatigue for all the weird things that were happening, or more likely that she was imagining. It was the only logical explanation. She put on a clean shirt and carefully tiptoed out of her room, heading down the hall towards her parents' bathroom. The night seemed deathly quiet, but that was probably just her perception since she was trying to sneak around quietly without waking her parents.

After making sure that the door to their room was closed, Jin went into the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet, retrieving a small bottle of prescription pills. They were sleeping pills that her mother had gotten prescribed. It said on the label that they were only for adults, but she doubted that it would make much difference whether she was fifteen or eighteen when taking one. She didn't want to risk waking her parents with the sound of the faucet, so she silently made her way downstairs to the kitchen instead to get a glass of water, taking the sleeping pill with it.

As she was standing there in the kitchen, Jin felt a sudden pang within her chest, urging her to get away, to go somewhere far from this place. It was like the latter part of her fight or flight instinct had just kicked in for no good, explicable reason, bringing on a rush of adrenaline with it. She set her glass of water down on the counter and put a hand over her chest as she closed her eyes and tried to calm down.

Go where, and how? With what money? And in the middle of the night so that I can get mugged or raped or murdered by some homeless person? No way. Shoot, I have to wake up in less than six hours. This pill better work.


Ixy

Maggie Foss
Location: Mags' room, Foss apartment, 3rd floor at Riverwalk Apartments
Tag: Jin


At 2013-09-03 18:20:15, Mags (uid: 768) rolls: 1d100 Result: 77


The sensation is like a seizure in her throat... her lungs are fighting to expel air that feels too cold to be from inside her, but her throat can't open to let it out.  Mags is rocking back and forth, a gasping fish-mouth and gaping eyes, clutching at her worn t-shirt, the edges of the worn-out mattress where it rests on the floor.  There's a staccato of orange light-- emanations of the streetlight outside, chopped up like an old film by the box fan in her window.  Finally she expels a gasp, like she's averted choking by spitting out the cold in her lungs, and she breathes the hot air in huge gulps that sound teasingly childlike to her, the sound of her own infantile terrors coming back to her in an invading swarm, still in her room like lingering cobwebs and trailing fingers of shadow.

She falls from the mattress, clattering a short stack of home-burned cds  into the wall as her arm flails defensively about, and she winds up sitting upright on the short-pile carpet.  She twists and clamors against the wall, where the cold heat register rattles in its bushing, and twists her face back and forth, darting her eyes about, trying to pick out the figures that, a moment before, she had felt with such certainty as to have given them faces and names, were they more than specters of some horrific dream.  That thought makes her wrap her arms over herself and breath rapidly, loudly, two soft gasping cries before she bites the noise off to silence and darts her gaze about, like wounded prey, to every corner of the room. 

It takes some time for her to calm down.  She works her fingers over the carpet, feeling the polyester threads like brush bristles, the knotty weave of the core fibers, grains of dirt in between.  Her bed looms before her like a monolithic slab, the amber light through the fan flickering, little threads of the bright outside glinting as the cardboard flutters where she's taped it to fill the gaps.  She's shivering, and where one hand nervously rubs her other arm, she can feel goosebumps like pebbles.  But the cold sensation is abating, and the fan blows sickly-warm air onto the indentation on her old mattress, still damp with cold sweat.  She looked over the spilled, silvery compact disks-- her jagged handwriting in dark felt pen calling out anthologies of Led Zeppelin juxtaposed with the Cure, alongside Morphine and Nirvana and Springsteen-- each like a lost scale from some great silver beast that had come, had spared her for the moment, and was not fully gone.

She rattles open the Gatorade bottle next to her bed, filled with tap-water, and takes a long pull.  Between forced swallows-- her throat still seems at a loss from having failed to scream-- her breath is loud through her nose, the panting still slowing when she lowers the bottle and screws the cap back on.  Finally confident that she's alone, Maggie stands slowly, wiping her forehead with one shoulder of her gray t-shirt as she steps closer to the window.  It's then she sees the fog in the periphery, like the residue of a deluge lingering in the fine creases of the city streets and alleys.

The glow of the fluorescent light across the street is a welcoming beacon where the 7-11 stares back obediently, patient and inanimate and comforting in its generic stoicism.  This makes her want a cigarette so badly she can't think straight.  She would have thought nothing of it, perhaps not even noticed, except that the white glow on the sidewalk flickers, winking out and on a few seconds, and she sees no one notice.  No motion at all from within, no tops of heads at the counter.  Nobody lingering on the corner, no creeping cars with thudding, hollow bass noises like heartbeats in the night.

She turns away from the window to check the time-- the red, digital numbers of her alarm clock bore into her, the twin zeroes at the end hovering like patient eyes.  She grabbed her jacket from where she piled it atop the milk crates in the corner, thrusting her hands into the pockets to find a half-crushed packet of cigarettes, the jumbled wires of her earphones, the small ring of keys she'd been entrusted with, including one to the apartment itself.  Throwing her arms into the huge sleeves, she leaves the jacket hanging wide and pulls her jeans over the faded athletic shorts.  She steps into the untied boots, still wearing the plain white socks she slept in.

Out into the short hallway, a single LED nightlight in her little brothers' room glows out from the partly-closed doorway.  She stands for a full minute, afraid of seeing what's beyond that door.  She leans forward, pressing her hand against the flat white door, and looks into the cluttered little room-- its bunk beds standing empty, the sheets and blankets still crumpled into the shapes of their sleep.  Maggie stares, then edges away, before checking the empty living room, then-- heedless of the noise of her heavy footsteps-- bursts through the door of her mother's room.

The full-sized bed is as empty as the empty beer bottles she topples, and she springs back from the noise, despite it being a familiar one.  Her mind races over the avenues that could have made this be... she knows that, when she returned from work an hour ago, cut before close for once, the room was loud with her mother's snores, a welcome respite from slurred cursing or obnoxious laughter and country music.  The starkness and emptiness of the apartment now is twice as oppressive.

She enters her mother's room, nudging aside dirty clothes, and finds what she's looking for-- her mother's cell phone, left on the nightstand, the battery half-charged, where it waits beside the ashtray and a crumpled half-pack of Newports.  It's the only phone in the house, and her mother left it right there, untouched, when she left.  With her two sons.

Her hand is shaking when she starts dialing.  She isn't sure who to call, and she doesn't consider it until she's already punched in ten numbers sequentially... the white digits stare up at her, and she doesn't recognize the number at first until she realizes it belongs to Jin.  Nice girl.  Kept me from failing Algebra last year... out of the goodness of her heart.  Maybe.  But why..?  To ask her to explain how formulas work, or something?

Over the keypad, her thumb hovers uncertainly, then presses firmly on the green 'send' light.
______________________
The big print giveth, the small print taketh away.

Lithium

Jeong Soo-Jin
Location: Jeong household
Tag: Maggie



Having just crawled back into her bed on the opposite dise that she'd been sleeping on earlier, since it was now damp with cold sweat, Jin stubbornly tried to fall asleep again, knowing that she wouldn't do her best in class or at soccer if she didn't get enough rest, and she hated under-performing. She'd have to wash her sheets, pillowcases and blanket later that evening when she got home from school, which was annoying since she'd just done that a few days ago (for the same reason), but it felt way too icky sleeping in a sweat-soaked bed.

She kept tossing and turning, unable to find a comfortable position, and worst of alls till feeling wide awake despite the sleeping pill that she'd taken. Jin wished that it would take effect sooner, every minute lost now would impact her day negatively.

Then, out of the blue, the ringtone of her Galaxy S4 starting playing, decimating the complete silence that had been reigning through the house since she'd awoken. Fearing that it would wake her parents, Jin jumped up and practically threw herself across the bed, stretching to reach the phone which was on the nightstand at the opposite side of the bed, the one which she normally slept on. They'd get all paranoid and nosy if they thought that she was getting calls in the middle of the night, especially her mother, and over the past year or two, Jin had really started to hate it when people meddled in her personal business, even her parents. Especially her parents.

She answered immediately just to make the ringtone stop, not quite having the presence of mind in the heat of the moment to just mute it instead. She did have time to notice that it was an unknown number, however, as she pressed the answer button on the touchscreen. Most likely a wrong number, nobody that she knew would be calling at this hour.

"Hello?" she answered, still just a tad bit nervous about getting a call at such an hour, even if she was still almost certain that it would turn out to be a wrong number.

TheHangedOne

#7
Alfred "Al" Birche
Location: Baker family house*
Tag: Rob, open



After feeding himself several crackers, and his kitten a handful of dried food, he went to the fridge. He got himself a can of soda, took out the whole milk (Mori was picky and refused anything else), a small plate from the cabinet, and poured a bit of the milk out onto the plate. He let Mori lap it up on the counter, not caring too much about how his adoptive parents would be upset with him for it.

It was just as he was putting the cap on the milk jug that his phone went off. He nearly lost control of the jug, but managed to prevent spilling it. He quickly shoved it in the fridge, whilst cursing to himself "Shiiiiiiiit". His phone wasn't silenced, since he never really expected anybody to ever call in the night. With how quiet it was, he'd be shocked if there was a place in the small house where one couldn't currently hear the Neuroticfish ring-tone he had.

But, perhaps it was his good luck; he was able to quietly scamper his way back to his room, his movements lithe and sleek, much like a cats, and pick up his phone without hearing any signs that his 'parents' had awoke. That would be because, unknown to him, they were currently absent.

For Rob, it was...ring... ring... ring.... ri-"Hey, Robb. What's up?" Judging from how sharp Al sounded over the phone, it was clear that he had been up for a bit, himself.
A&A's and O&O's *Status: Here and there | Games: Aiming for punctuality*
"In prosperity, our friends know us; in adversity, we know our friends."
"In the ocean of knowledge, only those who want to learn will see the land."
"Before you roar, please take a deep breath."
Check out my poet tree!

Ixy

Maggie Foss
Location: Mags' room, Foss apartment, 3rd floor at Riverwalk Apartments
Tag: Jin


As the signal hangs quiet for a moment too long, Mags wonders quietly if she is capable of opening this conversation.  Jin's voice, a girlish digital 'hello', is like a flash of dawn... the only person she can hear, see, or even imagine being alive right now, and the only sound over the hum of the refrigerator motor down the hall. 

Even so... this is a far cry from asking the teacher for help in study hall-- a monumental task in itself.   "Um," Maggie starts, "Jin, right?"  She swallows, "I'm sorry, this is Maggie Foss, from school... I ah..." she starts to tear up in embarrassment, and her voice breaks slightly as she continues, "I had your number, from before.  Something... something's wrong here?"  Somehow this is a question, although there's no doubt about it.

"Everyone's gone."  She pulls the cord on her mother's window blinds and stares out into the streets, where the interstate sits like a dead snake, devoid of headlights for the first time Maggie's ever seen.  "I hoped maybe you weren't gone too."
______________________
The big print giveth, the small print taketh away.

Lithium

Jeong Soo-Jin
Location: Jeong household
Tag: Maggie



Frowning slightly, Jin pulled her cellphone away from her ear to look at the screen, checking if the call had been disconnected after not hearing anything back for a short while, but then she heard a vaguely familiar voice and put the device back to her ear. With Maggie's voice being slightly distorted by the phone, Jin failed to quite place it until the other girl introduced herself.

Despite not being close - even saying that they were distant friends might have been a stretch - she and Maggie did end up seeing quite a lot of each other. Jin was pretty much a regular at The Fresh, and then they also shared running practice and several classes together, but apart from that they were nearly complete opposites and had never exchanged more than a few words.

Well, except for last year when Jin had helped Maggie out with algebra. it hadn't been solely out of the goodness of her heart - some of it was simply because she'd already progressed past the material being presented in class, so helping Maggie out represented a distraction and a new challenge. Getting perfect grades for herself had gotten trivial to the point where Jin barely got any satisfaction out of it anymore, but raising Maggie's grades had felt like an accomplishment. And then, yes, there was also the fact that she was just genuinely happy to help.

Contrary to what most people might think based on first (or second or third) impression due to her overachieving and direct nature, Jin wasn't a cold person. She was possibly even more sensitive and empathetic than most, she just happened to be rather introverted about it the same way that she was introverted about most of her feelings and emotions. Except maybe her anger, which Jin often had less-than-stellar control over.

She realized that something was wrong the moment that she picked up on Maggie's voice breaking, not that receiving a call from her in the middle of the night wasn't already a pretty solid hint. "It's fine, I wasn't even sleeping," Jin replied, trying to at least not make the other girl feel bad for calling. She might have been a little annoyed had she actually been asleep, but that wasn't the case.

"What do you mean everyone is gone?" Jin asked for clarification. That statement could have meant anything. Was it Maggie feeling lonely and overreacting because her family had gone on vacation without her, or was she literally saying that they'd just disappeared...or was she talking about something else entirely? Jin's redheaded classmate didn't really strike her as the type to lose her cool and get dramatic over nothing, however, so she was kind of expecting it to be something more on the serious side. "Can you explain exactly what's wrong?"

It was while she awaited an answer that Jin got to thinking how odd it was for somebody to call her out of the blue in fear that she might have been 'gone' just a few minutes after she'd gotten that unexplainable urge to just go far away. To make herself gone. She got out of bed and took a few steps, crossing an arm over her belly and propping up her elbow from her other arm that was holding the phone against it.

The last words that Maggie had spoken continued to echo through her head, and before Jin knew it, that intangible feeling of being small and alone had crept up on her. That feeling when you just know that you're alone in a big empty house without even having to confirm that nobody else is home.

London

Robert
Location:A dock at the old railroad
Tag:Al



Listening to the phone ring on the other end, Robert leaned back on his skateboard, his eyes looking up at the cover that hung over the dock. Somehow he felt stupid calling his classmate about a dream, but he couldn’t get the idea out of his head that Al might understand. Looking at one of the spots on the overhang he could almost make out shapes in the broken pieces of wood when Al answered the phone.

Surprised when Al answered the phone, it took him a second to get his voice to work. “Hey Al… Sorry for calling so late.” Sitting back up, he leaned on his knees as he thought of how to start talking about his dream. “I remembered that you said you didn’t sleep much so… Anyway… I’m out at the old railroad to clear a bad dream out of my head and just thought I would call.”

He was rambling and knew it. Robert hated when he did rambled. It was one of the reasons he didn’t talk much to people. He always thought it made him sound nervous or afraid of something. He was use to being alone and enjoyed his solitude most of the time. Even sitting on a deserted dock in the middle of the night hadn’t fazed him… But for some reason the dream had…



TheHangedOne

Alfred "Al" Birche
Location: Baker family house
Tag: Rob, open


"Don't worry about it. I was awake anyways.  There'll be plenty of time to sleep when I'm dead." Rob might not be entirely surprised by that comment. Al has a grim sense of humor; his favorite form of humor, in fact, is gallows.  He typically avoids being too morbid, though.

"I know lots about bad dreams.  It's why I tell sleep to sod off."  He chuckled a bit. "Yeah, I actually woke up not too long ago from one. It's weird. Weird all around, too." He shrugged his shoulders, more out of an impulse or nervous tic than any sort of body language that would clearly be lost over the phone. "Want to share yours? Or you want some jokes?" Because hey, laughter fixes everything, right?

Al was a bit like Rob, it's probably why they got along. Al, too, was a solitary individual. He didn't particularly like to talk to people, either. But, right here, right now, he'd be glad for a bit of distraction, himself.
A&A's and O&O's *Status: Here and there | Games: Aiming for punctuality*
"In prosperity, our friends know us; in adversity, we know our friends."
"In the ocean of knowledge, only those who want to learn will see the land."
"Before you roar, please take a deep breath."
Check out my poet tree!

London

Robert Long
Location:A dock at the old railroad
Tag:Al, Open



Robert chuckled at his joke. He was one of the few people around that got Al’s humor, even though he didn’t much like it. “Yeah I know… Live fast, die young, and leave a good looking corpse,” he said in his normal reply to some of his friend’s jokes.

“You want to talk about weird dreams… I’ve been having this dream for the last week. It’s always the same. I’m in the school parking lot. It’s foggy and in one of the upstairs windows I can just make out someone but can’t make out who it is,” he said telling Al, not really giving him time to say anything, “It says something like “It’s time,” or “Times come” or something like that… I think some of the others from school were there but I’m not sure.” Taking a breath before continuing, “Anyway, when I woke up my room is really dark and cold. I don’t just mean cold I mean as in playing in snow all day cold… And I could have sworn I saw people moving around in the shadows…” Pausing again, he took a breath to calm his heart at the remembered dream. “So tell mister dream… What do you make of that one?”



Ixy

#13
Maggie Foss
Location: Outside Foss apartment, 3rd floor at Riverwalk Apartments
Tag: Jin


Maggie's mouth works silently as she struggles for an explanation, but the gnawing fear persists, occupies her thoughts-- she can still feel the shadows looming in the room, and although she wants terribly to keep looking out the window, to find some trace of movement-- a plane, a car on the highway, anything-- she keeps feeling the glint of unseen eyes.  The memory of those shadows-- or perhaps an awareness of them, their looming, slinking presence, they are vague shadows, edging closer like the dark shapes of swimming predators in the deep sea.

She has to get out of the apartment.  "My... um, everyone.  Everyone on the road... my apartment..." she thinks she has to get her boots and coat, she gets chilly, even in the late summer nights, but she's already wearing them both.  I was already ready to go, she realizes, before I knew everyone was gone... "Jin, I don't know, really, how I thought to call you.  I just remembered your number... I have this weird, like, feeling that everybody's gone in town, but not everyone, not quite.  Like, somehow I knew you'd be there, that maybe you'd know what I mean..." 

The phone's low-battery alarm chirps three times in her ear, startling her so badly that she drops the flat black plastic shape to the floor where it bounces next to a broken toy bulldozer.  It clatters against the doorstop of her little brothers' room, and she can't help but stare at those empty beds, in disbelief.  She sees her own shape in the doorframe, reflected in the window opposite the room, and feels a twisting, cold knot tighten in her chest.  She fumbles clumsily with the phone and places it to her ear.  "I'm going to the school."  She doesn't explain any more, the futility muting her lips, the meaningless insensibility silencing her in shame.  "I'm going there now."

She drops the phone onto the hallway's faded, worn carpet and runs to the door, desperate to escape whatever lingers after her dream.  The sound of the electric light's buzz echoes in the summer night's breezeway, and her footsteps echo with the shudder of metal and thud of concrete as she descends the stairs to the street.  Without a car, it will be a long walk, but she is going.
______________________
The big print giveth, the small print taketh away.

TheHangedOne

#14
Alfred "Al" Birche
Location: Baker family house
Tag: Rob, open



He is quiet on the other end. Almost too quiet; did the call disconnect? No, it's just, at some point during Rob's description of the dream, he kind of stopped breathing.  When Rob poses his question, asking the cat-lover what he thought of the dream, there was a huge exhale of air; a heaving sigh, all too audible. "That there is some serious freakin' shit going on." he was quiet for a moment, thinking; was his room cold? Yeah, maybe it was.  He actually hadn't paid that much attention to it, oddly enough!

"Same sort of dream.  Except in mine, I was wearing a flannel shirt, and my kitten was hitching a ride with me in the pocket." As an aside, during the cooler months, Al always wore flannel. Even when it was still a bit warm out. He loved the feel, the texture, of that particular type of cloth.

"Not sure about shadow people or anything..." He didn't want to talk about it, simply because of the association he had, "but, hey, is it really quiet where you are? Like, horror move, right before the killer appears, quiet? 'Cause the only noises I've heard around me is my own voice, your voice, and Mori's purring." And, well, the phone ringing... and that sound refrigerators make when you open them. But, he didn't want to get side-tracked into an actual list. That would be superfluous.
A&A's and O&O's *Status: Here and there | Games: Aiming for punctuality*
"In prosperity, our friends know us; in adversity, we know our friends."
"In the ocean of knowledge, only those who want to learn will see the land."
"Before you roar, please take a deep breath."
Check out my poet tree!

London

#15
Robert Long
Location:On a dock at the old railroad, on the sidewalk passing Riverwalk Apartments
Tag: Al, Maggie, Open



Listening for Al to say something, Robert started to wonder if the call had been dropped. Looking at his phone, “Hey Al… You there…” he started before his friend finally spoke. Robert couldn’t help but agree with Al. It had been some freaky shit and it had been going on for a week…

Feeling a cold chill run down his spine, Robert sat up more on the dark dock. “You had the same dream…” he said slowly, wondering if it was the same for the others in his dream. Trying to remember who else was in the dream, he had recognized a few of the faces even if he didn’t know their names.

“Dude… I’m sitting on a empty dock at the old railroad… Don’t start talking about killers appearing…” he said standing up. Looking around he pulled his backpack back on as he got ready to leave. “Right now I can’t hear anything. The warehouse is to far from the road to hear anyone and this railroad hasn’t been used in years…” Looking into the darkened warehouse, “Listen Al… I’m going to ride around while we talk. You got me worried about some old bum now…”

Kicking off he rolled down the ramp of the dock, he leaned with his skateboard as he road away from the railroad. Getting back to the street, he jumped back onto sidewalk. Over the phone the steady clicking of the seams of the concrete could be heard as Robert road down the street. “Dude… I don’t see anyone around,” he told Al as he pushed his skateboard faster.

The steady clicking of his wheels echoed around Robert while he looked around. Pushing off again, “Al this is creepy man… I don’t see anyone around… I’ve never been out and not seen people in the area…” he said growing nervous as he passed Riverwalk Apartments.

TheHangedOne

Alfred "Al" Birche
Location: Baker family house
Tag: Rob, open



"Hey, don't worry. You got your skateboard, right? Whether it's a slasher or a zombie horde, you can outrun 'em with that, and your mad tricks, right?" He said, trying to be reassuring. "I'm the one trapped in a possibly-empty house and who can't run for shit."  He could walk for miles and miles through sheer perseverance and determination, through willpower and thick, muscular legs (the only real muscles on him); but running? He could only go for 30 feet in a dead sprint, if he was lucky, before he was gasping like a fish out of water.

"Nothing? Nobody? No night-lights on, no glowing tv sets?" He would frown deeply, and standing up, he would walk out of his room. He nearly ran right into a returning Mori,  but the kitten had quick reflexes, and nimbly avoided the boys foot. "Whoops, sorry, Mori." He could hear the clicking over the phone, and Rob just may hear the foot falls of Al; and, eventually, the creaking of a door opening.

"Fuck-nuggets." Woah, that comes from nowhere. Al usually doesn't swear. Words like 'fuck', to him, were like tactical nuclear weapons. You only used them when it was absolutely needed. And right now, the nice couple who were sheltering him and providing for his needs, were not in their bed. He went back to his room, putting on the speaker phone as he did so, and talking all the while. "My parents are gone. That's not like them. They don't ever slip out like thieves in the night."

He was quick to get himself dressed up. He had socks and boxers on, because that's what he always wore to bed. Soon, pants were on, and a shirt--flannel, despite the weather-- and all the while, Mori was sitting at the edge of his bed, now, half watching him, and half staring at the phone. "Where are you at, Rob? Maybe we should meet up."
A&A's and O&O's *Status: Here and there | Games: Aiming for punctuality*
"In prosperity, our friends know us; in adversity, we know our friends."
"In the ocean of knowledge, only those who want to learn will see the land."
"Before you roar, please take a deep breath."
Check out my poet tree!

Lithium

Jeong Soo-Jin
Location: Jeong household
Tag: Maggie



The unsettling feeling crawling over Jin's flesh only grew worse the more that she listened to Maggie talk. "Wait, I don't think- " she realized that the call had been cut off before she could respond, which was highly annoying. Why would Maggie even bother calling at all if she was just going to hang up on her like that? And what the heck kind of stupid idea was it to go wandering to school of all placed at this time of night for no logical reason?

School...that's where Jin was in her dream, or dreams, rather. Another coincidence...she spent probably at least half of her time there, so it was only natural that she'd dream about it. That wasn't important, anyways. What was important was that Maggie was going to be going there by herself, and Jin somehow felt responsible because she knew about it. Internally, she debated whether she should do something. She had no good reason for wanting to leave the house, it could be dangerous, but then again there was still that feeling nagging at her, almost compelling her to do so.

What really tipped Jin over the edge, however, was imagining what she'd feel like if she just did nothing and went back to bed, and then tomorrow she heard that Maggie had gone missing or that something terrible had happened to her. How would she be able to live with herself? But what to do?. She thought about alerting the police, telling them that Maggie had tried to run away from home or something and that she knew where to find her, but that seemed extreme.

Gosh, why did she have to hang up...Jin complained to herself as she pulled on a pair of jeans. She left her room and prepared to sneak back downstairs, pausing once she got close to her parents' room. Should she risk checking? Something inside was telling her yes. It's silly, though, I know they're right there, and they're going to get upset that I was up this late and woke them and then I won't be able to go help Maggie. Having talked herself out of it, Jin made her way down the stairs gingerly, put her shoes on and then left through the sliding doors in the kitchen because the front door was heavy and impossible to close properly without making a very loud thud.

Getting to the school would have been much quicker if Jin could take her bike, but unfortunately it was stored in the garage, so there was no way of bringing it out without making a ton of noise. She'd have to walk, but it wasn't all that far at least, and she was pretty sure that Maggie lived even further away, so she'd most likely arrive first. Waiting wasn't really her cup of tea, but at least that way she could be sure that Maggue hadn't already come and gone and that she'd missed her.

Jin didn't see anyone out and about while she walked, but that was to be expected, since there typically weren't a whole bunch of pedestrians running around the suburbs at half past midnight on a weekday. She didn't really think anything of it, although it was a little bizarre how not a single house in the whole neighborhood seemed to have any lights on inside. Even this late, she still would have expected to see at least a couple here and there from some nightowls.

When she arrived at school, there was nobody there either, obviously. Growing impatient after a few minutes, Jin pulled her phone out of her pocket and tried calling back the number from which Maggie had called her, but she just got a message about that user being unable to answer the phone, like it had been turned off. Regretting that she hadn't thought to bring a cardigan or sweater or jacket, she rubbed her arms while pacing around in front of the school's main entrance, hoping that Maggie would show up soon and that nobody else would see her.

Come on, where are you...?

London

#18
Robert Long
Location:On the street close to Riverwalk Apartment
Tag:Al, Maggie, Open



Robert had to chuckle when Al started talking about his skateboarding skill. “That’s true… And if nothing else I can always swing it like a weapon…” he said thinking of the one time he saw someone do just that. “You don’t have a bike or something… Man we need to get you some wheels. If this is some nightmare and we wake up I’ll buy you a bike…” he said.

“Lights… Sure but I don’t see any people. I don’t see any lights on in the houses I’m passing. Man this is some freaky shit….” Robert said rarely swearing himself. Hearing Al moving around, he found some comfort in knowing that he wasn’t the only one around. As long as he didn’t vanish, then he might be ok.

“What…” he chuckled when he heard him swear. He had never really heard his friend use words like that before. He couldn’t help but think how bad he was at it. “Your parents are gone… Mine would disappear in a heart beat. They’ve done it before… But I can’t see yours running off like that.

“I’m just passing Riverwalk Apartments. I’m heading to the school. That dream had to have something to do with all this. I can’t help but think we might be able to find some answers there…” he said pushing off once more. “I should be there in a few minutes.”

The steady clicking of his board echoed around the building as he pushing off again. Fighting down the eerie filling that kept trying to crawl into his mind, Robert wanted to have his music playing but didn’t want to hang up on the only person that he knew was still around.

TheHangedOne

#19
Alfred "Al" Birche
Location: Baker family house
Tag: Rob, open


"Ahh, yeah, I know where you are. I walk that way to and from school, when the weather's nice." He nods his head, and buttons up his shirt.  "It'll probably take me a while longer to get there. My leisurely pace is half an hour on average, but I can power-walk and take that down to about 20. I'll meet you at the school, alright?" He was busy putting some things into his pants pockets; his wallet with a bit of cash in it, his student id, a few other things.  His PSP, in a special padded plastic-shelled carrying case, winds up in another pocket.  Mori winds up sitting in his shirt pocket; the kitten could just barely comfortably fit there, but seemed kind of thrilled, and his whiskers, jutting outward, were a good indicator hat he was feeling to go outside.

He grabbed an old paperback of Lord of the Flies, and stuck that into a back pocket.  His pan flute, in its soft faux-leather case, winds up being something he carried with him. He still needed to finish the book, and he'd never leave behind his flute. 

Some times, Al would take Mori out onto the front porch of the house.  Because of this, he did have a flea collar on around his neck, but generally, Mori did not get to go very far abroad. He did love sun-bathing on the porch, though. This would be the first time he was taking Mori away from the house. Why would he do that? It had little to do with some preconceived idea of fulfilling the dream, and how he had seen himself in it. Rather, it had to do with the fact that if his parents were missing, and something happened to him, he didn't want Mori to wind up dying of starvation or dehydration because nobody was around to get him more water, or food from the cabinets.

He picks up his phone and heads back to the kitchen. He'd grab a bottle of water from the fridge, and then, staring down at his cargo pants, gets an idea. Two more bottles of water, just in case. He just finds a way to shove them into the large pockets. It would be awkward, and he actually had to tie his belt a bit tighter to keep his pants from falling down due to weight, but he figured... well, what the hell. Better be prepared for... for what? He didn't know. Maybe he was just being silly. Maybe he'd turn out to be some damn fool. But he'd rather take a few things and not end up needing them, than end up needing them and not having them.

He'd also grab four granola bars, and stick them into the opposite cargo pocket. The whole time he is doing his prepping, he is on the phone, but not saying too much; still, Rob could probably hear the activity.  "Hey, do you want to stay on the line?" It would drain both of their batteries faster. Al would actually prefer to walk in quiet, since then  he could pay more attention to his surroundings, and be making less noise... but what if something happened? Plus, what if Rob was spooked, and really needed that lifeline right now? He didn't want to presume, but... possibilities, possibilities, so many possibilities.

He even gets a zip-lock plastic bag and fills it up with some dry food. He even finds a can of wet food to stick in a back pocket, because there is no way in hell he is going to risk Mori not having something to eat.

Feeling fairly well set, he'd head to the front door, and grab his set of keys from a little wooden hangar with brass hooks in it, that was to the right of the door, on the inside, but in his haste, did not think to check to see if either of his parents keys were there. He was much more busy trying to hold a phone, water bottle, his keys, and get his generic, black, Velcro sneakers on.
A&A's and O&O's *Status: Here and there | Games: Aiming for punctuality*
"In prosperity, our friends know us; in adversity, we know our friends."
"In the ocean of knowledge, only those who want to learn will see the land."
"Before you roar, please take a deep breath."
Check out my poet tree!

London

Robert Long
Location: Outside Riverwalk Apartment, followed by the high school.
Tag: Al, Maggie, Jeong Soo-Jin, Open



“Twenty minutes… Ok… Just get there when you can,” Robert said as he stopped for a moment. Looking around while he listened to Al pack up, he couldn’t help but wish he had more then his pads in his pack. He hadn’t expected to be running through an empty city. Now as he looked around he wished he had something to use as a weapon other then his skateboard.

When Al picked the phone back up, “No… We might need the batteries later… Just give me a call if anything happens,” he said getting ready to hang up, “I’ll meet you near the front door. I’ll be waiting outside… Bye…” he said giving him time to hang up before putting his phone away. Taking a deep breath, he pushed off again as he continued his way to the high school.

Dropping of the sidewalk, Robert stood on his board as he rolled down the street. Looking around as he went, he thought about all the times he had ridden past these very building only to see people all over the place. Going through the quiet city, he couldn’t help but think about Silent Hill… “Stop that,” he said to himself, “The last thing I need to do is think of some horror movie or game…” Kicking off again, he turned into the little parking lot of a convenient store. Kicking up the board, he grabbed the truck as he tried the door.

Sighing when the door opened, he walked in and started to grab nuts and cookies before grabbing a few water bottles. Walking back to the door, he stopped for a moment before pulling out twenty dollars. Tucking the money under the edge of the register, he quickly walked back out before jumping on his board. Kicking off again, he sped out of the parking lot, wanting to be far away from the empty store.

After a while of riding on the street, he jumped back on the sidewalk as he got to the school. Hearing the familiar clicking of the wheels on the sidewalk, he turned as he headed to the front of the school. Rolling up to the front door, he stopped short when he saw a shadow. “Hello… Who’s there,” he said, his voice shaking a little.

Lithium

Jeong Soo-Jin
Location: In front of the high school
Tag: Robert



The sounds of small, hard plastic wheels scraping against the concrete cut through the eerily silent night and could be heard from quite a ways off, so Jin could hear somebody approaching well before they saw each other. Naturally, she assumed that it was Maggie, since who else would just randomly be out for a stroll on their skateboard in front of the school at this hour? She didn't really know for a fact that Maggie rode a skateboard, but she did seem like the type, Jin thought.

Needless to say, she was pretty surprised when it wasn't her redheaded classmate but instead someone else. A pang of fear and panic rushed through her as she gasped audibly and took a step back, instinctively grabbing her arms moer tightly as she kept them crossed over her chest. Jin had a better view of Robert than the other way around since he was standing closer to a street light, though, so she was able to recognize him shortly after being startled.

Jin really didn't know Robert at all, but she did recall seeing him at school on quite a few occasions - mostly because that military jacket that he always seemed to have on made him stand out. He was one grade below her, though, and if anything Jin tended to hang out with older kids, not younger ones, so that was as far as their relationship went.

"Umm...what are you doing here? Did Maggie call you too?" Jin questioned him, skipping right over the introductions.

London

Robert Long
Location:In front of the high school
Tag:Jeong



Kicking up his skateboard, he held it in his hand ready to swing it if he had to. Squinting as he tried to see who was standing in front of him. Wondering what he should do, he watched as the figure moved into the light. Sighing when he saw a girl, “You scared the hell out of me…” he said as she spoke. Looking at her, he got a confused look come over his face, “Maggie who? I’m here to meet Al.”

Taking a closer look at her, it took him a moment before he recognized her. Not only had he seen her on the soccer field, but he had also seen her in his dream. “You were in the dream…” he said without thinking. “Um… I… um… I mean I’m supposed to meet Al here. He’s on his way now but won’t be here for a while.”

“So stupid,” he told himself, “She’s going to think you are some wacko. This is why you don’t talk to people…” Swallowing, “I take it you are here to meet this Maggie...” Pulling out a bottle of water, he took a long drink, “Want some? I have another bottle.”

Lithium

Jeong Soo-Jin
Location: In front of the high school
Tag: Robert



Jin didn't bother letting Robert know that he'd also frightened her just as much as the other way around. She didn't really like showing weakness, so she avoided it when she could.

What are the chances of that? she wondered after Robert had clarified what he was doing there. Another weird coincidence, but perhaps it wasn't all that unlikely, two boys sneaking out to meet and do whatever it was that they did together.

It definitely got weirder though, and not just because of what Robert mentioned about his dream. Or rather, precisely because of that, but not for the most obvious reasons. The moment that he mentioned seeing her, Jin was hit by one of those vague flashbacks of her own dreams, where a specific scene suddenly comes back to you in perfect detail even though you could hardly remember it just moments before. She saw them all then: Maggie, this other kid whom she was speaking to now, and a second boy, which Jin somehow knew would turn out to be Al. She'd seen him around the school also, but she didn't know him any more than she knew Robert.

She was speechless and wide-eyed for a moment, but quickly turned her side to Robert so that he hopefully wouldn't notice the shock on her face. None of this made any sense. As for her dream, Jin wasn't really comfortable talking about it with this guy that she'd just barely met.

"No thanks," was Jin's knee-jerk reaction to Robert offering her a drink of water, which was silly because she was actually kind of thirsty from her walk.

"So what was your dream? What was I doing in it?" Jin questioned the boy further. She didn't want to talk about her own dream, but a mix of curiosity, disbelief and the desire to prove to herself that there was a logical explanation to all of this prompted her to keep pushing Robert for information.

TheHangedOne

Alfred "Al" Birche
Location: Baker family house (Departing immediately)/Streets
Tag: Open



With the flute in its case in his off hand, and a weary resolve, he opened the front door. He stepped outside onto the porch, Mori peering eagerly around the screened-in environment. This was so neat for the kitten! He never went outside at night! The constant purring he made, though quiet, was more felt than heard, and was a nice thing for Al. It felt oddly reassuring. He turned around, and locked the door. Then he took a few more steps towards the screen door, which held no lock, and opened that up. Six steps later, he's in the driveway, and walking down it towards the sidewalk.

Everything was quiet. Too damned quiet. And nowhere, did there seem to be anybody around. None whatsoever. Creepy, creepy, creepy... but he can't turn back and hide now.  The idea of this being Silent Hill crosses his mind. It had come to him independently of Rob's thought; Al played an awful lot of video games, even horror ones, although he much preferred strategy games and RPGs.

As he walked with the cased flute in one hand, and the water bottle in the other, he struggled--using his mouth-- to get the damn cap off. Once it was off, he left it off; he had actually intended to drop it out of his mouth and just litter, because that seemed like such a paltry thing compared to what was going on, but Mori snagged it out of the air with a paw, and held onto it; it looked like something fun to play with!
A&A's and O&O's *Status: Here and there | Games: Aiming for punctuality*
"In prosperity, our friends know us; in adversity, we know our friends."
"In the ocean of knowledge, only those who want to learn will see the land."
"Before you roar, please take a deep breath."
Check out my poet tree!