Atrophy

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

Scruuuubs

We're close to the really good parts

@Surtr Inc

I was working and drinking! Not, uh, together. Tomorrow's my off day. Off day is posting day.

Y'all gonna regret giving me a posting day.

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

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_{@Surtr Inc@Zombiedude101}

Hillview High - Mason Square.

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Penny stared at the dilapidated high school building from beyond the gate, her arms wrapped tight around her chest. Now that the sun had set, she was beginning to feel a chill on her scrapped up arms. If there was something terrible to be found in Farmer Hill, then this building was probably one of the better choices to pick—she had heard that someone had found bloodied, half-eaten animal carcasses in the basement. She had also heard that someone saw a ghost there, and that people who entered the school were murdered by vengeful spirits three days later. She always thought the stories were stupid. Now? She wasn’t so sure, although she did retain her old opinion that they should’ve just torn down the damn place years ago.

She took a flashlight from the bag and shifted her way to the back of the group. If Claire was on Scottwatch up front, they needed someone to keep an eye behind them. It was just an added bonus that it kept Penny away from the people she found more grating; at least the kids in the back kept their mouths shut. The gang moved through the broken gate, up the stairs, and into the creepiest entryway Penny had seen in a minute. She peered over everyone’s shoulders for a minute to look at the graffiti, and then turned her eyes back outside, ready to give a shout if she saw Reese or anyone creeping up behind them.

Billy scratched the back of his head and chimed in with his useless two cents regarding the graffiti, “Aren’t those lyrics to every Christian rock song ever?”

He could understand why people might have been disturbed by the writing on the wall, but he also knew that if he ever had the opportunity to mark up a wall then he’d definitely write a whole bunch of creepy cryptic shit just to get under people’s skin. It was much better than writing down the number to a sex line or the one to your junior high principal’s house and saying it’s a sex line, and about on the same level of hilarity as drawing a dude’s bits and pieces on every possible surface ever. Rolling his shoulder, Billy shined his light around aimlessly. Which room had Sharon said?

"Shit, look!"

Billy jumped. He pointed his light down the hall towards where Nate was looking, revealing the sight of a bit of trash and nothing else. He laughed nervously and clapped Nate on the shoulder, “I’ve seen enough horror movies to know that we shouldn’t investigate.”

“What did you see?” said a tiny voice from the edge of the group.

Rita. She had been looking over the broken bulletin board on the wall, but now she turned her head towards Nate and Billy. Billy felt his skin crawl. Something about that girl creeped the shit out of him more than any phantasms.

“All he saw was a reason not to go that way, my man. Sharon, could you point us in the right direction so we can get the hell outta here?” said Billy.

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

Would anyone mind if I just advance the story to the next part? I think we're just stagnating a bit here, and I wanna get to the cool stuff. Unless somebody has something meaningful to add.

Also, the next part's gonna be preeeeeetty dark. If I be a tool use Tvtropes terms, it'd be the Wham Episode. So, yeah, the story's gonna be taking a major turn after this point.

@Surtr Inc

Hell yeah, let's get out of all this fun, lighthearted murder and get into that real messed up, scare ya good murder.

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

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_{@Surtr Inc@Ciaran}

The Reid Farmhouse - Main House

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Penny cocked an eyebrow when Sharon mentioned that her father had told her about the strangeness surrounding Farmer’s Hill. It wasn’t normal dinner conversation, but at least her father had tried to be honest with Sharon about...something that would sound completely ridiculous if Penny hadn’t experienced any of it firsthand. A frown crossed her face when Penny put together the implication Sharon made about what Reid had done, and it crinkled into one of frustration when the girl mentioned that a lot of people in Farmer Hill knew what was going on yet they knew so very little. The thought pissed her off. Why wouldn’t anybody in the town warn them about its darkness? It wouldn’t be difficult to prove the existence of an Awakened at least; Penny herself could just walk into a store and blast all of the merch into the wall.

It was Rita who delivered the painting when Sharon called for someone to grab it. As she handed it over to the redhead, Rita could feel the tickle in her throat and the dryness in her mouth. She wanted to ask the girl so much. Her lips peeled apart with a crack as she tried to find a moment to jump into the conversation, her eyes trying to catch Sharon’s attention. Instead, she noticed Britney briefly throw a look her way. Rita froze up. Britney had scared her earlier with admitting her suspicions of the mousy girl.

Besides, it was clear from the way Sharon was bargaining with everyone that a sudden change of mind would easily alert the others that an Abstraction had been used. Rita feared that if they knew what she could do, nobody would talk to her. As weird and messed up as things were, this was the first time in a long time that she had been so involved with a group of people. If not for the murdering maniac, the world-ending nightmare entity, the swarm of locusts, and the bickering siblings then things were, in the very least, interesting. Normal people joined an extracurricular activity to meet new people; Rita took part in a supernatural mystery. She backed away from Sharon without a word.

Good timing, too, since that was when Paige decided to throw more than a few words at the redhead. Penny was taken aback at the beginning of Paige’s tirade, shocked that the somewhat awkward yet nice girl that had thanked her had the balls to call Sharon out on her bullshit. It was, well, Penny thought it was awesome. Everything Paige said was right; if Penny hadn’t been so tired she would’ve said the same damn thing. When Sharon pushed at Paige, Penny felt a surge of energy swell up inside of her. She rushed forward, her hands clenched into fists, when she felt Billy invade her head again. Her eyelids felt heavy as she heard his voice, “C’mon, it’s not worth it. Just calm down.”

Penny unclenched her hands and the drowsiness that had come over her faded. She put a hand on Paige’s shoulder and lightly tried to usher her away, “C’mon, keep me company for a cigarette. There’s too many bitches in this room anyway.”

“Keep me in the loop,” she messaged to Billy.

Billy found himself nodding, and then he screwed up his face and shook his head at the absurdity of nodding to a telepathic message. He sent back an affirmative, and then folded his arms over his chest. He wasn’t thrilled about going to the abandoned school. It wasn’t because he was worried about getting caught—he didn’t really. He was worried because it was an abandoned school, and those were always creepy as hell, full of their rusted hallways, ghosts of bullied children, and cats in lockers. However, what truly worried him was that it seemed like Sharon was trying to get them to leave her by herself for a moment. Billy had seen enough TV to know how that would go, and if they were able to break into her house than Scott Reese could blow the whole place down.

“Hey, listen, man, I’m sorry about that,” he said, in reference to Paige’s outburst. He stepped towards her, hand held up as if he had just been busted. “Pretty sure I saw her talking to my sister earlier today; she’s kind of a bad influence. And you’re right, we were totally in the wrong for breaking into your place. Really dick move. Not cool at all. We’ll go check this school out.”

“Buuuuut, we can only do this in one of two ways. Either you come to the school with all of us, or some of us stay here with you—wait, wait, wait!” He put one hand forward to stop any protest, yet with his other hand up it looked like he was practicing some kind of idiot martial arts. “You said you don’t care about what Scott Reese is doing, but you really should. That dickbag has been picking us off one by one, and like it or not, but the moment your turned into the reverse Orkin man you officially became an us. Uh, welcome. Sorry being part of the group includes potentially being stabbed to death by an eight foot tall jabroni.”

“Look, I get it, it doesn’t look like we can really do much to help, uh, because we can’t,” he smiled, realizing too late now wasn’t the time to joke, “but we are trying to do the right thing and keep you safe. So, uh, wanna tag along, or should I help myself to a pop, kick of my sneaks, and get cozy on that sofa?”

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

Should be available to post on Sunday, assuming Saturday doesn't kill me.

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

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_{@All Of Y'all}

The Reid Farmhouse - Main House

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Billy was glad it was all over. He wasn’t glad that they were still there. Sure, sure, he understood that it would be a dick move to ditch a girl after they had invaded her home and then proceeded to give her a concussion, if what Penny told him was true, but it would’ve made more sense to take her to the hospital. At least he had tried to argue that, before Penny shut him down with a not-so-friendly reminder that that was a great way to get the authorities involved. Billy wasn’t as N.W.A. as his sister was when it came to the cops, but he didn’t want to have to talk to them again. Once a week was more than enough for his taste.

He hung on the porch, resting against the railing without putting his full weight on it in fear of breaking yet another part of Reid’s property. The sky was growing dark, and if Penny’s chain smoking was any indicator than he wasn’t the only one who didn’t want to be there after dark. The group was talking about the pictures—they had all taken a turn looking at them while they had been waiting for Sharon to come too. Billy had noticed the visible flare of anger on Penny’s face as she stared at the photo. He just wished that she would stay calm for once. Relax. Rest.

"Still say we should look," Jordan said, "There's still a trail we can follow. We can talk to these people if they're alive, and if they're not - people just don't disappear without a clue or anyone caring."

"Well in Farmer Fuckin' Hill, Montana," Hagan shook his head. "They do."

Billy noticed his sister’s head snap up. She had been sitting on the stairs, her eyes scanning the horizon—Billy didn’t know it, but she had been cycling her aura on and off to check for any movement. She had dropped the ball once with the monster that had injured Justin and Sharon; she was determined not to be caught off-guard again. She felt the exhaustion of the day pushing down on her and wanted nothing more than to go to her dorm and sleep for a week, but she wasn’t going to go anywhere until the all clear was given. Then Hagan opened his stupid mouth. She turned and pointed towards him, about ready to tell him off, when she felt something invade her mind. She knew it was Billy.

”What the hell are you doing?” she telepathically asked him.

“Huh?” Billy shook his head, his eyelids fluttering. That was weird. For a moment is was as if he had dozed off. He cocked an eyebrow at his sister. “I’m not doing anything.”

Rita stood far enough away from Penny to avoid catching her secondhand and watched as the siblings stared each other down. She was certain that they would descend into yet another bickering match, but before the squabble could begin Lynette announced that Sharon was up. Well, actually, Sharon freaked out that a bunch of strangers were squatting in her house, Lynette tried to reassure her, and the others had been beckoned by their voices. Rita couldn’t blame the girl for being upset, but bit her tongue when the girl asked for an explanation. They could easily prove the bit about Abstractions, but she wouldn’t have believed a single bit about the God-Child or its doomsday prophecies if she hadn’t witnessed it herself. Tugging on her sleeves, she moved into the house and pretended to get distracted by the decor.

“Or maybe she came here because it’s her house,” suggested Penny by muttering through the side of her mouth after Jasmine finished translating for Grant. “Look, my head hurts, so if you have any questions fire away and I’ll answer them. No bullshit. But first, we need to know something. The entire reason we came to this damn place was to find out more about your father. He ever mention some Guardian shit to you? Try to hide a diary from you? Seem...weird, in anyway? Like, not parent weird, but weird weird?” Penny folded her arms across her chest. “Tell me that I’ll let you know anything. Seriously.”

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

@Surtr IncWorking on a post.

I might've missed it, but is Justin back up or is he still out cold?

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

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^{And Billy!}
_{@Surtr Inc@He Who Walks Behind@Prosaic@FernStone@Mike73}

The Reid Farmhouse - Outside to Main House

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“What do you think I’m doing?” said Penny with an unnecessary snippiness to her voice. She turned her back towards the group and concentrated. It was easier to connect to Billy than it was before. So Britney had been right about that after all, although that only begged the question of how Britney knew about their telekinetic link in the first place. A concern for another time. The words formed in her mind, and she felt herself sending them over to Billy, “We’re trying to find our way into some creepy ass secret tunnels to reach you guys. What’s the sitch over there?'

“Holy shit, don’t do that. Not yet, at least. Lynette’s about to smoke out all of the bugs.”

“Shit,” growled Penny. She turned to see Rita reaching for the shelf. “Hey! Don’t touch that.”

The commanding voice made Rita freeze in place, her eyes popping open wide and her cheeks sucking in as if she had been caught red handed. Slowly her eyebrows lowered and she shot Penny a quizzical look, her left hand still resting on the side of the shelf. Faintly, it glowed. “Why not?”

“Why not? Because Lynette’s about to use one of her witchy glyphs to smoke out the tunnels and because I freaking said so,” said Penny, a slightly confused look crossing her face as she finished her sentence. She hadn’t intended to include that last part; the stress of the situation was clearly beginning to wear on her already slim patience.

“Unless one of you can materialize oxygen masks we’re gonna be stuck here for a moment. Which...can you?” She looked around at the group and frowned. “I have a general idea of what those chucklefucks can do,” she gestured towards Britney, Justin, and Claire, “but I don’t know shit about the rest of your Abstractions. Whaddya got?”

“I-I-I, um, I got nothing, sorry!” said Rita, her voice quaking as she quickly turned away, but not before giving Martin a quick, pleading look. It wasn’t very smooth. If he gave her away, she doubted any of the others would ever feel comfortable talking to her again. Not that she felt like any of them wanted to, let alone even enjoyed, talking to her in the first place. She pretended to find something interesting on the shelf and picked up a dusty piece of junk, turning it over in her hands to avoid having to make eye contact with anyone else.

“Awesome. Great. Why even talk?” asked Penny, letting out a deep, frustrated sigh. “Anyone else?”

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

@Surtr IncBro you know I can't read.

(Went ahead and edited that bit.)

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

@Surtr IncMan you ain't gotta wait for shit.

Phoned it in with that post, but wanted to keep things moving.