Atrophy

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

Meanwhile, I'm outta town til Tuesday. Vegas, baby!

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

---

_{@Surtr Inc@Zombiedude101@Majoras End}

Hillview High - Mason Square.

---

While Nate was preparing for his charge upon his maintenance stallion and Paige was drilling Reese with what looked like a miniature Laser Floyd show, Billy had entered into some sort of Zen-like state. Jasmine had stopped the hulking monster long enough for Claire and Britney to attempt to hold him in place, and the daydream Billy was forcing on Reese would soon make his continued struggles sluggish and sloppy until he possibly succumbed to unconsciousness. His sigil glowed from underneath his shirt as he continued to stare down their nightmare, his jaw slack and his eyes glazed.

Penny often took to ignoring or actively antagonizing Britney’s directives—even when restrained Reese was still dangerous—but Maddie’s situation forced the defiant girl to act. Blinking, the word around her began to buzz with energy. She knew before Lynette that the ice wouldn’t make it to Reese, and the vines that had wrapped around his ankles gave her a headache as they grew. Still, she rather deal with a migraine than have Reese smash her with his hostage without giving her even the slightest chance to move out of the way.

Rushing forward, Penny kicked off a shard of ice and carried it like a dagger. She ducked around Reese and blasted the shard into the back of the shoulder of the arm that was strangling Maddie, while at the same time she caught sight of Nate charging in out of the corner of her eye. Judging by her aura, there was only a few seconds before he shoved his makeshift battering ram right up Reese’s ass. If her ice dart freed Maddie from Reese’s grasp she’d have just enough time to tackle the girl out of the way. Otherwise, well, there was no time to consider anything else.

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

Sorry y'all, busy ass week. I should be able to get something out by Wednesday, but don't wait up.

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

---

_{@Surtr Inc@Mike73}

Hillview High - Mason Square.

Penny’s hands clenched into fists of rage, but if she was going to smash Britney in her stupid face for jerking them around for so long then it’d have to wait. She hurried to respond to Paige’s bark, and her heart sank as her stomach rose when she saw Reese rip into Dexter. She looked away, trying to tune out the sound of entrails splattering on the ground, just in time to catch Claire rushing by her. A suicidal attack, if not for it being Claire, who was quickly chucked away like a ragdoll. The follow-up by Maddie was a surprise—Penny, not remembering that the girl had been “killed” by Reese once before, held back as a swore escaped her mouth. If she launched a barrage at Reese now, she’d likely end up stabbing Maddie in the back.

“You can stop him again, right?” asked Penny, sidling up to Jasmine. “Now would be a nice time to do it.”

Billy didn’t like the idea of leaving, but he didn’t like the idea of leaving his sister behind even more. Shrinking into the doorframe, he leaned out ever so slightly so that he could keep an eye on the outcome. If shit got bad he’d grab Penny and make a run for it, but for now he was sticking around. His eyes burned a hole in Scott. He couldn’t help but try and figure out what the deal was with this dude’s inability to chill. As Billy glared at the creep, his Abstraction begin to work subconsciously. Like Penny, Reese would feel that Billy was doing something to his head, making him sluggish, drowsy. Unlike Penny, he wouldn’t be able to telepathically snap at him to cut it out and pull him out of the focus.

But he could just bum rush him.

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

Happy 1000th post you nerds. Here's to wasting it.

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

---

_{@Surtr Inc}

Hillview High - Mason Square.

Rita threw a sharp elbow into Penny's stomach, forcing the blonde girl to let go of Rita's collar. The mousy girl scurried up behind Lynette, the wild curiosity in her eyes shifting into slight confusion and disappointment as she saw the contents of the chest. Books. It was just books. Rita liked books, but after all of the weirdness of the day she had been expecting something a bit more intense. She glanced at the book Lynette was reading. It was gibberish. Gobbledygook. So much for finding any answers.

She ruffled her hair in frustration. She was used to being left in the dark, but they didn't mean she was okay with it--and when Sharon and Britney began to talk in their cryptic, exclusive talk about Glints and whatevers Rita started to feel her frustration boil into full blown anger. It was clear that Britney had been hiding things from them. Rita had been afraid to confront the other girl earlier. She knew that Britney's folks had influence, not to mention that the other woman towered over her. However, she abhorred it when someone kept her out of a secret. A more patient person might have tact and wait for the right moment to strike, but Rita could not wait for answers any longer.

Once the girls had started talking, Penny had shrugged off Rita’s blow so that she could, as per usual, force herself into the conversation. If there was going to be a confrontation where they called Britney out on her bullshit, she wasn’t going to miss it. Already, she had began to pop off along another rant, shouting at Britney as she had done with Sharon just moments ago, when Rita stepped in front of her.

“... seriously, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Claire. You can't keep us in the dark forever. Like, you…”

“How do I get you to shut your stupid mouth for one minute?” said Rita, glaring at Penny. Her sleeves were pulled down to her wrist and her hand was shoved into her pocket, keeping her sigil from being seen. Caught off guard by the quiet girl suddenly growing a spine, Penny took a step back.

“That’ll work,” said Penny, and then blinked confusedly. It felt like her head had been messed with again, only this time it hadn’t been Billy. She looked over at him and saw that he had a look of mild befuddlement on his face. Before she could recover from the momentary shock, Rita had already turned towards Britney.

“What are the things she is talking about?” said Rita, pointing at Sharon. She was so heated that she didn’t even realize she had done so with her left hand. The lines on her fingers glowed ever so slightly before she folded her arms over her chest, inadvertently hiding the lines once again. “And why do you know about all of this? Why haven’t you told us? Seriously, aren’t you trying to help us?

Rita had been shouting by the time she had finished grilling Britney. Taking a deep breath, she did not break her eye contact with Britney even as an uncomfortable silence began to fill the room. From behind her, she could hear Billy mutter, “Shit. I forgot she could talk.”

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

What's in the chest?

I'm hoping for the Big Key!

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

---

_{@Surtr Inc@Fernstone}

Hillview High - Mason Square.

---

Redeem us, redeem us, redeem us. Billy couldn’t help but think that whatever creepy tagger that had hit up the old Hillview High either needed a new hobby or a thesaurus, although it still did the job of giving the guy a serious case of the chills. He had the cure for his anxiety sitting in a little plastic baggie in the console of his car, but that was something that’d have to wait until after they had finished their little ghost tour of culty weirdness. When they came upon room 108 he felt a reservation about going inside; he felt his heart plummet as Claire forced Sharon inside and the rest followed suit. Better to be with the group in the scary room of doom than alone in the hallway with Nate’s poltergeists. Forcing a brave face, he stepped into the room while Sharon protested.

“It’s gonna be okay. We’re here with you,” he said with more than a hint of uncertainty in his quaking voice.

He muttered a curse. The room, with its mural of notes and photographs, looked like something out of one of those movies where an intrepid journalist is trying to uncover a conspiracy that goes all the way to the top. All that was missing was the strings of red yarn tying everyone together. Slowly easing his way to the wall, he looked through the pool of residents or, rather, victims, both previous and planned. He found Penny’s picture on the wall. She would probably be pleased to find out that she had been considered a high threat. Next was his, listing him as a low chance with a low threat. Frustratingly enough, there was no abstraction listed next to his name; turns out there stalker was as clueless as he was when it came to whatever was going on with Billy.

The next photo he saw caused his throat to tighten as he croaked back a cry. It was a young teen with a wild bush of blonde hair, a crooked, goofy smile, and squinty eyes. Henry Lawson. His brother. He looked at the slashes through the notes attached to the photo as he tried to fight back the tears. For once, Billy found that being right was the worst possible result; deep down, he had always hoped that Penny would one day be able to say, “I told you so.” He couldn’t let her see this, fearing that she’d go absolutely berserk. He plucked the picture and note off of the wall, quickly shoving it in his pocket, turning to see Caelea hovering around the chest.

“Hey, kiddo, maybe we should let creepy closed chests stay creepy closed chests, yeah?” he said.

“I can’t fucking believe you,” said Penny from behind him, her voice flaring with anger. He froze, thinking that he had been caught in the act. With a guilty grimace, he looked over his shoulder to find that his sister was not talking to him. Instead, she was shoving past the mousy girl who seemed to not be able to take her eyes off of the chest and making her way over to Sharon.

“How the fuck could you?” growled Penny, jabbing her finger at the shrinking Sharon. “You knew about this, you knew about all of this, and you didn’t do anything? You didn’t say anything? What the hell is wrong with you, you stupid ginger bitch?” Penny grabbed a handful of photos randomly off of the wall, shoving them in Sharon’s face so that she couldn’t look away. “It wasn’t just your father who murdered all of these people. You knew what he was up to, and you didn’t do a goddamn thing to stop him.” She threw the photos at Sharon. “Their deaths are on your hands as much as—” She felt the drowsiness again; her words had begun to slur. “Billy, stop fucking with my head!”

“Penny, look.”

She turned her head in time to see Rita crouched in front of the chest, her hands on the lid.

“What the hell are you doing?” and “Seriously, dudes, maybe we should leave it alone,” said Penny and Billy simultaneously.

At the prompting of Penny’s question, Rita had started to babble, “Maybe it’ll explain why he was doing these things. I...I just need to know what’s inside. It’s killing me.”

Penny reached out to grab the smaller girl away from the chest. She caught the back of her shirt and gave her a tug, sending Rita to the ground—but not before Rita was able to flip the lid open.

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)

---

_{@Surtr Inc@Zombiedude101}

Hillview High - Mason Square.

---

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.