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In Edenridge → 3 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay






”Deviants and desirables; tonight was a hard night for your demon dream girl. I chased a real life mystery through some narrow corridors and I was not a fan of what I found. I won’t say much more than that but what I will say; guys if you truly and I mean truly care for someone: pay attention. Watch them. Make sure they’re ok and if they say they are, don’t believe them until you’re sure they are. We live in a society that poisons the souls of men, a society that looks down upon the working class and ignores them. Open your eyes. Don’t let the world whittle away the heart of someone you love. Preach your love. Save your love. Look at the world, pry their eyes open and force them to watch. Love your love. Never let them fade away. Tonight, this one goes out to you Allison…”

Mei hit play on her device and as the late nineties classic began to play over the station, she made her way to her closet, glancing at the green and white cheerleading outfit that still sat there. For the first time, she felt as if it was stained with blood, Allison’s blood. After slamming the closet closed, Mei didn’t really know why but she felt the need to send her older sister a message. Allison had always been more of a sister to her than Reagan ever had. The girls were close so it only made sense right? She picked up her phone and typed a few words before climbing into bed next to her Jill.

Wesley sat on the steps of Edenridge High. He took a sip from his root beer before throwing it into a nearby trash can. He reached into his cream coloured jacket and pulled out a god forsaken Polaroid. Glancing down, the image was clear of course. It was a self portrait, a younger, slightly more curly haired version of Wesley Silo taking a snap of himself in the mirror, wearing his Pinehurst sweater. The date on the back read 12/4/16…

ReyRey sat broken on the floor of his bedroom, glaring down at the tattoo of a sunflower on his ankle. His white shirt was stained with blood and tequila with tears streaming down his face. He looked up as the girl in the green and white cheerleaders outfit looked at him with such sadness. She offered him a quiet smile which did not represent the rest of her as she faded away; back into a memory.

Hearst blew the smoke from his lungs, illuminated only by the street light as he stared out at the small pond. It was quite an awe inducing sight; the trees that crept up the sides and a single small mass of land in the middle, said to be the site of Edenridge’s first murder, the home of the very curse that forces angels to become devils. They say that when the tree dies, the town will burn. In Hearst’s mind, it was already ablaze and no one could put the fire out. Edenridge was a town of myths and legends. He came home to seek truth, not listen to ghost stories.

Poking his head into the converted garage, Beau looked upon the lost trio of Jade, Mordechai, Penelope with a subtle smile on his face. He did not say a word before turning his back away from them and moving into his living room where his darling Colleen had wrapped herself up in a blanket and fallen asleep waiting for him to return. The image of the three of them curled up together was not an uncommon one in years prior. Too often they’d get themselves into some kind of trouble and they would find themselves in his hostel for lost souls. Many a night he recalled opening the door and finding the three of them wrapped up together; with one exception. As the others slept, Charlie sat in the corner, watching over them; he always did.

Colleen was a fine woman, a good woman though she’d be pissed at him in the morning when she realised there were three kids asleep in her garage. Luckily for Beau, it would only last a few minutes before she ended up cooking them all a hearty breakfast. He quietly reached for the book that sat on the coffee table before heading out onto his porch; the familiar site of Officer James’ patrol car slowly creeping by the houses. The two men’s eyes locked and they shared a nod as Beau moved his eyes down to the book."For what are we born if not to aid one another?”

Cradling his sleeping young daughter in his arms, Roddy stared out from his bedroom window at the dim city lights of Edenridge. His heart ached for Elaine and he felt such sorrow that their night ended the way it did. The blonde was in the other room, sobbing loudly; he could hear her through the wall. He glanced down at his computer screen, tickets to Texas. Maybe tomorrow. Tonight was about closure, about understanding the darkness. Instead, all it did was open old wounds and allow said darkness back and not their lives to poison their blood. Who would survive? And what would be left of them?

In a night of strangeness, somehow Kylee Grimm and Tiffanie Taccone ended up sharing the only Lyft in town together--- and it was not a pleasant experience. Their driver, a Serpent named TNT, couldn't control his rude, dismissive demeanor, or hold back the angry remarks spewing out of his mouth after any attempt from the girls to strike up a conversation. Fed up with his behavior after a rather harsh comment directed towards Tiff, Ky gave the driver a piece of her mind before both girls decided to ignore him and focus on each other instead. After making it back to the safety of the north side, the two girls exchanged numbers, and perhaps a friendship began to blossom. A light in a night full of terrors.

The dark blue Quadrifoglio cruised from the neglected slums of the southside to the well kept neighborhood of North Edenridge. A neighborhood that reminded the driver and passenger how privileged they were. For the first few minutes of the car ride, the ex lovers sat in dead silence. When they crossed the railway, Danny found himself glancing at his ex in concern and awe. When he tried to strike up a conversation, Marco brushed him off, explaining he was tired instead of admitting what was truly bothering him. Rather than push his ex to talk, the Belmonte boy accepted the silence, respecting his ex's wishes. No music. No talk. Just the sound of their breathing. All the clutter left Danny's head, feeling the companionable silence, as he pulled up to Marco's house. All he could think about was the boy beside him and he was content with that.

And there, in the familiar silence on his street, in front of his house, they sat. The engine was still running, the low breeze of the AC hitting Marco's face. He just...let the cool air hit him as he sat back in the passenger seat. He couldn't help but think about the conversation he had with Jill. Of all people, he had confided in her about the person sitting next to him without giving any names. And she had some choice words, saying that Danny didn't deserve him. Marco couldn't stop himself from letting those words play on repeat during the car ride. Maybe it was the truth, but it was a lot more than that. Deep down, Marco had a lot to consider.

After enough time had passed, Marco opened the door, Danny helped him walk up the path leading to the house. Even during this slow series of moments, Marco didn't say anything. Or at least, he didn't say anything that would lead to any comments. When they got to the door, Marco first gave his mom a hug, smiling at her as much as he could. He took a half step inside and soon after, she pulled Danny into a tight embrace. Mrs. Marlie kissed both his cheeks and forehead, smothering him with kisses with how much she missed him, clearly taking his breath away with how tight she was holding him.

There was a moment when the two ex lovers looked at each other, neither aware if this was a clear distance between them or a step closer to understanding one another. After Danny pulled away from Marco’s mom, he watched the boy he let go enter the house with his mother, being left alone at the doorstep. Shuffling away, he contemplated Roddy’s words, worried if this was yet another mistake to add to his list. Once he entered his car, he sat there for what felt like minutes, even if it was only seconds, before driving off. The moment he was no longer near Marco the guilt crept back up. As much as Danny wanted to sit and wallow, he knew he needed to make his wrongs right, he just hoped it wasn’t too late.

Wrapped up in a soft blanket, the sleeping figure of Natalia Belmonte could be seen inside one of the bedrooms of the Lost Souls Homes apartment complex. The Northie girl's most trusted confidantes held guard around her: with the dark-skinned Creed gently stroking her hair as she lay snoozing in his lap, and the dark-haired Jokes tightly holding one of her hands in both of his. Concerned expressions were mirrored in each of the young men's faces as they stared at their former lover in silence, ready to sprint into action at a moment's notice if Puff showed any further signs of distress. Years before, the two serpents had sworn to protect her forever-- and they meant to keep that promise.

Under the covers of a cozy king bed inside the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, the nude figures of Caitlin and Niles were wrapped around each other in the dark, passionately coming together as one as they properly celebrated the start of their relationship. After so many years spent suffering with sadness, loss and grief in silence and loneliness, their healing hearts were happy to have finally found someone else out there who truly understood.

Mika spent a few minutes in his truck, slamming his balled up fists against his steering wheel and dash, cursing himself, cursing Cece, and cursing Niles. He made a fool of himself because he allowed his emotions to get the better of him. He made a fool of himself because he thought he had any right to being angry when it was he who broke Cece’s heart. Self-sabotaging was his middle name and self-sabotaging was his nature.

Once his pity party was over, Mika went to Edge of Sin for an hour. He went to Edge of Sin to drink and drink and drink until he could no longer feel the mistakes of his past creep up and that he could go back home with the peace of mind that tonight never happened. Only, when he got home, instead of the solitude he thought he’d have, a surprise waited for him. A visitor that he thought he wouldn’t see for a long time.



A lone figure walked down the sloped hill of Carlisle Avenue, whistling Sweet Transvestite from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. The street was dead and an air of despondency hung like a dark cloud. It had been three years since he had walked these cobbled driveways and by the looks of it nothing had changed. Everything still looked and smelled like shit. Was he surprised? Absolutely not. With the Gonzalez clan still in charge, nothing would ever change. Some days, he wished that he was raised in Pinehurst. At least the grass was green there.

He approached the familiar door at the end of the road and climbed up the small steps towards it. Once he stood directly outside of it, he took out the headphones he had “borrowed” from his parole officer and stopped playing the Midnight Frequency on his phone. He hadn’t considered what he was going to do or say, it just was going to be what it was.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

After a few moments, the entryway swung open. It had been Mika Zima who had answered the door, and upon realizing the identity of his guest, a look of sheer shock settled upon his face. Meanwhile, Hyde began to grin like a rattlesnake as he put a hand on the smaller man’s shoulder.

”Hey, little brother.”



In Edenridge → 3 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
In Edenridge → 3 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay

Rhonda Decker & Victoria James
@BrutalBx & @LovelyComplex
________________________________________________________________________________

“For the longest time, he knew he was not of this world. Yet when he awoke every morning and he walked out into the daybreak, he turned his head left and he saw her and his life had meaning. She gave him purpose and something to work toward. When they walked side by side, their rhythms together as one, the music and art and the joy of the world made sense.”

Rhonda’s fingers travelled over the braille words that her son had written so long ago. It was a tragedy that most of his words were lost and the ones that remained were now being used for ill. The warm July evening felt like a gentle touch across her cheek. It was late and although the south side was known to be dangerous, Ronnie felt completely safe; Why? She was the mother of the notorious Charlie Decker, no one would go near her with a ten foot pole, not even the worst of the worst.

“I can’t thank you enough for having this converted for me, Victoria.” Her empty eyes drifted to the shuffling sound and the woman that sat on the other end of the porch. “I think we both know who he was writing this about.”

“Please, don’t thank me.” Victoria James rested her elbow on her propped up knee, using her hand to support her chin, as she sat on the stairs. Beside her was an ashtray with a cigarette resting in it, burning itself out. “... Yeah, of course it’s about her. How could it not?”

Ever since that tragic day that took a lot of children away from their parents, the time Vicky spent with Rhonda had become her most cherished time. A time where she could drop the pretense, relax, and be completely honest with herself. With Rhonda, she felt like a better person. That for once, she was doing something right.

Victoria couldn’t help but think about that fateful day and how chaotic the town was. She had found herself waiting outside the school, being prevented by her husband’s co-workers from entering. All she wanted to do was find her last surviving daughter and the man that was her saving grace. Her everything.

All the uproar. All the tears. All the pain. That didn’t matter when she was here with Ronnie. Her friend. They both suffered from heartbreak and outliving their children. The only difference was Victoria had one more child to still care for, until her dying day. There was no map to parenting. If anything, Victoria pretended as she went, not knowing what was right and what was wrong.

The scary truth for her was she didn’t know if she was a good mother. She failed Maxine, her delicate jewel, and she failed Charlie, her son not by blood but by faith and hope that one day it would become true. “If only I realized when they were small, in just a few years… it would be completely different. And— ”

Adjusting her posture, she shook the depressive thoughts out of her head and cleared her throat, “—And I just know, in my heart, he would’ve treated my little girl so good. I just know, he saw the world in her.”

“My Charlie saw too much of the world I think,” Rhonda sighed as she placed the book down and reached for her tea. She was under no illusion, she knew what her child had done, what he had become but regardless of the fact, he was her child, her flesh and her blood. When he was younger, he was always questioning, always watching and learning, he was so perceptive. Something obvious in the words he expressed on the pages he loved so much.

“I remember this one time, I had saved up some money from the diner and I promised Charlie we’d head into the city for a day trip. We went over the bridge and God we had such an amazing day. It was winding down. I gave him five bucks and I sent him into the market, you have five minutes Charlie to bring back anything you like. So off he went and when his time was up, you know what he came back with? On the Road by Jack Kerouac. What eight year old reads Kerouac? I knew then that Charlie’s head was wired just a little different to everyone else. He was meant for more…”

“Mm, yeah. He was brilliant, impressing everyone in the neighborhood. Such wisdom I never had when I was his age.” Vicky thoughtfully responded. Charlie was destined for greatness, she knew it, her husband knew it, even his teacher Beau knew it, but it was cut short, like it was for her own daughter. Changing her position, Vicky leaned back on the porch stairs, glancing up at the stars in the sky. Sometimes, she wished they had the power to rewrite the stars in a different sky. If they could change their circumstance, if they could change their hand, would they be happier?

Sighing to herself, Mrs. James looked away from the fated stars and glanced over at her friend, “As awful as it feels right now, his words are making a difference. He is causing a ripple effect…” Her eyes softened as she looked at the empty eyes of Rhonda Decker, who was intently listening to her. “I don’t think whoever has his journal realizes this town will never be the same. It’s scary to see how much your son knows and that someone is using it as a weapon. Even so...”

Briefly her voice trailed off as she absentmindedly grabbed her cigarette and forcibly pressed it in the ashtray, “There isn’t all bad coming from this. Penelope left the house, she went. She hasn’t left the house willinging in months. I know it’s only a matter of time when that pain becomes fuel to her. I truly believe that and that’s thanks to her love for Charlie.”

“I’m glad to hear Poppy is getting out, I worry for her.” Rhonda could hear the chorus of sirens in the background, a near constant ambience in the Southie neighbourhood. “That said, whatever is happening out there, with those things that my Charlie wrote, I can’t see any good coming from it,” the dark haired woman let out a soft chuckle. “Haha, see. I can’t see anything” Ronnie had learned to live with her situation and found some humour in knowing that even though she was blind, she could still see the world for what it really was. In response, Victoria could only frown, glancing at her friend with saddened eyes.

“Everybody has secrets. Everybody lies. Charlie carried it all somehow, alone and afraid. Now we’re all going to have to carry that weight and I worry not everyone can handle that. The thief who stole my baby’s journals will have to live with the consequences of unleashing hell.”

“Maybe,” Vicky drawled, having released the old smoke into the ashtray before adding, “That’s exactly what they want. Maybe,” With one cigarette done, she was quick to reach into her pant’s pocket for another. Penelope’s mother pursed her lips, annoyed at herself, as her hand clasped onto the pack. “Some people just want to watch the world burn.” When she pulled a cigarette out her mind began to drift into far away memories.

It was silly to think the truth would lead to years of problems being solved. That Charlie’s ghost could make a difference in this doomed town. See, as much as Vicky wanted to be the optimistic type, and sometimes she convinced herself she was, Rhonda reminded her that optimism didn’t work in this town, especially not for the Decker and James family.

Shakily placing the cigarette in her mouth, Victoria noticed a patrol car passing by. She waved at the man she knew all too well, giving him a knowing smile, before lighting her cancer stick that rested in between her lips. He did a quick honk so that Rhonda knew he was passing by. After one short moment of him and his wife looking at each other, both tired, both with purpose, both with heavy hearts, he was off down the street to work until he couldn’t work anymore.

“Sly?” Ronnie questioned despite already knowing the answer. She recognised the sound of his patrol car anywhere. Despite having to look after an entire town, he still made a point of driving down Carlisle and checking up on the locals. “I remember in high school when he dated Shannon Ling and we were all like, yo he needs to be with a Mooney. Funny how it all turns out huh? Lives predetermined; a future imperfect.”

Age usually begets thoughts of the past. Rhonda was stuck there. With no way to see the present or the future, all she had was days she recalled being both wonderful and horrific at the same time. The tragedies of Eden were not deserved for their children but for everyone, sometimes they were just hidden better. As time had passed, Rhonda found herself leaning more into a bygone world, dwelling in the secret labyrinth that was Edenridge's rich history. There were too many coincidences, too many serendipitous happenings. Destiny was an invisible hand in Eden and it controlled everything.

Once the smoke seeped out of her lips, Victoria rested her elbow on her leg and thought about her husband, thinking about the time before they got entangled with one another. He wouldn’t have truly noticed her as a lover. He was four years older than her. Vicky was the little sister across the street who he felt compelled to save. They weren’t supposed to be together, at least not in Edenridge. When she was sixteen, Vicky made him see her as a woman and then nine months later, a little after her birthday, she had Maxine.

If only Rhonda knew how much hurt Shannon went through because Vicky wanted Sly all to herself. She wanted Rocky, the boy that could fight his way out of anything and everything, the boy with an indomitable spirit, extreme tenacity, and ferocious attacks, with fists alone, like the real Rocky Balboa. Maybe it was the idea of having a savior at the time that called her to action, but her twisting the fates set everything in stone, causing a domino effect she could never take back. “If only we went about things differently... maybe O’Hara would still be alive. I always wonder, if Sly and I took a leap of faith earlier with one another, would we have paved the path for him and his secret lover?”

“If there’s anything I’ve learned since Charlie, it’s that we can’t live in what ifs. What happened, happened and we just have to live with it.” Grabbing her walking stick, Rhonda pulled herself to her feet and felt her way towards the front door of her home. “Thanks for keeping me company, Vicky. You should get home. It’s late and I’m sure your girl will need you.” Disappearing into her house, Ronnie turned off the porchlight, another day in Eden over.
In Edenridge → 3 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay


December 4, 2016, The James House
A @LovelyComplex & @BrutalBx Collaboration
Featuring: Penelope James & Charlie Decker
________________________________________________________________________________

Conflicted, Penelope James looked at herself in the mirror as she slowly wiped the lipstick off with a cotton pad and water. She couldn’t decide if she was sad, angry, or a bit of both. When she saw herself, she saw someone who was weak, pathetic, and undeserving of love. When she saw herself, she saw someone stupid, insignificant, and full of wordless spite. Spite at the world, spite at herself. Spite. She was a fool to believe today would be any different. All she wanted was for him to notice her and that never happened. It never would happen.

It was stupid... these feelings.

From her lips to her eyes, Poppy grabbed her sister’s makeup wipes and gingerly started removing her eyeliner and eyeshadow. If she was disappointed in anyone it would be herself and not Charlie. She was too scared to share with him how she felt, she was too scared to take the first step, because she was too scared to be rejected by him.

The idea of losing Charlie completely terrified her. She knew him all her life, they grew up together, and having him at her side was something that came second nature to her. She couldn’t imagine a future without him because all she wanted to do was be there for him. All she wanted to do was love him.

At this point, the tears started sliding down her cheeks.

No, don’t. Don’t cry. Don’t do it.

With no control of the ache in her heart, and her teardrops turning into a waterfall, Poppy could barely see her reflection. Her deep breaths began to rapidly pick up. She felt like a shallow shell and she was having a hard time making it stop. Dropping the wipes in the sink, she covered her face and wailed.

All this she kept locked up because she wanted to be strong. The reality was simple, she was a hot mess, who would never be anyone’s rock. She didn’t know how her father could do it so well. She didn’t know how he could support the town, especially the southside that was tethered to a harsh reputation, and still make time to check up on her friends, like Decky and Jade, and his family.

All her friends, they were incredibly lost and constantly falling into the repetitive patterns of Southside history. They each walked to their own sad song and had no means of changing the rhythm to something more uplifting. Her friends had their own ships in a storm, but no one had a sail. As she watched them struggle, safe on land, she wished she could be their sail… but no one wants a torn sail. No one wanted her.

Penelope knew she should be grateful that her father worked his ass off to be where he is today. That her cards for a Southie was better than mostly everyone else’s and her family were breaching the line that would finally get them recognition with the northside. She should be grateful that her parents drowned themselves in work in order to make a difference. She should be grateful that her only issue was…

Loving Charlie.

But how could she? She was selfish, incredibly selfish. All she did was think of herself. She didn’t even visit Decky today because she was too busy thinking about Charlie asking her to be his girlfriend. She was stupid and probably would’ve been more happy if she visited Mordecai instead. Yet, all she wanted was Charlie. She just wanted Charlie. She just wanted Charlie. She just… no, she needed Charlie. She loved him so fucking much, it hurt.

Realizing her crying turned into hyperventilation, Poppy tried to steady her breathing. She needed to stop. What if Charlie visited? She didn’t want him to see her crying. Rushing to the bathtub, Poppy turned the shower on, still fully clothed in her red dress. Hopping in the shower, she sat under the falling water to let it blend with her tears. Closing her eyes, leaning against the wall, she let the water take over, absolutely soaking her. Calming herself, she breathed in and out. Breathed in and breathed out. Breathed in and out. In her meditative state, she lost track of time and felt her body finally relaxing…

Everything hurt.

From his head down to his toes, every fibre of his being was either stinging, burning or aching. Charlie’s face was a crimson mass of dried blood from his nose and mouth and a nasty split on his forehead. ReyRey had really given him a beating and if he was honest, he was surprised that he escaped with his life. Other people weren’t so lucky. A girl was dead and it was his fault. Charlie Decker was a murderer now just like his old man. He may not have tainted the drugs himself but he dealt them and that was enough. He killed Allison Davies.

He looked up at his house, decrepit as it was, his home. The lights were off of course, his mother would be well asleep by now and lucky for him she slept like the dead so he wouldn’t wake her. She had already been through too much and her seeing him in this state, considering it may be one of the last things she ever did see, that was just a notion that Charlie didn’t want to face. He had spent the evening telling himself it was all for her. The money was so that she could medicate and hopefully sometime soon be able to afford proper treatment. Charlie did make bank tonight but Rey made sure to take every penny away as he hit him with that crowbar.

Dark eyes wandered across the driveway to the house next door, the James house. He was supposed to be with Poppy now. Tonight was supposed to be the night he finally told her how he truly felt, how he had felt from the moment they met. Yet that didn’t come to pass and now there they were. After pulling his aching body down the small divide between his and Penelope’s homes and bedrooms, Charlie began to climb the trellis outside her window. It was a climb he had made a thousand times before but this time it felt more difficult and just that little bit longer than normal. Finally he climbed through the open window and into her room. He could hear the shower running and thought better than to disturb her, so Charlie simply sat himself in a chair and hung his head back.

What a night.

What broke her out of her daze wasn’t anything from outside but her own sneezing. She didn’t know how long she had been there in the tub but now she was cold. Penelope did feel a little better, after giving herself a good, long cry. Sometimes, a release like that really was all you could do to stop the painful thoughts. With a fuzzy head, she turned off the shower, stood up, and reached for her towel.

A couple minutes passed where she was drying her body and her hair, her dress touching her petite frame ever so tightly. After drying herself to the best of her capabilities, shivering while doing so, she made her way to the bathroom door. She needed to warm herself up before she caught a fever. Or maybe she already had one. She didn’t know. A fever would be better than the heartbreak she was filling.

Like the walking dead, she opened her door, with a gorgeous yet incredibly damp tiny red dress on, and went to her dresser to get a tank and pajama pants. Barely registering how exhausted she was, she did find the boy, beaten and bruised, on her office chair, lit by the moonlight peering from her window. Still, she needed to change, so he could wait.

Rather than address him immediately, she went back to the bathroom, taking note that she needed some lotion on her skin, before it dried out. As she took care of business, behind the closed door, she offered in the highest octave she could muster this night (her voice was barely audible and can only be heard if you were actively listening), “I’ll bring the first aid kit,” before sneezing again.

Charlie flung his head forward, a spec of blood falling onto Poppy’s carpet as he watched her enter the room. She was still clad in that beautiful dress she wore earlier but now it had been drowned in sadness. He didn’t say a word as she moved around the room. This was an all too familiar feeling. Charlie had developed a habit of entering Penelope’s chambers with some sort of wound. Genuinely, if Decker didn’t have bad luck he’d have no luck and by extension, so did Pops.

As the small girl went back into the bathroom, Charlie leaned forward and painfully began to pull off his leather jacket, letting it drop to the floor. He heard her sneeze and managed to smile, even just the sound of it was cute to him. “Bless you.” He glanced out of the window from which he had entered and the sound of sirens had begun to fill the night; they were close by and Charlie had no doubt in his mind where they were headed. When Edenridge woke up tomorrow, things would never be the same again; for anyone.

There was a light “Thank you,” on the other side of the door. It was deprived, lacking energy and emotion. Even in this state, Penelope mustered enough courage and strength to talk to the boy that hurt her. Unintentional or not. His plights caused him to forget about the people that mattered the most to him.

Still, she wouldn’t be the “Street Angel” of the Southside, as Mordechai would call her, if she didn’t push her burdens aside to lift others up. After a couple of minutes, pajama-clothed Poppy came out with a bowl of water, soap, a wash cloth, and a first aid kit with antiseptic lotion and bandages. Not saying another word to her beloved friend and after she placed everything on her desk, she grabbed his chin with her cold hand and examined his wounds.

Sadly, this wouldn’t be the first time she cleaned him up and she was sure this wouldn’t be the last. This, however, was the worst she’s ever seen him beaten and bruised. That cut… it might need stitches. She was no doctor but she could at least prevent his wounds from getting infected. Quietly, Poppy let a sigh slip out of her lips, trying to contain her concern and sadness from the boy that was watching her. First, she would need to clean all this blood. And so, the young girl began the process of…

Biting the bottom of her lip, feeling that growing sensation in her throat, of wanting to cry again, Penelope tried her best to not let it get to her, to not cry in front of Charlie, and instead started washing his face, avoiding the eyes, and applying pressure to his visible wounds. His stare made it hard for her to focus so if she just avoided looking at his eyes completely she could focus on making him feel better.

He didn’t know if it was the lack of sleep or if it was the multiple hits to the head that he had taken that day but Charlie was beginning to feel drowsy. He didn’t allow his increasing in weight eyelids to close or his gaze to leave the soft delicate features of Poppy James. He gently placed his hand atop her free one, as if reaching out for dear life; she was his lifeline, she always had been. “There was once a man who became unstuck in the world – he took the wind for a map, he took the sky for a clock, and he set off with no destination. He was never lost.” Charlie leaned forward and pressed his head against Penelope’s, holding her close in his embrace and stopping her in her tracks from healing him. “I got lost tonight.”

Being pulled in a hug, Penelope didn’t fight it and let him hold her close, their foreheads touching. She listened to him spill his heart out through a quote, as he usually did, and her heart continued to break. She remembered hearing this poem from the documentary, Castles in the Sky. With the hand that wasn’t holding the wash cloth, she grabbed onto his shirt, clutching it. “No. You’re not lost,” she whispered back, trying to remind him that no matter how bad things got they had each other, “You’re home.”

As much as she wanted this moment to last forever, she knew his condition was not good, so she pulled herself away from him and asked, “Are you sure… you should be here? I…” Grabbing onto his hand, kneeling down so she was looking up at him, she frowned, “I don’t know how bad you are… if you sleep, what if you have a concussion?” Oh, there they were. Her watery eyes started to tear up. “I don’t want anything bad to happen to you, Charlie.”

“As long as you’re next to me, nothing bad can ever happen and if it does, it’ll just be our next adventure.” Charlie pulled himself groggily to his feet, climbing out of his boots as he did. As he took several steps forward, every painful step forced his mind to remember the beating he had endured from the vile ReyRey Gonzalez. He could feel the thud of every fist, the sting of every boot and the crack of every belt whip. Falling down onto the bed that he had shared with Poppy so many times, Charlie reached out to a photo of them that sat on her bedside table. Happier times. He was much smaller then, he had less bags under his eyes and he was decked out in stripes rather than flannel. “Till Kingdom Come.”

Against her better judgement, Penelope put the bloody rag in the bowl and made her way to the bed. Going on the side with the least space, she crept on it, laid down, and turned her body to face him. She positioned herself in a way where she was close to him, but not where she was hurting any of his bruises and wounds. As he lay there exhausted and on his stomach, she reached out to him, the back of his head facing her.

The night felt incredibly long and for the first time this whole night, she could feel how heavy her eyes were. Curling up beside him, in her own little area, she grabbed onto his hand and pulled it close. Sluggishly, her eyes closed and she breathlessly muttered, “Always.”

Always, at his side.

Always, together.

Till Kingdom Come.
In Edenridge → 3 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay
A @BrutalBx, @LovelyComplex, & @metanoia Collaboration
Featuring: Vivia Belmonte, ReyRey Gonzales, Jade Taylor, Charlie Decker, & Allison Davies


____________________________________________________________________________________________


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This was not how ReyRey had intended to spend his evening; explaining to a bunch of wannabe detectives a sordid night in his past but that’s how it was supposed to be. He led the group that had assembled on the front lawn of his party house and brought them into the garden where there were a few derelict looking picnic benches. At the rear of it all was a shed that had been burned out; no doubt to cover tracks. That was, for all intents and purposes the scene of a crime. “Take a seat, young’uns. It’s story time.”

As the amassed group begrudgingly complied, the tension in the air was real. ReyRey was no joke. He was someone to be feared and irregardless of the bravado shown by some of the gang, there was no denying the twin feelings of anxiety and uncertainty that their current situation had birthed. Rey could just as easily have his minions like Prof and Sonny emerge from the shadows, gun them all down and bury them in the very garden they now sat in. Who would know? Who could stop it? There was more to this story, more twists, more turns, more hard truths no doubt. Where would it all end?

“First off, I’m not the guy behind the letters. I’ve been getting them, same as you and then some” R2 pulled one of those damn Polaroids from the back pocket of his jeans and threw it onto one of the tables. This image was far clearer than the one found in Francis Callahan’s locker. It was still the party but the lights had been turned on and in the centre of it all was Allison, lying on her back in the bathroom, her green and white skirt had fallen up her leg to expose her bloomers. Thick white foam was billowing from her mouth and blood pouring from her nose.

This was it. This was the moment that innocence died. And there besides her was ReyRey Gonzalez. On his knees, crying.

“None of you were supposed to be there that night. There wasn’t even supposed to be a party…”


Afternoon - Edenridge, MA. December 4th 2016

It was a great day for business.

Whenever there was any kind of athletic event in Eden, the town was always a buzz. It was something that everyone looked forward to and it just changed the atmosphere to something of positivity, even in Southie. It took Rey back to his own school days which weren’t really that long ago. He remembered game days vividly, as a former standout on the wrestling team he was always one to receive the adulation of the masses and it felt so, damn, good. It was through that avenue that he met a certain person, one who evokes a certain feeling when thought about.

With everyone in a good mood and looking to celebrate a sure fire victory against the Pinehurst Pinheads, El Hijo del Rey knew that people would be looking to score and he was the man that had everything that they could ever want. No matter the score tonight, people would migrate back to Eden and probably to Southie since that’s where all the good parties were and he would be waiting; a serpent on every corner ready to strike and make some cold hard cash.

Sitting on his burner phone, ReyRey began to arrange everything. Moving the pieces of the board like a chess master, he began placing dealers at the hotspots, he was making sure every base was covered. School had let out, so there was no doubt that the town was getting ready to make the short drive to Pinehurst. Most shops and businesses would be empty, meaning the inmates would truly control the asylum tonight. Alerted by the opening of a door, R2 reached down to his side. A gun was never far away; in his line of work he had to be prepared to take someone out at the drop of a dime. This was especially true in recent times as the Fear Gorta seemed to get braver and more bold with every passing day.

“Who’s there?”

Rolling her eyes, Vivia closed the door behind her and sarcastically mocked, “You’d think by now you would know your girlfriend’s voice.” By the way the middle Belmonte child held herself, she was not here for a good fuck. She was one of the few people that tested her boundaries with the serpent king. Whether it was the mafia blood coursing through her veins or her addiction to nothing he sold but everything he was, Vivia had a problem and she was glaring at it.

As her gray purse dangled at her side, she wore a dainty white dress under her light pink hooded overcoat. Her lips were red, just like her best friend’s always were. The expression written on her face showed a hint of anger, but also that she was up to something, which would undoubtedly lead to an argument. For once, she was holding her tongue, which isn’t something a Belmonte woman does often.

Without asking for an invite, she took off her coat and placed it on the rack, all the while keeping her purse nice and close to her. “I’m allowed to check on you, so here I am. Checking on you. How’s my man?” Turning on her heel to face him, she beamed at R2, continuing to drag out the purpose of her visit, intentionally.

He knew this smile well, it was flirtatious yet vindictive. It was far from genuine, yet still appealing to the eye. If it wasn’t for his hold on her, who knows what trouble Vivia would get herself into. She was a she-devil disguised as an angel and became unhinged when she was attached to something. In this case scenario, she was completely devoted to the most dangerous man in town. For better or for worse, Reyrey was her addiction.

ReyRey had played this game too many times to count. In a lot of ways he regretted ever dipping his toe in the infinity pool that was Vivia Belmonte’s; why? Because there were bloodthirsty sharks hidden in the water. She had caused him so many problems that it had started giving him migraines but he just couldn’t quit her. As much of a walking daddy issue as the girl was, she always came back and she saw the man behind the persona, as much of it as he was willing to share at least.

He couldn’t really remember how they had even started. Normally he wouldn’t go for high school girls but Vivia in that little uniform was dynamite and so were all her friends. He wished the cheerleaders in his school days looked that damn good. Taking his hand off of his gun, he returned his attention to his phone and began texting once again.

“So what’s up that tight little ass today, mi amore?” R2 didn’t even look at her.

Typical. Dodging her question with a question. On top of that, he knew how to press the right buttons to get her riled up. She hated being treated like second rate and there he was glued to his phone choosing work over her. “I don’t know. You tell me.” Breaking the distance between them, deeply gazing at him with her hazel eyes, perturbed at how easy he can brush her aside, Viv probed, “Hiding something from me?”

“Of course I am!” He shook his head as if his answer should surprise her. “I run the biggest drug op this side of Boston. I know people and I know things. Why would I not hide shit from you? I love you babe but you’ve got a mouth like a leaky fucking sink.” He finished sending a text before putting his phone down and leaning back against the sofa, hand over his chocolate eyes. This was exhausting. Viv was like a dog with a bone and he knew it. Whatever was stuck in her craw, they were going to talk about it at that moment. She wouldn’t just sit on it or let it lie. She just had to talk, talk, talk.

“So, I’ll ask again. What’s up babe?”

“Oh-my-fucking-god. You know damn right I wasn’t talking about your business.” As much as Viv wanted to continue this dance, she knew he wasn’t going to budge until she spoke her peace, so instead of saying anything immediately she went into her purse and pulled out a ziplock bag with a small black lace thong and tossed it on his lap. “Explain that, mi corazón, or should I even call you that anymore?” At this point, Viv threw her purse across the room and growled, “Who’s the bitch, asswipe?!”

“Allison.” He said bluntly.

It was not a one time thing and it certainly wasn’t a new thing. Allison had been coming to ReyRey for around a year. It all started after one of he and Viv’s tremendous rows. He went to drown his sorrows at the Sin and who should turn up but the Queen of Edenridge High looking to score some coke. Apparently her boyfriend was hooking up with another guy, her brother had been shipped off to camp and her mom was being a super bitch or whatever. Plus by some amazement Viv had also pissed her off. Needless to say, one thing led to another multiple times and has done ever since. Allison always regretted it. Rey really didn’t give a fuck.

“She likes to come over for coke and cunnilingus when her boyfriend is busy blowing the varsity squad.”

“Shut up, Reyrey.” Viv glowered in disdain. No matter how truthful he was being, the barbie doll refused to believe any of it. This was her best friend he was talking about and while she knew about Allison’s need for a good fix, she would not tolerate him spewing lies that he slept with her. If that was true, then he was telling her right now to her face that Allison was better than her. She already dealt with that at school, she didn’t need that added grief from the guy that said he loved her. “Well if this is the game you want to play.”

Viv walked around the couch to get her purse and pulled out her phone, “I have plenty of guys waiting on call to fuck me. You’re lucky I even saved myself for you!” Appalled at his audacity, she scrolled through her contacts and found one of her classmates, Luke Barlowe. “Since you’re going to do what you want, I’m going to do the same. Have fun with your new side piece because we’re done.” At this point, Viv was already making her way to the door, retrieving her things and writing a text to this varsity jock that had been waiting on her with bated breath. She was pretty sure he was madly in love with her since grade school.

“I’ll see you tonight, Mi corazón.”

He called out to her before grabbing his phone again. Fuck it. He thought to himself. He didn’t need this shit today. It was one of the busiest days of the year and Vivi was on one of her shit on the world days. He texted Allison telling her to bring the party to 13 Carlisle after the game. Vivia wanted to play games. Nobody was better than ReyRey.

Nobody.


The Party - Edenridge, MA. December 4th 2016

ReyRey, hearing a ruckus downstairs (or at least a more obvious one) he pulled on his jeans and vest before hurrying out of the bedroom.

Allison too redressed herself before eyeing up the bag on the bedside table. Her head was already fuzzy and the sweats were starting to set in. She reached for a glass of water but was overcome by a feeling of dread. The image of Francis & Russ. Her mother, Vinny. Vivia. It was all too much. Charlie’s words echoed in her mind like a call in a theatre “I don’t think it’s safe” Her hand moved to the left and she grabbed the bag, storming off to the bathroom.

She noted an off color to the powder but she really didn’t care. She lined up the drugs and rolled up a dollar bill. Her eyes were puffy and red and all she could think about was just how much her life seemed to have just stopped. In the annals of Americana it was true what they always said: the popular girl does peak in high school. With every line that she began to snort, Ally could hear the whispers in the halls of how she would never make it out of high school alive. What talent did she have? She wasn’t bright. Her boyfriend had been living a lie and she had perpetuated it across the community. Her brother was a waste of space who wouldn’t amount to anything just like her, how could he? Allison was not a good template to model oneself after. She had betrayed her best friend and then there was her mother, in the pocket of the Angels, the Serpents and who knows who else?

As the final line entered her system; Allison began to feel her throat burn and her chest tighten. She glanced at her face in the bathroom mirror and was appalled at the sight. Everyone always told her how beautiful she was; ”look at you now” she thought to herself. The urge to vomit was overwhelming but the sunflower held it in. She gripped the bathroom counter tightly as the room began to spin like the Merry go round at the park. All of a sudden something akin to a bolt of lightning struck Allison’s heart and she dropped to her knees, hitting her forehead on the rim of the toilet. Unable to control herself, she began to vomit but as she opened her eyes, she began to panic. Ally was not throwing up sick, it was foam and blood. Her head began to throb even more as she pulled herself to her feet and dragged herself out of the bathroom.

“Rey?!” She called out between spurts of bloody coughs. “REY?! ANYONE?!” There was no response; her screams drowned out by the pounding music that filled the rooms of the derelict house. Allison looked once more at her reflection, hanging in the air around her was a black cloud, a shroud with hands ready to drag her to hell. She stumbled forward towards the dresser but her feet gave way and she fell backwards into the bathroom. Her eyes had welled up with more tears, she could feel the blood pooling beneath her skull and as she stared up at the light, her vision began to darken. Allison reached up towards it but her strength had left her.

”I don’t want to die...”

Charlie looked at Jade with a look of fear in his face. ”Jade, what the fuck do I do?!” The tall boy put his hands behind his head and kicked a large chunk of dirt across the garden and into a canoodling couple on the corner. ”I’m pretty sure all those drugs are fucked and I just gave some to the queen of the goddamn town! Oh fuck!”

“First thing you’re going to do is calm down, okay?” That wasn’t a question that left Jade’s heavy red lipstick-covered lips, but a highly-encouraged suggestion that was followed by Jade’s usual stern glare from her raccoon eyes. She understood that the situation was fucked. Jade knew that the queen herself getting drugs in general was bad. And she knew if anyone found out what happened, they were both screwed.

Jade refocused her attention from the gravity of the situation to back on Charlie. “Does anyone else know?” Jade found herself asking Charlie point-blank, a sense of partial dread in her voice. She looked at Charlie’s absent gaze and snapped in front of his face. “Charlie! Does anyone know about the drugs?” Jade had an idea, as vague as it was, if anyone else found out. So she had to make sure the only ones who knew were the two of them.

Charlie tried to run through the day's events in his head, piling his thoughts together and trying to work out who knew what. “Everyone. Jade I’ve sold so much shit today. There isn’t a kid in this town that doesn’t know I was dealing today.” The boy placed his hands upon his head and exhaled deeply, as if blowing fire from his lungs. “Somebody messed with that shit, JT. I went to take a piss, came back and everything was mixed and messed up. I sell another ounce and bodies will be hitting the floor.”

As she tried to understand the extent of what Charlie was saying, the only thing that Jade could think about was making sure that Charlie was going to be okay. Everyone else who might’ve taken the drugs, if they were smart, wouldn’t snort it all in one go. Jade didn’t pretend to know everything about it, but she had some faith that they were semi-responsible partygoers.

Inside the house, Vivia Belmonte was on a rampage and she honestly didn’t care if any of her siblings saw her and told their father she was starting shit. In this moment of time, she didn’t even care if her family knew she was fucking ReyRey Gonzales. Lucky for her, Natalia was nowhere to be found and neither was Danny. When she saw her boyfriend coming down the stairs, noting how his pants were unbuttoned and how generally sloppy he looked, Viv gritted her teeth, “The bitch is upstairs, isn’t she?”

Some random stranger placed their hand on her arm to calm her down, baffled at the way she was talking to R2. Slapping his nasty hand off of her, the she-devil hissed, “Touch me again and I’ll slit your throat.” There was an accumulation of frustration that led to this point. With R2 not picking up her calls or answering her texts and her making an empty threat that she would sleep with someone that wasn’t him, Viv was angry. Angry at him. Angry at the world. But most of all, angry at herself. For being caught up with a good for nothing piece of shit like the man standing in front of her.

“I’m really not in the mood for your shit, mami.” ReyRey blocked the stairs with his large frame and eyed the stranger that had tried to touch Vivi. As innocent as it may have been, she was still his property; no one was to lay a finger on her except for him. “Which bitch might you be referring to, Vivi? Huh? Only bitch upstairs is the one in the photo on my dresser…oh wait that’s you right?” He really didn’t want to air out his stuff in public but he was high on his own supply and the Belmonte girl had pissed him off something fierce. ”You wanna go upstairs Vivi? Go right ahead. You’ll find people fighting and fucking in every room, pretty sure your girl Allison is up there too and not with Francis.” His words were poisoned with venom and malice as he stepped aside and offered her the staircase. As he did so, a large thud came from one of the rooms; his room.

With the sound of a large thud, Vivi’s eyes widened, still in complete denial that Reyrey was sleeping with Allison. Instead, her mind thought of other possibilities and women he could have in his room. He was offering her passage which meant he didn’t care enough to hide his dirty little secret. Still, her heart sunk at the reality of the possible truth. Not breaking face, refusing to show any sign of insecurity, she rolled her eyes at her boyfriend but indeed shut her trap. No matter how much fire Vivi had in her, R2 was always able to simmer her down by a simple look on his face. His words were cold and heartless, which reminded her that as much as she loved him, there were limits to his love for her.

Sauntering upstairs, feeling the eyes of the party on her and R2, Vivi found herself facing his bedroom door. If she hesitated now, he would know she was coming to terms with how insignificant and weak she was to him. There was no way in hell she’d show that. She was a Belmonte at the end of the day and she could handle whatever bullshit life threw at her with iron and steel.

Casually opening the door, she peered in, her eyes scanning the room for any sign of undergarments and women. When her eyes went to the floor, her heart dropped and everything she was thinking about before about R2 and his cheating went right out the window. “B-baby.” Vivi breathlessly muttered before running to the convulsing body of her best friend, “Baby!” Allison was gasping, losing air, her fingertips were blue, her lips were blue, her skin… clammy.

Oh god no.

Rey followed Viv into the room, fully expecting a war to erupt between the two friends; instead he found a sight that even struck him to silence. Allison was on the floor, blood pooled around her and her beautiful face smudged and tainted with all manner of unspeakables. His hand came up to cover his mouth as he took in the scene. She has said that something was off with the drugs, he didn’t believe her considering he cut them himself before they were sent out for sale. Hearing Vivia’s cry and the look on her face, it was enough to thaw ReyRey’s icy cold heart.

He took a step forward and knelt down next to Vi and Ally: his eyes awash with growing tears. The clicking of a camera snapped him from his trance as he snapped his head towards the door and saw the photographer. Jumping back to his feet, R2 charged towards the child like a behemoth and pushed him hard against the hallway wall. “Burn those photos or so help me God I will murder you and your entire family. Get the fuck outta here.” He tossed the kid down the stairs like it was nothing and went back into the bedroom, closing the door behind him.

This wasn’t the time or place for Vivi to break down. Allison needed her. Reyrey needed her. All those that loved Allison needed her. Swallowing her tears, stomaching the grotesque visual that was the Queen bee, Vivi took off her pink jacket and laid it on the pool of blood, while whispering, “Baby, it’s going to be okay. Can you still hear me?” Viv wasn’t one to dabble in hard drugs herself, but the moment she started dating R2 she wanted to be ready for anything since this was his kingdom.

No one is ever ready for something like this, but she had to be.

Quickly, she pulled out her phone and dialed 911, putting it on speaker. Putting her phone to the side, she first tried to wake up her friend, but she knew at this point they were too late. Allison Davis had lost all consciousness. Soon after, she grabbed Allison’s wrist to check for a pulse. She was no doctor but she could feel the life leaving her friend’s body, quickly.

How long had she been like that? Panicking internally, Vivi didn’t know if she should turn her friend’s body over from choking first or perform chest compressions… still, she wanted to be safe and so she started with chest compressions, in hopes that she could get Allison’s heart pumping once more. As she did so a dispatcher answered.

Her voice was shaky but she did her best to say the needed information: “Please come to 13 Carlisle Ave. My best friend… I think she stopped breathing. She’s no longer conscious. There’s blood and vomit everywhere.” She knew the mention of overdose or drugs would summon the police, along with EMS. She also knew that the police were barely a threat to the serpents since they had snakes working on the inside. Reformed or not, once a serpent always a serpent.

With a calming yet serious voice, the dispatcher directed Vivi while asking standard questions. Shaking her head, as she gently turned her friend’s body to the side, laying her on her pink jacket, now stained in blood, Viv cried, “Please, we don’t have much time. Baby, wake up. I love you. I’ll always love you.”

ReyRey had remained silent as Vivia dealt with the chaos around him. He did not have the words at that moment for anything that was happening. Not only was there a dead girl in the bedroom of one of his properties, it was Allison Davies. Vivia’s best friend, Edenridge’s golden girl and his DNA was literally everywhere. At best he would have to get his father to call in some favours and get this covered up as your run of the mill overdose. Yet something was niggling at him, something that had been said earlier, something about the drugs being tainted. It was then, a moment of clarity occurred.

“Decker.”

ReyRey damn near pulled the door off of its hinges as he called for everyone to get out of the house. He yelled absurdities and off color remarks, anything to force the partygoers to get out of there fast. Decky had sworn by Charlie. He had vouched for him. He can handle it. Hard Times is a good guy. A good guy? then why on Earth was he mixing coke and heroine into fucking speedballs and giving them to high schoolers?! Entranced in a rage beyond all comparison R2 stormed down the stairs, through the living room and towards the back door. Charlie was going to answer for this crime.

Jade took his hands, forcing him to not only squeeze them but to look at her. “Eyes on me, okay?” Jade bit her lip, feeling her heart beating from the tension of what Charlie said. “This isn’t your fault. In whatever worse case happens, that isn’t your fault. It’s..” She felt herself hesitate for a moment and shook her head, her hands squeezing Charlie’s as if to validate her resolve. “The person who mixed this shit — they’re the ones to blame.” She understood what she was saying. If people died from this, Jade would keep it a secret. And maybe that was bad, but for better or worse, Jade Taylor was there for her friends. “This is staying between us, alright? Tell me you understand!”

He was doing his best to remain calm but the fear in Charlie was starting to build. Jade’s hands on his were a calming presence but they weren’t doing enough. His mind drifted to his happy place, anywhere where Poppy James was. Tonight was supposed to be their night. He was going to tell her that she was his heart and the only thing keeping him from losing his mind in this cursed town they called home was her. He needed her. His Mom was getting worse which just so happened to coincide with Decky getting pinched by the police and his spit opening up on the corner; a void which an inexperienced Charlie offered to fill purely for the money. He regretted that decision wholeheartedly.

“Tha…”

Before the boy could continue, the back door of the house swung open, violently hitting the back wall of the house as a bleary eyed ReyRey emerged from the kitchen. The King Snake pushed past multiple partygoers knocking them to the floor as he marched towards Charlie and Jade. The look in his eye was not a pleasant one, it was something that Charlie couldn’t even begin to describe. For someone so adept at wordplay, he was speechless.

ReyRey completely ignored Jade before grabbing Charlie by the throat and ramming him against the door of the shed. “What the fuck did you do? THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO HER?!!” His hiss was followed by a bark so loud that time itself stopped. He glared at Jade, as if daring her to even try something.

“Her?”

She didn’t know if it was the thunderous boom that carried from Rey-Rey’s person, targeted at Charlie that paralyzed her or if it was that venomous glare that he shot at her. Jade had come to know him as a somewhat ill-mannered guy, who had a mouth but never made Jade feel...frightened. He was somebody that everyone in the Southside knew and especially someone her uncle often said was a guy that you could depend on. But maybe for the first time, Jade felt an actual terror crawl up her skin and spine, chills of the worst kind freezing her.

“Don’t..please..” She heard herself say, though it was lacking so much volume that it might as well be barely a whisper.

Yanking open the shed, R2 threw Charlie inside and then climbed in himself before slamming the door shut.

“Please, Rey what…”

A loud grunt followed by a thud.

“…i didn’t know….”

More grunts and more smacking sounds followed by tears, palpable and real. The tears of a child…
In Edenridge → 3 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay





CRACK

“I’ll tell you what happens now” Mei bashed her weapon across the lockers with a loud thud. “We’re gonna go to Carlisle and we’re gonna burn the place to the goddamn ground!”

The Demon Dream Girl had finally had enough of all the bullshit. The collected Scooby crew had all known each other for twenty years; from diapers to high school and some beyond. They were being stalked by someone who had seen one too many horror movies and thought they were punishing these sinners for some perceived slight. Maybe they counted on old wounds and deep set issues to surface and prevent them from solving and surviving this little game.

She didn’t care for whatever nonsense was happening with Kylee and the recently arrived Natalia. Despite her own deep history with the Grimm girl and dance they danced together, tonight was about one thing in Mei’s mind; finding out the truth behind the letters and why someone was trying to clear Charlie Decker’s name. Regardless of whether the school shooter purposely laced the drugs or not, Allison wound up dead. Charlie wound up dead. Nine other people wound up dead and it all stemmed from this long bad night in December of 2016. Mei had long thought that had that night not happened, a lot of things that plagued those that were with her now may not have happened. What could’ve been…

Kneeling down to Jillian’s level, Miss Midnight planted a soft kiss on her red headed bestie's forehead. ”Come on, baby. We’re gonna end this” Getting back to her feet, she moved to the centre of the assembled group and looked around at them all with fierce determination. ”All of you need to stop. Drop your personal shit. If you wanna rehash who fucked who and who did what back in high school, the year book room is just down the way, say hi to Quinton Woods ghost for me. I’m going to Carlisle, I’m going to kick down the door and I’m going to end this. If you want to come with me, great. If not, I really don’t give a shit”



Somehow, someway Mei had wound up as the leader of the Merry band of misfits and had brought them the twenty minute walk from the remnants of Edenridge High and were now making their way over the thin line between heaven and hell as they entered the mythical south side.

OFFCOMERS GO HOME

That had been sprayed across a nearby billboard. It had been there forever, nobody knew who did it or even when it was put up there but there it was; the warning to all northsiders and outsiders, don’t go there. Crossing the literal train tracks that separates the north and south sides of Eden, one might think they were breaking through an invisible barrier. Trees that were once blossomed were dead, prosperous businesses now sat decrepit and homes of small families looked despondent.

Mei was well versed in urban legends, it was kind of her thing. There was one that explained why the south of town was the way it was. It started centuries ago, when the first families of what would come to be Edenridge settled into the area. The Massachusett Tribe welcomed the outsiders onto the land and they broke bread. Then something changed, something dark happened. Versions of the story vary from storyteller to storyteller but the common thread is that innocent blood was spilled and the land was cursed to be living death from then on. The founding families moved a quarter mile down the road and built north Eden, whilst the tribe built the south of the city. Most traces of the Massachusett tribe had all but faded into history, though Mei seemed to remember a class project years ago where Charlie claimed direct heritage to them. She always thought that Charlie might’ve believed the world owed him something for the lot he had in life; now seeing how things were turning out, perhaps they did…

Serpent jackets were everywhere and in a weird way, Mei felt that this was a good thing. As much as most people hated the southsiders for whatever reason they could think of at the time, they were a community that looked out for one another, not like the northies who in reality may have been the actual snakes. Mei had no issues crossing the line, she wondered how many of the Scooby crew did however. Some of them were Northies through and through and hated this side of town with a deep passion. On the flip side, they also had southsiders amongst their ranks who had to deal with crossing the border to even just go to school; Mei had never even considered how they felt. If the mystery man behind the letters and tonight’s scavenger hunt's goal was to shed light on truth, it was kind of working.

Like a scene from the 1979 classic The Warriors Mei Midnight and her gang of phantom thieves entered into enemy territory and came face to face with number 13 Carlisle Avenue. It was a somewhat large house, supposedly uninhabited yet it was a known party location. It’s large size and huge garden surrounded by dense shrubbery meant a perfect amount of privacy for the imperfect youth of their idyllic Boston town. As they reached the gate to the property, the porch light ignited into life and the front door swung open. Emerging from the shadows, the baddest man on the block, ReyRey Gonzalez.

“I’ve been waiting for you, kiddos. Let’s get this shit over with. Come in”
In Edenridge → 3 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay






Allison would like to have said that she couldn’t believe her eyes; but she could. She had long suspected.

Tonight was supposed to be their night. She had finally won the Shining Star after four years and she had done so with a freshmen squad with little to no experience. He had netted a record for forty points against Pinehurst, a record which was doubtful to ever be duplicated. They were the celebrity power couple of Massachusetts and life was supposed to be good….

Yet there Francis was, in the arms of his teammate Russell Lord, embraced in a way in which Allison only dreamed that the golden Callahan would be with her. Her eyes drifted to the flashing light of a camera taking the ”couples” photograph. To the curly haired shutterbug, this probably wasn’t out of the norm, just a beautiful shot of beautiful people doing a beautiful thing. They probably didn’t realise that within the frames of that photo, they had caught the crumbling of her perfect world.

For the briefest of moments, her mind fluttered to the thought of photographs and their contents. So many little pictures in the world that sealed moments in time, both good and bad. She thought of how many of her photos were so posed, to portray the life that she wanted but not the life she had. She considered the strangers in the background, the ones whose lives she would never know but who were caught in that one snapshot, potentially in their own moment where their dreams came true or died a death by a thousand cuts.

Funny thing about photographs…

When Francis and Russell broke their kiss, his eyes finally met with Allison as she stood watching him. They did not exchange heated words of rage or passion, just a knowing stare. Francis was now free to be who he was supposed to be. Ally always knew that whatever they were and whatever the world's perception, they were not perfect. She loved him, in a way but their lives together had always been preordained by the law of Americana: the popular girl and the popular boy destined for each other from the moment the social hierarchy in the community was born. This was the end of that.

As the tears began to well up in her eyes, Allison spun on her heels and hurried out of the living room and into the decrepit kitchen where she had left her squad. She looked upon her baby team and the place they were in. This was wrong. She shouldn’t have dragged them here, especially not to this side of town.

“Go home, girls. Party is over for you”

She hurried past them and out into the garden, heading towards a small shed at the rear.



“FUCK!”

Charlie was panicking now; everything was fucked. He had spaced on Poppy and ReyRey was probably preparing to murder him in that moment. It was supposed to be simple really. An impromptu party at Rey’s needed a dealer, so Charlie was pulled off of the corner and placed in the garden to be the designated pusher. All he did was go to the bathroom and some drunken idiot had messed with the set up. Charlie didn’t know what had been mixed with what, which was incredibly dangerous. As he scrambled on the floor, trying to place everything back into its rightful container, the door to the shed swung open and in stepped the undisputed queen of Edenridge High.

”Well well” Allison placed her hands on her hips, still dressed in her cheerleading uniform she glanced at the boy on his knees, her lips into the slight wry smile that she was famous for. ”You Charlie? I hear you’re the man with the product tonight. Didn’t think I’d find it all over the floor though”

Jumping up to his feet while fumbling around with the chemicals he had pulled from the floor, the freshman boy threw everything onto the table. ”I…erm…yeah I got stuff but I don’t think I can give you anything, weed maybe? The stuff is mixed and I don’t think it’s safe”

”Honey pie” Allison placed a gentle hand on Charlie’s cheek; her almond shaped eyes singing to him as they did with everyone. ”Today has been a very difficult day for me. My Mom is a criminal, my boyfriend is gay, none of my friends are here, I didn’t get into college and I’m sleeping with my best friends boyfriend who also just so happens to be your fucking boss. I do not care about safe right now. Give me something that is going to help me escape this fucking town or so help me God, Charlie I will send ReyRey in here and you will be dropped in a barrel and buried alive”

Taken aback by the sheer forcefulness that Allison was showing, Charlie didn’t know what to do. ”Allison, I really…” Without another word, the cheerleader snatched away a baggy from the dealers pile and shoved him back into the table. She was half his size but that didn’t matter. There was no strength behind her action, only fury and rage. She stormed back out towards the house.

Charlie hurried out of the shed, nearly knocking his friend Jade out with the door. He looked towards the blonde, who had seen everything and began to run his hands through his messy dark hair.

”I think I just fucked up”



”I hear this is the room where it happens”

Allison entered the bedroom where ReyRey already was laying and she climbed up onto the bed and then straddled his waist. She shook the little bag that she had taken from Charlie before spreading it out across the Latino man's chest. ”No Vivia tonight”

”Not tonight, I’m all yours mami”

For a moment, she was transported back to the bathroom she had shared with Penelope James earlier that evening and reminded of something she had said to the younger girl ”It's all yours” Was it really? That was supposed to be the plan. Everything was supposed to be here but now, all she had was glory that would soon fade away. With every second, she could feel herself slipping, disappearing, being forgotten. Who cares anyway?

She bit her lip and began to move ever so lightly to tease the gangster. As ReyRey caressed her soft, silky legs, Ally formed lines from the drugs that lay before. She grabbed an already rolled up dollar bill and snorted the lines from R2’s chest. More and more she inhaled until it was all gone. She lifted off her shirt and leaned down to press their chests and lips together.

For the girl who had everything….
In Edenridge → 3 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay






Big Rey Gonzalez had just passed his sixtieth birthday and age had seemingly transformed him into an introspective man. Definitely in the last few months he had found himself drifting further into the warm embrace of nostalgia.

The Southside Serpents we’re not his legacy despite what people may think. The Triple S was formed by his father Gory when he had gotten back from the Vietnam war. Along with some like minded forgotten sons, they were men who did not recognise the “home” they had returned to. They found a home on the road and riding their bikes. Outlaws yes but a makeshift family there had never been one closer. Whatever the Serpents were now, they were Gory’s legacy. He would be remiss not to wonder if his own father thought of him and his younger brother Pedro like Rey did his own children, Reynaldo Junior, Aleyda and Mikhael? Big Rey considered them his legacy, not the club.

In some ways, he was jealous of his younger brother for escaping. His memory may have been fading but he still remembered the day that Pedro announced that he was moving back to Mexico with his mother. She had offered Gory an ultimatum; get out of the game or she was getting out of his life. Needless to say, by that point Gory Gonzalez did not bleed red anymore, he bled green. God, Rey was so proud of his little hermano, Pedro then. The way he stood up to the man even being as young as he was at sixteen. He wished that he had that kind of courage. Even though their paths diverged, Rey never lost touch with Pedro. He was now the owner of a nice restaurant, married to a gorgeous wife and had a son named Enrique that was making waves in the music scene. Whatever pain Reynaldo had suffered, he considered it worth it for Pedro and his family to lead a blessed life.

Far from blessed was his own family, cursed like most who dwell within the cobbled streets of Edenridge and it’s deeply fractured south side. His natural born son, ReyRey as most know him, was a loose cannon in every sense of the word and he held more power in his hand than just a gun. Aleyda had been through such troubles in her young life, more than any young woman should. Poor Mika, Big Rey took him in to protect him but was he a failure at that too? One wondered.

”You ok Pop? I got your message” Emerging into his fathers beautifully maintained garden, ReyRey scanned the area quickly, as if looking for threats before taking a seat opposite his old man at the family picnic table. ”Mom not here?”

The hulking elder man shook his head. ”She’s with your sister at her place. Something about a cake, I don’t know” He took a sip from his coffee, a roast lovingly prepared by his friend Beau and dropped off by Sly. ”That’s a nasty wound, kid. You get that doing the Lucha mask gimmick?” He let out a slight chuckle, his baby boy did love the theatrics of the business. Sighing through his nose, following his laugh, Big Rey glanced down at a pile of papers that lay in front of him before sliding them towards his son. ”I won’t take up too much of your time mijo but we got some problems that you need to know about”

ReyRey began reading the pages that his senior had slipped to him before letting them slip from his fingers and back into the table in a breeze of lackadaisy. ”Why does this matter? Everyone in town has been getting these letters. It’s just some creepy fuck looking for a rise”

”Maybe; but just maybe they know the truth about what happened that night. You might want to think about that and act accordingly, ReyRey. That one is on you”

R2 hissed through his teeth. It was five years ago and this was still hanging over his head like a guillotine over a war criminal. He had to think deep on this. He looked back to his father as he began to fiddle with the gold chain around his neck, a nervous habit of his. The chain was a gift from Aleyda, a birthday present for her big brother when she realised that he liked his bling more than his Dunkin’ Doughnuts. ”You said problems, what else you got Pop?”

”I heard a rumour, we may get a visitor soon. A real heavy player from Baltimore, goes by Soulman. You heard of him?” When his son shook his head, Big Rey continued. ”Treyvon Marcus; a nasty asesino. Apparently deep into that voodoo shit. I’ve done a few deals with him in the past before he got locked up. He’s got a kid who just got signed for the Patriots, so there’s talk of him coming here for obvious reasons. Keep your ears to the ground, mijo. He’s a worker but one devious motherfucker”

A dim light switched on inside ReyRey’s brain. He began to somewhat remember the name of Soulman. He remembers a story that Mikhail once told him of a player who was so savage and efficient that even the Nation was scared to take him down. A soul taker. ”Anything else?”

”Diablo Hermosa” Rey stated in quote possibly the most blunt fashion possible. ”He’s getting out. It’s likely he’ll be back in town by month's end. Do not touch him, Reynaldo. You hear me boy?” He did not want to say these words. We’re it up to him, the subject of this conversation would be dead and buried and forgotten but such was life and the way the Lord wills it. Monsters are fearsome and strong. This monster had protection.

”I can’t promise that. He hurt the familia. He deserves death”

“He does but taking him out will cause too many issues, mijo. You’re playing football, Reynaldo. This is a chess game, patience is a virtue and a skill”

Father and son looked at each other for a minute in silence. Tension and rage whirled around them like a tsunami of machismo. This was no surprise. ReyRey was his fathers son but he did not hold his fathers cool temperament. He was a being of pure and unbridled passion and rage. ”If I see him in the street, he’ll die in the street like the vermin he is” He spat out into the floor and immediately regretted considering how much time his mother spent on her garden. He locked eyes with his father and the two men sat in a silence and understanding that was just so thick.

”The world is yours, mijo. Just don’t let it eat you alive”
In Edenridge → 3 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay




Walking through the once bustling halls of his alma mater was a strange and almost chilling feeling. What was once so full of life and energy now was painted in darkness and a sinking sensation. This was not the place that sat resolute in Roddy’s memories. A fresh coat of paint and a few classroom remodels after Charlie’s rampage was a failed attempt at reviving a school that was already on life support. Had it been up to the students, they likely would’ve signed a DNR.

A thousand and four questions were flying around Rod’s head as he approached the west wing of Edenridge High with his ragtag group of fellow sleuths behind him. What was it they were going to find, if anything at all, in Francis’ locker? Surely anything pertaining to Allison would’ve been long gone since people would’ve used the locker in the years after the elder Callahan’s graduation? Who was making them go on this twisted scavenger hunt? And more importantly why? What did any of this have to do with Decker and his diary?

So many questions.

Mei was all but ready to slap a bitch. Aaron had slunk off somewhere, no doubt to try and cover his tracks in some kind of business he was involved in but the goth girl was sure that he wasn’t the person behind what was happening with the letters. He didn’t have the smarts for it. She was following Callahan and his crowd closely. If they found anything she would latch onto it like a dog with a bone. This was Allison they were talking about. Mei had spent much of her youth emulating the brunette girl, trying to be just like her. She always knew there was a dark side, of course there was, there always was yet that didn’t matter. Ally was more than just the Queen of the school. She was someone’s sister, someone’s daughter and dying the way she did, it wasn’t right and it wasn’t fair.

Like some sort of bodyguard, Mei brought up the rear, her dark eyes looking at every corner with the false chemical courage she and Jillian had imbibed in pushing her forward. She was nowhere near as fearless as people assumed she was and the booze was helping to keep that facade going. When they reached the locker, Mei had no choice but to wiggle her way to the front; she was fairly small after all.

Roddy took a deep breath and began to turn the dial as instructed: 16-7-5. It felt like an eternity but finally there it was, the click of the lock. Danny was right! When the green steel door opened, the speakers kicked into life once again as a haunting song started to play. Rod, doing his best to annoy the creepy soundtrack, lifted up his phone and turned on the torch to peer inside. Starting at the top of the locker, he traced the light down every inch of the frame to see if there was anything written or tucked away. Finally as the torch illuminated the bottom of the locker it revealed a sunflower and what looked like a photograph.

Picking up both, he handed the yellow plant to Jill. ”Anybody got anything on Allison and Sunflowers?” Before he could continue, his eyes were drawn to the contents of the photograph. It was very obviously a party, a hardcore one by the looks of it. His gaze focused on two men in the foreground, they were deep in what seemed like a romantic embrace. Roddy recognised one of the boys immediately; it was Francis. Turning over the photo, there was something scribbled on the back.

Francis & Russ
December 4th 2016
13 Carlisle Avenue

”Wait…Fran wasn’t….he was still in the closet at this point…why is he?… Flabbergasted; Roddy turned to the crowd and showed them the back of the photo. He was trying to remain calm but the deeper this went, the worse he began to feel. He glanced at Lanie seeking some kind of reassurance. ”Does anybody know what address this is?”
In Edenridge → 3 yrs ago Forum: Casual Roleplay



A Flashback Collaboration between @BrutalBx & @metanoia || featuring Charlie Decker & Jade Taylor

The unease which Charlie felt in that moment was palpable and could easily be cut with a knife. Not only was he in enemy territory in Pinehurst with an eye out for Fear Gorda. Not only was he running Decky’s corner for him and the terrifying Rey Rey Gonzalez. Not only was he trying to find the courage to finally express how his heart only beats for one Penelope James. He was getting his photo taken by some little geek on the other side of the Monarchs gym and it was pissing him off.

”I swear if that curly haired little fuck takes one more photo of me I’m gonna shove that camera up his ass”

Charlie hissed. It wasn’t rocket science to understand why pictures were being taken of the southsider. Even at the tender age of fourteen he stood out with his tall, lanky frame, sleepless face and decked out in gang colours and a flannel shirt. Plus he had the added benefit of sitting next to the bombshell that was Jade Taylor, which really was an excuse for anyone to take photos.

“Yeah.”

Jade had barely registered Charlie’s comment. She heard his voice and it sounded like he was complaining. Truth be told, the blonde was trying not to speak because she was still pretty frustrated at not only the dumbass, whose head was thicker than a milkshake, sitting next to her, but also at Poppy not going further. Maybe it was a mix of both. Or maybe Jade was just impatient overall.

All of it were valid possibilities, but she liked putting the blame on her sister and brother.

Jade turned to face Charlie, practically ignoring anything that wasn’t in front of her blue-green gaze. “Be straight with me: everything good?” The blonde asked. She was never known for her scalpel approach and, honestly, if he wasn’t suffering from some bad, life-ending disease, she was going to lose it, even with someone as close to her that Charlie Decker was.

”Besides that twerp taking pictures of me and the fact that ReyRey Gonzalez may murder me if I fuck up tonight? I’m copacetic baby”

Jade was one of the extreme few that Charlie was able to let his guard down with. A lot of the time he felt like multiple different people being pulled in multiple different directions. Somewhere between school, home, the southies and the serpents, there was a real Charlie Decker, he just wasn’t sure who that was. He felt however that the closest version was the one he was when he was with Jade, Poppy and Decky.

”The way you’re looking at me, I’m guessing I’ve already fucked up somehow?”

What was your first clue?

Jade couldn’t help but allow a chuckle escape through her cherry lips, one that was admittedly proud in the way her lips curled into an almost-smirk. “Fucked up is such a harsh way of putting it.” One moment of looking at each other and Jade just nodded. “But yeah, you might’ve. But unlike with most things, you’re not out of the match just yet, Charlie.”

Sure, Jade might be known for her brutal honesty and even bitchier personality, but when it came to two of her closest friends, she wasn’t like that. She was supportive of what she knew would be an amazing thing to happen, but since neither were willing to take that first step, she’d have to shove them into the deep end and hoped they wouldn’t drown. Like stated, Jade never knew the meaning of careful scalpel. It was best she just took a mace or a warhammer to their face.

“You got knocked out, but it’s only the first round, Charlie.” Jade blames her uncle for her recent obsession with boxing. “Where do you think you went wrong?”

”Did I not pay her outfit enough attention? I mean she looks, I mean she’s amazing. How else do I even say it?” For someone who loved the written word, Charlie was pretty useless at using words of his own volition. He was not well versed in the ways of the woman and it showed quite obviously. He had seen how the jocks like O’Hara and Belmonte played hearts like fiddles and all Charlie could play was his PlayStation. ”Help me out here JT”

"Well just because you asked so nicely." Jade half smirked at Charlie.

It made her happy that he wanted to right his ignorant wrong. It showed that not everything she and Maxine worked so hard in trying to accomplish went over his head. Sure, it would have been ideal if Charlie realized tonight wasn't some ordinary night and that poppy, of all people, rarely ever put in the effort to look as hot as she did tonight. It wasn't as though she wasn't beautiful, because she was, but for as long as jade had known her, she never went this far.

So maybe that's where most of Jade's frustrations came from.

"First off, if anyone looks different than they normally do, especially if it's in a way that’s significantly out of the norm for them, throw them a compliment. Maybe 'hey you look nice'. Sure, it might not seem like much, but trust me it will go a long way. Jade looked at Charlie, holding her gaze on him for a few seconds. "Also maybe don't ignore her presence? Let her know you acknowledge her. She put in the work so pay attention to her. Really see her. Coming from a girl, we are pulling double duty. So if we put the effort in, then boys not at least acknowledging us is, like, twice as bad on us, ya know?" Jade was confident that Charlie knew by now, even when she helped, she didn’t sugar coat it. If she was going to be of any help, better to rip the bandaid than make him suffer.

As Charlie did his best to soak in the info that Jade was giving him, he switched his phone back on and watched it light up with a series of messages that took his anxiety and multiplied it ten fold.

R: Lexington and 5th. 8pm. No Later

Mom: Love you sweetie, have a nice evening. Be safe

H: She looks pretty tonight. Don’t fuck it up”

He exhaled sharply before stuffing the cell back into his jacket pocket and checking the clock on the Monarch’s wall. In that moment, even in a crowded room such as the one he was in, Charlie felt alone. He locked his fingers together across his knees and squeezed his hands together as if he was trying to force the pain out through his palms. ”I really don’t wanna mess this up, JT. Any of it”

And it was in that moment Jade might’ve realized that her usual blunt force approach to giving advice might not be well suited for Charlie. She couldn’t help it sometimes. It was how she came up. Growing up around hardened bikers who showed as much emotional vulnerability as a porcupine with their pins up, ready to attack. Her uncle was the softest person she knew and even he had trouble opening up when she was around.

Granted, Jade was fourteen and not many thirty-five year olds were willing to open up their deepest, very adult secrets to a teenager.

But the Charlie next to her was a different case and maybe Jade had to use a gentler touch.

As she had been somewhat frowning the entire time that she looked at Charlie, she put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, kicking it upside down into a half smirk. “Now, don’t beat yourself over all of it, alright? You haven’t wrecked anything up. So stop saying you did and put your head in the game, Decker! You still have plenty of time to bring this back around and might even get what both of you want.” She half-grinned and lightly punched his shoulder.

”Thanks Jade”

Some might sit and wonder how anyone could be friends with Jade Taylor? The suicide blonde was a living, breathing smoke show and any man would find it hard to resist succumbing to her charms. Charlie? He had seen the girl behind the makeup and the leather a long time ago. He knew her heart and her soul and that was why he could see past the superficial things that his peers would drool over. Beyond the Courtney Love look, there was a girl whose light was much brighter than maybe she herself thought it was. She was an illuminating presence in the darkness that was the life of Charlie Decker.

He glanced across the court once more and was greeted by the immaculate visage of Penelope James on her way to rejoin them. He looked over to Jade for reassurance and inhaled sharply once again. ”I got this”
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