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Mei’s Track of the Day
When the sun finally rose once again over what felt like an eternal night, the world of Edenridge, Massachusetts seemed just as it had always been; the streets were empty, the birds were chirping and the dead were dead once more. Yet their influence, though now forgotten, lingered.
Lex and Mika both received visits from loved ones long since passed, Allison and Ronnie. The couple would find in these briefest of encounters with memories of these lost loves, those who chose to go out on their own terms that sometimes the world isn’t always what it seems and that people have a lot more going on that we just don’t know about and may not be able to help with.
Roddy Kylee and Wes had a hell of a night. After being accosted by the violent spectre of the Hangman killer, the trio spent the evening playing cat and mouse with a murder desperate to eradicate the towns founding family lines at the run down Camp Eden. Unmasking the urban legend as Joel Carlisle, a descendant of town founder Nathaniel, They managed to hold off his murderous attempts before the end of the night and his fading into darkness.
Marco’s encounters on All Hallows’ Eve were somewhat different to his compatriots. He was not visited by the spirits of the dead but the spirit of what could have been; a spirit that would guide him to let go of the pain he held deep. A conversation with Charlie; the boy that caused it all would help Marco down the start of a very specific path.
Natalia’s haunted evening was a positive one. Having finally been able to connect with the families of her boyfriends, there was a sense of belonging to her now, a comfortableness that radiated from her being. She was immersing herself well into the Southside, even if it was only for one night.
CeCe was grateful for the brief time she had with her besmirched love, David. He was at peace wherever he was and was always going to love and watch over her. Was it enough to convince the young girl that Niles was the right one for her? That was yet to be written.
After saving Tiffanie from a savage demon dog, Clay found himself teaming up with Beau and resident bad boy ReyRey and getting up to some cowboy shit. The quartet stood tall in the streets and did everything they could to protect the town from the essence of evil that swept in to carry on the work they did when they were living.
Mei and Jill’s love was accepted by those that Jillian missed so deeply, the gruesome twosome of Liv and Kat. With that out of the way, the girls went off to figure out how to reverse the spell that Mei had unwittingly cast. This led them back to the Elder Tree where they crossed paths with another group of sleights.
Decky, Jade and Poppy with the aid of the spirits of Danny and Charlie, figured out that the curse was bound to the original sin of Edenridge, the murders of Esther Carlisle and her lover Aponi by Esther’s father Nathaniel. To break the spell, the circumstances of their deaths had to be replicated. Realising that they needed to spill the blood of someone from the same line, the group searched desperately until they discovered that Poppy herself was a direct descendant of Nathaniel. Unable to find anyone related to Aponi, the group went ahead and Poppy was hung from the Elder Tree.
With her sacrifice, the spirits began to leave Edenridge as the dawn of a new day began to rise. Using what little time he had left, Charlie brought Poppy back with a kiss and tried to declare his love but time just wasn’t enough and he was gone before he could say the words.
The memories from the long dark night have faded from the minds of those that lived it; the Halloween that never was. The feelings were real and have lingered but the curse remains.
The spirits may have gone to rest but there is always evil in Edenridge…
Edenridge with return soon with Chapter 2: “Dear David”
Leaving her son's room with a vinyl record beneath her arm, Rhonda Decker walked through her house, the lights dimmed down so as to not damage her already strained retinas. Her free hand traced the walls, guiding her path down the stairs towards the living room; her fingertips caressing the photos she can no longer see and lately has begun struggling to remember.
Charlie had been gone for four years and the eighteen that Ronnie had with him just didn’t feel like enough. On nights like this, where the heartbreak felt just that little bit more painful, she would venture into Charlie’s room and find something of his to help guide her mind and memories back to a happier place. Sometimes she would sit and just hold one of his books. Her eyes were too far gone now for her to be able to read them. There were a few of his journals that Vicky had managed to get converted to braille for her, so some nights she would deep dive into those. Then there were nights just like this one, where she would grab one of his vinyls and just play it just so she could hear his words between the lyrics.
Kneeling before her classic record player, Rhonda pulled out the disk and placed it gently onto the turntable. She plugged in her old headphones and placed them over her ears. Ronnie loved music and so did Charlie. Whenever she would listen in to her baby boys room, whatever band was playing was a testament to his mood. The last record he ever played was the one she was now spinning; Oh Charlie…
Trudging slowly over wet sand
Back to the bench where your clothes were stolen
This is the coastal town
That they forgot to close down
Armageddon, come Armageddon!
Come, Armageddon! Come!
“I can hear you, Charlie”
Rhonda smiled as she closed her eyes to become lost in the music. Morrissey may have been an absolute cunt but his music was transcendent. She wondered why this particular song was what Charlie chose to listen to on that horrible day. Even all these years later, the mother didn’t know fully why her boy did what he did but she had chosen to move on, to look past it and just remember her son in happier times if that was ever a thing.
Solemnly and silently, the spectre of her deceased son entered the living room. Charlie stood in the doorway, gazing upon his mom as she moved her head to the music. Everything around him had changed. Since he shuffled off the mortal coil in a hail of gunfire, his mom had completely redecorated and made the house much more homely and liveable. His room was still the same, she had kept it that way.
In a strange twist of fate, Rhonda Decker’s fiscal life had gotten better upon her son's passing. She could no longer work and the state was helping her out. She was legally blind and Victoria had helped build up the house to make it far more suitable for her new needs. Charlie had spent all of that time, pushing, grinding and falling deeper into the blessed darkness that he would eventually succumb to because he wanted to create a better life for his mom. In a roundabout way, his death was the best thing that ever happened to her.
”I remember when I brought you this home” Ronnie couldn’t help but reminisce aloud. ”You were thirteen and I had been at work all day. My feet were killing me and it was late but then I walked by the record store and this album was just sitting in the window, staring at me. I remember cos when I came home, you and Poppy were sitting watching…”
”High Fidelity”
”High Fidelity”
Charlie sat down on the couch, gripping his knees nervously as his mother took the daunting stroll down memory lane. He was desperate to reach out and hug her, to tell her how much he loved her and missed her and how much he regretted everything that he had done. For so long he justified it all as providing for her like she had done for him. Yet that simply just wasn’t true. Charlie’s mind was not wired the way it should’ve been and he didn’t get the help he needed which cost people their lives, innocent people.
”I hear that people are seeing dead folk….how strange. Yet you’re not here..or if you are, you’re not showing yourself and that’s ok. That’s ok, baby. If you are listening, I’m proud of you and I love you. What you did, I can’t change that but you will always be my beautiful boy and I know you, if you’re not here with me, you’re probably out there with Poppy or Jade, doing the southies proud and protecting people from the unsavoury dead that may want to cause us harm. You’re a good boy, Charlie Jay”
Tears were welling up in Charlie’s dark chocolate eyes. He was a coward. How could he not let his mom know that he was there, watching over her? He was being selfish again, worried that her heart couldn’t take the pain of seeing him again.
”I’m sorry Mom”
He whispered, stifling back his tears. She was right though, Charlie needed to go and help everyone and end whatever was happening. Sure it would mean he would go back to where he was before but that didn’t matter as long as everyone was safe. The dead walking amongst them, this pandemic, it wasn’t natural and it needed to end. Charlie pushed himself back up to his feet and wiped the water from his eyes. It was time to do work. He headed towards the door from which he entered and disappeared.
Rhonda took off her headphones and placed them back onto the side by the record player. Her smile dropped as the music faded into a scratch.
”Go get em, kiddo”
In a clearing somewhere in the woods, Charlie emerged from the shadows to be greeted by the sight of his other family. Danny, Decky, Jade and Poppy.
”I hear you’re the guys to call if I wanna bust some ghosts”
FT. Penelope James, Charlie Decker & Maxine James
After the initial shock of seeing her dead childhood friend and sister, Penelope allowed herself to suspend disbelief and accept whatever this was. She shooed her ghosts away to give her time to get ready. While Maxine discussed with Charlie her findings in the hallway, Poppy buried her overwhelming emotions to get ready.
Once she slipped on her jeans, her Neon Ether arcade shirt, and Charlie’s leather jacket, she went to her bed where she placed a few items she took out of her parents’ room (which were alongside some of her own items). Holster, check. Glock, check. Knife, check. Pepper spray, check. Binoculars, check. Flashlight, check. Lighter, check. Cigarettes, check. And last but not least, just in case, 2 walkie-talkies, check. If the dead were back, she wasn’t going to wait for something bad to happen to her. She was going to be prepared.
Penelope knew most of these items could be useless toward a ghost, but she wanted to be ready in the only way she knew how. Call it anxiety or paranoia but she knew that if the dead were back, it wasn’t only the dead that people wanted to desperately see. With her gear situated on her body and in her bag, she thought about what else she needed.
Snacks.
Opening the door to see both her first love and her sister, Poppy calmly commanded, “Kitchen.” Her hair was in a messy ponytail and there was only acceptance in her green eyes.
“Actually…” Maxine apologetically frowned. “I’m going to give you two some time together.”
“Wait what?” Was she hearing this correctly? Poppy hadn’t seen Maxine since freshman year and now that the dead were given a chance to rise from their graves or ashes, her sister didn’t want to be here? Didn’t want to be with her?
“Stop that.” Maxine placed her hands on her sister’s shoulders and squeezed them (it wasn’t easy, seeing how Charlie’s jacket was thick and big on Pop’s thin form). “I know exactly what you’re thinking, and that’s not it at all. Whatever is going on is unnatural and I want to cover as much ground as possible. To do that, we need to split. Hey, hey look at me.” Maxine grabbed her sister’s chin and angled her face toward her’s, slightly upward.
For Penelope, this felt all too real.
“I love you and I’ve missed you like crazy, okay? But as long as you have me close to your heart.” Maxine grabbed the teardrop necklace around her sister’s neck and smiled, “I’ll find you. I’ll always find you. Okay?”
“Okay…” Penelope felt her eyes water, but instead of letting herself cry she bit her cheeks. There was a brief moment of silence as the sisters stared at one another before Penelope added, “You too. I love and miss you too.”
“I know.” Giving each other one lasting embrace, Maxine faded away, never one to waste time. Swallowing her feelings, Penelope glanced over at Charlie, her heart dropping at the sight of him.
He was here.
He really was here.
“Kitchen, please.” She was not ready to give him more than a couple seconds to take her in, or maybe it was the other way around with her taking him in. Her heart could barely handle him at this distance. “What do you know?” Poppy asked as she rushed forward to their next destination.
Charlie wasn’t sure how to react to anything at that time. Not only was he with Poppy again, like he had always wanted but he had also done the unthinkable; irregardless of his feelings of guilt or remorse now, he did what he did, everybody knew and now he was back. Maybe this was some twisted penance but he was unsure. He followed her into the kitchen with his hands in his pockets, his head hung like it always did.
“Not a whole lot,” He responded. “What I do know is that it’s not just me and Max. It’s everyone, Pops. It’s everyone who suffered like we did and chose the wrong path. Killers and….victims alike.” That pause. It hung in the air like a guillotine, like his regret waiting to behead him at a moment's notice. “We’re all back for different reasons I think. What they are, I really don’t know.”
“Is that so?” Although she was attentively listening to Charlie, Penelope was also a woman on a mission, packing her backpack with a couple non-perishable snacks, like protein bars, almonds, and pretzels. She didn’t go overboard, just enough to last a day for a small group of people. “And what is your reason?” She looked up from her bag, expectantly meeting his gaze. “You have to have some idea why you’re back.”
“Penance.” Charlie said as he pressed his palms down onto the kitchen. “I’m here to see the pain that I caused, to experience first hand the horror that my actions have inflicted upon people.” If he could go back in time, there was no doubt that Charlie Decker would undo the actions of the first day of senior year, he would take it all back. “And you. I couldn’t rest until I saw you again.”
Penance.
“I couldn’t— well, I can’t sleep on my bed,” Penelope whispered back. Turning away from Charlie, she went to the fridge and retrieved an apple. “I’ve finally started eating better.” She closed the fridge behind her, her voice rising ever so slightly. “Up until recently, Jade’s had to force feed me and even then… I don’t always keep it down.” Walking to her family’s small island, Poppy leaned her elbows on it as she deeply surveyed the fruit. There were so many things she was overcoming, like her fear of social encounters and being able to function in the world again. Being able to live life freely on her own.
“I go to therapy!” Pushing herself off the island, she tossed the apple up, keeping her focus on the fruit instead of the boy, unable to look at him and his face. The old Penelope would’ve been able to look at him right in the eyes as she pleaded for him to stay in her room. Emotional talk? He was her other half. She should be comfortable putting her heart on her sleeves.
That’s just it, though. She wasn’t that Poppy anymore. The apple fell into her hand and when it did so she grasped it. “I was diagnosed with agoraphobia but hey, Mrs. Ramsey says I’m getting better.”
The more she talked, the more defeated she felt. The more hurt she realized she had deeply buried inside her. Dropping her arms to her side, she blankly stared ahead, realizing that seeing Charlie again would only set her back. This would only hurt her. All he’s ever done was hurt her. She always waited and waited and waited for him. Even after death, she waited.
Now he’s back and all she could think about was, “Did I mean nothing to you?” her voice broke, shaking and fighting back the pain. Nothing she could’ve said or done would’ve stopped him that day. Nothing she did helped him in anyway. Everything they had was all in her head and completely one-sided. Always, always with him she felt the need to fight back the tears. She didn’t want to cry over Charlie anymore.
“Pops.”
Charlie Decker had hurt a lot of people, too many people but none more so than Penelope James. When he was alive, she was his heart and in death she still is. Yet he betrayed his heart and everything it represented when he gave into his darkness, to the curse that twisted his soul beyond salvation. Charlie loved her even now, worlds apart but Poppy was what gave his existence meaning.
“You did, you do and you always will mean everything to me.” He was absorbing her feelings, like a sponge. Just being close to Poppy, Charlie could almost read her thoughts and they were filling him with more pain, more hurt but he took it. It was his to take as he was the one that gave it to her in the first place. “I’m not sure what any of this means, Poppy. All I can tell you is that wherever I was…before, I saw you and only you. You’ve always been courageous and I’ve always been a coward but now, maybe I still am but I can say the words now. All the words I wish I’d said the last time I saw you. The words I wrote.”
“What’s the point.” Penelope dejectedly stated. Tightly, she gripped onto the apple in anger, “This. This won’t even last and you’ll be gone.”
All his words left unsaid, what good would that do for her now?
He was a ghost. He was dead.
“You don’t get to say shit like that to me.” She loosened her grip on the apple, dropping it on the counter, in hopes it would calm her down. Instead, her breathing picked up and a sharp pain resided in her chest, a feeling she knew all too well by now. “YOU were MY everything.”
Breathe, Poppy, just breathe.
“I can’t look at my window, my bed, my room without thinking of you. I can’t walk outside without thinking of you. I can’t look at everyone in this fucking town WITHOUT THINKING OF YOU.” Holding onto the counter, using it for stability, knowing well enough she was fighting a panic attack, she shook her head, repeatedly telling herself internally to breathe. To just breathe.
All her life, Poppy convinced herself that she’d have Charlie to walk beside her and all her life, she believed it. Now though? She was a child learning how to walk. She needed to learn to live without him, without the idea that he would show up randomly and be there for her, holding her hand.
Together, she felt whole. He was her world. He always was, he still is. But, for once, she could see a light beyond him. She was finally moving forward. Finally getting somewhere. Finally learning how to live again. If she allowed herself to believe in that again, believe in their love, in him, she would never move on. She would never be happy.
Grabbing her bag from the island, Penelope rushed to the door, walking right through Charlie to get where she needed to go, “I can’t do this. I can’t be alone with you.” Others would use this chance for closure but they were a million worlds apart.
And it hurt.
For once, Charlie was at a loss for words. As someone who was known as a wordsmith, he couldn’t find anything in his thesaurus like vocabulary to steal away what Poppy was feeling. She walked through him. How did she even know she could do that? He didn’t even know she could do that. Regardless of the how, it was the actual why?
It had always been Charlie and Poppy; Poppy and Charlie. Then he did what he did and it was Poppy and the evil spirit that clung to her like rain on skin. And now, just as the sun began to shine, he brought that big black cloud back to sit above her head.
He looked at her with his deep set brown eyes, even in death, still framed by tired purple bags and sighed through his nose. There was a lot left to be said and done but Charlie knew that Poppy needed time and although he didn’t want to leave her side, he had to let her go.
“Be safe out there,” Charlie began. “I’ll try and see what I can figure out but if you need me, just say my name and I’ll be there.” He turned towards the hallway door and began to step through it. He stopped and turned back to his love and sighed again.
Charlie hung his head and faded as he stepped through the door.
Once she slipped on her jeans, her Neon Ether arcade shirt, and Charlie’s leather jacket, she went to her bed where she placed a few items she took out of her parents’ room (which were alongside some of her own items). Holster, check. Glock, check. Knife, check. Pepper spray, check. Binoculars, check. Flashlight, check. Lighter, check. Cigarettes, check. And last but not least, just in case, 2 walkie-talkies, check. If the dead were back, she wasn’t going to wait for something bad to happen to her. She was going to be prepared.
Penelope knew most of these items could be useless toward a ghost, but she wanted to be ready in the only way she knew how. Call it anxiety or paranoia but she knew that if the dead were back, it wasn’t only the dead that people wanted to desperately see. With her gear situated on her body and in her bag, she thought about what else she needed.
Snacks.
Opening the door to see both her first love and her sister, Poppy calmly commanded, “Kitchen.” Her hair was in a messy ponytail and there was only acceptance in her green eyes.
“Actually…” Maxine apologetically frowned. “I’m going to give you two some time together.”
“Wait what?” Was she hearing this correctly? Poppy hadn’t seen Maxine since freshman year and now that the dead were given a chance to rise from their graves or ashes, her sister didn’t want to be here? Didn’t want to be with her?
“Stop that.” Maxine placed her hands on her sister’s shoulders and squeezed them (it wasn’t easy, seeing how Charlie’s jacket was thick and big on Pop’s thin form). “I know exactly what you’re thinking, and that’s not it at all. Whatever is going on is unnatural and I want to cover as much ground as possible. To do that, we need to split. Hey, hey look at me.” Maxine grabbed her sister’s chin and angled her face toward her’s, slightly upward.
For Penelope, this felt all too real.
“I love you and I’ve missed you like crazy, okay? But as long as you have me close to your heart.” Maxine grabbed the teardrop necklace around her sister’s neck and smiled, “I’ll find you. I’ll always find you. Okay?”
“Okay…” Penelope felt her eyes water, but instead of letting herself cry she bit her cheeks. There was a brief moment of silence as the sisters stared at one another before Penelope added, “You too. I love and miss you too.”
“I know.” Giving each other one lasting embrace, Maxine faded away, never one to waste time. Swallowing her feelings, Penelope glanced over at Charlie, her heart dropping at the sight of him.
He was here.
He really was here.
“Kitchen, please.” She was not ready to give him more than a couple seconds to take her in, or maybe it was the other way around with her taking him in. Her heart could barely handle him at this distance. “What do you know?” Poppy asked as she rushed forward to their next destination.
Charlie wasn’t sure how to react to anything at that time. Not only was he with Poppy again, like he had always wanted but he had also done the unthinkable; irregardless of his feelings of guilt or remorse now, he did what he did, everybody knew and now he was back. Maybe this was some twisted penance but he was unsure. He followed her into the kitchen with his hands in his pockets, his head hung like it always did.
“Not a whole lot,” He responded. “What I do know is that it’s not just me and Max. It’s everyone, Pops. It’s everyone who suffered like we did and chose the wrong path. Killers and….victims alike.” That pause. It hung in the air like a guillotine, like his regret waiting to behead him at a moment's notice. “We’re all back for different reasons I think. What they are, I really don’t know.”
“Is that so?” Although she was attentively listening to Charlie, Penelope was also a woman on a mission, packing her backpack with a couple non-perishable snacks, like protein bars, almonds, and pretzels. She didn’t go overboard, just enough to last a day for a small group of people. “And what is your reason?” She looked up from her bag, expectantly meeting his gaze. “You have to have some idea why you’re back.”
“Penance.” Charlie said as he pressed his palms down onto the kitchen. “I’m here to see the pain that I caused, to experience first hand the horror that my actions have inflicted upon people.” If he could go back in time, there was no doubt that Charlie Decker would undo the actions of the first day of senior year, he would take it all back. “And you. I couldn’t rest until I saw you again.”
Penance.
“I couldn’t— well, I can’t sleep on my bed,” Penelope whispered back. Turning away from Charlie, she went to the fridge and retrieved an apple. “I’ve finally started eating better.” She closed the fridge behind her, her voice rising ever so slightly. “Up until recently, Jade’s had to force feed me and even then… I don’t always keep it down.” Walking to her family’s small island, Poppy leaned her elbows on it as she deeply surveyed the fruit. There were so many things she was overcoming, like her fear of social encounters and being able to function in the world again. Being able to live life freely on her own.
“I go to therapy!” Pushing herself off the island, she tossed the apple up, keeping her focus on the fruit instead of the boy, unable to look at him and his face. The old Penelope would’ve been able to look at him right in the eyes as she pleaded for him to stay in her room. Emotional talk? He was her other half. She should be comfortable putting her heart on her sleeves.
That’s just it, though. She wasn’t that Poppy anymore. The apple fell into her hand and when it did so she grasped it. “I was diagnosed with agoraphobia but hey, Mrs. Ramsey says I’m getting better.”
The more she talked, the more defeated she felt. The more hurt she realized she had deeply buried inside her. Dropping her arms to her side, she blankly stared ahead, realizing that seeing Charlie again would only set her back. This would only hurt her. All he’s ever done was hurt her. She always waited and waited and waited for him. Even after death, she waited.
Now he’s back and all she could think about was, “Did I mean nothing to you?” her voice broke, shaking and fighting back the pain. Nothing she could’ve said or done would’ve stopped him that day. Nothing she did helped him in anyway. Everything they had was all in her head and completely one-sided. Always, always with him she felt the need to fight back the tears. She didn’t want to cry over Charlie anymore.
“Pops.”
Charlie Decker had hurt a lot of people, too many people but none more so than Penelope James. When he was alive, she was his heart and in death she still is. Yet he betrayed his heart and everything it represented when he gave into his darkness, to the curse that twisted his soul beyond salvation. Charlie loved her even now, worlds apart but Poppy was what gave his existence meaning.
“You did, you do and you always will mean everything to me.” He was absorbing her feelings, like a sponge. Just being close to Poppy, Charlie could almost read her thoughts and they were filling him with more pain, more hurt but he took it. It was his to take as he was the one that gave it to her in the first place. “I’m not sure what any of this means, Poppy. All I can tell you is that wherever I was…before, I saw you and only you. You’ve always been courageous and I’ve always been a coward but now, maybe I still am but I can say the words now. All the words I wish I’d said the last time I saw you. The words I wrote.”
“What’s the point.” Penelope dejectedly stated. Tightly, she gripped onto the apple in anger, “This. This won’t even last and you’ll be gone.”
All his words left unsaid, what good would that do for her now?
He was a ghost. He was dead.
“You don’t get to say shit like that to me.” She loosened her grip on the apple, dropping it on the counter, in hopes it would calm her down. Instead, her breathing picked up and a sharp pain resided in her chest, a feeling she knew all too well by now. “YOU were MY everything.”
Breathe, Poppy, just breathe.
“I can’t look at my window, my bed, my room without thinking of you. I can’t walk outside without thinking of you. I can’t look at everyone in this fucking town WITHOUT THINKING OF YOU.” Holding onto the counter, using it for stability, knowing well enough she was fighting a panic attack, she shook her head, repeatedly telling herself internally to breathe. To just breathe.
All her life, Poppy convinced herself that she’d have Charlie to walk beside her and all her life, she believed it. Now though? She was a child learning how to walk. She needed to learn to live without him, without the idea that he would show up randomly and be there for her, holding her hand.
Together, she felt whole. He was her world. He always was, he still is. But, for once, she could see a light beyond him. She was finally moving forward. Finally getting somewhere. Finally learning how to live again. If she allowed herself to believe in that again, believe in their love, in him, she would never move on. She would never be happy.
Grabbing her bag from the island, Penelope rushed to the door, walking right through Charlie to get where she needed to go, “I can’t do this. I can’t be alone with you.” Others would use this chance for closure but they were a million worlds apart.
And it hurt.
For once, Charlie was at a loss for words. As someone who was known as a wordsmith, he couldn’t find anything in his thesaurus like vocabulary to steal away what Poppy was feeling. She walked through him. How did she even know she could do that? He didn’t even know she could do that. Regardless of the how, it was the actual why?
It had always been Charlie and Poppy; Poppy and Charlie. Then he did what he did and it was Poppy and the evil spirit that clung to her like rain on skin. And now, just as the sun began to shine, he brought that big black cloud back to sit above her head.
He looked at her with his deep set brown eyes, even in death, still framed by tired purple bags and sighed through his nose. There was a lot left to be said and done but Charlie knew that Poppy needed time and although he didn’t want to leave her side, he had to let her go.
“Be safe out there,” Charlie began. “I’ll try and see what I can figure out but if you need me, just say my name and I’ll be there.” He turned towards the hallway door and began to step through it. He stopped and turned back to his love and sighed again.
“There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight,
To me did seem
Apparelled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.”
The earth, and every common sight,
To me did seem
Apparelled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.”
Charlie hung his head and faded as he stepped through the door.
It was a rarity for Roddy to use the car he had gotten for his eighteenth. Not just because it was a high grade piece of shit but mostly because it was agony for him to be seated for any longer than an hour or two. The rehab center was only in Boston which was helpful but that wasn’t where he’d been on his latest sojourn.
“Robo Rod, my man. You really need to get this radio fixed, can we not like, plug in your Spotify or something?” A voice called from the backseat of the Callahan boys car. “We’ve been listening to this station for soooo long”
Sighing through his nose was the only acknowledgment he could muster to his passengers comment for the moment. Roddy didn’t mind his cousin Clay Costigan…Everyone had an opinion on him. To some, he was incredibly witty. To others, he was an absolute pain in the ass; both were right and wrong depending on the day. Clay was ice cool and didn’t take life seriously. He had graduated a few years before Roddy but the pair were close. He was good to have around when Francis left town. Clay was away at college during the worst of Edenridge’s problems and in some way; Roddy believed that his older cousin felt guilty about that. Perhaps that’s why he was returning to town; having enrolled himself in the Edenridge Police force. Having done some work for Boston PD; he was transferring home and Rod was his ride.
“It’s my friends show; Clay. She does some good stuff”
Clay sat up from his prone position, brushing a hand through his luxurious and somewhat legendary hair. “It’s so…weird, dude and morbid. Spells? Ghosts? A curse? and WHAT THE SHIT?!! As the cousins were conversing, a sudden crack broke their rhetoric as the windshield splintered and shattered around them. Roddy swerved off of the dark road and into a nearby ditch. The young man felt an incredible shooting pain up his spine before he felt Clay’s hand on his shoulder. “You ok Rod?”
Roddy winced and groaned. He held the small of his back as the burning sensation in it slowly began to dull. “I think I’m good,” He responded. As he opened his big blue eyes, the butchers boy’s mouth dropped open wide like a garage door at not only the sight of the cracked windshield but what was hanging out of it…an axe. “Actually maybe not”
“Roddy, stay in the jeep” Reaching into his bag, Clay pulled out a pistol and dove out of the back of the ditched vehicle. He hunkered down low and checked his ammo. He moved around the back side of the car and leaned over the hood; aiming his glock at a figure in the road.
“HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD!”
“GET DOWN ON THE GROUND! I AM AUTHORISED TO USE DEADLY FORCE!”
Clay had the masked figure in his sights as it began to charge towards him with a speed that seemed unnatural. He pulled the trigger multiple times and it didn’t seem to stop the advancing behemoth. ”Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck” Clay continued to unload his bullets into the attacker until he reached the car and burst into a cloud of black smoke which drifted into the nearby overgrown woods.
”Clay?”
Clay dropped his gun and hurried to the driver side to help his cousin out of the car. ”Jesus, Rod you’ve put in some fucking pounds. They giving you steroids at rehab?”
The two men glanced around them and looked up at the sign that their jeep had nearly hit. Welcome to Edenridge
“So what in the actual blue hell just happened? Did you lace my coffee with something cos I swear that fucker just exploded into thin air?”
“I was gonna ask you the same thing, bro beans” Clay helped his cousin up to his feet and the two of them glanced down the road where the figure had vanished. It was the road to what was once Camp Eden; site of The Hangman Murders. Edenridge in 1974 was a very different place and it was during a hot humid summer that year that a maniac descended upon their world and took the lives of several young teenagers, including Roddy’s aunt Mary who was the first confirmed victim of the massacre. He was eventually shot to death but his identity remained a mystery even to this day.
“What the fuck is happening?”
Edenridge Presents: The Halloween Special
“Ladies and gentlemen, I am your host, the demon dream girl herself Mei Midnight and you are listening to a very special broadcast of the Midnight Frequency. Why is this special you ask? Well it’s because tonight I am coming at you live from the legendary Elder Tree that sits by Edenridge Lake. The supposed home to the curse that binds this and forces it to bow to evil. And tonight boys and ghouls, I’m going to attempt to break that curse”
Mei waded through the small six feet of water to reach the Elder Tree of myth; the camera she had set up back on the shore directed towards her.
Everybody local knew the story; In 1670, Nathaniel Carlisle arrived in Edenridge to begin a movement to purge the new township of the native contingent. The man easily pursuaded the infantile settlers to follow his law and decree. He soon became the first Mayor of Eden and stamped his mark everywhere. When Nathaniel caught his very own daughter, Esther with a native girl, engaging in what he would later call black magic but modern historians believe to be a same sex relationship, he went off of the deep end. The Massachusett tribe girl was hung from the very same Elder Tree that sat at the centre of a lake where Mei now was. This act has been cited as the first murder in Edenridge’s soon to be sordid history. Carlisle then put his own daughter on trial for witchcraft, of which she was found guilty by the townsfolk. She was tied to the same Elder tree and burned alive, whilst the tribal girls body hung beside her.
Legend has it that the ashes from both bodies fell to the ground and poisoned the Earth itself. No matter how much the town that would become Edenridge grew, within its borders, an evil festered. Some believe that Nathaniel was going God’s work and that the witches he burned are tainting the souls of the unlucky. For every generation of Edenridge since, a sordid tale has unfolded. In recent years this has been the likes of The Hangman, BT and Charlie Decker but there have been so many more. Some simply believe that Carlisle himself was the venom; that the bile and bullish things he spouted began setting a precedent for things to come. Either way, most agreed that Edenridge was both a beautiful and regretful place to live.
Once she had reached the base of the tree, Mei placed her bag down onto the ground. She had been practicing Wicca for years but had never really attempted any kind of real magic. This was a big task for her first spell. She unzipped her bag and began to take out the ingredients she had collected over the past few months. Was Mei deluding herself into not only thinking there was an actual curse but that she could break it with a collection of bits and pieces which gathered from eBay and Amazon?
Probably.
The demon dream girl lit several candles and began to place them around the fabled Elder. As she did she thought back to why she was bothering to even try and break the so-called “Carlisle Curse” was it for views and likes? In some ways, yes. The main reason was for Jill. Her lover didn’t like to talk about it but the O’Briens like so many Edenridge families had a lot of dirty secrets. Their most prominent and probably the closest to Jillian’s heart was BT; to many just another psycho from the Southside. To Jill, he was family and what he did weighed heavily on the O’Briens even some twenty odd years later. Mei wanted to make it easier for them, for everyone. It was time for Eden to stop being a statistic on the news and start being a community again, no longer divided into the south and north sides; the haves and the have-nots. Once she had returned to her starting point, Mei dug her hand into the earth and began to pull lumps of dirt out to make a small hole.
Reaching into her bag, Mei pulled out a headress and placed it over her head. From the inside pocket of her leather jacket, she pulled a small black cloth pouch and began to fill it with her collective ingredients. Lavender. Sage. Alkanet Root. Howlite Stone. Raven bones and dirt from the supposed grave of Nathaniel Carlisle.
“Bidh mi a ’gairm air a’ bhan-dia, tha mi a ’tabhann na tiodhlacan a thug thu dhut mar pheann”
Mei began to chant. She dropped the pouch into the hole she had made and began to circle the tree. The full moon illuminated the small island in the centre of the pond and peered like a million points of light through the heavily branched tree. From the other side of her jacket, Mei unsheathed an ornate blade and made her way back to her pit.
”Ban-dia tha mi a ’tabhann fuil neach-leantainn naomh dhut”
Gritting her teeth, the young tattoo artist sliced into her palm. Fighting back the tears that were welling up in her chocolate eyes, she plunged her hand into the ground and grabbed the pouch inside, allowing her blood to pool through the mesh and onto the gathered items inside.
”Tha mi ag iarraidh fà bhar dhut nas fhaide na a h-uile cà il eile, saor an à ite seo den fhòirneart, leig e basachadh ann an solas na gealaich a-rithist, cuir às don ghrà in!
She released the pouch back to the Earth and pulled her bleeding hand from the hole; immediately wiping the blood onto her dress and grabbing a bandage from her nearby bag to dress her wound. For a moment, she stared at the tree, hoping, praying for a sign that what she had done had worked or that she had actually done…anything. All there was was a leaf that fell from the tree and Mei let out an exasperated groan. She turned to her camera set up and waved with her now bloody and bandages hand. ”No idea if that worked, doubt it but I tried my lovely netherborns, I really tried. As I drive back to the studio, my lovely assistant Kylee Grimm is going to play you a tune. Stay safe out there kiddo’s and enjoy the sweet sounds of Gunship, Rise the Midnight Girl” Mei blew out all of the candles, packed up her gear and headed back to her fathers car; which she had borrowed for the evening. She felt deflated as she drove away.
A few moments later, from behind the Elder Tree, a figure emerged. With platinum blonde hair and a long leather jacket, his face was twisted and demonic as he lit a cigarette and looked out at the not too distant lights of Edenridge, Massachusetts.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I am your host, the demon dream girl herself Mei Midnight and you are listening to a very special broadcast of the Midnight Frequency. Why is this special you ask? Well it’s because tonight I am coming at you live from the legendary Elder Tree that sits by Edenridge Lake. The supposed home to the curse that binds this and forces it to bow to evil. And tonight boys and ghouls, I’m going to attempt to break that curse”
Mei waded through the small six feet of water to reach the Elder Tree of myth; the camera she had set up back on the shore directed towards her.
Everybody local knew the story; In 1670, Nathaniel Carlisle arrived in Edenridge to begin a movement to purge the new township of the native contingent. The man easily pursuaded the infantile settlers to follow his law and decree. He soon became the first Mayor of Eden and stamped his mark everywhere. When Nathaniel caught his very own daughter, Esther with a native girl, engaging in what he would later call black magic but modern historians believe to be a same sex relationship, he went off of the deep end. The Massachusett tribe girl was hung from the very same Elder Tree that sat at the centre of a lake where Mei now was. This act has been cited as the first murder in Edenridge’s soon to be sordid history. Carlisle then put his own daughter on trial for witchcraft, of which she was found guilty by the townsfolk. She was tied to the same Elder tree and burned alive, whilst the tribal girls body hung beside her.
Legend has it that the ashes from both bodies fell to the ground and poisoned the Earth itself. No matter how much the town that would become Edenridge grew, within its borders, an evil festered. Some believe that Nathaniel was going God’s work and that the witches he burned are tainting the souls of the unlucky. For every generation of Edenridge since, a sordid tale has unfolded. In recent years this has been the likes of The Hangman, BT and Charlie Decker but there have been so many more. Some simply believe that Carlisle himself was the venom; that the bile and bullish things he spouted began setting a precedent for things to come. Either way, most agreed that Edenridge was both a beautiful and regretful place to live.
Once she had reached the base of the tree, Mei placed her bag down onto the ground. She had been practicing Wicca for years but had never really attempted any kind of real magic. This was a big task for her first spell. She unzipped her bag and began to take out the ingredients she had collected over the past few months. Was Mei deluding herself into not only thinking there was an actual curse but that she could break it with a collection of bits and pieces which gathered from eBay and Amazon?
Probably.
The demon dream girl lit several candles and began to place them around the fabled Elder. As she did she thought back to why she was bothering to even try and break the so-called “Carlisle Curse” was it for views and likes? In some ways, yes. The main reason was for Jill. Her lover didn’t like to talk about it but the O’Briens like so many Edenridge families had a lot of dirty secrets. Their most prominent and probably the closest to Jillian’s heart was BT; to many just another psycho from the Southside. To Jill, he was family and what he did weighed heavily on the O’Briens even some twenty odd years later. Mei wanted to make it easier for them, for everyone. It was time for Eden to stop being a statistic on the news and start being a community again, no longer divided into the south and north sides; the haves and the have-nots. Once she had returned to her starting point, Mei dug her hand into the earth and began to pull lumps of dirt out to make a small hole.
Reaching into her bag, Mei pulled out a headress and placed it over her head. From the inside pocket of her leather jacket, she pulled a small black cloth pouch and began to fill it with her collective ingredients. Lavender. Sage. Alkanet Root. Howlite Stone. Raven bones and dirt from the supposed grave of Nathaniel Carlisle.
“Bidh mi a ’gairm air a’ bhan-dia, tha mi a ’tabhann na tiodhlacan a thug thu dhut mar pheann”
Mei began to chant. She dropped the pouch into the hole she had made and began to circle the tree. The full moon illuminated the small island in the centre of the pond and peered like a million points of light through the heavily branched tree. From the other side of her jacket, Mei unsheathed an ornate blade and made her way back to her pit.
”Ban-dia tha mi a ’tabhann fuil neach-leantainn naomh dhut”
Gritting her teeth, the young tattoo artist sliced into her palm. Fighting back the tears that were welling up in her chocolate eyes, she plunged her hand into the ground and grabbed the pouch inside, allowing her blood to pool through the mesh and onto the gathered items inside.
”Tha mi ag iarraidh fà bhar dhut nas fhaide na a h-uile cà il eile, saor an à ite seo den fhòirneart, leig e basachadh ann an solas na gealaich a-rithist, cuir às don ghrà in!
She released the pouch back to the Earth and pulled her bleeding hand from the hole; immediately wiping the blood onto her dress and grabbing a bandage from her nearby bag to dress her wound. For a moment, she stared at the tree, hoping, praying for a sign that what she had done had worked or that she had actually done…anything. All there was was a leaf that fell from the tree and Mei let out an exasperated groan. She turned to her camera set up and waved with her now bloody and bandages hand. ”No idea if that worked, doubt it but I tried my lovely netherborns, I really tried. As I drive back to the studio, my lovely assistant Kylee Grimm is going to play you a tune. Stay safe out there kiddo’s and enjoy the sweet sounds of Gunship, Rise the Midnight Girl” Mei blew out all of the candles, packed up her gear and headed back to her fathers car; which she had borrowed for the evening. She felt deflated as she drove away.
A few moments later, from behind the Elder Tree, a figure emerged. With platinum blonde hair and a long leather jacket, his face was twisted and demonic as he lit a cigarette and looked out at the not too distant lights of Edenridge, Massachusetts.
It had been a while since they had children in the house.
Beau and Colleen danced around the kitchen, quietly making a hearty Saturday morning breakfast for the lost trio that slept soundly in their garage. Beau had been waiting for Colleen’s outburst for the last hour or so, yet his wife of many a year had not said a word. She had gotten up out of bed, saw the kids asleep and began to prepare their first meal of the day. He knew she was beyond annoyed but he also knew that she cared for those children as much as he did and she wouldn’t let them leave without sampling her famous french toast. As Colleen began to sprinkle some chilli extract into her mixture, her eyes darted over to her husband, who was correcting his tie in the mirror. Antoine Beauregard; the only man to wear a pinstripe suit whilst running a coffee shop.
”Antoine?”
If she used his first name; he knew he was in trouble. Spinning sharply on his heel, Beau flashed his pearly whites like a schoolboy trying to look cute before being chastised by his mother. ”Yes, darling, sweetheart, love of my life, most beautiful woman in the world?”
Colleen had long suffered through Beau’s saviour complex. She remembered when they met, all those years ago. She had grown up in Eden, back then she was Colly Clay. She had survived the Camp Eden massacre and after that was desperate to get out of town. When she graduated Edenridge High she was on the first bus out of town and soon found herself at college in New Orleans. One night she found herself in the French quarter, being accosted by some drunk white boys only for both to be knocked out by the most dashing man in uniform she’d ever seen. Antoine had only been on the force for a matter of days but there he was, playing hero already. He walked her back to her dorm and the rest was history.
Too many nights passed where he didn’t come home; most police wives learned early that if their man didn’t come home, he was either dead, in the hospital or fucking around. It was different for Beau though, he didn’t come home because he was trying to make a difference, he was imparting wisdom on these criminals that most police didn’t offer. He was trying to show them a better way. He failed more times than he succeeded but he did succeed. Even when he and Colleen had their own kids, Marcel and Genevieve; Beau still spent time on the street, doing what he could for the community he loved. The man could not turn down a case.
Even after the kids had grown up and flown the nest and Beau himself had left the force, he still ended to help. Which was how they wound up back in Edenridge. Colleen wanted to go home again and a teaching position opened up at the school. Beau did not have a college education but what he lacked in degrees he made up for with life experience and to his credit, a broad vocabulary. The triple threat that now lay asleep in their garage, we’re probably of all of them, Beau’s favourite projects.
”Imma say this only once cos I know you probably ain’t gonna listen” She had had this conversation with him too many times at this point. Colleen knew that he would try to take it on board, that he would try and change but it didn’t matter; her man had a code. You are not a teacher anymore. These kids are grown ups now, they don’t need your protection anymore. I know you love them, I do too. You gave them some good years, baby but it’s time to let them go be who they gonna be”
She wasn’t wrong.
Beau had spent years trying to better the world through the youths he found himself in contact with. When he was police, when he was a teacher, it did what he could with everything he could. Poppy, Jade and Decky were three cases which he had yet to put in the black. They were still the red on his board because he wasn’t ready to let them go yet. They were grown now, pursuing the gift of life in their own ways. Was it really his place to interfere anymore? ”I know you’re right, mon cherie” His booming voice was low for a change. ”This business with Charlie’s books and things, I just felt like they needed me. I know I need to step back, let them deal with things now. They were fractured but now they’re together, maybe that’s a good thing”
Colleen walked up to her husband, placing her hands either side of his puffy cheeks and kissed him softly. ”You are the best of fathers and the best of husbands, Antoine Rene Beauregard. I love you and your stupid big heart. Now go open the shop and make mama some retirement money” She smiled brightly as he grabbed his jacket from the dining room chair. ”Don’t forget, the kids are calling in before you open up. I spoke to them yesterday while you were galavanting with the Gonzalez' boy. Don’t tell them what you were up to for the love of God”
Beau left out of the front door so as to not wake his guests and began the short walk towards the coffee shop. There were few people out and about this time of morning. It was actually his favourite part of the day since he could enjoy the scenery. Usually he’d maybe see a handful of serpents wandering around, Sly in his patrol car, Mei and Jill staggering home or Roddy on a run but mostly it was just Beau and the open morning.
It wasn’t a difficult decision to move her; especially once he found out just how broken the town really was. He immediately felt like he could make a difference. Plus the hundreds of spooky stories made him feel at home since New Orleans was often considered ghost city central and his grandmama used to tell him that they were descendents of a voodoo queen. It seemed like the right decision to make the move. Now there they were, ten years removed from their move and he still didn’t regret a thing.
Beau wandered into Rochambeau and began to turn on all the lights and equipment. The idea behind the cafe was a safe space. A place where the children of the town could come and be at peace, away from their troubles. Even the gangs referred to it as Switzerland. It was neutral ground; nobody fucked with anybody on Beau’s turf. As he awaited all the equipment to warm up, he opened up his laptop and prepared for it to ring.
It would be nice to hear from the kids. Most people didn’t know that Antoine and Colleen had their own children considering how close they were to the broken babies of Edenridge. Alas they had a son and a daughter, both of whom were all grown up now and doing their own thing. Marcel was their first; he came not too long after they began dating; a happy accident. He was a tall and strapping boy; he played football for a while but found more of a calling out on the water. He was in the Navy before joining a yacht crew. Genevieve came a year after Marcel. She was a powerhouse right from the start, flamboyant and carefree; she was now working out on Broadway.
Beau readily wondered if he had been a good father. For much of his life, he had been out being police, missing birthdays and performances. Did they resent him? Was that why he tried so hard with his students? Guilt?
”Hey Pop!”
He was blindsided by two pop windows of his kids, smiling their stupid smiles at him in unison. Even just seeing them, he couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear. Maybe he did enough because both of them seemed happy.
Outside of Rochambeau, a man walked by, throwing a cigarette onto the ground…
A Ramsey Family Post
(Featuring Mei, Will, Shannon and Reagan)
The dojo was eerily silent save for Mei’s haggard breath echoing throughout the empty room. The sweat was heavy and dripping from her torso, hitting the ground with a thud like sound of something a million times its size. Her eyes darted up from the ground to see the large foot coming towards her face. Instinctively; she dropped and rolled across the floor before springing back to her feet. Her dark eyes locked intently onto her opponent, a much larger man who was faster than one might expect. He thrust his fist forward but Mei batted it away with an open palm, swung her left leg behind her right and span on the heel, attempting a back fist. Sensei easily sidestepped it before latching onto the demon dream girl's waist and flipping her onto the floor; hard.
Staring up at the wooden beams on the ceiling, the podcaster could feel the wind leaving her lungs. She had spent a thousand nights and two thousand mornings looking up at those old things. When she was a little girl, Mei would lie in the centre of the dojo, just watching the dust particles dance through the light beams, thinking about the world, about life and about how she wished she could move like that. Years of gymnastics and martial arts training had made her an athlete; the Olympics were most definitely on the cards but then Allison happened and her world became just a little darker.
Sensei strolled up to Mei’s prone body. He was a deceptively youthful looking man of Asian descent, with thick dark hair and some facial scruff. He was obviously in tremendous physical shape. He crouched down to the young woman’s level and clicked his tongue. ”You ok down there, kiddo?”
”I’m fine daddy, just watching the huli jing dance upon a pin head”
”’Kaaay” He responded unsure whether his baby girl had hit her head or not. Then again she was a weird child anyway, just like her old man. Will Ramsey was for all intents and purposes like all the other fathers of Edenridge. He was born and raised in town but unlike many others he escaped for a time; spending years abroad. Why? To learn philosophy and build upon his knowledge of the martial arts. Edenridge was a town of bad boys, gangsters in leather with guns and baseball bats. Will’s body was a walking weapon and he taught discipline to those that needed it; yet through it all he was a goofy fucker who loved comics and anime. ”Feedback? Try not to get so worked up. It’s messing with your footwork”
”Knock knock!”
Shannon Ramsey entered into the dojo in her typical fashion; dressed to impress in a sleek business skirt and jacket, with two coffee cups in hand. Mei would kill to look like her mother when she gets to her age. Many have often cited her as one of Edenridge’s most beautiful. Will got up to his feet and made his way over to his wife; kissing her gently as she handed him one of the cups. ”Green tea fresh from Rochambeau” Leaning around her husband, she smiled at Mei. ”Mr Beau sends his love” She returned her attention to her husband and kissed him again. ”Gotta run, I’ve got a client in ten minutes but I’ll bring some food home with me tonight. Love you both” As she turned to leave again, she stopped and glanced at her husband and daughter once again. ”Oh, by the way, guess what I found wandering outside? Shannon disappeared from the doorway only to be replaced by another face.
”Miss me?”
If Shannon was considered beautiful then the woman that now stood in her stead was breathtaking. Reagan Ramsey was their oldest daughter and inherited much of her decorated facial features from her mother. Her long brown hair bounced off of her shoulders as she sauntered into the room, kicking off her heels as she did so. She maintained much of her height, being already tall. Reagan was a model in everything but career; she always had been. Oft considered glamorous; she dressed always in white, carried herself in an almost regal capacity and seemed flawless. In contrast to her beauty, Reagan had an impeccable brain. Hyper intelligent, diligent, and savvy, she showed everyone she was more than just another pretty face by going off to medical school where she currently resided.
”Reagan!” Will embraced his daughter tightly. ”What are you doing here?”
”Well I’m ahead in my classes, so I thought I’d take some personal time, maybe volunteer down at Sinclair Health for the summer. Plus Meiday over there texted me and said she needed her big sister, isn’t that right Mei?”
Immediately a shiver ran up Mei’s spine and a horrible clammy feeling filled the pit of her stomach. She did message Reagan the night before. What had she done? Nobody knew her sister like she did and Mei knew that there was more to the story, not that anyone would figure it out. Reagan was a sociopath; absolutely brilliant but as cold as ice. She was able to smile and offer one warmth and comfort but in reality, behind her dazzling smile and welcoming eyes, she simply was not there. ”Yeah, I had a rough night” Mei finally pulled herself up from the floor where she had been during the entirety of this conversation. ”You really don’t need to stay though Reagan, it's fine. I’m all good now…”
”Imōto!” Reagan rebutted. The Ramsey’s had the distinction of being a multilingual family; with Shannon’s family being of Chinese descent and Will’s of Japanese, so both girls learned both languages as children. When either language was used in the household or usually meant someone was in deep trouble. ”You wanted me here, I’m here and I’m staying” At no point did the elder Ramsey sibling change the tone of her voice. It remained in a constant, mellow calm. She turned to her father and kissed him on the cheek. ”It’s good to see you daddy. Don’t worry about making space for me. I’ve got somewhere to stay. I’ll come by the house tonight” She picked up her shoes and waved to her father and sister before leaving the dojo.
Mei clenched her fists and swung a heel kick towards one of the many training bags dotted around the room. It seemed to her that in a vulnerable moment the night before, caused by Eden’s inherent darkness, that she invited another malevolent force back into her life; her sister, the ice queen, Reagan. Now she had to not only deal with her but there was also Alonzo and the letters. She had sent Jill out to get some breakfast and now Mei instantly regretted that act; she needed her girlfriend right now.
Will dropped down to the floor in a crossed legged position, taking a sip from his tea and letting out a satisfied sign.
”Well that was a bit awkward”
Featuring Mei @BrutalBx and Jill @NeoAJ
Mei had long thought about the words that now hung around her lips like a noose.
”I love you”
They weren’t that difficult; easy. Something that a child learns to say when they’re around the ages of two or three. Then why do they cause so much confusion? Why do they cause so much pain? She didn’t know the answer to that question and there was only really one way to find out; to say those three words and mean it. To whom? That was the easy part.
She had long thought about the red headed girl that was currently asleep in her bed wearing a Motley Crue tank top. They had been friends for as long as Mei could remember and beyond all others, Jillian had been the only one to accept her for who she was. When she turned her back on the prissy visage of a cheerleader, Jill was there. Whenever she had a problem with Reagan or with Q; Jill was there. When Charlie shot up the damn school and Mei lay helpless in a pool of her own blood, it was Jillian’s face she wanted to see. Mei had loved her all her life but after last night; after the psycho, his letters and ReyRey…a message was reinforced in her mind; hold on to who you love and hold them tight.
Mei climbed back into bed next to the flame haired O’Brien girl and gently caressed her porcelain skin. She didn’t know who was behind the sadness that had befallen her friends but perhaps maybe something else besides ill intent was at work? Could this be the thing that finally brought her and Jillian together as they should have been all this time? She didn’t know but she was going to find out.
Jillian could have found out last night. Maybe it’s why she was still thinking about finding out now instead of either cuddling up with someone who wanted to do so, or curling up in her room and never coming out. She was stuck in between, somewhere in the quantum state between BFF and GF. She could have figured it out.
She was all set to get an answer, after her pep talk to and from Marco, to which she was going to have to check in with him at some point in the next week to see how his own progress was coming. The sugar rush from the cannoli probably fueled her desire to push the envelope and find out. But she had to wait a while before she was able to get a hold of a Lyft driver able to ferry her back to the palatial Ramsey estate, so she walked around the block a little bit. By the time her chariot arrived, the pump-up speech was wearing off. It didn’t help that by the time she arrived, Miss Midnight had yet to come home.
It wasn’t new for Jillian to show up at Mei’s place in need of aid with her fellow ex-cheerleader not home. She remembered the drill. Get the key from under the flowerpot by off to the side of the door, open the door and prop it open with the brick, return the key, slip in the apartment and get comfy. She even knew where the sleeping tank tops were kept, there were few secrets between them at this point. She worked her way into Mei’s bed and waited… and waited… and fell asleep.
There was a lot done today, it took a lot out of her. She thought at times she could hear Mei talking, doing one of her podcasts, but it faded into the dreams she was having, the usual nightmares of black-and-white tiles and red liquid replaced for now by less fraught visions of the two of them. Together.
It was heavenly. Something Jillian craved but never truly got from previous paramours, who were only interested in her for the status of bedding a cheerleader, or who remembered who she once was. It was a very lonely way to go about finding pleasure. Now, instead of the ghosts of her fallen friends, her own demise, and her vast array of mistakes, she only saw Mei Ramsey. It wasn’t the sunlit field that most people picture for romantic tableaus, but a neon-lit nightclub with music drifting from the band in the corner and an unlimited bar tab for the both of them. There were no worries, no thoughts of what price had to be paid for such an experience, just basking in the glow of each other. It was one of those moments that made Jillian feel like she couldn’t possibly desire anything else in the world. Yet Mei never hesitated to deliver what she needed.
Including the wake-up call to let Jillian know that her dreams weren’t that far from reality. She was aware there was movement in the bed at this point, but she didn’t want to know what it meant. She finally got her answer as she felt the soft hand grazing along her cheek. Passing along to the exposed arm poking out from the black fabric of the t-shirt. Her eyes flickered open, as if to confirm the person offering the gentle touches was exactly who she wanted it to be. A soft giggle escaped Jillian’s lips to be followed by a content sigh. “Mmmmm, morning Mei… or is it midday? I feel like I slept forever…”
“It’s early,” Mei responded; leaning into her pillow next to Jill and looking into her pretty brown eyes. “You were sound asleep but I thought it best to wake you. I’m heading to the dojo for a workout, see if I can’t exercise some of those demons that invaded our world last night.” She didn’t really want to bring up what happened to them last night; it didn’t feel right given what else she was thinking about yet it also was unavoidable. If not for the events of the previous evening, would she have even developed the courage to say the words she so desperately wanted to say?
Her eyes scanned the room; almost looking for the next tragedy that would stop them from being happy. It always seemed to Mei that when happiness was in reach, the curse of Edenridge would read its horrid visage and cause untold pain. Yet in that moment of afterglow, there was no pain. No monster in the corner of the room preparing to eat their souls. It was just Mei and Jill, in bed, a small sunrise light peeking through the black curtains and the dim neon light sliding from beneath the door of her closet.
”Jillybean; I…” Cowardice; something that she was not accustomed to. ”Fuck it. Jillian, I love you and I’m not talking about squad love.” Mei placed her hand delicately onto the O’Brien girl's face. ”Last night just reinforced the fact that you are what I carry around in my heart. It’s not pain or anguish, it’s just love. I love you and I think I always have. You’re my dream girl.”
Now Jillian was wide awake, as her eyes bolted open at the revelation. She didn’t dare move, lest she give Mei a reason to take her hand away from her cheek. The look in her eyes didn’t give away an impression of fear, more of shock.
How...how did she manage to beat me to the heart-pouring confession?!?
After the initial impression wore off though, Jillian’s eyes softened. While she wasn’t the one that got to make the initial confession of love, there was now no reason to be afraid. She didn’t need to get an awkward confirmation from Mei, she got total confirmation. Fuck, Mei said love. Multiple times. Called Jill her dream girl. She wasn’t going to get any stronger go-ahead signals that what she was feeling last night from the kiss, from the fighting spirit, from her friendly chat with the impartial observer who knew even with their distance that Jill and Mei should just be a thing already. It was meant to be. Mei was already her dream girl. It was time to let her know.
“Mei…” she started, unsure of how she was going to continue that sentence. She was so ready to deliver the confession, she had no idea how to receive it. Maybe she could do both. “Mei… you don’t even know… how happy it makes me to hear you say that…” Jillian was struggling. She could feel tears starting to form even if she was certain she would be able to hold off when she was on the other side. “I’ll be honest… I don’t think I could imagine what I would do if I heard that from anyone else but you… I think I would have told them to fuck off in the hopes that one day you would be the one to say that to me… and I don’t have to wait… So you shouldn’t either…
Jillian darted forward in the bed, as quick as she could, and planted a kiss on Mei’s lips. It was soft, it was slightly awkward and it didn’t last very long, but she wanted that first kiss as her girlfriend to be short, sweet and easily remembered. “I love you too, Mei Ramsey. I think I needed a stupid amount of time to make sure of it, but there’s no doubt in my mind, in my heart, in my soul… You’re the person I need in my life. I need you by my side, in the darkness and the light. You are my reason. You… you keep me going… I love you.” The redhead stopped herself there before she said something that would totally wreck the moment, content that despite not being what she rehearsed in her head last night, it would work. It was Mei. Of course it would work.
Mei could feel the heat rush through her body when Jill accepted her admission and proceeded to kiss her. It was like a lightning bolt had struck her heart and empowered her entire being. This was the feeling that all the booze and all the parties couldn’t give her. She had been searching for so long yet it was always right in front of her. Mei leaned forward again to press her lips against Jillian’s. This was a longer kiss, a proper kiss. Something to show her soul mate just how much she felt for her. Her hand moved down from the flame haired girl's cheek to her waist and Mei pulled their bodies even closer together. She broke their entanglement for some air and found herself lost in Jillian’s eyes once more.
”You realise now you can’t take any of that back?” She gave her that signature wry Mei smile; the one that had gotten her into so much trouble over the years. The one that displayed her beauty, her bravery and her foolhardiness. ”When we walk out that door, we’re not just Mei and Jill. Ex cheerleaders and resident bad girls. We’re Mei and Jill, Ex cheerleaders, resident bad girls and the hottest damn couple Edenridge has ever seen?”
Jill had to pause for a moment, since her mind was still swimming from the more passionate kiss that was shared between the two girls. It had been a while since she let herself have a moment just like that, with nothing mattering but the feeling of her pressed against someone’s body as their breaths entwined. It felt nothing like the flings of the past year. It felt nothing like those that eventually hurt her would offer as an apology. She was worried how it would feel to give in completely to someone again, but that was nothing but pure bliss. There wasn’t even a thought that Mei could possibly hurt her in the future to taint such a moment. This was right.
It’s why Jill let out another soft giggle when Mei pressed her to make sure she was all right with everything. It wasn’t the drunken guffaw that dominated her responses while pounding back vodka cran after vodka cran. It was another sign that maybe Old Jillybean wasn’t as dead and buried as she and almost everyone else were led to believe. Marco may have led the expedition to the grave, but of course it was going to be Mei diving in with a shovel to dig her up. The giggle left a wide grin on her face as she let herself bathe in Mei’s cocksure glow.
“Girl, there are so many things I would take back if I could,” Jill admitted as she moved her left hand up to stroke Mei’s face in the same manner that the dark-haired woman started the conversation with. “That was definitely not one of them. And I guarantee if there is some sort of battle royale for the title of hottest couple in Edenridge, we are gonna kick all their asses for those crowns. Along with anyone else who has a problem with it.”
A sign of the influence that Miss Midnight had on Ashes, a far more violent confirmation of her love than the last time she offered it. But it felt right. Mei brought so much out of Jillian during those times of joy and times of darkness. Even if Old Jillybean was starting to come back to life, she was going to keep wearing those combat boots that new Jill had picked up. They still looked good on her.
“Although if I’m going to do that, I might have to start coming to the dojo with you, just in case I can’t use bottle tactics in that fight. But you can’t change what you said either when you see me trying to punch air, no matter how flaily I look.”
”I wouldn’t change anything I said for the world.” Mei pulled herself up to a seated position; looking upon Jill’s smile and couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear. ”If you want, you can come with me now?” She posed to her new girlfriend. ”I work up a mean sweat and I mean…having you there would be extra motivation. Pick out something sexy from my wardrobe?” If for nothing else, Miss Midnight would’ve loved to just stay in bed with Jill, get a different kind of work out and show her new love exactly what they had been missing in all the years they’d spent dancing around each other. Alas the demon dream girl was a creature of habit and ritual; it’s what in reality besides Jill herself what kept Mei sane.
“Hope I still remember how to make sweaty look sexy from high school!” Jillian remarked. However, she was going to have to get up, and getting up was hard. Even with the experience she had at this point with those particular alcohol levels, it was still a challenge to even sit up at this point. She would have loved to just lay in bed with Mei until the afternoon and find out exactly what the perks of taking their relationship to the next level would be. All she had right now were stories.
Still, she had to hoist herself out of bed to do her first official task as Mei’s girlfriend: picking out something to wear this morning. Or maybe she didn't... nah. Not just yet. “Hmmmm… well, you know I’m a sucker for the classics. Something that allows for freedom of movement, but is also very striking.” Happy Jill was drifting into goofiness already. In her recent state, it normally took at least four drinks to hit that point, and even then it was an even chance her personality would land on one of goofy, sad, angry or hungry. But she was stone sober now, just riding the high of their shared confessions. “I think if we pair the tight black tank top with the short shorts I see there, that should do the trick.”
Smiling like a Cheshire cat; Mei sprang out of bed and over to her walk in to grab the outfit that Jill had suggested. Returning to the foot of the bed, she let a sideways glance betray her thoughts as she admired Jillian again. She lay the outfit down onto the edge of the desk and began to slowly peel off the clothes she was wearing. They had seen each other naked; that wasn’t a new thing for them. Having been teammates they had showers together and being friends for as long as they had meant lots of late nights cleaning vomit off of places that had no right to be covered in the violent projectile. This was the first time that said nakedness happened after a declaration of love; it was somewhat intimidating. Mei had no reason for concern: she still had the athletic body that had carried her through high school; it was only now just covered in a few more tattoos. She still trained every day in spite of her hard partying ways and worked hard to stay in top condition.
Once she slipped into the training outfit; she walked over to Jill’s side of the bed; which it would now forever be and took her hand into hers. ”Now you” She pulled the walking sunset upwards, out of bed and into her embrace. She led her to the wardrobe and stroked her face. ”I know just the thing” Miss Midnight took a step into the walk-in and grabbed a few items of clothing before handing them over to Jill. ”What's mine is yours and you would look so, damn, good in this. Much better than me.”
"I don't know, have you seen you?” Jillian innocently asked in response to Mei’s compliment. Still, she now had the chance to return the favor after Mei gave her a taste. Sure, it wasn’t the first time she had seen Miss Midnight in her full glory, but this was the first time she could appreciate it on this level. It almost made Jillian a little gun shy when it came to stripping down herself. But Mei loved her, flaws and all. It made no sense to hide from her in any fashion.
As the redhead started to remove the borrowed sleep wear from last night, the effects of the recent year were more visible. The porcelain skin the O’Brien family was known for bore quite a few nicks and chips as the scars of her attack were laid bare. Her hair covered up the big one where her skull connected with the jutting edge of the third stair from the bottom of the Barrie household, but the smaller ones along her torso were visible. She also still carried a ring of baby weight around her stomach, unwilling to work it off in her alcohol-fuelled spiral so it carried vodka weight instead. It had been a while since she even attempted something as vigorous as what Mei usually had planned for her workouts at the dojo, but maybe now that Jillian had someone she wanted to look good for, it was time to start trying to slim that reminder off her body. Besides, if Mei was going to be designing tattoos to help cover up some of the marks, she needed to know that the canvas wasn’t going to be in a state of flux.
Jill took a deep breath now that she was bearing everything in the room. She didn’t want to move too quickly and deprive Mei of the sights, but she was still methodical in slipping on the sports bra, the pink and black cut-off tank top, the mid-thigh shorts, the things necessary to start fully participating in her girlfriend’s life. Not just as a drinking buddy and occasional podcast guest, but as a partner. Fully invested. Another breath came and went as she turned around to face her girlfriend. “Well, do I look ready enough to kick ass and take phone numbers?”
”As long as it’s only my phone number. Anybody else and I’ll have to kick their ass.” Mei took a step forward with a deep breath. She placed both hands on either side of Jillian’s cheeks and kissed her. God, the electricity she felt when she did that; it was indescribable. ”Come on, baby. Let’s go make our debut.” She took Jill by the hand and led her out of the apartment; into a brave new world.
As the pair made their way out of the door, they were greeted by an all too familiar image; Alonzo Hearst sitting on the bench opposite Mei’s apartment. ”Well, well” The agent pushed up his glasses to get a better look at the two of them. ”If my brother was here now I’m sure he would have a brain aneurysm; his two favourite girls all tarted up and ready to go.”
Mei stopped in her tracks and gripped Jill’s hand tightly. Hearst had been harassing her for weeks. She was almost sure that he believed that she was behind the letters being sent around town. Yet were he any good at his job, the FBI agent would know she had nothing to do with any of it. It was obvious to anyone with half a brain that Alonzo was still sore about what happened to his little brother. Some wounds don’t heal as fast as others. ”If your brother was here now, Lonzo; Q would probably be telling us about how much smarter he is than the rest of us and how he was getting out of this Podunk town…oh wait, that didn’t happen did it? No he was taken from us and what exactly are you doing about that besides harassing me? Huh Agent Hearst?”
Now Jill was taking breaths out of a different kind of fear. Alonzo Hearst had been an annoying presence in Edenridge since that day of dread in senior year. Especially given what happened between her and Quinton once she became firmly entrenched in Mei’s corner after their split. She seemed to have a pattern of making male friends only to have them do stupid male shit which would cause her to cast them aside. Between Q, Danny and Michael, it was a wonder she didn’t fully give in to the other side of her bisexuality sooner.
Still, she felt bad about how that particular friendship ended. Junior year was frosty as hell between the two and senior year, well, Jill lost a lot of past and present friends in senior year. Not with Lonzo though. There were too many sessions at the Hole listening to Mei complain about Agent Hearst harassing her for her to have much sympathy for him. She knew he was acting out of hurt, but there were a million wrong ways to deal with it. They just chose different paths. But she was getting off hers. Possibly. Maybe.
“We both know Q couldn’t handle the thought, Alonzo,” Jillian confirmed, giving Mei’s hand a squeeze back to let her know she was staying put with her. “Shit, the kid had a nosebleed when I did that dance routine on the sideline with Lanie Lancaster in sophomore year. Something about girls gyrating together to the sounds of Cardi B really roused his spirit, didn’t it?” The barb was meant to hurt Lonzo, but Lanie was another name on that list of the lost. It was fine though. Jill had all the support she needed now. “Anyway, you need help with something, Mr. G-Man?”
Alonzo stood up from the bench to his full towering height of six foot five. He was an intimidating specimen if not for his ice cool demeanour. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out an envelope. ”Just saying hello, dropping off the mail.” He casually walked by the two girls to Mei’s front door and dropped the envelope through the letterbox. ”I know how much you love letters, Mei.” His deep booming voice offered no hint of intent. ”I’ll be seeing you.” Lonzo then stuffed his hands into pockets and began to walk off in the opposite direction.
Mei gripped onto Jill’s hand as tightly as she could. Even in the face of ReyRey Gonzalez holding a gun at her; she didn’t feel fear like she did when Alonzo Hearst was in her presence. Rey was a loose cannon; everybody knew that. Lonzo was a different kind of animal altogether. Trying to get a read on him was like trying to catch smoke with your bare hands. ”Fuck him. He’s not ruining this.” She kissed Jill’s soft lips again; it was becoming a habit already and one she did not want to break any time soon. ”You ready?”
Most people wouldn’t recommend sassing back at a federal agent, especially not by invoking dead family members, but Jillian didn’t care. She was too in her feelings for once. Happy feelings. With every kiss that Mei delivered to her lips, she was more certain she could make the happy feelings actually last without the help of the bottle. As Alonzo disappeared, the tension eased in her mind. Hopefully Mei felt that too. For all the support she gave, she had to know Jill was going to give it right back in a manner she felt befitting.
Or she could keep offering kisses. That worked too. Either way, Jillian was finally ready to do something that resembled productivity as opposed to ready to just forget another day. Even with Agent Hearst’s presence, there was nothing about this day she wanted to lose. If she was right about this, it would be a day to be kept sacred. Maybe the day that she could tell others that her own curse was finally lifted. It felt weird to be optimistic.
Jill looked back at Mei, smiled and planted a return kiss. The feeling of the lip ring pressing on her mouth felt right. “Definitely. Let’s go,” she answered, a tone present that was the clearest indication yet that she was back from her self-imposed exile from society. The hottest couple in Edenridge had to represent, after all.
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