Who: Jules and Carson When: Tuesday, Oct 24, evening Where: Waterfront Fitness Status: Complete
Since Carson had given away all the money that Brad had laid on him, he’d needed to get back to work as soon as he could. The bite on his leg was healing but it had been a deep wound, so it was still a slow process. He could put a little more weight on it every day, but walking around all day long was painful and tiring. The owners of the gym had worked with him though, and Tuesday was Carson’s first day back at work. Thankfully he hadn’t had to go in very early; a small blessing because of what had happened the night before. Carson didn’t have any more dreams or sleep walking, thankfully, but his head had still been spinning when he’d woken up again. He was grateful to go back to work, honestly -- it gave his mind something else to do.
He’d only committed to a couple of clients who didn’t need a lot of his active participation in their routines. Carson made his way through his appointments well enough, and the rest of the time they let him do light duty things he could manage with his crutch. Working the desk, slowly wiping down machines, that sort of thing. It was busy work, but that was okay. It was soothing, in a way, getting back to the familiar. And if his heart started to beat a little harder in the short hallway that led to the back door, so what? He would get over that. This had just been a one-time thing, a fluke. There was a lot more to think about.
Which he was doing at the moment, as he slowly and distractedly entered some information in the computer at the front desk. The gym wasn’t very busy, a lot of people were taking their workouts outside while they still had the chance, and the lack of noise just had Carson’s gears grinding over his encounter with Neil the night before all over again. It was so crazy, but how could he deny the reality of what was happening to him? To all of them?
Jules hadn't been able to sleep much after the incident the night before. After Mike had driven her home, and told her about the one legged guy at the gym, Jules had sat up in bed, trying to find the guy online. She didn't have a name, and checking out the Waterfront gym told her nothing. There were no pictures of the gym staff and no names but for the manager. Frustrated, Jules had put her phone away and tried to go back to sleep, but she only managed to doze a bit before her alarm went off for school. She supposed she was too scared to actually sleep, not wanting to wake up in the middle of the road again.
She'd felt like a zombie at school, a combination of lack of sleep, her creepy dream and sleepwalking adventure and worry for Jasper and his sister. School passed by in a blur and for the first time in a long time, her heart wasn't in cheer practice. She was feeling strange and helpless in all kinds of ways, but on her drive home, Jules decided she wasn't going to just sit around and do nothing. There wasn't much she could do for Jasper unless he texted and needed her, but she could be proactive in something.
So when she got home, Jules showered and changed into jeans and a Chamberlain Wolves t-shirt before getting back into her car to drive toward Waterfront Gym. She had no idea if the guy in her dreams actually worked there, and if he did, if he was working tonight, but Jules felt like she could get away with low-key stalking the place, just to try and figure it out. If she had to, she would ask someone who worked there for a name or something because she doubted there was more than one guy who worked there with only one leg.
After Jules found a parking spot, she began walking toward the front doors, feeling her anxiety spike the closer she got. What if he did work there? What if it proved that her dreams were more than just dreams? Sure, Jules had dreamed about people in town before, but usually people she knew, and they weren't exactly recurring dreams. What was better, though? Trying to find answers to what was happening to her, or ignoring it completely? Maybe the latter, but it wasn't like she could ignore it. Not anymore.
Jules walked in just after an older looking guy carrying a duffel bag. She had never been to this gym before though she knew her mother was a member. It smelled like a gym, and sounded like one, and Jules hovered by the door after stepping inside, trying to decide if she ought to just wander through the building, or talk to the person at the front desk. She was trying to figure out her first move when her gaze landed on the guy behind the desk who was greeting the man with the duffel bag. It didn't seem like Jules would have to do much of anything, because she knew immediately, even without seeing how many legs he had, that the guy was the guy from her dreams. One of the guys, anyway. Jules inhaled sharply and she gripped the door handle, feeling the urge to bolt and speed all the way home and pretend she had never done this. But Jules felt frozen to the spot, much like she did in her dreams. Maybe if she just pretended like she was thinking of getting a gym membership, they could talk and she could try to get to know him a bit to see if there was anything that connected them somehow. It felt like a good plan. Except Jules couldn't seem to bring herself to move, her hand still curled around the door handle as she stared at him.
Carson had barely looked up at the man who walked in first, saying a perfunctory hello and giving a faint smile. He was usually more perky and welcoming with their guests, but he was distracted today. Understandably, he thought. Not that he could tell anyone the full scope of what his problem was, but Carson felt stressed enough without trying to force himself to be the perfect employee. He’d looked back down at his screen once the man passed, but something caught his eye again in his peripheral vision, and Carson lifted his head once more. It wasn’t an approaching guest this time, it was a teenage girl standing in the doorway and staring at him. Recognition kicked in instantly, and a cold chill ran down Carson’s back.
It was the blond girl from the dreams. The one Neil hadn't known anything about yet. She was right there and staring at him with her own recognition written all over her face, even though Carson was sure now he’d never really seen her in the waking world before. At least not that he’d noticed. It was the weirdest fucking feeling. Carson stared back at her, his lips parted, feeling kind of dumbfounded for a moment, then he broke the trance to toss a quick glance around. Nobody was watching, so he looked at her again and motioned her forward. They could talk at the desk, that wouldn’t draw attention, and while he had no idea what to say to her, he knew they had to talk.
Inhaling sharply, Jules saw the recognition as soon as he looked at her, and she realized that he knew her just as she knew him, even though they hadn't ever met. This was so fucking bizarre, Jules didn't know how to deal with it at all. He was motioning her forward and her feet finally felt like they could move because Jules let go of the door to approach the desk. What was she supposed to say? Should she try to look over the counter to look at his leg? But why would she do that, when she knew his face as well as she knew that he had one of those prosthetic legs. She was sure she would know the other two guys too if they passed each other on the street. The dreams were that clear and terrifying.
She paused in front of the desk, gripping the strap of her purse now as she studied him. Should she say hi? Introduce herself? Explain how she found him? Jules licked her lips nervously. "I'm Julia," she explained before grimacing a bit. "Jules. Jules Cooper." Nobody called her Julia but her mother when she was pissed. "I didn't know if you were real or not."
Carson was wearing pants anyway, so there wasn’t much to see when he stood up and let the chair he’d been in in roll back a bit. The counter was about rib-height, and he didn’t want to make her lean over it a bunch to talk to him. She looked scared, and he probably would have too, if he hadn’t already faced one of the mysterious people from his dreams the night before. The situation was scary. Neil hadn’t been though, so that helped. They were all just normal people caught up in something very strange. Carson gave her a little half smile at the introduction. He’d said much the same thing. “Hi Jules,” he said, brushing his right hand off before he offered it out to shake hers. God, she really did look young, didn’t she? “I’m Carson Durand. I didn’t know if you were real either. But ... here we are. Here you are ... wow. Did you just walk in here by accident?”
Well, Mike had been right about both things. The guy with the one leg worked here, and he was hot. Jules's thoughts were scattered and all over the place, but whatever, she was a seventeen year old girl with hormones and all that crap. She took his hand to shake it, realizing that the only people who ever did that with her were adults that her mom was introducing her to. When she took her hand back, Jules huffed out a soft laugh, wishing she had a totally normal, easy answer for his question. How much did she tell him? Would he understand? "I... no. It's kind of a long story," Jules explained, feeling her cheeks warm. "And it sounds super crazy, but since we're like, dreaming about each other, I guess it's not too crazy? I guess I started sleepwalking last night, when I had another dream with you in it... and this guy found me and drove me home. Uh, I kind of asked if he knew anyone in town with um, a leg missing?" Her cheeks felt hotter now, like she was somehow being totally insensitive even if she wasn't trying to be, but Jules couldn't stop talking, it seemed like. "And he mentioned you worked here. That was the only defining thing I could think of, between the three of you. I mean, you've had the other two guys in your dreams too, right? Not just me?"
It was a little strange, watching her struggle through it just like he had. Carson’s heart went out to her, she was obviously as lost and confused as he and Neil had been. It was pretty obvious that Nic Castell hadn’t found her yet either, and Carson was the first one she was meeting. It made him want to be careful about not fucking this up and scaring her off or something. The way she phrased his most defining characteristic didn’t bother him at all. It was pretty distinctive. So were all the tattoos, but he wasn’t the only guy in town with full sleeves and stuff, so they stuck out less. Carson nodded first. “Yeah, two other guys and you. I met one of them last night, when I went out sleep walking. He was doing the same thing, apparently we live in the same apartment complex. Both of us ended up in the road, woke up at the same time. So ... yeah, no, you don’t sound super crazy.” Carson gave her a small smile. “His name’s Neil, kinda smallish, shaggy hair. The taller guy is Nic Castell. I don’t know him either, but him and Neil have talked already. They were trying to figure out who you were.” He gave a little nose-wrinkle, aware that would probably sound creepy if their situation wasn’t what it was. “You just made that way easier, so thanks.”
Jules had no idea if she felt scared or relieved that Carson - and Neil? - had been out sleepwalking like she had. Were had they been headed to? Towards each other? Towards something else? Jules shivered and suddenly resented all of this. She was just a seventeen year old girl who wanted to enjoy cheerleading and her boyfriend and friends. She didn't want any of this weird stuff. It was so tempting just to say goodbye and drive home and pretend nothing was happening, but Jules knew she couldn't, and that was so unbelievably frustrating. "Neil," Jules murmured before her brows lifted as the name Nic Castell finally registered. Maybe that's why he had looked so vaguely familiar. "I don't know Nic, but I've heard of him. His family lives in my neighborhood. The Castells. I heard he tried to kill somebody." Not that she was there to spread gossip but it was probably something Carson ought to know because... well, it was creepy. Jules chewed on her lip briefly. "So... I mean, did you guys figure out anything? Or, like, have any theories about why this is happening?"
Carson would’ve understood that resentment. It felt like so much shit was happening to him that he hadn’t asked for, all at once. It was hard to deal with even for a twenty-something grown man, he was sure the teen girl was overwhelmed. Having lived in Point Pleasant his whole life, he vaguely knew of the Castells too. He remembered hearing weird rumors about Nic being violent, but it wasn’t something he’d paid much attention to. Especially after his own issues. So Carson gave a solemn nod to that tidbit of information. Neil hadn’t said anything about being scared of the man, and Neil seemed like the nervous type, so Carson was taking that as a good sign. He looked regretful as he shook his head to her last questions. “No, we’re still fuckin’ clueless,” he said. “Pardon my French. We talked about all of us getting together to talk, see if we’ve got any connections we don’t know about ... ‘cause that thing in the dream won’t let us. Talk.” His voice dropped quieter as he looked at Jules with keen interest. After a second, he asked, “Did you see weird shit in the mirror too? Like the reflection wasn’t yours? And had crazy mood swings?”
Her heart was racing wildly in her chest again and Jules supposed she should have been prepared for the mirror question. But honestly, she hadn't thought the two things were connected at all, but if Carson was experiencing the same thing, then maybe it was. This whole thing was getting more bizarre by the second. The idea of getting together with three strange men to talk about this strange situation was... strange. Not that Jules was scared, because she wasn't getting creepy old guy vibes from Carson or anything, but it just felt like this was definitely something now, and she didn't know what to do about it. Her throat was dry, so Jules swallowed and looked a little embarrassed as she spoke. "I saw... myself... do things, like... it, I, was banging on the other side of the glass? And yelling something, but then something pulled me, it, back into like... shadows. And yeah, the mood swings," she added dryly. "Those have been super fun. I thought I was hallucinating, but it was so real. I thought I was the only one experiencing that and now I don't know if I'm relieved or even more freaked out that I'm not. Neil and Nic had the same things happen?"
Even though they’d just met and it would probably be wildly inappropriate, Carson wanted to give Jules a hug. He completely understood what it was like to question one’s own sanity, and it fucking sucked no matter what. He nodded through her description to let her know that was exactly what he’d seen too. It felt bizarre to hear it come out of someone else’s mouth like that, just like it had the night before at Neil’s place. Maybe even more so now, because they were a well-lit, populated gym. His work, where he used to be comfortable and feel safe. Now everything was all fucked up and scary. “Yeah,” he answered. “Neil did, at least. Haven’t talked to Nic yet. But it wouldn’t surprise me now. Something’s obviously happening to all of us. I just ... I thought I was going crazy too, until last night. For a while I wasn’t even sure he was real. But something’s really happening, so ... congrats on our sanity, I guess.” Carson gave her a wan smile without much humor in it. “Now we just gotta get together and see if that helps illuminate some things.” If it didn’t, Carson didn’t know what they would do.
Jules's snort was barely audible, but it felt oddly reassuring to know he seemed just as unamused by this whole thing as she was. Neil, Nic and Carson. They were grown men, probably with jobs and maybe families or wives or something, and what was she? A teenage cheerleader. She honestly couldn't imagine what it was that they all had in common, if anything. Maybe this whole thing was super random. "I kind of think it would be better to be crazy," she said as she reached into her bag to pull out her phone. If they were going to have to all talk to each other, she figured it would be beneficial to have his phone number. She pulled up new contacts and thumbed in Carson's name with swift ease before sliding her phone across the counter toward him. "If you put in your number, I can text you, then you'll have mine too. Because it seems smart to like, try to talk as soon as we can before something happens again." Jules paused. "Have you had any other... like, hallucinations other than in your dreams and with the mirror? Like, maybe at random times?"
Having been crazy? He couldn’t say he agreed. But Neil’s reaction to his confession of hospitalization the night before made Carson hesitant to actually say that. Carson was relieved when Jules pulled out her phone to trade contact information. That meant he wouldn't have to ask a girl in high school for her phone number. Sure, it was for a good reason, but it still would feel kind of creepy, he was pretty sure. He tapped in his cell number and hit save, then pushed Jules’s phone back over to her. His brows drew closer together at her question, and he wondered now if he was forgetting something, because Neil had asked him something similar. “Not that I’ve been able to tell,” he said. The not-wolf attack crossed his mind, of course, but that had been no fucking hallucination, and he had the wound to prove it. “Have you?”
Reluctant to say anything, Jules took her phone back and delayed her answer by sending Carson a quick text. It's Jules. She left it at that and slipped her phone back into her bag. Then she brought her gaze back up to Carson and tried to keep from grimacing. If he hadn't had anything weird happen, maybe what happened on the bus hadn't been connected. Except... it had, because the road had been the same, and that thing that had touched her, Jules knew in her gut that had been the same thing she heard screaming in her dreams. "I was in a bus accident a couple of weeks ago and I hit my head pretty bad. It knocked me out. And I kind of woke up in the road with nothing around. You guys weren't there. Whatever... we can hear in the dreams, was there too. It touched my face and I woke up on the floor of the bus again. I just... guess I thought maybe you guys had something like that happen, but... I don't know." She huffed out a frustrated breath. "I'm sorry, I don't know what to think about all of this. Like, are we even sure this is the first time we've been sleepwalking? Maybe we've done it every night we had those dreams, only we never woke up. And like, the dream was real. I don't know." She was starting to ramble now so Jules forced herself to stop, giving Carson a small, slightly apologetic smile.
Carson listened to her story, his brow furrowing all over again. Anxiety flared again when she suggested this wasn’t the first time they’d been sleepwalking, but Carson tried to push it back for the moment. If that had been happening, worrying about it at this moment wouldn’t help anything. “I dunno about sleepwalking. I haven’t noticed any signs, my cousin hasn’t caught me or anything ... Maybe it was because you got knocked unconscious? The extra vision?” he suggested. “I haven’t been knocked out except for y’know, normal sleep. It touched your face? Did you see what it was?” That idea gave him a bit of a chill. His imagination had been running kind of wild about whatever was making that noise, and he couldn’t help but imagine some horrific monster. “Don’t be sorry, though. All of this is immensely fucked up and terrifying.” It was definitely real though. Horribly real.
"I couldn't move," Jules explained, "like in the dreams. But I could hear it behind me, and then it moved my hair and I could feel it breathing." She was talking quickly, like if she didn't get it all out in one fell swoop she would chicken out or have a panic attack or something. Jules hadn't told anyone about what happened on the bus, and it felt stupidly cathartic to tell it to someone who might believe her, even if he was sort of a stranger. "It put its hand over my face, and that's when I woke up on the bus. But it wasn't a human hand. It was, it felt... tough, and it had long fingers and the nails dug into my skin. And seriously, it sounds really freaking nuts, I know. Like, if anyone came up to me and started telling me this, I would say they're full of shit, you know? But it was the same road." She paused as two women emerged from the hall and headed for the doors to leave, chatting animatedly together. Jules waited until they were gone before she turned back to Carson. "I don't know what it means, or what we're supposed to do? But, like, I don't want to do that again. I'm scared to go to sleep now."
Carson’s look of horror conveyed just how he felt about that description, and he guessed his imaginings about this thing being some kind of monster were confirmed. Of course, all of that was happening in some nightmare world they were somehow all sharing, so monsters weren’t that far-fetched ... at least not compared to the rest of it. It did sound fucking nuts, she had that right, but now with four people confirming it for each other, they had to admit it was happening for real. Carson’s heart went out to her, because he was kind of afraid to go to sleep too. More for the sleepwalking than the dreams. He worried that he might do something to Rylee in his sleep, or really walk out into traffic this time or something. “I dunno what it means either,” he said to Jules. “But we’re all in contact now in the real world, so we’re gonna do something about it. There’s gotta be something. Maybe ... I dunno, maybe the others have some ideas. Neil took my number, but I know where he lives, so I’ll let them know you found me and we’ll all meet somewhere and try to figure this out. I know it fucking sucks, but you’re not alone with it anymore.” Carson hoped that was at least a little reassuring.
Jules didn't realize how relieved she would feel to talk to someone who would believe her. She knew Jasper would - and did, the parts she told him about already - but this felt different because Carson, and the others, had experienced it too. She didn't want to wake up in the middle of the night, outside in the road again. She didn't want to wake up anywhere creepy and she didn't want to have anymore creepy dreams. Why couldn't she rewind time to the summer, when her only worries were what to wear when Jasper texted her for a hookup? Now there was this, and Jasper's sister was missing, and everything felt uncertain and horrible. It was just so unfair. Jules realized she couldn't stand there at Carson's place of work and talk about this forever, so she nodded and bit her lip again as she glanced around. "Will you text me soon, then? About meeting somewhere? There's... stuff going on, but whenever you guys figure out when and where, I'll make sure I'm there." Oh god, she could only imagine the gossip flying around school if anyone saw her meeting up with three older guys, no matter what the circumstances. Hopefully it would be somewhere super private.
“I will, I promise,” Carson said with a solemn nod. He wasn’t going to leave her hanging, not now that he knew more than one person involved in this. The more paranoid part of his mental landscape had toyed with the idea that maybe Neil hadn’t been for real, but Jules walking in blew that paper-thin worry away. Carson didn’t want her to worry that he wasn’t for real. It was going to be so fucking bizarre to have all four of them in the same room, but he had to think they could all help each other somehow. Carson didn’t want to just be along for the ride for another shitty thing. “We’ll set something up as soon as possible.” He didn’t know when or where yet, but he had a feeling the other guys would be on board. They were probably all equally on edge about all this. “You take care until then, okay? Handcuff yourself to the bed or something.” He gave her another of those tiny bitter smiles, only half joking.
She hoped he would follow through on it, although Jules supposed she had no real reason to doubt him. This was happening to him too, so why would he want to prolong everything? But Jules had Carson's number in her phone now, so she could always text him in a couple of days if she didn't hear from him. His joke was both funny and not funny and Jules snickered softly. "Yeah, well, my boyfriend would probably like that." Wildly inappropriate response, she knew, but nothing about this conversation was normal, so it was what it was. Sighing, Jules pulled her keys out of her bag and gave Carson a small smile. "Anyway... I guess I'll talk to you soon, hopefully. And if anything else super weird happens, I'll text you."
Carson gave an amused snort, but he bit his tongue on saying anything more about handcuffs, because this girl was still in high school. He probably shouldn’t have said it in the first place, but oh well. She hadn’t taken offense. Carson nodded, still small-smiling himself. “Likewise,” he said. He really hoped he wouldn’t have to text her anything except where and when to meet, but who knew what could happen between now and whenever they could make all that happen. Hopefully this would be as much a priority for the other guys as it was to him. Not sure how else to end this weird as shit conversation, much like the night before, Carson plunked back down into his chair and said, “See ya, Jules.”
"Bye." Jules gave him a small wave with her hand clutched around her keys. She turned to leave, feeling less anxious than she had when she pulled into the parking lot. There were still no answers and she had no idea what was going to happen, but it felt slightly better to know she wasn't alone. And maybe if they did all meet up together, things would start clicking into place. All she knew was she couldn't ignore it anymore, not after waking up in the middle of the night on Rosewood. All she could do now was wait for Carson to contact her, and seriously consider buying a pair of handcuffs.