Who: Jules and Carson When: late afternoon, Thursday, Dec 21st Where: just in their minds Status: complete
The holidays were a busy time, and even more so for Carson, it seemed. There had been Rylee’s birthday, the meeting with Neil, and there was a party happening at the Castells’ Thursday night ... not to mention work and the building stress about the next full moon. He’d promised Neil that he would talk to Jules, since he was apparently the most suited out of the three of them to do so, but he wasn’t sure when he would have the time to see her before the approaching holiday. He didn’t want to show up at the high school looking like a creep -- even though he knew several of the athletes there, just from them coming into the gym sometimes. That might’ve even made it worse, he was recognizable.
It occurred to him Thursday morning that he could try to just reach out to Jules through their connection. He’d been practicing putting that wall up like he’d done with Neil, but it was hard to know if it was working or not without one of the others right in front of him. Carson had a feeling they were all trying to be careful and not listen to each other. He waited until late afternoon to try and contact Jules, when he was pretty sure she would be out of class and not around a bunch of people. Carson sat on his bed and closed his eyes to concentrate, really hoping he wouldn’t be interrupting anything super private.
He took a few deep breaths and tried reaching out, picturing Jules as clearly in his mind as he could. He thought about approaching her from behind and saying her name ... Jules?
Jules had been lucky enough that she hadn't heard much from the three men in her head since finding out from Carson that they were all telepathically linked. Anytime she heard one of their voices she quickly pushed out another thought, something silly and random and it seemed to work in quieting them. She had no idea if they could hear her do it or not but if they did, they never said anything. Jules still wasn't sure what it meant, or what the proximity was or anything, but she was just happy that some of the worst headaches it caused had stopped, or at least dulled significantly.
She was driving home from school and her last cheer practice for the year when she heard a voice say her name. It was quiet in her car but for the radio playing and Jules started, inhaling sharply. It was instinctive to try and push out the voice but he had said her name, like he was reaching out to her on purpose. Her heart racing at the jolt, Jules cursed softly under her breath and eased her foot off the gas as she had pressed down when Carson spoke.
Taking another breath to calm herself, Jules refocused and loosened her grip on her steering wheel. "What's up?" she said out loud before realizing it was in her head. She rolled her eyes at herself and then tried again, mentally this time. I'm here. What's up? God, this was so weird.
Carson could hear that he’d startled her, and he cringed a bit in real life. Oops. It occurred to him too late that maybe he should’ve texted her a warning first or something. But at least she responded and didn’t try to block him out. Her words came through loud and clear, along with a faint undercurrent of music that Carson had to assume was coming from her mind. Or maybe just processing through her brain from outside, he didn’t know. It didn’t matter. Hey, it’s Carson, he thought to her, probably unnecessarily. Everyone’s thoughts sounded like their voices so far, but still. It seemed polite. Sorry if this is a bad time ... do you have a minute for a couple questions?
A couple of questions? Jules's brows knitted together in confusion and she reached over to turn down her radio so she could concentrate. Was driving and telepathically speaking with someone the same as driving and texting? Well, at least she had her eyes on the road and she wasn't too far from home now. Sure, I guess? I mean, nothing really new has happened since we talked last. Maybe he was wondering if she had more dreams, or maybe there was some new weird thing happening to them that she didn't know about yet. Ugh, god she hoped not. She already felt like a freak!
Carson projected some apologetic feeling that wasn’t even really verbal and he didn’t have to consciously think about. It’s gonna sound weird. It’s related to something Neil is doing ... or going through ... or something, he told her. He wondered immediately if Neil would hear this since Carson had thought his name. He tried to imagine a brick privacy wall around just him and Jules, but had no idea if it helped or not. That Jane lady is involved too. You never went missing as a kid, did you? He knew it was probably a bizarre question to ask, but Carson didn’t know anywhere else to start.
It took Jules a second to remember Jane was the dreamwalker. She licked her lips a little nervously, turning up the hill that would lead to Overlook. The question was a bit surprising and she immediately wondered what it might have to do with the dreams. Probably nothing since Jules had never gone missing. At least not that she knew or, or remembered. No. I mean, I was never told I went missing and I don't remember anything like that. Why? What's going on? She knew people went missing in Point Pleasant a lot. Even Jasper's sister had, though she came back. It had her heart starting to beat a bit harder in her chest, thinking something may be wrong now.
I’m not sure exactly, Carson admitted. Neil was kidnapped when he was little, and apparently Jane was too. They were held somewhere by like, doctors, and had experiments run on them to ... test for psychic powers? Or to try and make them psychic? I dunno. He did his best to recall the image of the AIR building that Neil had sent him, though he was sure it was more blurry and not as accurate as he pushed it along the connection toward Jules. This was the place, look familiar at all? He’s trying to see if there’s a link between that and us. But nothing like that happened to me. I said I would ask you for him.
Psychic powers? What the hell! Like telepathy? Jules exhaled again. She saw an image in her mind, though it was a bit fuzzy. She had never seen that building before. And it would be really weird of her to go to her mom and ask if she had gone missing as a kid. Her mom was so damn dramatic that Jules was positive she would have known about that by now if she had. It doesn't look familiar to me. Jules chewed on her lower lip. She didn't know any other psychics, so it wasn't like she could ask them the same stuff. But the thought that there was a building nearby where this stuff happened was scary. Was that what happened to Amelia? Although she wasn't psychic as far as Jules knew, and she had come back much older which was really fucking crazy. Do you know the name of the building? Or the company? Does Neil remember?
Carson could hear bits and pieces of the negative thoughts in Jules’s head, and it was honestly kind of a relief. Out of all of them, he had the most sympathy for her, being so young. She didn’t need anything other complications added to whatever was going on. Neil called it uh ... American Institute of Research or some shit. It was A-I-R, I know that. But if you were never there, and Nic was never there, I don’t think it has anything to do with us. Just Neil. It had occurred to him that maybe Neil had accidentally kicked off this psychic connection, or Jane had, if they’d been tampered with in ways they didn’t understand. But that wasn’t a question any of them could answer yet. So try not to worry about it too much, he added to Jules.
"Wait." Jules said it out loud, thankfully she had just pulled into her driveway otherwise she might have slammed on her breaks or skidded off the road. She shoved the car into park but left it running. Her mom and stepdad were home and she didn't want to be having this internal conversation with them nearby. American Institute of Research? The building that caught on fire? Her chest was tight as she tried to go through her past memories, things her mom had told her about her dad. He was buried in the cemetery and Jules went to visit often, though she had been a baby when he died. But that place had just been a research facility, according to her mom. Nothing special. My dad worked there. Jules looked up through her semi-foggy windshield to see her stepdad standing in one of the front windows, watching her. When they locked eyes he turned and walked away casually. Jules scowled briefly and refocused. But my mom said it was just a research facility for like, social and behavioral stuff. A generator caught on fire and... killed a lot of the people in the building.
There was silence on the line, so to speak, as Carson’s brain went blank except for a looming sense of ‘oh shit.’ Had Jules’s dad been one of the scientists poking and prodding and torturing Neil as a child? The fire -- which he hadn’t mentioned, had he? -- really clinched it, and Carson had zero doubts that what Jules said was true. Carson suddenly felt in over his head, and his first impulse was to mentally reach out to Neil to drag him into this conversation too ... but that might only make things worse. ... oh, was all he could think to say. Or think out loud, whatever. Maybe there was more connection here than he’d thought. Fuck. I ... dunno a lot of details, I’m sorry. You’d have to ask Neil. He did mention a fire though, Carson offered, feeling awkward now. Did he catch that her dad had died there? He thought so. Double fuck.
Had her dad really worked for a place that experimented on people to trigger psychic abilities? Had her dad done something to her as a baby? Was that why she had telepathy now? That could explain her and Neil, but not Nic and Carson. It didn't make any sense to her and maybe her dad working at that building was just a coincidence. It was a small town, after all. Jules swallowed hard, staring up at her house. Did her mom know what her dad was really doing there? Was he a bad person? Jules had created a version of her dad in her head that made her love and miss him, even if she couldn't remember him. Maybe she had been totally wrong the whole time. It was becoming difficult to breathe but Jules realized Carson was still probably "listening". She wanted to shut down her brain and shut him out but Jules had yet to figure out how to do that. I'm home, she told Carson. I have to go. We can talk later or whatever, but I don't know anything about it. I was a baby when my dad died. I don't have any answers.
Even though he didn’t want to, Carson could hear that he’d put Jules into a tailspin. He felt guilty, even though he’d had no way of knowing. So much for not putting more stress on her. He also felt bad for bowing out, but he had no idea how to help, and he really wanted to end this conversation. Jules sounded like she did too, completely understandably. Yeah, of course, I’m sorry, he rushed to think at her, immediately trying to mentally pull back. Just like he’d done with Neil, he leaned back in the physical world too. Once Carson felt alone again he opened his eyes and scrubbed his hands over his face, sincerely hoping he hadn’t opened another can of super shitty worms.