BE-E AGGRESSIVE! (be_aggressive) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2019-08-28 19:15:00 |
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Entry tags: | #december 2017, jules, jules x ruby, ruby |
Who: Ruby and Jules (and a cameo by Edward)
When: Late evening, Thursday, December 28
Where: Jules’s House
Status: Complete
Things were off the wall bonkers. At least that’s what it felt like to Jules. She had received Nic’s warning in her head earlier that morning, about creatures in the fog, and unable to help herself, she had gone to the back windows to look for herself. She and Ruby hadn’t seen much but dark shadows moving in and out of the fog, but the flash of what Jules assumed to be claws had been enough to make her grab Ruby and retreat from the windows. Despite their prickly history, Jules was actually thankful to have Ruby there, otherwise she would have felt alone in all of this. Her stepdad was somewhere, but she hadn’t seen him much since the fog rolled in.
Earlier, around three o’clock in the morning, Jules hadn’t been sleeping very well, and she had heard footsteps outside her bedroom door. Assuming it was Ruby, Jules had gotten up to let her in, but instead, she found the hall empty but for a brief glimpse of Edward’s head as he disappeared down the stairs. Realizing he had been lurking outside her room had been unnerving enough for her to lock her door before climbing back into bed. She had no idea what was wrong with him. He had been unusually quiet and there was something about his eyes that made her back tense every time she did see him. As much as they argued on a daily basis, Jules wanted her mom to be home. But at least she had Ruby, and that was better than nothing.
The fog didn’t let up all day. She and Ruby stayed close together, trying to watch television, or just talking. If not for the crazy weird creepy shit happening outside, Jules might have thought it felt like old times, back when they were friends, before Jules began to hang out with the more popular crowd.
But day stretched into the night and the longer this all went on, the more anxious Jules became. She almost reached out to Carson, or Nic again, just to have another voice in her head, proving the world hadn’t ended outside of her house. But she also didn’t want to bother them, because she was sure they were dealing with their own stuff. She and Ruby were curled up on the couch with the television on when the lights flickered and then the house was plunged into darkness. The curtainless windows gave the room an eerie sort of glow thanks to the fog and Jules cursed under her breath before looking at Ruby. “I’ll turn on the fireplace. I think it’s gas? So that should still work, right?”
When Ruby had initially gotten stuck at Jules’s house, she couldn’t think of any place worse to be, but it turned out that it wasn’t that bad at all. They were comfortable, had plenty of food, and entertained themselves fairly well. And while she was reluctant to admit it, Jules wasn’t bad company. Without all her friends around to do a dog and pony show for, they got along fairly well and the time passed by quickly. It was still a bit suffocating though, being stuck inside for so long without any contact with the outside world, and Ruby checked her phone every half hour hoping for a connection. There were still no bars, no internet, and it often felt like it was just the two of them left in the world. Them and Jules’s step-dad, who luckily kept to himself.
Ruby had thought the threat of monsters in the fog was as bad as it could get. Then the power went out. It was so dark, even with an almost full moon, the fog filtering out most of the light so that they could barely see. Ruby opened her phone’s flashlight app and shined it towards the fireplace. “So long as it’s not one of those fancy ones with an on-off switch, yeah, it should work,” she said. “We’d just have to turn on the gas and light the flame. We might want to sleep down here tonight, too.” Because without the heat, the house was going to be fridged by morning.
"It's got the pilot light and switch, but my mom got one of those fireplaces installed with the battery backup systems. I only know this because the power goes out a lot in Point Pleasant and she got tired of not being able to use the fireplace when it did." Jules smiled faintly and climbed off of the couch to make her way over to the fireplace. Ruby using her flashlight on her phone helped Jules find her way. "Keep that shined on me for a few seconds," she said, lowering herself to her knees to open the bottom vent beneath the fireplace to get the pilot light going. Once she got the pilot light lit it would give her plenty of light to see by. "Actually, do you want to run upstairs to grab a couple blankets? There are extras in the linen closet beside Jason's room."
“Smart mom,” Ruby said with a little smile. It did feel like the power went out around here more than usual, but she couldn’t tell if that was weather related or something else. Either way, it was good to plan ahead. She kept the light shining on Jules until she got the vent open, then stood, looking towards the stairs that led to the second floor. She’d need her phone up there as well, but then she’d need to preserve her battery. “Sure,” she smiled. “Holler if you think of anything else we might need.” Hopefully Jules would get the fire going while she was gone. Ruby told herself this was going to be like camping. Or glamping. It almost made her laugh as she climbed the stairs and disappeared into the darkness.
It took her a couple tries to get the pilot light lit and then for it to stay lit as she turned the knob to "on". When she stood, she flipped the switch on the wall beside the mantel and waited until the fire caught in the logs behind the glass. Sighing with relief, she wondered just how cold the rest of the house would get before morning. Her mom and Edward had a fireplace in their bedroom, but that was it, but for the study and that was fake, as far as she knew. Hopefully Edward would stay put in his bedroom and she and Ruby could enjoy the fire down here alone.
Satisfied with the fire, Jules wondered if she should help Ruby and maybe grab a couple sweatshirts, just in case. But she barely had a chance to turn away from the fireplace when a strong hand wrapped around her hair and yanked it back. The surprised shriek that escaped her was muffled by another hand that had covered her mouth. Edward's mouth was so close to her ear that she could feel his breath.
"Shut up."
There was no real time for Jules to digest what was happening. She was confused and frightened, her heart pounding painfully hard in her chest. He was strong, dragging her backward by her hair. She had no choice but to follow, the pain in her scalp bringing tears to her eyes. But she tried to dig her fingers into his hands, wanting to cause enough pain for him to loosen his hold, or to let her go. She scratched, feeling flesh tear beneath her fingernails.
Edward hissed through his teeth and then threw her to the floor. She landed on her back and felt the wind get knocked out of her, causing her to gasp for breath. Edward straddled her body and Jules was momentarily stunned by the look on his face. A snarl, his eyes dark and shining down on her. She barely recognized him. Edward had always been calm and quiet, even when he was angry with her. But he looked like a man possessed and before Jules could think to scream, his hand fisted in her hair again, where he yanked her head up and then knocked it hard back into the hardwood floor beneath her. It caused her to bite into her tongue where she could taste blood immediately even as her vision went fuzzy, white spots bursting in front of her.
Trying to shake off the disorientation, Jules felt his hands grope her breasts. And then his fingers were in her yoga pants and the blood in her mouth mixed with the bile that had risen in her throat. Edward was muttering something she couldn't understand. All she knew was that if she didn't move, something bad was going to happen. Not only to her, but probably Ruby too. Her head was throbbing but Jules reached up to slap at his face, tearing her nails across his skin. The long, thin welts her nails left behind were satisfying, and they caused Edward to cry out in pain, distracting him from taking her pants off. Jules took the opportunity to lean up and spit in his face, her blood splattering against his nose and lips.
"Stupid. Fucking. Bitch!"
It was Jules's turn to scream, more to warn Ruby than anything else and she jerked her knee up, feeling it come into contact with Edward's groin. She could feel how hard he was, and it made her want to vomit. Edward's yell of pain trailed off into a whimpering groan as he grabbed himself and slid off of her body. Her entire body was trembling uncontrollably, but Jules found the energy to roll over onto her stomach, using the momentum to get to her knees, her feet pushing against the slippery floor to move. And then she was on her feet, racing - or rather stumbling - to the staircase.
"Ruby." Jules tried to scream her name, but her voice only managed a broken whisper. Gripping the staircase she felt another wave of dizziness causing her to have to slow down for fear she would fall backward. She nearly got halfway up the winding staircase before Edward's hand wrapped around her ankle and yanked it back. Jules fell forward with a thud before he jerked her over. The stairs bit into her back but her scream was cut off by his hands curling around her neck, his thumbs pressing roughly into her trachea. Jules felt her breath leave her, her hands frantically trying to pull his from her throat. She tried desperately to gasp for air but it only caused Edward to tighten his grip on her neck. In an almost removed way, Jules noted that he looked pleased with himself, despite the red scratches on his face, and her blood drying on his skin. He was smiling, the fucker. He was actually smiling.
When Ruby heard Jules scream, she dropped the blankets to the floor, momentarily struck with fear. They’d not been able to see the creatures supposedly lurking in the fog, but Ruby had believed Jules when she said something was out there. What if whatever was out there had found a way in? Another noise echoed up the stairs, a scream of pain that wasn’t Jules, and Ruby was pulled out of her stupor to spring into action. She ducked into Jason’s room and waved her phone around wildly, looking for something to defend herself. Her eyes landed on a baseball bat and she grabbed it, then rushed towards the stairs to help Jules fight off whatever monster had snuck in under the cover of darkness.
Ruby expected something ghastly, perhaps a creature with red eyes, their skin sloughing off their bones and nails caked with blood and dirt. What she found was terrifying in a different way, the monster one they’d been with the entire time. The look on Edward’s face was practically inhuman and Ruby didn’t spare a moment to think before she swung the bat at him, hitting him upside the head. There was a sickening crack that Ruby felt more than heard, the sound reverberating up her arms as the man pitched backwards, tumbling head over feet down the stairs. Each bump of limbs made her flinch till Edward’s body came to a stop at the bottom, his arms and legs tangled awkwardly. Ruby stood there, the bat still clutched in her hands, eyes wide as she waited for him to come at them again.
Jules was barely able to comprehend what had happened. All she knew was Edward's hands were no longer around her neck and she gasped hoarsely, drawing in the oxygen to her burning lungs. Her eyes were watery and her throat raw as she brought a hand up to it. She could hear her stepdad falling, every thump of the stairs seeming to make the steps beneath her tremble with the impact. Eyes wide, she scooted up toward Ruby and stared down the winding stairs to where Edward's body lay silently. "Ruby," said, though it was little more than a whisper that felt like sandpaper in her throat. Some part of her waited for Edward to get up too, to come back angrier than before. But his body didn't move and she couldn't see him very well in the dark despite the light from the fireplace. Shaking, Jules got to her feet, clutching the banister to stay upright. She was scared to go check on him but she felt her feet move down the stairs. She needed to make sure he was okay. Or at least alive.
“I thought...he...I thought he was going to kill you,” Ruby whispered, beginning to tremble as she continued to clutch the bat, convinced Edward would get up again. As much as she didn’t want him to, he had to. The alternative was too much to swallow. When Jules made a move to descend the staircase, Ruby reached for her, loosely grabbing her arm before letting her go. She took a shaky breath and began to follow behind her, bat raised in case the man rose and lunged at them, as it so often happened in horror movies. Double tap, she thought absently, but that only applied to zombies and serial killers, not murderous step-dads.
He had been trying to kill her. The strength of his hands around her throat made that more than evident to Jules. She slowed and waited for Ruby when the other girl touched her arm, because Ruby had the bat and Jules had nothing to defend herself with. The closer they got to Edward the harder it was for Jules to breathe. His head was bleeding and his neck was bent oddly, as was his leg and one of his arms. His eyes were open. Glassy. She couldn't see his chest moving. Even though Jules knew deep down what it meant, she had to check first... "I'll check his pulse," she whispered, not wanting to go near him but knowing she had to. Breathing hard now, Jules carefully stepped over his sprawled body to the last step and crouched down to lightly press her fingers to his wrist. That's where she was supposed to look, right? She held her breath, feeling around, but... "I think he's dead," Jules breathed, looking up at Ruby.
Even before Jules said it, Ruby knew. It was his eyes, open and absent, lacking the fury that had been there only moments before. If he’d been alive, his eyes wouldn’t have been open, even if he’d been knocked unconscious. But just because she knew it was true didn’t mean it was easy to accept. “No,” Ruby whispered, shaking her head frantically. “He can’t be. Jules, I...It was an accident. I just wanted to get him off you! I didn’t mean to…!” In retrospect, she probably should have yelled something, like ‘stop’, and maybe hit him somewhere a little less critical. But he still might’ve fallen down the stairs and if he didn’t then he might’ve come at her too. “Oh my God,” she gasped, really beginning to freak out as the gravity of the situation began to set in. “It was self defense, you know it was! Or--or something like that. I swear I thought he was going to kill you if I didn’t-- Are you okay?” Maybe she should have asked that first, but Jules was alive and Edward was dead, so dead, and she’d hit him with a baseball bat. No one was going to believe it was an accident.
"I'm okay. It's okay," Jules said as she straightened, even though she knew it wasn't okay. It wasn't. What were they going to do? She swallowed and winched at the pain throbbing through her throat, and in the back of her head and god... what if Ruby hadn't been here? "Maybe... maybe it wasn't the bat," she said, her turning a bit glassy with desperation. "Maybe that would have just knocked him out, but he fell... the fall might have killed him, Ruby. Broke his neck. I mean, look at it." She did, even though the sight made her nauseous. But what if the cops didn't believe that? Jules had money and the advantage of being an Overlook kid, but Ruby... what if they thought she murdered Edward for no reason? Could that happen? Would it? They could tell the truth and everyone would have to believe them. Jules felt like vomiting but she had to do something about this. "Okay... okay, we have to... give me the bat," Jules said breathlessly, holding out her hand for it. "I'll hide it for now. I have an idea. But we have to take him outside, Ruby. Can you help me?"
It was hard to say what killed Edward, the blow to the head or the fall down the stairs, but Ruby knew that she was to blame for both. He wouldn’t have fallen if she hadn’t hit him and who was going to believe that he just up and attacked his step-daughter? They might believe Jules, but she wasn’t the one that hit him. “They’ll never believe me,” Ruby whispered, imploring Jules to understand without having to say it. She wasn’t rich. She wasn’t white. She didn’t have marks on her like Jules did, couldn’t explain why she’d been so absolutely sure that Edward intended to kill Jules. She couldn’t even explain why she’d picked up the bat, other than the monsters that were supposedly outside. Supposedly. Once the fog left, people would act like nothing was there and then she’d have no plausible explanation for her behavior. She handed over the bat, glad to get rid of it, but then looked from Jules to the body, shocked by the suggestion. “Outside? What’re we gonna do with him?”
“I know. Hold on.” Jules took the bat and hurried away to toss it into the closet. She would clean it later and put it back in Jason's room. Once they figured out what they were going to do. When she came back, she was pale and feeling sick, but she had to get her shit together and help Ruby. Help them both, even. "My backyard stops at the cliffs," she reminded Ruby, reaching down to grab Edward's arms. They already felt so cold and stuff. God, how was this real life? "If we can get him out there... we may not be able to move in the fog, but we need to get him outside. Once the fog lifts even a little, we'll take him to the cliffs..." Jules took a breath. "Push him over to the ocean. If he's found later, it'll be easy to say he went out to check on things and he didn't realize how close to the edge he got. There's nothing else we can do, Ruby. We just... we have to get him outside so we can wipe up some of the blood. Please." Maybe it was a stupid fucking idea, but it wasn't like they could bury him with it being dead of winter and the snow on the ground. Short of waiting for the police, this was the best plan she had.
It was an absolutely horrible idea, but maybe the police would believe he got lost in the fog. That certainly seemed plausible. Ruby’s stomach turned over as Jules picked up one of Edwards arms and her eyes ticked to the blood that hadn’t been there moments before. Fuck. They definitely needed to get him outside. “Let me get one of those blankets. Or a towel. We can put him on it and then we won’t drag blood through the house. We can burn it afterwards.” She couldn’t believe what she was saying, the words spilling out of her as they continued to form a plan. “I’ll be right back,” she said, and ran back upstairs to grab a beach towel, thinking that would be big enough to work, but smaller than a blanket when it came to burning it. She returned quickly, adrenaline and fear keeping her moving. “Okay,” she said, laying the towel out on the floor. She grabbed both of Edward’s feet and looked to Jules. “Let’s put him on the towel. Lift on three. One, two, three.”
Jules was feeling a little woozy but she powered through it to help Ruby move the body. Edward was fucking heavy and Jules grunted softly as they lifted. She knew a lot of people didn't think cheerleaders were athletes, but fuck them. If not for cheerleading she might have crumpled doing this. She couldn't think ahead right now, she just needed to focus on each task at hand so they didn't fuck up. "Okay," she breathed, once he was on the towel. "So we drag him on the towel? We have to get him through the kitchen to the back doors. We can keep him on the back deck until the fog eases some... are you feeling okay?" She asked, wiping her hand against her forehead. “We don’t have very far to go.”
If it hadn’t been for the occasional work Ruby did at her dad’s shop, Ruby didn’t think she’d have been able to lift Edward. He was heavier than she expected, his body already cold and stiff, and she was glad she didn’t have to touch his skin. The whole thing made her feel nauseous and, even though she was sure she could get through this without throwing up, she shook her head at Jules. “I am so many levels of not okay,” she said softly. “But let’s keep going. I think I’d feel better with him outside.” She knew it wasn’t as simple as out of sight, out of mind, but the sooner she could get away from Edward the better. Yes, they’d have to move him again when the fog lifted, but she could deal with that when they got there. Maybe Edward had a wheelbarrow. That would make things easier. “Do you have any bleach?” She asked as they dragged him through the kitchen. “We need something to clean up the blood.”
"It's mostly on the stairs," she murmured. "I don't know how much there is, but we can just wipe it up." The towel underneath him had been a good idea, and like Ruby said, they could burn it. Jules didn't think CSI would come marching in here, and did bleach hurt wood stairs?, but her head hurt too and some part of her wished she could just stop. Ditch his body outside and maybe curl up on the couch for a while. If the fog had let up, she would have sent Ruby home to get some distance between them. Maybe she would call Jasper when she could and have him tell her what to do. Would he know? "I'm more worried about his body right now," she said after a moment. "Should we get a tarp or something and cover him up on the deck? Just in case?"
“We definitely need something to cover him up,” Ruby said, trying to think as logically and practically as possible, despite knowing that this was all a horrible idea. “We don’t want the fog to lift and chance someone seeing him on the back porch. How close are your neighbors?” She knew there was a lot more space between the houses here, but were they far enough apart that one wouldn’t look out their side window and see Edward laying in the snow? Could they really drag him to the cliffs without anyone else noticing it? They should probably do it in the dark, while the fog was still covering them, but that risked getting lost themselves, or falling to their deaths. And what if there really were things outside? It wasn’t a good idea to go outside, so they really needed to limit their time out there. “Let’s...Let’s just get him outside, then we can search the garage.”
"We have neighbors to the left and then like, behind us," Jules explained, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand. "But I don't think the people next door will see anything, and the people behind us have a ton of trees and a fence. I don't think they'll see us as long as we don't venture too close to their house." Jules didn't think the fog would dissipate all at once. It would probably thin out and eventually disappear, but they just needed to be able to see a little to carry him out. God, how was this real life? But she agreed with Ruby that they just needed to get him outside and she turned to the french doors to unlocked them and tug them both open. The cold air bit into her skin immediately and Jules cringed, shivering as she went back to gripping Edward's arms. He felt so cold beneath her hands. "Okay, just.... drag him over to the deck. There's got to be something in the garage. He used a black tarp to cover up his sports car last year so maybe that's still in there somewhere. Ready?"
“Yeah, let’s get this over with,” Ruby said, the blast of cold air from outside making her cringe. She should probably go put on her jacket, but she was hoping this took only a few minutes. She could get all bundled up later, when they moved him to the cliff. The longer she kept hold of Edward, the heavier he seemed to get, and Ruby breathed heavily from the effort of moving him. It was frightening how thick the fog was and she only now realized that she could barely see Jules at the other end of the body. Ruby quickly lost all sense of direction, knowing that the door was somewhere behind her, which meant the deck had to be to the front. Somewhere, out in the darkness, she heard a scraping noise and Ruby’s heart began to race. “Did you hear that?” She whispered.
It was freezing and already Jules's fingers and face were in pain from being outside in it. She had heard what Ruby did and her heart began to race from anxiety. "Put him down," she breathed. "Put him down so we can get back inside. I don't know what's out there." But she did, didn't she? On some level there was a weird sense of... something. Familiarity? Jules wasn't sure that was quite it. But she knew she wanted to get back inside and fast. She let go of Edward unceremoniously, hearing him thump to the deck in front of her. And then she saw them. Teeth. Gleaming. Sharp. Whatever had been in the fog was there, on the deck, or leaning over it, she wasn't sure. But it was there and it was inches from her face, paralyzing her. Jules would swear later that it was studying her, even though she couldn't quite see its eyes. But it gave a huff that bordered on a growl before it turned to where Ruby was.
"Ruby, run," Jules screamed. "Now!"
Up until Jules’s scream, Ruby had attributed her fear to paranoia. Of course it felt like someone was watching them-- they were dragging a body across the back porch. It didn’t feel possible to get away with it, but that didn’t seem reason enough to stop. Yet when Jules screamed, Ruby dropped Edward unceremoniously to the ground and bolted for the door as fast as she could. As she turned she saw it out of the corner of her eye, dark and huge and looming towards her at a speed that she was certain she couldn’t best. Long, sharp claws swiped at her and Ruby shrieked as she ducked, barely keeping her head on her shoulders. She ran blindly, unable to see the house until she ran into the wall, then frantically scurried towards the door. “Jules!” she called out as she flew inside, desperate to shut the door, but unable to leave Jules out in the cold with a monster. “Jules!”
Jules could hear Ruby's footsteps on the deck and tried her best to follow. Hearing Ruby call for her was a relief, even though there was obvious fear tinged in Ruby's tone. But that meant she was okay, at least for now. She followed the voice, well aware of that thing on the deck with her. She could see it out of her peripheral, sliding, teeth gnashing, but it never came anywhere near her. In fact, she ran alongside it for a brief moment before bursting into the house and grabbing the french doors to slam them shut. The glass panels rattled with the force, but they held. Jules panted heavily, watching with wide eyes as the creature, whatever it was, sunk back into the fog. "What... fuck..." Turning to Ruby, Jules felt like she might double over. There was a stitch in her side, but she was okay. "Are you okay? Did it get you?"
There were a few panic-stricken seconds where Ruby feared she would be left alive with two bodies she couldn’t explain, then Jules burst through the doors and slammed them shut behind her. Ruby saw the creature then, just briefly before it disappeared into the fog, and she instinctively began to pull Jules away from the door. There was only glass between them, glass that could be so easily broken. “I’m okay,” she gasped, her eyes searching Jules, looking for any sign of injury. “Are you? What the fuck was that thing? Holy shit.” And what the fuck were they going to do about Edward now? He wasn’t covered, but there was no way they were going back out or there’d be three bodies on the patio instead of just one.
"I'm fine," Jules said, still trying to catch her breath. She probably shouldn't have been okay. That thing was right in her face. It felt like was right beside her as she rushed back into the house, like it was racing her. If it had wanted to hurt or kill her, it could have. "I don't know what it was," she added, wiping her hand over her forehead. She was starting to shiver now, from having been out in the cold, and the icy adrenaline that had overtaken her. "But we're not going back out there. We'll... worry about him when we have to. We just have to keep an eye on the fog to see when it starts to go away." If it ever did. "Fuck." Jules moved past Ruby toward the kitchen. Her hands were shaking terribly and she wished she had some of Jasper's pot because she needed to freaking calm down. "This is just... insane. We need... we need a drink."
Ruby cast a glance towards the window, where the body was somewhere on the porch and the monster was somewhere in the fog. “We’re so fucked,” she murmured. It was like the world was against them, screwing them over at every opportunity. If they’d left the body where it was, or even just moved it in the house, then maybe someone would’ve believed it was an accident. It had felt so unlikely, Ruby had seen enough cop dramas to know how things fell apart when people were questioned, at least when they tried to hide things-- things like a baseball bat to the head. But no one was going to believe they’d accidentally dragged him onto the back porch in this weather. “I’ll take two drinks,” she said. “Or maybe a bottle.” If weed had been an option, she’d have been on that in a second. “You don’t happen to have a smoke, do you?”
Jules wanted to protest and insist they weren’t fucked, but it really felt like they were. God she wanted Jasper. Fuck, fuck, fuck. She began to yank the cabinets open until she found her mom's bottle of salted caramel vodka. Jules set the bottle on the table and twisted the cap off before taking a swig, fingers still trembling. Then she offered it to Ruby as the alcohol stung her throat. Her sore fucking throat. Fuck Edward. How was she going to explain the bruises on her neck? "I don't. I smoked the rest of my weed with Jason and..." Jules exhaled and rested her elbows on the island counter, lowering her head. If she panicked then they were truly screwed. But a sort of numbness was sorting to sneak in and Jules took a breath. "I think we just need to... wait for the fog and see what we can do about the body. We're just gonna have to play it by ear for now. But I think we need to calm down. It might be okay."
Ruby would’ve even taken a cigarette just to calm her nerves a little, but she supposed that was too much to hope for. She took the bottle after Jules, throwing back a shot, the liquid strong but sweet, making it easier to drink than normal vodka. She took another sip, this one a bit more calm, though her mind was still racing. She looked towards the Windows again, unable to see anything out in the darkness. “What even happened?” She asked, looking back at Jules. “He was just… I… I don’t even know how we got here.” Ruby knew it wouldn’t change anything, she’d have responded as she did no matter what Jules said, but she didn’t understand how they went from starting a fire and retrieving blankets to a dead body at the bottom of the stairs. “Do you think he...lost his mind or something?”
Jules smoked weed, but she only smoked cigarettes socially, and sometimes not even then. Honestly, she would have probably been okay smoking one now if there had been any in the house, but neither her mom or stepdad smoked. She shook her head at Ruby's questions, because she didn't have any answers. "I don't know," she mumbled. "I really don't. It happened so fast, I don't... But remember the fog before, when people got violent? I mean, he wasn't in the fog, and it didn't happen to us, but maybe it did something to him? Or... I don't know." She frowned and took the bottle back to take another drink. "I don't think we're ever going to know. I don't even know what is in the fog, or if it's going away or if we're stuck here forever."
“It doesn’t matter,” Ruby sighed, grabbing the bottle again for another sip. “I’m just… I’m glad you’re okay.” They’d never know what came over Edward, but she was pretty sure that if she hadn’t stopped him, he’d have killed Jules. And then he’d probably have come for her. It chilled her to think about, not all that certain she would’ve survived if she hadn’t caught him off guard. “We won’t be stuck here forever,” she said with some certainty. “These things eventually go away. And whatever’s out in the fog will go with it. And things will go back to normal. Just… you won’t have a stepdad anymore.” She cringed a little, still worried about how things were going to play out. “Are you gonna tell anyone?” she asked, already thinking of Jasper. “You can’t tell your mom.”
It probably did matter, because she would have to tell her mom something. The truth? Probably not. But then again , maybe her mom would believe her. Maybe she would help. Maybe not. The fact that Jules didn't know was a depressing thing and made her want to cry. Jules pressed her palm against one eye. Ruby's words were true, but they stung. She had never liked her stepdad, but what about Jason? What would she tell him? It wasn't so easy as just not having a stepdad anymore. "I'll... I don't know what I'll do yet," she admitted, lowering her hand to take another drink. The more the better. "I'm going to have to tell my mom... I'll tell her Edward heard something outside and went to check it out. He never came back. It's that's simple." Jules sighed and looked at Ruby. "I'm sorry this happened. If the fog lifts, we'll take care of the body and then you need to go. I'm not going to tell anyone you were here, and you don't tell anyone either, okay?"
It wasn’t that Ruby was aching to stay or anything, but being told she needed to go stung, like she’d fucked this up beyond repair and should just leave and let Jules take care of it. She nodded silently at the request not to tell anyone, though it left her with almost three days of events to make up. “Fuck,” she muttered softly, almost immediately realizing the problem. Her brother was at home, so she couldn’t say she was there. Her dad was at work, so she couldn’t be at the garage. And she clearly hadn’t been at work, though she wished she’d been at Moxie’s at this point. Maybe she could just pick some place random in town and hope her dad never really asked about it. Or anyone else, for that matter. “I don’t know if that’ll work,” she sighed. “People are gonna ask me where I was. It’s all anyone’s going to talk about for a few days.” She began to chew on her thumb nail, trying to think of a decent place to hold up that didn’t sound questionable. “I just need to think a bit…”
"Who is going to ask?" Jules ran her hands over her hair. So much of it had been pulled loose from her ponytail. "Your dad and brother? Maybe... just tell them you came here to get your necklace and left before the fog. Say you pulled over and someone let you stay with them... I don't know. I doubt anyone is going to follow up on that. People are going to want to talk about the fucking creatures more than anything else." She inhaled deep to try and keep herself calm. "I don't want you to get into trouble, Ruby. That's all. I can handle this. We just need to make sure you're gone before my mom gets here, or she'll get suspicious from that alone. I don't know where Jasper is, but... maybe he'd cover for you. Or Amelia." This was all so frustrating. Jules drank some more of the vodka and then offered it back to Ruby. Despite how sick she felt, despite how surreal all of this was, Jules realized it could have been so much worse. "I know this is all so bad... but... you saved my life. He was going to kill me."
Ruby knew who was going to ask the most questions: her father. Where had she been? Who was with her? If she’d spent all this time in their house, or their shop, what was their name? A public place might be better, like the movie theater. Some place big enough that she could be there and not run into someone else who was stuck there, too. Maybe she was on her way home when the fog hit and that’s where she ducked into. “Amelia,” she said softly, feeling a spark of hope there. That would be a decent cover story, and Amelia was probably one of the very few people she could talk to about this. She thought of Clint, knowing that she would have to lie to him too. As much as she liked him, this was too heavy for what they had going and she didn’t need him holding their secret when one of them eventually got bored. It was depressing to think about, but she knew it was true. Ruby took the bottle back and took another sip, her head starting to swim. She offered Jules a small smile. “I wouldn’t have let him. It’s just...a lot.” She’d killed a man, abet accidentally. It was a heavy weight to carry, even when she knew there was no other choice.
"I know." Jules's mind kept wanting to shift to her mom, and Jason. And the body on the deck outside. Where was Jasper? Was he okay? If he had been here instead of Ruby, would Edward have tried to hurt her still? Would he have killed Ruby if he succeeded in strangling Jules? What the hell had gotten into him? Of course the flashes of the body falling down the stairs, that sickening crunch. Jules clenched her eyes shut tight and then took a deep breath. They just had to get through the fog. Then they could get rid of the body. Everything would be okay. "We'll be okay," she told Ruby, reaching out to grab the other girl's hand. "I promise. When this is over... talk to Amelia. Try to get her to cover for you if you can. If you leave as soon as the fog is lighter, everyone will probably be too distracted to notice. Assuming your bike is still okay. I don't know what we're going to find out there."
“My bike,” Ruby whined, feeling like she could cry at the thought. It was a potential casualty that hadn’t even occurred to her, but knowing that there were giant creatures wandering around outside made it feel highly unlikely that her bike would survive. If it was wrecked, she’d need Jules to take her home and then there’d be evidence of her stay there to deal with. She would just hope and pray that her bike got through this unscathed. She gave Jules’s hand a squeeze. “We have to get rid of the body first,” she reminded Jules. “But then, yeah, I’ll take off as soon as I can. And if Amelia can’t cover for me, I’ll just find some place in town that I could’ve ducked into. I’m kinda thinking the movie theater.” She knew Jules didn’t need to know her cover story, but she kind of hoped that if there was some kind of gaping hole that the other girl would point it out before she blew it. “Are you sure you’re okay? Your neck… it looks like it hurts.”
Jules wanted to reassure Ruby that her bike was probably okay but she didn't know that for sure. If there were more of those things out there, who knew what kind of damage was happening. But hopefully the bike was okay. Like Ruby said, they needed to worry about the body first. She nodded with Ruby's ideas of where she said she could be instead of her house, and it was probably good that they both knew the lie, just in case it came up. Just in case. She smiled without much humor, touching her neck gingerly. "It does hurt, but I'll live. I don't know what I'll tell my mom yet... maybe I'll tell her the truth... about this anyway." She had no idea if her mom would believe her, but Jules couldn't think of an adequate excuse for the bruises. "Or maybe I'll just wear one of my infinity scarves until they're healed enough that I can cover them up with make up."
“At least it’s winter,” Ruby said. “And we have a few more days of break.” Sweaters and scarves would make covering up the bruising easier for sure. Ruby couldn’t imagine how Jules was going to go about explaining it to her mother and was glad she wouldn’t be there for that. She couldn’t imagine it going well, especially with Edward “missing”. “Why don’t we get setup in the living room like we were planning? I don’t want to sleep, in case the fog lifts, but we still need to stay warm.” She needed to turn off her phone too, to preserve the battery, so she could call Amelia as soon as they had service again. Only then could she call her father. Ruby hoped she’d feel better once she had her story in order, but it was unlikely. Edward’s death would probably haunt her for days to come.
Jules nodded, but grabbed the bottle of vodka to take with her. She didn't plan on getting drunk, but a nice numbing buzz would be more than welcome. She walked with Ruby into the living room where the fire was still going strong. It was weird to think that only a bit earlier her own stepdad had been trying to assault her there on the floor. The knot on the back of her head throbbed with the memory.
They stayed warm, but neither of them slept, despite how exhausted they both were. Even if they hadn't had a dead body on Jules's back deck, the sounds outside would have kept them awake. There was definitely something outside still, maybe more than one. Jules and Ruby could hear it nearby, knocking into things. Maybe trees? Definitely a car or two, given the car alarms that went off in the distance. Jules stayed curled up in her blanket, wondering how the hell all of this had happened.
Eventually the power came back on and Jules noted on the clock above the fireplace mantle that it was four thirteen in the morning. Her gaze snapped to the windows and she could see outlines of the trees in her backyard. "The fog," Jules told Ruby as she quickly unraveled herself from her blanket. "I can see outside. We have to move quick." If she could see, so could everyone else. Though they might be sleeping, given the hour. Jules couldn't know, and right now, she didn't care. They had to take Edward's body to the cliffs.
Or... well, that had been the plan. But as Jules pulled open the French doors to the deck she felt her stomach drop. The body was gone. Even the towel they had wrapped around his head. Edward was gone. "Ruby," Jules moaned as she stepped out onto the deck. It was still insanely cold, but Jules could barely feel it. "He's gone."
Even though Ruby hadn’t really been asleep, she’d been in enough of a daze that it took her a moment to get up and follow Jules. She was feeling sleepy and sluggish, but that all changed when she joined Jules on the porch, looking down at nothing. “Fuck,” she whispered, her heart racing as she began to look around, expecting to see Edward a few feet away, or even in pieces. It had been hard to see when they’d been out there the night before, but he couldn’t have gone far. A chill ran up her spine that had nothing to do with the cold. “Do you think...What if he wasn’t dead?” It was a thought that filled her with dread, even if it would have made their situation so much easier to deal with. If Edward was alive, then she didn’t have to live with killing him, plus they didn’t have to hide his body. But if he was alive, then needed to get inside and lock the doors before he pounced again.
"No, he was dead," Jules said breathlessly. She hurried to the edge of the deck, her socked feet already damp from the snow. "His neck... and he didn't have a pulse." She tried to look out into the remaining fog to see if his body was out in the yard. It didn't occur to her to be scared of the creature that had almost attacked them earlier. She could see now, and she was fairly sure they would see it coming now if it was still out there. "Maybe that thing... ate him." She made a face at the thought and turned back to Ruby. "I'll just say he went outside to check out the noise and never came back...it's just... now we don't have to drag him back to the cliffs. I don't know what else could have happened to him."
It was impossible that Edward was anything other than dead. Ruby had seen him at the bottom of the stairs, had felt his cold, stiff body as they’d moved him to the porch. It was just hard to believe that body would disappear off the porch, though she hoped that creature ate it. It was less frightening than a live Edward running around. Or a dead one. “If those things were all over town, then… then no one will question it. He’ll just be another casualty of the fog.” It was the kind of out that they needed, but it did cause Ruby to glance around and make certain those creatures were gone. The one she’d seen had been big enough that she knew she couldn’t have missed it now that the fog had lifted, but she just needed to be absolutely sure. “I should go. I was thinking I’d walk my bike out of Overlook even if it’s drivable. It’ll take longer, but then no one will hear a motorcycle on the streets.”
Another casualty of the fog. It would be easy for everyone to think of it that way, but Jules wouldn't, and she doubted Ruby would either. Jules tried not to panic when Ruby suggested she go, because Jules didn't want to be left alone. But she knew if this blew up in her face, Ruby needed to be gone. Jules didn't want her held responsible for any of this. So she nodded, looking out into the backyard again, like Edward would suddenly reappear somewhere. But there was nothing. "I'll take care of things," she said, turning to walk Ruby back inside where it was warm and Ruby could get her things. "Can you text me when you get home? Just... I mean, send a thumbs up emoji or something so I know you got there okay?" It was weird to be worried about Ruby now, after so many years of bad feelings, but it felt like this was something that would probably bind them together for the rest of their lives.
The last thing Ruby wanted to do right now was walk home in the dark, in the cold, but she knew she needed to be out of Overlook before anyone woke up. “I’ll text you,” Ruby agreed, thinking a thumbs up was a good idea. She didn’t want to put anything into words, even that she’d gotten home, just in case someone started asking questions later. “Maybe… reply with a question mark, so I know you got it. Just in case. I can say I meant to send it to someone else.” She didn’t feel at all equipped for this. She was sure there were all kinds of things they hadn’t thought of and that everyone would know by the end of the week. “When it seems like a normal time to wake up, maybe call the police. You can tell them he went out during the fog and never came back. I’m sure they’ll be dealing with a lot of that, so they probably won’t even send someone out right away.” She felt awful leaving then, putting that all on Jules to handle, and she gave her a small smile that was meant to reassure her. “You’ve got this.”
Jules nodded, because that was a good idea. Covering their tracks electronically too. How many of her mom's crime shows had people getting busted by their texts and emails? Stupid, dumb people. It was mind-blowing that she and Ruby were in this position, but what happened happened and now they had to figure out how to fix it. Jules appreciated Ruby's confidence, even if it was forced, because she didn't feel like she had anything. She felt like she was floundering. "I'll be fine," she whispered. "I'll... text my mom soon and tell her Edward went out but didn't come home. Just... set things in motion, I guess. Just be careful, okay? If you see anything... unnatural, come right back."
“I will,” Ruby nodded as she sat and pulled on her boots. She’d rather be caught at Jules’s house than torn to pieces by one of those monsters. It felt stupid to go out now, but she had a hard time believing she’d run into one of those creatures without the fog for cover. Things like that didn’t just wander around in the daylight… not that it was light yet, but there was power. Street lights. The headlight on her bike. She’d be fine. “If you need to talk, call me from Jasper’s phone. At least for a few days, until...until things settle.” Taking a deep breath, she stood and zipped up her coat. “Lock the doors after I leave. And turn on the alarm. Just in case.”
Jasper. Right. She needed to call him now, with their phones working. Jules's heart was thumping painfully in her chest, but she followed Ruby to the door, torn between needing to be alone to figure out what she would tell her mom, and wanting Ruby to stay, at least until she could get a hold of Jasper. But she could do this. Jules wasn't going to freak out. Not yet. "I'll do that," she said, of locking the doors and turning on her alarm. "I'll talk to you soon... after my mom is home and I have an idea of how things are going to go."
Ruby pulled on her gloves and scarf, then stood there for a moment, stalling. She didn’t want to go out there. She didn’t want to walk home in the cold, or find out if the monsters were really gone. But she had to do this and she needed to do it now. She would handle her cover story and Jules would handle her step-father’s disappearance and they’d be fine. She had to believe it, even if it didn’t feel like it. “Stay safe,” she said softly, then impulsively leaned in and gave Jules a hug before opening the door and heading out into the cold, dark morning.