Who: Jules and Jasper When: early evening, Friday, Dec 29th Where: Jules's house Status: complete
There had been a lot of times that Jasper had been grateful to come home out of sheer exhaustion, but he couldn’t recall one that had been so strong of a relief as getting home after being in the hospital. After the never-ending wait, the nurses had cleaned his wound -- which still hurt enough to make him yelp and cry a little, much to his embarrassment -- and then gave him some stitches and sent him on his way. They couldn’t even give him any painkillers from their pharmacy, they needed those for people with more serious conditions, but that was okay because Jasper still had a stash.
He’d gone home with Amelia in the passenger seat, getting all the details from her about her own ordeal. Being stuck anywhere with Elodie wasn’t a treat. Jasper was impressed Amelia had treated her well enough, considering what she’d done. A dark part of him kind of hoped she died in the hospital, but whatever. Once he’d eaten something at his sister’s insistence, he crawled into bed and slept for a few hours. Jasper woke up again in the early evening with a start, his heart pounding, visions of monsters fading away with his dream.
Rubbing at his eyes, he sat up and groped for his phone. He’d talked to Jules very briefly at the hospital to confirm she was alive and okay, and it wasn’t enough. He was still groggy from his nap, but didn’t feel high anymore and like he could actually carry on a conversation. Jasper dialed Jules and put the phone to his ear, his other hand lifting to idly scratch at the edge of the bandage on his chest.
As relieved as Jules was that the fog was almost completely gone, she was still unable to relax. Her body felt cold and stiff - like Edward's - and she was dreading when her mom would arrive home. Margaret had been scheduled to be home Wednesday so she and Edward could leave town for the rest of the week, but the fog had derailed those plans, forcing her to stay put for the last two days. And now she was driving home and Jules had no idea what to do. Ruby had left to go home and check on her own family, but Jules knew she probably wasn't doing that great either.
Alone now, Jules sat on the steps, her mind jumbled with thoughts that she was trying desperately to keep hidden from Nic, Neil and Carson. She hadn't heard any of them in her head beyond Nic's warning to stay inside yesterday, so she assumed they were blocking her out too. And that was just fine with Jules. Her phone began to buzz on the step above her, causing Jules to jerk in fright before she realized someone was calling. Jasper. Jules grabbed the phone quickly and answered it, thankful that he couldn't see her hands shaking. "Hey," she greeted softly. "Are you okay?" She knew he had a bad shoulder wound, and that he had been in the hospital. When they spoke earlier he had sounded pretty out of it.
Jasper’s shoulders sagged when he heard her voice again -- he’d been dazed and high when they’d talked earlier, and part of him had started to worry that he’d just imagined that. But Jules was on the other end of the phone and sounded unhurt, even if she was quiet. “Hey,” he replied, leaning back against his pillows and letting out a soft sigh. “Yeah. I mean, I got scratched by one of those motherfuckers and it still kinda burns, but I’m okay. Amelia’s fine, Logan’s fine, dad’s fine ... think all my people are okay. What about you? Are you all right?” He was sure he’d asked when they’d talked the first time, but Jasper couldn’t remember what the answer had been beyond Jules was alive.
Given what she and Ruby had seen outside, Jules could only close her eyes and be grateful that Jasper had only walked away with a scratch. Well, probably more than a scratch if he had gone to the hospital, but he was okay and that was the important thing. Jasper sounded more coherent now and Jules chewed on her bottom lip, trying to decide if she wanted to burden him with what had happened. If she told him, he could get into trouble if the truth ever came out. But if she didn't tell him, maybe he would be angry that she kept it from him. And selfishly she wanted help, to be told what to do because Jules didn't have a clue.
"I'm fine. Ruby..." Jules paused to swallow the dryness in her throat. The bruises there would be a hell of a lot harder to explain to her mom and she touched the side of her neck gingerly. "Ruby was here looking for her necklace when the fog came in, and she stayed. She went home earlier..." Before she could really comprehend what was happening, Jules began to cry. "Something bad happened. I don't know what to do, Jasper."
It was a little strange to hear that Ruby had been stuck at Jules’s place -- but didn’t it make sense at the same time? This town had a sick sense of humor. Jasper didn’t have time to think about that though, because she was suddenly crying. He sat up straight again, frowning at that worrying statement. “What? What happened?” he asked, the worry obvious in his tone. Jules hadn’t said she’d been hurt, and she’d just said Ruby had left a while ago, so Jasper couldn’t think of what the badness could be.
Jules wiped impatiently at her eyes, though it did little to help. The physical reminders of what had happened were still fresh, the knot at the back of her head, and the bruising on her throat. She wished Ruby had stayed, but she understood why she had to go home and check in on her dad. It took her a moment to find her voice again and Jules cleared her throat to try and talk. Where could she even begin? "My stepdad... he's dead... we... killed him. But it was an accident. I think. I don't know." Ruby had swung the bat, but they couldn't be sure that's what did it. How it happened didn't change the fact that it had. She couldn't get the sound of his body falling out of her mind and Jules clenched her eyes shut tight. "I don't know what to do."
A weird shiver ran down Jasper’s body. It wasn’t because he was cold, it was like a shockwave. The kind of shiver that happened when you got news that you knew would change life forever. He almost asked Jules to repeat herself, but he’d heard her just fine. Her stepdad was dead. They -- he had to assume Jules meant herself and Ruby -- had killed him. Accidentally? He just sat there for a long moment, trying to process that and think of something to say. It hit Jasper sudden and hard that she Needed Him, probably more than she ever had. He swallowed and tossed the covers off of himself to get out of bed. “Okay ... tell me exactly what happened. You haven’t called the cops or anything yet, right?” he asked. Jasper stood up and started hunting around for clothes, his heart beating sick and hard in his chest.
She understood Jasper's silence, because it was something akin to a bombshell she had just laid on him. Jules knew she ought to feel guilty about it, Jasper had enough to deal with right now, but she needed help and she didn't know who else to ask. Jules continued to wipe the tears off her face before she gave up. Her eyes might not be so puffy and red when her mom finally arrived home, but Jules didn't want to think about that just yet. It would send her into a tailspin of panic all over again. Jasper asking her to explain what happened gave her something to focus on, even if she was still crying when she spoke again. "We didn't call the police. We panicked. He was acting weird even before the fog, but he mostly left us alone... last night when the power went out, Ruby... went upstairs to get blankets while I got the fireplace on." Jules sniffed and then reached up to grip the stair banister to haul herself to her feet. "And then he just... attacked me. It was him, but it wasn't. I don't know." She didn't want to get into those particular details, so she left it at that. "He tried to choke me on the stairs, but Ruby hit him with a bat to get him off of me and he fell. I don't... know if he died from the fall, or the bat." Jules paused to take a couple of deep, shaky breaths as she walked slowly downstairs. She felt sick to her stomach and Jules grimaced. "Can you come over? I know you're hurt... I'm sorry."
Jasper listened while he pulled on clothes. So it had been self-defense then, that was ... good? Not that he thought his girlfriend would murder her stepdad for any other reason, of course, but if she’d been protecting herself -- or Ruby was protecting her, which gave him a strong surge of fierce affection for his friend -- that was better than not. Less guilt. Jasper would assume so anyway, since he’d never killed anyone. He knew Jules didn’t really like her stepdad, but she’d never said anything about him getting violent, and it made Jasper wonder if it had anything to do with the fog bullshit. Not that it mattered now, he supposed. “Yes, I’m coming, walking out the door in two minutes,” he assured her, ignoring the unnecessary apology. Jasper didn’t know what he was going to do, but he definitely wasn’t going to leave Jules to try and figure this out on her own just because his arm hurt. “Just ... don’t touch him or anything, okay? I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
Jules stiffened briefly, cringing as she got to the bottom of the steps. "He's... not here." That probably required an explanation, but it was kind of crazy. "I'll explain when you get here. Just be careful, okay?" She wiped her nose again, not caring at all about trying to pretty herself up for him. He had seen her cry before and she knew she looked gross, but Jules figured it would be sort of sociopathic to want to be beautiful after maybe murdering someone. Not that she had really murdered anyone, technically. Probably. Everything that had happened was still a bit of a haze. Jules didn't know what Jasper could do about it either, but she felt like maybe his presence would help calm her down a little.
That gave Jasper a bit of pause, but Jules was right, it could wait. “I will. Be there soon, I love you,” he said. Once they’d hung up the phone, Jasper grabbed his keys and bundled up again. The house was quiet, nobody was in his path, so he just left, figuring Amelia and his dad were asleep or somewhere else. He would text them later, if this took a while ... and it probably would. Right then he just needed to get on his way to Jules. Getting back in his car was a little nerve-wracking, especially since the fog hadn’t completely gone away. It would be just his luck to get stuck somewhere between home and Overlook, only for this nightmare to happen all over again. Only this time he would be alone and injured. His hands were tight on the steering wheel as he carefully navigated his way through the various wrecks and messes that were still on the roads. He made it to Jules’s without incident, and parked in the driveway, shooting her an I’m here text before he got out to hurry through the cold to the door.
Jules had been hovering near the front windows and as soon as she saw his car pull in she hurried to the front door to unlock it for him. She knew she looked shitty, but it wasn't like she could put on a scarf and try to hide everything. Jasper needed to know what happened so he could understand how bad it had almost gotten. Maybe no one else would believe her and Ruby if they had to call the cops, but Jasper would. She pulled open the door so he could come inside and then quickly shut it behind him before turning to envelop him in a tight hug. Then she remembered he had hurt his shoulder and Jules pulled back a little, wincing. "I'm sorry. I didn't hurt you, did I?" He looked tired and pale and she did feel guilty then for making him drive all the way to her house. "Are you okay? Did you get stitches?" Had he told her that? The last time they spoke he had been so out of it and she had admittedly not paying as close attention as she should have been.
There was a bit of pain when Jasper hugged Jules back, but it came more from flexing the muscle under the wound than any pressure she put on him. Pressure felt pretty good, he’d discovered, weirdly enough. It seemed to relieve some of the burn that was always there. He shook his head, waving off her apology. His scratch was in a bad place, people were going to bump it, he was going to roll over to sleep on that side, it would just suck until it healed. Jasper wasn’t worried about it, especially not right then. “I’m fine, it didn’t cut through anything really important, it’ll heal. But yeah, some stitches.” His words were a bit rushed and distracted as he looked her over, leaning down a bit to look at Jules’s neck. She’d said the dead asshole had choked her, and sure enough he could see the bruises there. Jasper glanced around the foyer, his brows drawn together, then focused on Jules again. “Asking if you’re okay seems stupid,” he murmured, gently cupping her jaw for a moment with both hands. “How bad did he hurt you?”
She wanted to look at his stitches, make sure the doctors had done a good job even if Jules didn't understand what a good job would look like. She was well aware that he could have died, having seen one of those things up close and personal. Jules ran her hand very gently over his shoulder, frowning until his hands had cupped her jaw and she brought her gaze back to his. Her eyes felt dry now, but still puffy and gross and she just wanted to curl up around Jasper and sleep. But she knew how awful waking up would be, so she swallowed hard and forced herself to get this over with. "He... I have a bump," she explained, motioning vaguely to the back of her head. "He caught me on the stairs, so I have a bruise on my spine, but it's not too bad... and this." She pointed to the bruises on her throat. "My throat is sore but I think I'll be okay. He tried to...." Jules closed her eyes, the nausea rising inside of her again. She couldn't exactly bring herself to say the word so she pushed past it. He hadn't done much more than grope her before she had gotten away, so she was okay. "I kicked him in the nuts though. But Ruby... she hit him with the bat and he fell. I already told you that." She exhaled and reached up to take Jasper's hand to lead him toward the kitchen with the french doors leading outside. "We freaked out. He broke... bones. I think his neck, but his head was bleeding. I don't know what killed him but... we couldn't call anyone, you know?"
Jasper didn’t make the connection that the missing word was ‘rape’ until Jules said she kicked him in the nuts. It made cold rage wash over him, and even injured and tired, he felt like he could’ve killed the man with his bare hands if he wasn’t already dead. His jaw tight, he let Jules lead him wherever they were going, biting back all the questions that were bubbling up. Where was the bat? Where did he land? Where was the body? Did Jules know where the bleach was? It sounded like it had all been in self-defense, there were bruises around Jules’s neck, for fuck’s sake, but the cops didn’t always believe that kind of thing. That asshole -- Jasper couldn’t even remember his name -- had tried to kill her. Thank God Ruby had been there. Jasper owed her a hug. But for the moment he was just seething, picturing a crusty-ass old man on top of Jules on some stairs, trying to rape her. He was going to kick that fucking body as soon as he saw it.
There was maybe some blood on the stairs still, and on the hardwood floor leading to the doors. But Jules had tried to wipe it up the best she could, but she knew it was possible that she had missed spots. She brought Jasper to the back doors, feeling sick all over again. "We... decided to just... take his body out? We couldn't find our way in the fog, so we thought we would wait until it lifted a little, and then... drag it..." Jules swallowed again to keep from puking all over. Again. "We were going to drag it through the trees to the cliff and figured we could say he left in the fog, and if they found his body... obviously he got too close to the edge and didn't see and fell." Her face crumpled a little. "We took him out but then one of those... things... it was in the fog and it looked at me. There was teeth, but then it kind of ignored me and went for Ruby. She got inside before it could hurt her, but then the fog lifted and we came out and his body was gone." The fog creature had been terrifying, though oddly familiar to Jules in a way she couldn't really explain to Jasper. Finding Edward's body missing was the most frightening part for the both of them.
Jasper looked out through the French doors and the lack of a body there, mitigating his disappointment that he couldn’t spit on it with the thought that it had been eaten by one of those big monsters. Maybe the same one that could’ve eaten him, but didn’t. He had another one of those surreal moments where it felt like he might scream, but it passed quickly enough. His mind had other things to do, like try and protect Jules from going to jail. “Okay,” he murmured, scraping his teeth over his bottom lip. “Okay ... have you looked in the yard yet? Around your property, to make sure he didn’t get ... dropped again?” Jasper rubbed gently at Jules’s upper arms as he spoke, wanting to comfort her at the same time. There were loose ends to burn off, of course, but it seemed like they’d gotten really lucky with the timing of all this. If it could all be blamed on the fog monsters, that would be ideal.
Jules nodded. "We looked in the yard. And I went out into the woods some too when Ruby left, but there isn't a lot out there to hide a body, so I think I would have seen him. I didn't want someone next door seeing me, like, acting suspicious." She grimaced at the thought that maybe Edward had been snatched up by that monster and dropped elsewhere. God, what if that actually happened? "I didn't look any farther though. He just disappeared and... ugh, I feel so stupid now. Oh my god, what if he's in someone's backyard? What am I going to do?" She was pale as she stared at him, wide eyed. It was getting hard to breathe again. "What if he's in Sebastian's yard? Or in the street? What if someone's already called the police?"
At least they had looked, that was smart. Jules was starting to freak out, and Jasper’s hands tightened on her arms as he looked into her eyes, shaking his head. “Listen, it’s going to be okay,” he said and actually managed to sound confident about that. “I think ... a lot of people died yesterday, or just disappeared. I uh, I almost definitely saw an arm without a body on my way over here, it’s that bad. Everything’s in chaos, the hospital was slammed when I was there, the cops are super busy, all right? And if one of those things got a hold of him -- and there’s nothing else it could be, not yesterday -- then you’ve got a cover. We’ll get rid of the bat, we’ll clean the house with bleach, and he’s just gone and you don’t know what happened to him, okay?” Jasper was fairly certain that there wouldn’t be much left of the asshole, but even if he turned up in a different yard, there was still plausible deniability. “Did he break anything on the stairs on the way down? Where’s the bat?”
It sounded so simple that Jules nodded, still trying to hold back the urge to scream. Running away was starting to sound pretty tempting, even if that would only somehow showcase her guilt. What was her mom going to say? If his body was never found and Jules just said he disappeared, would the cops question her? Give her a lie detector test? She felt sick and clammy and the worst case scenarios kept playing over and over in her mind. But Jasper was right that they needed to clean up and get rid of the bat. "The bat is in the closet. None of the stairposts were broken when he fell but I think there's still some blood on the steps. I tried to wipe it all up but the stairs are dark so I probably missed some spots? I don’t know. I tried to clean the best I could." Jules licked her lips, thinking about the laundry room where the cleaning supplies were kept. Then her eyes widened, glassy with unshed tears. "Oh my god, Jasper. You can't help me. I can... I'll do it, but you should go. This is like... accessory to murder, right? Like, helping me after the fact. You could go to jail if they find out."
Jasper was thinking of every show and movie he’d seen where a murder was covered up, about bleach and fingerprints. What if there was a body to find and Jules’s hair turned up on it or something? Well they lived in the same house, so that wasn’t proof of anything. He could have broken bones and a bashed-in skull, but without a murder weapon, nobody could prove anything. Jasper could get rid of the bat, somewhere nobody would think to look for evidence of it ... Jules interrupted his thoughts with worries about him. He shook his head at her immediately. “Fuck that,” he said. “If they send me to jail, they’ll be sending you too, and I’m not gonna let you go down alone.” She would probably say it was stupid and crazy, but Jasper didn’t care. This was what loyalty was about, he’d at least learned that much growing up. You protected your own. “And nobody’s going to jail if we do this right, so come on, where does your mom keep the bleach? Everywhere you think he might’ve touched, we gotta clean it.”
It wouldn't be just them, but Ruby too, though Jules wanted to keep her out of it if she could. But if the cops caught on, she didn't think Ruby would let Jules take the fall, not when Ruby had been the one to swing the bat. They were all fucked. Jules wanted to protest and send Jasper home, but she knew he wouldn't listen. He was involved now, because of her, and now all they could do was try to clean up and hope no one found his body. "The bleach is in the laundry room," Jules said, still unable to fathom that this was real life. "It was the stairs, mostly. He attacked me by the fireplace, but everything happened on the stairs. And then we dragged him into the kitchen and outside, so... we should clean that too." She turned to lead Jasper through the house to the living room. Her heart was still beating painfully fast. "We need to check on Ruby too. I don't want her to get in trouble for this. She was just trying to help me."
Jasper had questions, he wanted to ask what had started the attack, had her stepdad had just gone crazy or what? He knew Jules thought he was creepy sometimes, but this seemed so ... extreme. But it didn’t matter at the moment, right then they just needed to do the right things. He followed Jules through the living room toward wherever the laundry room was, looking around his feet as he walked for any blood splatters. It looked fairly clean, but that meant nothing to someone with a blacklight or whatever they used to find blood. Jasper just hoped it wouldn’t get that far, that they would just count Edward as one of the missing-likely-dead and leave it alone. “We’ll check on her when we’re done cleaning, we just gotta focus now,” he murmured, his hand briefly stroking down Jules’s back. Maybe he ought to be more freaked out about this, but at least this was a concrete problem that could be fixed. And it sounded like that motherfucker had deserved to die.
Jules nodded, willing to do whatever Jasper told her to at this point. Opening the laundry room, she walked over to the shelves where their housekeeper kept things stocked. Tamara was on vacation for the next week but Jules didn't think she would come back to find anything amiss. They would buy new bleach to replace whatever they used today. "It's still pretty full," she said, lifting the bleach from the shelf to hand to Jasper. "Does bleach smell? Do I need to find something to cover up the smell? Like, candles or something?" She was expecting her mom to walk through the door and know immediately what happened. "What else do we need? Rags? Scrub brush?" Jules was trying to stay focused on something so she didn't completely freak out.
“It smells, but it fades,” Jasper said, a tiny part of him marveling a little that Jules didn’t know that already. But when in her life did she handle bleach on her own? Jasper knew they had a cleaning woman. It didn’t matter though, there was work to do. “When’s your mom getting back? Some like, perfume and time will cover it up. But yeah, rags, scrub brush, a mop ... a bucket too. We gotta mix it with water.” Even as he talked, he grabbed for a couple of things that he could see in the laundry room. “There’s probably gonna be a stain on the concrete outside, but if we hose it down enough and soak it in bleach, it should like, be okay. You can say you spilled something out there, I guess.”
"She's going to be back today. She got stuck out of town because of the fog, but she'll be in tonight, I think. Maybe sooner." Jules would text her again, just to try and get a feel for where her mom was. It was better to try and keep tabs than to get surprised by an early arrival, especially with Jasper here. Especially with Jasper here and helping her clean up a crime scene. Maybe her mom would just assume Tamara had come by and did a really thorough job. She began to help grab the things they needed. Mop. Bucket. Scrub brush. Her heart was pounding painfully in her chest and Jules felt like curling up in the corner and just pretending none of this was actually happening. "What if someone sees us hosing the deck?" she asked suddenly. "I mean, it's weird to do that in the winter, right? Though I guess it's still foggy enough maybe they won't be able to see us too well."
Tonight-or-sooner wasn’t a great timeline for detail cleaning work, and Jasper started to feel the pressure of the kind of mess they were in. He briefly considered urging Jules to be honest, to tell her mother exactly what happened, but he didn’t trust that Ms. Cooper would believe her. Then he thought about calling his dad or one of his uncles to come help, but the notion that they would know what to do to clean up after a dead body was kind of insane. Just like with every secret, the fewer people knew, the more likely it was to stay a secret. Three was already too many. So he took a few deep breaths and freed up one hand to squeeze Jules’s arm. “I’ll take care of that part now, before the fog completely goes away, okay? Your back yard is pretty sheltered, I think it’ll be okay. You start cleaning the stairs, we’ll both do the floor. Sound good? Don’t overthink it Jules, we just gotta move.”
Don't overthink it. That's all Jules had been doing since her stepdad died. His body was gone. God, what if he was alive and got up and walked away? No, that was impossible. They had checked. He had been most definitely dead. Like Jasper she thought about telling her mom the truth. Maybe she would believe Jules. Maybe she would help. But Jules suddenly realized that Jasper was in the house, and he was touching things, and Jules had bruises on her neck. She loved her mom, but Jules wouldn't put it past Margaret Cooper to assume Jasper had attacked Jules and killed her husband when he tried to intervene. Oh god. Jules felt nauseous and lifted her hand to cover her mouth as her stomach threatened to empty. Not that there was anything to puke up, but still. Jasper was right. They needed to move. "Okay," she breathed, once she felt like she could talk without vomiting. "Okay. Let's move then."
And move they did. Jasper didn’t think he’d ever cleaned anything that hard or that fast. It was hard to resist checking the time every fifteen seconds. The stress of not knowing when Ms. Cooper would walk through the door kept Jasper’s heart pounding the entire time. Jules wasn’t the only one who’d realized that he was leaving evidence of his presence everywhere and just how much Jules’s mom disliked him. So he made sure to clean thoroughly, and that he wiped down the handles of everything he touched as they put it all away again.
Finally, after Jasper moved his car down the street, the two of them ended up in Jules’s room. Jasper thought they’d done a good enough job, but who really knew? He just had to hope that Ms. Cooper believed Jules when she said her stepdad just left the house and never returned. Having seen even a bit of one of those monsters up close and personal, Jasper had no doubt that they could eat someone. And from what he’d heard in the hospital ... they had been. There should be no need for any detailed police investigation at the house, but if there was, they’d done their best to cover the tracks. Jasper went to Jules’s bathroom to wash some of the bleach off of his hands, feeling tired and shaky. His wound throbbed from using his arm so much, and he thought it might be bleeding again, or at least leaking pus, but he didn’t really want to look at it to check. Not now.
While Jasper washed his hands, Jules changed her clothes, fully intending on throwing out what she was wearing. She had plenty of clothes already and she didn't think she could wear what she had on ever again without thinking about all of this. The magnitude of what had happened had already hit her, and now Jasper was involved. Just like Ruby, if they all got caught, he would have it much harder than Jules would and she had asked him to help her anyway. What was wrong with her? Jules glanced out her window to make sure the driveway was still empty before stepping into the bathroom where Jasper was. "Does your arm hurt?" she asked. "We have pain killers, if you want any." He had done a lot of cleaning, and she knew he probably had to be in pain.
Jasper looked over at her as he dried his hands off. He tried to remember if he’d tucked any of the Oxy bottles into his jacket and couldn’t. Which probably meant he hadn’t. “Yeah, uh ... anything would be fine,” he murmured with a grateful, tired smile. “It’s pretty sore.” It was throbbing sharply in time with his heartbeat and itching around the edges, but he didn’t need to get too detailed about it. Jules had enough to worry about. He had plenty to shoulder now too -- even if he completely believed it had been an accident, he knew the law would probably see him as an accessory to murder now. After the fact, or whatever they said all the time on TV. Jasper didn’t regret it; he would take as much responsibility for it as he could possibly grab in order to protect Jules ... but he just hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
Jules nodded and turned to go get what he needed. She felt terrible that he was hurt, that she had asked him to come over, and that he had done most of the grunt work cleaning up her mess. The house smelled insanely clean now, but Jules had opened some of the windows downstairs to try and get rid of the chemical smell lingering from the cleaning supplies. She checked her phone, just to make sure her mom hadn't texted or called, and then snuck into her mom and Edward's bathroom to grab a bottle of her mom's Vicodin. She had gotten the prescription when she had a wisdom tooth extracted a few weeks back, but the bottle was still pretty full. Jules took two pills and then put everything back as it was.
When she returned to the bathroom, she offered Jasper the pills, still observing him with some concern. "I'm really sorry," she whispered. "I shouldn't have pulled you into this." She knew he would dismiss her worries, because she would have done the same if their roles had been reversed. But Jules wanted him to know that she was sorry. Jasper really had enough problems and now she had added accessory after the fact to the pile.
Jasper wanted to strip all of his clothes off and get rid of them, but he would have to do it at home, since he had nothing else to wear here. While he waited for Jules, he did pull his shirt up and one arm off so he could peel the edge of his bandage off and look at the wound. It was predictably gross, but it didn’t look like he’d done any major damage to it or anything. He re-stuck the bandage tape and pulled his shirt back on, then went to sit on the edge of Jules’s tub until she came back. He took the pills without even asking what they were and dry swallowed the capsules, then shook his head and pulled Jules in closer, hugging her hips and resting his cheek against her stomach. “You did right, I would’ve wanted to know, no matter what,” he told her. “You needed help, I’m here for you. Always. I think it’ll be okay, you just gotta ... stick to the story.”
It was a lot to put on a person. Ruby had swung the bat, but Ruby wouldn't have been in that position if she hadn't come to Jules's house. Not that Jules invited her, but still. It had been Jules's stepdad, and if he had managed to strangle Jules to death, who knows what he would have done to Ruby. It made her sick to her stomach even thinking about it. All of this made her sick to her stomach. Jules was terrified of talking to her mom and she wished Jasper could just stay. But that would make everything worse. Jules was mindful of his arm when he pulled her close, and she slid her hands into his hair, still not sure whether she wanted to cry or vomit. And she had no idea of this feeling would ever go away. "Thank you," she murmured. Having him there was comforting in a sense, even if she hated that he was involved now. After another moment she tensed as she remembered something. "I... the bat. I don't know what to do with it."
Jasper knew on some level that he should be resting, healing, not dealing with covering up an accidental death so his girlfriend didn’t go to jail. It was a terrible thing, but at the same time it kind of felt like small potatoes compared to killer monsters in mystery fog. Like getting hit by a bat while trying to strangle one’s step daughter and then falling down stairs to one’s death was something mundane that could happen to anyone at any time. Maybe his perspective was a little skewed, but the cops didn’t currently scare Jasper much. He couldn’t blame Jules for being petrified though. Her fingers in his hair felt nice, and Jasper briefly closed his eyes, then looked up at her when she stiffened and brought up the bat. “I’ll take it with me when I leave,” he assured her, pressing a kiss to her belly. “I’ll get rid of it. Where is it? We prob’ly oughta wrap it in something ...”
It felt extra wrong to make Jasper take the maybe-murder weapon with him. She kept telling herself Edward died from the fall down the stairs but they didn't know that for sure. They never would, if his body was gone. But still. She couldn't leave the bat here. Jules had thought about tossing it over the cliffs, but with the fog clearing up, someone might see her. "It's in the closet downstairs," she said. "I told Ruby I would take care of it and then I forgot..." There was that sick feeling again. Jules brushed Jasper's hair back from his face as she peered down at him. It was too late to tell him to go home. What happened happened and there was no going back now. Jasper had come without hesitation, and he had done everything she needed him to do, even while he was hurt. How would she ever be able to repay that? "I'm so glad you're okay," she murmured, glancing at his shoulder, even though he wore a shirt. "Can I see what happened?"
Jasper rubbed his hands gently up and down the backs of Jules’s thighs, wanting to soothe her any way he could. He’d done some bad things in his life and now he’d done what he’d done in the eyes of the law, but he couldn’t imagine being in her place. Having to go through that terror and pain, on top of everything that had been going on outside. He was silently determined to do anything and everything to help her. Jasper winced a little internally when Jules focused on his shoulder. He didn’t really want to show her, but he knew he would insist on seeing it if their positions were reversed. He patted her ass lightly and then stood up. “It’s gross, but it’s okay though,” he said quietly as he reached back with his good hand to pull his shirt off. “The doctor said it would heal, don’t freak out.” Jasper started to carefully peel the bandage off enough to show her.
Jules felt like everything that had happened at once had thrown her and she was struggling to get both feet back on the ground. Edward and Ruby, and then the fog and the monster and Jasper getting hurt. It was only a couple days before that they were lounging happy and naked in his bed on Christmas, but it felt like ages ago now. Jules stepped back so he could stand and get his shirt off. The fact that he told her not to freak out only prepared Jules to actually freak out and she grimaced when she saw the stitched wound beneath the bandage. It did look bad, red and swollen and Jules exhaled, her worried eyes shifting back to Jasper's face. "You could have died," she breathed. "Do you feel okay? I mean, that thing... those things...they weren't just like... regular animals. Are you sure it won't get infected?"
Jasper knew he easily could’ve been sliced open by that thing, but he hadn’t given a lot of thought yet to how closely he’d brushed death. At the moment it seemed unreal, like it was too much to process at once. It might not even be over, because he didn’t have a solid answer for Jules’s question. Jasper shrugged his good shoulder, looking at the wound in the mirror across from them. It was big and ugly, and if it did heal, it would leave a pretty gnarly scar. “I’m not sure of anything,” he murmured, focusing on Jules again. “They gave me some antibiotics just in case, but ... who the fuck knows, we don’t even know what they were. I feel okay though ... it’s sore and it burns sometimes, but nothing I can’t handle.”
Jules pressed her hand to his upper chest, near the stitches but not quite on them. She didn't want to hurt him, or make things worse. He really could have died. This town was just fucked up. All of it. How had she not seen it for so long? Was she really that distracted by cheerleading and boys and all that superficial crap? "I know you can handle it, but tell me if you start to feel off or anything? Or if it keeps hurting. I mean, I'm not a doctor, but... I saw what those things looked like. It came out of nowhere in the fog, like a shadow that just came to life and it was in my face outside, but it wasn't anything I had ever seen before. It had these... long fingers with these claws... obviously." She frowned at his shoulder. "But it had a lot of teeth too. It--" Jules paused abruptly, her gaze ticking back to Jasper's face. Her chest felt cold and tight all of a sudden. "Hold on, I need my phone." Jules turned away quickly and darted from the bathroom to her nightstand where she had plugged in her phone. No text from her mom yet. Good. She opened her old messages and scrolled until she found the text Jane had sent them all the month before. Creature. Dreams. Claws. Mouth. Teeth. Maybe it wasn't the same thing. But maybe it was. Jules set her phone down, resisting the urge to reach out to the others telepathically. Now wasn't the time. She had too much going on in her head. "Did you see it?" she asked Jasper instead. "Any of it?"
Jasper followed Jules out of the bathroom when she took off, his brow furrowing. He stuck the bandage tape back in place so they didn’t have to keep looking at his gross wound, watching as Jules scrolled back through her messages. He had no idea what she was looking for or why, and shook his head a bit dumbly at her question. “Not really, the claws just kinda came outta nowhere and sideswiped me. We were running.” He and Logan had been more focused on getting the fuck into a building at the time, trying not to die. Thinking about it at the moment was making Jasper’s heart beat harder as his anxiety started to rise. “Why?” he asked, still staring at her warily.
Again Jules had that sick feeling in her stomach that Jasper could have been seriously hurt, even killed. He had stitches now, and he would walk away with a pretty bad scar, but he was alive. A part of her wanted to grab him now and just get in her car and drive away from Point Pleasant forever, as irrational as that was. But she didn't think they would get very far. There was just too much holding them both here. At least for now. Jules glanced back down at her phone and rubbed her sweaty palms against her thighs. "It's probably nothing," she muttered. "It's just, what I saw seems a lot like what Jane saw in our dreams... the dreamwalker. It's probably not the same. I might check in with the others, once everything here calms down." Jules walked over to Jasper and slipped her arms around him, pressing her forehead against his chest. "I'm so glad you're okay. I hated not being able to call you."
Jasper automatically wrapped his arms around Jules in return, and pressed a kiss against her hair, but his wheels were turning. There was a possibility all this could be linked to Jules’s weird dreams? He didn’t even remember hearing her say that she’d seen whatever had been in the fog, but there had been a lot happening at once tonight. Part of Jasper wanted to just bail, grab his stuff, get in his car, and drive in one direction until he ran out of gas. He knew he could never really do that, or at least he wouldn’t get very far, but the urge to escape this weird fucking town and everything in it was pretty strong at the moment. He rubbed at Jules’s back and tried to push it all away. It wasn’t like he knew anything, he couldn’t help anyway. “Lemme know if you find out anything,” he murmured. “I’m glad you’re ... unhurt. Mostly.” Jasper sighed and closed his eyes, feeling incredibly weary all of the sudden. He gave Jules a gentle squeeze. “I wish I’d been here with you. I’m so sorry Jules.”
"I'm glad you had Logan with you," Jules said, looking up at him. "And Ruby was with me. I'll be okay. I just need to... convince my mom he left and never came back. And you need to rest and heal." She glanced at the bandage pressed against his skin. "I guess Christmas was a little too nice, so this place had to fuck everything up for us." Jules didn't want to really believe that this fog was connected to her dreams because then she knew it would make her feel guilty, like it was her fault people got hurt, especially Jasper. It was irrational, and she knew it, but the feeling was there anyway. "Can I do anything for you?" Jules murmured. "Do you need anything? I feel terrible about all of this."
If Jasper had been there instead of Ruby, or along with Ruby and Jules, there was a possibility that Edward wouldn’t be dead, just thoroughly beaten. But he was glad that Jules had someone with her, otherwise she might’ve been the dead one. But it wasn’t worth thinking about, because that wasn’t how it had happened. Jasper gave a wry huff at Jules’s comment about Christmas. It really did feel that way, didn’t it? Any bright spot they had just drew in more clouds. Jasper brought one hand up to tuck some stray hair behind Jules’s ear and then cupped the side of her face. “I don’t need anything,” he murmured back. “And none of this is your fault, okay? You know that, right?”
Jules couldn't figure out if this had been her fault or not. Any of it. All of it. Her mind felt foggy and she was pretty sure she hadn't fully grasped the reality that her stepdad was dead. She had never really liked him, but he and her mom had been married since Jules was like, eight years old. What was Jason going to do? Terrified thoughts threatened to overwhelm her so Jules turned her cheek into Jasper's hand, seeking comfort from the gesture. "I know," she said, needing to pause to clear her throat when her voice cracked with emotion. "I know." Jules brought her hand up to the bandage on his shoulder. "Did they say how long it would take to heal? Are you going to be okay? I know cleaning up my mess didn't help at all, but thank you. I don't know what I would do without you."
Jasper wished he had some more effective way of comforting her, but he didn’t know what to say. It was one horrible thing piled on top of another, and he didn’t know how to process it for himself, much less make anybody else feel better about it. He stroked his thumb over Jules’s cheek, then gave a slow shake of his head. “They didn’t say, they don’t know shit,” he murmured. Jasper knew that probably wasn’t very comforting, but it was true. “I feel okay though, don’t worry about me. I’ll be all right.” He didn’t really know how to accept the thanks, because he couldn’t imagine not helping Jules when she obviously needed it. It did feel kind of good to hear someone say that he was invaluable though; he wasn’t used to being needed. Jasper tilted Jules’s face up and kissed her softly. “We’ll both be okay, Jules,” he whispered. He wanted to promise too, but Jules was too smart for that. Jasper just had to have faith.
Jules didn't expect Jasper to know the right words to say in this situation. How could anyone be prepared for something like this? What could she say to him after being attacked by a fog monster and having his arm ripped open like that? Her brain was still trying to process the fact that there had been creatures out there at all. In the real world. This wasn't a horror movie... as far as Jules knew. It felt like one sometimes. Jules gripped his sides gently, wanting to believe his words. Would they be okay? She wasn't sure. But she was willing to hope for the best. "We'll be okay," she repeated, nodding softly. She pushed up to press a soft kiss against his mouth. "I wish you could stay. But you should go. My mom might be home any minute and you need to get some rest." She hated that it felt like she was kicking him out, but it wouldn't do either of them any favors if her mom showed up while Jasper was in the house and Edward was missing.
Jasper didn’t want to leave. He wanted to crash out in Jules’s comfortable, sweet-smelling bed and sleep for a couple of hours, then be there to protect her when her mom came home. Wild thoughts ran through his head -- what if her mother attacked her? What if Ms. Cooper ended up killing Jules? What if she just somehow knew and had Jules arrested? What if she just packed them up and moved them somewhere else without a word? He knew all those things were pretty outlandish, but so was freezing soup-fog with killer lizard things in it. Jasper closed his eyes and gently butted his forehead against hers, trying to calm down his anxiety. They would be okay, and she was right, it would be worse if he was there when Ms. Cooper came home. More suspicious. “Okay,” Jasper whispered finally, opening his eyes again. “But you have to call me the second you can, all right? Let me know how it goes. ‘Cause I’m gonna be worrying about you the whole time.”
"I promise," Jules murmured. She didn't know how things were going to go, or what her mom would say or do. Probably try to call Edward, and then the police. Jules was still imagining his body laying out in the street somewhere. It made her feel sick to her stomach. But Ruby was home and safe, and now Jasper had to leave so he would be safe too. Jules couldn't think of any reason why her mom wouldn't believe the story, but her mom could be unpredictable sometimes. Jules knew she just had to focus and be calm and not get caught in a lie. No vomiting. No crying. She would wear one of her infinity scarves until the bruises began to heal. And if her mom saw them, Jules would think of something. She cupped Jasper's face and kissed him again. "The bat is downstairs in the closet, so I'll walk you out. Just... don't text or call or anything, okay? Wait for me to call you." Like with Ruby she didn't want potential text messages used against them in the future if shit hit the fan.
He nodded a little, then murmured an “okay” and kissed her again. Jasper lingered in it this time, and while he was in no mood to get horny, there was some different kind of warmth there. It ran deeper than sex. He knew she was anxious for him to leave though, and he needed to, so Jasper didn’t take too long. He pulled back and patted Jules’s side as he reached around her to pick up his shirt. Jasper pulled it on again, keeping his expression neutral even though it hurt to move his arm that way. “I left my shoes down by the door,” he murmured as he headed out of the bathroom. The longer he stayed, the harder it would be to leave. Once they were downstairs and Jasper had his boots and hoodie back on, he pulled a knit hat out of the pocket and stuck his hand inside of it. “Okay, which closet?” he asked with a glance around. He was thinking about how to get it out of the house in the least conspicuous way.
Jules had to keep from grabbing Jasper and simply clinging to him. They didn't have the time for that though, and it sucked. Because of all the days she needed and wanted him there, this was it. Her heart started thudding in her chest again as she pulled open the closet closest to the foyer. Reaching in, she grabbed the bat and turned to hand it to Jasper with a frown. "It's still foggy out, so... hopefully no one will see you. Jason might realize it's gone, but... I'll deal with that when and if it happens. What are you going to do with it?"
Jasper winced inside a little when Jules grabbed the bat with her bare hand, but she’d probably done it a dozen times already, so it likely didn’t matter. He grabbed the neck of the bat with the cotton still covering his hand, then slid it up into the side of his hoodie where he could hold it in place with his arm. It didn’t look too obvious, he thought. Anybody who glanced at him likely wouldn’t notice. He could get it to his car. “I’m gonna burn it,” he told Jules. There was a burn barrel in the back of his dad’s place, or there was the fireplace, or he could just build a fire somewhere remote and get rid of it. The bat wasn’t obviously bloody, but burning it felt safer than just stashing it or throwing it in the ocean or something. Tossing a wary glance at the front windows, Jasper moved toward the door again. He didn’t want to leave, but he was getting antsy about Jules’s mom coming home.
Burning it at Jasper's was much safer than Jules trying to do it here. She would have had to use the fireplace in her mom's room rather than down here, and no way could she explain that, unless she said Edward had built a fire. But Jules didn't know how quickly the bat would burn. This was just a safer choice. Jules followed him to the door, frowning and trying not to burst into tears again. That wouldn't be helpful and she didn't want Jasper to feel guilty for having to leave. She was just afraid to be alone in the house, even for a little while. It was an irrational fear, but it couldn't be helped. "Please be careful," she murmured when she opened the door. "And I'll call you tonight if I can, okay?"
“You too, all right?” he said softly back, turning to wrap his arm around her. Jasper turned his nose in close to her hair and closed his eyes for a moment. God, it was hard to leave her than it had been to clean up after a death, how fucked up was that? “Call me if you need me, you know I’ll come.” Even if it wouldn’t help their situation in the long run, Jasper would drop everything to go scoop Jules up and take her home with him if she needed it. He kissed her head and gave her a squeeze before he started to let go. “I love you, baby,” he whispered, dipping his head in to kiss her lips one more time. “You can do this, you’ll be okay.”
She knew he would come back if she needed him too. Hopefully her mom wouldn't go crazy or anything. Jules took a deep breath and nodded, clutching his hoodie when he kissed her for only a moment before she forced herself to release him. "I love you too. I'll be okay." Jasper was right. She could do this. She was Jules Cooper, for fuck's sake. She was a pretty decent liar. Granted, Jules had never had to lie about murder, but there was too much at stake to fuck this up. All she could do was tell her mom what she "knew", which was very little. The rest she would have to leave up to fate.