Who: Carson and Rylee When: late night, Friday, Jan 12th Where: home Status: complete
Carson would have said he’d reached his limit when it came to terror from dreams. He thought he’d been as scared as he could possibly be while asleep. He’d been deadass wrong. The latest psychic dream that dragged them all together was the scariest shit Carson had ever seen in his own brain, and he regularly had nightmares about war. This was on a whole different level though -- the fog bearing down on them, that feeling of panic and dread, the water and lightning that flashed everywhere from Nic and Neil, the gross shit all over everything. Then the final piece, his worst fear coming true, the utter lack of control as he started to shift into a werewolf. Right in front of everyone. Things got even more confusing after that, something happened with Jules, and then Carson was awake.
He sat up with a jerk and a gasp, his mind immediately filled with the chaos of everyone talking all at once. They’d apparently all come out of it at the same time, and the general consensus was what the fuck?!?! Carson thought that was pretty appropriate. His heart was thudding hard and fast in his chest, and being awake and out of the dream was doing little to calm him down. They all knew now, they’d all seen. ‘All’ of course was only Jules and Neil, but that was more than enough. Carson cupped his face in his hands and did his very best to pull away from all of them, to slam all those mental doors closed. He wasn’t ready to face his secret being exposed, not yet, fuck.
Carson having nightmares was not a new thing for Rylee. It was a bit different now that she was sharing a bed with him, but it was still unsettling, because now she didn't know if he was dreaming about his time overseas, or all of the trauma he had endured here in the past few months. Rylee stirred when he gasped, and when she finally opened her eyes, she saw him sitting up with his hands covering his face. Concerned, Rylee moved to sit up beside him, frowning. "Hey," she whispered, placing her hand on his back. "What is it?"
Having Rylee with him whenever he woke up had been a life-changing thing for Carson, even if it was difficult to tell from the trauma of everything else he’d been going through. He was pretty sure he wouldn’t be making it through any of this shit without her there by his side. Tonight her presence was only slightly comforting, but he was damn glad she was there. Carson turned toward her a bit, his eyes round and scared in the dark. “It was -- had another, ah, another dream,” he stumbled in a whisper. Without waiting, Carson launched into a halting description of everything that had happened in it, everything they’d seen and heard and felt. “And I shifted,” he ended with, that part almost more frightening than the external threats. “And they all saw it. I -- there was no moon, but I didn’t have any control.”
She kept her hand on him as he spoke, trying to listen with as clear a mind as she could given the sleep haze that lingered. But what Carson was explaining sound odd and terrifying, especially the fact that he had started to shift before waking up. That was impossible, given it wasn't the full moon. But what else could any of it mean? It sounded like a horror movie come to life. Rylee's brows drew together thoughtfully before she licked her lips and spoke. "Maybe... maybe it was really just a dream. Not a shared one, but just something your subconscious created. Like, your fear of people finding out what you are. Are you sure it was like the dreams you had before?"
Carson started shaking his head before Rylee even finished. “It was real,” he said. “I mean, it was a dream of course, but it was a shared one. I heard them all when we woke up.” He tapped the side of his head. There was a weird feeling in his brain, like a tug toward the others, like he could tune back into all of them if he wanted to. They were quieter now, but he could still sense them there, maybe talking about him. About what a monster he was. He could just hope that Nic assured them that the situation was under control. Carson scrubbed his hands over his face and gave a muffled groan. “This bullshit will never end,” he muttered.
"They may not know anything," Rylee said, wanting to try and alleviate some of his worries. "Nic knows, but... Neil and Jules may just think it was some weird part of the dream. They're probably worried about you." She didn't know that for sure, given she didn't know them terribly well at all. But two more people knowing about Carson could be a bad thing. Rylee had been hoping the dreams were over, but apparently they weren't. And they still had no idea what any of it meant, which was the frustrating part of the entire thing. "You should probably try to talk to them, find out what they saw and what they think."
Carson had been hoping they were over too, that the fog had fulfilled whatever the dreams had been about or something, but he should’ve known better. Nobody would call what they’d been through so far ‘easy,’ but they obviously weren’t getting off that lightly. He had the horrible feeling that worse was coming, and what they’d seen backed that up. Carson didn’t know that they were worried -- judging what he knew of Neil, he at least would react badly to it, Carson felt sure -- but he did know he wasn’t ready to talk to them yet. “Maybe ... maybe in the morning,” he murmured, dropping his hands to look over to Rylee. “If these things are warnings of some kind ... fog’s coming back, Ry. And it’s gonna be worse.”
An uncomfortable feeling spread throughout her body as she listened, and her frown deepened. How could anything be worse than what they had already dealt with? Rylee licked her lips, already wanting to call Zania and ask how the hell they fixed all of this. But... Nic was a witch too, and he clearly had no idea what was happening, so how would Zania know? "Someone out there has to know what this means," she whispered. "I just... why you? Why any of you? What are you supposed to do about any of this? It makes no sense!" And it was frustrating as hell, because she was scared for Carson and she felt completely helpless. Rylee couldn't do a damn thing to help and that scared her even more.
Carson felt her confusion and frustration down to his bones. He was just as fucked up about all of it, and now the secret he’d most wanted to keep was out in the open to people he had to be tied to. It made him want to pack both of them up and throw their bags in the car and just ... go. Try to run from all of this. Deep down, he knew that wouldn’t work, that something would get even more fucked up out there. There were people in his head, he couldn’t run from that. “I know,” he murmured as he reached for Rylee. Carson pulled her in close and scooted in a bit to hold onto her tighter, feeling like both of them needed the comfort at the moment. “I dunno what to do. I just wanna keep us safe, that’s all I give a shit about.” The horrible part was, he was pretty sure he couldn’t even do that much. Not if what he’d seen was coming to Point Pleasant.
Rylee rested herself against him, though she didn't know how easy it would be for either of them to get back to sleep. Like Carson, she thought about just grabbing essentials and getting out of town. But she couldn't leave her mom or sister, and they would have no plans on what to do the next full moon. Rylee couldn't bear to ask him how he planned to keep them safe when they couldn't even figure out what was going on. It wasn't Carson's fault. He was just as lost as she was. She was silent for a while, comforted by the feel of his arms around her. Why couldn't they just live a normal damn life in a normal town? "Maybe... shifting in the dream means something. Maybe it means you'll be able to change on nights that aren't the full moon." Preferably with some control, although she had no idea if that was possible. As far as Rylee knew, Carson wasn't Carson anymore on the nights of the full moon. He was just a werewolf.
Carson had no plan. He felt completely helpless and defenseless in the face of all this. He just knew what he wanted more than anything, and that was to keep them safe. It was probably out of his reach, but he could want it anyway. And he did, desperately. It was good to just hold her for a long stretch of minutes, but Carson was pretty sure he wouldn’t be sleeping again tonight either. “Pretty sure that would be a bad thing,” he responded in a murmur, letting out a bitter little huff. There was nothing about his condition that he had control over, and the idea of becoming an even more unpredictable monster ... it made Carson feel sick to his stomach. “What if ... what if I should leave?” he asked softly, his heart suddenly beating harder than before. “What if I’m just a danger to them? I mean, everybody’s stuff was going wild, Nic’s magic and Neil’s ... lightning or whatever. But I think I’m like, the most dangerous one, and if this shit starts happening outside of the full moon ...” He looked pained.
"We don't know what it means," Rylee said quickly as she lifted her face to look at him. "Maybe you'll learn control. You woke up before you were fully shifted, right? Maybe that was you, pulling yourself out of the dream. As much as I would like to get out of this place, I don't think you can escape whatever is happening. At least here you have people who know what you're going through. People who are helping. And it was just a dream, Carson. It happened in your head, not in our bed. I know it's scary now, but we just need to take some time to think about it and not make any rash decisions. You said Nic and Neil's stuff was going wild, like they didn't have any control over it? Do you think they're dangerous too?" She knew his being a werewolf was definitely something to worry about, but magic and lightning sounded pretty terrifying too.
“I don’t know,” Carson murmured miserably. “Maybe they are.” They had actual control over themselves under normal circumstances though, and that made a difference in Carson’s head. Maybe they were all dangerous and that was why they’d been picked for this. Or maybe it was truly random, they still didn’t know. Rylee was right though, now wasn’t the time for rash decisions. He just hoped Neil and Jules would understand his predicament and that he wasn’t a monster twenty-seven days out of every month. He cupped the sides of Rylee’s neck in his hands and gently butted his forehead against hers, closing his eyes and staying in close for a moment. “You’re right,” he murmured after a moment. “Just gotta ... keep gettin’ through it, see what happens.” There wasn’t much else to do, they’d so painfully discovered.
Rylee nodded gently, her hands lifting to his wrists to hold him there. "We'll figure this out. Give it some time and talk to them. They're in this with you, and they experienced the same thing you did. Maybe one of them has an answer, or some kind of clue to what's going on." More likely they wouldn't, but she had to maintain some kind of optimism here. "Do you need anything? A glass of water?" She nearly suggested he smoke a joint to relax and maybe try to get more sleep, but she wasn't sure even that would help at this point. But Rylee needed to try and be there for Carson and do whatever he needed her to do.
They kept hoping that, didn’t they? That someone would be struck with an answer, someone would find the key to unlock all this shit. And it kept not happening. Carson still felt as clueless and lost as he had in the beginning, and it was frustrating. It was terrifying. And now they all knew something that he hadn’t wanted them to know, something that might drive them away from trusting him. They weren’t exactly all friends, but that hurt to think about. They were all in this together, and he hoped they wouldn’t shut him out now. He didn’t say all that to Rylee though, aware she was trying to comfort him, nodding a little instead. “Yeah m’thirsty, but I’m gonna ... get up for a bit. Don’t think I can get back to sleep. Do you want anything?”
Rylee shook her head, and she instinctively wanted to get up with him, to keep an eye on him and make sure she was okay. But Rylee also knew that there was a possibility he needed time alone. She could keep trying to find reasons for what was happening, or attempt to cheer him up in other ways, but this was extremely heavy, and sometimes words just fell flat, no matter how good their intentions. "I'm okay, Carson. Do you want to be alone? I can get up and make us some food if you want. We could watch a movie." A movie neither of them would be able to concentrate on, but she needed to offer anyway. She wanted to be there and do whatever he needed, if that was nothing.
Carson didn’t really want to be alone, but he didn’t want to drag Rylee out of bed if she wanted to sleep more either. She was used to him having nightmares, and now maybe even used to him having psychic monster nightmares, but it was still always jarring and disruptive, and he felt bad that his whole stupid life was that way for her. Still, cuddling up on the couch with her and some snacks and a movie sounded really nice. Maybe he would get sleepy again instead of his brain digging its rut even deeper. Always deeper. “That sounds really nice, if you feel up to getting up too,” he said, giving her a sheepish little smile. “It’s okay if you don’t, I’ll be okay, but ... if you wanna.”
Rylee rubbed his shoulder and then moved to push the blankets off so she could slip out of bed. She felt fully awake now, uneasy and uncomfortable, but she knew eventually it would pass and determination would set in again. They needed to figure out what was going on. It felt like things were getting worse for Carson and Rylee didn't want to stand around until it all imploded. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if that happened. Rylee grabbed a sweatshirt to pull on over her t-shirt and she brushed her hair back from her face. "Let's find something silly to watch," she suggested. "I can make one of those frozen pizzas, or popcorn or something. Whatever you want."
Carson got up too, opting for his crutch instead of his leg, and grabbed the robe he liked to lounge around in off of the hook on the closet door. He slipped into it, hoping Rylee wasn’t getting up and forgoing sleep just for his sake. “Popcorn sounds good,” he told her. “Pizza would sit too heavy, I think.” He did eventually want to get back to sleep if he could. Something light and some juice or something would be nice, and he wholeheartedly agreed about finding something silly to watch. Lightness for the stomach and the brain; Carson felt like he needed that. “I’ll start flipping around,” he said as he crutched toward the bedroom door.
"Popcorn it is," Rylee said. Easier to make and less mess to clean up. She wasn't sure if she would be able to fall back asleep for a while, but she didn't feel completely awake that she wouldn't fuck something up if she tried to actually cook. While Carson found something to watch, she wandered into the kitchen to find the popcorn and get it in the microwave. Her stomach felt like it was still in knots from the description of Carson's dream, and the knowledge that two more people might know now that he was a werewolf. All Rylee could do was hope Neil and Jules wouldn't freak out and expose Carson further. It was probably too late in the night to do anything about it now, but they would have to handle it as soon as they could.