Kat Lucas (hell_kat) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2020-09-25 22:19:00 |
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Entry tags: | #march 2018, amelia, amelia x kat, kat |
Who: Kat and Amelia
Where: Juniper
When: Sunday evening, Mid-March
Status: Complete
Kat had spent the day trying to put her life back together, constantly telling herself it wasn’t as bad as it seemed. She had her family there to support her and a job that could be just as successful in Point Pleasant as anywhere else. Having to rebuild didn’t make her a failure; it meant she was resilient. Yet, sitting alone in her hotel room, without a place to call her own, it felt insurmountable. She’d started by making lists of things to do, but that quickly became daunting. Her lists had sublists and side notes and highlights and circles--everything felt important. The only thing she knew had to be done was securing a job. She couldn’t get an apartment without one. Aaron and Mila had offered her their guest room, but for now Juniper was her home.
As far as B&Bs went, Juniper was nice enough, far better than the motel, and Kat felt like she was splurging to stay there. It was only for a couple nights though and she kept telling herself she deserved something nice after what she’d been through. Without a kitchen of her own, she’d been forced to eat out for all her meals, so when Amelia offered to bring by dinner she was happy for the company and the chance to stay in. They hadn’t spent a lot of time together since Amelia had disappeared and returned a teenager, but Kat hoped to change that now that she was back in Point Pleasant and could see her more often.
Aaron had always been Amelia's favorite of her father's siblings with Kat a close second but that was only because she'd been away a lot and Amelia had only really seen her on holidays. She was excited to have her back and these days it felt especially important for the family to be tight knit since they'd lost Jasper. Sure, they'd lost Joseph too but that didn't feel so much as a loss as it did a mercy. It was a little weird how it felt like her grandparents had nothing to do with her now and Amelia sometimes wondered if they could tell her grandmother who she really was, now that Joseph was out of the way. The problem was, he could come back. Hell, Amelia hoped he would because that would mean Jasper returned too.
It was a no brainer to offer to bring food now that her aunt was back in town. Amelia didn't know much about her situation but she'd gleamed that the circumstances weren't ideal. A break-up at the very least, so that couldn't be easy. She stopped by the house after work to feed the dogs and let them out, then headed to Dino's to pick up some nice meals for her and Kat. She still hadn't gotten used to driving Jasper's car but with him gone and her and Gavin now both working it made sense. It made her feel close to him sometimes, she could sometimes smell him in there and it was only the hope that he'd be back that kept her from going back to raging. She still got sad, but the dogs and her new job kept her grounded, though she found she spent a lot of time hoping that a call would come in about the missing people from Witcham Road.
it was nearly eight when she finally got to Juniper and if Kat was half as hungry as she was she was probably getting cranky. Amelia made a beeline for her room, knocking lightly. "Room service," she chimed at the door, waiting with a little smile for Kat to open.
Kat hurried to the door as soon as she heard Amelia knock, opening it with a smile on her face. It’d been a long day and she knew she looked kind of rough in sweat pants and an old t-shirt, but she’d done her best to cover the bruise that covered her cheek and that was all she could do. She didn’t know how much Aaron had told her, if anything, but Kat was prepared for questions, even if she wasn’t fond of them. Everyone seemed to have them and if they didn’t, they just stared. “Hey! Thank you so much for joining me. I really needed a night in,” she said, giving Amelia a hug. “Come on in and make yourself comfortable.”
Amelia wasn't all that well versed in the wonders of makeup and after she hugged Kat it took her a moment to spot what Kat was hiding. On some level it wasn't that weird to Amelia, people got hurt all the damn time and if Kat was anything like her brothers... But no, she reminded herself that it was different for girls in this place, it was somehow more frowned upon and she gave Kat a somewhat puzzled look as she entered the room. "Did you get in a fight?" she asked with a quirk of her brow as she put the bag of food down on the dresser so she could shrug off her jacket. It was a lot warmer inside than it was outside, even if spring was finally rolling in.
Kat’s smile wilted a little as she accepted the fact that her makeup wasn’t going to fool Amelia any more than it had fooled anyone else today. And while it would have been easy to lie and make up some story, there was too big a chance someone would let the truth slip. She had to remind herself that Amelia wasn’t a child anymore, even though she didn’t look it one bit. “Yeah, kinda,” she admitted as she shut the door and followed Amelia in. There was a little table in the room just big enough for the two of them and Kat took a seat on one side. “Just a—a really bad breakup. I’m fine though.” Mostly. Physically. She’d be fine.
Amelia's expression turned a bit cold as she processed what that meant. "I hope you punched him back," she muttered, unsure if her aunt was like that or not. She suspected that if Gavin or his brothers found out that had happened they would likely fly out there to beat the guy senseless. She sat down with Kat, deciding not to push the issue since she knew too damn well how awkward it could be to talk about painful things. "Are you staying here for a while? I'd offer you a room but-" It was probably weird, sleeping in Jasper's bed when he was missing. Amelia herself didn't want to do that so she highly doubted Kat would, giving her a somewhat pained smile. "Everything is just a little weird right now." She wasn't so sure Kat would accept the offer anyway, she probably felt nicer here in a cozy hotel than she would staying with any of her brothers.
"I should have," Kat said with a cold smile. "But I don't hit people I care about, so... he's out of my life. That's what matters." It was hard and it hurt, but Kat was determined to move on. It was probably amusing how many people would eagerly beat Brian to a pulp for her, but it just emphasized how easily they all turned to violence in moments of anger. She was almost certain the only reason she hadn't hit Brian was that she'd been too shocked to retaliate. "I'm moving home, so staying permanently, but I hope I'm only here for a couple more nights. I'm looking at apartments and hope to have one lined up soon enough, but if not, then I might stay with Aaron and Mila. But really, I hope to get my own place as soon as possible." No matter how welcome they said she was, Kat felt like a burden in someone's guest room.
"You shouldn't care about someone who hits you," Amelia mumbled with a small disapproving frown, more to herself than to Kat, but she knew it was more complicated than that. She might not have a lot of experience with a normal life but she'd read enough to empathize with most of it. "You could always stay with grandma if everything else fails. Dad says it's easier to visit her right now, with Joseph gone. He wants to tell her about me but... he's worried Joseph will come back and it'll be trouble so... Don't mention me if you visit her." It was a sucky situation all around but Amelia, and everyone else really, believed Bridget was better off without her husband. She just needed time to realize that.
“I know, kiddo. And I’m working on that,” Kat said with a soft snort. She’d never understood it as a child, how her mother could stay with a man who treated her the way he did, but she could see now that it hadn’t started like that. The point was that she was stronger, that she wouldn’t be as forgiving and would find her someone that never came close to treating her the way her father treated her mother. Bridget was better without Joseph, but Kat wished her mother had done something to fix her situation. If Joseph hadn’t disappeared, her life would still suck. But he was gone and he wasn’t coming back. It worried her that Amelia spoke as if that was a possibility, but she supposed it was only natural. Amelia had disappeared and come back, so why shouldn’t Joseph and Jasper? Kat thought it was misplaced hope, but she didn’t really want to be the one to shatter that, especially not tonight. “Well, if there’s any chance that Joseph might come back, I don’t want to be staying there when it happens. Tell me what’s been going on with you. Anything new?” she asked as she started to unpack their dinner.
"Well, I got a job," Amelia said with an arch of her brows and a little smile. Her father had been taken back by it and eventually he'd just had to laugh because a Lucas working for the cops was such an oxymoron. "I'm a dispatch slash personal assistant." She smirked and dug around her pasta before taking a bite. The good thing about her job was that some of the people she worked with knew who she was so she didn't have to keep up the pretenses of Lyra Holden's life as much as she might elsewhere. Considering how much she hated her new identity and her inability to just be Amelia Lucas, every little bit helped.
“Dispatch? Like, for the cops?” Kat asked, her brow furrowing as she twirled spaghetti around her fork. While she knew there were probably other companies that used dispatchers, the only thing she could think of there in Point Pleasant was the police dispatch. Of all the places that Amelia could have gone to work, that was probably the very last that Kat had expected. It was definitely a first for the Lucas family, if that was the case.
Amelia nodded. "Dad is thrilled," she murmured but really, Gavin didn't care. He seemed a little more at ease with the sheriff at least and these days... Well, he didn't care about a whole lot, seemingly going through the motions like a ghost now that he was halfway back to functioning at least. "I like it so far, only been a couple of weeks but the sheriff knows who I really am so that helps a lot." The vibe was weird at the station though and she had a feeling it would never get better with the amount of unsolved cases on all those deputies' desks.
“He’ll get over it,” Kat said with a wave of her hand, doubtful that Gavin was really bothered by it. It was good that Amelia had found some way to fill her time, even better that it was with someone who knew who she really was. It had to make things easier when it came to the application process—it wasn’t like Amelia could account for high school or past jobs when she hadn’t been living in this dimension. “That’s really cool. And probably interesting. You get to be right in the middle of things without being a cop, which, honestly, I wouldn’t want to be in this town. I don’t know how they do what they do. Does anyone else know, or just the sheriff?”
"I feel like a lot more people know that don't at this point," Amelia admitted. "Yesterday at the store this woman gave me a weird look and then smiled and nodded at me, you know, like knowingly." It had been weirdly comforting, whatever it had really meant. "Some of the deputies know and I think it's easier being a cop here if you actually believe in the weird things that happen. There's this one old guy at the station who's in denial and he's just frustrated all the time because so many cases don't make any sense." She couldn't imagine turning a blind eye like that, not after the fog. People were truly bizarre. "So what about you? Do you have work lined up already?"
“Not quite,” Kat answered. “Gavin said I could work at The Porch until I find something. What I really want is to get my photography business back up and running, but it may take a bit, so I’m going to apply for a job at the paper. I saw something about them needing a photographer and I have the experience. I think it’s just part time, but between the two I could make something work.” As much as she preferred to do her own thing full time, she needed to establish herself in the area first and that could take a while. A job at the paper would be reliable and that was necessary to pay her potential rent.
Amelia didn't really understand most jobs or how people made ends meet doing them. Would a photographer have much to do in a small town like Point Pleasant? Maybe she'd be driving out to other towns all the damn time for more work but it did seem like a better job for Kat than working at the bar. "I'll tell the cops to be nice to you if they start bitching about the photographer showing up to every crime scene," she said, tongue in cheek. "And you tell me if they're not and I'll have words with them." She didn't hold any such power at the station of course but a sulk could go a long way with some people.
“It’ll definitely be a change from newborn pictures and wedding portraits,” Kat laughed. She’d never attempted photo-journalism, but it had always interested her. It was just difficult to make money doing it unless you were traveling the world. Kat had the feeling she’d be taking lots of photos at local events, which seemed relatively boring, but a job was a job and she needed this one. “Eventually, I’ll be able to work in the surrounding towns. It’ll just take some time. And—“ Her words cut off as a loud thump hit the wall beside her, causing her to jump. “Fuck!” she snapped, turning to look at the offending wall.
Amelia jumped a bit too, glaring at the wall and preparing to say something very rude about the neighboring guests when the words were completely stolen from her. Right there on that spot a line was seemingly carving itself into the wood, a slow vertical scratch soon followed with another by its side and another. Amelia stared at it even as she slowly moved out of her seat to get away from the wall. Another scratch, it looked like tally marks, ending up with one diagonal going through the four. It kept going. Five, ten, fifteen and then another bang and the carving became more erratic, like someone was trying to erase the marks with a knife.
Kat had assumed it was the neighbors, up until the scratching came. Then she knew it was something else and she moved out of her seat, as far away as she could get without climbing up on the bed. She dragged Amelia with her, though that wasn’t entirely necessary, as she’d already begun moving herself. In all her time living in Point Pleasant, Kat had never personally witnessed something so obviously otherworldly. She knew it was out there, knew it happened to other people—hell, Amelia was living proof of how bizarre their reality could be—but this was a first for her and she didn’t quite know how to process it. Or what to do about it. But sitting back down by that wall didn’t feel like an option, especially when the carving became… angry? Each scrape made Kat flinch a little. “You ever seen something like that?” she whispered.
"No," Amelia replied quietly though she wasn't quite whispering. She stared at the scratches already on the wall, then tilted her head and moved a little closer when they started up again. This time it was letters below the tally marks, a bit slower than the first but still too fast for something being physically carved into the wall. "I've seen strange things but not like this." She waited and read it as it appeared but the words didn't make any sense, not really. "No day no night the prophet fades," she whispered and glanced at Kat again when it stopped for more than a few seconds. "Does that mean anything?" Maybe it was a bible thing she didn't recognize, she hadn't exactly studied the book beyond the tattoos on her father's body and some psalms she vaguely remembered from being a kid in church.
“Careful,” Kat said and reached for Amelia as if to stop her. As her niece moved closer, Kat clenched her teeth, her nerves completely on edge. It would have been far more fascinating to her if she wasn’t so terrified and she didn’t dare move until the carving seemed to be done. Only then did she grab her camera— the nice one she used for work— and snap a picture of the writing on the wall. It was creepy and bizarre and Kat had no idea what it meant. “It means I’m not staying here tonight,” she said. “Other than that, no.” But she was going to google it, just in case. And maybe do a little research when she felt a little safer. She gave a quick glance around the room and realized that actually packing up all her shit wasn’t going to happen right now. She would have to do that later, in the daylight, but right now she just wanted to flee. It wasn’t like she could fight a wall. And how the hell was she going to explain that to the staff? Fuck, she didn’t want to pay for damages a ghost had made.
Amelia didn't go too close, but close enough to read and study the carving. She'd never seen actual ghost activity before, not that she remembered, and she was fascinated. Then the carving started fading, which made no damn sense as it was a carving in the wood. Amelia fumbled for her phone but didn't manage to get the camera on before it had fully disappeared much to her chagrin. "Did you get a picture of it?" she asked, looking at Kat with wide eyes, worried that it wouldn't show on Kat's camera, that they'd have no proof this happened. She wasn't even sure why, she couldn't think of anyone she'd want to tell who wouldn't believe her.
Almost as soon as Kat began to worry about having to pay for damages, the damages disappeared. Kat watched with wide eyes until the carving was completely gone, then looked down at her camera, backing up the viewfinder to the previous image. There, on the little two-by-three inch screen, she could see her picture of the writing on the wall. A chill ran up her spine as her eyes shifted back to where it had been, where the wall now looked pristine. “Yeah,” she answered. “It’s still there.” It was then that she got up the nerve to go touch the wall, to feel the nothingness left behind. The wall was smooth, like nothing had ever happened. “No one would believe us,” she said softly. “They’d say we photoshopped it.”
"Dad will believe us," Amelia said and she didn't need anyone else to believe her, not really. Not without Jasper there. "Do you think it was a ghost? Or a memory?" If an actual entity in the room with them had done it, it probably wouldn't have faded away. Amelia half regretted not touching it while it was still there, to see if it was just a visual thing or if she could have felt the indentation in the wood. "If you don't want to sleep here tonight you can share my bed with me until you find somewhere else. It's huge." She could probably stay with Caden or Aaron too but it might be a short notice.
“A memory?” Kat said thoughtfully, having not considered something like that. Had that happened in the past and been covered up? It made her want to google the phrase and see what she came up with, or at least lookup the history of Juniper at the local library. “I dunno. Maybe we can look into it, but… I don’t wanna stay here.” She was reluctant to infringe upon Amelia, but it was probably her only choice at this late an hour. She couldn’t afford a room somewhere else with this one already paid for and showing up at her brothers’ house would take some explanation. Amelia was right. Gavin would believe them. “You sure you don’t mind?” she asked hesitantly.
"Not at all," Amelia replied because she absolutely understood why Kat wouldn't want to stay here even if Amelia might have anyway but that had more to do with years of having very little choice in where she slept. "I can sleep anywhere so it's more of a question if you don't mind sharing a bed with me and two dogs," she added since Kat might not love that idea. They'd never been close because of their age difference but that difference was a great deal smaller now so Amelia wanted to change that. She wasn't close to a whole lot of people and was finding it hard to make friends on account of having to lie to everyone new she met and besides, Kat was nice.
"Don't mind at all," Kat said. Normally she might not have been thrilled to sleep with the dogs, but she could put up with them if it got her out of this room for the night. Kat began to grab a few things and throw them in a bag, trying to focus just on the necessities. She could come back tomorrow, when it was daylight and she was less likely to feel jumpy. She thought she'd be okay being alone in the room while awake, but it just didn't feel safe to sleep there tonight. She felt bad for disrupting dinner, but she'd enjoy it a lot more elsewhere at this point. "Okay," she said, tucking her hair behind her ears as she scanned the room. Spotting her dinner, she put the lid back down and added it to her stuff. She didn't want to forget that. "I think I've got everything I need. Wanna head out and finish dinner at your place?"
"Absolutely," Amelia agreed as she gathered her own food up and grabbed her coat. "Oh... Does dad know about-" she trailed off and motioned at her eyes, clearly meaning Kat's black eye. Gavin was going to be pissed but at least there wasn't a whole lot he could do about it when Kat's boyfriend wasn't in town with her. And punching walls and breaking TVs when enraged was apparently more Amelia and Caden's deal so he'd probably just stew quietly about it. Still, she didn't like seeing him upset so she felt like they had to brace themselves if he wasn't in the know.
Kat hesitated for a second, then pulled her phone out of her pocket. "I'm pretty sure Aaron told him, but I'll text him and check, just in case." It wasn't something she wanted to advertise, but she hadn't expected him to keep it from their brothers. It was really the only explanation for the suddenness of her move, something that would have been significantly more organized otherwise. Kat shot off a quick text, just to confirm, and was relieved to get a quick response. "Yeah, he knows, so no more big surprises tonight." He still might react to actually seeing the damage, but there was nothing he could do about it. Brian was hours away and not worth the trip, in her opinion.
Amelia waited while she dealt with the phone, eyeing the wall curiously as she did so but nothing more happened there. It almost made her want to stay in that room while Kat slept in hers, just to see if something else might happen but that was stupid, possibly dangerous and she had work in the morning. "Do you want to take your car? Or just pick it up tomorrow?" She had no idea if Kat had plans but she was sure Gavin could drive her to Juniper before he went to work since he went in later than Amelia did.
“Um… I can take my car,” Kat said. She appreciated the offer, but she didn’t want to inconvenience Amelia or Gavin any more than she already would be. She’d gotten the hotel room specifically so she wouldn’t be imposing on them, yet she was doing it anyways. It was annoying, but Kat wasn’t going to try and explain to the Juniper staff why she wasn’t staying in her room tonight. “I can follow you there. Let’s go,” she said, and grabbed her stuff before heading for the door. Hopefully they could pick this up back at Ameila’s place with a little less drama than they’d had here. Or at least without a ghost.