Adrian Moretti (theneedtofeed) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2020-12-07 03:18:00 |
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Entry tags: | #may 2018, adrian, adrian x grady, grady |
Who: Adrian & Grady
Where: Aaron and Mila's place
When: May
Adrian could not stop bouncing his knee. It was weird to be this nervous to meet another human being after everything he'd been through and all the monsters he'd seen but the sheriff held the power to lock him up if he decided to not believe him. That would be bad news for everyone, not just Adrian, and yet he really didn't want to explain to Barrett just why that was. Telling a complete stranger he was kind of a monster now but effectively fighting it so far? No. Not optimal. He still wasn't sure what exactly to tell the man but it was the first step in coming home so he couldn't just jump out the window and run, no matter how much he wanted to.
When Mila opened the door to let Grady in, Adrian got to his feet and shot his sister a flicker of an attempted smile as thanks. More of a pained grimace really. He wiped his hands on his jeans and stepped forward, offering his hand. Meeting the witch had been a whole lot less scary and that was just a weird sentence he'd never expected to think. "Nice to meet you," he lied through his teeth because it was polite. "Mila's told me good things about you."
Grady wasn't really sure what to expect when Mila Moretti walked into the station. They had spoken a few times since her return from... wherever it was she had been... and she seemed to be doing all right now, compared to those first few days in the hospital. Like so many other things in this town, he wasn't really expecting to ever know the truth of her situation, or what had happened to her, and while the cop part of his brain was frustrated by it, the other side, the side that was still trying to come to terms with the fact that the world was not as he wanted it to be, was okay with never knowing.
Both sides warred together when Mila admitted that her brother Adrian was alive and living in her home. As far as Grady knew, Adrian was dead. No body found, but dead. Five years was a long time to be missing and they had already sent a man to jail for Moretti's murder, among others. This was something he couldn't pretend didn't happen and so he agreed with meet with Adrian, to hear the other man's side of the story and find out what it was he needed from Grady.
Walking into Mila's home, Grady took Adrian's hand and shook it firmly. "Nice to meet you as well," Grady said. "Your sister has told me... well, not much, to be honest. But I suspect that's why I'm here."
Adrian half wished Mila had joined them in the room but she was good about giving him privacy, maybe too good at it. He gave Grady a pained little smile as he nodded and thought about how amnesia could just be the best way to play this. The last thing he wanted to do was send the cops out into the woods where that monster was roaming around, unkillable and deadly. "I just got back home," he said, offering Grady a seat before taking one himself. There was a strong urge to play up his nervousness, to act like his words were a little slurred, like that cut on the side of his head had dealt more damage than it really did. He decided not to, he was probably enough of a wreck as it was. He licked his lips, rubbing his hands on his jeans again and tried to keep them from shaking. "Apparently I'm supposed to be dead."
Grady moved to sit down, watching Adrian quietly, but intently. He had been doing this job long enough to know what to look for when speaking to someone. There were some skilled liars out there. Adept manipulators. He wasn't saying Adrian was either of those things, but he was definitely interested to hear what had happened to the man for the past five years or so. His sister hadn't been entirely forthcoming herself. Grady gave a little nod at Adrian's words. "Yes, apparently so. At least that's what the official report states... legally as well, as your parents had you declared deceased."
"Yeah, I figured when I saw my grave," Adrian said with a hint of defeat to his voice. "So that's going to be a pain in the ass red tape to deal with." He hesitated, not sure where to even begin. "Starting with you, I guess. I haven't told my parents I'm back, we figured it was better to work things out with the officials first. Start untangling some of that red tape." He was well aware that Grady was watching him closely, trying to read between the lines and there were definitely things Adrian was guilty of, but the Blackwater Massacre wasn't one of those so he could at least speak freely about those events without looking guilty.
"It's a lot of red tape to untangle," Grady explained. "A man went to prison for your murder. He's since been released, but I suppose it might benefit him to know you're alive, especially if you can tell me what happened that night in Blackwater. And where you've been for the past five years. That's where things get a bit messier." He would do what he could, of course, but Adrian Moretti being alive felt more complicated than Amelia Lucas returning from a different realm several years older. Grady couldn't formulate a plan, or know what to do, until he had more concrete answers about what had happened.
Everything in Adrian's mind was screaming at him that this had been a mistake, that he should have started life over somewhere else, even if it meant leaving Mila behind. She was doing better, they could have kept in touch in secret but no, he'd let her guilt him into staying and at this moment it didn't feel like it would go well at all. "I'm having a hard time telling you the truth," he admitted. "It's... I can tell you Cruz didn't hurt anyone, none of us did. Cruz and Benito Acosta got out but... Josh Lewis, Simon Ward and Brodie Simpson are all dead. Josh and Brodie were dead by the time I got there, I watched Simon die." The words came easy at first but saying their names made it all too real and he could feel himself choking on them, his mouth starting to feel numb, bile rising in his throat. "I was- my leg was broken, my-" he waved his hand at the scar on his temple. "I was bleeding pretty bad. I couldn't do anything to help them. I should have died too."
A heavy feeling was settling in his stomach, hearing Acosta had been innocent. The man had served time in prison and though he had been released now, that would follow the man for the rest of his life. Of course, depending on the details of the situation, it was possible they could clear Acosta's conviction from his record, but that didn't make up for what the guy went through. Grady digested Adrian's story, finding that he believed what the man was telling him. The emotion in his voice was too genuine to fake. "Why didn't you?" Grady asked quietly. "What happened after that?"
Lie, Adrian's brain was telling him. Screaming at him more like it and it felt so loud that he couldn't get a word out for a few seconds, staring down at his hands as he tried to focus. There was nothing he wanted to focus on, everything about that time was bad, everything that had followed was bad, he'd never thought anything could be good again and that hope that was on the horizon sometimes hurt him more than all the bad things had managed to. He cleared his throat, glanced up at the man who was a stranger to him, someone he only thought he could trust because Mila seemed to. It was a threadbare thing to cling to and he grimaced briefly, his knee bouncing again. "I was- it- I think it ignored me. He ignored me. There was something wrong with him and he infected me." It wasn't human. What a stupid thing to say out loud. But Grady had been sheriff when the fog hit, maybe he'd seen those things, he hadn't arrested Mila for stabbing Aaron. "He ate my friends and after I was there a while I... I started healing faster. Enough that I managed to crawl out. Maybe it let me. He. It's hard to think of him as human, he had a mask, it was... It was fucking weird."
Cannibalism. Maybe that was why bodies were never found. But, the bones surely would have been somewhere. Unless they had gotten buried. And in Blackwater, it would have been near impossible to find them unless some animals dug them up eventually. "Him. You're sure it was a man? What kind of mask was he wearing?" He wanted to tell Adrian that he didn't have to lie, that Grady had seen things himself in this town that he couldn't quite explain to other people for fear of sounding like a lunatic. And he certainly knew there was something in Blackwater Woods that liked to eviscerate people and animals. But Grady needed Adrian to tell him the truth and he didn't want to give the man any logical - or illogical - out before he got it.
Adrian wasn't sure how to take the question about the assailant being a man. As in, was he sure he wasn't a woman? Or was he sure he was human at all. "He was wearing rags, so either a he or a very androgynous person. His body was all wrong, like he was too thin, too wiry." That was partially a lie. It couldn't have been human even if sometimes Adrian wondered if the fear, pain and time passed had warped his memory of the creature. Its limbs had been too long, its torso had been stretched too and it had been far too skinny to hold as much strength as it did. Like it had been starved near to death for years. "His mask... was not a mask, really. He had a skull strapped to his head. Animal skull." Adrian winced. "People I met after called him a Wendigo, maybe that's what he was going for."
Grady clasped his hands together loosely between his knees as he studied Adrian. He could tell the truth lay somewhere in that explanation. Moretti was trying to tell him what had really happened while trying to sound sane. Grady supposed he couldn't blame the guy. Grady was a cop, the Sheriff, and certainly he had the capability of making things difficult for Adrian, possibly even sending him to a psych ward for treatment. But that wasn't the way Grady did things, not here in Point Pleasant. "A wendigo," Grady repeated before cocking a brow. "I know you don't know me, Adrian, and I understand if you don't trust me. But your sister does, and I hope that you trust her. She came to me for a reason. So I want to ask you something, and I want you to be honest in your answer. Do you really believe it was a man who did this to you and your friends?"
Adrian hesitated but there was something comforting about the way Grady asked, as if he already knew the answer and just needed Adrian to confirm it and Adrian did trust Mila and Mila had told him she trusted Grady. It was hard to lay it all out for someone he didn't know, especially when it was all so insane. But he wasn't in an interrogation room, there was nothing official about this little meeting, at least not yet, and there was a kindness in Grady's eyes that made it a bit easier to drop his guard so he shook his head and swallowed thickly. "I know it wasn't." The words were quiet, almost a whisper but he spoke with certainty. If anyone knew this thing wasn't human, it was him because he'd felt the same things that creature had no doubt felt when it first started changing - if it had ever been a man at all.
Once Adrian spoke, Grady knew then that they could work together. There had to be some semblance of trust between the two, or there wouldn't be much Grady could do for him. Silent for a moment as he thought about what it was that lived out there in Blackwater, Grady glanced around the room, noting the photos of Mila and Aaron Lucas, of Mila and her parents, Aaron and his family, including a little Amelia, now years older and named Lyra, working for him at the station. Both families had had their share of troubles. Dark ones. Grady thought of Alison and Hunter, grateful that both were safe in Portland. Knowing what had happened to Amelia and Mila, and now Adrian... it made him worry for Jen. He flexed his fingers and returned his attention back to Adrian. "Can you tell me what happened to you after that? Where have you been for the past five years."
The 'monster in the woods' bit should have been the craziest part of the story and Adrian felt a little defeated as he geared up to drop more insanity on the sheriff. He had considered a lot of variations of the story, something that wouldn't put Grady at risk but everything he could think of was somehow harder to justify than the truth. "I thought I was taken to a hospital," he said. "I don't remember much about getting out of the woods but there were people and a car. I don't know if they were government or something else but... When I said that thing infected me, I- I meant it. I got really sick after that, like my body was turning against me. These people locked me up but they also helped me contain it, helped keep me human." He slumped a little and gave Grady a pleading look, almost certain he was reaching the man's limit of just how much he was willing to believe.
It was a long time ago, so Grady wasn't going to push for more specific details. His brows furrowed a little at the mention of the government but his curiosity was derailed by Adrian mentioning being kept human, which obviously implied he was becoming something inhuman. Knowing what he knew about this town, it made Grady's skin feel cold, but he wasn't going to pass judgment until he knew what he was working with. So far Adrian seemed lucid and safe, but Grady knew that may not always be the case. "Human, as opposed to what?" Grady asked, his tone still perfectly neutral.
"Wendigo," Adrian muttered. "Or whatever the hell that thing was. I have tattoos that keep it away, I don't know if you believe in magic, but it's magic. Which I did not believe in five years ago. I have to eat all the time, I should be a lot heavier than I am but my body just burns through it like it's nothing. If I don't eat my brain gets really fuzzy, like I'm losing myself." Mentioning the rage did not feel like a good idea, not to a cop. The last thing he needed was to be more suspicious to Grady, to be the guy he thought of every time a violent incident took place. "I heal faster than normal, I'm not as sensitive to the cold as most people but I have no control over any of it so it's like the world's shittiest superpower, you know? Normal healing, but faster." If he could use that on other people he'd be the best nurse ever, but alas.
It was still hard for Grady to admit he believed in anything that couldn't be explained with science... but he had seen too much, had lived in Point Pleasant too long, to deny that things existed that were simply unexplainable. He nodded as Adrian spoke, easily catching onto the fact that if Adrian was starved, he could become dangerous. Would become dangerous. "What do you need from me?" Grady asked. "Are you looking for a smoother transition into society? Is that what you're hoping for? Talking to your parents, being able to get a job?"
Hearing someone else voice the things he was longing for made Adrian's chest ache. It sounded so outlandish and unattainable, like he was crazy for even considering coming back. It made him kind of wish he was in a car heading south, somewhere far away. It took him a while to answer as he frowned softly and nibbled on his bottom lip, knee still bouncing too fast. "It's going to be a total shit show," he muttered finally. "But yeah, I need you to clear me of any suspicion, I can't come back and immediately get arrested like Cruz did. I'm getting help with everything else but that's what worries me. Litigation, the families of my friends getting the wrong idea. So yeah, I need help coming back."
It might not be a shit show but it would be complicated. That didn't mean Grady wouldn't do what he could. Adrian's version of the truth would be too difficult for the legality of things, but Grady felt like he could work with it. "Give me a bit of time," Grady said after a moment. "I'll call a few contacts of mine, some friends from Portland. They might be able to help out. I know Cruz gave several interviews when he was arrested, so I'll put those files and see how his story aligns with yours. Obviously we can't say wendigo, but some kind of animal attack..." He sighed, aware of just how often they used that excuse. He thought of Jared's ex-wife and ran a hand through his hair. "All I can suggest is that you lay low for another week or two. If you think your parents can handle it, go see them, talk to them. But beyond that, wait until I have some news for you before you start making yourself public."
"My dad could handle it," Adrian said, mostly thinking out loud. "But mom... Nah." She could never keep a secret like that from her church-friends, she tended to carry her emotions on her sleeve and finding out her son was alive was hardly a small emotion that was easily buried. "Guess Mila's gonna have to put up with me a little longer," he added with a wry smile but Grady's words still gave him some hope. The mention of Cruz again made his stomach flip in discomfort because he hadn't deserved what happened to him and if anyone found out that Adrian wasn't as innocent as he claimed to be, it was game over. He wondered if they'd just shoot him because prison was obviously not an option for someone like him, and then he wondered if it would even take, that horrible crunching sound from his strangling echoing in his mind.
Grady nodded, because it wasn't up to him to tell Adrian now to handle his parents. "Just for a bit longer," he promised. "I'm going to do what I can. I imagine I can contact Mila when I need to get in touch with you?" He wouldn't want to just show up unannounced and he wasn't sure if Adrian had a phone. It might take a while to get things in order, and he might need to talk to Adrian a bit more. He would certainly need to get an official statement on the record.
"I'll be here," Adrian said with a wan smile and no, he wasn't exactly happy about it. It would take a long time to build up anything from here on, getting a real life where he had his own place and a job would require a lot of help from his family and he hated that. He'd already lived at home, been a teenager, worked hard to get out. It just wasn't fair that he'd have to do that again and he was pretty sure that even as a teenage boy he hadn't needed to eat so damn much every day. "Whatever you can do, I really appreciate it. I know this doesn't look good, especially if you don't believe in- well, you know." He was for sure going to have to come up with a story for his parents and the public record.
"We'll figure something out," Grady told him, moving to stand. He didn't think there was much more he needed at the moment. He and Adrian would talk again, and soon, but first Grady needed to get in touch with a few people. "Just try to keep a low profile until you hear from me again. Do you need to get looked at? I can call a doctor or a nurse from Mercy to come around and give you a physical. Bloodwork. Maybe we can figure out what the anomalies are, and if there's a way to help you." He doubted there was medicine for this kind of thing, but he wasn't a doctor, so hell if he really knew.
Adrian shook his head at that. "No more needles and prodding," he said with a little frown as he got to his feet as well. "I had enough of that already, they didn't seem to find anything helpful." Or maybe they had and they just hadn't told him. Maybe this was something to look into further down the line but right now he just worried it would be a blip on somebody's radar and he'd had enough of being hunted. "When things calm down I can probably pull some strings when I get back to work." If things calmed down. If he went back to work. It was so hard not to be pessimistic and dismissive of the future he so badly wanted. "You could say I've been in intensive care for the last five years."
Grady's lips twitched and he nodded. "I'm sure we'll be able to come up with something. We've just got make sure we check every box properly." Sometimes he wondered why things couldn't be simple. Easy explanations. Believable ones. If Adrian had really been in intensive care, it would have made Grady's job simpler. But this was Point Pleasant and he had grown used to the unexplainable needing to be explained. Grady offered Adrian his hand. "I'll be in touch. Mila has my number if you need anything, or have any questions. Hopefully you'll hear from me in a couple of days."
For a moment Adrian imagined Grady coming back with a few deputies to take him away and he had to stifle that instinctual paranoia from growing into something too real. Mila trusted Grady, he reminded himself, he had helped her when she needed it. "Thank you," he said earnestly though he still wasn't convinced Grady could pull this off. There were other people missing, his story was shaky at best, he didn't want to provide him with the evidence of his whereabouts for the last five years if it came to that and that was more for Grady's protection than his own. He had to have some hope though, for Mila. "Just let me know if you need me to do anything. Official interview or... I don't know."
"I will, absolutely." He would need some kind of official statement from Adrian to make this work. If he really wanted to reintroduce himself into society in any capacity, they would need a story about what happened and where he had been. A story that didn't include wendigos. Since Mila hadn't returned, Grady gave Adrian a small smile before heading for the door. "Tell Mila I'll be in touch? And take care of yourselves... both of you." Both Moretti children had clearly been through something traumatic and he could only hope they were taking care of each other properly. It was what he'd hoped Jen and Hunter would do, if they were ever in the position. God willing, they never would be.
"We try," Adrian replied and while it was a simple gesture, telling someone to take care of himself, it still put him a little more at ease. People didn't generally wish people well with malice in mind. Or maybe it was just the fact Grady looked really earnest somehow, like a decent person and not a jaded and pissed off sheriff in a town gone mad. Tired, sure, but that was to be expected. "Thank you," Adrian told him as he walked him out, careful not to stand in the doorway once it was open.