grady barrett (ashadowgrows) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2022-08-22 16:38:00 |
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Entry tags: | #july 2018, grady, grady x jen, jen |
Who: Grady & Jen
Where: Phone
When: Tuesday, July 3rd, morning
Status: Complete
Jen had fallen asleep again after about an hour of watching a comedy with Phee, even if she had been pretty sure she would never sleep again. This time there were no nightmares but she still woke up all wrong with her heart in her throat to her phone buzzing. She could barely feel the wounds on her calf so it was clear the magic concoction from Zania was working. Phee was sound asleep next to her and Jen was still half sitting up, feeling disoriented and bleary eyed as she peered at her phone, eager to turn it off so she wouldn't wake up her friend. The fact it was her dad calling woke her up a little more and she seemed to remember everything all at once; the nightmare, how scared she'd been that the dark man might have killed her dad, how she'd willed herself to not call him in the dead of night to check. It had made her feel helpless and small but she hadn't wanted to make a fuss in case it was just her. Strange that impulse to protect her own parents. He was calling now and she hurriedly picked up, leaning away from Phee in a feeble attempt to not wake her. "Dad?" she said a little frantically, even as she tried to keep her voice hushed.
Grady hadn't realized it but he had been holding his breath as the phone rang, only relaxing... slightly... when Jen's voice finally greeted him.
"Hey," he said, running a hand through his hair as he settled back against his chair. The relief he felt was probably obvious in his voice. "You doing okay?" It was probably a strange thing to ask right away but if she wasn't doing okay, he wanted to know. Grady was hoping she would say she was fine, no nightmares or physical injuries, but if he and Gavin had both been affected by their dreams of the Dark Man, then it was possible she had too.
Jen could feel her face scrunch up as a lump started forming in her throat and she shook her head, trying to clear that sudden rush of emotion unsuccessfully. "No," she said, then quickly added, "Yeah, now. Are you okay? Did you get hurt?" He was alive, that was the most important part and she knew the urge to cry was out of relief this time. She knew why he was calling, he'd never call her this early if there wasn't something wrong and the dark man dream was an obvious wrong.
Just from the sound of her voice, Grady knew Jen had the same kind of dream. It made him want to gather every weapon in the station to find that son of a bitch and put him six feet under. He might have, if he hadn't realized The Dark Man probably wasn't a human man at all. "I'm okay," Grady assured her, not wanting to upset her with details of his own injuries. "Tell me what happened." It didn't occur to him that he ought to find it odd that they both understood and knew what the topic of conversation was without even having to say it.
Jen didn't want to tell him everything that had happened and she really didn't want to talk about the dream and relive it again that way so the short version was preferable. "That man we saw, he was in my dream and he scratched up my leg and when I woke up I was actually bleeding," she mumbled, raising herself up to peek at Phee to see if she was disturbing her but Phee seemed soundly asleep and the fact the tv was still on probably helped, letting her voice mingle with the background noise. "I'm okay now, Phee gave me bandages and some stuff that made it hurt less. What happened to you? Are you hurt?" He wouldn't know what had happened if he himself wasn't hurt and she didn't want to let him get away with skirting the question.
Grady breathed in deep and exhaled quietly as she spoke. There was nothing Grady could feasibly do to fix it. He wasn't capable of protecting people from their dreams. But knowing that Jen had been hurt bad enough to need bandages really dug in deep and Grady wanted to leave now to track that thing down and kill it. He cleared his throat, not wanting to sound emotional when he spoke again. "I got a few scratches on my chest. Nothing too deep or serious. He tried to grab my shirt... in my dream." Grady closed his eyes for a brief moment. "I'm going to make sure it doesn't happen again, to you or anyone else. This guy's been roaming around town for too long already. I'll find him."
"No," Jen said, the word pained and quiet when she actually felt like yelling it at him. "You need to find someone who can do something, you're only human." She could too easily picture her dad go up against the dark man and the results would be horrible. She didn't want to lose him - especially not like that. "I think we need the witches for this, someone powerful." Was Zania powerful enough? Phee's parents? She had no idea but maybe there were more people in town having this exact experience, it had to be significant enough to get more people to help.
Only human. Grady was well aware of that. His body certainly was. But he was also still the Sheriff of Point Pleasant and he couldn't keep just sitting back and letting this shit happen. "I'll find someone to help me," he promised. "But we can't ignore it anymore. This thing has been wandering this town for decades." And now it was physically hurting people in their dreams. Grady had never heard of that happening before and Jen was in danger. He would find a witch or something to track this thing down and get rid of it for good. "I want you home tonight," he told her. "I'll be there too. But just in case this happens again, I want us both under the same roof."
Jen wouldn't be surprised if it had been wandering this town for centuries and she kind of wanted to yell at her dad to stay out of it completely and just make the witches handle it. But then she didn't even know if they wanted to or what kind of payment they would take for something like this. Phee would do it for Jen for free, she knew that, but she was so young and inexperienced she probably was no match for a monster. She pressed her lips together when he told her to come home, biting back on saying no. She would go home, she wanted to be close to him, even if most of all she just wanted to hide in Phee's room forever. "Are you going to tell Dean?" she asked because if he was home he might be able to help. Maybe he'd even be willing to check in on them regularly through the night. Not having a third party in the house was a terrifying thought and if she was honest she felt safer sharing a bed with Phee, even if it had done nothing to stop this from happening.
Dean. Grady knew Dean had to be aware of the weirdness that was Point Pleasant. They had never really spoken outwardly about it, not to each other anyway. Would he believe Grady if he told him the truth? "I'll talk to him," Grady promised. "Make sure he knows what's going on. We'll... we'll have a family dinner tonight, spend some time together, make sure everything's all right." He had no idea what his brother had been up to since returning home, but maybe it was time to start asking, just to make sure Dean was okay and being safe. Dean may not appreciate it, but at the moment, Grady couldn't give a shit. "I'll see you at home, okay?"
"Can you pick me up after work?" Jen asked and she had no interest in going home if nobody else was there. Dean came and went like a house cat so maybe he was there, but he didn't know what had happened and she didn't want to be the one telling him about it. "I think I'll just stay here until you're done if that's okay. Phee doesn't mind." She raised her head to peek at Phee as if she might wake up right then and there to protest, but she looked peaceful as ever.
"Yeah, I can do that," Grady said. He wanted to leave the station and go pick her up now, bring her back to his office and have her sit there until he could leave for the day. But he knew that was probably a bit much and she would likely be less bored with Phee. "Just don't go anywhere, okay? Maybe that's me being too paranoid, but... just stay put. Please." It was ridiculous to think that thing may be out there in the daytime, but nothing was really surprising him in this town anymore.
"I feel safe here," Jen replied and it felt like he needed to know that. It might even be stupid considering she'd been right there when she had that dream and got hurt, but Phee had taken good care of her and she doubted there were other places that were safer than right here - even with Phee sleeping. "I won't go anywhere until you come." She knew she wasn't going to fall asleep again either, but the tv was on and proved to be decent company until Phee woke up. She wished she still believed her dad was a superhero who could fix everything because losing that had shaken her foundation to the core. She wasn't even sure if it was just getting older or if it was because of the divorce, but both her parents were now so flawed and fragile in her mind. "Just be safe," she added, though she had no idea what that would look like for him. "I'll see you after work."
If she felt safe, then Grady wanted her to stay put. At least he knew the Overlook homes had impressive security. Though if the Dark Man could get to them through their dreams, he doubted locked doors would keep him out. The thought made Grady shift restlessly in his seat and for a brief moment, he nearly told Jen she had to move back to Portland. Now wasn't the time for that, not over the phone, at least. "I'll be fine," he assured her, glancing up and catching sight of Jansen, who was motioning to him. "I've got to go. Stay put and I'll call you when I'm finishing up here. Call me if anything else happens, okay? I love you."
"I love you too," Jen said and couldn't help but tack on a small 'be safe' again, even if she'd already said that. Maybe if they both said those things often enough they'd work better, or maybe it was just a compulsion born out of fear. She had no idea what things worked and didn't work anymore, superstition had always felt somewhat real to her but now she knew that a lot of it was absolutely true. It was trying to figure out what was made up nonsense that was the hard part. She ended the call and peeked over at Phee to make sure she hadn't woken her, then curled up nexct to her again, watching the tv with only a minimal interest.