Who: Jocelyn and Nate Where: Nate’s place, then Cooperdale When: Morning Status: Complete
It was a very strange feeling when Jocelyn woke up. She and Nate had both closed at their respective places of employment the night before but Nate had picked her up after he closed down Dragonfly and taken her back to his place for the night. Beside her in bed, Nate’s body was warm and familiar. Jocelyn hadn’t had any nightmares. But the longer she lay there, staring up at Nate’s ceiling, the more appealing going out to Cooperdale was. Why? She had no idea. Just the thought of seeing that place again made Jocelyn shiver. And yet…
Finally she rolled over to press a kiss to Nate’s bare shoulder, wanting to wake him up but not wanting to have to shake him awake. She wanted him to go with her, but if he couldn’t, or wouldn’t, she would just have to go alone. Because Jocelyn had made up her mind that she was going. If there was a reason behind it, well, she would find out eventually.
“Nate,” she murmured, thinking maybe she ought to make him coffee first and sweet talk him into it.
The past few months had been quiet in a way that Nate had come to appreciate. Something terrible might be on the horizon, but for the moment life was easy and he was happy to take advantage of it. Picking up Jocelyn after a long night of work was practically routine, but Nate had come to appreciate it, even when all they did was crash as soon as they fell into bed together. Waking up next to her was a joy, and that was high praise coming from him. He’d never been a morning person.
“Hm?” he mumbled, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her closer. He could never sleep wrapped up with another person, but wanted that closeness as soon as he woke, even if his eyes refused to open. “Five more minutes,” he said, pressing a kiss to her temple. Five more minutes and he’d attempt to pull himself out of bed, assuming there was coffee on the horizon.
It wasn't all surprising when Nate wanted a few more minutes of sleep. They both worked late hours on the weekends and yes, it was nice to sleep in the mornings after. Jocelyn was feeling a little too eager to make the trek to Cooperdale but she was willing to wait until Nate was awake and able to listen with a clearer head than what he had now. Amused, Jocelyn ran her hand down his side before pressing a kiss to his chin. "I'll go make coffee," she told him before reluctantly slipping out from underneath his arm. She would have happily stayed curled up beside him for a couple more hours if this stupid little nagging wasn't in the back of her mind.
If she’d curled up closer to him and intertwined their bodies once more, Nate would probably get far more than five minutes, but once Jocelyn was out of bed Nate knew he wouldn’t be far behind her. He missed the press offer body against his and once the scent of coffee hit him, he gave up even trying to sleep. Rising slowly, Nate stretched and made his way to the bathroom before padding into the kitchen in just his boxers. “You’re up early,” he said as he came up behind her and wrapped her up in a hug. It wasn’t really early, but it was earlier than they had to be up after a late shift. Nate nuzzled the back of her neck, then kissed her shoulder. “Got plans today?”
Jocelyn was fixing Nate a cup of coffee when he slipped his arms around her. Despite her focus being on a place that had traumatized her as a teenager, Jocelyn smiled, still enjoying the press of his body to hers. If she hadn't been so weirdly desperate to go to Cooperdale, she probably would have woken him up in a much more pleasant way. As for her plans now... "Um, well, I guess I have plans. I just..." Sighing, Jocelyn picked up the cup of coffee and carefully turned in Nate's arms to offer it to him. "I think I want to go out to Cooperdale. I can't really explain why, but it feels important."
Nate wasn’t sure what he expected, but it wasn’t that. Though he knew about Jocelyn’s past with the tunnel, it wasn’t something they’d ever really talked about in detail. It came up from time to time, so he’d picked up bits and pieces, but it always felt like too heavy a topic to sit down and dish out the full story. As far as he could tell, visiting the tunnel wasn’t something she did often, or at least not since they’d started dating. “Are you sure?” he asked, focused more on her than the cup of coffee in his hand, so he set it on the counter for the time being. “Do you want me to go with you? That place… I’ve heard things about it. And not just about what happened to you and your friends.”
There was relief when Nate asked if she wanted him to go with her, because she did. She might have called Sage or Jacob, but it was possible they were busy, or... would balk at the idea of it. But she absolutely didn't want to go alone. "It's not a great place to be," Jocelyn agreed, "but I feel like I have to go. Like I said, I'm not really sure why, but I have a feeling it'll bug me all day if I don't. It would be nice if you came with me but I don't want you to feel like you're obligated. And I definitely don't want to do anything to put you in any kind of danger." Would it be dangerous? Jocelyn didn't know. She supposed she would find out when she got there.
“If you’re going, I’m going,” Nate said. There wasn’t any other option in his mind. He didn’t want her going alone and he sure as hell wasn’t going to recruit someone else to go with her. So he would go, even if it felt foolish. The place itself had a bad track record and he didn’t trust this feeling she was having, especially since she’d never shown any kind of desire to go before. “I don’t want you in danger either,” he said. “Any chance I could talk you out of it? Maybe see if you feel this way tomorrow?” If the feeling lingered, then he’d feel a little less like this was some kind of a trap… though what would be trapping her? The tunnel itself? The more he thought about it, the more foolish it sounded. There was no reason not to go if she wanted to.
There was a definite sense of relief when Nate said he was going to go with her, but at his question, Jocelyn considered briefly before shaking her head. "I just... feel like I should go today. Maybe it's just some weird sense of closure, I need? I don't know. I would like it if you came though, so thank you. I promise I won't take long. I just need to see that place again." Maybe she would realize it was just a tunnel, that what happened there so many years ago had just been an anomaly. Jocelyn knew better, but she had to try and justify this urge somehow. She pushed up on her toes to press a kiss to his mouth. "No rush, though. Drink your coffee. I can make breakfast too, if you want."
Nate knew talking her out of it was unlikely, but he’d had try, even if it was a weak try. If he made a big deal out of it, she might just go without him and he didn’t want that. “If you’re feeling up to it, I could eat something,” he smiled, then kissed again. “If not, you know I’m good with coffee.” As a bachelor, he’d gone many a morning with only coffee and occasionally toast. Jocelyn occasionally spoiled him with breakfast and in return he’d gotten better about fixing other meals. Nate took a sip of his coffee and moved to sit at the counter, giving her space. “Is there anything I should know before we head out there?” He knew to be cautious, but in terms of what she’d gone through there were still a lot of unknowns.
"I'll throw something together," she said, smiling when she realized he wasn't going to protest her plan too strongly. Joeclyn knew it was a potentially dumb thing to do, but it meant a lot to her that Nate was willing to go along with it anyway. He was a witch, after all, so she already felt much safer knowing he would be there with her. She sipped her own coffee and then began to work on making some scrambled eggs and toast for the both of them. "I don't really know what to tell you about that place," she said after a moment. "I haven't been out there since I moved back to town. I haven't wanted to, until today. It's just... a dark place. It looks so normal on the outside. Beautiful, even, on the right day. But there's something inside of it..." Jocelyn had to pause and take a breath. "Just don't venture inside, that's all I can say. It may not affect you at all, but I really can't know. My friends and I had gone out there a lot during high school, to get high or drink or just be idiots. We had never had a problem until the very last time. It's as unpredictable as the rest of Point Pleasant."
“I’ve never been there, but there are places around here that feel like… like power sources, I guess. I don’t really know what to call them. But I can feel the energy. Not like a witch’s magic—something different,” Nate said, aware that he was failing to explain properly. It was a feeling he got sometimes, but he had no proper explanation for it. “It wouldn’t surprise me if the tunnel was like that.” A dark place, as she had called it, tended to draw dark creatures to it. She didn’t have to tell him not to venture inside. Nate had a wild streak and could occasionally be reckless, but walking into the tunnel for no reason at all felt foolish. “I think what bothers me the most is the sudden desire to go there. If you’d been thinking about it up till now, I wouldn’t worry as much.”
That part worried her too, though obviously not enough to resist going. Jocelyn cracked another egg into the mixing bowl before glancing briefly at Nate. "I know it sounds ominous, doesn't it? But if it makes you feel better, I don't feel... bad about it. It's more of a curiosity. We don't even have to stay long. Maybe once I get there, I'll understand why I wanted to go in the first place. Or maybe it'll just be a tunnel and I'll feel silly." Jocelyn grinned. "Let's hope for that. What are some of the other places you're talking about? The power sources."
“Lyttle Hill is the most obvious one, and probably the only one that makes sense to me. It doesn’t feel as dark, despite it’s past,” Nate said, leaning against the counter as he watched Jocelyn cook. “There’s a place in the cemetery that feels off. Wrong in a way that makes my skin crawl and I’m typically fine with cemeteries. Um… The hospital? I know that sounds weird, and I could be wrong about that one. Maybe I just don’t like hospitals,” he laughed softly. People came and went from Mercy hospital every day without incident, so he had no reason to think there was something wrong with it, other than the feeling it gave him. Like it could trap everyone inside if it wanted to.
"The hospital doesn't sound weird. I've always found hospitals to be creepy too, which is probably horrible of me. It's like the cycle of life all under one roof." Cutting off a pad of butter to melt in the heating pan, Jocelyn turned to look at Nate. "The cemetery has always felt weird to me too. But I just figured it was because there's a lot of dead bodies buried there." Jocelyn knew that probably sounded ridiculous, but she couldn't help but freaked by out certain things, even as an adult. Maybe growing up in Point Pleasant should have made her braver, but she had seen more than enough in her life to know this place wasn't some idyllic place to live. "Have you ever been to Sweetbriar Bridge? That place has always creeped me out too."
“Yeah, it’s hard to tell if it’s the witches buried in the cemetery or the place itself.” Nate considered telling her about his foray into grave robbing, but then thought better of it. It wasn’t something he’d have done if his sister hadn’t needed him and it felt like delving into a long story that he’d rather just put in the past. It wasn’t even his story to tell. “It’s been a while since I’ve been down to Sweetbriar, but it wouldn’t surprise me if there was something to that place. We used to hang out in the Fallow and I swear there’s something lurking around there. I’ve never actually seen anything though. Could just be that I was high and paranoid.”
Jocelyn chuckled. "Nah, I think it was probably a small mix of paranoia, but also... probably just being intuitive about what's around. Some places give you a bad feeling for a reason, you know?" While the eggs cooked, Jocelyn grabbed the loaf of bread to start the toast. "I've only been to the Fallows a few times. Usually when my friends and I were all bored and just wanted to do something new. But there were so many weeds out there and yeah, who knows what's lurking in them." She sighed and offered Nate an apologetic look. "Sorry, I know this conversation is a bit of a downer."
“It’s okay,” Nate shrugged. “If all our conversations were uplifting, I’d worry about us, especially living here. If we’re going down to the tunnel, it seems appropriate to talk about it.” Looking back, Nate was almost surprised that he hadn’t hung out at the tunnel himself. There were only so many places to disappear to as a teenager and he wasn’t sure he’d have known to avoid it prior to the tunnel incident year’s later. Maybe he would have if it had bad enough vibes, but it sounded like it had been rather benign for Jocelyn and her friends leading up to the incident. “Are you going to tell Jacob or Sage?”
He was right. It was impossible to be constantly optimistic in a town like Point Pleasant. "I don't know if I want to tell them about it yet," she said after a moment. The eggs were looking pretty good so she flipped off the stove top and grabbed some plates. "I don't want them to worry or freak out about it. They might try to talk me out of it. Once we go, maybe I'll get a better feel for why I wanted to see it in the first place. Then I'll talk to them about it." Jocelyn shook her head. "It feels cowardly of me, avoiding that place for so long. We didn't do anything wrong but I still feel... guilty... whenever I think of Cooperdale. Like it was our fault Grayson disappeared."
Nate was sure they’d try to talk her out of it and they’d probably do a better job of it than he had. Nate didn’t have much to go off—he’d heard rumors and believed them, but couldn’t certify that the place was dangerous. Jacob and Sage had the experience to remind Jocelyn why this was potentially a bad idea… but it could also be good for her. It could be cathartic, something they might all need. “I don’t know that anyone’s keen to revisit the location of a personal tragedy,” Nate said. “Don’t do that to yourself. That’s survivor's guilt. You didn’t do anything to him. Remember that.” Even without knowing the full story, he believed that much. “This could be good. It might help.”
Jocelyn had heard all about survivor's guilt. The problem was, she didn't know what really happened to Grayson. He had changed somehow, not been himself... and he had gone into that damn tunnel and never came back out. He was gone, like so many people in this cursed town. Maybe Jocelyn hadn't done anything to him, but she hadn't saved him. She should have tried harder. Sighing softly, Jocelyn fixed their plates and then carried them to the table before grabbing her coffee too. "It might help," she agreed, giving Nate a small smile. "Maybe I'll go, find some kind of closure, if that's even possible, and... I don't know, not be so terrified of that place anymore." Jocelyn picked up her fork. "If I could blow that place up, I would."
Nate had dealt with the normal amount of Point Pleasant bullshit, but never anything like what Jocelyn had been through. He suspected that he’d feel the same in her position, but what could you really do to get back at a place? Blowing it up sounded like a fine idea, except he had the weird feeling it wouldn’t work. Something would go wrong, or it would create some kind of supernatural vortex, sucking her in. The possibilities were endless and Nate hadn’t had near enough coffee to sort through them all. “I kind of wonder why they left it there,” he said, joining her at the table. “An old tunnel like that… seems dangerous. But maybe it’s not worth the effort to fill it all back in.”
Jocelyn couldn't answer that question either. It was a useless tunnel without trains using it anymore. Why not get rid of it? Fill it in or demolish it? But who would actually do that? "I don't know that this town has the money to do it anyway," she said after a moment of thought. "That tunnel goes on for some time, that's a lot of work. They could board it up, but then some bored teenagers would probably go tear it back down. Maybe they've tried to get rid of it and it just... won't go away." Pausing, Jocelyn looked up from her food to give Nate a wry smile. "You know, if anyone outside of this town overheard us, they'd think we were both insane."
“We probably are,” Nate smiled. “I mean, we’re talking about visiting a tunnel that might not go away even if someone blew it up. Pretty sure the people inside the town would say so too.” It was a rare occasion when the rest of the world agreed with the locals, but Nate knew that wasn’t going to stop them. This had bad idea written all over it, but he’d be there to protect her if he could. He just hoped it was possible, that this wasn’t something so big and powerful that he didn’t have a chance against it. With that in mind, he might leave a note behind, just in case they didn’t come back. He should probably tell Reagan, but he’d rather not get his sister involved if he could help it.
Jocelyn laughed, though it didn't have much humor. He was right. They were talking about the impossible as though it were the weather. That was Point Pleasant. How had she grown up here and not gone crazy? "Maybe that's part of why I wanted to move back home," she said thoughtfully, still focused on her breakfast. "Maybe the rest of the world was too normal for me. Too safe, if you can believe that. It's like you leave this town and you don't feel complete anymore, as terrible as that sounds." Jocelyn looked up at Nate, one brow raised. "Are you sure you want to do this with me?"
“No, I get it,” Nate said, nodding along with her. “I didn’t have to come back here, but… It felt right. I was an outsider everywhere else.” And while the opinions of others didn’t really bother him, it had felt wrong at his core. This was where he was supposed to be. It was where he belonged, where he flourished. He could have gone anywhere and done almost anything, and yet he’d come back to Point Pleasant, despite the danger and the chaos. Since then, he didn’t really question anyone else’s decision to return. Everyone seemed to feel the pull, not just the witches, but especially those that had been marked by the town. While Nate had continued to eat, he did pause to answer her, meeting her gaze. “I’m sure. If something goes wrong, I want to be there.”
Jocelyn felt like a failure sometimes, coming back to this small town instead of "living up to her potential", but it was what it was. Her friends were here. Her family. And if she hadn't come home, she wouldn't have met Nate. And right now, Jocelyn was grateful that he was so willing to go with her into those woods. "Have I told you lately how amazing it is to have a witch for a boyfriend?" she asked, her lips quirking into a smile. "I want to get a t-shirt that says, 'don't mess with me, my boyfriend's a witch." Jocelyn was teasing, of course, but she felt infinitely safer in this town when he was with her.
Nate was familiar with the whole lost potential spiel, having heard it time and time again from his mother, so he could relate to what Jocelyn was feeling. Maybe he could have done more with his life somewhere else. The thing was, he was happy there, in Point Pleasant, and hadn’t felt like fighting the draw. Trying to do so might’ve just delayed the inevitable and then he’d be starting over later in life. At least now he was established and successful, even if it was in a weird little tourist town with a dark past, present, and probably future. “I’m not very witchy on a daily basis,” Nate said with a little laugh. “But if anyone messes with you, I’d happily take ‘em down a notch.”
"You should be witchy every day, all the time," Jocelyn teased. "Have all the kids scream and run from you every time they see you coming." Having witches in town seemed like the worst kept secret, but not one anyone really talked about. It would honestly shock her if there were people in town who genuinely had no clue. The temptation to go to Cooperdale was growing in her gut and Jocelyn was now finding it difficult to focus on her food. So she gave up. "I'm going to go get dressed," she told him. "I feel like I'm not going to be productive until I get out there and see that place."
“I feel like I’d need to go all goth or Disney villain if they’re going to run and scream,” Nate snickered. “Maybe get myself a broomstick, or a staff.” Most people had an idea of what witches were supposed to look like and nobody expected it to be one of the local bartenders. There were only a few people in town that fit that mold and some people still seemed surprised by it. “I’ll be right behind you,” Nate said, hurrying to finish off his food when Jocelyn gave up on finishing her breakfast. He knew she was antsy to get there and didn’t want her to consider leaving without him.
Jocelyn changed into a pair of jeans and t-shirt. It was a nice day but she didn't want to risk scratching her legs up if they were walking through the woods to the tunnel. As much as she hated it, she had nice legs and used them to get better tips when she worked at the Porch. When Nate came into the bedroom, she was tying her hair up into a ponytail. "I know this isn't how you'd want to spend your morning off, but I'll make it up to you," she said with a smile. "However you want me to."
Nate followed Jocelyn into the bedroom a few minutes later and stopped to watch her for a moment before heading into the closet. This wasn’t exactly how he’d want to spend his morning, but he could tell this was important to her. They could laze around tomorrow morning instead. “However I want? Can I talk you into showering with me when we get back?” he grinned as he pulled out jeans and a hoodie to change into. If they were going to tromp around in the woods, then he’d plan on cleaning up after their little hike.
"You’ll never have to talk me into doing that," Jocelyn said, grinning. "I'll take any chance I can get to get you naked and wet." And she definitely would make it up to him because she knew how tedious this task would be. Driving to Seaview, walking all the way to Cooperdale. She used to love doing it as a teenager, mostly because it was always with her friends, or Grayson. They would go out there, try to scare each other, drink and get high. It had always been so much fun... until that one night. Jocelyn hadn't been back since. And now here she was, eager. She thought briefly about texting Sage or Jacob but ultimately decided against it. They would probably think she was crazy.
“In that case, I’ll save the favor for later and we’ll shower anyways,” Nate grinned, leaning down to place a kiss on her neck. He couldn’t think of anything that wound truly count as repayment, plus it wasn’t like they kept tabs on that sort of thing. Their relationship wasn’t transactional—he might joke about it, but they didn’t trade favors for sex. If that was the case, if she was that uninterested, he doubted they’d still be together. Lucky for him, that wasn’t the case. Nate hurried to finish getting ready, aware that Jocelyn was eager to head out to the tunnel, pulling on his shoes and grabbing his keys before meeting her at the door. “You ready?”
"Done." She smiled and reminded herself that she had something to do right now... though it was so tempting to drag him into the shower right then and there. Six months and she still wasn't bored with their sex life. That was certainly new for Jocelyn, whose relationships rarely last past a month or so. She was more than ready to go though and she nodded as she followed Nate out to his car. "We'll make this quick," she promised. "If nothing else, we're getting a bit of exercise, right?"
Nate could think of better, more exciting ways to get exercise, but nodded and laughed instead. “Probably the most walking I’ll get today,” he agreed. He’d be on his feet all night, but wouldn’t actually go anywhere, so he wasn’t really sure if that counted. Some days he made it to the gym, or at least went for a run around the block, but it was the weekend and they were meant to be lazy. He was hoping they’d be able to see the tunnel, then get on with their day, but he had the sinking feeling that it would stir up all kinds of emotions afterwards. But maybe not. He could only hope for the best. Nate started the car and headed out towards Seaview. It was a small town, so the drive was quick, and he slowed as he came into the neighborhood. “Where’s the best place to park?”
"Towards the back," Jocelyn said, gesturing ahead. "There's a gravel road back there where people can turn around. Just park against the tree line and we'll be fine." There would be fewer prying eyes back there as well. The last thing Jocelyn wanted was someone recognizing her wandering back into the same wooded area where she supposedly murdered Grayson. Once they were parked, Jocelyn slipped out of the car, made sure her shoes were tied and then rounded the vehicle to take Nate's hand. She wanted the physical touch, needed that intimate reassurance that things would be okay. Nate made her feel safe and she definitely needed that now. "So you've really never been back here? Not even with friends?"
Nate followed her directions, parking where she advised him to park, then hopping out of the car to join her. He knew the area, but this hadn’t been his hangout and he trusted Jocelyn to know it better than him. “I went once, with friends, but it was back when I was, like, twelve and we just followed the tracks to the tunnel, then turned around and went back home. It was before I had magic and really had a sense of what was dangerous out here. Nothing really happened, but the more I hear about it, the more I think we were just lucky. Though you guys came out here a lot, didn’t you? Until it happened.” He didn’t know why a place could be mundane one day and evil and foreboding the next, but he was hoping for the former today. It would really ruin his weekend if one of them got killed or disappeared.
Jocelyn nodded. "We had heard the stories and everything, but we'd never experienced anything weird when we came out here. We would try to scare each other and everything, but it always fun. We knew cops weren't going to walk all the way out to the tunnel to look for teenagers drinking, so it felt like a safe place for it. It was amazing in the summertime, when it would get dark early and still be warm and breezy." She sighed. "Then one horrible thing ruins everything." Even though she hadn't been out there in a long time, it was like she instinctively knew how close the railroad was getting. Walking back to Cooperdale was like riding a bike in some way. Jocelyn just knew exactly where to go. "What did you and your friends get up to when you were at Chamberlain?"
One horrible thing ruins everything. That seemed to be the norm in Point Pleasant, though some people got hit harder than others. Nate knew he’d been lucky, dodged a bullet only for it to hit his sister, and yet he didn’t worry as much as he probably should. If something happened, he’d deal with it, but he wasn’t going to let the possibility run his life. “Nothing good,” Nate chuckled. “Goofed off. Ditched class. Soaked fruit or gummy bears in liquor so we could be buzzed during class. Smoked up on the roof. We spray painted the goal post pink once and I can’t remember why, just that we were damn proud of it and the football team wanted to kill us. In theory, I mean. They didn’t know it was us.”
Jocelyn looked at Nate with wide eyes and a widening, amused smile. "Oh man, my boyfriend was a delinquent! Actually, you know, I think I heard stories about you in high school after you'd already graduated. Did you parents completely freak out on you?" She knew all about the Kellys, but who didn't? Nate's dad was always out of town, Veronica owned a clothing shop and was intimidating as hell, and Reagan... well, Jocelyn liked Reagan. It was Reagan's husband that was the asshole. But Nate's parents always seemed straight-laced and image-conscious so having a rebel for a son must have been difficult.
“I’d have been disappointed if you didn’t hear stories,” Nate snickered. “That was kind of the goal back then.” It had been a game to see how far they could take it at times without getting caught. It was never too extreme—light vandalism, or just disturbing the peace. None of them wanted a record. They just wanted to have a little fun. “My dad freaked out. Regularly. I got many a lecture about how I was throwing away my future, how I’d been brought up to behave better, how I was ruining their image,” he said, rolling his eyes. “My mom was more… quietly disappointed. Still is. She’s not happy with my career choices and constantly complains about how heavy handed I am with magic at the bar. Which I’m not, not really, but she can feel it, so… it’s whatever. I was never going to live up to her standards, so I kind of made a point of going the opposite direction and made my own.”
Her senior year of high school would have been much more fun if people knew her from silly, bad behavior than potentially murdering her boyfriend. But thankfully it seemed like most of the town had moved on from it. They had been leaving her in peace, at least. Jocelyn could definitely picture the air of silent disappointment on Mrs. Kelly's face. Had she ever seen the woman actually smile? A real genuine smile? Jocelyn didn't think so. But she was glad that Nate went his own way and did what he wanted to do. It was hard to picture him as some kind of nine to fiver, wearing suits and taking orders from other people. "Well, they got your sister didn't they? I mean, for the living up to their standards thing anyway."
Nate snorted, then gave a little nod. “Yeah, Reagan is perfect. Except when she’s not,” he said, rolling his eyes. For as hard as he’d pushed back against his parent’s wishes, Reagan had fallen right in and excelled beyond expectations. She was everything their parent’s wanted in a child—smart, pretty, and popular. She’d been prom queen, for fuck’s sake. But she’d also attached herself to Caius and never really let go. That one act of rebellion almost got her killed, whereas Nate got away with whatever he wanted. It was a bizarre trade off. “Thing is, they’re Reagan’s standards, too. She doesn’t do it for them, at least not anymore. She’s just a little less judgy.”
Jocelyn grinned, wondering how Nate had ended up in the Kelly family. He was so different from the rest of them. "Well, I like your sister, even if her husband is an asshole," she said, squeezing Nate's hand gently. "I'm so glad my mom retired. I don't know how she worked for him and his dad for as long as she did. That being said, you still made something of yourself. You own your own business and it's successful. You don't depend on your parents for anything, which is more than a lot of people can say who are our age. I bet they're proud of you, even if you didn't follow in your dad's footsteps. If you think about it... I mean, your mom owns a business too, so you sort of followed in hers."
“Caius is an asshole,” Nate agreed. “But he loves my sister. He’s good to her, even if I’m not sure he’s good for her, and would probably die for her, so… it could be worse.” Caius could be more like his father, one of the few people who Nate found intimidating. It wasn’t that the man was more skilled as a witch—Nate knew this was the case and that alone didn’t scare him—but Nate always had the feeling that Anthony D’Onofrio would do whatever it took to get what he wanted. If he wasn’t his mother’s son, he would have never secured a loan from the man and he’d have never been able to make Dragonfly happen. Being in his debt made Nate uncomfortable, but he lived with it while he worked to pay it back as quickly as possible. “Mom’s come around a lot. I don’t think she saw the bar as a business to start, which is weird, but when it didn’t completely flop—when I was serving all her friends on a regular basis, it got harder to keep her nose in the air.”
"It's always nice to prove doubters wrong... even if they're our parents. Maybe even especially if they're our parents." Jocelyn's parents were supportive of her but she knew they probably wished she had done more with her life. Their only daughter working at the Porch, of all places, certainly didn't thrill them. But that was okay. She still had time to figure things out. The tracks were leading them to the tunnel now and Jocelyn marveled at the fact that everything looked exactly the same as it had years ago when she would come up this way with friends. She had no idea how much woods and weeds would change, but... it was like walking back in time somehow. Her heart was certainly starting to beat a bit faster.
“Yeah, especially if they’re our parents,” Nate chuckled softly. It wasn’t so much about proving them wrong as it was maintaining his pride. Nate would rather disappear off the face of the earth than come back home with his tail between his legs. He could handle a lot, but a lifetime of ‘I told you so’ from his parents was out of the question. His steps started to slow slightly as the tunnel came into view and he gave Jocelyn’s hand a little squeeze. It looked relatively harmless, the grass overgrown, the tracks in an obvious state of disrepair, but beneath it all Nate thought he could feel it, a threat like white noise in the background that wasn’t white noise at all. Or a shadow that was a touch too dark. If he didn’t know better, it would have been easy to overlook. “You sure about this?”
Jocelyn wasn't sure about this at all, now that she was there. She wondered what she had been thinking, wanting to come to this place. Sage and Jacob would probably call her crazy, or just plain stupid. Staring at the tunnel now, she could hear laughter and chatter from days past, when they would walk out here with weed and beer and just have fun, away from town and authority. Grayson almost always kept her close, nuzzling her hair or her neck. Was it a good sign that she was remembering the good times and not that awful night? "I'm sure," she promised Nate, looking at him now. Would it be Grayson's hand she was holding now if he hadn't disappeared? Would their lives have stayed on the same path, or would they have become virtual strangers. Jocelyn thought about that a lot, though she couldn't say she regretted where she had ended up now. Nate meant a lot to her, more so than most of her former boyfriends, and she couldn't help but bring his hand up to her lips to kiss his fingers quickly before turning back to the tunnel. "We won't stay long. I just need to... I don't know... deal with this."
Nate hadn’t known the dynamics of the group back then and once he’d started dating Jocelyn it felt wrong to look them up. All he knew was that she’d lost a friend, that the town believed her and her friends to be responsible, and that the truth weighed heavily on them all. And that the tunnel was the real villain of the story, or something that lived inside. Nate stuck to Jocelyn’s side as she moved closer, though he kept his eyes peeled and his magic primed at his fingertips. “It’s fine,” he told her, unable to say ‘take as long as you need’. He wanted to, but it would be a bold-faced lie, for as much as he wanted to support her, the feeling in his gut that they should run grew stronger the closer they got. Nate didn’t like the idea that he was afraid of anything, but he could feel the evil like a pin slowly being pushed into his skin, and it was astounding that Jocelyn didn’t feel it too.
The only thing Jocelyn felt at the moment was some deep-seated grief. After Grayson had disappeared, they hadn't had much time to deal with the trauma that unfolded. They had been questioned and interrogated and judged. And then that suspicion hung over their heads for years. Even now, there were some in town who still believed she, Jacob, and Sage had done something horrible. But it had been Grayson who had tried to hurt them. She knew it hadn't really been him, that something in the tunnel had pushed him to put his hands around her throat. Jocelyn shivered and stared deep into the tunnel. It was a black hole. How many people had walked into that darkness and never returned? If she walked inside and just kept going, would she find him? God, why did she want to come out here? Swallowing hard, Jocelyn looked up at Nate. "He went in there," she told him, "and he never came out. They searched the tunnel... like when Mila Moretti went missing. They went in there with flashlights and guns and cadaver dogs, and they never found a thing. How does that happen? How do people just vanish?"
“I don’t know,” Nate said with a little shake of his head. “There’s other forces at play and… and a lot I don’t understand. Like where Sage and the others went for almost six months. Or what happened to Mila. She came out, but I doubt she’s the same. And yet, the cops searched this place and they were fine.” That was the most perplexing part to him, that the tunnel could be safe sometimes and a deathtrap for others, and there didn’t seem to be rhyme or reason behind it. Today it seemed benign, but he could tell it was just an appearance. It was waiting and there they were, just sitting ducks. Nate stuck by Jocelyn’s side, determined not to leave her, but the longer they stayed, the more foolish he felt. Not for wanting to run–running would have been smart–but for staying. “I don’t know where the missing people go. Sometimes they come back. Sometimes they don’t.”
"Sometimes they come back," Jocelyn murmured, still staring into the mouth of the tunnel. Would Grayson? That was doubtful, given how long he had been missing. Presumed dead. He probably was dead. God, she wished she could tell him how sorry she was. "That was a Stephen King short story, did you know that?" Tearing her gaze away from the tunnel, she tried to lighten the mood. "I read it in high school. It was pretty creepy." Okay, so talking about an author who was known for his horror novels probably wasn't the best way to lighten the mood. Jocelyn was about to suggest they leave when her eye caught the sight of something smooth and shiny on the ground by her foot. It looked like a stone. A couple of them, actually. Curious, she knelt down to pick them up. They were small and a polished green. Jocelyn couldn't say there was anything special about them, but they were really pretty and she offered one to Nate. "Payment for letting me drag your sexy ass all the way out here today."
It took Nate a second, but then he raised a brow and laughed quietly. It happened sometimes in high stress situations, especially those where he felt useless, and Jocelyn had given him reason. Comparing their lives to anything Stephen King had written really shouldn’t make him feel better, but it did. “He’s from Maine, isn’t he? Bet he comes down here on weekends for inspiration,” he said with a small smile. Nate wasn’t a big reader, but it wouldn’t surprise him at all if some of those novels took inspiration from real-life Point Pleasant events. Outsiders would never know. His brow furrowed as Jocelyn bent and picked up something, and he took the offered rock to inspect it. “I visited the creepy old tunnel and all I got was a rock,” he said with a smirk before pocketing it. “I’ll take it, assuming you’re ready to go?”
Jocelyn grinned, though she did feel grateful that he had come with her. He didn't have to and she knew how dangerous this could have been in the long run. But right now the tunnel was just a tunnel and while she felt a bit restless and uncomfortable, she knew it could just be from past memories. "I'm ready to go," she confirmed with a small nod before pushing up on her toes a bit to press a kiss to his lips. "And when we get back I promise I'll give a much better thank you than a pretty rock." The rock that was going into her pocket because, for some weird reason, she wanted to keep it. Maybe as a reminder that while that entire night had been traumatic, she was still alive and okay... mostly okay.
“Let’s go then,” Nate grinned, leaning down to kiss her again. Taking Jocelyn’s hand, he gave the tunnel one last look before turning to lead them back up the tracks. It felt good to get away from that place, yet dangerous to turn his back on it, like they were still close enough to be in harm’s way. He ignored the feeling, intent on getting back and enjoying his reward. He liked to think they were being brave, rather than foolish, but there was no way of knowing for sure. They were still alive and that was what mattered.