Jade Bradford (dimmingsoul) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2018-02-21 12:57:00 |
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Entry tags: | #october 2017, hunter, hunter x jade, jade |
Strange Things
Who: Hunter and Jade
Where: Oysterfest
When: around 5 p.m. Sunday 10/01
Status: Complete
Jade wasn’t a huge fan of oysters, but he’d had to get out of the house and prevent himself from sleeping the day away. Daytime felt safer after the nightmares he’d been having, and if he slept as long as he’d wanted to, he wouldn’t even have a chance of it tonight. For once he’d brought the car, not wanting to chance another bike accident like he’d had the previous week; his face still bore faint bruises from that incident, when he’d thought someone was chasing him. That had been a part of the bad dreams he’d been having where it seemed like red eyes were everywhere and there was no possible way to escape.
He was essentially a zombie as he plodded along, looking sleepy and rumpled in jeans and a hoodie, alone in the midst of the crowd of people milling around. Would fried oysters be better than the raw ones, he wondered to himself. Or were oysters one of those grown-up tastes that he’d eventually acquire? Jade was brooding over those questions when someone stopped in front of him and he smacked right into the guy. “Sorry,” he muttered, then his head jerked slightly as he realized it was Hunter Barrett. “I, um…. Sorry.”
Hunter had spent the day with Mak, worriedly fretting over everything that was going on. They'd gone to Oysterfest because being around a lot of people felt safer than sitting in empty houses as currently none of their parents were home. Mak had to leave just before five PM and Hunter didn't really feel like going home yet. He'd thought about going to the library to hang out with her there but she would be busy and he'd end up alone a lot. Alone in a library was not something he really wanted to be right now.
He was startled when someone literally walked right into him and turned around, holding his breath. Jade. He was a sight for sore eyes, a nice sight at that, but Hunter didn't feel as cheered up by it as he might have been under different circumstances.
"It's cool," he said and shoved his hands in his pockets as he smiled faintly up at Jade. "You here alone?"
Once Jade was over the initial surprise of running into Hunter and being a huge klutz in front of him-- as usual-- he was less awkward than he might ordinarily be. Probably that was because he was so damned tired. The nightmares were getting him down, and he’d started to dread when it was time to go to bed. “Yeah,” he said when asked if he was alone. “Wanted to get out of the house.” After a brief pause during which he scrutinized Hunter’s face, he said, “You look like you feel as great as I do.” There was the faintest hint of sarcasm in his voice. Hunter always looked good to him, but it was coated with a layer of exhaustion. Maybe he was having trouble sleeping too.
Hunter studied him for a second before replying. He didn't remember him taking part in the whole message thread after the ouija board madness so he was reluctant to say something. He wasn't alone though, there were others backing him up on this so maybe it was worth it. "You been seeing... strange things lately?" he asked and preemptively crossed his arms defensively across his chest without thinking about it. Jade did look tired and kind of jumpy so there was a chance he was also a victim but if he wasn't, well, then that was pretty damn weird, wasn't it? He'd been there with them when they summoned 'Kevin' or whatever the hell it really was and so far that seemed to be the only common denominator.
No one had really said anything to Jade about what had been going on aside from asking him what had happened to his face after the bike wreck. He’d downplayed it and hadn’t told anyone about thinking something with red eyes had been chasing him. Almost certainly, he would’ve opened up if Hunter or Mak or Sabrina had brought it up; he just didn’t want random people at school to think he’d lost his mind. He blinked at Hunter’s question, looking wary before replying, “Kind of. And I’ve been having awful dreams, too. Makes it hard to sleep all that well.” Hopefully that hadn’t been too much to say about it. Maybe Hunter was asking because he’d seen things too. That wasn’t really a casual conversation question.
Hunter relaxed a little and nodded. "We've all been having those," he said and it was easier to talk about now that he'd talked to the others and knew he wasn't alone. Even Jackson had admitted to seeing things. "I have a for real poltergeist at my house or something, we're trying to figure out a way to, you know, make it stop." He looked around as he spoke, making sure nobody was close enough to overhear what they were talking about. He had woken up with some weird scratches on his arm but since the likelier explanation was that he'd done it to himself while having that nightmare he wasn't going to bring that up.
"Everyone else too?" Jade said. Maybe he should open up more often, not keep so many things to himself. There was a fine line, though, between confiding and having people think he was going psycho. His brows drew together when Hunter said he had a poltergeist at his house, and he looked around too. So far as he could tell, no one was paying any attention to them, and that was perfect right now. He shifted his weight, putting himself a tick closer. "You mean stuff flying around, weird noises, that kind of thing?"
"Stuff dropping out of shelves for no reason," Hunter said with a little nod. "It happened at Jules's party too, my phone got ripped out of my hand and no, I was not that drunk." He looked around again and grumbled softly then grabbed Jade's arm and tugged at him to follow him. "Let's go somewhere more private and talk, I feel like everyone can hear us."
It didn't occur to Jade to disbelieve Hunter. How was potential poltergeist activity any different from a red-eyed thing in the darkness? He was about to remark on how creepy that was when Hunter took hold of his arm. "Yeah. Yes, we should do that," he said, following along, feeling a slight red flush color his cheeks. He wasn't sure he thought they'd be overheard, but they could be. That was what mattered. He hadn't gone to Jules's party, actually he figured he hadn't been invited anyway, and he hadn't been around Hunter for a little while. He'd stolen enough glances at him in school, but other than that? Yeah.
There wasn't a whole lot of places with privacy around the marina but Hunter managed to find a place that was a little out of the way and behind some of the stalls. He heaved himself up on a fence to sit and watched Jade a little tiredly. "Did you see the shadow too? We think it's..." Kevin, he wanted to say, but it sounded so dumb he couldn't. "You know, because of the board. Like we maybe let something in."
Jade leaned against the fence next to Hunter and gazed back at him, shivering in the slightly chilly air. Ever since the night they'd messed with the Ouija board, he'd felt something different in the atmosphere, something he couldn't quite define. Unease. Fear. Everything seemed off-balance. Was that really what it was? "Is it a shadow?" he asked, resisting the urge to look over his shoulder. They were (mostly) in public. It was fine. "What I saw had, like... red eyes. I think it was following me." Maybe it had been, maybe it had been his own fevered imagination. There was no way to know for sure. He stuffed his hands in his hoodie pockets at what Hunter said next. "If we let something in, how do we get it out?" Could they get it out?
Hunter had left the red eyes thing out on purpose and hearing Jade mention them was a kick in the gut. "Damn it," he muttered. Of course it was possible Jade had heard it from someone else but Hunter believed he was telling the truth. He really wished he didn't have a reason to believe him, that he could go back to laughing at ghost stories and rolling his eyes at his sister's weird hobbies but here they were and he couldn't. "Mak, Jackson and Sabrina all saw it too. It's messed up. I don't know how we get rid of it. Mak and Sabrina are on like a quest to talk to all the weirdest people in town to try to get answers." He did not sound terribly convinced they’d actually get anywhere with that plan but any port in a storm and all that.
Jade realized he had goosebumps feathering his arms when Hunter swore. It was real, then, not some hallucination caused by the dark night, the fog, the graveyard. It sounded like everyone had seen it. "It was why I wrecked my bike," he said, something he hadn't said out loud before. Again, he flashed back on how terrifying it had been, how it had sent him into a full-on panic attack once he'd gotten home. Jade pushed out a sigh. "They better be careful. Weird people can be dangerous." He wouldn't want any of his friends hurt, and he was also uncertain of how much they could actually accomplish that way. It wasn't like he had any better ideas, though.
"You were out in the fog?" Hunter asked with wide eyes and that was something he couldn't even imagine attempting. He had been terrified in the safety of his own house on the second floor looking down at that shape far away. "I tried to get a picture of it but I kinda freaked out," he added, fishing his phone out of his pocket to show Jade the picture. It was just a corner of his window, an obscure reflection of curtains and barely a corner of the 'thing' out in the fog. It wouldn't even pass muster on one of those spooky websites with ghost pictures or anything but it was terrifying because he knew what he was looking for. "You can barely see it but... It's there, look. In the corner. You can kinda see like... what would be its shoulder."
"Yeah," Jade said, shrugging a little. He glanced downward, unsure what his expression might reveal right then. "I went to the cemetery, ya know, where my parents are. Daylight when I left." Such as it was. When there was that much heavy fog, daylight was more of a concept than anything else. He glanced over when Hunter got his phone out. Squinting at the picture, he tried to make out what it looked like. It was extremely hard to tell, but he saw something. "All I really saw was red eyes and kind of... a shape. It was worse 'cause I couldn't really see that much."
"Same," Hunter said quietly and put the phone away. "It just showed up at my kitchen window and then I kept seeing it out in the yard after I went upstairs." Jade did not need to hear the details of how freaked out he'd been and how he'd gotten his sister to all but check the perimeter, it was embarrassing in hindsight. "Freaky part is Mak saw it at the same time. Like, we talked and she looked out the window and it was there but it was also outside my house so we're worried it's like... A lot of them."
Likewise, Hunter wasn't going to hear the details of how Jade had flung his bike into his yard and ran like all the devils of hell had been after him. It had felt like that, but he didn't want to talk about how scared he'd been. He also wasn't going to mention how he'd gotten up post panic attack and checked every door and window in the house-- except for the ones in Luke's room because he hadn't wanted to explain himself-- to be sure they were locked tight. He blinked at Hunter when he said he and Mak were afraid there were a lot of the red eyed things; that hadn't been what he'd expected to hear. "That's not good," he said. Understatement of the century. "Shit. What should we do?" What could they do might have been a better question, honestly.
"I don't know," Hunter said quietly, his shoulders slumping a little but then he slid down from the fence and leaned against it instead. He wasn't about to say it but all this talk of creepy shit made him feel like something might just sneak up on him and shove him off if he stayed sitting there. "All I can think of is like... Talk to a priest or burn sage or something." Mak and Sabrina at least had the guts to ask for help. Hunter couldn't imagine telling his dad about this and even if he did he couldn't imagine what his dad could actually do about it. Place a ghost demon thingey under arrest? "Are you religious?" he asked, glancing at Jade again.
"Does burning sage really work?" Jade wondered. "I guess I don't know a lot about that kind of stuff." There had been times when he'd felt strange in the cemetery, like something was watching him or that maybe there was weirdness in the air, but up until now nothing super peculiar had ever happened to him. He glanced to the side; now that Hunter had slid down from the fence, their arms were almost touching. When Hunter glanced over at him, he didn't look away. "I... not really," he said to the question he was asked. "I don't go to church or anything. I don't not believe, I'm just not sure what I think it is." And that was a lot of words to answer a simple question, wasn't it?
Hunter shook his head at the first question. He'd seen people talk about that kind of stuff on TV but who knew if it actually had any root in reality. "I'm not religious and right now I kinda wish I was? Like, I feel like if I go talk to a priest or something it won't matter 'cause I don't really believe in god." All he could do was hope the girls would find some practical answer to the question of what to do, like there was some supernatural rune stuff they could do, like on TV. He doubted it though, maybe it was something they just had to wait out, he didn't want to think of the other alternative.
Jade smiled, the expression somehow sheepish. "All I know about priests is what you see in movies and shows," he said. "Going in the confessional, or them exorcising some demon." He removed one hand from his pocket to scratch at his neck. "There's other religions that don't have priests too, I guess." He and Hunter were like the blind leading the blind as far as religion went, he thought dryly. "Maybe we could all figure out some kinda protection thing we could do. We should get together on it. It might be safer?" His intonation made his last sentence seem like a question.
Hunter smiled and huffed softly. "Like what?" he asked and it didn't feel all that natural to just give up but they were way in over their heads. With any other thing there were helplines and guidance counselors. His dad was the sheriff! But Ghostbusters didn't exist in real life and most modern exorcisms seemed to be conducted by psychopaths and not real religious figures. At least those were the answers he'd found online.
"Internet searches?" Jade tried, knowing all the while it was a lame answer. "Wonder if the bookstore has any mystical books?" He was also aware that they were in deep with no real clues, but he felt like they needed to try something. Anything. He wasn't that much of a risk taker, nor did he consider himself all that brave, but he didn't want anyone hurt more than they;d been already. "All I know is I'm gonna have to start sleeping more or I might be tempted to OD on Unisom or something." He was a little bit afraid to take any kind of sleep aid because he might not wake up if he needed to, but it was tempting.
"I think the girls are gonna go to the library," Hunter said and since he had never heard of Unisom he gave Jade a curious look as he wrinkled his nose. "So what's Unisom? Do you use that to sleep?" he asked since he'd never actually known anyone who used drugs to sleep and it sounded dangerous to him. It was probably none of his business but if Jade could overdose on it then maybe he shouldn't be taking it. Of course he was being terribly naive about it but the urge to google the damn thing was strong.
The library seemed like a logical place to start. Too bad it wasn't like that old show about a vampire slayer where the librarian was some kind of mystical leader. Jade shook himself out of that line of thought when Hunter asked him about the Unisom. "It's a sleep aid thing... all the drugstores have it." There was a very brief hesitation during which he chewed his lower lip for a few seconds. "I bought a box, but I haven't used any," he said. "I'm afraid it'd make me too groggy, like if something bad happened I wouldn't wake up in time." He was telling Hunter things he hadn't told anyone, and he supposed everything that had been happening was a great catalyst for conversation. At least he wasn't stammering like an idiot.
"It's better to not be alone," Hunter said. "It's not as bad if you're not alone." In some ways it had been worse if he was honest, he and Mak had kind of made each other even more nervous but there was comfort in having people around. He'd liked sleeping over at Mak's place because her parents were home and that on its own was a big boon. "So even if it means like... hanging out with your parents or something it's better than the alternative. I've been staying with Mak a lot."
Jade's problem was that sometimes he felt alone in everything. He knew Luke loved him, but the sometimes gruff blond didn't necessarily show it all that well. Jade knew he didn't either, but Luke was an adult. He'd always thought adults knew how to do things, but he'd learned that wasn't always the case. "I live with my older brother," he said, cramming his hands deeper into his pockets. "I kinda... don't want to tell him about all the weird stuff." He smiled faintly at the thought of Mak and Hunter having a slumber party. It probably would be less scary with someone else around who knew. "You can come hide at my house if you want, or I'll come hide at yours." Although how would he deal with an entire night in Hunter's company? Probably fantasize himself to death. That might be preferable to the red eyed shadow things, now that he thought about it.
"Cool," Hunter said with a little smile and it was pretty cool because a lot of straight guys wouldn't be caught dead spending the night at a gay guy's house, even now. It did make him wonder a bit if Jade might not be all that straight but it could just be wishful thinking on his part and it was always safer to assume every guy was straight until proven otherwise. "You'd think my house was super safe, with my dad being sheriff and all, but he works a lot." He sighed and shook his head. "I know what you mean about not telling, he would never believe me... My sister is like fearless but I don't know why I can't tell her what's going on. Like... she'd roll her eyes at me or yell at me for playing with the supernatural or something." He honestly didn't know how Jen would react. Maybe she'd even be able to help them and yet he couldn't bring himself to admit to her that she'd been right and he'd been wrong this whole time.
Ever since Jade had realized that he was more than likely gay, he'd felt caught between a rock and a hard place, no pun intended. His dad would have been a huge obstacle as far as coming out went, but he was gone now. Then there was Luke, and Jade had the notion that he'd feel the same way as their dad had. He'd never talked to him about the subject, maybe because he was afraid to broach it. What would life be like if he didn't have to be afraid all the time? He didn't think there was any shame in being gay, thought it was great that Hunter didn't hide it. He was just conflicted about telling anyone about him. Although the more time he spent with Hunter, the less confident he was that he'd be able to hide it. He exhaled a breath and focused on the conversation at hand. "Your house does seem safe," he said. "Does he work nights too?" Hunter's sister seemed a little scary, hard to read or both, but Jade wasn't sure he'd ever spoken to her so it wasn't necessarily fair to make that assessment. Luke was usually home at night, at least.
"Sometimes, yeah," Hunter said sullenly. It might make some teens happy, being home alone all the time, but he never really did anything he wasn't supposed to and Grady wasn't constantly breathing down his or Jen's necks when he was home so Hunter didn't really see the benefits of him not being there. Lately it was just negative since he felt a lot safer with his dad around, lame as that might be. "He's home late a lot, especially lately. It's been so crazy."
Jade had never been the kind of kid who'd minded having a parent home either. In fact some of the happiest times he could remember had been before his mom had gotten sick and both parents were there. It had felt safe in a way he hadn't felt in a long time. "I guess they do have a ton of extra work now," he said. "I'd say he should leave a patrol car in front of your house but uh, boogeymen probably don't care about the police?" He winced right after he'd said that. Way to go, Jade. "Should we go get something to drink or... something?" It wasn't that he minded hanging out with Hunter here, but it was a potentially dark and creepy place. What if something bad happened or they got sneaked up on? Not a happy thought.
Jade might have thought it was a lame thing to say but his boogeymen comment made Hunter snicker a little which was a good feeling. If you couldn't laugh at it it was totally game over, right? He gave Jade a warm little smile and nodded. "You wanna go somewhere? Get some ice cream at Moxie's or something?" Ice cream could make everything better if only for a little while, especially if it was good ice cream and Moxie's had that. Hunter was also in no particular hurry to go be alone again.
Jade smiled too, glad he was able to be amusing at least. This was turning out well. He was sure it would be back at some point, but his self-consciousness seemed to have taken a hiatus. Maybe because they had actual happenings to talk about, things that concerned them and their friends. He was definitely going to enjoy not feeling like a complete idiot while it lasted. "Moxie's ice cream's my favorite," he said with a nod. The brightly lit ice cream shop sounded perfect, as did the company. "I've got my car, or... did you drive too?" He couldn't remember whether or not Hunter had a car, but they could work it out either way.
"Let's take your car," Hunter replied since he hadn't been driving today. He could pick up his bike later, right now he just wanted to get to the diner and have comfort food while talking to a cute boy, straight or not. He was totally allowed to have a little crush on straight boys as long as he wasn't inappropriate about it so indulging himself in good company was fine. Jade was nice too and had so far not said anything that was off-putting or offensive so that was definitely a bonus.
Chocolate was never a bad thing. More than the ice cream he was looking forward to more of Hunter's company and hopefully forgetting how crappy everything had been since the Ouija board incident. It made him want to blush bright red just thinking about it, but maybe he could pretend this was a date even if only for a few minutes. Better than sinking into despair because he couldn't admit what he wanted. Hell, there was time enough for that later, when he was moping around by himself again.