Who: Rylee and Adam When: Early afternoon, Wednesday, October 11th Where: Castle View Apartments Status: Complete
Wednesday afternoon found Adam going for a run to try to clear his head.
It had been almost a week since Carson had come through the ED, but Adam’s mind kept going back to him. Mostly, he hoped that he and Rylee were both managing all right, though he was sure they would come back in if it were necessary and from that perspective, it was good they hadn’t needed to. More than that, he kept thinking about Carson’s description of what had attacked him, and the timing.
Adam wasn’t sure what he had expected when he texted Nick to ask if werewolves were real, but he was willing to believe the author’s unequivocal yes. Though he hadn’t encountered anything like that himself, he had encountered ghosts before. It wasn’t really a stretch of the imagination that other supernatural beings were as well. To what extent, he didn’t know, but that could be dealt with later.
How should he even begin to approach this? It definitely seemed better to be safe than sorry, that was for sure. Best case scenario, it was nothing and maybe he just seemed like a crazy person. Worst case scenario, he did nothing and things went completely sideways the next full moon. He had looked up Carson’s contact information from his file, but he hadn’t done anything with it yet. They lived in the same complex, but they hadn’t bumped into each other so far, not that he was particularly trying to. Though it could be a starting point for talking.
So of course it happened on the way back, sweaty and a little winded, muscles tired with the pleasant burn of use, that he caught sight of Carson’s cousin, Rylee, in one of the parking areas. He had already slowed to a walk to cool down and took out his headphones, veering in her direction. “Hey, Rylee, right?” he called out, once he was in reasonable earshot, just on the off chance he was wrong.
Rylee was pretty exhausted. Mentally, emotionally and physically and she was happy to be done with work for the day. The morning breakfast shifts could be brutal, depending on the day, but she had left with some decent tips and a desire for a nap before she had to get back in the car to drive to Portland. She was still in her diner uniform, carrying a bag full of wine and frozen pizzas across the parking lot when she spotted a man walking toward her. It took her only a second or two to place him as Adam, the nurse in the ER who had helped Carson. She offered him a small, but polite smile as he grew near. Rylee imagined he was going to ask about Carson, either about his health and his leg, or maybe he wanted to inquire about Carson's love life. Rylee got that a lot, from men and women.
Rylee shifted the bag of groceries in her arms and nodded, slowing down as Adam approached. "That's right. And you're Adam, the nurse. How are you?"
Adam smiled at Rylee in return, idly noting her diner uniform. Given the circumstances, his thoughts had admittedly centered more on Carson, but he had wondered about how she was doing as well. He didn't want to hold her up too much, but he didn't want to miss the chance to talk to her. "Yep, that's me. I'm doing all right. How's everything been going for you since last week?" he asked.
"Oh, you know..." Rylee shrugged a bit and smiled. "There were some rough patches, but nothing we couldn't handle. We drove to Portland yesterday to get Carson's new prosthetic. I think his leg is healing pretty well, too. We're keeping an eye on it, but... so far so good. He's back on crutches, but I think he's ready to get moving properly again. And you know, thanks for being so great with him when he came in. He's not fond of hospitals." Who was, really? Carson had just spent so much time in them, she knew it was difficult for him to be there, even for a little while.
"That's good to hear. I figured that you guys not needing to come back in was a positive sign," Adam said, smiling. "And of course--I'm glad I was able to help. I know it's stressful for everyone who has to come in, so I try to alleviate that as much as I can." He imagined it must be worse for someone like Carson who had an extensive history with hospitals. "But he hasn't had any kind of fever or anything?" he asked, since asking if Carson had any flu-like symptoms seemed too out of left field, and technically fever could also be a sign of a regular infection.
Rylee’s brows lifted and she appeared thoughtful for a moment before shaking her head. “No, not really. I mean, he didn’t feel great directly after. I think he had a low grade fever, but nothing we felt was alarming.” She was assuming he was asking because the medical professional inside of him probably never turned off. It was nice of him to check up on Carson though, and Rylee made a mental note to let Carson know about it. “Is there something we should be watching for? I figured an infection would make itself pretty known by now…”
"Nothing alarming is good. Usually it’s stuff like a high grade fever, swelling or tenderness around the bite, that sort of thing. it can get kind of gross and obvious," Adam said, mentally filing away Rylee's answer. He had a natural tendency to wonder how the people he treated were doing, though there was no guarantee he would ever find out. Point Pleasant was small enough that the chances of running into people were better, which was something he was still getting used to, but found enjoyable. In Carson's case, there was the added factor of the mystery animal on the full moon. Putting that aside since he wasn't sure how to broach it yet, he said, "Also, sorry, I know I just kind of popped up out of nowhere. I live here, too, and I'd like to keep talking a bit if you aren't busy? But we could do that not in the parking lot while you're holding something."
Rylee was a little taken aback by Adam wanting to continue their conversation, since she had figured this was just a quick 'how are things going' sort of run in. The day before had been exhausting in a multitude of ways, but Adam had been pretty great treating Carson so she didn't want to just blow him off. She wasn't really sure what he wanted to talk about, unless it was more about Carson's leg which seemed to be healing pretty well. In any case, Rylee gave him a small nod and motioned to the building behind them. "We're just there on the first floor if you want to come inside. I need to put these away."
Adam was aware that his request was a little abrupt and likely he should just start with talking to Carson directly, but Rylee would obviously know him better than Adam did and they had seemed close, from what brief interaction he had observed of them. "If you don't mind--I'll try to not take up too much of your time, or if a different time would be better, there's that," he said, smiling a little, since he didn't want her to feel obligated, then added, "Do you want help carrying anything?"
This was probably the best time for it, if Adam had something specific he wanted to talk about. Rylee wouldn't leave to pick up Carson from Portland for a couple of hours yet, and the apartment was empty for now. "It's fine," Rylee assured him with a small smile as she began to lead him toward the apartment building. "It'll be nice having a conversation with another adult that doesn't start with 'hey you', or a request for more ketchup, so we're good." Rylee waved her hand at his offer to help carry her bag and she shifted her keys around in her hand to she had her door key ready to go. "It's honestly just pizza and wine. Don't judge me," she added with a faint smile. When she got her apartment door open, Rylee stepped inside and headed for the kitchen almost immediately to set her bag down, figuring Adam would shut the door behind him. "Do you want anything? Water?"
Adam followed Rylee in the direction of her apartment. "That is a low enough bar that I shouldn't stumble over it," he said lightly, smiling at Rylee in return. "I'm more of a bag full of pizza and beer guy, but wine's not a bad choice." Though he enjoyed cooking, he wouldn't ever turn his nose up at frozen pizza. Following Rylee inside, Adam closed the door before also trailing after her in the direction of the kitchen, hanging back on the side of the bar area adjacent to the living room. "Water would be great, thanks." He hesitated, unsure of the best way to proceed, so he started with, "You know Carson pretty well, right?" It seemed like a safe assumption to make, but to be sure.
Rylee pulled a bottle of water out of the fridge and offered it to Adam before she began unloading the few groceries she had to put away. His question prompted a chuckle. "Yes. He's my cousin... I don't remember if that came up or not when we were in the ER. We've been best friends since we were kids." She felt extremely tired all of the sudden, already dreading this conversation if it was about to go the way she thought it was. Rylee didn't want to help this guy hook up with Carson and she didn't want to answer questions about his love life. Rylee thought about grabbing a beer, but she had to drive later so she ignored the urge. "Why do you ask?" she asked Adam as put away the pizza and shut the freezer door.
Adam took the bottle of water, unscrewing the top and taking a sip while Rylee answered. "He mentioned you were his cousin before you arrived," he said. Family and friendship didn't always go together and it was difficult to ascertain how well people might know each other when truthfully Adam knew little about both of them. "I obviously don't know either of you too well since we've just met, but I keep thinking about something I overheard Carson say to you at the ER. About the way he described the animal that attacked him. Is that the sort of thing he'd ... I don't know, be mistaken about?" Adam's innate reaction had been to believe he wasn't, but traumatic stress affected everyone in different ways and even if he had mostly made up his mind to play it safe and talk to Carson either way, he wanted a better idea of where Carson might be coming from.
Rylee pulled a bottle of water out of the fridge for herself and turned to face Adam as she twisted the cap off and took a small sip. His question prompted her to give him a curious look before she stepped forward to set the bottle on the island. She had to wrack her brain to go back and remember what she and Carson had talked about in the ER. The animal. Carson had told her it wasn't a normal dog... it had been on it's hind legs, or something like that. But why it was important, Rylee didn't know. Could Carson had been mistaken about what he saw? "Yes," Rylee said. "He's had a rough couple of weeks. Sometimes his PTSD is triggered and an animal attack could have easily done that. It was probably a coyote. Why?"
Adam had been turning over the particular conversation in his mind the past few days, so it was admittedly fresher in memory for him. Not a normal dog on the full moon had been enough to strike his possibly paranoid curiosity, but in general jumping to werewolves wouldn't be for everybody. At least, he didn't think it was. His own metric for that was fairly skewed and maybe it was for Point Pleasant in general, but mileage varied between every individual so he didn't want to just lead off with that. "That sucks. Which is an understatement, but that must make it rougher," Adam said, turning over Rylee's answer for a second. "It just stood out. I've only moved back recently, but there seem to be a lot of rumors about weird stuff that happens here."
Rylee rubbed idly at her eye before she nodded. Oh yes, the weird shit in Point Pleasant. How many conversations had she had with diner customers over the years about the 'weird shit'. So many. "There's always been rumors about weird stuff here. The town has a lot of history, most of which is pretty tragic, so it makes sense that things would start to get twisted and distorted. When I was in high school, we made it a game to break into that house on Ludlow where a dad killed his entire family. People went missing in Blackwater Woods, so now there's rumors of some monster roaming around. You can't escape it here." Rylee arched a brow and studied Adam curiously. "You're not going to try and convince me that some bizarro monster attacked Carson, are you?"
Adam listened to Rylee's reasoning. It was all quite rational and there were certainly people who used stories that had no deeper underlying basis in order to explain things away. His experiences had been different, which meant his natural inclination was to accept on faith the possibility that anything could be real. Normally Adam tried to avoid talking about it in any seriousness unless it was with someone else who was already a believer, though sometimes that was no longer an option. "Stories do get distorted over time, but sometimes there's still some truth to them," Adam said, meeting Rylee's gaze and shrugging a little. "I guess I'm just asking you to consider the possibility, which I know probably sounds crazy, since if there's any chance at all he really was attacked by some kind of monster, it could get dangerous."
Rylee didn't really know what to say to that, at first. All she could do was stare at Adam as she tried to process the fact that he was suggesting a monster attacked Carson. With everything Carson was dealing with, the very last thing he needed was someone validating his fear that whatever bit him hadn't been a wild animal. It scared her to think anyone would encourage it, given Carson's mental health at the moment. "It does sound crazy," Rylee said after a moment and her gaze focused on Adam intently. "Look, Carson's psychological health is pretty damn fragile right now. I don't want to be rude, Adam, but the last thing he needs is someone filling his head with this supernatural, Stephen King bullshit. He's at the VA now being treated because his psych meds failed and he's been hallucinating. It was an animal that attacked him, nothing more than that, okay?"
Adam regarded Rylee evenly as she stared at him at first, though ended up looking away, twisting the cap back onto his bottle of water to have something to do with his hands. Her reaction was to be expected; maybe it would have been easier if he knew either of them better, but things hadn't shaken out that way. There was always the possibility she could be one hundred percent correct, since she had an extensive history with Carson. What then, if Adam fed into something that was a hallucination? It would definitely be irresponsible, but he still wasn't convinced not telling him was a chance he could take. He looked back to see Rylee gazing at him intently, but he didn't flinch away from it. "You're not being rude. I'm sorry to even have to bring this up and I didn't know about the hallucinations. But at the same time, some of this shit is real. There are people who have researched this more than I have if you want more than just my word, though there's not always a concrete way to prove it until you've bumped up against it. I really hope it was just an animal that attacked him, but it feels risky if there's the slightest possibility it wasn't."
Rylee sighed and rubbed her hands over her face. If it had been any other day, and she had been in any other mood, she would have probably humored Adam with all of this, the way she used to humor Danny when he'd come into the diner and they would have their little debates over logic and fantasy. Which was all this was. Fantasy. "It's not real," Rylee said, too weary and tired not to even sound angry, though she felt it deep down in her bones, knowing Carson was several hours away, being treated for these delusions and probably hating her. "If you honestly have people who have researched this stuff, go ahead and send them by way, and I'll tell them the same thing. Monsters aren't real. I don't care if you want to believe they are, or if Joe Researcher wants to believe they are. But I'm not going to fill Carson's head with this shit and just make him more confused and scared when he's already dealing with enough. Please, just leave him alone, okay?" Rylee turned away from the counter. "I really have to get ready now to go pick him up." Which was the nicest way she could tell him to leave without actually saying so.
Adam decided to not argue the point with Rylee further. It was unlikely to get them anywhere and she already seemed past the point of her patience given her response. He'd see what Nick had in regards to proof and pass it along to her--later. Definitely later. He ran a hand through his hair and bit back a sigh of frustration, since objectively he couldn't fault her for reacting this way. Her hint was obvious enough and he pushed off from the counter, taking a step back. "Just... be careful, okay? I know all of this is out there. I'm in 14A if you want to talk or if anything comes up." He doubted she would take him up on that, but the offer was sincere. There was a part of him that thought he should respect her wishes in leaving Carson alone, but he wasn't entirely sure he could. "I'll see you later. I hope Carson's all right," he said, turning to head out of the apartment.
She was thankful that he took the hint and was leaving, and while she had no intention of seeking him out, Rylee nodded. "Sure," she said, walking him to the door. She really had no idea what she would need to talk to him about, because unless she saw it with her own two eyes, she wasn't going to let herself buy into the whole 'Point Pleasant is cursed' nonsense. Shit happened in Point Pleasant, but shit happened everywhere. People just had more time on their hands here to make it into something it wasn't for their own amusement, or to feed into their delusions. "It was nice to see you again," Rylee said before she closed to the door after him. As nice as Adam seemed, Rylee had a feeling she would have to keep an eye on him around Carson. With a sigh, Rylee headed for her room to change so she could get on the road. The sooner Carson was home and rested, the better.