marygilinskys

[marygilinskys]

Kaitlyn Dever as Amy in Booksmart (2019) dir. Olivia Wilde

[marygilinskys]

[marygilinskys]

xsawycrs·:

“Come on, it’ll be fun. It’s going to be fine. What’s the worst that can happen?” Sawyer paused. “Actually, don’t answer that. The worst won’t happen.” He shone the light up and down the large front room, an aged sign reading CAHOKIA hanging over the remnants of the reception desk, now covered in dust and picked clean of anything that may have once been useful. He walked up to the desk and shone the light behind it, pushing his glasses up his nose until he found an eaten-away brochure under a thick layer of dust. 

He blew it clean, coughing as he inhaled some of the dust. Tucking the flashlight between his cheek and his shoulder, he unfolded the brochure in his hands and found the small map that would apparently lead through the asylum. “I guess this is a good place to start,” he said, pointing down one of the hallways. “That’s going to take us back to the offices and common rooms. Then we can work our way up.” 

Sawyer looked back at Mary, dropping his flashlight from his shoulder and just barely catching it in one hand. “Come on. Stick close to me,” he said, as if he would be much better at fighting off some ghost or serial killer. At least they could pretend that there was some safety in numbers here—though, Sawyer was much less of the creeped out type and much more of the let’s see if we can piss the ghost off type. 

Mary squinted at the map as she looked over his shoulder, “Kind looks like those mazes that were on the kids’ place mats at the diner we had breakfast in.” She pointed to where they were, then letting her finger trace a circle all the way around. “I don’t think it’s gonna be as easy getting back to the start as this thing tells us.” Mary shook her head. She learned not to trust maps-- there was always a short cut, but there were also objects in the way that a map wouldn’t warn you about. Mary figured they’d encounter the latter while in the asylum.

She followed him down the hall, sticking close behind as she shined her light on the wall-- only to see scratch marks and torn wallpaper. It completely and fully gave her the creeps, but she had to suck it up and put her big girl shorts on. No one would take her seriously if she ran out screaming on the very first case. Not that Mary minded staying in the car while the rest of the gang looked around, but this was better than being alone in the van in the dark. 

When they arrived to the first office doors, Mary jiggled the knob only for it to be locked. “Oh well, it’s locked. They must be having a special ghost meeting, we shouldn’t disturb them.” She played until Sawyer gave her a pointed look. Mary let out a groan and pulled a pin from her hair to start picking the lock. She should’ve been more appreciative of her awful dates in high school, without them she’d have never learned to pick locks in order to break into the school’s offices to change her test scores.

case file 001: daylight run

[marygilinskys]

xsawycrs·:

Sawyer stopped plucking at the guitar, listening to Mary seriously as she spoke. He knew that things were tough for her at home—hell, things were tough for pretty much all of them at home, which was why they had been so eager and willing to go on this trip across the country—and he certainly didn’t want to pry into something she didn’t want to talk about, but Sawyer also knew that they were at a point in their friendship where he was allowed to ask these kinds of questions. She knew that he only did it because he wanted to help, because he wanted to make sure she was okay. Of course, he was being nosy, but Sawyer figured that was part of what made him so endearing. 

“Maybe you should write her a letter. That way, you wouldn’t have to talk to your mom if you didn’t want to.” Ever-observant and incisive, Sawyer could figure out why Mary was so hesitant to call back home. He knew that she didn’t want to be around her mom, and that was a big part of the reason why she had agreed to this crazy idea in the first place. Maybe this made him a bad person, but he was kind of glad she had something to run from—he couldn’t imagine being on this big trip without her. The two of them had been best friends all through high school, and that had been curative for a grieving Sawyer. Now, he wanted to chase a brighter future with her, too. 

“You think my mom would even let her see it? Or my step-dad? Maybe they told her I was just her babysitter. She’s still young enough to where she’d believe it.” Mary said quietly. She wouldn’t put it past her mother to do something like that. Natalie was her second chance at a perfect family after it didn’t work out with Mary and her own dad. Mary didn’t want to call home because she didn’t want to be disappointed, and she didn’t want her mother to turn her away. “I don’t think I’m gonna. I’ll just figure it out as I go-- the only thing waiting for me back home is disappointment. You know what they say... one step forward is better than too many steps backwards.” She shrugged.

Mary was scared to tell Sawyer too much about her life or what she was thinking. She didn’t want him to put his own dreams on hold in order to help her catch up. Mary wanted a life with him, and she hoped after this by some wacky chance they’d still hang out together because she liked him a lot-- she really did. But Mary was worried that she’d just hold him back from chasing something bigger. Mary wanted Sawyer to be as happy with his life as she knew he could be. “I bet she’s gonna be real smart though... my mom said they were going to put her in some private school. They wanna move out of Coolsville, at least that was their plan before I left.”

[marygilinskys]

kwamewiththedocs·:

Kwame laughed at the self-deprecating humor. The gang was well-versed in it. If losers couldn’t laugh at themselves, what else were they gonna do? “I literally cannot believe that…” Coolsville had become home for those few years that Kwame was there, but his life, his background was Chicago.

“Oh, I don’t even care if they notice.” Kwame replied, smile creeping up on his face. “I’m gonna find us some dogs. And maybe some pizza.” Kwame was always down to eat. In fact, he was hoping that by going out on this wild road trip, there’d be an opportunity to try new food. However, Illinois was Illinois, so there was only so much gourmet, global cuisine. “Maybe if we head into town, we can find a shop?”

“You’d be surprised how many people never leave Coolsville-- my family has been there since my grandpa came when he was twenty.” There was a very interesting Gilinsky history on how they came to Coolsville, her mother would tell it almost every night. Kind of gruesome to be a bed time story, but Mary enjoyed it. Made her appreciate her Saba and everything he’d gone through to make the best life he could for his family. Mary could only dream of the world outside Coolsville-- now that she was in it, she was feeling overwhelmed. 

“Pizza.” Mary said longingly, “We’ve really had like no pizza on this trip! Can you believe that?” She whined, suddenly coming to the realization. She really needed a nice, cheese pizza with fluffy crust right about now. “Get in, my friend-- you think if we bring food back they’ll be less mad that we left without them?”

[marygilinskys]

@marcofind​​

“I can’t believe they trusted dumb and dumber to do the shopping.” Mary teased as she pushed a cart through the tiny mini-mart. The gang was running low on snacks, and they were going to need to stock up before their big stint at the asylum later that night. “I mean, what’s to stop us now from spending our entire budget on gummy bears, you know?” Mary liked grocery duty, she had nothing better to do so she happily offered to go with Marco. He was sort of a tough nut to crack, but Mary was hopeful she’d get through to him at some point.

“What do you like to snack on, Marco?” Mary asked as she browsed the chip aisle. “I love saltines but I’m not sure how well that’d go down with the rest of the gang, y’know? Pretty sure people only have saltines when they feel sick-- at least that’s what my mom gave me. Saltines and Seven Up and my stomach ache disappeared.” She continued to ramble on, throwing random snacks into the cart. 

[marygilinskys]

@wesleyhearst​​

Mary on the edge of the sidewalk in front of the gas station, chugging away at her slurpee as she watched the van fill up from afar. “Wes, I’m gonna tell you something that you have to swear to never tell anyone else.” Whenever the van needed gas, Mary had to borrow from someone-- claiming her wallet was buried in the back of the van or she left it in the hotel room. They were about a week into their trip when Mary realized she actually left her wallet at home, and didn’t want to turn the whole van around because of her.

“I left my wallet back home.” She said, staring down at her bright blue frozen drink. “-- and it had my driver’s licence in it.” Mary admitted, cheeks growing bright red. When Wesley joined the group, Mary thought for sure they’d be butting heads-- him being the rich boy and her being the exact opposite. To their surprise, they started forming one of the most unlikely friendships in the group. He was also the only one she knew had less chance of absolutely freaking out on her. 

[marygilinskys]

samosets·:

“As long as you have the van, you have a navigator,” he said with a smile. Sam meant it, too. The van had begun to feel like a second home to him, and he couldn’t really imagine real life past this road trip. Pushing dark hair behind his ear, Sam nodded in agreement. “I’m glad you talked me into this,” he said, smiling. “I didn’t think it would be this fun.”

“Together forever.” Mary smiled, holding her hand out for a high-five. “I don’t think I’d have hardly any fun if you didn’t come too. Also, we both know I hardly listen to Sawyer, so I think for everyone’s sake it’s better if you were here too.”  She teased, nudging him playfully. Mary had already started thinking about the future, past all of this-- it made her value her time in the present a whole lot more.

[marygilinskys]

xsawycrs·:

After it became just Sawyer and his mother, while their family had been cut in half, they became that much closer. Sawyer’s best friend in the world was his mother, which might have been dorky coming from anyone else, but it made sense for Sawyer. When he had come to Coolsville, his heart had been so broken that he thought it would never get put back together. His mother was even worse. The two of them had needed each other desperately to get through the worst time in their lives, and they had relied on each other—something that could have driven them apart only pulled them closer together, and for that, Sawyer was endlessly grateful. 

And then Sawyer met Mary, and that had changed everything for him. He was so used to moving from place to place he’d never really made friends, instead spending most of his time off on his own reading on his own and trying to get through school with minimal exposure. Then, he came to Coolsville, and it was like there was a reason to enjoy his time at school, a reason to enjoy just being a teenager. He slowly let go of some of the pain and sorrow that had racked him so young. Sawyer didn’t say anything for a moment, just going back to plucking lightly at the guitar again. “You talked to Nat at all?” he asked, changing the conversation if only because he didn’t want to ruin the moment—he’d like to just leave things there. For now. “I miss that kid, you know.” 

Mary’s cheeks burned red when he changed the subject. Fuck, she’d done exactly what she didn’t want to do. She just shook her head when he’d asked about Natalie, “I haven’t talked to any one since graduation.” Mary wondered if her baby sister understood that she’d left and was probably never going to come back. As soon as the gang went their separate ways after summer, Mary would drop them off wherever they needed then she was going to set off for her own life. Whatever that was. She didn’t think she could face her mom again, not after her mother stole her money and ruined Mary’s real chance at moving out and starting a new, clean slate.

“I miss her too.” Mary said quietly, picking at loose threads on the edge of her shorts as she sat with her legs crossed. She felt shitty when Sawyer called his mom all the time but Mary never said a word to her own. It made her feel guilty, but part of her wanted her mom to realize Mary was growing up. She couldn’t be at her mom’s beck and call forever now. Maybe one day she’d go back and visit-- hopefully the gang would need to go back for something soon, seeing as she forgot her licence when she was in a rush to leave. 

[marygilinskys]

xsawycrs·:

Sawyer had learned to be the kind of person who kept things tightly buttoned down. Even to this day, he hadn’t told Mary the extent of the problems with his father—and frankly, the only reason he talked about his brother with her was because there were pictures of the two of them up all over the house. Sawyer was taught that if he talked too much, if he felt too much, then that was worthy of punishment, and while Mary knew that Sawyer’s father was somewhere out there and that Sawyer had no intention of contacting him, Sawyer still couldn’t bring himself to say what he didn’t want to remember. Maybe there was no need to—but Mary had always said how much better it was to let things out than to keep them bottled up. Slowly, Sawyer was learning how to do that, but strides were only made a little at a time. 

He caught the expression on Mary’s features and couldn’t help but smile to himself, wondering if she thought about him as much as he thought about her. He thought about Mary often, when he was daydreaming in the back of the mystery machine or when he was reading over a history book to research their next case—he’d find his mind drifting off to memories of warm summer afternoons in Coolsville, spent on the edge of the lagoon with Mary. “What’s Plan A?” he asked, a brow raising inquisitively. At her compliment, Sawyer ducked his head and blushed again. “You don’t have to say that,” he said, assuming she had only complimented him because he had complimented her first. 

Mary didn’t have a great experience of her own with her biological father. He’d left her and her mom at the trailer park back in Coolsville with little to no money right after Mary was born. Whenever the bills came, Mary would always hear her mom on the phone cursing at her father about not supporting his family. Mary often wondered if it was her fault-- if he only left her mom because she was born. Sometimes Mary thought her mom would be better off it Mary had never been born, she seemed awful happy now with her new husband and daughter anyway. Since the trip started, Mary hadn’t even called her family once.

As they got closer in high school, Mary could’ve sworn she thought Sawyer liked her back. Especially when they agreed to go to prom together. When she couldn’t go to prom because she had to babysit, Mary was devastated and worried that Sawyer would hate her for cancelling so last minute. But when he agreed to meet her later that night in their prom attire, she knew he was different. He’d forgiven her when most people at their school probably wouldn’t have. Ever since that night, Mary wanted to tell him how she felt-- but then the trip started and she got nervous once they were both around the gang so much. She didn’t want it to be weird between anyone. “Well, I was thinking it so I said it... You know me, nothing just stays in my head for too long.” She spoke quietly, bringing her knees to her chest.

[marygilinskys]

xsawycrs·:

Sawyer scoffed. “I was led astray, Mar,” he said. “I was just trying to follow what that kid told me. I guess you just can’t trust people.” He clicked his tongue for Max to follow them, finding that the dog had stopped a few yards behind them, and waited until he trotted over before stepping onto the small set of stairs in front of the doorway,  There was a wrought-iron railing on the staircase, covered in dust except for a few sporadic handprints, most likely from the last people to go missing here. 

Sawyer looked back at her with a crooked smirk. “Well, smarty-pants, I thought it’d be good if you know the way in and out of here so we can run away when you chicken out,” he teased lightly. “You haven’t been killed by a ghost yet, and I don’t think I’m ever going to let that happen, so you have my word, everything is going to be fine. Worse comes to worse, I’ll let it eat me. Then we’d really be legendary ghost hunters.

He reached a hand out to test the door, realizing that was the wrong way and pushing at it. The door budged slightly, but didn’t move significantly, so Sawyer took a slight step back before using his shoulder to shove the door with his whole body weight, getting it to suddenly swing open as soon as it was free of the ill-fitting doorframe. He brought up his flashlight and shone it into the building. 

“Uh-huh.” She crossed her arms over her chest. When they approached the stairs, Mary’s eyes widened at the pattern of hand prints. She stayed close behind Sawyer, heart beating rapidly in her chest. Max looked back at Mary, probably sensing her worry before he slowed down to trot beside her as they followed Sawyer. Mary reached down to scratch Max’s head once before they continued walking.

“That’s not funny.” Mary said very seriously, stopping on the steps as she looked at Sawyer. “Seriously, that’s not funny and you’re not doing that.” She shook her head as she finished coming up the steps. “Let them eat me, they’ll probably spit me out. I’m full of hot dogs, Kwame and I made a little breakfast trip.” Mary was repulsed by the sight of pancakes and eggs lately, and hot dogs were more her breakfast speed anyway.

Mary watched him mess with the door, “Be careful--” she whispered just as he prepped to shove at the door suddenly. She clicked her flashlight on, stepping inside carefully as she shined the light around the main entry way of the asylum. Mary waved away the dust that blew in front of her face after everything was rocked by the swinging of the door. “Alright.. what’s next?” She swallowed thickly, looking back at him and Max wandering around.

case file 001: daylight run

[marygilinskys]

xsawycrs·:

Sawyer spent so much time with Mary throughout high school, it was like they had grown up together. It was nice to have someone who knew him like that, who was always there through all his missteps and little victories. They hadn’t quite had the families they were looking for—Sawyer never liked to talk about stories before Coolsville, stories of his father’s cruelty and of the brother who should have still been there. Not even Mary had been privy to that information yet, though he supposed she didn’t have to take a far leap to know that they were avoiding thinking about their old life. 

“You’re prettier than her,” he said simply, then, realizing what he said, felt his cheeks heat up slightly. The words had just slipped from his lips—suddenly, he felt embarrassed. Sawyer went to pluck at the guitar again, as if to cover up what he had just said. He picked out Blackbird, humming it softly in the humid heat of the van—even with the windows all the way down, it wasn’t like it was the coolest place they could be. Sawyer didn’t mind the heat, though—he had been waiting for it. “I don’t think that’s a problem. Not if that’s what you want.” 

Over the course of their friendship, Mary pretty much unloaded most of her past to Sawyer with small details at a time. There was no one she could talk to about them, and Mary hated keeping everything so internalized. The night she found out her mom and step-dad stole her tip money, Mary ran to Sawyer and cried to him almost all night about how she was never leaving Coolsville now. When he came up with this road trip idea, Mary swore that he saved her. She didn’t know how she could ever repay him for that. At the beginning, Mary thought he was just taking pity on her not being able to move out... she wasn’t the best driver he could’ve gotten. But now, Mary really felt the value of their relationship.

“Oh.” Mary blinked quickly, lips pursing together out of surprise. She saw his cheeks grow red, and Mary looked down at her hands folded in her lap while he strummed at the guitar. Mary had too many encounters where boys were just being nice, and that she shouldn’t read too far into it. She really didn’t want to do that with Sawyer, no matter how big her little school crush had gotten-- she didn’t want to mess it all up. “It’s Plan B.” Mary nodded. “Thank you.” she spoke to fill the sudden silence, “For telling me I’m pretty. I... I think you’re pretty too.”

[marygilinskys]

kwamewiththedocs·:

As Mary spit out the window, Kwame grimaced. “Ew,” he muttered. It was gross, but it was truth, and that’s what the camera was there for. Sure, it was early, but Kwame was always more of a morning person. It was sure ghost-hunting went best at nighttime. 

“Exactly. I don’t want pleasant. I want Mary.” Kwame pursed his lips and held up a finger. “I didn’t mean it like that.” Still, the blunder was enough for Kwame to put the camera down. “You know what I could go for? Just skipping breakfast and eating a hot dog. A Chicago dog. Ooh, maybe two.”

“You’re going to have to get in the non-existent line for that then, babe.” Mary teased, gesturing out in front of her to her very invisible suitors. Like most of the gang, Mary was a loner in high school and had yet to experience her first relationship. However, she’d been on her small share of awful first dates to be put off from the entire things.

 “I’ve never been out of Coolsville in my entire life, so I think we should go hunt for some of these Chicago dogs.” If it were up to her, Mary would have hamburgers and fries every morning-- she hated breakfast food. Being on the road for this long already made her hate the smell of pancakes and syrup. “You think we can leave and come back without anyone noticing?”

[marygilinskys]

“Honestly? I have no idea.” Mary winced, looking down at the bong which clearly hadn’t been set up properly. It started to stink up the entire van, but she didn’t want to take it outside since three cop cars had passed the parking lot in the past ten minutes. “You know, maybe this will be a very telling lesson about how to not buy shit from strangers.” Mary groaned, dismantling it and letting everything just sit scattered around her on the floor of the van. “What do we do, Mal? Like-- we can’t just throw it away!”

“Oof, I don’t know about that?” Mal cringed a tad, clicking their teeth as they walked around the mess in the back of the van, careful where to step, “Is it supposed to look like that? And…. is it supposed to smell like that?” Ever the realist, Mallory was not one to humor their friend when asking questions. Honestly at this point, they just stood there confused.

[marygilinskys]

@ofwendys + @bcatnikmal

Before I Fall (2017) dir. Ry Russo-Young

[marygilinskys]

Buffaloed dir. Tanya Wexler (2019)

Homegrown hustler Peg Dahl, who will do anything to escape Buffalo, NY.

[marygilinskys]

zoey deutch in buffaloed