#and maybe he’s a little nuts but goddamnit she will at least check it out !! just in case he’s right!!!

[astralzeraphias]

“he was mentally ill. this monster was a- was a sick fantasy. a product of his dementia.”

“…i saw it too. does that make me disturbed? demented? does… that make me sick too?”

[vidkid20ssimblrlair]

Episode 31: No More Playing Nice

"On the second floor? Lin, are you sure you're not seeing things?"

"No, Vince. I'm not."

"Aaron could have slipped you something in your drink to help you sleep. You could be hallucinating."

"No, I saw something. No. Someone. I saw someone. He was at my window. He...he looked like a skeleton. A skeleton with bright red eyes."

"Now I know you've lost your marbles."

"I'm serious!"

I looked out the window and saw what I expected. A whole bunch of nothing under a pitch-black sky. I rolled my eyes and stared back at Audrey. She was helping Tao up off the floor. The door had knocked him on his ass pretty good.

I scoffed. "So Tao, what the hell did you call yourself doing? Snooping?"

"Um...I was..um," he stuttered. He looked over at Audrey all bug-eyed and blushed. "I was just wondering what you were doing? Sis said you were..."

"I said nothing. He was being a perv hoping to hear you bump uglies!" she huffed. "Now nevermind that. I saw something. I'm sure of it now."

"Well, I'll go outside and take a look. Anything, to get away from here."

Audrey raised her hand. "I'll go with you. Not because of anything weird or anything. I'll...I'll just go."

I shook my head in disgust and hurried out of the room. She practically ran into me as she raced out herself. She followed me down the stairs and into the kitchen where Gemma remained hostage. The pale redhead was tied up, but humming happily. I glanced over at Wade who was on guard. I studied his face for a clue as to why, but he frowned and shrugged.

"Why you so goddamnit happy?" I growled staring down at her.

"Huh?"

"Why you humming that tune?"

She giggled. "Aren't you the one they call 'Vince'?

"Yeah. What of it?"

"Oh, nothing."

"So why you so damn happy?"

"I'm just excited about something," she whispered. A grin then spread across her face. "You're going be in for quite a surprise."

"Like what?"

"You'll see."

She then immediately went back to humming. Her head swaying side to side slowly. I looked back at Audrey who was standing behind me looking just as confused. She shook her head and made the sign for crazy. She was definitely right about that, but what she said didn't sit right with me. Surprise? What kind of surprise? Not a good surprise I bet. Shit.

I thought about getting an explanation out of her, but Madison peeked her head in. She looked like she had climbed out of bed. She ditched her leather jacket and jeans for a bathrobe. Her neat short hair all over her head. She seemed to notice our stares and became subconscious. She combed her hair back with her fingers and fussed with her robe. She then gave up and frowned leaning on the door frame. "I thought I heard a gunshot. Everybody alright?"

"A gunshot?" Audrey gasped.

"Yeah. I was coming out of the bathroom and heard a gunshot. I thought I was hearing things at first, but I decided I should check on everyone. Sound like it came from right out back."

As she said this, the front door burst open. Madison jumped and stood aside as Nathan and Aaron appeared. Aaron seemed fine, but Nathan looked worse for wear. His hair loose and messy. His clothes dirty. His face bruised on the side.

"What the hell happened to you?" Madison asked taking the words out of my mouth. "What happened to your face? Are you ok?"

"Oh, I'm just fine," he said sarcastically. "I just got my gun kicked out of my hands and the side of my face kicked like a football by a masked skeleton guy, but I'm great!"

"What?!"

"Wait! Did you say a masked skeleton guy?" I asked astounded.

"Yeah. He had a creepy skeleton mask with red eyes. He was creeping around here and I went after him."

"Why didn't you tell anyone?!" Madison fumed. "You could have been killed! Aaron could have been killed!"

"It was one guy. I thought I could handle it. I did technically."

"Actually, you got knocked flat on your back," Aaron said clearing his throat. "Then you laid there for a few minutes moaning in pain. I'm still quite worried you may have a concussion, Parker. The bruising you're exhibiting and-"

"Aaron."

"Yes, I know. Shut my trap."

Wade chuckled. "So you got beat up? I wished I had seen that."

"I wished I had seen that," Nathan repeated bitterly mocking him. He rolled his eyes. "It's too bad he didn't run into your fat ass."

"Guys! This is serious! What if it was more?" Madison said looking panicked. "Someone should go check. I'll go get dressed."

"Nah. I'll go look," I said holding up my hand. "By the time you finish dressing, they'll be long gone. Someone should also go check on Lin. She did say she saw some skeleton looking guy at her window. I thought she was nuts but I guess not. Still strange how he got up there."

"He used the bus. He did some type of parkour shit and jump down from there. Heard Lin scream now that I think of it. I feel like shit for not believing her. Dammit," he groaned.

"Nope. That's on me. Lin said something strange earlier about someone looking into her window the other night. She asked me to move the bus and I brushed it off," Wade said sadly. "I'll take a look and move the bus. You stay here with Gemma."

"And I'll check on Lin," Audrey offered. "Tell her she's not crazy at least."

He pushed past me and headed for the front door. He stopped and called for Omar who sprung up from the couch in the living room. He pulled out a handgun and followed Wade out the door. Audrey, on the other hand, headed upstairs. I looked back at Gemma who seemed to be looking forward as if clueless to what was happening. I was pretty sure she was listening.

"The skeleton dude. Did he say anything?" I asked Nathan as he pushed past me and sat down at the kitchen table. Aaron followed.

He held his face in his hands as Aaron rubbed his back. He looked up at me and answered. "No. He didn't say anything. Not a word."

"Oh. Well, I'm pretty sure I saw someone like that back at the junkyard. Him, a pig mask guy, and some cat or fox mask chick."

"Well, maybe we should ask Gemma about it," he frowned as he rubbed the side of his face. He got up and stood in front of Gemma. "Got anything to say?"

She smirked. "No. I do hope you catch whoever you're talking about. He seemed to got the best of you there."

"You're real funny. Got the best of me huh?"

"Yeah. He gave you a good beating there. That bruise is a nasty one."

"You know I've never hit a woman before, but right now I'm tempted."

"Nathan!" Madison groaned. "Don't sink to her level."

"Why not? We're not going to get anything out of her if we don't do something."

"Like what?"

"Like this." He smirked and grabbed a kitchen knife. He then placed the blade at her neck. "Now tell me who was your skeleton friend, Gemma?"

"I don't know who you're talking about, but killing me certainly isn't going get you the answer."

"Who said I'm going kill you?" he said. He brought the knife up to her cheek and made a slight cut. He then put the tip of it onto her shoulder. "Who was the skeleton mask guy in the garden?"

"I don't know. It sounds so scary."

"Stop the whole act. It's annoying now."

"I'm not acting- Ahhhh!"

He dug the blade into her shoulder and she screamed. He stopped and she began sobbing. Me, Madison, and Aaron stood back watching. Our faces a mixture of disturbed and unease.

He held the knife up to her face and asked again. "Who was that and why was he here?"

"I told you..."

"Stop lying!"

"I don't know..."

He plunged the tip of the knife back into her shoulder and she screamed. He then pulled it away.

"Ok. Looking like you may need some more stitches."

"Fuck off!"

"Who are you? Why are you here? And who was the man?"

"I'm not telling you anything! Mr. Jones!!!"

He grabbed her face and placed the knife tip close to her right eye. "Tell me or you're going be missing an eye in a few seconds."

"His name is Bones. It's Bones."

"Why was he here?"

"F..f..for me!"

"Why?!

"Help me! Someone help me! Mr. Jones! Jones!"

"Mr. Jones isn’t going to help you. No one is going to help you. Now fess up!"

"Nothing to report except those bastards slashed the tires," Wade bellowed entering the front door. He looked into the kitchen and gasped. "Jesus, Nathan! What are you doing?!"

"Doing what should have been done in the first place!"

"But if Luther sees you...er I mean finds out- "

"What Luther doesn't know, won't hurt him. It's time we stop playing nice. We tried and it didn't work!"

"But..."

We heard footsteps on the stairs. Maybe Tao? Or Audrey? Or maybe worse, DJ or Luther? Shit! I stepped in front of Gemma and Nathan. Wade grabbed the knife from him and headed for the sink. Nathan put his hand over her mouth. We all froze as DJ face appeared in the doorway. His eyes widen and he came closer.

"Me and gramps thought we heard screaming. "Is everything alright?"

"DJ, we...." Nathan started, but he gasped and screamed out in pain. He snatched his hand away. Apparently, Gemma had bit into it. He glared at her. "You little..."

"DJ, they tried to kill me! They've been cutting on me. Hurting me. I told them I don't know what they're talking about," she cried being able to speak now. "Tell them to leave me alone. Please!"

We all began to speak at the same time. Spitting out excuses and tonight’s events as Gemma whimpered about her mistreatment. Finally, DJ had enough and waved his hand and roared, "Quiet. All of you!"

The room grew quiet and he sighed. "A guy with a skeleton mask was here?"

"Yes!" Nathan spluttered. "I fought with...well he got the better of me, but..."

"Lin saw him," I added. "At her window!"

"Gemma said his name is Bones!"

"Okay! I got it, guys!" DJ mumbled. He pushed me and Nathan out the way. He looked down at Gemma. He saw the blood on her shoulder. Tears streaming down her bloody cheek. I thought we were screwed, but he seemed unmoved. He bent down to meet her eye level looking stern. "Gemma, did you say the skeleton mask guy’s name was Bones?"

"I...I made it up. I had to. He threatened to gorge my eye out."

"Do you know him?"

"No! I told-"

"But you knew his codename?"

"Huh?"

"I heard one of them call him, Bones. As he was taking our stuff. As I fear for my life and begged for mercy. Interesting you would choose that name."

"I swear it was just a coincidence! I...I swear!"

"Coincidence or not, he was here for a reason. The reason being you."

"Wait. No! DJ!"

He looked back at us. "Gramps can't see, but he can hear real well. I suggest you hang it up for tonight and keep her quiet. I'll calm Gramps and tell him everything's fine -"

"But DJ please! Save me! They're going kill me!"

He scowled. "I don't care how you do it, but shut her up!"

"My pleasure," Madison smiled. She pulled up her sleeve and balled up her fist. Then she took a swing and hit Gemma square in the face. Her cries silenced and her head slumped over.

Nathan gasped. "Jesus, Madison! Really?"

"What? You said no more playing nice," she smirked. "Besides, I've been dying to do that."

Previous Episode -Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 (tw:suicide & tw:gore)

I did it! This took me forever and now I have a cold, so I’m just going to fall out over in a corner somewhere. lol Now for the shit to really hit the fan because Gemma is right. They will be a surprise. 

[screensirenfic]

Black Leather - Chapter 27

“If that little shit says code fucking red one more time; I swear I’m gonna—“

“Woah, woah, woah; Lo! Cool your jets.” Soothes Steve, though at this rate I’d settle at punching him unconscious.

If it wasn’t enough that I spent a weeks worth of pay checks on diced beef, because despite having a wallet that cost more than my entire wardrobe, someone forgot to bring his allowance; I now was having to deal with all the joys of working with a twelve year old boy.

Sorry; thirteen, as he keeps reminding me.

Thank god Eleven was a girl!

But at least we had some semblance of a plan now; Steve’s BMW parked in the woods at the start of our carnivorous crumb trail that would eventually lead to the junkyard.

Steve popped the trunk of his car; rubber gloves already on hands, because of course; the pretty boy couldn’t get his hands bloody.

The scent of blood and death was strong within; the result of nearly ten pounds worth of prized sirloin chopped in buckets, because according to the little shit; his ex-pet was a fussy eater.

Steve did the honours; hauling out two heaping buckets of meat which were already beginning to smell thanks to the heat of the car.

“Jesus, Lola; do we really need this much meat? He asked; his nose wrinkled in disgust.

Apparently I’d forgotten that a pampered trust fund teen like Steve probably never even had to wash dishes; let alone do any meal prep with raw meat.

“Shut up and unload the trunk.” I ordered; not willing to take any of his crap.

It had been his damn idea to put his faith in the wild imaginations of a thirteen year old, not mine.

I would’ve been more than happy to stay at Charlie’s and finish fixing Marty’s truck, then go out with Bil—

Shit! I’d almost forgot!

Billy would be coming to pick me up in a couple of hours, and I was currently about to start traipsing through mulch and animal shit, spreading the contents of a corpse with Steve and some weird kid.

Of all the fucking excuses I could be giving him; this one really took the whole damn pie!

Even if I did manage to make it back in time; he’d never believe me.

Not even when I stunk like a butchers shop and felt half as dead.

Steve was gonna fucking owe me for this—

“Lo; you still with me?” Steve asked; breaking through my mental rant to try and play the reasonable friend, and I wanted to fucking read him out, because I’d lost out on a good damn night for this and maybe even lost my chance at being with Billy for good; but fuck, Steve didn’t know that.

And I couldn’t blame him; not really.

“Nothing. Just forgot if I’d left the stove on.” I replied; the absurdity of that statement going straight over Steve’s pretty head as he pulled his rucksack out of the boot, alongside several cans of gasoline, unknowingly kindly donated by Charlie’s auto repairs.

Steve pulled out his nailbat; a post-apocalyptic beast of a thing that actually had belonged to Jonathan, before it was valiantly commandeered by Steve in the demogorgon attack last year.

Now it seemed the enigmatically named nailbat man was to make a reappearance; all for the sake of avenging some dumb kid’s cat and a half eaten candy bar.

I, however, liked to keep things more practical; having made time to stop home during our little errand to pick up a most vital supply.

I pulled out my dad’s sawn off shotgun from the trunk; making sure this baby was loaded with the finest buckshot, before cocking it.

Steve can wave round that little tennis racket as much as he liked; meanwhile I’d blow this bitch to smithereens with pure homegrown American lead.

Steve looked at it with a mixture of apprehension and awe, still not comfortable with me bringing a loaded weapon, despite me having learnt how to shoot before I could even drive.

He’d get over it.

Fuck; he might even be thankful once we bring this overgrown slug down without even breaking a sweat.

I let him slam the trunk closed, and by the sounds of it, E.T. was finally done phoning home; Dustin pushing down that ridiculous antenna at last, before the Venusians tried to contact us on it.

“You gonna actually help any time today kid, or is your plan just to play operator whilst we do the real work?” I queried; picking up the first of the heavy metal buckets in front of me.

“Alright, alright; hold your fucking horses. I’m coming.” The kid placated, and maybe I should’ve said something about the language, but then again; I wasn’t exactly a saint, and I wasn’t the kid’s mother, so why the fuck should I care?

Instead, I stood back as he picked up the lightest of the buckets, leaving the heaviest for Steve, but you know what; let him.

It was Steve’s damn sympathies that got us into this mess; so let’s see him feel so sympathetic when he’s done spreading meat for the next two hours.

———————————————————

So maybe playing pied piper to a B movie creature feature wasn’t as mind numbingly boring as I’d thought it would be.

I mean; the company was decent, me and Steve wasting the time away by playing twenty one questions and talking with the kid.

Think of it as community service; us near adults taking the time out from our busy lives to give back to the younger generation.

Of course; I’d also forgotten how blatantly dumb boys of the younger generation could be.

“All right; so let me get this straight...” Drawled the voice of Steve as he trailed behind keeping pace with the kid; after refusing to keep step with me.

It’s not my fault; really. He’d dropped a question on cannibalism on me, and I’d rose to the challenge beautifully; managing to both freak him out and educate him in one answer; a finer achievement than any teacher at Hawkins High had ever managed.

“You kept something dangerous in order to impress a girl... who you just met?” Steve asked with such incredulousness, you’d almost forget this is the same kid who took up football in freshman year just to impress Kathy Williams; an absolute disaster which ended with him getting tackled by a senior quarterback and him spending two weeks in Hawkins Med with a broken arm.

Still got that date with Kathy though.

“Alright; that’s grossly oversimplifying things...” The kid objected, because pigheaded stupidity was a primarily male trait with symptoms that included complete denial when it came to pursuing the fairer sex.

“I mean; why would a girl like some nasty slug anyway?” Steve asked; the question perfectly rational, but clearly absurd in the eyes of a thirteen year old.

“An interdimensional slug?! Because it’s awesome!” Dustin exclaimed, and I swear the nerd levels here were sweeping off the chart.

“Lola; would you like it if I showed you a slug?” Steve called ahead to me, finally breaking his selective silence to ask an actual female about their kind.

Still; didn’t mean I was gonna give him all the answers.

“I’m not going anywhere near you or your slug, Steve.” I retorted; still not managing to contain a chuckle. Yes; that was an innuendo, and Steve was probably rolling his eyes right now, but fuck; if I didn’t like winding him up.

“Well; even if she thought it was cool, which she didn’t... I... I just... I don’t know.” Steve reasoned with a sigh, forgoing all attempts to get me on side, because I was a petty bitch and still wasn’t quite over when he asked me about bra size.

“I just feel like you’re trying way too hard, man.” Steve confessed, chucking down another handful of meat with resigned indignation.

“Well; not everyone can have your perfect hair, alright...” Dustin griped, and I could barely contain my laughter, because was I the only one who fucking remembered?!

“Perfect?!” I scoffed; the word half hidden in a bout of laughter. “You should’ve seen him in the eighth grade! He looked like the fourth Beegee!” I exclaimed with thunderous laughter, because it was true; goddamnit!

Steve’s hair had been so goddamn hilarious, and just remembering it now brought back flashbacks of the Snow Ball; memories of crisp white suits straight out of Saturday Night Fever, and a much younger Steve Harrington busting a move on the dance floor like a barely pubescent John Travolta.

Steve didn’t find it funny, shooting me daggers that clearly said “shut the hell up”, despite the fact his embarrassment would only rile me up further.

“Anyway; it’s not about the hair...” He returned his attention to Dustin, clearly understanding that giving me evils was getting him nowhere.

“The key with girls is just... acting like you don’t care.” Steve bestowed his worldly piece of wisdom, and I could barely keep myself from rolling my eyes.

Yeah; because of course the girls liked Steve because he acted like a total douche, and not because they thought he was dumber than a sack of dirt and didn’t know any better.

The hair was a bonus though.

“Even if you do?” The kid asked innocently; and it was hard to believe that all twelve year olds took advice so easily.

“Yeah; exactly. It drives them nuts.” Steve said; and I had to stop them there.

This kid was no Steve Harrington and would probably end up dying alone if he followed Steve’s example.

Fuck; Steve might end up dying alone with a shovel to the back of the head if he kept pissing me off like this.

“Or he could just tell this girl how he actually feels, rather than acting all emotionally constipated about it; Steve...” I interrupted; offering an realistically sound piece of advice, which might end up with the girl actually liking the kid, rather than mistaking him for the douche of the century; who was clearly already walking among us.

“Don’t listen to her...” Steve dismissed my advice with a wave of the hand, and this time, I really did roll my eyes.

“Why? Because I’m a girl?” I countered smartly; as if sound logic ever meant more to Steve than macho grand standing.

“No; because you’re a psychopath...” Steve replies, tossing a handful of meat at me, as if I was a mischievous bitch that could be fended off with a scrap of food.

“Hey!” I exclaimed; nimbly leaping out of the line of fire before I could amass another interesting stain on my jacket.

“You know; I liked you better with your headphones on, Blondie...” Steve drawled; his attention fully averted from counsel giving, to our usually programmed showing of me and Steve acting like complete jackasses around each other.

“And I liked you better in Wham!; George...” I retorted; knowing how much Steve hated the smarmy pop band, despite Nancy’s insistence that they were gorgeous.

“Why don’t you come back here...” Steve began to bluster; picking up another handful of bloody meat with a mischievous smile on his face, but it was too late.

I was quicker than him, already dancing away further along the track, before slipping on my headphones; because despite being a slippery bitch, I was a good girl and sometimes decided to appease our noble king; if only for an easy time.

I hit play on my Walkman; happy to hear the starting notes of Heart Of Glass chiming into my ear canals.

I turned it up loud and proud to sing along; resolved that if Steve and the kid wanted boy time, they could have it, but I would be as much of a nuisance as possible.

“Once I had a love and it was a gas

Soon found out he had a heart of glass

Seemed like the real thing, only to find

Much of mistrust; love’s gone behind.”