#please observe chucks top scars ty

[r0b0t1me]

fun in lake erie. sketched by @/spectra-bear

[jasminehoneytea]

we close at sunset ~ p.p

as the sun began to dip behind the skyscrapers, i left my post behind the rose quartz counter to pick up the little yellow sign that hung above the flower shop door. i flipped it over from the “come on in!” side to the side that had lavender painted letters and said “we close at sunset. thanks for stopping by!”

continuing my ‘closing time’ routine, i shut the tiny white door and flipped off the light switch. i hummed along to an old song stuck in my head. i always liked closing time. the sunset, the quiet, especially the way the golden light shined through the giant stained glass window onto the plants and gave them a sort of ethereal glow. i loved that window. it was this beautiful glass mural of a far away new york city skyline from the view of a hill with sunflowers on it. i had grown up gazing at that window, and now i got to look at it everyday.

this was my first time closing up shop on my own, my boss had finally trusted me enough to let me manage the store alone. all the customers had left, and the atmosphere was filled with tranquility.

CRASH

i let out a scream and jumped backward, just narrowly avoiding the millions of shattered colorful glass falling at my feet. i managed to grab my phone as i hid under the desk praying that the loud crash of the window breaking overpowered my scream. there was someone dressed in red and black on the floor in front of me, groaning and clutching their side. they seemed to not be paying attention, so i crawled over to a couple hostas to get a better view. i typed 911 in to the emergency call keypad and hovered my thumb over the call button, peaking through the wide, dark leaves.

wait a minute.

i recognized that spider emblem on the intruder’s chest.

“hey, uh spider-man?” i asked, slowly peeking my head out above the hostas. he groaned in pain again and turned his head towards me. the eyes on his mask twitched spuratically for a couple seconds until they seemed to focus on me. “are you here to rob me?”

spider-man used his elbow to prop himself up slightly. he winced slightly before saying “no” and falling back to floor, cursing under his breath.

“oh. okay. cool.” the fear coursing through me seemed to subside as i made my way over to him. “should i call an ambulance?”

“no.” he repeated.

“are you okay?”

“n-uh...yep, fine. totally fine.” spider-man replied. “i just was fighting this bad guy and she threw me through your window and took off. that’s all.”

the panic i once felt came rushing back. “she’s not going to come back here and try to kill us, is she?”

“nah. she’s sneaky.” he said. “she has a plan, i just don’t know what it is.”

great. spider-man just got his ass kicked and now i’m involved. if she has a mysterious plan that he doesn’t know about, how is so sure she won’t come back? i thought about asking him all these burning questions, but then saw that he was writhing on the floor. “are you sure you’re okay? ‘cus you don’t look so good.”

“actually, could you do me a favor? i think i might have gotten cut by the glass.”

i felt my stomach drop at the thought of him bleeding. “oh god i’m not gonna have to sew you up, am i? i don’t do that well with blood. sometimes i pass out and....uh...nevermind” i cut myself off before i rambled too much. i always seemed to talk excessively when i was nervous. i stood up straighter and put on a brave face. “what do you need me to do?”

“just grab a first aid kit. please.”

“gotcha! don’t move!” i regretted my words instantly, realizing that he couldn’t really move that much if he was bleeding badly. i ran over to the back of the store and grabbed a stark white box with a red cross. when i came back, spider-man was weakly reaching up to his chest, tapping the spider emblem. the suit seemed to decompress and it fell of his shoulders.

damn, spider-man’s ripped.

i shook my head. that’s not the point. the problem was the giant gash across his abdomen. his extremely toned abdomen...

i knelt down beside the spandex clad superhero and opened up the first aid kid and ripped off a piece of gauze. “it’s fine, i can do it.”

“buddy, you can hardly sit up. speaking of that, i need you to sit up.” he obliged, propping himself up using both arms. “i gotta stop the bleeding, so i’m going to use a lot of pressure. it’s going to hurt, i’m sorry.”

“don’t be.” he replied. i bit my lip in concentration and tied the gauze around his waist, Lining it with the cut. spider-man hissed in pain. i murmured another apology before tying the gauze, pulling it tight. he yelped again and lost his balance.

i caught his head and pulled him up by his shoulders slightly so he was leaning against me. “that’s the worst of it. it’s gonna take a while to stop bleeding. when you get home...or to you spider cave or whatever, just take off the gauze and clean the wound. it’s pretty bad, you should go to the hospital.”

“that’s out of the question. and i don’t have a ‘spider cave’.”

“sorry, man, you’re the one who broke my window. who even are you?” i asked.

“i’m...uh, i’m spider-man.”

i rolled my eyes. “so you’re not gonna tell me your real name?”

spider-man didn’t respond. i sighed and ripped off another piece of gauze. “did the glass cut you anywhere else?”

“um, yeah.”

“where?”

he hesitated. “the bottom right side of my face.” i reached ober to pull of his mask but his hand caught my wrist in a split second. i made a snarky comment about his damn reflexes and let my hand drop, resting in a closed fist on his chest. “i...can’t let you see my face.”

my expression softened. he seemed really genuine about keeping his identity secret. “okay.” i responded, my tone gentler. “can you at least pull it up a little bit?” he nodded and tugged the mask up to just below his nose. i studied the cut, it was just a little slice. it wasn’t even bleeding anymore. “you heal fast.” i told him.

“yeah, that’s part of my, y’know...”

“superhero thing?” i finished for him.

“yeah.” he chuckled slightly. i pretended to be observing the cut, but in reality i was studying his face, at least the part of it that i could see. he had soft pink lips. a couple freckles were seen just below where his cheeks would be. i could only assume that he had them across his nose and cheeks as well.

i looked down and realized he was still gripping my wrist. “i kind of need both hands, spidey.”

he apologized and released my wrist. i immediately got to work, watching in awe at how quickly the cut was healing while i cleaned it up. spidey winced a couple times at the pain. every time he inhaled sharply, i felt a pang of guilt in my chest and would say i’m sorry.

“you apologize too much.”

“because i’m kind of hurting you.”

“you’re helping me.” he corrected.

who knew spider-man would be such a sweet person?

“so spidey, how old are you?” i asked

“si-“ he paused. “i can’t tell you.”

“so, sixteen. cool, me too.”

he cursed softly and i giggled. “do you go to midtown?” he asked suddenly.

i nodded. “you do too, then?”

“i didn’t say that.” his face turned a shade of red.

“you’re not good at this whole identity thing.” i told him. spidey opened his mouth to retort, but i interjected. “this might scar.” i grabbed a turquoise bandaid with little succulents on it and placed it over his jaw, patting his cheek gently.

spider-man shrugged. “it’s okay, it should fade in a day or two.”

“those healing powers are useful.” i replied.

he grinned. “yeah. they are. you’re pretty useful too. thanks for cleaning me up.” i smiled back and put away my first aid kit, narrowly avoiding pieces of my poor window. “so, uh, plants, huh?” he called out to me as i hung the box back on the wall.

“spider-man!” i feigned a gasp. “if i didn’t know better, i’d say you were trying to start small talk with me!”

i heard him shuffle behind me. “so what if i am?”

i cracked a smile. “yes, plants. i’ve been dreaming of working at this exact store since i was five. i came in every weekend and volunteered to help water the plants. the day i turned sixteen, i applied to work here and got the job. tonight was actually my first night closing up shop. now i have to explain to my boss why there’s no window.

“‘we close at sunset’.” spidey said, referring to the little sign that was now face-down on the sidewalk outside.

i nodded. “we do indeed.”

spidey went quiet for a couple seconds. i grabbed a broom from the corner and began to say, “so are you gonna help me sweep this glass up or-“

when i turned around, spidey was no where to be seen. “-not...” i finished, sighing aloud. i had no idea how i was gonna explain this to my boss. that stained glass window was everything to her, not to mention how it was the symbol of my childhood dreams. i was just a sixteen year old, how was i supposed to pay for a thousand dollar window?

by the time i finished cleaning up the poor glass, the sun had set into a hazy purple night. it wasn’t too dark yet, i’d just have to write a lengthy email to my boss about what had happened that night. at least the old security camera that barely worked could help me plead my case.

“god, if you’re real and listening, please let me keep my job.” i whispered allowed as i finished taping an old blanket to cover the gaping hole where the window was. “and spider-man, if you’re listening too, you better pay for this. i can’t lose this, it’s my dream.” i blinked back frustrated and overwhelmed tears and picked up the “we close at sunset” sign, hanging it in its rightful place.

i clutched my purse to my side as i walked down the dimly light new york streets. a sudden shadowy movement caught my eye and i turned just quick enough to see a red and black figure on top of roof duck down. “thanks, spidey.” i mumbled, chucking softly. i felt a little safer knowing a teenage superhero was watching over me.

the next day, i woke up to a long voicemail from my boss. she sounded mad, but at least she believed me. i walked to school, my shoulders feeling a little lighter than they did the night before. i glanced up at the same midtown high sign that i looked at every day, five days a week, and a thought crossed my mind.

spider-man goes to midtown high.

i spent the rest of the morning attempting to identify the masked mystery, but i couldn’t recognize his voice anywhere. i hoped that maybe a couple freckle-faced boys would cross paths with me, but none did. by the end of the day, i had given up. i wasn’t going to find spider-man. i headed to work at the flower shop like any other day, feeling completely and utterly defeated.

my boss had left early for the day, searching for a stained glass shop that could fix the hole in the window and recreate the old picture.

“um, excuse me.” a voice said. it sounded familiar, i just couldn’t figure out from where i had heard it before.

i looked up and was face to face with a boy who looked my age. he had wavy brown hair, a couple of stray curls falling in front of his carame eyes. a dusting of freckles were delicately placed across the center of his face. i realized i was staring and awkwardly looked away.

“h-hi. my...aunt had ordered something from you but, um, apparently the order didn’t go through properly and...uh...anyways here’s the money.” he said, handing me a wad of cash. i flipped through it and my eyes widened.

“this is twelve hundred dollars.” i said, my voice low.

he nodded. “yeah. the order was...for...uh, a party.”

i looked back up at him, studying him once more. my eyes landed on his midtown high sweater. “i go there, too.” i said, gesturing to it. he gave me a small half-smile in response.

suddenly, i noticed a fading scar that stretched from his jawline up to to the lower part of his cheek; and suddenly, everything clicked into place. the unreasonable amount of money, the voice i somehow recognized, the scar, everything.

“spider-man?”

his eyes widened with fear. “n-no! what?”

“you’re him, aren’t you? i know your voice, your scar...you’re paying for the window aren’t you?”

“you have to be quiet!” he exclaimed with panicky tone. i laughed quietly and stepped around the counter.

“take me out for coffee and explain everything,” i told him. he was awfully cute, after all.

“...we close at sunset.”

[ghoulluck]

Wish That You Were Here

| NOTES: Anything canon after season two of Scream is not included. This is time line and canon divergent. There are MANY mentions and allusions to other pieces of literature and horror films so if you get even a few of them congrats. If It’s reblogged enough, I could make a part two.Be aware there will be spelling and grammar errors. |

SUMMARY: Inspired by Florence + the Machine’s Wish That You Were Here. Audrey comes home to Lakewood after a fourteen year period serving Special Forces. There she has to resolve the demons she thought she buried years ago in her violent military history and realizes her definition of home could be blonde hair and brown eyes. (braudrey. one shot? no rating. warnings for graphic/triggering etc content. if reception is well, there might be a part two or more.)

PLEASE REBLOG, DO NOT REPOST. THIS IS AN ORIGINAL WORK.

Audrey turned the key over in her fingers. She felt the weight of her dog tags slide towards her on the chain. “Here’s your coffee ma'am.” The woman blinked and remembered where she was.

“Uhm, t-thanks. Sorry.” Putting the chain down, she stared at the cup in silence. The diner’s red neon sign washed in through the dirty window casting Audrey a pale pink.She glanced at her green beret sitting on top of a pile of unopened letters. She had never written back, but the letters had never stopped coming even if they had slowed in volume. Nearly every single one was from Brooke.

She let her icy eyes fall on the Christmas card sitting on table as she touched the old house key sitting among the dog tags around her neck. Opening the card one more time, she read Brooke’s near immaculate hand writing.

[WISH THAT YOU WERE HERE.]

Audrey took in a deep breath as she closed it. It had been very easily at least a decade since she had set foot in Lakewood. She hardly ever breathed her home town’s name out loud in fear of it catching up to her.

(“Audrey?” Sheriff Acosta’s voice sounded tight over the telephone. “Did I get a ticket again?” she half joked as she wiped the candy counter down. “I’m sorry for this news.” The teenager stopped a moment as she stared at a scratch on the bright red counter top. Audrey scratched at an itch in her throat that never seemed to go away. “Your dad was hit by a drunk driver off highway 45.” Audrey tried to swallow the itch down. It became a tickle that would turn into a hiccup of a sob.)

She squeezed her eyes shut to prevent the tears that still burned as if she had heard the news only yesterday. Joining the special forces had never been part of her own agenda. Hell, her agenda had been to get back into film making and not letting anything ruin that for her again. The idea had been a footnote given to her by her Dad. She recalled him laughingly mentioning it while they were making pancakes one morning.

(His eyes were starting to regain a little bit of their light. Her mother had passed only four years before. Audrey was in eighth grade and Emma sat across the table. They were playing footsie and laughing while stuffing their gross pimply faces with pancakes. She could barely hear him talking on the phone with Uncle Mike. He was laughing about her newborn baby cousin, Thomasin. “Our girls are tough, I’m sure Audrey or Thomasin is gonna carry on the Jensen military legacy.” )

At the time Audrey would huff and roll her eyes. She hadn’t gone home since the funeral. She had thought about chucking the house key in Wren lake, but she didn’t have the guts. Her rough fingers hesitantly reached for the pile. She was almost afraid of what they would say. Tearing open the second most recent letter. A few pictures fell out, they were of Emma and a tiny little baby. Turning them open carefully, she read the notes on the back.

[Emma & Eisley].

She picked up the letter for answers.

[Hey its me again. Just keeping you updated on stuff. Emma had her first baby. Her name is Eisley and she’s the cutest. Her eyes look a lot like yours. She’s so lucky to have colored eyes since her dad has brown eyes. Emma was scared she was gonna look more like her dad, but she's a good 50/50. Love ya, hope to hear/see you soon]

It took Audrey hours to sort through the letters backwards. Emma had met some guy in med school. Noah was a big time crime writer -- Brooke was kind enough to include his debut Vanity Fair article about the Texas Debutante killer. She had to laugh about the irony about it all. She touched these items as she read to make their lives more real to her again. Stavo and Brooke had divorced amicably and according to Blondie he was doing pretty well with his foot in the animation department. He was working with Konami for a new generation of horror gaming.

They had done so much in her time away. She touched her split lip which was a reminder of what she had accomplished in her own time away from them. Audrey had polished her steel and sharpened her edges. She had channeled her grief and anger into power and bloodshed. Picking up the letters, she filed them into her duffle bag’s side pocket. Putting a dollar bill under her untouched coffee cup, she slowly moved out of the diner’s booth. Her wary eyes flicked around carefully to take in the people around her.

In her nearly twelve hour seating, the diner had acquired a new set of hard asses. Most of them were from the near by base and Audrey made her way to the restroom with her green beret in hand. The bathroom resembled one she would find at a shitty seven eleven.

Dropping her bag on the floor she took a look at herself in the mirror. She had retained some of her baby face, something she was thankful for. Her blue eyes had gotten paler with age. Maybe it had something to do with extended periods of staring into flood lights. There was a shadow of a black eye around her left eye. Her jaw clicked when her mouth parted to observe the split in her lip.

Shrugging out of her uniform carefully, Audrey noted had more freckles on her bare shoulders probably from sun exposure. She passed a finger over old bullet wounds on her right arm. Some scars were uglier than others. The brunette pulled her white tank top over her head quickly to pull on a loose fitting charcoal colored tee. Her shoulder still ached from tearing her rotary cuff.

Shucking her uniform pants off, she pulled the metal belt from it to lace it through her black jeans and sighed at the new space. Her clothing was cold and at least a few years old. Her jeans were worn at the knees and if she had been a few years younger she would have thought it stylish. She put her arms into her trusty leather jacket before carefully pulling her long brunette hair over it’s collar. She made a note to cut it when she got the chance.

The dog tags clinked as she finished dressing and she put her uniform back into her duffle bag in a neatly folded and now empty corner. She lugged the green bag over her shoulder as she pushed her way out of the restroom.

“Bye ma’am! Happy holidays!”

Audrey cast a glance at the waitress and for a moment she didn’t know what to say as she went out the door, “--T-thanks.”. The cold air hit her and her breath fanned out into the air in cool white clouds. Making her way to her beaten red jeep she threw the duffle into the back seat. The vehicle wasn’t warm, but she had spent time in places colder than hell in less clothes. Tying her hair back, she turned on the GPS to set it.

CURRENT LOCATION - BARROW, ALASKA

SET DESTINATION - LAKEWOOD, LOUISIANA

She gave a white puff as she plugged the key in the ignition and sparked up a cigarette.It was a bad habit she had picked up when she was alone. She let the jeep’s engine warm up before cranking up the heat. The windows fogged and she looked at the gold watch on her right wrist to hide a scar. It was her mother’s, a gift from her dad before she had passed from cancer. The piece was delicately detailed and it reminded her that her parents were finally together somewhere.

Looking at the watch made her feel as if a hundred years had passed since she was eighteen. Covering it up with the leather jacket, she wiped away a spot on the passenger’s window to see the mirror. Her limbs were starting to feel heavy. Rolling her head back against the jeep’s headrest, she debated if she was really going to go home on such a shit impulse.

“Fuck it.”

Audrey glanced at the rear view mirror as she pulled out of the parking lot and made her way down to the first high way. For the next five days, she spent her time seeing things she had missed and stopping at scenic routes to take short videos and quick pictures before coming across a beauty salon.

She put down her camera. She was only about thirty minutes from home and suddenly, she didn’t like the idea of parting with her long locks just yet. Audrey had changed too much to go back to who she was. Entering against her best instinct, the brunette was greeted by a bored looking stylist, “Hi, how can I help you?”

“Uh yeah, I’d like to get a hair cut? Maybe some color?” She had dyed it once a long time ago, a glossy blue black and she was offered an array of books and color samples. Determined not to be overwhelmed, she chose out a short crop that would sit just below her chin and a glossy black color. The process took longer then she had expected and Audrey was starting to feel the nerves when the excess was being washed away.

She closed her pale eyes to avoid looking at herself in the mirror until it was all done. Audrey had to laugh at the stylist’s commentary. “You kinda look like Kate Beckinsale-- what was that movie?” She shrugged, she was laughing too hard at her own reflection to remember as the cape came off. The shorter crop made her feel a little lighter. Not bothering to hear a price, she shelled out a hundred and made her way out. “Happy holidays,” Audrey stated through a sigh before the door closed behind her.

She slid on her sunglasses as she ran a hand through her wet black hair and stared up at the sun with a grimace. She looked back down at her watch. With every step, her dog tags felt heavier and the key seemed to be the heaviest weight on her chain. Climbing back into the jeep with a groan, she sat in the driver’s seat.

The rear view mirror declared Louisana’s temperature at a nice solid 60.

Audrey gave a sigh as she drove her way out of the parking lot. She didn’t have anymore excuses between her and Lakewood. “Fuck --” she hissed under her breath as she sped down highway 45. Out of the corner of her eye she caught her Dad’s worn old cross with fresh flowers. It wasn’t like he was fucking buried there and she made a sharp u-turn to take a good look at it before peeling out.

She stared at her GPS as she navigated the town’s streets. She recognized various things here and there, but it had changed so much Audrey almost felt lost. Who the hell in their right mind had sunk so much money into Lakewood? She spied a street sign [Quinn Maddox Memorial]. It was a grisly reminder of why she wanted to leave Lakewood. It took everything special and turned it to shit.

She raked her calloused finger through her hair as she drove slowly to see what had changed. Maggie had sold her house to be closer to Emma and Eisley from the looks of it. Unfamiliar faces played in the front yard with their children and grandchildren. Audrey found herself driving by Noah’s house to see his dad and mom pleasantly still settled in their house. She passed her house without a blink and sighed as she tried to ignore the weight of the key around her neck.

She found herself navigating to the familiar address on one of the letters. It was Stavo’s old house. When Sheriff Acosta had been fired, he had been relocated and Brooke had followed, initially as her letter depicted and she had come back. It was hard to imagine the Maddox princess living so humbly in the old Acosta house. Bringing her jeep to a stop across the street, she stuck her head out the window to see who lived in the house as she put a cigarette in between her lips.

‘Stalker alert,’ she thought to herself as she put the lighter to the menthol and exhaled it’s poison into the cool Louisiana air. Setting her head back into the jeep, she let her head rest as she watched the house and finished off her cigarette. Lakewood still smelled like Wren Lake and she took in a deep breath of that cold sweet water air. She waved away her cigarette smoke and sighed when she saw nothing moving.

She peered at the bright red envelope sitting in her passenger seat. Taking it in her hands again, she passed her thumb over the date. It was the most recent and the only dated for the current year. She passed her fingers over the glossy picture of Emma and Eisley before sticking it in her in her sun visor like they were going to look over her and hopefully keep her safe, mainly from herself.

Audrey had more than one demon to pick a bone with. She glanced at the gold watch. Slowly she moved to unclasp it. An angry red scar stared back at her. She couldn’t forget how she had acquired it. She closed her eyes a minute and even with all her anxiety she couldn’t ward off the tiredness she felt to her core.

When she slept, she never dreamed and if she did, she never remembered what she had dreamt about even when the feeling of fear remained. If there was anything she hated most in the world, it was the feeling of being powerless.

(The knife slashed at her arm. The burning red pain of it had her gasping as the killer stepped back. She could hear Piper’s laugh ringing in her ears still to this day. “What the fuck, Piper! That’s not funny! I was scared you were gonna kill me!” She hissed this low and under her voice as she clutched her arm. Small rivets of blood ran down her pale skin.

“Audrey live a little, geeze,” Piper stated as she flipped her long brown hair much like Emma did when she didn’t really think about it. It made Audrey think of a shampoo commercial. “What the fuck are you doing with the mask? And dressed like that! There’s a real killer on the -- loose--- ” Her words were starting to die in her throat.

She could see Piper’s visible irritation and also the gaff of a mocking laugh, “Yeah, I fucking know, Audrey.” The slow pronunciation of her name brought chills to her spine. The cold knowledge of suddenly putting everything together set in and Audrey felt the itch in her throat she hated so much. “Y-y-you lied to me--?” 

She hated the shrill sound of her voice as it turned to anger, “You bitch!” The teen froze when she heard shouting. Her first instinct was to protect anyone else from harm and her head shot to the left. When she turned back, Piper was gone before Audrey could give the bitch a piece of her mind.)

Whenever Audrey fell asleep, she dealt with the dark dreams. She would never be fully rid of the guilt. She would always carry it with her like the key around her neck. It was humbling and grounding. She ran her fingers over her chain as she glanced at her watch.

It was almost nine and the sky was dark.

She took in a deep breath through her nose and the cool air had turned sharp in her lungs. Louisiana had always been less industrial then the east and west coast. That was probably why the gulf had always been her favorite. She wiped at her tired pale eyes and glanced at the house. It was still vacant. Her tongue swiped out to taste the scab on her lip as she debated staying the night at the Crescent Palms hotel.

Did the place even exist still? The question suddenly seemed more realistic when she realized that her house had been unoccupied for a few years. She leaned over to turn on the GPS and the headlights of an oncoming car blinded her. The GPS page presented her several options for hotels in the area.

A hard knock on the jeep’s metal jolted her nearly out of her seat.

“Audrey?”

Brooke had changed so much since she had last seen her, yet not at all. She still had the biggest, saddest eyes she had ever seen. Like someone had really gone and broken her heart. Audrey opened her mouth to say something. The Maddox princess was as pristine as ever, dressed in white like an angel and she reached out to touch the birth mark on Brooke’s cheek.

She pushed open the jeep door slowly and Brooke made her way around to meet Audrey half way. The blonde in her arms was a little more filled out then she had remembered and she smelled a little more like sandalwood than vanilla, but she made no arguments against the pleasant scents. She felt Brooke squeeze her back harder.

“I-I I thought I was never going to see you again.”