#the house on rosewood lane

[shark-myths]

hi! so i recently read your fic the house on rosewood lane and it was the one of the BEST horror stories i’ve ever read. seriously i’m still thinking about the walnut coffee and the face in the wallpaper. i was wondering if you could break down the key aspects of writing that to be maximum scary? like how u set up the plot or the characterization and stuff? thank u!

i have been sitting on this ask forever because the truth is i am a garbage writer! i love my writing, my finished product makes me very happy, but i mean when it comes to the process of writing, i am a trashanimal. i am running around with ink-stained paws and paper scraps hanging out of my possum teeth. i am incapable of plotting (@carbonbased000 can vouch as the only brave soul who has tried to co-write with me before we had to accept i am feral and impossible) which is why i usually can't carry off an intricate plot, such as a mystery; i never quite know what's going to happen or how i'm going to get there in a story. for example, it was very lucky for me that walnut pods turned out to be poisonous! i didn't know that until i was writing the last few chapters, it let me bring a lot of stray threads together. pretty reckless of me to write serially without a plan, yes?

i am a character writer; i choose characters and themes i am interested in, and then i put those characters in situations and find out what happens. so i think a lot about who my characters are going to BE and FEEL on the page, and then i discover by writing how they came to be that way. i discard a lot of my scenes, because i am just using them to learn about my characters and stories. i don't know how to edit because, again, possum with a fountain pen. i usually have a question for a story--for rosewood, my question was about salvage: what can be saved and what is the cost?

in terms of creating scariness, i have a few actual tips: 1) read horror! watching horror isn't as good, you must read it, you must work to understand which words made you feel icky and nervous, you must write to create that same vibe. discover what scares you and why, and try to mimic that until you find your own voice. 2) pick a feeling! i can't picture things in my head, so visual writing is hard for me; i have to be very intentional, and because i can't rely on describing an image in my head, i focus overly on how writing feels. (when i read comedy writing, i read and reread and reread the same sentences, trying to understand how and why the humor is created. this is an annoying way to read but an excellent way to work on your craft.) 3) read things that are very different from what you write! the more time you spend reading things that surprise you or differ from what you usually read, the more your craft will advance, because it opens up new pathways for you to create the feeling you are trying to create.

my last secret is just that i wrote rosewood about my own house. it provided me a fantastic sense of place and let me imagine what would scare the shit out of me in my own set of rooms. i think horror works best with a grounded sense of place (see: house of leaves and piranesi; stephen king, for whatever else he is and isn't, is quite good at this) and i think you can tell when the author hasn't done that--sometimes this is done to great effect, shifting sands beneath your feet, other times i find it degrades the story.

hope some of this is usable! i apologize for my lack of discipline to each and every one of you who has ever read one of my fics and noticed the threads that i dropped. for more hands-on writing advice, let me highly recommend the blood ink bone writing course by @alienfuckeronmain, for which i was honored to be a guest speaker.

[gingerbreadingwer]

@shark-myths I had to think of The House on Rosewood Lane listening to this

Caroline Crampton's podcast is wholly wonderful, there are also a few episodes about queer themes in detective stories.

I can also wholeheartedly recommend her former podcast srsly - that takes all things pop culture seriously, with her colleague then from the New Statesman, Anna Leszkiewicz.

[daenysthedreamer101]

Youngest Original ~ TVDU

Ch 7 - Memory Lane

Mikaelson!OC

Warnings: sadness lol? Plotwist? Kassie is feeling very nostalgic and melancholic + my favorite man is back!!!

Masterlist

There's nothing but the rain No footsteps on the ground I'm listening but there's no sound

October 2010, Mystic Falls

Two more weeks have passed. Stefan was still refusing to hand over their siblings. Kassie could tell Klaus's patience was paper thin and if she was being honest, so was hers. She understood why Stefan was doing all this; Klaus had no right to compel him and take his will away. But this was getting out of control.

Klaus told her he was going to negotiate with Stefan one last time. She asked what would she be doing. Her brother just laughed and with sickly sweet words told her to stay put while he dealt with the situation. Kassie had to actively control herself from lashing out at him. 

He always sidelined her and her ideas, no matter how good they were or if they made more sense than his. She was to sit aside and let him do everything. But how could she sit idly while a vengeful vampire basically kidnaped her family? No matter how hard she tried explaining to Klaus that they were her family too, he wouldn't listen. 

She knew why he never allowed her to do anything; it was cause he thought she would ruin everything. To him, she was a nuisance and a liability. Why did he even undagger me, she thought. She was not allowed to do anything outside of his preplanned procedures, so why did he bring her back?

Was he simply just bored and wanted company? Did he truly feel remorse for breaking her trust and betraying her? He never told her the true reason and after two months of being back in the land of the living, she was starting to get frustrated with his antics.

~

While Klaus was out negotiating with Stefan, Kassie had hours to kill. It was a sad, gloomy day; the skies above Mystic Falls were grey and full of dark clouds, indicating it would rain soon. The poor weather meant she was stuck in the house. It also brought a sense of melancholy onto Kassandra's mind. 

An idea popped up in her head. She walked toward her closet and opened it. A big wooden chest stood at the bottom of it; inside were a bunch of old-looking diaries and notebooks. They all belonged to Kassandra. After undaggering her, Klaus was gracious enough to ship most of her belongings from Geneva to their new residence in Mystic Falls. 

They were all chronologically placed in order by year. Her eyes danced over the years - 1939, 1922, 1914, 1864, 1492, 1453 and so on. The very first one was the biggest in size, the pages were yellow and she was honestly surprised it lasted all these centuries. The first page had the year 1104 written on it. 

"Do you really want to do this?" she asked herself. She hadn't opened this diary in particular since...the accident. That was over 900 years ago. But something in her mind was telling her to open it and read. And so she did. As she read, memories of her past flooded her mind. 

May, 1104 AD

"Today was the most splendid day. Axel gifted me with the most beautiful present - wedding rings! Mine even has a blue gem at the top! Today marks 100 years since we made our union official—one hundred years of pure bliss and joy. I pray for an eternity of peace with him by my side. Destiny has so far been kind to the two of us. My siblings were nowhere in sight and I haven't heard from them in decades. I intend to keep it that way."

This passage tightened Kassandra's heart like she hadn't felt in centuries. She blinked away tears and shook her head. She looked inside the wooden chest once again. In the corner, next to one of the diaries, was a small trinket box made of rosewood. It had floral engravings on it and was clearly made centuries ago.

She picked it up and she could already tell this was a bad idea. She should stop now and save herself the pain. But the yearning inside her heart was too great to ignore. Kassie took a deep breath and opened the small box. 

Inside the box was a silver ring. It had Norse knots engraved on its sides and at the top sat a small, emerald-cut sapphire. Even after all these years, it hadn't lost its shine. Kassie turned it in her hands, examining it. She hadn't looked at it in so long she had almost forgotten how beautiful it was. 

The more she looked at it, the more her eyes watered until eventually, tears started spilling down her cheeks. The ache in her heart was painful but not unfamiliar; it took her back to a time and place where pain was the only thing she felt. 

By the time she put back everything in its place, the rain started pouring from the skies. For some reason, she wanted to go outside. Out of sight, out of mind was the principle she used all these years and now she had ruined it all by looking into the wooden chest. 

The cracks in her heart were starting to ache again; they never truly healed in the first place, but at least they were dormant. Not anymore. 

Before leaving, she scribbled down a quick message for Klaus and left it at the front door. She then put on her long black coat, grabbed one of the umbrellas, and walked outside only to be greeted by the cold wind and rain. She didn't mind it, she welcomed it as a distraction. The streets were empty; everyone ran inside to hide from the rain. But not her.

~

Her black leather boots clicked against the wet concrete as she went further and further away from the town. The place she was looking for was deep inside the forest surrounding Mystic Falls. She walked over Wickery Bridge but then made a sudden stop. 

She observed as the raindrops danced on the surface of the river and listened to the quiet hum of the river's movement. When she was a human, there was no bridge and the river existed as a mark to indicate the end of their village's territory. 

After a couple of minutes, she continued with her little journey. After another mile of walking, she could see it in the distance. Not bothering to use her vampire speed, she slowly walked until she finally stood in front of her special place. Their special place.

It consisted of a small rock formation, though it was big enough for people to sit on it. This was the place where she would sit and patiently wait for him to arrive. The reason why she had to sneak outside of the village was because she knew her parents would disapprove. 

To her surprise, it was her mother who was strictly against Kassandra being involved with anyone. Their mother was strangely against any one of her children getting married. Kassie never understood why. 

The rain was still pouring from the sky, making the rocks wet and shiny. She walked around the rock and crouched down. On the back of it, two carvings could be found. Both were names written in Runic, the written script of Kassie's native language. 

ᚪᛋᛖᛚ   (AXEL)

ᚳᚪᛋᛋᚪᚾᛞᚱᚪ (KASSANDRA)

She ran her hand over his name. "My love...where are you? Are you even alive?" She whispered in her mother tongue, choking on her own tears. 

For many months, they would meet in secret and share kisses under the light of the moon. Together, they carved their names on this rock to immortalize their love. Little did they know, they too would become immortal. 

After a little squabble with Damon Salvatore and witch spirits, Klaus finally took back what was his. Daniel, his hybrid, was carting in his sibling's caskets into one of the halls. Upon entering the house Klaus could tell it was dead silent. His sister usually had music or some TV show playing, which meant she was gone. 

"I think this is for you," Daniel said and handed him a small piece of paper. Klaus unfolded it and in small, neat letters he recognized as Kassandra's, a short message was written. 

Went out for a walk. Will be back in a couple hours. - K

Klaus hummed. She never went out anywhere without notifying him before leaving. But she was also known to go on spontaneous walks so this didn't surprise him. He just wondered where she was and why she didn't tell him. 

After carting in the last casket, Daniel asked him if he would open them up. "Not quite yet. I have some unfinished business to take care of." Klaus said as he walked past the caskets.

"What business?" Daniel asked but before Klaus could respond, the man fell to the ground, dead. Behind him was Elijah, holding the hybrid's heart.

"So, Niklaus," Elijah said, looking Klaus dead in the eye.

"Elijah..." Klaus gasped, shocked to see his brother alive.

"What did I miss?" Elijah asked, getting closer to Klaus.

***

Gasp! Kassie was married!?

I felt I needed to lay the foundations of Kassie and Axel's relationship now, so that the payoff, well... pays off later on down the line lol

Elijah is baaack!!! I just realized that this is the first time we'll see him and Kassie together in the main timeline!

Yes, my girl was married and doesn't know where her hubby is. That's why she's so depressed. Wonder who could be behind all of that...hmmm?

[sarcasmandships]

his! do you have any peterick fic recommendations? i've already read all your works on ao3 and i'm waiting desperately for updates so until then i need something to read because i feel like i've already read soooo many fics and i'm running out of material plz help :)

hiiii, im glad you like my fics and I'm sorry im terrible at updating i used to be so consistent but uni is just killing me with assignments rn! but i promise the restaurant au will get an update soon and im planning to edit death by a thousand cuts before i add to it again cos im just not really happy with the quality of it, but that will also be coming soon i promise!

anyways onto what you're really asking about; recommendations. im not sure if you're looking for smut or stories with plot so here's just a mix of things i've really liked ( i suck at bookmarking things so I've just searched through my history and there's deffos stuff i've missed im sorry)

Literally just read kick me in the face & ask me how my head feels by fkingdeathwish today - devoured this in a few hours and this fic made me like stories in first person. its so good and also has the best andy/joe/pete friendship dynamics i was smiling the whole time. but also features a lot of petekey tho which might not be ur thing

(smut) going down, down by @pyrchance - i read this the other day and its 10/10

Anything by snitchesandtalkers but some of my favourites are i've been checking my list, crooked love, making out inside crashed cars (smut), silver screen dream, the antidote to everything (except for me), we're friends when you're on your knees (not finished but still so so worth reading), amateur pornographers (smut obvs), a little less 16 candles (a little more bite me)

brutal love by @notastumph- this one is so good but like i also had to take a 5 min break between chapters cos the angst and heartbreak was getting to me so much (in the best way)

and i'll burn by jiksa - just read the tags first

the house on rosewood lane by scarredsodeep - this one is so fucking good, i don't even like horror and i was obsessed with this and couldn't stop reading

hey doctor, i'm certifiable by derridoid (smut) - so good and the ending made me laugh sm

husband on the payroll by das_verlorence-kind - what can i say, i love the fake relationship trope

also ive changed my plea to guilty by das_verlorence_kind - again just check the tags incase it’s not ur thing

accidents will happen by rusty76

again pretty much everything by @annoyingpetekey but some favourites are (i just wanna) get some, so pretty (when you're on your knees), and come on (and fuck me like you doubt me) - all smut

That Schrodinger guy made some really good points, you know? by @earlgreytea68

but i'm reflecting light by looks_a_scream - this one is deffos a favourite

the purgatory of my hips by auralcosm

edgar allan potato by emeralcitydowntowngirl - another absolute favourite, i have such a soft spot for soulmate AUs but I've never read one as good as this, again features a lot of petekey but it is all in the past

to take what i'm given with grace by likeasugarcube - their whole 'marriage of convience' series is amazing but this is the main fic and it is sooo good

anything by littlesnowpea but favourites include love in the middle of a firefight, but there's no preparing for this, and nobody wants to hear you sing about tragedy (pls read tags first tho)

december is for cynics by looks_a_scream - another favourite

secrets i don’t want to keep by perceived_nobility (although i think they’ve changed their name to invisible_man now) anyways this one is only accessible if you have an ao3 account but it is so so good an hurts in all the best ways, would advise paying attention to some of the tags tho

Also pretty much anything written by appleremix or vampyerika

Ok so I have like another 30+ pages in my history but this is already so long, so i hope you enjoy some of these assuming you haven't read them already!

[sonnenreich]

continuation for ( x ) ⸻ @gruenwald

The dazzling fairy lights connecting the stalls and the houses cast their warm orange light on the streets and onto the pale face of the brunette next to him, transforming her into a personification of autumn. He smiled wryly at her suggestion. Stepping closer, he put an arm around her waist, pulling her towards him.  He bent down slightly, her body's own scent of musk and rosewood intoxicating. “Sounds like a promise to me when I hear one.” He looked at her with a mixture of anticipation and amusement, while thoughts far removed from childish entertainment took over. “I’ll make sure you won’t eat those chocolate bites I’ve seen the old lady give you, though. Heard those are poisonous.” He chuckled lightly, drawing circles on the small of her back as they ventured further down the lane. Stacked pumpkins were glaring at them knowingly, their eyes glistening thanks to cheap candles. The Quarters seemed just as lively and bustling as ever, music enhanced by the stillness of the wind, unbothered and free. A few bars were illuminated by a variety of party lights, the people coming and disappearing inside a mix of die-hard halloween fans and casual party-goers. They all, however, had cheery smiles in common. “Do you want to keep collecting or are you in for some partying?”

[1833outboy]

Hi, I'm sorry to bother you with this (so feel free not to answer, that's totally cool) but do you happen to have any peterick fic recs? Like maybe a list you've already put together? Or if you can think of any off the top of your head. (or maybe you know of some god reclists?) Its been a while since I read anything and you're an amazing (!!!!) writer so I trust your opinion. :) :) thank you in advance and no worries if you don't have any recs. I know it can be exhausting to put those together.

hi! thank you so much, that's so nice of you.

i have done a couple of reclists in the past i was gonna link, but i have next to no organisation on this blog and i don't know where they are anymore lol.

i'll just link a couple of stuff i've read lately/are in my bookmarks:

now that's what i call a spiritual revolt (from the waist down) by silvernyxa

flu game (IRL) (NOT CLICKBAIT) by spirallingstarcases

a little annihilation by emeraldcitydowntowngirl

Magic 8 Ball by earlgreytea68

Untitled by pyrchance

anything else in the world but you (in another life) by earlgreytea68

The House on Rosewood Lane by scarredsodeep

Here Comes This Rising Tide by StormDancer

[thekidsarentalright]

ok, so if you would (and its cool if you dont want to) give more fob rpf recommendations, but specifically the sad ones. Just big sad times vibes yes. Like I'm talking the ones that leave you curled up and crying.

oooo okay so i dont read a Lot of super angsty/sad stuff. also im a very sensitive person so everything makes me cry KFJSDN but these are some recs that came to mind for this!! (also they're like all peterick bc thats all i read hope that's okay fsdkjnfs):

angel, down we go together by das_velorene_kind (20k)

the last time you came through by manzanas (18k)

abstract impressions by folie_aplusieurs (44k)

spiral of shame by 1833outboy (17k)

i have forgiven jesus by das_velorene_kind (133k)

the house on rosewood lane by scarredsodeep (41k)

pretty in punk by snitchesandtalkers (114k)

[that-bookworm-guy]

UK People Only

Books For Sale (Part 2 out of 2) Part 1 Here

I need space in my tiny bedroom (for more books) and some spare cash (Possibly for more books once the bills are sorted).

These are also available on my instagram (that_bookworm_guy) I just need to clear as many as I can ASAP. I'm open to sensible offers as well as bundles. P&P is £3 for up to 2kg of books. Prices aren't including postage.

Books in Order:

Wild Embers - Nikita Gill (£4)

the sun and her flowers - rupi kaur (£4)

milk and honey - rupi kaur (£4)

Pillow Thoughts - Courtney Peppernell (£4)

It Never Rains - Roger McGough (£3)

Helium - Rudy Francisco (£5)

It's Kind of a Funny Story - Ned Vizzini (£4)

Young Sherlock Holmes Fire Storm - Andrew Lane (Hardback ) (£3)

Sherlock Holmes Riddles (HB) (£2)

How to Think like Sherlock - Daniel Smith (HB) (£2)

The Case of the Disappearing Detective - Anthony Read (£1)

Neither One Nor The Other - Dolores Faust (£2)

The Turn of The Screw - Henry James (£1.50)

Alex Approximately - Jenn Bennett (£2)

Hunted - E.W. Browne (£1)

Detective Pikachu (£3)

Reflections from Waterford's Woods - Jess Scutella & Roland Rosewood (£1)

Serpent & Dove - Shelby Mahurin (£5)

The 5th Wave - Rick Yancey (HB) (£5)

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - John Boyne (£1)

When the Wind Blows - James Patterson (£1)

Symptoms of Being Human - Jeff Garvin (£3)

The Other Boy - M.G. Hennessey (HB) (£3)

This Book is Gay - (Juno) Dawson (£2)

Odd One Out - Nic Stone ( £3)

Carry On - Rainbow Rowell (£4)

FreakBoy - Kristin Elizabeth Clark (£3)

They Both Die at the End - Adam Silvera (£3)

Michel-Michelle - Margo Gorman (£1)

A.N.T.I. D.O.T.E. - Malorie Blackman (£3)

The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern (£3)

Another Place - Matthew Crow (£3)

Antigoddess - Kendare Blake (£3)

The Island - C.L. Taylor (£3)

The Light Between Worlds - Laura Weymouth (£3)

The Stuff of Nightmares - Malorie Blackman (£1.50)

Nightfall - Jake Halpern, Peter Kujawinski (£3)

A Monster Calls - Patrick Ness (£3)

The Box of Demons - Daniel Whelan (£3)

The Hit - Melvin Burgess (£3)

White Crow - Marcus Sedgwick (£3)

The Twisted Tree - Rachel Burge (£3)

Playlist for the Dead - Michelle Falkoff (£3)

Montacule House - Lucy Jago (£3)

Hannibal - Thomas Harris (HB) (£3)

Silent Witness - Richard North Patterson (HB) (£3)

Oblivion - Anthony Horowitz (HB) (£5)

Origin of Species - Charles Darwin (HB) (£6)

Exile - Richard North Patterson (HB) (£4)

Slide 7 Pay whatever you want for any book

50. Adulthood is a Myth - Sarah Andersen (£4) 51. The City of Ember Graphic Novel - Jeanne DuPrau (£4) 52. Zombie! The Adventure is Yours (HB) (£6) 53. Vampire Knight book 1-4 - Matsuri Hino (£5) 54. The City of Ember Series, books 1-4 (Complete) - Jeanne DuPrau (£5)

Money to be sent via paypal, I can't ship to anywhere except the UK as I'll have to do Royal Mail pick up due to not being able to get to a post office. DMs me to buy anything, or contact me on instagram where I am most of the time.

[pisshandkerchief]

What was the peterick fic you read aloud 👀

if you haven't read The House On Rosewood Lane. well. you need to.

[earlgreytea68]

If you're so inclined/have the time, are there any fics you've read lately that blew you away? Any fandom works! I'm not super specific about what I read so long as the story is engrossing but I've been hunting around for some good, curated reclists with different fics than I usually see named and I haven't found any. I'm a bandom person with Inception tendencies if that makes a difference :)

I admit that I actually haven't had a ton of time to read fics lately. In between work and family, I steal time to write but haven't found as much time to read. (This is why I'm behind on comments, I've been using that time to write, under the assumption that no one was going to complain about getting a Christmas fic.)

Anyway! I assume you have seen all of my rec lists? I JUST SPENT FOREVER LOOKING FOR THESE, WHY IS TUMBLR THE WORST.

Anyway! I finally found them! Here they are!

Some updates to add:

Before It's Voiced by folie_aplusieurs: merman AU

Power On by folie_aplusieurs: loved this robot AU

A Common Understanding by joyfulseeker: kind of a sci-fi Regency?? Idk, it's really good

how the future's done by whatimages: Patrick decides he wants to adopt a baby, and Pete promises to help him out <3

Anything You Say Can and Will Be Held Against You by StormDancer: Okay, there is a scene in this fic, it takes place at the end of a New Year's Eve party, and it's probably the hottest thing I've ever read and no one even has sex and when I finished reading it I had to walk away from the fic because I couldn't even imagine just going on hahahah it's THAT GOOD a scene so even if you don't read Omegaverse you should go read this one and then when you get to that scene come back and talk to me.

WIPs:

i don't care if i never get back by looks_a_scream: A baseball fake dating AU is basically tailor-made for me and I hope it comes back someday.

The House on Rosewood Lane by scarredsodeep: This is proper horror and it is really well done.

[shark-myths]

👻 spooky season fic roundup 🕸️

while we at shark-myths industries toil faithfully at holiday fics for the upcoming thanksgiving & christmas holidays, please enjoy spooky halloween stories from years past!

🎃 Fangs for the Memories (8k)

Patrick's tired of being the bait. Pete's tired of being an evil undead killing machine. The tension in their relationship is not just the tension between predator and prey...

🕷️ Jaws of Death (4k)

Girl Out Boy celebrates Halloween!

💀 Baby You're A Haunted House (11k)

What’s the difference between a great romance and a great haunting anyway? Love story, ghost story, either one gets into your bones and reshapes you from within.

🦇 Ain't No Magic Potion (4k)

Pat Stump decides to make an illegal, unauthorized love potion to help her get closer to the object of her desire. No, not like that! Hijinks ensue.

> honorable mentions for these two longform horror fics that are Hallofics in vibe only:

🐈‍⬛ Wolves Dressed as Wolves (25k)

Once upon a time, Patrick moves to the big city to get famous. It’s nothing like he imagined it would be. Then he stumbles into an internship with Pete Wentz, the label executive everyone refers to as the Beast, and finds out how far down his hunger for stardom—and his humanity—really go.

⚰️ The House on Rosewood Lane (41k)

Rocked by the loss of love, Pete Wentz buys a house in the middle of nowhere and sets out to get himself haunted. Aided by his ghost hunting forum friend jt_mania and harried by his absolute busybody of a new neighbor, Pete is torn between letting himself be lost or learning how to live again.

have a wonderful halloween, gang!

[twinkskeletons]

so i have a tonnn of recs, too many to actually explain why i like them, so i'll just explain my favorites and list the others.

the first one is all our stars align (put love on hold), which someone already mentioned so i wont link it. but it's really worth the read, some beautiful prose and a wonderful story that nearly brings me to tears every time i reread it. though i wasn't as much of a fan of the sequel, even though i love earlgraytea68 i just felt they didnt have a grasp on their voices in the way the original author did.

then there's edgar allen potato, an older one with some other bandom people, but its super good. im always a sucker for soulmate fics.

and i love it's so clear now (that you are all i have), it has a really interesting world that i love, and the stakes are really high, but it doesnt feel that way, so it doesnt get so stressful.

theres the house on rosewood lane, which is still being updated and it's the one that i've been super excited about for a while.

but im reflecting light is another good one, i love fics where pete has a kid

trucker tuesday is a cute one, short & sweet

thank uuu loving getting all these new fics to check out :]

[stolen-kisses-a]

The Night Ali Disappeared ~ A PLL Night of Terror ~

In other words, the night Ali had too many people against and after her and she almost got murdered for it. 

 *most info comes from a PLL site if I can’t remember every little detail so I rewrote the majority of my version of events and copy and pasted some parts along with some of the pictures, so credit goes to them for putting it altogether for us.

Link:  https://prettylittleliars.fandom.com/wiki/Sequence_of_Events_-_Alison%27s_Disappearance#The_Day_Alison_Went_Missing_-_September_1 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lets take a trip down memory lane shall we??? This is gonna be a long one. Read it if you want to or read it from the link as well :)

1. The morning of: Alison went to Hilton Head to meet up and be with Ian to get her mind off of - A. And at the same time Melissa was there with Ian but in separate rooms. Melissa showed up in Ian’s room and was angry with Ian for knowing Ali is there with him and he tells her that Alison means nothing to him, that’s when Alison finds Ian’s creepy pedo videos and it happens to be one of Toby and Jenna. She gets a copy of the video and then leaves.

2. Alison checks into the Lost Woods Resort under her Alias Vivian. Sparia also found out she checked in another time. But the dates are confusing. This will be explained later on (#23).

3. Alison then dressed up as Vivian Darkbloom and had Duncan fly her from Hilton Head to a field near Philadelphia 6-7 hours before the girls believed her to arrive (I’m not sure if it’s true or not). She then was going to meet A face to face finally after having a newspaper convo back and forth with them, but supposedly that never happened. They were supposed to meet nearby of what looks like a creepy doll hospital (cuz Mona loves dolls), supposedly Alison called the police that same day near the street where the hospital was - not sure what for if this was true as Alison never confirmed it.

4. Alison then goes visits Jenna in the hospital, to show her the video of Jenna and Toby together as blackmail, because she thought Jenna was A. Turns out to be false as A sends her a death threat right after leaving Jenna’s room. 

5. That afternoon: Alison then “returns home” from Georgia with bags looking very tan and saying her arms are sore. One bag had a tag on it from Hilton Head, Spencer obviously questions it and Alison asks her “why so many questions?” and reiterates she can’t spill every detail and tells the girls to “wait for it” repeatedly.

6. Alison returns home and finds a gift from her mom with the infamous yellow top and she turns around after changing in her room and sees a threatening message from A on her mirror.

7.  That same day, Alison bought a storage locker to hide Ian’s videos before stopping by to see Emily and flirt with her some to then give her a snow globe with the storage locker key inside the bottom of it. Alison then leaves for a “prior engagement” although it was never revealed who she went to see next before coming to Spencer’s barn for the sleep over.

8. Before heading over to the sleepover. Alison returns home again and runs into her mom (on the phone with Radley because Bethany escaped and Charlotte escaped as well to go after her). Her mom wanted to Ali to stay in for obvious reasons even though the excuse that she just didn’t want to her going out. Alison then fights back by saying she planned this ages ago and was told it was ok to do. Then she mentions about Spencer being a bully and that she took care of it (really, Spencer a bully?). Then Ali’s mom remarks to Ali “She knows things about  that family Ali doesn’t know” and Ali asked curiously “Really, like what?” Ali’s Mom responds that she’s seen what they are capable of and reminds Ali’s that she can never turn her back on a Hastings. -Which is exactly what Ali did after her and Spencer fought again #12). Alison then pretends to go to her room and sneaks back down to go into her moms purse to grab some sleeping pills while her mom was distracted on the phone again- what does Ali need those for? Oh, we’ll find out soon.

9. That Night: Alison arrives at Spencer's barn and pranks and jumps to the barn doors and scares the girls. Heading inside, she gets a text from Toby to meet her. The girls hang for a bit and gossip about Beyonce’s new song and then Ali throws some shade at Emily for liking it too much (totally not homophobic am i right??). She then spikes the girls drink with her moms medicine to knock them out. Aria drinks first and Spencer jokes to Aria to not drink to much or she’ll tell them all her secrets. The Ali ironically says “Friends shares secrets, that’s what keeps us close. Drink up”.;)  We can only assumed Emily, Hanna and Spencer drank afterwards. After the girls fell asleep, she then meets Toby outside of the barn doors so he can thank her for getting Jenna to leave him alone. Toby then gives her his sweater because she was cold.

10. After speaking with Toby, Alison leaves Spencer’s backyard to meet up with Ezra. *cringe*.Toby also saw this as well (Although this was never even mentioned by Toby either -plot hole-).Ezra is clearly mad at Ali since she lied to him about her age and then he ends things with Alison in a not so nice way..

11. *Spencer wakes up and notices Ali was missing, so she waits for her to return.*  

Alison then goes to meet Ian at the kissing rock after speaking with Ezra. (flashback moment: (I know you wanna kiss me”). this is where they fake Ian hurting Ali in the video later discovered. Alison then threatens him with his videos to make him leave her alone, Ian then says not tell anyone or else people will get hurt and then ironically “storms” off.

12. Alison returns to the barn to find Spencer awake waiting for her. Also she didn’t have Toby’s sweater anymore. Where did it go? (plot hole - only to be planted in Toby’s room to frame Toby for Alison’s murder at some point.)

They go inside Spencer’s house and have a fight about Spencer telling Melissa about her and Ian again. It gets heated and Spencer tells Alison she is sick of her games and told her, "You are dead to me already. “ Alison leaves and then Spencer runs after her. (Charlotte and Alison’s mom witness the fight and pays Charlotte off not to say anything - which is weird to pay off your own daughter). Spencer wants to continue the confrontation with Alison and Spencer grabs a shovel acting as if she was going to hit Alison with it and Spencer collapses to the ground in the midst of Alison trying to stop Spencer. Alison then discovers Spencer had been taking ADHD meds (not to mention the sleeping pills mixed in her system from Ali already) and Spencer begs Ali not to tell anyone and she agreed and then sends Spencer back to the barn with the shovel in head and Ali  then waits for her to fall back asleep. (Melissa also sees the fight and sees Spencer walking away with the shovel)

13. Meanwhile, Ian, Garrett and Jenna all meet up in Alison’s bedroom to look for the videos she stole. Melissa comes in furious looking for Alison in hopes to confront her about Ian and Ali hooking up. Garrett and Jenna leave Melissa and Ian alone to talk it out and go outside in the backyard. Alison comes up to them and then Ali reminds Jenna of the promise she made to her earlier that morning,(”If you ever come back to Rosewood, I’ll bury you”) so Jenna and Ali get into a cat fight, Ali knocks Jenna to the ground and she comes back up with the infamous now burned in Spencer’s fireplace (thanks to Mr. Hastings) field hockey stick in attempt to defend herself. Garrett takes the hockey stick from Jenna and proceeds to attack Ali with it and hits the tree next to Ali, she then falls to the ground next to the tree telling Garrett to hush with her finger. Garrett and Jenna flee the scene, with Jenna thinking Garrett killed or hurt Ali badly.

14. Garrett comes back to check on Ali to see if she’s ok (even though she wasn’t even hurt), but then notices she was talking to someone and proceeds to listen and watch to see who it was. Byron (Aria’s dad) came to speak to her about not exposing his affair to Ella because he didn’t have anymore money to give her to keep her quiet. Alison says "If you don't pay for your mistakes, how do you become a better person?" Byron replies back "You say all these grown-up things, yet you're still a child." Alison smirks and says "You know what I'm capable of." After Garrett makes some noise, Byron starts to leave and Alison threatens him again saying it's his last chance to save himself. Byron turns while he is leaving and replies, "Yes it is," presumably meaning he was going to tell Ella himself (which he obviously doesn’t). Alison then screams to him "You made your bed Mr. Montgomery,"  

15.  While Byron was leaving, Byron turns back when Alison spoke about his bed (LOL) and sees Melissa coming out from Alison’s back door on the phone with someone and says to them, "What do I have to do, call 911 to get your attention?" This is the part where we never found out who she was talking to, but it was important enough to show it to us.

16. Jason (out of nowhere) came outside to grab a drink of water from the watering hose since he was drunk and high and notices Melissa and presumably Alison talking to each other and calls out Ali’s name and then he sees Charlotte talking with Melissa instead, although this is false and never really confirmed who it actually was. As Alison and Bethany were wearing the same outfit that night, not Charlotte. It wouldn’t make sense for it to be Bethany talking to Melissa since she arrived much later, and Alison never confirmed this information either. So who knows what Jason really saw. So right after seeing them, he passes out on a lawn chair. Sometime after this, Garrett or Jenna, or both, slipped a note to Jason that says "I know what you did", in order to make him believe he hurt Alison, since Jenna thought Garrett had killed her.

 17.  Alison returns to the barn watching the girls sleep some more and waiting to get another text from A, in order to rule them out. As some time passes, Alison decides to head home thinking she won since A didn’t try to kill her. As she was walking back to her house, she sees her mom obviously angry at her through the window for sneaking out and then all of sudden. BAM!! Charlotte hits Alison over the head with a rock only because she presumed it was Bethany since she was wearing the same outfit. Her mom then proceeds to bury Alison where the gazebo spot would be (pilot episode).  She is screaming to Charlotte, "What have you done?! What have you done?!" Alison attempts to tell her mom she is alive, but cannot move or speak due to temporary paralysis. After Ali’s mom buries her, she then calls Detective Wilden and pays him off to give Charlotte an alibi and sends her back to Radley.

17. Not long after, Alison dug her way up reaching out of the ground for help/to get free, and who was there to grab her hand? Mrs. Grunwald of course, as she sensed something was wrong with Alison and had to come see what was going on and found her hand reaching for life. She then takes Ali to the hospital to get help, but then Ali runs away.

18. Meanwhile, Bethany finally shows up at Ali’s backyard, and so does Mona who was finally ready to confront and to kill Ali. But just like Charlotte’s mistake, Mona only saw the back of Bethany and presumed it was Alison and hit her over the head with the same shovel Spencer had earlier. This is when Bethany’s head gets hit so hard that it makes an indentation on her skull and she falls unconscious next to where Ali was previously buried. Mona then flees the scene.

19. Shortly after, Melissa shows up and sees Alison (obviously presuming it was her without checking) and assumed Spencer killed her based on the fight she witnessed they had earlier that night. She then proceeds to bury Bethany who was still alive in order to protect Spencer (”this whole time”)

20. And then we come back to the Pilot opening scene where the girls wake up to find Spencer and Ali missing from the barn. Spencer comes back to them and says that she looked everywhere for her and she thinks she heard her scream - which we know was probably from Bethany.

21. Later on that night, we see Alison walking on a random street after leaving Mrs. Grunwald’s aide. She is dazed and confused, hurt and traumatized by what she just went through. And who to pull up beside her? Mona. (I wonder what Mona’s plan was since she thought she killed her). 

So Mona takes Ali to the Lost Woods Resort and checks in under Vivian Darkbloom’s name for Alison. Mona proceeds to clean Ali up and Ali tells Mona what  happened and about A who tried to kill her. So smart and cunning Mona persuades Ali to fake her death so A could leave her alone for good.

22. The next day: Mona helps disguise Alison in a Vivian like wig so she can disappear. She then gives Mona tips on how to become popular and then Ali takes a car and leaves showing Mona with a eerier grin as she drives away, thinking she finally won.

23. Which comes back to the last bit of information involving Alison checking in again on 9/6 at the Lost Woods Resort 5 days later as she already checked in the night she went missing and she left the next day. So this had to be Mona checking in as her again or a plot hole in plotting clues in the storyline of Alison’s disappearance that ended up not making sense.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s crazy how many people Ali saw the night/day she went missing and was almost killed. Like this girl clearly attracts trouble and drama and shit she shouldn’t be into at 15 years old.

Well, I hope you had fun reading this tale of terrors with me (if you made it to the end and didn’t go to the link lol) as much as I had fun putting it altogether and reminiscing on how it took the show 4 seasons to tell Alison’s disappearance story.

[earthlynnlp]

Courtyard Lane is done! Here are all the lots and families for Courtyard Lane in one handy place. All of these are CC free and available at my origin.

Courtyard Lane

OriginID: _EarthlynnLP

No CC!

Moveobjects required

Elderberry Place | 20 x 15 | §176,877

This Queen Anne Victorian cottage features a living room, dining room, kitchen and bathroom on the first floor, with a back porch that opens onto a courtyard with a dog house. Upstairs features two bedrooms, another bathroom, a sewing room and an office. The basement has a well, washroom, root cellar and storage room you can make moonshine in.

More pictures here.

Elderberry Place’s Family

Johan Goode is a retired Brigadier General that decided to settle in Willow Creek after his storied military career.  His wife Annabelle is an herbalist and is enjoying putting down roots with their new store. Together they have a son named Oliver who is ready to finally have a moment to look around and see what the world has to offer. They also have a loyal English Foxhound named Caesar.

They also own the store General Goode’s Store. Which is also available to download at my origin and is CC Free.

General Goode’s Store | 30 x 20 | §158,149

This Queen Anne Victorian has had the downstairs converted into a general store. The downstairs is the store proper selling fruits, vegetables and assorted dry goods (candles, seeds, toys), there is also a bathroom for the customers, and a small cafe. The upstairs features an apartment with living, dining, kitchen, bathroom and two bedrooms. Outside has space for a small farmer’s market to sell their wares, and there is a cellar.

More pictures here.

Rosewood Chateau | 30 x 20 | §237,028

This Queen Anne Victorian cottage features a parlour, drawing room, dining room, kitchen, sun room and half bath on the ground floor. Upstairs has a bedroom, nursery, two more bathrooms, an office and a play room. Outside there is a sleeping porch upstairs, a wrap around porch and sundeck, as well as a summer house/gazebo and fountain centered in a beautiful decorative garden. The cellar has a washroom, root cellar and storage room.

More pictures here.

Rosewood Chateau’s Family

It’s Bob and Eliza Pancakes, along with their toddler son Ignatius (Iggy) and Eliza’s darling poodle Darling. Bob runs a restaurant in Pendula View when he’s not meeting up with his friends at the General’s house for a rubber of whist. Eliza is attempting to socially advance the family through her Ladies Knitting Society that she runs weekly from her home. Knitting is boring, the gossip though…

Primrose Place | 30 x 20 | §256,536

This Queen Anne Victorian cottage has a drawing room/sunroom, parlour, dining room, kitchen, and library on the ground floor, and three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a sewing room upstairs. Outside has a wrap around front and back porch and a courtyard for outdoor dining with a well, a swimmable/fishable pond and a tree house. The basement has a root cellar and a washroom.

More pictures here.

Primrose Place Family

The family that lives in the historical Queen Anne Victorian cottage Primrose Place. It’s Summer Holiday from the BFF household! Summer lives with her mother Meadow, and her little sisters Violet and Willow. The family is struggling in the wake of the unexpected death of her father Beau Holiday. Will the family manage to continue to make ends meet in the wake of their patriarch’s death or will they be forced to leave Willow Creek forever? They also have a cat, his royal highness, Kingsley.

Riverside Chapel | 40 x 30 | §133,541

A historical build for those that want to live in the 1800’s. This Victorian church features a worship hall, a reception hall, a church kitchen, two bathrooms, a mudroom, a bell tower, and a graveyard out back. Designed with the Go To Church Mod, Funeral Mod, and the like in mind. You can also get married, with space to dance and eat after, but you will need to turn on bb.enablefreebuild to drag out the arch from the nave behind the pulpit. Enjoy!

More pictures here.

Souls of Riverside Chapel

The poor lost souls that rest in peace at Riverside Chapel, my historical Victorian church. Beau Holiday is the father of Summer Holiday from the BFF’s household, he passed away unexpectedly leaving behind a widow and three young daughters. Dominic Lee is the younger brother of Liberty Lee from the BFF’s household. He tragically died in a drowning incident years ago and his parents never had another child after they suffered that loss. Myrtle Evans… well… her story is tragic. More later.

Fairbanks Parsonage | 30 x 20 | §261,866

A historical build for those that want to live in the 1800’s. This Queen Anne Victorian cottage features a parlour, drawing room, library, dining room, kitchen and half bath on the first floor. Upstairs has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a nursery. The basement has a root cellar, washroom, and space to make moonshine. Outside features a wrap around front porch, back deck, pagoda/summer house, and a swimmable/fishable pond with space to make sand castles on the shore.

More pictures here.

Fairbanks Family

Edmund Fairbanks was recently given the living at Riverview Chapel in Willow Creek and moved here with his wife Maria and their four children to start a new life. The oldest child, Constance, dreams of heading off to Brichester, while twins Hope and Grace along with little Charity hope to find new friends and new adventures in Willow Creek. The girls also rescued from the pound, and adore, an Irish Setter Lucky.

Pendula View is coming soon!

I’m looking forward to really going fancy for the next neighborhood. I’m switching to a more Italianate style of Victorian home, and starting to include butlers quarters and servant staircases, which should be fun. The Goths are getting a makeover, the history of the mysterious Myrtle Evans is going to come to light, and there is going to be a new community lot I hope you all will like. Enjoy Courtyard Lane!

[awhilesince]

Friday, 17 January 1834

7 1/4

.. [Anne’s period] rainy morning – good grubble last night  she snored  I count days and hours to getting rid of her – half hour asleep on the pot this morning then dressed and ready at 8 1/2 and then Fahrenheit 52° and rainy morning breakfast at 8 3/4 – fine for 1/2 hour – then rain again at 10, and fair again and out with Miss W– (Walker) and Eugénie and our guide Mr George ? Howe (at 10 3/4 – having put on old moiré dress and made myself fit for rain and dirty streets – 

Panorama of Hull CC BY-SA 3.0

walked round the 3 fine docks, Humber dock, Junction (or middle) ditto, and old dock lined with warehouses stored with hides, wool, cotton goods for Hamburg, bows for home tillage etc etc, then to the citadel – the 53rd there – walked thro’ the barrack yard, a fine open space – the broad foss full of water this and the Circumvallation very neat and well kept – 

then into the shop of Sancr cabinet maker and upholsterer, water works street, some neat light chains at 14/. – inquired for French bed – then saw the carriages of the great couch maker in Carr Lane – then to the Botanic garden – a little way out of the town on the Anlaby road – there at 12 40/.. – 5 acres – established 20 years ago, yet nothing very rare or worth in the gardens – 3 nice green houses neatly kept – supported, tho’ not very well, by annual submissionns and selling plots – Low, wet, clayery, bad ground for a garden – cut beech hedges bottom filled up with privet might be worth imitation? about 1/2 hour there – returned by Albion Street – 

The Museums Quarter CC BY-SA 4.0

saw the new assembly rooms and museum there in 1 not quite finished handsome brick building – the museum a gallery lightened by 14 windows in the top, covered, 12 feet square height, and 18 feet to the windows on top of the covering – 127. feet 6 inches long by 24 feet wide – nice proportion enough – the specimens furnished by donation – a good manner, perhaps arranged nearly as well as their motley nature admits – opposite 1 end of this building (the ball-room a squary very lofty in proportion quite plain room with raised orchestra at the end) – is the new public dissecting room in the Egyptian style – I suppose the medical museum is kept there – rang 3 times but nobody came – the people much against it – will perhaps pull it down – a woman the other day at seven was taken up at 12 at night – a man saw 2 men steal the body – to be tried at York – 

Trinity Church (Hull minster) CC BY-SA 2.0

Hull Minster inside  CC BY-SA 4.0

sauntered homewards looking in the shop windows in Whitefriargate Silver Street etc went into Trinity church large handsome old Gothic – handsome painted glass east window about 1/2 just done and put up, to cost a £1000 – done by “Thomas Ward Esquire Artist, 57 Frith Street, Soho Square London” – this address got for me by the woman who shewed the church from the church warden W. B. Day who, she said, wished to know everything and begged to have my address in return which I wrote down “Miss Lister Paris” – the Gothic arch part of the window done in divers small designs – below 3 rows of large figures 7 in each row – our saviour and 6 apostles in the 1st – virgin and child and other 6 apostles in the 2nd and 7 cardinal virtues Faith, hope, charity, justice, Prudence, Temperance and fortitude – creditable to the artist – If all this = £1000, perhaps a St. James the elder might be done for £100? a small library of old books fathers and classics belonging to the church is kept under the vicar’s lock and key –

then to the Trinity house at 2 3/4 – a good while there – seeing several north american (Esquimaux) and other curiosities in a few tolerable rooms floors lightly strewed with rushes (queen Elizabeth’s carpet) fresh every 3 months – 30 rooms in the house for old sailors and their widows? Trinity hospital at a little distance an old looking building said one guide – then looked into the public library in Parliament Street – the largest and best about 15000 volumes – got Miss Bedingfeld’s address South Humber bank Bellevue terrace – 

Looked into the cabinet makers shop of T. and G. Carlill, 15 Whitefriargate best, said our guide, in Hull, or as good as any – common with castors – nothing worth seeing – but would make French bedstead painted rose wood colour and varnished 6 feet 3 inches within and 3 feet 3 inches broad for 2.10.0 Hair mattress 2.0.0 Pailasse 28/. 1 square pillow and bolster best feathers 1.11.6 = £8.9.6 i.e. 9/6 more than I am to pay Hubie in York for the same – would make a rather different sort of French bedstead (castors), but made up (boxed up) close to the ground, very neat, for £6 in mahogany and £3 in imitation rosewood – then walked to South Humber bank Bellevue terrace – nice neat small houses overlooking the river – 

home at 4 3/4 – dismissed our guide, and poked about in shops near home till 5 20/.. – dinner at 5 1/2 – hare soup, small smelts roast loin of small but not very tender mutton – Tarts, custards and jellies, and soda water 2 bottles for me and 1 with juice of 1/2 lemon and sugar for Miss W– (Walker) comfortable – 

wrote out the above of today till 8 1/4 p.m. – meant to have gone to the theatre tonight, but too idle – my cousin came gently about noon or before this morning took no notice till night and then put on one white worsted stocking to be soft and keep all save – 

went to the steam packet office – the Transit, 160 horse power, and Monarch 140 ditto ditto will start probably Friday 22 February and run every Friday from here to Hamburg in from 56 to 60 hours – after cabin 4 guineas instead of 5 and fore cabin 2 1/2 guineas instead of 3 1/2 to encourage passengers – carriages 1 1/2 guineas per wheel horses 5 guineas each therefore self 4.4.0 two servants 5.5.0 carriage 6.6.0 = £15.15.0 + Expense from Shibden to the time of embarking suppose = £26.0.0 to take me back to Hamburg – not ruinous – saw several fine whalers in dock this morning of 500 tons burden – distinguished by knees paced with iron round the lower part of the stern to cut thro’ the ice – came home late this year – the last in November with 36 whales – go out in February – the Sugar refinery and soap mill not shewn – Hull not so good a town as I had fancied, nor shops so good – 

tea at 9 1/2 – talk – looking over plan of Hull in Baines’s Directory – went to my room at 11 35/.. – Rainy morning (vide line 20 of today) but fine day high wind along the water from about 10 1/2 for the rest of the morning afternoon and evening – Fahrenheit 48° at 12 tonight –

reference number: SH:7/ML/E/16/0159, SH:7/ML/E/16/0160

[james-stark-the-writer-wips]

A Year At The Opera - Excerpt

Chapter 12, Part 4: Joe

Word Count: 1700 words.

Sorry it's late, but the next ones are coming soon. I'm just editing some stuff. Hope you don't mind.

*

Joe turned into Rosewood Lane late afternoon. Saturday night had been rough and he may have had a little (about an entire bottle more than he should have been) too much to drink and he had spent all Sunday sleeping it off. But, it was a new week today. He’d sobered up and he couldn’t wait to get back to work and forget all about saturday night.

He stopped before the iron gate. Two guards stood on either side, armed with guns, looking at Joe in his car.

Rosewood Lane: the suburbia away from the suburbia, a paradise for the uber rich with around the clock security and state of the art surveillance. Every resident was guaranteed their privacy and safety. Joe could barely stomach the thought of having to live here. He wasn’t even inside yet and he could already see their smug faces in front of his eyes, looking at him as the outsider, someone who didn’t deserve to be among them, someone less than. It made Joe’s blood boil just thinking about it.

He lowered his window and tapped the button labelled ‘1205: Justice, C’ on the stand next to the door.

Static returned from the speaker before a woman spoke in a cheery voice. “Who is it?”

“This is Detective Joe Vega from the Ellesburg PD and I had some questions for Mrs. Justice.”

“This is she. Questions about what, detective?” She asked.

“It’s about your husband.” Joe responded. The static cut out and the gears of the gate began to move.

Rosewood Lane stood on the opposite end of Athea, away from the river Daine, high above the rest of the city, like a literal pedestal for the uber rich, overlooking the people beneath them. Joe had never been inside before.

From the inside, the place looked even more like it was built on the backs of exploited laborers or in other words, rich. As Joe made his way to the Justice house, he couldn’t help but notice all the non-white people tending to — most likely not their own — gardens, cutting the trees, cleaning up the area. A few women sat outside, self tanning in the sun while a few children moved along the streets, playing their games, enjoying their tiny, sheltered worlds.

Joe wondered if these people knew what happened outside their little paradise up here or if they were just blissfully ignorant.

Joe found his way to the Justice house fairly easily. The big mansion stood intimidatingly, distinguishable even in the fake utopia that was Rosewood Lane. Just from the outside, Joe could see eight windows on the top floor and six long ones on the bottom, the door sandwiched between the three long windows on each side. It rose high up, higher than most other houses around it. It somewhat reminded him of the front of the white house.

Pulling into the Justice house’s driveway, the door to the house opened and a woman, presumably Mrs. Justice from the look of her clothes, stood in the doorway, as if she couldn’t wait for Joe to ring the doorbell.

He stepped out of his car and locked the car behind him as he walked up the stairs onto the front porch of the house.

“Mrs. Justice?” Joe asked. 

She nodded. “Please, come inside.” She moved aside to let him in.

He walked in and she followed him, quickly closing the door behind her.

“You said you had some questions?” She asked nervously.

“Yeah.”

“Please, let’s sit in the living room.”

“Alright.” Joe said, following her deeper into what seemed like an endless stream of doors. The ivory walls of the house rose high, the large dome shaped skylight at the top blasted sunlight in, making them seem even more white. The walls were decorated with a variety of objects, most of what Joe assumed to be antiques of some sort and some family photos. Every frame was golden, perfectly machined and manufactured, just like the pictures in those frames. Flawless. A disgusting image. A facade to show the world how perfect their family was. Joe suspected that was anywhere near the case.

The whole house was smattered with objects that brought some contrast to the stark white. If he wasn’t human, some onlooker would probably say he was the most contrasting thing there.

All the white around him was almost intimidating. Unblemished, untouched, pure. But he couldn’t let himself get distracted. He had a job to do.

“Right in here.” She said, opening a set of two large doors into a large open living room that screamed minimalist. No decorations, no frills. The only furniture was the sofas and some lamps beside them on tiny coffee tables. Two extremely comfortable looking alcoves separated by the TV on the wall decorated the rest of the room aside from the table in front on the sofa. In the bottom right corner of the room stood a tiny bookcase, all on its own, almost a distraction from the rest of the room’s minimalism. Sunbeams flooded the room from the alcove windows as Joe and Mrs. Justice sat down on the sofa. It was so quiet that the rubbing of Joe’s jeans against the white leather as he adjusted in his seat was the loudest sound in the room.

“So, Mrs. Justice—” Joe began.

“Please, Jessica is fine.”

“Alright, Jessica.” Joe took out his recorder and placed it on the glass table in front of him, turning it on.

“Please state your name for the record.” Joe said.

“Uh, this is Jessica Justice.” She said hesitantly. “What is this about, Detective?”

“Ma’am, I’m sorry but I’m afraid I have some bad news. It’s about your husband.”

“Oh god.” She gasped, covering her mouth with her hand and looking away. “He’s dead, isn’t he?”

“I’m afraid so.” Joe said quietly, nodding.

“When did it happen?” She asked, choking up.

“A few days ago, we just got the full autopsy this morning confirming it’s him.” 

Really, by protocol, Joe should’ve informed her two days ago when he actually got Carson’s address and confirmation from Jeanie that it was actually Carson but he doubted Jessica would know that and other things had actually held him up.

“How…” Her voice was shaky. “How did he die?”

“Someone hit him with something really hard.” He took a breath. “And then buried him in Shadow Woods, near the border of Tenebris and Ellesburg.”

“Oh god.” She stood up.

“I know this might be a lot to take in…” Joe said calmly. He had always hated this part. Not because it was hard but because it was messy. Even after all this time, he’d never figured out exactly how to console the people. And he loved his job but god he hated being the messenger of news like this and being put in this position.

“What are your questions, detective?” She turns, wiping tears from her face.

“Well, I was just wondering when you last saw Carson.”

“I think it was August the 30th?” She sat down again. “He had a habit of disappearing for days without contact.”

“Is that why you didn’t report him missing?”

“Yes.” She sniffled, nodding and wiping another tear.

“And do you know of any enemies he might have had or anyone who hated him?”

“Detective, my husband was a rich man, practically everyone hated him or was jealous of him for some reason. But I can’t think of anyone in particular.”

“Alright. Just a few more questions and I’ll be out of your hair. Where were you on the night of September the third?”

“Was the night when he—”

“Yes, that’s what we’re assuming so far.” Joe said softly.

“I think I was here all day.”

“You didn’t leave the house all day?”

“No.” She shook her head.

“Anyone that can corroborate the alibi?”

“Our maid, Kelly. And the security cameras in the house. Carson had them installed when we first moved in.”

“All right, then. Just get me the info for Kelly and that footage and I’ll be out of your hair.”

“Of course.” She sniffled. 

“Actually, could I get the whole footage from when you last saw him?”

“Of course. I think the entire last month is backed up on his computer in his study.”

“Fantastic. And that’s it, Jessica. If I have any more questions, I’ll let you know.”

Joe turned off the recorder and stood up.

“Detective,” She stopped him, “When can I see him?”

“I can arrange for a visit tomorrow morning, if that works.”

“Thank you.” She whispered, turning away. “Come on, I’ll show you to the study.”

Joe followed her out of the room and through more hallways before they arrived at the study.

The study was the entire opposite of the house. Wood everywhere. Real wood, as far as Joe could tell. The walls were decorated with the same frames as the rest of the house and a desk stood in front of the only window in the room.

“Is this hardwood?” Joe asked, looking at the floor.

“Yes.” Jessica replied, walking over to the desk. “Here. Here’s the computer.” She pointed at a small metallic enclosure sitting on the desk next to a monitor.

Joe walked up next to her. “Is it on right now?”

“I think so. It should be.”

“Alright, well I can’t take it with me but I’ll send some people over to collect the evidence. Would that be alright?”

“I suppose so. Well, here’s Kelly’s info then.” She grabbed the stack of post-it’s on the desk and a pen and scribbled down Kelly’s phone number and address. “That’s where you can reach her.”

“Thank you, Jessica. I appreciate the help and the cooperation.”

“Of course, detective. Well, you know your way out.” She said, putting on a happy face.

“That I do.” Joe said, walking away, leaving the woman alone. He had other places to be.

*