ʜᴏᴡ ᴅᴏᴇs ᴛʜᴇ sᴛᴏʀʏ ᴇɴᴅ?

The lady has a lot of scars.

She looks like she could be a layber worker. Mama said layber workers are people who work hard with their hands and their bodies, and many of them have lots of scars all over. It’s a hard life for hard money, Mama said. When he asked her, “Don’t you have a hard life too sometimes?” Mama just smiled, passed him a warm cookie from the cooling rack, and reminded him that’s why it was important to be kind. Everyone has some scars on their hearts. 

Not sure why they’re called layber workers, though. It doesn’t sound like anyone is laying around and kicking their feet up on the job. 

Cole digs through his bag and pulls out a tupperware container. One last cookie from their baking time together this weekend. He saved it during lunch---and, miraculissly, from Tommy Tammissimo. It’s not like giving your food to bullies is really sharing anyway. 

RULES: You can only say guilty or innocent. You are not allowed to explain anything unless someone messages you or asks you. Repost, don’t reblog. ( italic on verse depending answers)

asked  someone  to  marry  you  ?   innocent.

kissed  one  of  your  friends  ?   innocent.

danced  on  a  table  in  a  bar  /  tavern  ? innocent.

ever  told  a  lie ?  guilty.

had  feelings  for  someone  whom  you  can’t  have  ?   innocent.

ever  kissed  someone  of  the  same  sex  ?   innocent.

kissed  a  picture  ?  guilty.

slept  until  5pm  ? guilty.

fallen  asleep  at  work  /  school  ?   guilty.

held  a  snake  ?    innocent.

been  suspended  from  school  ?    guilty.

worked  at  a  fast  food  chain  /  restaurant  ?    innocent.

stolen  something  ?     guilty.

been  fired  from  a  job  ?      innocent.

done  something  you  regret  ?      guilty.

laughed  until  something  you  were  drinking  came  out  of  your  nose  ?     guilty.

caught  a  snowflake  on  your  tongue  ?       guilty.

kissed  in  the  rain  ?       guilty.

kissed  someone  you  shouldn’t  ?     innocent.

sang  in  the  shower  ?     guilty.

been  pushed  into  a  pool  with  all  your  clothes  on  ?     guilty.

shaved  your  head  ?      guilty.

slept  naked  ?     innocent.

made  a  boyfriend  /  girlfriend  cry ?      innocent.

shot  a  gun  ?   innocent.

still  love  someone  you  shouldn’t  ?   guilty.

have  /  had  a  tattoo ?     innocent.

liked  someone  ,  but  will  never  tell  who  ?    guilty.

been  too  honest  ?     guilty.

ruined  a  surprise  ?    guilty.

been  told  that  you’re  beautiful  by  someone  who  totally  meant  what  they  said   ?  innocent.

still  have  communication  w/  your  ex  ?     innocent.

cheated  on  someone  ?     innocent.

got  so  angry  that  you  cried  ?       guilty.

tried  to  stay  away  from  someone  for  their  own  good  ?      guilty.

thoughts  about  suicide  ?     guilty.

thoughts  about  murder  ?     guilty.

how  about  mass  murder  ?  guilty.

stalked  someone  ?   innocent.

had  a  girlfriend  /  boyfriend  ?      guilty.

gotten  totally  drunk  during  a  holiday  ?     innocent.

  A quarter can't buy anything anywhere these days, not like it used to be. Used to be you could get an ice cream for 10 cents, or a whole buffet dinner for a dollar fifty. He knows that ‘cause of school---Harold. The little boy he see haunting the docks sometimes likes to tell stories about his time period. Hard to think about America in the 1950′s when everything’s so alive and colorful now, and most kids his age think the ‘50s was all in black and white. They weren’t, obviously. But Harold says colors weren’t so bright, either, like you left a food label out in the sun too long and it all got bleached down.  

  A quarter doesn't get you much of anything, anymore...so Cole just spent it at the prize machine. The little pop box gave him a hokey ring, the plastic gem so big you could'a stuck it on top of your eye and pretended to be a pirate. That’s what Harold says he should be. Jolly Roger or Huck Finn. Some big-name adventurer. Somewhere on the way back, Cole got a better idea. The plastic gem’s in the shape of a diamond. There’s someone who likes those better than anyone else he knows.

  “Miss Harley---I hope it’s okay I came inside. It was getting rainy.”

 She always comes back to her hideout real late, but that’s okay. When you’re an orphan, you don’t have to worry about a bedtime. You got bigger fish to fry, like where to sleep and what to eat. Or if the kid on the next block really wants to be your friend, or if he just wants to punch you in the stomach and steal the five dollars you found. Guess which one happened to him, just yesterday. Cole’s still got the bruise to prove it. 

 She comes in looking dirty and tired, but not beat up too bad. He’s glad for that and thanks God in his head. 

AU where Cole and all the dead things he attracts just twists up the new world all over again.

MEME | character development

24. How do they present themselves socially? What distinguishes their “persona” from their “true self”, and what causes that difference?

This is...not an easy question to answer. 

On the one hand, Cole is a child who suffers from depression, as well as acute anxiety --- he also exhibits a lot of the related antisocial behavior, although anyone could understand how Dr. Crowe helped him to get past that. These things do not simply go away, though Cole tries his best however he can to remain positive, hold that smile steady, and laugh along with newfound friends.

Much of Cole’s censorship, especially early on, directly stems from self-preservation. He’s well aware of people’s dislike and discomfort toward him, and he understands that it’s in everyone’s best interest if he just dips his head, keeps to himself, and tries not to look any sadder than any other kid on any normal day. 

Despite this, Cole’s desire for connection, friendship, and MUTUAL understanding often results in overextending himself with a smile, or a soft compliment or offering to show that he knows exactly how someone feels. It’s his sincere hope that these efforts prove to everyone --- including himself --- that he’s just like them, and capable of being normal.

The problem is that Cole is both very, very normal and simultaneously NOT. He has NEVER BEEN, and WILL NEVER BE normal. Not entirely. Certainly not as normal as you or me.

The result? Cole’s efforts to force a puzzle piece that will not fit only further points evidence to the contrary.

Cole’s true self is a conglomeration of these efforts and all of those he fails or chooses not to show. He is both naturally melancholy and bright with shining and optimism. Cole’s true self is that he was born to fit into the mold as an emotional and social chameleon; the issue is when he solely tries to be one thing or another that causes a rift. 

Cole’s true self is to be a constant in life. Consistent. His mood may change depending on those around them. He may be hungrier or more fearful one month versus another. But Cole feels he is inherently the same: the boy who sees ghosts, and the only one who is able or willing to help them. 

MEME | character development

20. What kind of individual relationships do they have with others, and how do they behave in them? 

Cole’s empathic ability and the ease with which he’s able to relate to others is not something he shies away from. However rewarding it is to help people, taking on too much at once is draining of the self, and he often requires time to adjust and recuperate. He does that best by being alone, and by limiting the number of interactions with people to as many as they are personally comfortable with. Cole’s family is small, with a single mom, a husky named Sebastian, and an absentee father who compensates for his absence with occasional phone calls and lots of money in a birthday card. His Mama is his entire world. He is grateful to be able to finally communicate with her about seeing ghosts as he couldn’t before; perhaps it’s because his own emotions cloud his judgment, but his Mama is one of few people he cannot easily relate to. He feels her emotions, yes, but he doesn’t always understand why she has them. 

With friends and others, however, Cole tries to keep his conversations as lighthearted and warm as possible. He likes to encourage people to be themselves, to feel comfortable with talking about whatever comes to mind, whenever it comes to mind. Some people might not be able to do that if he’s trying to read into them too often. 

But, he’s still a kid with quite the lack of filter. Others are quick to mention that there’s something unsettling about the boy and the way his words seem to strike a relevant cord.As Cole often says, a lot of people don’t like others telling them how they feel. However true it might be.

33. How do they learn about the world–what is their preferred learning style? [...]

  Even when there’s no sermon scheduled after school Father Doyle stops by the main church a lot, dressed so dark someone could forget he’s a man of God. Maybe the color was s’posed to confuse the bad ones, as if the good guy all wrapped up in Hell’s favorite color would make it harder for them to notice: one of these things is not like the other.

   Mama sometimes jokes, too, that the sort of shit a priest has to stomp through is probably enough to stain like a sonuvabitch. Might as well save himself the trouble of dry cleaning.  ( She doesn’t say that around Cole, though. Or to Father Doyle. Just to her friends on the phone, when she thinks he isn’t listening. )

  He’s used to that by now. People thinking he’s not listening, or not old enough to understand. Adults are always hung up about a kid’s potential: what they can do and what they’re gonna do in life --- but giving a kid the chance to actually shine? A lotta grown ups don’t care to give a kid the time of day. Cole understands, even though it sucks being treated like a baby. All that potential they’re talking about isn’t really about some random kid. It’s more about themselves. What should’ve happened in life and all that. With the the fall season sneaking up, it’s normal to get sad about the change and the death. 

 Father Doyle isn’t one of those people, though. Maybe it’s ‘cause the priest is kinda young compared to the other ones and he knows what it’s like not to be taken seriously. Maybe it’s ‘cause he’s a man who walks with God through the shit of other people’s Hells, and he knows bad things can happen to people of all ages. Old. Young. He’s got a limp that says he’s had a run-in with a few devils along the way.

   Guess not everyone in Hell is as dumb as the Bible says.

  Behind him, the church doors open. Light pours in, like even a holy place like this needs reminding of God’s power from time to time. But whoever it is....it’s not Father Doyle. They walk too fast and their footsteps sound too much the same. They walk like they’ve got nowhere to be, with no God to guide them. 

  A man in black stops in the aisle next to him.

 Cole’s got a feeling that his clothes aren’t just for camouflage. 

  “We’ve all got secrets, Dr. House. We even keep some from ourselves.”

Sometimes it’s really great to have so many grown-ups for friends. Kids are always in a hurry to grow up and get there. They don’t realize that it’s all gonna come when it comes. Growing up. Growing old. Dying. They wanna have the fun that goes hand-in-hand with doing whatever you want....all while not realizing that the ‘doing whatever you want’ part isn’t exactly true. Sometimes the dying part comes before someone is ready: when a kid’s not old enough yet, or a grown-up’s got so much left to do. 

  Cole wonders what kinda things keeps Dr. House up at night --- all the things he hasn’t done yet. All the things he wanted to but can’t, anymore. Dragging that leg of his around looks like it pulls the lines around his mouth down a little farther and farther every day. Soon, his face will carry wrinkles as big and deep and ugly as that scar he tries to ignore, if he lets it.

 Maybe that’s the kind of mask Dr. House is aiming for. 

 It’s easier for people to push you away instead of having to do the work yourself--- especially when a bum leg makes it hard enough to push yourself around. Surprisingly, Dr. House’s face twists up into a smile. Cole decides he likes him better that way. 

    Not ugly at all.

 A couple of lazy joggers bounce on by. Cole watches them pass, finding the excuse to look at something else. He was staring, and that’s something you learn not to do in manners 101. Not to stare, or look at people like you feel sorry for them. Or worse: like you know their life’s story. People don’t like feeling exposed without permission. There would be no point wearing a mask, if everyone could see everything all the tie.

 The afternoon sun paints his face in warmth. What does his mask look like? What does it do? Does it confuse people like masks are meant to, in the tradition of Halloween spirit? Or maybe it just looks...normal. A mask of a normal kid with no bad thoughts. No nightmares. No fresh bruises on his thighs because the ghosts wanted to talk to him while he wanted to sleep. 

help. Help HELP. i need help PLEASE dont ignore me anymore Take my hand reach and keep reaching no i promise it wont HURT. There’s nothing out there but stars and space. WHAT GOD? yours KEEP PRAYING BITCH. you better hope and pray real hard for you before I get home.