#barlowsstarter

Maybe it wasn’t surprising that she’d ended up at the church. Family commitments had taken her out of town during the festival, but she didn’t live under a rock, and the news that a wild, crazed lunatic was making the round, trying to off as many residents as he or she could, was hardly a thing she could miss. So yes, perhaps it wasn’t so surprising that she was going to church. She wouldn’t have been surprised if the church had seen a mass uptake in its followers. It was natural to feel fear, especially of the unknown. But for Lara, who had escaped death far too many times than she was proud of...perhaps going to church could be seen as an insurance policy. If she got down on her knees and said enough hail mary’s, perhaps she wouldn’t find her throat slit open and hanging like a grotesque puppet. 

Perhaps. 

Still, when she reached the foot of the steps up to the church, she halted, unable to quite walk up to the door. Something was stopping her. Eyes on her back. Slowly she turned, eyeing the person across the street who was watching her internal struggle to walk into the home of god. “Do you want something?” she asked sourly, wrapping her arms around herself to keep warm

A shadow fell over the young college student’s face as his stomach convulsed yet again, a small stream of green bile spilling from his lips to mingle with the mess already on the floor in front of him. Not moving from his spot in the vomit puddle, Mikey attempted to glance upwards at the person stood in front of him before giving it up as a hopeless cause. With his hand that was still searching for the desired needle and pouch, he raised it only slightly off the floor in a weak attempt at a wave. “’m’fine,” he said, attempting to wave the person away. “Jus’ need to sleep. Go back to festival and forget me.”

She’d been down there before, walking around, blending seamlessly, just another teenager. But it was…suffocating down there. Kids running around, everyone loud, the smell of food grilling; if she closed her eyes, it was, instead 2006 and Olivia was nowhere to be found.

Rather than risk a panic attack, Maddie had relocated. She was furious with herself for not being able to handle it, for not being able to take a breath and ignore it all.

Raising the binoculars to her face again, she watched carefully, looking for anything odd. There was some action back behind the cotton candy booth, drug dealing, she suspected, but other than that, nothing.

Ears perking, Maddie listened to the steady squeak of someone climbing the stairs behind her. She shoved the binoculars into an out of sight alcove and moved back to stand casually against the window, waiting to see who it could possibly be.

As expected, she was obviously high and maybe a little drunk. It was a bad mix, and even worse when displays were shown to the public. At times, Roxanne could get a bit crazy. Take off her shirt, and scream to the wild. There was no one that could stop her - well, perhaps her brother or cops if she got a bit too creepy. But it wasn’t unusual to see her get in trouble. Eyes determined the person from top to bottom, making it very obvious a caramelized apple was the least of her worries at the moment.

There were times where she wished to be as outspoken as some, have friends and just have fun but that future seemed a bit distant to her. A sip of hot chocolate was had, green hues following shadows go back and forth between activity booths. It was rather depressing. Well, all up until someone sat right beside but no words were actually spoken to them. Sage stared into the night, making everything possible to ignore the person beside her.

Owens wanted his typical drink of bourbon. He went to his cabinet where he kept his personal home bottle. He opened the cabinet to find that there was no bourbon. He decided he only wanted one drink so instead of buying a bottle he decided to go grab a quick drink at Eddies and grab a bottle the next time he was out of the house.

He looked outside of his kitchen window facing toward the front of the house. He looked up and saw the tree in his front porch swaying from side to side. It was overcast as the sky was a dark grey almost as if a storm was coming. He decided to dress warm. He threw on a hoodie. One that he picked up from a UCLA game back in Los Angeles. He grabbed his cabbie cap and headed out the the door.

He walked down to Eddie’s Bar which was just a five minute walk from where he lived. He walked into the bar and took a seat. He grabbed the nearest bartenders attention and asked for a glass of bourbon. As the bartender was pouring his bourbon a stranger came to take a seat next to him. He looked over and glance to see who it was.

Typical day in Barlows Hallow. It was cloudy, the sun faded in and out  as the clouds passed by as if they were cars rushing through traffic. It was a perfect day to skip classes all day because your parents would get you out of trouble... again. Robert found himself wandering around the forest with the pack of smokes in his back pocket he stole earlier this morning from his dads secret stash in his office. He pulled one out and put it in his mouth. He stopped for a second to stare at the pack of cigarette. 

He was hesitant. He could possibly die if he began to smoke. He looked up and chuckled to himself.

“Haha Ill die from cigarettes. What a load of shit. My dads been smoking since I can remember. What the fuck am i thinking?”

He thought of his sub conscious thought as a joke. He doesn't care about anything or anyone. He just wants to go back to where he came from. That’s all he knows. Just tough out this school year to leave. Or at least that is what he had planned. 

He placed the cigarette back in his mouth and pulled out the lighter from his back pocket. He created a windshield with his hand so that he could light the cigarette easier. He started to breath in so that the flame would catch the end of the stoogie. The smoke hitting his mouth as he put the lighter and pack of smokes in his back pocket. The smoke entered his mouth then his lungs only to exhale the toxic smoke that would grab a hold of its user after having only one taste of what it has to offer. He closed his eyes and felt the nicotine coursing through his veins making him feel alive. But it wasn't good enough. Nothing was ever good enough for Robert. He always wanted more which would lead to him often getting in trouble or getting severely hurt. He smoked the rest of his cigarette and threw the butt into the dirt on the path he was on. He stepped on it to make sure a fire wouldn't start. 

He began walking and just wandering through what seemed to be a never ending forest. As he walked through the forest he heard someone coming from behind him. He began running toward the noise. He noticed it came for a person, probably someone who lived in the North side of Barlows because that was where it was located. He saw the stranger walking across the pathway. He then jumped in front of them and said,

“Who the fuck are you?”

 “FUCK!!” she cried out, though it was an aggressive cry, like the sound of someone who didn’t feel pain the way most did. Pulling her hand free she felt the shock set in as the blood slowly formed around the thick gashes against her fingers and her knuckles. It wasn’t anything serious, but it looked painful and bleed a bit until she wrapped a clean rag around it before stepping away from the golf cart. 

 In the process of attempting to replace one of the shocks on those expensive golf carts the customer brought in to be fixed she got her hand caught for a moment within the small engine. Luckily it wasn’t on she thought as she looked over her scrapped knuckles wondering how long it would take to heal. She was used to the nicks and cuts that came with working on machines however this was no little scrap to just go back to work with.

 She looked up trying to focus on something else, the pain wasn’t half bad, she had purposely put herself through worse, however it was her irritation fuming that she tried to subside by looking about. it was then that she noticed ht man sitting across form where she worked, as she watched him, he looked familiar. Not in the sense that she knew him, but in a way that she knew something was up with him. She wrapped the towel around her hand and approached the direction of the man. Which also happened to be the direction of the bathrooms.