#everhaunted

Tickets were easy to acquire, though, Rylan hadn't quite planned on coming across them. The memory made her laugh a little as she scooped them up from the counter top with her wallet and keys. An art gallery for an up and coming indie artist she had never heard of but when she had asked Shiloh to join her, she tried her best to make it sound like she knew *exactly* what she was talking about. That night, Rylan had spent hours on google, trying to find pieces of this guy's work that she could relate to or whatever she had seen in the movies of people going to art galleries do but instead, she only felt more lost about how to take it all in than she had realized when she won the tickets. Still, the young mechanic wasn't going to pass up a chance to spend time with the other woman, not after meeting her at the bonfire and wanting to get to know her. From what Hunter had said, Shiloh seemed pretty chill to be around, not to mention, she owed Shiloh for the warnings she gave about certain people when pointing them out to her, what other way to make it up to someone than taking them to a place where she had absolutely no idea how to react to?

The drive to the gallery had felt far longer than it probably was, the GPS on her phone ordering directions for each turn and Rylan kept the reminder of traffic in the back of her head, having left a little earlier than she probably normally would for htis type of thing. Yet, she found herself anxious, excited and ready for this. Happy it wasn't another party to talk to someone at but instead something that two friends could do together, and a part of her hoped that Shiloh knew more about art than Rylan did so this wouldn't feel nearly as awkward as she making it out to be in her head. Max had suggested a book or an audiobook to listen to on the drive to help her get into the feeling of being one of those rich people going to admire work they'd spend thousands on to hang in a hallway of their home, but Rylan had only laughed at his words and he gave her a smirk in return before heading back to his room to do whatever it was when his homework was done.

A man of his word, Bellamy had made his way out of the comforts of the home he shared with his sister and back to his car parked in the driveway. The fading sun was quiet. There was nothing but a small breeze outside that ruffled the curls of his hair as he made his way to the vehicle. The house behind him was silent and cold. The lights were off, there was no sounds coming from inside. Octavia was gone, off doing whatever and Bellamy barely spent his own nights in the comforts of the walls. Home had never really been a place to him, no matter what age he had been, he was always out. Always doing something. Always staying busy. At one point, home was nothing more than a prison that he worked in, like a jailer who took care of the others behind bars. He was no better than them when he was child, but he's no longer that little boy who once had stars and fear hidden in his gaze. He's a man now, one that wore a uniform for a living, that stood on the battlefields of war and pulled the trigger when he let his mind become another person. After all, the ability to kill a person meant shutting off a part of himself in order to do it, no matter the reasons, no matter the consequences, he had no choice. He was a far better soldier than he was a person, at least he knew that much to keep going in the military.

His car hadn't been off for long, as the cool air seemed to still be shifting around inside, settling easily into the seats and the floorboard. It was long enough for him to shower and change and now he's back on the road, booted foot on the peddle as he makes his way towards the closest coffee shop between his place and Shiloh's work place. He had met her at a bonfire of all places. Invited on a whim to a party that he saw as nothing more than a distraction. A place to hang out with others, drink a little beer, flirt a little here and there and maybe go back to someone else's bed, lose himself between their sheets and slip out right after it was done. Nothing more than a series of distractions to keep his mind occupied. Perhaps this was the same thing. Perhaps this was his way of understanding that he needed to always be a god damn busybody to not think or feel just what his mind has inside of it. Case in point, the loud music blaring from the car's speakers, forcing him to focus on it and the road that stretched out ahead and the oncoming traffic that was passing by. At least the coffee would taste good.

| Song: here.

Memories were like a book. The words were haunting upon a page, no matter how many times they had been read. Hours spent drinking it all in, lost in the story that played out between it's pages. Late at night, in the darkness of a room, in the open air of being outside, sitting at the beach. Rylan had spent the night on the front steps of her porch, gaze upon the star spackled sky above her and the brilliant moon that danced in the glistening water puddle out in the street. She had been thinking back to when she was younger. When her parents were still together. High school hadn't been terrible to her. Popular. Pretty. She had friends and people who only claimed the title for something on their name with hers. Micha had been her boyfriend back then. Star of the basketball team. He was kind, caring. Sweet, but just like everyone else, he had his dark side that he kept behind closed doors. A side that no one else could see unless they were inside his closest circle. How silly she had been back then. A dumb teenage girl who didn't know right from wrong. Who didn't even know herself, really. Then again, had she found herself even know? Even pulled from the memories of her past, she was still left questioning who she was. Where she wanted to go. Who she wanted to become. Life was always changing, shifting it's shape, changing it's paths and she was on a crazy ride to a place she didn't know. A place she couldn't see at the end of the road but she had decided, at the young age of eighteen, that she'd just hold on tight and watch the ride go as she took the moments of stopping to do what felt right, even if they were wrong later on. After all, how would she find herself if she didn't let herself wander in the darkness alone?

The sun had been up for a little while now and the lull of a food meet up with Shiloh had been what pulled the young girl from her thoughts and her memories. What had dragged her away from the steps of her front porch and the dancing colors as the dark shifted to light, the moon's silver shine, to the yellow fire of the sun. Sunrises had always been her favorite thing to watch, something that would never change for her. Surprisingly, she had held herself together through the night. No tears to shed for something that had happened so long ago with a guy she no longer spoke to or even had his number in her phone. Though, if she had the choice to talk to her past self, she'd have so many words to say. So many things she'd be proud of and other things she'd tell herself not to do. How silly it had been to have been so young, so naïve and lost in it all.

She could see that Joseph had returned to normal; the boils on his skin were gone and his skin had returned to his normal hue. In all her pain Juli was relieved. She held onto her shoulder as her blood continued to poor down her shirt, erasing the what use to be white.

“I’m just glad you’re you again.” Her voice was strained. Juli eyed the knife that was in Joseph’s hand, the one that gave her the deep cut. At least the stab wasn’t fetal, but it sure hurt like hell.