#ghostfable

mom made sure that,  before she died,  gabe and alex knew about the different types of ghost grandma would terrorize a younger mom with.  針毛鬼,  a ghost with iron needles for hair that would scare everybody who laid eyes on it   —  or  蠱毒鬼,  a ghost so vile while living it was called the poison ghost in its death.  mom always had a dark kind of humor so she’d wonder what ghost she’d become once she was gone,  only cutting the conversation when dad would enter the hospital room.

gabe never put much thought to the ghost  HE’D  become.  gabe never considered  dying.  especially not when he arrived in haven springs and put some roots down.  he stopped sleeping alone in beds and started fathering a kid,  and he put in a lot of work to be better than his own dad.  but life has its ways.  it’s  a  force  you  can’t  really  stop.

yet still,  during certain moments,  the  veil  becomes  thin  and he can see a few features on alex’s face begin to materialize.  he never even got a chance to grow used to his younger sister looking so  ...  GROWN  now.  but she still has that little frown that pulls down her lips,  he’s seen it the most when he used to fight with dad,  and for the first time since dying,  he feels something pull at his chest.

“Joyce?”  he’s calling out before even entering Melvald’s. Adjusting the way his jacket hung off his shoulders, Jim gripped the handle of the store’s front door and practically ripped it open, almost running into a customer who was on their way out. They lock eyes, Hopper’s tight brow scaring them into scurrying out of his way, clearing the front of the general store so he can properly... stand there. Hands on hips, looking around over the top of the aisles trying to find the woman he’s calling for.  “I swear to god if you’re off today...”

Soon, eyes focus on her, crouched in between two aisles and cursing when her restocking of the shelves accidentally knocks more things onto the floor. He moves fast to her, long legs bringing him right next to Joyce, and then he continues to just stand there, towering over her, eyes watching her struggle but not moving to help her pick up the fallen stock until she’s already reaching for it.

@ghostfable​  has  asked  ...  “Why don’t we stop pretending we’re not on a road to destruction?” - bea to mae

They pause right behind Bea, giddy expression falling hard off of their face. They are absolutely drowning in the windbreaker hanging from their shoulders, sleeves swallowing their hands but that doesn’t stop them from crossing them hard across their chest, digging the heels of their boots into the muddy dirt underneath them.  “Why don’t you stop pretending you don’t have a stick up your ass!”  The sentence explodes out of them, amber eyes exploding wide.  “We are literally just going to the library, not everything is going to end in death and destruction and pain! And this is coming from me! I’m trying to get you to lighten up while being haunted by a ghost and having God visit my dreams!”  Their head rolls back and their arms fall from across their chest, extending up towards the night sky in what looks like a stretch, but Mae is just trying to calm themselves down.

in  pelican  town,  it  felt  as  if  the  days  just  flew  by  and  all  he  had  in  regards  to  keeping  track  of  time  were  the  holidays.  and  jas,  who  was  a  little  ball  of  energy  despite  the  frigid  time  of  year,  who  has  pulled  him  out  of  bed  two  nights  in  a  row  now  so  they  could  stand  out  in  the  backyard  and  watch  the  snow  as  it  fell.  today  was  no  different,  except  she  woke  him  up  early  in  the  day  so  they  could  take  advantage  of  the  still - fluffy  snow  and  make  snowmen.  as  soon  as  shane  stepped  back  into  the  ranch  house,  however,  marnie  sent  him  out  to  chop  firewood.

to  be  frank,  she  had  been  reminding  him  for  weeks  now.  the  firewood  now  will  be  cold  and  damp  and  take  forever  to  light,  but  it’s  tradition  that  he  goes  out  and  chops  some  down  to  give  to  the  locals.  leah  and  nora  specifically,  with  any  remains  being  sent  into  town.  shane  can  still  hear  marnie’s  speech  about  how  those  lovely  ladies  shouldn’t  have  to  wake  up  before  the  sun  to  go  chop  down  some  wood.  so  he  has  to.

he’s  all  bundled  up,  carrying  the  axe  on  his  shoulder  through  the  southern  entrance  of  serenity  farm.  there’s  already  a  light  dusting  of  snow  on  his  outerwear  when  he  steps  up  onto  the  farmhouse’s  stairs.  when  shane  knocks,  he  peeps  through  the  storm  door  to  a  certain  tiny  farmer  and  her  cat  in  the  kitchen.

PROMPT  ,  pumpkin : out of character real quick, what’s your favorite part of halloween?

something  about  the  day  felt  cursed.

nathan  had  the  worst  night’s  sleep  he’s  had  in  a  while.  kept  tossing  and  turning  all  night,  woke  up  with  a  stomachache  that  had  him  struggling  to  take  his  medications.  then  when  he  finally  managed  to  swallow  them,  they  made  him  nauseous  and  unable  to  eat  the  entire  day.  the  cause  behind  all  of  this  was  obvious  and  blinding  in  front  of  him.  they  were  in  the  in  -  between  stages  of  the  case  they  were  building  against  mark  and  sean.  all  they  had  to  do  now  was  wait,  and  nathan  hated  it.

he  tried  distracting  himself  with  something,  anything,  but  the  hobby  he  holds  closest  to  him  feels  tainted.  he  looks  at  his  camera  and  his  fingers  ache  to  hold  it,  to  drive  out  somewhere  dark  and  pretty  and  quiet.  maybe  the  rural  cemetery  on  the  edge  of  arcadia  bay,  somewhere  he  can  sit  in  the  grass  and  point  the  lens  at  the  graves  and  mausoleums  and  throw  himself  into  creating  again.  but  it’s  all  ruined  now.  

he’s  lived  with  this  for  so  long.  how  much  longer  can  he  go?

sleeping  in  rachel’s  bed  always  helps,  even  if  just  a  bit.  but  like  the  previous  night,  nathan  gets  no  good  sleep,  and  everything  in  her  room  is  overwhelming.  the  scent  in  her  sheets,  the  cat  that  keeps  coming  in  and  out,  the  star  light  she  turned  on  in  an  effort  to  calm  him  down.  nathan  pushes  himself  into  a  sitting  position  and  quietly  sneaks  out  of  the  room,  pausing  in  the  family  room  to  dig  through  his  backpack  in  an  effort  to  find  his  pack  of  cigarettes.  he’s  outside  and  sitting  on  the  front  stoop  in  just  a  few  minutes,  nursing  a  marlboro  red  and  finding  actual  peace  for  the  first  time  today  in  the  harsh  burning  forming  in  his  throat.

he  cradles  his  head  in  his  hand,  elbow  digging  into  the  flesh  of  his  thigh,  and  he  closes  his  eyes.  all  of  his  brain  power  is  being  used  to  quiet  his  thoughts,  and  he  doesn’t  even  notice  the  door  opening  behind  him.  he  jumps  when  arms  snake  around  his  midsection,  but  a  glance  behind  him  to  the  blonde  head  tucked  against  his  shoulder blade  calms  him  down.

the chase space is setting up an exhibition dedicated to queer artists, and victoria has lost sleep for weeks thinking of how to perfect her submission. between studying for finals and organizing the last vortex club party of their junior year, she sits at her desk in her dorm in complete darkness, face illuminated by her laptop screen. google’s stark white background is simultaneously keeping her awake and giving her a migraine, but she’s nearly fifteen pages deep into the results for her search of LGBT artists and she shows no signs of stopping.

the chase space is run by her parents. though it took convincing, they approved of her puberty blockers, then her estrogen, but victoria feels paralyzed. she is seen as their daughter and though it took some time the support now is unwavering, but applying for this exhibition is terrifying. it would be coming out all over again, not only to her mom and dad but to anybody viewing the exhibition. what if a classmate went to the gallery over summer break? is this the first exhibition victoria wants on her resume? is she ready to accept this part of herself and wear it like a badge of honor her entire adult life?

almost as if rachel could sense the tension, the text message comes in from the right side of the laptop screen.  im on the beach rn and im hella bored. r u busy?

victoria’s first sleep-deprived thought is  don’t you have some other plaything to ask?  but she stops herself. green eyes look at the time again, and victoria’s keys on her coffee table beckon her attention. she shuts her eyes tight, sucks in a breath that inflates her whole chest, and types back a response. in just a few minutes she’s dressed in something cheap and tucking her keys into her cardigan pocket. though june was steadily approaching the beach gets cold at night, victoria has learned her lesson from multiple vortex bonfires.

when she parks, the sight ahead of her makes her pause. the only other car parked on the beach is frank’s shady rv, which victoria made a point of parking as far away from it as she could, but rachel’s figure is silhouetted by the moonlight. waning gibbous reflected into the pacific ocean, victoria looks at the camera in her passenger’s seat and rolls her lips into a line. she pulls the DSLR from the bag, standing up and taking a picture of the scene before shutting the car door and approaching rachel.

soft action prompts, always accepting

❛   ooh, are you done with this?   ❜

ever the overflowing source for compassion and assistance, mae leans over and picks an orange mixing bowl up from in front of their best friend. quickly throwing themselves on top of the counter next to the designated working space, they throw their legs up criss-cross underneath them while moving a finger across the curved sides of the bowl. the look from bea is not as searing as previous ones thrown mae’s way, but it’s scalding enough to bring mae’s big amber eyes from the bowl to lock with bea’s.   ❛   what?   ❜   they smile, sucking the brownie batter off of their finger before dipping it back in the smears left behind and offering the finger to their friend. when bea shoves her head away from them, mae can’t help but laugh.

❛   you can’t tell me that i didn’t help you enough,   ❜   they begin speaking with their finger in their mouth before popping it out and ripping a paper towel from the roll resting to their left side. mae wipes their finger clean before putting the mixing bowl in the sink.   ❛   if you didn’t come over to do this, you would’ve never gotten to use the skull baking pan my mom bought for no reason. well, it wasn’t for no reason, she was reading some book about this gardener who was also a serial killer and she buried the bodies in her greenhouse because they fertilized her plants. and then when police raided her house they found that she was using a human skull as a flower pot. then my mom bought the brownie pan, i think she wanted to use it for the church potlucks but i had to tell her that it probably wouldn’t go over well.   ❜