trans_9 | [Second Life] Pulling at my Skin (Revelations Post)

Entry tags:

[Second Life] Pulling at my Skin (Revelations Post)

It was inevitable for all of them. Something would push them, there would be cracks, and then the truth would find its way in.

How it changed for each of them would be different, but the end result would be the same.

The world would change.

Because they would change.

[ooc: I figured out a really good way to organize this with help from chat rather than a big messy communal post or spamming the comm with individual posts. Post each character with a blank tag with just the character's name in the subject. Underneath it, run as many subthreads for events as you need to set up for your specific character's change back. Hiccup's will be up as an example.]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

The party was...the party wasn't what he'd expected it to be. Big party, lots of cliques mixing, lots of crowds together--there'd been parties like that before. Sometimes, you could go to a party and find other nerds. Sometimes even if you wound up alone, you could go and just...stand by the wall the whole time and nothing would happen, until you decided to leave.

He shouldn't have gone to the party. He shouldn't have tried to have fun, especially since by now his parents might have noticed he'd left home after getting grounded over that cigarette thing. He shouldn't have thought a girl like Astrid could like him. He shouldn't have thought--he shouldn't have thought a lot of things.

And now he kept hallucinating, too, like the night at the pageant, and when he was with that other kid, Jamie. He was seeing things. He didn't really care why, he had no desire to dig around and try to find out the truth, he just sort of assumed he was going crazy or something. Harold didn't care enough to find out reasons.

It was a cold night to be walking home through town alone, especially with his gut all clenched up with self-loathing and mortifying embarrassment, and his shirt and hair drenched with beer. He'd left his coat back at the party, so now, even despite the fact he normally did fine in the cold, his teeth were chattering and he was shaking.

As he went over the walkway of the small bridge over the creek that separated the main part of the town from the residential area that he lived in, he stopped for a moment, his hands on the railing until the cold made them numb. The bridge was empty this late at night. The wind was stronger here, and before long, he felt numb all over. His skin was too cold to feel anything, other than the breeze itself.

The stars were out, and the moon was nearly full. That breeze--that cold breeze was a nice feeling even as it left him shivering. Somehow it made him think of the ocean, of wind coming down from mountains, even though he hardly knew what mountains were like. For a moment, he just closed his eyes and felt the breeze on his face.

Then he had a strange idea in his head, that it'd feel even better if he climbed on the railing. The drop wasn't that far. He knew he could possibly drown or wind up with hypothermia or something, but it seemed like such a distant possibility that it didn't matter. It was a bit of a struggle, because of his leg, and twice, he almost slipped and fell, but one of the vertical railings that went up to the bridge supports made it so he could pull himself up.

Nearly slipping again, he managed to get more solid footing and just stood there, looking out on the creek below, looking at the stars and the moon, and for a moment, standing here like this with nothing really immediately below him, and nothing in front him but open sky, it almost seemed like flying.

Closing his eyes again, he just stood there, most of his body numb, and felt the breeze threading through his clothes, and pretended he was miles over the ground.

Edited 2010-12-25 06:16 (UTC)

It was about 3 am when he tried his best to sneak through the back door. He could see the light of the TV flickering in the living room, but this time of night, it was just Gladys having fallen asleep watching the shopping network. With any luck, he could go up the narrow stairs he hated to walk up that led to the upstairs from the kitchen, and then his bedroom was right there to the right.

He wouldn't avoid getting in trouble--they had to know he was gone by now, but if he could get to his room and lock the door, after a few cursory fist-slams, his dad would give up, and probably be at least a little cooled off by the morning.

That was the plan.

So when he walked in, he really wasn't expecting the kitchen light to suddenly flick on like it did.

Edited 2010-12-31 08:59 (UTC)

"Fly."

Of all people, the mayor was there, just standing there where he hadn't been a moment before, in a way that made it very clear to Harold that he was imagining this.

After all, why Mayor Westling of all people?

"You can. You know you can. You dream about it all the time."

People couldn't fly, though.

"You can."

It was a completely irrational thought, and it might not have been one he'd have had if he hadn't been dangerously close to hypothermia.

Then again, maybe he'd have thought it anyway.

"Let go."

Maybe he would fly. Maybe all the dreams meant something, maybe none of this was real, and he'd wake up, somewhere else.

Harold looked back at the water, and then back at the mayor, only to find he was gone.

Then he closed his eyes again.

Headlights in the distance got brighter as an SUV approached from the same direction as town. For a moment, it seemed as if it was going to pass right by before stopping, but then it rolled to a stop.

Was that - that was Harold. Kang knew this kid; they'd talked in his office a few times before. While the kid never really opened up before, even with prodding, he'd never thought that things were bad enough for Harold to consider suicide. Cellphone at the ready just in case, he left the vehicle running and got out, wincing slightly at his knee.

"Harold, what are you doing?"

There was a moment where he was completely silent, eyes still closed. Maybe he wasn't sure Kang was actually real after just seeing the mayor there.

But he opened his eyes and glanced over. Oddly, he didn't seem nervous or upset at all, other than the shivering, but that was from the cold.

Looking back out at the sky, he said, "Just...standing here."

That silence, and that calm, was very unnerving. Kang slowly moved closer, pulling his own coat tighter around him, "On the bridge, in the middle of the night, without a jacket? You're going to freeze to death."

"I forgot my jacket at the party."

As Kang got closer he'd be able to smell the alcohol. Harold reeked of it. Silence, for a moment longer.

"I'm not going to jump. At least I don't think so. If that's what you think I'm doing."

A pause.

"The breeze, and the sky, and the river...makes this feel like flying."

It did, almost.

"You ever do something stupid, like climb into some really high tree branches just to get closer to the sky, even though you knew it was dangerous?"

That's what this felt more like. He thought.

The weird thing was, if he'd just hallucinated the mayor, that meant that was in his own head, some part of his subconscious that wanted him to jump, but he didn't really want to jump. He kind of wanted to tell the mayor to stuff it, but the hallucination was gone now so he couldn't.

"Did you forget it because you left in a hurry?" Kang asked, voice quiet. He could tell from how strong the smell of alcohol was that it wasn't all on Harold's breath, and he could see the stains on the boy's clothing. In fact, he was able to see things much more clearly in the dark than a normal human could, and hadn't noticed it yet.

He let out a sigh, resting his arms on the railing of the bridge next to Harold and looking out at the stars, "I've done a lot of stupid, dangerous things over the years."

"Yeah. I had--I had to leave."

What wasn't said there was what was telling.

Edited 2010-12-25 07:24 (UTC)

Kang shivered at a gust of wind, thinking to himself. "...it's really cold out here. How about we get in the car, where it's warm? I can give you a ride home."

"I don't really want to go home right now."

"Then how about you come over to my house for something warm to drink? Felicia makes the best hot chocolate in town," Kang offered. He was really worried about Harold.

The walk back from the party was an uncomfortable one. After the eggnog incident, Donald had taken off without a word - and had taken the car with him. Jamie had been forced to walk, his winter coat doing little to prevent the chill from seeping into his bones. And it did nothing to prevent the flashes of...well, he wasn't sure what they were. Almost like memories, but not of things Jamie ever remembered seeing.

A flash of a man, with kindly eyes and a mop of rumpled hair, wearing an equally rumpled oversized coat and a bow tie.

One of a second man, a sailor of some sort, and a tall, long-legged beanpole of a girl.

Another girl, kind and beautiful in a way that made his heart feel strangely tight in his chest.

A third girl, a wee slip of a thing too smart for her own good.

A blue box that was bigger on the inside than on the outside, and a ship larger than a moon...

He shook his head violently for a moment, trying to get the flashes to stop. When he opened his eyes, he saw McCrimmon Music in the distance, and what looked like his father's car parked in front of it. It was still a bit off, but still closer than home. And it was warm. He could make a cup of tea before heading home. And if his father was there, well, he would deal with it then. He hurried his steps, changing direction to head towards the shop.

Edited 2010-12-25 07:57 (UTC)

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 1 of 8

[Second Life] Pulling at my Skin (Revelations Post)

Hiccup

A Long Walk [Warnings for semi-suicidal/depression stuff]

"You need to stop all... this." [WARNING: for verbal and physical abuse]

Nanoha

Kang

Jamie McCrimmon

Kate Bishop

Fate T. Harlaown

Tavros Nitram

Starfire

Peter Parker

Cargn Thane

Tenaya

Re: A Long Walk [Warnings for semi-suicidal/depression stuff]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

The Past That Never Was