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No One Mourns The Wicked

Smithbrook

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a part of No One Mourns The Wicked, by partially-stars.

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partially-stars holds sovereignty over Smithbrook, giving them the ability to make limited changes.

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Smithbrook

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Smithbrook is a part of No One Mourns The Wicked.

11 Characters Here

Iggy Ramone [16] "Don't blame me, I have hippie parents,"
Spence Heath [16] "My tongue's turning black, but I'll take you back."
Jude Ahn [16] "Just take your vape and leave."
Maggie Kenneth [14] Is the right thing always really the right thing?
James Goldsmith [14] "I have seen eternity, I swear, but it was in a dream and in the morning all was gone."
Rosemary Scott [12] "I'll never be free."
Anne Preacher [9] "Take me back to my beginning, Before the hell of night set in"
Audrey Ruth Jefferson [4] "Some secrets are too hard to keep."
Oliver Pierce [2] "His mind was like an ocean and I was drowning in the secrets of its depths."
Cameron Knight [2] "Reckless boy, you're going to get yourself in trouble."

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Setting

3 Characters Present

Character Portrait: Cameron Knight Character Portrait: Spence Heath Character Portrait: Iggy Ramone
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"You sure you're okay, love? One of us can cancel our trips, come get you if it's all too much," his mother said. "Yeah, I was planning on staying in town for another little while anyway. Still have a few people I want to catch up with and so on," he replied, running his free hand through his hair. Both his mom and his dad had been called away on sudden business trips, a few days before he was supposed to fly home. Honestly, it suited him to the ground. As strange and unsettling as being back in town was, he was seeing friends he hadn't seen in years, and he'd take that. "Okay, well, I'll have my mobile, as will your father, so call us if you need us, okay? And enjoy yourself, honey. I'll talk to you when I get back," she said. "I will, Mom. You relax and don't be worrying about me, okay?"

"Your father says if you ruin the house with any parties, you're paying for renovations, by the way," she added, and Spence laughed. "Fair enough. Bye, mom," he said, rolling his eyes as she said her goodbyes on the other end. His parents had had the initiative to do up the family home and rent it out after they moved. They were currently between tenants, so instead of having to stay in a hotel, he had the house to himself. At times, it was lonely, but it also meant that he could stay as long as he liked.

Dressed in a leather jacket and jeans, he double checked himself before heading out of the house. He'd had a few days where his mental state had been shaky at best, so now that stability had returned, he was finally getting to meet up with some of the others.

To: Iggy
Starbucks, ten minutes? :D


To: Cam
Meeting Iggy for coffee now, but you feel like hanging out later?

Setting

3 Characters Present

Character Portrait: Spence Heath Character Portrait: Audrey Ruth Jefferson Character Portrait: Iggy Ramone
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IGGY RAMONE



Town | Morning
Clothes
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Iggy was laying in her annex room, sat on the edge of her bed, already full dressed but with a sombre look. She'd dreamt about Frances the previous night, he'd be nearly one by now. She could imagine him, tall and scrawny but wit the same blonde curls she naturally had and it brought tears to her eyes to think about him growing up without her. She was pathetic. Lying to everyone because she'd been too scared to admit the truth. She hoped some how Frances knew she loved him, she prayed that he had the same kind of sense she did and knew somewhere across the state, he had a Mother that truly loved him. She sighed heavily, her shoulders shaking a little but before any tears could began tumbling past her eyes.

Her phone lit up besides her. She expected it to be Jude or Audrey but it wasn't.

It was Spence.

Just seeing his name kind of made her breath catch.

She loved Spence, as a friend and maybe to some degree like she used to as well but seeing him was always hard and left her feeling slightly hollow but she had to get use to it. He was back in town, there was no avoiding him and she still wanted him in her life, so she had to man up a bit more.

She checked herself in the mirror and took a deep breath. She pulled on her velvet black boots and looked at herself in the mirror. She wasn't ashamed of who she was but she wished what she could see behind her eyes was different, less dark.

To: Spence
Sure thing, Spence. I'll be there as soon as I can be.

'Soon as I can be', she reconsidered those words but she'd already clicked send. Living in the centre of town, she could be there in three minutes but she felt the need to prolong it so she didn't look eager or keen. She needed everything to be perfectly casual or realistically, everything would just fall apart again.

To: Audrey
Hey babe, sorry I know it's early. But I'm shitting myself. Spence wants to meet up, it's been a while. I don't know how to be and fuck- any ideas? Any advice?!?!

She trusted Audrey with these things, hence she messaged her first but she was very, very anxious as she walked out the front door. Both her parents were already at work, so she had no body to answer to or explain anything to. So she walked down to Starbucks straight away, taking her time with her steps and putting her earphones in so she could listen to Iggy Pop and the Stooges as she went.

Setting

4 Characters Present

Character Portrait: Rosemary Scott Character Portrait: James Goldsmith Character Portrait: Oliver Pierce Character Portrait: Iggy Ramone
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Last night she had another nightmare. It always starts the same, her father screaming at the top of his lungs and calling her name. She was hiding in her room, praying to God for some mercy. Her father barged in and picked her up by her shirt. She had no idea that he was this strong. Then the beating began, for the first time he had hit her on the face. She couldn't scream or call for help, otherwise she would get an even worse beating. Whenever she woke up from her nightmares, her roommate Hailey would comfort her. Hailey was like her replacement for James, one of her childhood best friends. She was also certain that two could have started dating if it weren't for 'the phone call.'

That phone call forced her to make a leave of absence from UCLA so she could pay her respects, and return to the town that haunted her. She had spent the night in the local motel, but she only had enough money for one night. There was no way she could stay with her father. Every time she entered that neighborhood, she wouldn't work properly. It was so emotionally scarring that she couldn't keep herself together. Perhaps she could ask some of her old friends? Oliver would be willing, but they kind of grew apart and she was scared to talk to him. Iggy was out of the question. The girl was like a time bomb waiting to erupt, she wouldn't want to see Rose at all.

Then it hit her, James would be willing to help her out. He knew what her dad was like and understood how much pain she went through. He'd be willing to let her stay. There was a problem with that though, James lived near her father's house and if he were to ever find out that she was home. There would be hell to pay.

As she walked down one of the main streets, she pulled out her Samsung Galaxy. Rose was certainly not an Apple person, so she was teased often for having an Android. She clicked on James' contact name. They hadn't contacted each other for at least three years and that made her nervous.

To James:
Hey James, are you still in town? I was hoping that we could meet up at our old spot at the park. :)

It took her five minutes to send the message, mostly because she couldn't force herself to press send. She blamed her father for making her so socially awkward and anxious. The fact that she couldn't even text, which wasn't even face to face, concluded that she had a problem.

Setting

2 Characters Present

Character Portrait: Rosemary Scott Character Portrait: James Goldsmith
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James did not know how to feel about being home. He didn't think he'd ever return. It was too dangerous, the cops had said. That night, a few had looked at him with pity, but most treated it as matter-of-fact. He was lucky he hadn't gone to jail. What had he expected when he started dealing and later turned snitch? If his suppliers ever found him, they'd kill him.

Yet, it had been hard to leave everyone behind. So hard. On one hand, he didn't need to look Spence in the eyes and take responsibility for his role in turning him into an addict. On the other hand, he'd have to leave his family behind along with his other close friends. Rosemary stood out in that regard. He wanted to confess to her his feelings the night he left, but he couldn't. He had delayed it so many times in the past until it was too late. She deserved better than an ex-drug dealer who was lucky to have his GED.

Yet, he had always been selfish. That was why he had left the awkward dinner conversation at his parents' house and sat on his favorite old swing in the park. The chains were rusting and he wouldn't trust swinging on it now, but it brought to mind a time where everything was so much brighter. That was him being retrospective, though. Rose's father was a bastard. It wasn't a good time for her. Still, he texted her.

To Rosemary:
I'm at the usual spot... Will you come see me?


A better man wouldn't have sent it, but James wasn't a better man. He fiddled for his cigarettes in his jacket, but her jerked his hand away. Not here.

Setting

1 Characters Present

Character Portrait: Maggie Kenneth
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Maggie sat on the floor against her bed. Her legs were scrunched up to her chest and she was going through old photo albums. Coming back for the funeral had been an interesting return. A return to her childhood almost. Every street seemed to hold some type of story, good or bad. And every house the same. She'd even taken the time to visit her high school and share new stories with old teachers. There was one single memory of high school Maggie despised, among the many. That memory was her friend Kim and Kim's family. The house they had once lived in was now owned by an older couple and had been completely renovated. However, the memory still lingered and Maggie refused to drive past the house.

Being back in her childhood room and looking through the endless photos her mom had some how crammed into 3 beige colored scrapbooks was bringing back the many memories of what her life had been life before. Before Kim, before Maggie worked for the government, before she knew how to work a 2016 data processor and analyzer. On one page of the book, it must have been from 4th grade, was a photo of Jude Ahn in a skeleton Halloween costume, on either side of him was Maggie, and Anne Preacher. Each child was holding a plastic bucket and smiling at the camera.

"This must have been taken before we were taught about personal space..."
Maggie mumbled to herself, raising an eye brow at how tight the group has squeezed together to fit into the frame. With a slight scrunch of her nose Maggie closed the book tightly and slid it under her bed along with the other 2 that lay next to her. She pushed herself up off the ground sliding across the carpet and to the stairs. "Hey Mom, I'm going to walk to the library, okay I'll be back later, whenever.... I'll text you!" She called out towards the computer room.

Throwing a jacket on over her red sweater she pushed open the front door and was met with a soft breeze of spring air. Going to the library had been one of Maggie's most treasured past times. It was only a 10 minute walk away from books, upon books, upon books. And she wanted to check up on the local librarians, see if they were up to date on all of her favorite genres.

Setting

3 Characters Present

Character Portrait: Spence Heath Character Portrait: Audrey Ruth Jefferson Character Portrait: Iggy Ramone
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Audrey was anxious about coming home. Her daughter was there and she'd left because she couldn't handle only being a sister to the girl when she knew the truth. Knowing that she would grow up thinking Audrey was her sister tore Audrey apart. If she ever found out the truth it would crush her parents relationship with her. After the birth she didn't even want to see the baby but her mother forced her to hold her. Giving her up was the hardest thing she could have done but there was nothing she could do, she wasn't ready to raise a child. The only good that came out of it was that the child was with her parents. Audrey didn't even want to know her name, she'd allowed her mother to name her.

There was no way she'd be staying with her parents but they insisted. So there she was sitting in her room. She'd been avoiding the baby, Maya who was now 2. When Audrey first showed up it was like meeting Maya for the first time. She instantly fell in love with the girl all over again but she knew no one could know the truth not after all these years of her lying. She avoided the child as much as possible but it proved useless. It was like Maya knew who Audrey was and wanted to be around her constantly.

Her room door slid open and a little girl in a pink onesie with clouds on it came crawling into her room. Audrey sat in front of her bed on the floor and picked her up, plopping her in her lap. "You know, a closed door means stay out," She cooed tot he girl and she let her play with her fingers. It was hard to get the thought that Maya belonged to her out of her head, it was much easier to forget when she was away.

She watched Maya play with her fingers until she felt her phone buzz under her butt. "Well girly, play times over." She said gently taking her hands away from the girl and placed her on the floor next to her. She pulled out her phone and read the text. Iggy and Spence dated after high school and ended up breaking up. Iggy never told Audrey why but she could guess it was the same reason Audrey and Spence's friendship went sour.

To Iggy
Just be yourself, and be cautious.

The last of the statement was regarding Iggy's feelings toward Spence. Audrey didn't know what made him become so distant back then but she also didn't know if whatever it was is still going on. She didn't want Iggy to get her hopes up of their old flame burning again.

Setting

2 Characters Present

Character Portrait: Anne Preacher Character Portrait: James Goldsmith
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The back seat of her car was definitely not the best place to sleep, particularly when you had taken up temporary residence in the parking lot of a greasy diner beloved by every teenager in Smithbrook who believed slamming on her car windows as they passed by on their late night food runs to be the height of hilarity. A four-day drive followed immediately by a funeral and police interrogation had a way of lowering one's standards, it seemed.

Anne lay there on a pile of jackets and animal print blankets, watching a bee that had landed on her window clean its antennae. She reached up and pressed one finger to her side of the glass so it looked as if the bee were sitting on her finger, then withdrew it when the worker bee flew off.

She sat up, trying to shake off the weight which came following barely 3 hours of what could generously be called "rest." She yawned and stretched the best she could in the enclosed space, blinked her eyes a few times in a vain attempt to clear the fog from her mind, then climbed up to the front seat of the black truck she called her own. She settled into the driver's seat, one hand digging through her messenger bag for her keys and instead wrapping around her phone. She yawned again, juggling whether to toss it back in her bag for a moment before deciding to just bite the bullet.

Two messages from her boss, the first offering sympathy for her loss and the second letting her know he'd managed to work the schedule so she had the full month off. Fully 36 texts and voice mails from her parents, who had been forced to learn of her homecoming through her arrival at the police station and were very offended that she hadn't thought to call ahead. Nothing yet from Oli or Jude, though she imagined that wouldn't take long to change, and at least 3 drunk texts from James that she hadn't read yet, from almost a month ago. She figured this was a good place to start.

To: Drunkpants the Sexually Misaligned
>>>Father Annie sent a link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tortricidae
sorry for the late response i was busy bangin girls

Was that a good way to start up after a friend's funeral? Her thumb wavered over the "send" button for a moment before ultimately deciding to go for it. Maybe he'd appreciate the humor. She turned her attention to the mass of messages from her parents, thinking up how to respond.

"Sorry I was-" No.

"I meant to-" Nah.

To: Mom and Dad
Did my text not go through?

They wouldn't buy that for a moment, but at least they wouldn't mention it again. She scratched the back of her neck, feeling a bit guilty about lying.

From: Mom
Oh, that must be it! Why don't you get a new phone already? Hurry home, see you soon, love you lots <3

And that was the end of it, save the disappointed look that would come when her mother thought Anne wouldn't be able to see it. She tucked her phone back into her bag and grabbed her keys. She let them rest in the ignition for a moment, honestly considering just turning and driving back to California before turning out onto the street and heading for the nearest liquor store. Maybe a bottle of wine would save her from that look her mother planned to send.

Setting

4 Characters Present

Character Portrait: Anne Preacher Character Portrait: Cameron Knight Character Portrait: Iggy Ramone Character Portrait: Jude Ahn
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From his perspective Smithbrook was trapped in a cycle of monotony, and since his arrival he had sought out antidotes to cure the periods of nothingness, however being questioned by the police did break his expectations a bit – it was certainly a unique follow-up to the funeral. Unfortunately for the investigators he had a strong alibi that included video footage (a few vines to be precise) of him in Seattle, exploring the city (or the city’s party scene), and the novelty quickly wore off as the implications of the investigation settled within him.

In Smithbrook's downtown Jude sat outside of a locally owned café situated right across from the infamous Starbucks (though he did love a good green tea frappuccino) where he drank an Americano with a cigarette nestled in between his index and middle finger, brow furrowed and lips pressed into a thin, anxious line. Maybe it was the funeral that upset him, and the espresso did little to sooth the uncertainly churning within his stomach, and he slowly came to terms that another person he had known passed away – and this time due what seemed to be a murder. Is this what it meant to grow up? To continue crossing paths with the ugliest things in life?

He inhaled another lung full of smoke, seeking to clear his mind of tragedy, and he looked to his phone, the nuances of impatience making him check the clock every thirty seconds. He had already texted Cameron about his current whereabouts in hopes that he would crawl out of whatever hole he dug himself into to hang out a bit (though since last summer they were doing that a lot anyways – but still, he was bored, and couldn’t stand being alone for too long). If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again, and cursing the day’s awful, brain rotting dullness he began to send out a series of texts.

To: Cam
ohhhh my god where the fuck are you [[gun emoji]] i’m losing it over here. the most entertaining thing out here are the old folks squading up at starbucks and even that gets boring after 5 minutes.

To: Original G Anne
so i get back into town right and then the cops brought me in for questioning like i'm a potential killer and this is csi miami. did you get a similar welcoming or am i all alone in this?

To: Iggy-Pop 2.0
this town is ass hahah

To: Iggy-Pop 2.0
but if we don’t party here again for old-times sake then i’m about to be pissed. let’s make this happen [[peace sign emoji]]

Groaning, Jude locked his iPhone screen, returning to the rich depths of the Americano and his occasional hobby of people watching, observing the coming-and-goings of the elderly crowd beginning to disperse across the street. If everyone was too busy doing fuck-all today then he would conjure up some plan from the recesses of his maddened impulses, and he briefly thought of the people he used to know. Maggie would be a no go, she was probably a straight-edge professional by now. There was Rose and Audrey, but he hadn’t spoken to either of them in ages – and there was James, but the guy dropped off the face of the Earth, so chances were he wasn’t about to show up here. He paused in his musing, thoughts wandering over to Oliver – that could be an option – but his stomach twisted and sank, and he brushed the idea away from now, ashing his cigarette on the railing.

Setting

2 Characters Present

Character Portrait: Spence Heath Character Portrait: Iggy Ramone
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He'd already left the house when Iggy's text came back in, and he found himself grinning like an idiot at her reply. He'd honestly missed her since leaving town- she'd been his confidante, the one person he'd been able to be completely honest with. Even when they'd broken up because of his problems, she'd still been his best friend. And no matter how bad he'd gotten, she'd never ran away or ditched him. That made it hard to fully get over her- but his feelings had gotten complicated in the mean time. But if nothing else, they could still be friends.

He could feel people's eyes on him as he walked, and his hand tightened around his keys in his pocket. He knew that it was probably all in his imagination, or that they were just trying to recognise if it was him or not- but he couldn't shake the feeling that they all knew. About his OD, about the addiction, about everything that had come with it... And even though he knew that he looked healthy again, he also was afraid that they were seeing the old him, the skeleton, the addict.

But as soon as he saw Iggy, he felt like his whole body lit up. He couldn't shake the grin off of his face as he held his arms open for a hug before he even said hello.

Setting

2 Characters Present

Character Portrait: Spence Heath Character Portrait: Iggy Ramone
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IGGY RAMONE



Town | Morning
Clothes
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Iggy hadn't intended on arriving first but there she was sat on a burgundy sofa in a small coffee shop she used to know really well, she'd befriended the waitresses back in high school, she knew her favourite drink and even her favourite seat but it was all different now and the staff had changed. She sat there listening to David Bowie, she had 'Rebel, Rebel.' on repeat, it was one of her favourites but even that didn't even begin to calm her nerves. She read Audrey's text and considered it a few times and the girl was right, she should be cautious really for her own sake. He could have changed entirely, it'd been years since they last spoke but before she could text back or even read Jude's message, her head had swung up because she heard the coffee shop door open and she noticed Spence, grinning like a fool and she couldn't help but mirror expression. She wanted to be cool and guarded but they'd been too close, missed each other too much and apart too long for her to be rational in how she approached the reunion.

He didn't look any different to her, healthier than when she'd last seen him but the little things were the same. Her breath caught a bit but despite herself, upon noticing his open arms she'd dived up onto her feet to walk over and embrace him. She didn't let go of him, the hug was far from casual or collected but she didn't mind. Iggy was a physical person and she didn't know how else to tell Spence how big the whole in life had been without him around and how much she'd missed him, she didn't understand how to explain those emotions so instead she tried to show it with her actions, her touch; like she always had.

When they pulled away at last, she looked at him properly and sighed a little as it all dawned on her.

"You look great Spence," She told him gently, genuinely proud and over joyed to see him looking so much healthier and he seemed happy. She couldn't say if it was real, temporary or he lived this happily now but right then in that moment, she was fairly convinced he was genuinely happy again. "God, I've missed you Spence," She mumbled unashamed. "Did you get taller? You seem a bit taller," She thought out loud with a glimmering smile on her lips.

She hadn't realised how happy seeing Spence again would make her. It never occurred to her what it'd be like to see him again, she'd just kind of accepted he was gone and she should get over it; make new friends, find new love and she tried. There was Jude and Audrey but nothing had been the same as what they'd had, as friends and as a couple. Her phone vibrated twice, with messages from Jude but she didn't read them; she was distracted by a reunion with who, in the simplest of terms had ultimately been her first love.

Setting

2 Characters Present

Character Portrait: Rosemary Scott Character Portrait: James Goldsmith
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It took five minutes for Rosemary to check her phone after James had messaged her. She cursed herself for being so anxious. It was just a stupid text, why did it matter? Once she calmed herself down, she opened the message app. Her heart skipped a beat. Seeing James again would be great; maybe she would find out why he left. She took a deep breath, and began to type her response:

To James:
Yeah! I can't wait to see you.

Was that too formal? She felt if she put another smiley face at the end, it would look weird. Rose was always socially awkward. She decided against it and quickly pressed send before she could stop herself. She wasn't far from the park luckily, so she could get there in about five minutes. She took off into a run, almost tripping over her heels. Shit, not a good idea. She took a deep breath and continued at a slower pace.

When she finally reached the park. Her gaze darted around the park. There were so many memories here, memories that she would never forget. This was where she fell in love with James. But she had idea if he had feelings for her. She didn't know herself, her heart was shattered by the previous boy. But there was a small bit of hope in her, James was never mean to her. She walked on the sidewalk towards the swings. She inhaled sharply and took a seat on the swing next to him.

Her heart was pounding faster than a drum and she was shaking. What was she supposed to say? She chewed on her lower lip, figiding in her seat. "H-Hi," she stammered, silently cursing her stutter. She turned her head towards her childhood friend with a small smile on her visage, "I haven't seen you in forever."

Setting

2 Characters Present

Character Portrait: Rosemary Scott Character Portrait: James Goldsmith
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During the short time he waited for her to arrive, James couldn't help but worry. It had been some time since he last saw her. Things must have changed. She was in college, away from her asshole father and going places while he had been spending his days hiding out in a bar under an assumed name. What was his reaching out for her but a foolish hope for to have what could never be his?

Yet, there she was, taking a seat next to him like no time had passed. His heart sped up like it had that time in 6th Grade, when he had suddenly realized just why she was special to him. He smiled at her.

"Rose," he murmured, "It's been too long."

He looked her over. She was even more beautiful than he remembered, but her nervous fidgeting was undeniably Rosemary. He placed a hand on her shoulder like he used to do, the movement familiar and unconscious, "How have you been?"

Setting

1 Characters Present

Character Portrait: Audrey Ruth Jefferson
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After sending the text Audrey looked down at the baby who, weirdly, was staring at her with her big brown eyes. Audrey never thought brown could be described as bright until now. With a sigh she snapped out of her trance, picked up the child and left the room. Making sure the door was closed before heading down stairs to the living room where she knew her parents were. "Aw, look at you two spending time together." Her mother said with a sly smile. "You brought her to my room didn't you?"

"Of course. You need to get to know her Audrey. You can't avoid her like this." Audrey placed Maya on her mother's lap "I'm going for a walk." She said and went into the front hall to grab her jacket. But as she was leaving out the door she heard her parents discussing her. "I told you not to do that to the poor girl, Mary. Her father said in his deep voice, Audrey always found it comforting even if she was in trouble. "Audrey is her mother. She needs to have a relationship with her."

"Well, she obviously doesn't want one."

"No, I know she does. I'm a mother, I know." Audrey couldn't stay and listen to any more of the conversation and stepped out onto the porch being sure to slam the door behind her. She didn't know where she was going to go but she sure as hell didn't want to be at home. She and her mother had made a deal, now it seemed her mom didn't want to keep the deal. Honestly Audrey wasn't sure about the deal in the first place but she knew how hard it would be to raise a kid without a college degree.

Setting

4 Characters Present

Character Portrait: Anne Preacher Character Portrait: James Goldsmith Character Portrait: Oliver Pierce Character Portrait: Jude Ahn
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Anne heard her phone buzz inside her bag, but didn't pick it up until she was parked in front of the Liquor Plus. Liquor plus what? Who could say. She took her phone out, checked the lock screen to see who it was from, then stuck it back in her bag. She grabbed the strap of her messenger bag and opened her door, pushing it through the sepia-toned man who had been staring through her window the whole drive from the diner. She stepped out of her car and slung the bag over her shoulder, then walked up to the liquor store.

A bell rang as she walked in, that same little chime all cheap liquor stores seem to have on their door. She moved to look through the small selection of wine kept on the shelf at the back away from the sunlight filtering through the glass front door, taking out her phone again and unlocking it.

To: Oliver (Not the Cat)
>does red or white wine say "sorry for not telling you i was coming home and then sleeping in my car for two days" better
>do you think theyll let me shower before the questions start or should i drive my car through the community pool on the way there

To: Unsaint Jude
>kinda similar, mine had a stretch limo and complementary caviar
>perks of being a cop kid i guess

In truth, Anne has been absolutely petrified when the officers had approached to take her in for questioning. She wasn't entirely sure how to explain that to anyone, though; not without hinting at something dark and deeply buried. Another thing to play pretend about, joy of joys.

She grabbed a random bottle of the shelf, realizing she'd been standing back there texting for almost five minutes. "Insomnia," the label read. Wasn't alcohol supposed to make people sleepy? Why would someone name their wine the exact opposite of what it actually did? She also somehow doubted this wine would be any good. Oh well. Maybe her late-working parents would appreciate the irony. Did they still work nights? They both had been before she left, but to be honest she wasn't entirely sure if they still had the same professions. Well, her dad was clearly still in law enforcement, considering his cop buddies had ratted her out, but she hadn't heard anything about what her mother was up to.

She purchased her dubious wine and left the store, taking a moment outside the driver's side door to thumb through her phone again. She'd seen a lot of old faces at the funeral, and it had only just occured to her that she didn't have any of their numbers. It didn't matter, not really, she hadn't spoken to any of them since high school, but... maybe it was simple nostalgia, but she felt she should at least say hi. For old time's sake, for...

She took a deep breath and leaned against her car, the bottle wrapped in a brown paper back hanging by the neck from two of her fingers. So Hannah was dead. The reality of it didn't so much hit her as settle heavily over her shoulders, like the fog which visited the town on early spring mornings. She found it difficult to recall their last conversation, or even what Hannah looked like outside the framed picture that had been resting on her casket. Had they ever really been close? Close enough for her to drive halfway across the country, close enough to take a full month off work, apparently, close enough to bring all those different faces back home, but she couldn't really recall why, or how. It made her feel guilty.

To: Unsaint Jude, Oliver (Not the Cat), Drunkpants the Sexually Misaligned

Actually, that name wasn't doing it for her anymore. she made a quick edit in the contact info.

To: Unsaint Jude, Oliver (Not the Cat), James from Team Rocket
feeling nostalgic, dont suppose you could set me up with everyones new phone numbers

With that, she opened her car door and got in the seat, setting the bottle down on the passenger-side floor. Time to head home! Yay.

Setting

3 Characters Present

Character Portrait: Anne Preacher Character Portrait: Maggie Kenneth Character Portrait: Jude Ahn
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With the Starbucks Old Folks Rendezvous nearly completely dissipated the world began to lose its color – his coffee was gone, the song birds stopped sounding beautiful, and his right leg continued to bounce up and down in impatience. No wonder he had spent his youth soaking his brain in alcoholic concoctions; the town was boring and without a hint of excitement during the daytime. He looked to his phone for solace and stood up, tempted to smoke another cigarette to ease his nerves – but he knew it wouldn’t actually do anything for him, and he began wandering down the street. Wherever he ended up was of no concern to him, if he could find himself somewhere that could at least hold his attention for more than a few minutes then he would be happy, and his footsteps echoed behind him.

To: Original G Anne
caviar? shameful. they could have at least given you something good smh

To: Original G Anne
uhhhh sure. you were cool with iggy right? here ya go [[ peace sign emoji ]]
[[ number shared : Iggy-Pop 2.0 ]]

Jude furrowed his brow, briefly considering all the other people he used to know, but for the most part contact dwindled to nothing and everyone moved on – if it wasn’t for the funeral chances are he wouldn’t have seen the vast majority of former ‘friends’ ever again (because he would rather die than attend a high school reunion). With his aimless wandering coming to an end he stood at the door to the local library, a place he never visited for its true purpose. Reading books while having dyslexia was more similar to torture than anything else, and the most use he got from the place was selling adderall between shelves and checking out outdated manuals that were only ever used to conceal something illegal. He glanced to his phone, slowly realizing that in reality he had nothing better to do, and entered the building, passing by the librarian and the groups of people he only vaguely recognized.

If anything maybe he would run into someone, and his eyes scanned the room for familiar faces, only to linger on a girl who had her head a book (this shouldn’t be surprising, he was in a goddamn library after all), yet for some reason his brain seemed to reel backwards, as if trying to dive in a pit of memories to remember why this girl seemed so striking.

“Maggie?” He said her name without thinking, astonished to see his childhood friend back in town – which again, shouldn’t be such a shock, but for some reason when they drifted apart he began to think that the girl had slipped into a world of her own, one where there’s logic and prestige, without anything messy and certainly no funerals. Nonetheless, there she was, and despite the years of silence between them Jude approached her, sitting down on the chair across from hers, a small coffee table separating them. “I guess everyone really did come back. Where did you go off too, anyways?” As always he immediately steered into conversation, genuinely curious about what had happened to her years after those blissful summers they shared as children.

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Character Portrait: Spence Heath Character Portrait: Iggy Ramone
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As her arms locked around him, he only felt his grin widen and the butterflies in his stomach kick into overdrive. It had been far, far too long. He'd really, really missed her. With his spell in rehab, he'd fallen out of contact with pretty much everyone. He'd considered getting back in contact with her- but at that time, he'd convinced himself that she wouldn't want to know him. It had taken him far too long to get out of that mindset. But now that he was here with her, he wished that he'd gotten in contact sooner.

At her comment, he shrugged a little, still grinning. He laughed at her comment about him getting taller. "Nah, I just stopped slouching. One of my..." He was about to say doctors, but stopped, remembering all the people around. "...teachers, he used to constantly comment on my posture. It got irritating," he added, laughing a little. In reality, it had come with his newfound self-confidence. Or that's what his therapist said.

"How are you? And don't bullshit me, it might have been a long time, but I can still tell when you're lying," he said, nudging her in the side as he pulled her towards the counter to order.

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Character Portrait: Maggie Kenneth Character Portrait: Jude Ahn
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Maggie comfortably found herself a place in the library with a book and a small ice tea from the library's cafe. She crossed one leg over the other and adjusting her glasses slightly, began with the book, instantly isolated from the world and thrown back in time to another world. Her fingers slowly parting each page from the next as she grew deeper and deeper into the novel. The white noise around her seemed to dissipate to nothing as the character's voices filled her head instead. From the corner of her eye though she saw feet and before she could lift her eyes to the person he called out her name. Maggie's eyes flicked up to meet his.

"Jude Ahn?" She said quickly as if pulling the name from a forgotten file cabinet in the back of her brain. Jude had been a childhood friend, a playmate of sorts for her younger years. Seeing him now was like some sort of time warp, they had been so little. What happened? Before she could look back down to her book he was coming around to sit across from her and start up a conversation. She slid a leather bookmark into the book and folded it gently.

"Well, after graduation I moved to Washington D.C. to attend Georgetown University and continue work with the FBI." She set her book down on the coffee table. "It's been a really good couple of years down there, Sophomore year has been really great so far. Thanks to the funeral, I got sometime off the come back." She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear "Nothing's changed!" She laughed genuinely smiling at her childhood friend. Jude had really grown to be an adult, or well look like one, Maggie couldn't say if he acted like one or not. She hadn't talked to him in years.

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Character Portrait: Spence Heath Character Portrait: Iggy Ramone
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IGGY RAMONE



Town | Morning
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Iggy couldn't quite believe she was with him, the warmth of his embrace had been missing from her life for years but it still felt so right she couldn't even express how it felt to be reunited with someone who'd been so, so important to her life before.

She laughed softly at his comment about not slouching and smiled at him gently.

"Ah, that'll be it then. I can remember saying it to you too
Now I think about it," She smiled gazing up at him, she was trying to be cool and calm but she'd missed him so much for such a long time it was hard to put it into context now and appreciate the reality of their situation. She knew she ought to be cautious because he was a drug addict at the end of the day and all her friends would tell her just that but she couldn't be.

It was Spence.

She turned her eyes up to him and earth overwhelmed her expression as he asked about and she didn't disbelieve him,so for that reason she steered clear of lies or understatements.

"Yeah, I've been okay. I mean it's been kind of lonely since moving out of tone but I'm okay," She sighed softly. The loneliness was because she missed Frances, Iggy has never been a girl who needed a lot of friends just one or two true ones would do her fine and she'd been lucky to always find one wherever in the world she went but she was always lonely, unless she had Frances in her arms she figured she always will be. In her mind she tried to pin point the last time she'd seen him, what had gone. It was after Frances was born and of course he knew what happened- everyone did and he'd been with her afterwards since she'd refused to tell anybody else but now it kind of broke her heart to think for one moment, she had all she needed- her best friend and her son.

Now she'd be lucky to have one.

You could see in her expression she'd become thoughtful but it was hard to tell if her thoughts were uplifting or damaging but she followed him to the counter and turned to face him again, trying to let her thoughts go as she ran her pale hands over her dress absentmindedly, playing with the hem.

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Character Portrait: Rosemary Scott Character Portrait: James Goldsmith
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At first, Rosemary felt repulsed. Every time someone would touch her shoulder or arm, she would flinch. After all the bruises and scars that had been laid on her arms, her arms were sensitive to touch. She had to remind herself that this was James, and he wasn't going to hit her. She chewed on the bottom of her lip, trying to figure out what to say. Her nerves were driving her crazy.

I-I know it has, J-James," she stammered nervously. She was trying to keep herself together, but there were already tears forming on her facial features. She reached up and wiped them with her hand, looking down at her lap. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

The next question really made her upset. How was she really? She spent her life in constant tragedy and she thought life would get better in college. It was a bumpy ride and she wanted to disconnect herself from everybody but Hannah had to pass away and ruin everything. "I don't know anymore," she responded truthfully. "I thought college would be better. But I ended up meeting a mini version of my dad," she continued. She hadn't opened up about what had been happening in years. She never thought she would even be saying this to James at all.

"When I think things get better, they get worse. No one wants me to be happy and I have to accept that," she uttered. She never thought she would have to say this, but it was true. Rosemary grew up on constant hate and criticism. There was no true happiness, only fake smiles with fake laughter to jokes that weren't even funny. That's how she got along in life. "I need to ask you something, can I stay at your place for the night? I don't have any money to stay another night in the motel and I sure as hell am not staying with my dad," her hand subconsciously moved towards the one that touched her shoulder, giving it a small squeeze. "Please?"

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Character Portrait: Rosemary Scott Character Portrait: James Goldsmith
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James felt his heart break as she listened to her words. Why? Why did she have to suffer like this? How could anyone not treat Rosemary like the goddess she was? He felt his fists clench themselves and he suddenly wanted to find whoever made her suffer and beat him to a pulp. James was easy-going by nature, but people who hurt Rose deserved no sympathy.

He gripped her hand and almost growled, "I won't let him hurt you again. Not him or anyone else."

It was his fault, he knew. If he hadn't started dealing drugs, he could have been there for her. He could have kept her safe. He stepped closer to her and, slowly hugged her. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable, but it felt wrong not to do this.

"You deserve to be happy. Of course you can stay with me. It'll be like old times."

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Character Portrait: Spence Heath Character Portrait: Iggy Ramone
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The past few years had been tough on all of them- it wasn't hard to see that Iggy was no exception to that. Leaving town had been easy for him- he'd been glad to leave everything behind in some ways. But Iggy had always been more sentimental than him.

As she finished speaking, he stepped up to the counter to order. "Hi, can I have a flat white? For Spence," he said, and the barista nodded, jotting down his name. He handed over the money and stepped back, glancing at Iggy. "Iggy, what're you having?" It was only then that he saw her expression. She was deep in thought, and not thinking about good things by the thought of it. He touched her arm gently. "Iggy, you okay?" he asked.

It was only then that he realised he had no clue what had gone down since he left. She said she was fine, that she was just lonely- but was that all? He couldn't blame her for not talking about it- after all, it wasn't like he'd been the best friend. Or boyfriend. He'd either been high, thinking about his next fix, or going through withdrawals. She'd stuck by him through all of it- but he'd disappeared not long after she needed him the most. He'd imagined that everything would just go back to normal- but now that he thought about it, he doubted it would work that easily. They were different people after all- it wouldn't be as easy as he wanted it to be.

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Character Portrait: Spence Heath Character Portrait: Iggy Ramone
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IGGY RAMONE



Town | Morning
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She stared absentmindedly for a long moment, she hadn't been able to stop her mind from running away with what if's. What if Spence hadn't been addicted? Maybe they wouldn't have broken up and he could have given her the strength to not be a coward and selfish, like when she gave up Frances. After Spence left town she hated to admit but her 'fast lane' life style only spiralled further out of control for a long time. He'd been her anchor throw school and college, she'd never admitted to herself how tough losing him had been.

She blinked a little, only awoken from her trance when she felt his hand on her arm, she couldn't help but look at his hand, the feel and warmth of it still felt familiar as though only yesterday it'd been only natural to be in his embrace or holding his hand, but it had been years.

She could and yet at the same time couldn't, believe that.

She looked up at him and managed a thin smile, revealing just a flash of her pristine teeth. "Yes, of course I am. Just reminiscing y'know?" She told him and in fairness, she wasn't hiding all of the truth. Only the fact that truth hurt her more and more each day. "Urm, I'll have a caramel latte," She rambled a little nervously to server.

"To Iggy right?" They checked and the purple haired girl nodded in a small gesture before looking up at Spence.

"So, what have you been up to then? Two years is a lot of time, how'd you kill it?" She asked gently, she had to let all the troubles of al those years ago slide because she couldn't change what she'd done or the situation it put her in now, she could only change how she handled it and what she did about it. She just wanted to enjoy Spence's company again, like she used to every single day all that time ago.

Whilst they were ordering, she took the opportunity to quickly text back Jude;

To: Judeeee ;D
Yeah of course hun, hit me up later and we can make some plans but yeah you're right, this town does suck ass.


To: Judeeee ;D
No wonder everyone ditched -_-


She looked up at him and smiled softly. Adopting a new attitude and trying to forget about the son she abandoned, she turned her attention to their conversation. After they were given their coffees, she smiled as though she had an idea; "Hey, why don't we make this takeaway and take a trip down memory lane, we grew up here; might be nice to revisit some places," She suggested.

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Character Portrait: Maggie Kenneth Character Portrait: Jude Ahn
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Despite what one may say about those with an attention disorder one of his few good traits was his ability to listen to another person speak – he took the words in with stride and paired them with a hazy phantasmagoria, imagining the woman standing in the great halls of a university, her smile curled into her cheeks, bright and true. Jude relaxed into the support of the chair, receding into the habit of curling into himself, pulling his legs off from the ground to rest his heels on the edge of the elevated surface. Languidly, he looped his arms around his legs, his hands weightless around his ankles. His chest felt warm as it ached, and he felt happy for Maggie, and simultaneously envious of her, because it sounded like she had the whole world laid out in front of her fingertips.

He raised his eyebrows, shamelessly impressed – after all, it wasn’t every day one meets a twenty year old working for the FBI, the very fact a testament of how different they came to be. “The FBI? That’s some real X-Files type shit.” Jude smiled into his response, feeling the sensation of monotony fade from the edges of his being, and for the sake of not ruining this interaction right from the get-go he ignored the vibrations from his cell phone, even though part of him immediately felt anxious about looking at the glistening screen.

“You say nothing’s changed but from over here it looks like you changed a lot.” He added, his amiable tone betraying the solemnness of his words. That’s how life is; they grow and cross new thresholds, until hardly anything from their pasts remain. Hannah, the beloved girl they all came to mourn, died young – and Maggie, no longer a child, was working with the government, building a life with her own hands. Jude’s shoulders fell, relaxing somewhat, and he hummed thoughtfully. “Though what’s more interesting is D.C’s zoo. Have you seen the pandas they have there? I bet they’re huge.”

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Character Portrait: Rosemary Scott Character Portrait: James Goldsmith
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Rosemary's face immediately lit up. She was so worried that he would say no. She was up almost all night, trying to figure out what to do. All it took was five minutes to solve her problems if she actually talked to someone. "Oh my god, thank you," she whispered. Relief filled the blonde's features as she stared at James. She didn't know what to say next.

"No no, don't worry about me," she shook her head. She genuinely didn't want anyone to feel sorry for her. It made her feel like she was even more of a victim than she thought she was before. "It's in the past now, I honestly don't care," she said with a bit of uncertainty. In all honesty, she did care. She constantly cared about what happened to her. Maybe if she wasn't born, or if she ended her own life things would be better.

She glanced down at her lap, slipping her hand back over to her side. She felt that their contact had lingered a little too long. She didn't even know if he felt that way and she didn't want to seem creepy. An idea popped into her mind, she grimaced. "Do you ever wonder what would happen if you didn't disappear? I don't mean to pry..."

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Character Portrait: Anne Preacher Character Portrait: Audrey Ruth Jefferson Character Portrait: Jude Ahn
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Anne ran a hand through her hair as she read Jude's response, keys hanging from the ignition, not yet turned.

you were cool with iggy right?

"Uhhh..." Right. Iggy. Anne had honestly sort of forgotten she and Jude were friends. She wasn't... not cool with Iggy, she supposed, but she wasn't quite sure she'd be able to explain to Jude just why Iggy was the worst suggestion he could've made. I mean yeah, she kind of thinks I'm a gross dead-kid slanderer, but yeah, we were totally cool. Totally. She saved the contact info anyway, just in case.

She tossed her phone back in her bag and then started the car, listening to it roar to life before backing out of the parking space. Driving through town, she couldn't help but notice how little everything had changed in the 4 years she'd been gone. Damn, even the kids running along the sidewalks looked the same. It made her feel... she wasn't sure. Homesick? Nostalgic? Bored? Mostly it just made her impatient to leave again. After she'd caught up with everyone she was willing to, she would.

She parked a block away from her parents' house, only to find a note on the door when she walked up.

Got called in last minute, Dad's still at work. Key under the mat.
- Mom


Well, at least it would delay the uncomfortable questions about her life in California. She retrieved the hidden key, then walked away from the door, not yet ready to step inside. She didn't want to waste anymore gas driving somewhere, so instead she decided to take a walk to try to clear her mind and think up satisfactory answers to the questions she felt she could comfortably predict.

Looking up and down the street, she realized she was only a couple of blocks from where a couple of her childhood friends used to live. She wasn't sure they'd even be living in their old homes anymore, but walking by the old houses where she'd pass time in arranged play dates at least gave her a direction to walk in. She started toward the left, relying on vague recollections of where the Jefferson house had been.