Darlene Star's Story

Darlene sighed, putting her hand up to her forehead in the hopes that her headache would go away. Living by herself for the first time ever was finally taking its toll on Darlene; all her life she was sheltered and pampered like some kind of precious queen. Once her twentieth birthday hit, it was time for a goodbye to the high-end kind of life and a hello to the working-class world. Darlene's parents realized how much they spoiled her and refused to give her a large amount of money after moving out. Now, a few months into living in Halbrooke, Darlene began to feel desperate and hopeless.

She opened her wardrobe and carefully picked out her outfit: a turquoise polo shirt, a white sweater draped over the shoulder with the arms tied near the neck, a khaki skirt, and turquoise heels to match her top. After a quick freshening up in the bathroom, Darlene grabbed her designer purse and headed to her car. It was time.

Darlene started her car and headed for the local diner. Along the way, she popped a few pain-killers into her mouth to ease the fever pulsing in her head. Once she arrived at the diner parking lot, she got out of the car and casually strolled up to the front door of the diner. There, she spotted a young man gazing outside.

"Excuse me," Darlene knocked on the front door to catch the man's attention. "Are you Evan?"

Instead of giving Evan a smile when he opened the door for Darlene, she just nodded and stepped into the diner. She observed the place and caught sight of a middle-aged man in a brown trench coat who appeared to be waiting for someone. Maybe it was the waitress standing behind the counter.

"Darlene. Darlene Star," answered Darlene. She awkwardly stood there, unsure of how to start the conversation. After a quick stare at Evan's eyes, Darlene finally let her words emerge. "I'm sure you've heard about that girl's disappearance. The one who was last seen in her back yard before seemingly vanishing in thin air."

Halbrooke was a small town; Darlene knew that news travels fast in a town with a population of approximately three hundred. She had heard of Faith Krusser's disappearance on the local news few days prior. Immediately after watching the reports on the girl, a plan came into the light in Darlene's mind. A plan that could get her out of Halbrooke and back into the world of the wealthy.

Joanna mentally winced at the fact that there were now three people within the diner after closing hours, but instead of freaking out she returned Evan's smile and turned around into the kitchen, but not before she heard the rich woman speak. "I'm sure you've heard about that girl's disappearance. The one who was last seen in her back yard before seemingly vanishing in thin air." Jo's limbs locked and she turned to cast a strange look at the woman. "She has a name, when you speak about her you should use it... just out of respect...please." She said this in a slightly off tone, not quite annoyed but not quite happy either, she almost sounded sad. Without another word through, Jo turned back around and went into the kitchen. She ended up making a whole pot of coffee, and divided it into four mugs, she left the rest in the oven so it would stay warm.
The only coffee that had anything extra added to it was Evan's and it was only because of his request.

Walking slowly, Jo switched back off the lights and headed back into the main dining area. She set her own cup of coffee down on the counter before walking over to Evan and the woman, Darlene, and handed them back a mug, she hadn't really put anything in the woman's glass, since she didn't know how she liked her coffee but she did direct her to one of the tables that had sugar packets on it. Joanna then went over to the other man and set his coffee down on the table. "Sorry, because it's after hours, this is all I can really give you...sorry sir." She offered a small smile to the older man before turning to the counter and sitting down on the bar stool. It had been a long day, but Jo had the feeling this strange little meeting would be interesting, she honestly wouldn't mind hear their opinions on what had happened to Faith, no matter how insane they might sound, anything these people said couldn't be worst than what the damn police were saying.

She felt it, but — oh, stupid woman — she didn't know what it was until now. Like the pulling of stitches, quiet and easy to overlook, her soul had been unravelling until the seams split and now everything spilled out all at once. Pop. Pop. POP. The loss of a young girl a tug at her heart, all this time she was coming loose and didn't even realize. She thought it was alright when she lost her husband , that I would be fine because she still had purpose and her leaving couldn't destroy that no matter how hurt she felt. Clementine Parlour wasn't in a helping out mood. To be fair, the woman was often in a helping out mood. Today- not so much. Today, her arms were crossed firmly over her chest and her boots were stomping across the rain smattered pavement.

A babysitter, especially one of such a young age, was not Clementine's ideal carer for her children. But she had to. The girl, Amandine, charged much less than an older babysitter. Her money was scarce, really. Being a teacher only barely payed the bills. She was holding on to the house by her teeth. Clementine was uncomfortable about the whole babysitter ordeal, and this put her in an uneasy mood. But she needed the answers. She needed to know why a young girl- who she had know very well - Had disappeared. Things like this don't happen. There had to be an explanation for this.

For a second, she had thought he wouldn’t be noticed as she walked into the diner. Perhaps her mind made that she wasn't very noticeable. Still, she hid behind the haze and conjured up the thought that because so many willfully ignored her—parents, workmates, even sisters—there was no need to fear discovery, even when she thought to engage the person sitting in the diner room. She pressed a finger against the glass of the diner, stared through the glass, and looked in for another moment without moving. Her breath fogged up the glass as she pressed against it. Pulling the handle, she stepped inside to find Evan sitting there, with a girl she didn't recognize.

"Hello there" She said, grabbing a seat. She presumed Evan remembered her face- the teacher of Faith. "I hope i'm not interrupting" She added a warm smile in for good measure.

[OOC= Sorry, I mixed up the names- Evan and Ethan are quite similar names!]

Evan's eyes never left the girl. He had an uneasy feeling about her. Evan shut the door behind her to keep the rain out. Small, agile gusts had already found their way in, chilling the area around the door. Evan stepped aside and sat down in his seat at his laptop. He reached for the mouse-pad, but stopped as the girl answered. Her name was Darlene. Hmm... It seemed familiar. Her next words stirred up dusty clouds as they awoke a feeling Evan had been shoving back for quite some time. He hesitated, shocked by the reoccurance of these emotions. Jo spoke from behind the counter, and Evan couldn't agree more. He replied, a bitter edge in his voice. "Yes, Darlene. I am aware of Faith's disappearance. She was my niece." He turned his head back to his computer.

Clementine slid into the booth chair across from him in a lithe manner. He hadn't even heard her come in. He wasn't surprised, though; After all this time of knowing Clem, Evan knew she had a quality about her that made her... Invisible, per se. He knew this quality of himself all too well, and he feels like it gave an unspoken bond between the two of them. Evan smiled up at her and replied. "Hey Clem. You're not interrupting anything important." Evan looked directly left without turning his head, pointing to Darlene with his eyes in a manner that Darlene herself could not see.

Evan looked back to Clementine, then heard a voice to his left. He turned his head and looked, and strange man he had never seen before was at the counter, speaking to Jo. "Who let him in?" Evan thought. Jo had reserved after hour privileges for the search party and the search party only. Was this man with someone here? And how did he know tonight, of all nights, the Diner would be open after hours? Evan supposed it wasn't too strange as he glanced at his watch. It was only 5 minutes after closing. Perhaps he thought he could slip in before the place went dark, and just happened to show up tonight. Evan didn't believe in 'fate' or anything, but he did believe in strange coincidences. He was no stranger to peculiar circumstances.

Evan strained his ears to hear what the man was saying. It appeared Evan had tuned in mid-sentence. "...Hayden. I'm not... police... questions if..." Evan caught only snippets. He pondered his words. Was this a police investigator? Evan suddenly turned angry. "If this guy fucks up our chances at finding Faith, I'm gonna rip him a new one." He thought to himself before pulling his phone from his pocket to check for messages again.

Darlene exhaled with relief when Evan confirmed that he knew about the girl's, Faith's, disappearance. She glared at the waitress coldly before heading to the booth chair across Evan. Not even two steps into Darlene's walk to the booth chair did a auburn-haired woman swiftly take the spot, seemingly from nowhere. Darlene frowned, annoyed that this woman had just simply taken a spot that was clearly not meant for her. Knowing the woman was a teacher at the local elementary school from the many times she's seen her walk out of there every week, Darlene knew that the auburn-haired woman surely had something to say about Faith's case, as teachers and babysitters were one of the few careers in Halbrooke that dealt with many children.

When Evan replied to the teacher saying that she was not interrupting anything important, Darlene made a high-pitched grunt that most people found extremely annoying. She watched Evan for a moment as he looked to the left. Darlene joined in Evan's observation and saw the man in the trench coat. She shook her head, not caring about the man or the waitress, and walked towards the booth Evan and the teacher were sitting at.

"You kind of were interrupting something important," Darlene hissed, arms crossed and lips pursed. She then turned and looked at Evan. "I want to find this girl, Darlene blurted out. She was starting to feel impatient that everything seemed to be moving slow. Darlene looked at Evan coldly for a second, then made her to the counter where the trench coat man and the waitress were. She drank the coffee the waitress gave her. A horrible taste was born in Darlene's tongue and she immediately spit the liquid back into the mug.

"What is this?" Darlene asked in disgust, interrupting the trench coat man, pushing the mug towards the waitress.

Jo stood behind the counter, watching everything unfold. Evan didn't seem pleased with Darlene, who didn't seem pleased with Clementine and herself, honestly through, Jo could care less what the woman thought of her, the woman, Darlene, hadn't known Faith, so honestly she didn't have much of a reason to try and find the young girl. Self gain. A small voice in the back of her head reminded her that some people were shallow enough to try and gain from a child going missing by finding them before anyone else. "Ms. Harvelle? I would have word. My name's Frank Hayden. I'm not from the police or anything. I just want to ask some questions if that is okay." Jo blinked and looked at the man that had broke her train of thought. "Frank Hayden? Where have I heard that name before?" She frowned for a moment before realization sparked in her eyes. "Oh." She said blinking once before glancing over towards everyone else. Who had let this guy in? "I'm sorry, but I don't talk to police about Faith without her mother present, not even former police." She looked away with a frown before going back over to Darlene, who was about to take a drink of the coffee without adding anything into it.

Jo opened her mouth to protest, but it was to take, the woman took a large drink, and then proceed to spit it back into the cup.
"What is this?" She screeched in disgust. Part of Joanna wanted to snort or laugh, but she settled with a sigh and eye roll before going over to assist the woman. "It would be smarter to put sugar in it get you try to drink it." Jo grabbed three sugar packets from the table, since two never seemed to be enough, and mixed the sugar into the coffee with a near by spoon. Soon the dark liquid turned a light milky brown color and even the smell improved. "There..." Jo smiled a small smile before handing her own mug of coffee, which she had yet to drink out of, over to Clementine. She knew her because she had babysat her kids one time, after that Jo had mostly just watched Faith, she had considered her a little sister because of how they acted with each other. The younger girl vanishing so suddenly had been hard for her to cope with, she could only imagine how Evan felt about it.

The waitress walked up to Darlene with three packets of sugar in her hand and mixed them in the coffee with a spoon. She smiled and Darlene simply nodded slowly and began drinking the now lighter and sweeter coffee. Next to her, the trench coat man continued to press the waitress into giving him answers. From the questions he asked, Darlene assumed that the man was some sort of cop. She tapped the man on the shoulder, hoping that the man would know a little bit about Faith.

"Trench coat," said Darlene. "I'm guessing you're some sort of law enforcement dude, am I correct?" Darlene took out a tiny mirror and a stick of pink lipstick out of her purse and began to apply it while talking to the trench coat man. "You have to know at least a little bit about this girl's disappearance. Do you know where the police suspect she is?"

Darlene was determined to do whatever she could to find out as much as she can about Faith. Seducing men? No problem. Manipulating idiots into helping her? Easy. Whatever it took, Darlene would absolutely do it with no complain.

"Hey Clem. You're not interrupting anything important." Evan replied, gesturing to the girl who sat next to him when she looked through the glass. She didn't look normal, exactly. Fake was a good word to describe it. Clementine didn't trust the strange girl, who she had never seen in her life before. That was unusual, she usually knew all the happenings in the small town of Halbrooke. She would have to note this girl down. What was her name, again?

"You kind of were interrupting something important," The girl retorted, pouting her lips in a manner that would be fit for a child. Afterwards, she burst out with "I want to find this girl."

After drinking some coffee, subsequently spitting it out and Jo telling her it would be smarter, the girl walked over to the counter. Inwardly, Clementine giggled slightly, and she could see slight amusement on Jo's face. After a few moments, she noticed an older man talking to Jo. The most unnerving thing was that he was wearing a trench coat. That never meant good things. Then the girl started talking to the man with the trench coat. Where is this going?.

Clementine turned her head to the fake girl and raised an eyebrow. "And how again is it any of your business? Did you even know Faith?" She stated with a hint of annoyance in her tone, looking up at the girl.

Before the trench coat cop could even reply to Darlene, the teacher spoke up, asking her if she knew Faith and if it was any of her business. Darlene's eyes met the teacher's. "No, I didn't know Faith," Darlene held on to the arm of the sweater draped over her shoulders and pushed through the trench coat cop. She sauntered over to the teacher, one hand on the sweater arm and the other holding her purse. Darlene's posture made her look like a barbie doll: plastic and modelesque.

"And no, it isn't any of my business," Darlene gave Evan a quick look, then returned her focus on the teacher. "But I want to find this girl. What's your name, anyway?" Darlene observed the teacher, looking at her head and going down to her toes.

Darlene could tell that the teacher was surprised that she didn't know her. Halbrooke was a small town; everyone knew everyone. Ever since Darlene moved into the town a few months ago after her parents kicked her out, she refused to interact with much of the people, dubbing them as "peasants" and "commoners". However, she began to realize a few weeks into living in Halbrooke that she was low on money. This has never happened to Darlene in her life, so of course she was frustrated. Since the realization that she was no longer a wealthy woman, Darlene felt insecure of herself and to mask this insecurity, she pushed anyone away from getting too close to her emotionally.

"But I want to find this girl. What's your name, anyway?"

Clementine cocked her head to the side slightly. She wondered if she should tell this girl her real name. She didn't trust her. Not one bit.

"Clementine." She paused, for a James Bond effect. "I don't see it fit to tell you my last name, you are a stranger after all."

Clementine ruffled through her bag for a second and brought out her phone. She had a new text message. Slightly nervous, she checked it and found that it was just from the phone company. "And yours?"

She yawned slightly before pulling her auburn hair into a pony tail at the back of her head. It was reasonably late, and she was getting tired. Clem was about to ask where the others were, before she realised that that would be rude to the girl who had not yet answered her question. And she didn't want to be rude.

Darlene shook her head when the teacher answered the her name was Clementine. What an idiotic name, Darlene commented in her head. She put on a fake smile when Clementine added that she didn't see it fit to say her last name, as she didn't know her. "That's fine with me. I couldn't care less about your last name," retorted Darlene, turning around. "I'm Darlene. I moved here a couple months ago from Hollywood."

Darlene pulled out her mirror and lipstick once again. She turned and faced Clementine and Evan. "You know what, I like you, Clementine," Darlene stepped up to Clementine, resting her hand on the teacher's shoulder. She honestly hated the woman, but she couldn't let her know.

While applying her lipstick, Darlene put on another fake smile for Clementine.

"Used to be a cop." Frank said to the Darlene. "They've pretty much taken their hands off this business though."
"As far as I know, whomever was responsible for this was someone Faith knew and trusted. If it was a complete stranger, she would have screamed or went to her mother-" He remarked without seeing that the blonde girl's attention was towards the female elementary teacher.

Evan flicked his eyes up from his cellphone without moving his head when Darlene claimed to want to find Faith. The dust cloud continued to billow in his gut as more and more awakened inside of him. His eyes spat daggers, but they softened as the 'Princess', as he had dubbed her, sputtered on her coffee. He slipped his phone into his pocket, before standing and leaning his back against the side of the booth. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and listened in on the conversations. "Princess seems to have a hard time making friends" He mused to himself.

Evan glanced at Jo, who appeared to have just flicked her eyes away from his. Or had she? Evan hadn't been sleeping well, and he had been used to slight hallucinations when he was tired. He looked to Princess, then to the older guy, who was STILL persisting in asking questions. Evan couldn't resist the temptation to laugh as Darlene brazenly referred to the police officer as "...law enforcement dude." He chuckled and covered his smiling mouth, the warm laughs breezing out onto his palm.

Evan listened closer as the tension almost tangibly increased between the women. Princess was from Hollywood? Fitting. But what did not settle with Evan was her general vehemence toward the rest of the group, as well as her carelessness with Faith's name. Evan looked to Clementine and locked eyes with her, nodding. He then placed his hand in his pocket, fumbling with the folding knife he always carried on him after he was mugged a few years ago, leaving a large, yellow-purple discoloration on his left cheekbone. He approached Darlene and stopped too close to her, clearly disrespecting her personal space, for he held no respect for her. He looked her straight in the eyes, the dust cloud of emotion erupting from his lips in a shallow snarl.

"I think it's about time you leave." He said, his eyes never wavering from her left pupil. He felt it was more imposing to stare unflickering than to glance from eye-to-eye. He didn't notice the door open behind him as Alex walked in behind him.

Darlene gasped in surprise as Evan suddenly approached her, his eyes filled with intensity. She stepped back from Clementine as Evan came closer and closer to her. His eyes met Darlene's; the way he glared at her made Darlene feel a bit unsafe being near him. Evan simply stated that Darlene needed to leave. She dropped her jaw in awe. This was not part of the plan.

"Evan, listen," Darlene gently placed her hand on Evan's chest and gave a slight push. He didn't budge a bit. "I can't just leave. Like I've said a million times, I want to find this girl. Faith. I don't know where to start, though. The reason I came here was to ask you if we could search together," Darlene looked at the others. There was a new guy she didn't recognize in the diner. She rolled her eyes at him and returned her focus back to Evan.

"Maybe we could all search for her together," Darlene slowly took a step back, finally looking away from Evan's eyes. She now knew that he was not someone to mess with. However, that didn't stop her wanting to find Faith.

Alex continued to stand awkwardly, not sure if he was intruding on something he wasn't supposed to see. The woman addressing Evan seemed only slightly cowed as Evan stared her down. That alone was impressive; Alex remembered times that Evan's glare would cow him into a near-catatonic submission if not scare him away completely. Not only that, but his tone held that icy tone that meant something unholy and terrifying was bound to happen. Alex was about to intervene when the woman spoke, surprising Alex again in that she managed to defy Evan's death glare. However, what she was saying had more of an impact. Immediately he knew why Evan had summoned him. Faith. Alex forced himself to stay calm, knowing that thinking about Faith made his black moods come with a vengeance, then decided to announce himself to Evan, who clearly hadn't heard him come in. "So that's what this is about. I should have guessed."