The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street
Who: Joy and anyone else who stumbles across her. Likely just Chris, Bethany, or Owen, considering the weather.
When: Morning
Where: 1 Maple Street
Joy woke up from another dream with a shout. "Abby!" she shouted out, sitting up in the bed with her arms outstretched. Of course. Just another stupid, fucking dream. Taking them away from me again. She curled up on the bed, her knees almost touching her nose. "Hush little baby, don't say a word, momma's gonna buy you a mocking bird..." She rocked back and forth for a moment before it dawned on her that she was... someplace else.
This wasn't where she'd fallen asleep the night before. "Those pigfuckers. They did it again, didn't they. And this time it's fucking Siberia, isn't it?" She got up and looked out the window. Nothing but snow as far as she could see. The whole thing was so ridiculous. She had to laugh, so she did. Almost a cackle, really. Her breath fogged up the window a little, and in a moment of giddiness, she drew a smiley face in the fog. She contemplated her artwork for a moment, then added a pair of glasses around the eyes. Then, for the piece de resistance, she put a little dot in the center of the forehead and drew a little trickle of "blood" from the hole. "Pkeewwww," she said with a giggle. Soon enough, little one... soon enough.
She did a cursory inspection of her things, finding that everything she had was there. She put on a pair of black sleep pants and her Packers jersey, throwing her nightgown on the floor. Then, the beautiful thing. Her cigarettes. Pulling out a pack and a lighter from the dresser, she lit up and inhaled the glorious nicotine. She stuck the rest of the pack and the lighter in her pocket and wandered about her surroundings. She saw the computer on, and ignored it, afraid what it might or might not show her. Seeing a door in her room, a welcome change, she peeked out. It was a real house, wasn't it? Had they left her all alone in a big house?
She wandered out the door, finding herself in the living room. Part of her wanted to make a run for the front door, get the fuck away from this hellhole. But with the weather like it was, she thought better of it. She might be crazy, but she wasn't stupid. She had a mission. Instead, she headed towards the doorway across from the front door, into the kitchen. The pink kitchen. Good lord. The counters looked like they'd been drowned in happy pills and LSD. Ugh. Putting her disgust aside, she began rummaging through the drawers. Oooh, knives. Those will come in handy. She kept looking and finally found the food! Glorious food! Humming a little "Rock A Bye Baby" around the cigarette clenched in her lips, she got a bowl and began pouring herself some cereal and milk. She had things to do, and couldn't do them on an empty stomach.
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He woke up slowly, feeling heavy and horrid, stretching out and vaugely bewildered when he could. As far as he knew, he'd fallen asleep in front of the bathroom, because Jeremy'd gone and huddled in the bath again and he hadn't wanted to be alone. He'd taken Clarkson down with him and set up camp on the floor and...
That fucking carpet was back. Owen bolted upright, panting and wincing at the tug in his hands. He reached for the advil he'd put on the beside table and just stared when he saw it wasn't there.
The bastards had been -back again-. He scrambled out of bed, shivering in the cold. The lights were flickering again and he had another moment of panic before he managed to scramble into some clothes, check that clarkson was still there and stuff her in his hood to huddle (cold wasn't good for birds, right?) and made his way down the spiral stairs.
First, he went to the bathroom. It looked exactly the same as it had the day before and more importantly, no Jeremy.
So he tried downstairs. If he'd ended up where he was before, then possibly Jeremy had too. The panic lodged in his chest started to climb straight up his throat as he clattered down the stairs, stumbling and nearly falling at the bottom. He tugged his gloves on as he headed over to the door, too wired to worry about the headache building at the back of his skull as he nudged Jeremy's door open and ...didn't find him.
Fuck.
Hearing someone in the kitchen, he didn't dare breathe a sigh of relief, because he had no idea where Jeremy was and oh god, he didn't -know- the woman in the kitchen. She looked kinda normal, but then again, everyone did. Hunting around for food. She looked happy with herself, and was smoking, which he wasn't so sure about, but who was he to be picky?
"Hey, have you seen a guy around yay tall, sad lookin' and answers to Jeremy?" He asked, with his usual lack of tact. He honestly didn't care much about anything right now, other than finding him. He didn't think that maybe startling someone might be a bad idea.
Joy immediately went into defensive mode when she heard the voice. They didn't usually come for people while they were awake, but stranger things had happened. She turned quickly, putting her back to the knife drawer, her hand right on the edge so she could open it quickly. "Jesus FUCK!" she yelled at the newcomer, her cigarette dropping to the counter. He didn't look like he was going to hurt her, but she'd been hurt so often, she felt it was better to be safe than sorry. She had half a mind to throw her fake Lucky Charms at the intruder, but decided she didn't feel like cleaning shit up. "What? Jeremy? No. I haven't seen anyone." She tugged at the knife drawer a little. Oh, sure, now that I need it... "Who are you, what do you want?"
Owen was just as surprised as she was. Scrambling back he smacked into the doorframe, cracking his shoulder on the wood and hissing, hunching over a little before straightening.
"Ack, I'm sorry! Look, okay. I'm Owen, and I've been here since yesterday!" He was a little high pitched, reaching a hand back to check on Clarkson because he'd just fallen BACKWARDS and that wasn't awesome at all in regards to delicate bird bones. She seemed fine though, so he tried not to look threatening as he pulled his hand back over, heart hammering in his chest. "I'm sorry."
Running a hand through his hair, he sighed. Trust him to completely cock an introduction up. It occured to him, belatedly, that he should've said hello first.
Joy picked up her cigarette off the counter and took a quick drag. Fortunately the cherry hadn't fallen off yet, or she might have really been pissed. Calming down, she relaxed her posture a little. "Owen, huh." She didn't move away from the counter, just in case she needed to fight with the knife drawer again. "Joy. I just got here today. I didn't know anyone else was here." Or I would've been ready. "Anyone else here? Where the hell are we anyways?" She looked around nervously, as if expecting someone else to pop out at her at any moment. It didn't help that the lights were flickering at about that time. Still playing with us, huh?
"I don't actually, uhm. I don't know. I didn't get that good a look around yesterday. And uh, there's Jeremy, who I can't find, and Chris and another woman staying here. I think her name is Bethany?" He said with a shrug. He was still vaugely panicked, his hands shaking a little as he jammed them into the pockets of his hoodie, hunching his shoulders. Biting at his lower lip, he watched her for a moment, a little bewildered as to what it was she was actually smoking.He was never that great at spotting brands, but the smell of the smoke was vaugely comforting. His father'd smoked and it had been a staple right through his childhood, so.
"We're still in town, from what we could gather." He was starting to wind down a little, the itch to go and find who he was looking for still there. But this was a more immediate concern.
None of those names sounded familiar to Joy. Which was kind of odd, she thought. She expected or hoped to be stuck with people she knew. "I guess all of you were suckered into this after I got pulled out so they could have brain fun with my brain." She finished her cigarette and flicked the butt into the sink, then wandered over to the table to eat her cereal. "So that's it then? The five of us are the only ones who made it out alive?" Part of her was relieved at the thought. It would make her job easier, and she wouldn't have to see certain people. The thought of her dear sister dead or lost forever warmed her soul a lot more than it probably should have.
"I, uhm. What?" He sounded vaugely confused, wrinkling his nose as he made his way around to have a look out the window.
"We were all from different experiments, from what I gathered. Uhm." Bracing himself on the windowsill he leaned forward, nose pressed against the glass. It was snowing. White, actually. He'd never seen snow before. Part of him, a large part, wanted to go out in it but he wasn't too fond of the cold. He turned back to her after a moment, leaning back against the window, making sure to keep his hood away from the glass.
"Are you new in town? I mean, where'd you come from?"
Joy stopped with the spoon halfway between the bowl and her mouth. "Different experiments?" It had never occurred to her that her little slice of hell hadn't been the only one. "Lovely. As if things weren't bad enough with just the one." Something twisted inside her when she heard that. Just one more reason... "I don't know exactly where I was... I mean, I just woke up here today, in that room over there," She pointed through the doorway at her room just off the living room.
"Before that, well, I started in a big house with lots of people. Until it caught fire. And they made us camp for a while." She put her spoon back down in the bowl. Thinking about it was making her lose her appetite quickly. "Then they took me out and..." Her mind went back to the room. Little room. The pictures on the computer. Her kids. Taken away from her. Then the pictures, gone too. She could feel herself starting to pop again. She lit up another cigarette to try to relax.
Then something occurred to her, and her morose look changed suddenly to one of curiosity. If there were multiple experiments, maybe there were multiple houses or something. "Say, you don't know a girl named Janie do you?" She tried to look hopeful. Which she was, but not for the reasons most people would think. "Dark hair, glasses? I wouldn't even bother to ask, but she's my sister, and she was in the experiment with me before, and I just miss her so. I need to know if she's all right." Her eye twitched a little as she tried to be so syrupy and sweet about her "beloved" sister.
Fidgeting slightly, Owen made his way over towards the cupboards, wanting to get something to eat. He hadn't eaten much the day before and his hands were starting to shake now. He was still worried about Jeremy. Clarkson stirred in the back of his hood and he snorted softly, reaching over to grab a bowl for himself.
"I was in a room. For...I dunno. a long time. Apparently we were all alone. There was nobody there except me."
And just talking about it was starting to make him feel a little claustrophobic. Swallowing and scratching the back of his neck, he looked over at her, blinking in surprise when she mentioned Janie.
"Uh, yeah! She was staying in this real big house up there. I dunno where she is now, I haven't seen her, but I had tea with her once." He smiled, rather relieved that she seemed to know Janie. He liked Janie. It made it a little easier for him to relate.
It sounded like he was in the same place she'd ended up later, when they fucked with her head. But all that went away when he confirmed that Janie was, in fact, alive and well, and likely somewhat nearby. She summoned up her tears and began gushing. "Oh, thank god you've seen her... I've been so worried after we were separated. I'll have to look her up once the weather clears." She covered her mouth and face with her hands, hoping that her laughs would be confused for crying.
Owen was a little stunned at the fact that she was crying. He supposed he shouldn't be. If he'd learned that one of his siblings'd been in the experiment, or if they'd gone in with him, he'd have gone absolutely batshit with worry. Reaching out, he touched her shulder gently, rather worried.
"Uh, oh. Fuck, okay. Are you alright? She's okay, y'know? In one piece. I promise, she was whole the last time I saw her." Wow, this was awkard. -He- was awkward.
"No, no... I'm fine, really," Joy said through her fingers. Her eyes and smile were wide behind her hands, but she wasn't letting him see that. Composing herself, she patted Owen's hand on her shoulder. "Thanks... it's just..." Don't overdo it, sweetie. She wiped her eyes with the other hand, using the fingers that weren't holding her cigarette. "I'm sorry. Here, I barely know you and I'm falling apart."
Smiling a little shakily, Owen shrugged, pulling his hand back once he was sure she was okay. It felt weird, seeing someone break down so publicly, even though yesterday he must've made some sort of retarded scene when he couldn't find a way out. He looked over to the door automatically, double checking to make sure it was there before he relaxed.
"It's okay. Honest. I mean, I'm surprised we're not all screaming, sobbing idiots over the whole thing."
Cereal. He was going to get cereal. It felt weird, without his cans there on the counter.He wondered what'd happened to the food.
The same dragging, groggy feeling. The same stiff sheets wrapped around her body. The same mattress with the same lump in it in the same spot. Green eyes flicked open to stare at the same ceiling, hands grasped at the same blanket. The same carpet touched her feet as she slid from the bed, shaking down her pajama pant-legs and smoothing the front of her tank top. Her expression remained neutral as she looked around, and a low sigh slipped from her lips.
This wasn't her room. Again.
As she made her way towards where she knew the staircase would be, Bethany couldn't help but feel her anger growing. Her superiors were disrespecting her; she wasn't one of their playtoys. She had known, upon arrival in this town, that they were likely to treat her the same as the participants if they grew bored with her. But hadn't she been loyal? Hadn't she done everything they'd requested? This was simply not fair. They were treating her like another lab rat, and it was starting to grate on her last nerve.
The blonde woman stretched her arms over her head as she got to the ground floor; there were voices where she knew the kitchen was. One was female. A small smile flickered over her lips for just a moment; at least she wouldn't be outnumbered three-to-one this time. Dropping her arms, she padded barefoot towards the door, pushing it open a little before stepping inside. Then she froze. A woman was crying, and the same man from yesterday was there, looking confused and lost--Owen, she thought his name was. Shifting her weight a little, she moved further into the room, glancing between the two.
"Good morning." Because what else was there to say?
Joy looked up at the female voice, half expecting it to be her sister, even though Owen had said she wasn't around this house. "Hey," she said, nodding and blowing out a cloud of smoke in the woman's direction. She wiped the last of her tears, but didn't bother to get up. She did, however, grasp her spoon in case she needed a weapon. You never knew when someone might flip out.
It seemed that every time Bethany came into a room, Owen jumped around ten feet. He managed not to yelp this time, offering her a smile instead, albeit a shaky one.
"Seriously. Ninja. Did y'want some breakfast?" He asked, going to grab themilk from the fridge so he could drench his cereal. He kept half an eye on them both, honestly relieved to have people in the house with him. "Have you seen Jeremy today?"
To say the least, the woman looked a bit... unsettled. But then, weren't all of them? She gave the girl a nod and then turned her gaze to Owen as he went towards the refrigerator. A small smile tugged at her lips; he was going to call her that from now on, wasn't he. Well, she'd just have to get used to it. Normally she'd tell him to stop, that he was only to use her real name, but what was the point in this place? It wasn't as if she could just ignore him, especially if they all kept on being moved around this way.
"Maybe some toast," she said absently, crossing the room lightly towards the cupboards with the full intention of scouring for some bread. There had to be some around. "And no, I haven't. Perhaps he wasn't moved with us."
"Cereal's good," Joy said, alternating bites with puffs. Her mind was still full of ideas as to how to carry out her plan. Whatever her plan was. She turned and looked at the ninja. "So, what funhouse were you in? I don't remember you from mine." Probably something where they lived underwater. That'd be par for the course. She looked around and absentmindedly wondered how long it would take to burn this house down. Probably not a good idea, though, since you live here for now. Save it for last.
Owen didn't actually mean anything bad by it. Shrugging and nodding, Owen went to move out of her way and let her at the counter, wrinkling his nose a little when he looked back down at it. It looked like a leprechaun on an acid trip had puked up everywhere. Putting the milk away he sighed, going to curl up in a chair with his bowl of cereal. He listened as she talked, looking over at Joy as he did so. She looked a little more relaxed, at least. Which was good. That cigarette looked like it was going to last forever, though.
When Bethany said she hadn't seen Jeremy, his heart sank a little. Swallowing, he ignored Clarkson's nudging at the back of his neck and wriggled down a little, finishing his mouthful before going to answer her. "Oh, alright. Uhm, I'll go looking for him later, I guess. He can't have gone far."
The blonde pulled a loaf of bread from a shelf high up, going on tip-toe to reach it before answering the other woman. "Experiment C, they called it," she replied quietly. She busied herself with making toast, her tone reluctant and her eyes staring at the food in her hands. "We were all in little rooms, alone. They... it was difficult. To focus on anything." If nothing else, she was certainly getting into the character of a participant. It was easier than she'd thought it would be. Her superiors would be proud.
Bethany glanced at Owen as he spoke, and cocked one eyebrow. "Have you looked outside?" She'd caught sight of nothing but white on her way to the kitchen; it looked as if a storm had kicked up during the night. "I don't think anybody will be going anywhere for a while."
Joy finished her cigarette and cereal one right after the other as the girl- she thought whatshisname had said her name was Bethany- went through her sob story. "I dunno. I found lots to focus on while they had me all cooped up in their little rattrap." Like revenge. She got up, giving a passing glance out the window. She wouldn't be able to go out hunting for a while. That'd give her time to make a plan of action anyways. And find out exactly where her dear sister was. Instead, she headed over to the fridge, giving it more of a once over than when she'd just been looking for the milk. "Got any beer around here? Anything else alcoholic? Cooking wine?"
Shrugging, Owen dug into his cereal, wrinkling his nose. He hadn't had anything this high in sugar for breakfast in a while and it was making his tongue tingle. He didn't want to dump it out though, so.
"I couldn't even open a window this morning. The glass was too cold." And of course, his mind just jumped to Jeremy being out in the snow and the surge of panic made it's way up his throat again. Squeezing his eyes shut against it for a moment he shook his head, looking over at Joy when she asked about alcohol.
"Honestly? I haven't looked."
Bethany threw two slices of bread into the toaster and pushed the lever. This was so routine that it was almost frightening. It was as if none of them had gone to sleep the night before, most likely been drugged, and then tossed into a new room and a new home with people they hardly knew. It was so odd that it was almost normal.
She made a point to ignore the other woman's question about alcohol; even though she worked in a bar and had made a living from selling the stuff, she did believe that any time before five was too early to drink. "Which experiment were you a part of?" she asked back. She shouldn't challenge these people, they were unstable. They could snap. But she couldn't help it; this place just made it so easy to forget herself, to forget what she was there for.
Joy hadn't had much luck in the fridge and moved on to the pantry. "The one where the house caught fire, then we had a lovely campout where you got fucked with if you didn't do your part, and then..." After that was a bit fuzzy for her, unfortunately. "It was a fucked up group of people, too. We had a retard, and a deaf little girl, some bearded psycho guitarist, priests, angry blind chick, good times." She moved some cooking supplies around and finally found what she was looking for. "HA!" Well, not quite- it was cooking sherry, but it was a start, at least. It'd get her back on her feet at least. "Any port in a storm, right, blondie?" she said with a grin as she pulled out the bottle, barely getting it out before starting to open it.
Owen wasn't sure what to make of the both of them. Huddling down with his cereal, he tried not to make himself a target. He was still worried about Jeremy and if it wasn't so scary looking outside he'd go out and look for him immediately. He hadn't had to deal with people he knows just disappearing with no reason before. Then again, if he'd had to deal with half the crap Joy was taking about he'd have turned to drink too.
Shrugging to himself, he munched on his cereal, looking up at them and watching quietly. If all else failed, he had a pretty clear path to the door.
Bethany could already tell that Owen wasn't going to add much to the conversation anymore; he seemed truly worried for Jeremy. She could halfway relate, with Jack being somewhere else, but her anxiety was nowhere near as concentrated as Owen's. It was certainly interesting, though; it seemed as if more than a few of the participants were becoming co-dependent. She'd have to remember that.
"Sure," she said absently, grabbing a knife and some butter from the fridge. The toast popped up and she grabbed it, quickly tossing it on to a plate. There was something decidedly off about the other woman; she just couldn't quite put her finger on it. She cast a glance at the woman, eyes trying to figure her out. "I don't think I caught your name."
"I don't think I threw it at you," Joy said with a giggle. Just knowing that she had some alcohol was helping already. She took a swig then thrust out her hand. "Joy. You must be Bethany, right? Laughing Boy over there mentioned you." She took another swig with her free hand. It might be cooking sherry, but it was goooood cooking sherry.
Slightly bewildered, Owen raised his eyebrow, looking over at them. They seemed quite happy chatting amongst themselves but Clarkson wanted to crawl down the back of his shirt, so some wriggling ensued until he was sitting a little forward, looking slightly uncomfortable and not really caring much about it. His milk wouldn't go warm in this weather but he didn't want to take the chance so he started eating again, looking over at Bethany.
"Sorry. I figured you might've known her or something."
Green eyes rested on Owen for a moment. Laughing boy? She didn't think she'd seen him smile, let alone laugh. Maybe it was simply a nickname Joy had come up with. "Nice to meet you, Joy." The response was automatic as her gaze slid back to the giggling woman. She definitely seemed a little off, but that wasn't anything Bethany hadn't encountered before. She took a bite of toast, chewing and swallowing slowly as she thought.
"Do either of you have any idea as to why we'd be moved like this?" she finally asked. The question had been nagging at her ever since the day before, and she had only come up with a few plausible reasons.