Chapter Text
Evie was not a morning person. She had gotten up early in high school, yes, and still got up early when she had an opening shift at The Victorian Attic. But if she had any choice in the matter, she wouldn’t be sentient until at least 10am.
This made it all the more odd that she woke up at 8:30 the next morning, although in her bleariness she made the connection to the fact that she had fallen asleep so early the night before.
But now here was the morning, and she was well and fully awake. Despite the relatively early hour, and the clear feather-weight sunlight shimmering at the window, the encroaching heat of the day staved off any coziness she could maintain. So she rolled out of bed and began getting ready for the day.
She was drawn out of the guest room by a faint voice catching in her ear. As she stepped into the hallway, she realized it was some sort of newscast.
Jay was sitting at the dining room table, watching the morning news. He smiled as she appeared, still half bleary-eyed. “Gooood morning!”
“You’re up this early, on your day off? And you’re watching the news?” She half fell into the chair across from him with a grimace. “God, you’re really turning into an actual adult.”
His face flashed with faux anger for a moment. “How dare you accuse me of such a thing!” He put a hand to his chest, dramatically.
Evie smiled. Jay pushed the plate of pear slices he had been nibbling on towards her.
“I’m actually up because I thought I could take you out to brunch this morning.”
“Sounds good to me,” she said, picking up one of the pear slices and biting into it.
They drove downtown without mentioning the tapes, much to her relief, and parked outside a cute little cafe with some outdoor seating near the front entrance. These tables were not currently in use, presumably because of the current heat wave.
“I’ve been to this place a couple times, I thought you’d like it,” Jay said as the two of them stepped out of the car. “It’s farm-to-table. And you can get a taste of Alabama cuisine.”
Evie raised her eyebrows. “Well, I won’t keep us waiting.”
The cafe wasn’t overly crowded, but considering it was a weekday and before lunchtime, that wasn’t surprising. They were quickly shown to a table in the corner by a young woman with beaded braids, who gave them menus and then headed to the kitchen to grab two glasses of sweet tea, which Jay insisted that Evie try.
“Now, let me say I think the fried green tomato and fried okra is a must. I know people like grits, honestly I’m not a fan, but don’t tell anyone I said that.”
“Pecan pie pancakes…” Evie said as she scanned the menu, “that might be good.”
The waitress came back and gently set each of the teas on the table. “Are y’all ready to order? Or would you like a few minutes?”
“A few minutes please, this is her first time here,” Jay said, gesturing to his sister.
“No problem, if y’all are ready before I come back, give a holler.” She swept off to check on another table. Evie returned to studying the menu, trying not to notice her brother holding back the urge to talk her ear off.
After a few minutes, the waitress returned and the two placed their orders. For Jay, the chicken and peach waffles, with sides of fried okra and fried green tomatoes, and for Evie the banana pudding french toast with a biscuit and gravy.
“Sounds good,” the waitress said, scribbling the orders down on her notepad. She stuck the pen back behind her ear. “It’ll be out soon as it’s ready,” she said as she headed off again.
Evie put her chin on her hand and gazed out the window to the street outside.
“How’re you doing?” her brother asked after taking a sip of his tea.
“It’s just…nice to go out to eat somewhere nice for once.” Junewood was not known for its fine dining, and although she had no problem with corner store pizza, this was a nice change of pace. “And to be away from home.”
Across the table, Jay mirrored her. “Not to pry, but is there something going on besides the thing with…” He trailed off.
“I mean…” she paused for a moment. “I’m not having issues with my other friends, if that’s what you’re talking about.”
“What have your other friends been getting up to?”
“Mostly just…work” She stirred her tea with the straw, lost in thought. “If…if I’m being honest, they’re not like…my best friends or anything, more just people I hang out with sometimes. It feels kinda pathetic.”
Jay laughed lightly. “Well. You’re doing better than me, so don’t get yourself down.”
She smiled dryly at his words. “The Merrick kids, a pathetic little duo with no friends.”
“But,” he said, putting up a finger seriously, “on the bright side, that means whenever I get seriously into the film industry, you will be my first pick for a red carpet plus one.”
“Works for me,” she said with a more sincere grin, and finally took a sip of her tea. “Ohh wow. That is…sweet.”
“Do you like it?”
“I dunno.” She stared at the liquid before taking another small sip.
The exchange of pleasantries fizzled a few minutes later, when the waitress came by with their food. “Enjoy!” she proclaimed as she dropped off the last plate. And enjoy they did. Evie thought the food was great. Better than great. The two went quiet as they dug into their plates, save for little asides of “can I try a bite?” and the subsequent reluctant yet affectionate swapping of food.
The serving sizes were more than plentiful, and despite the two’s best efforts, there was no way they could finish it all. This was saying something, considering Jay’s appetite - despite being built like a stick, he had developed a seemingly bottomless stomach in his teenage years that had never truly gone away.
When the waitress came by with their check, she offered to package their remaining food to go, and within minutes their leftovers returned to them in a plastic bag, which Jay quickly took charge of.
As they stepped out of the cafe they rammed into a wall of heat. Some sort of disgruntled sound must have come out of Evie’s throat, because Jay glanced sideways at her and said wryly, “Guess we didn’t need to worry about not bringing jackets.”
A small cluster of pigeons sat under one of the outdoor tables, looking for nonexistent crumbs. They shuffled as the two passed, cooing with interest.
“You’re not getting any bread crumbs out of us,” he said with a smile towards them.
“Actually, pigeons shouldn’t eat bread, it’s bad for them,” Evie said, pausing to watch the birds for a moment.
“Are you some sort of pigeon expert?”
“You heard of a thing called Google?” she retorted. “Anyway, this pigeon expert is gonna beat you to your own car.” She took off at a quick clip.
“Hey!” Jay began jogging after her.
They had startled the pigeons, who spilled out into the air and took off for some calmer piece of sidewalk.
Evie had first met Dani Osbourne the previous summer.
It was late June. School had just gotten out for the summer the week before, and there was the constant taste of possibility drifting through the air. It was an evening, just past golden hour, where the sun was slipping red hot onto the pavement, a last hurrah before it yielded to evening.
At the edge of the park’s parking lot, Evie sat on a bench, as the last of the daylight glinted off her car. Across the way, some harried father was gathering up his kids from the playground to take them home. She leaned back, looking from the small commotion over to Adam and Callum, who were standing a few yards away, trying to learn some dance Callum had seen on YouTube.
A lone pigeon waddled up towards the bench, and she looked down towards it. The puff of gray was collared with a few jewel-tone teal and purple iridescent feathers, all out of place like it had just accidentally robbed a jewelry store.
“I don’t have any food,” she said, putting her hands up to illustrate this, although she doubted the bird would connect the dots. The pigeon cocked its head at her and let out a quiet coo. “You can stick around if you want, but you won’t get much out of it,” she said, crossing one leg over the other. The bird spun in a little circle, gawking at the boys shuffling on the pavement. “Yeah. They’re dorks, aren’t they.”
The father had finally wrangled all his children into the family van, and as he pulled out of the lot he scattered some of the pigeons congregated in his way. But Evie’s pigeon seemed unbothered. “I’ve heard of people feeding crows,” she said, looking down at the bird, “and then the crows will bring them, like, bottlecaps and stuff. But you probably wouldn’t, would you?” The pigeon looked at her again and cooed. “Yeah,” she said, “probably not.”
Another car turned into the parking lot and pulled into a spot a couple car-lengths away. Adam broke away from Callum, who let out a noise of affectionate frustration, and took a few steps toward the car.
The driver’s side door opened and a girl stepped out. She began walking towards the three, and Evie tensed in anticipation. The girl was taller than all of them, with long dusty brown hair, like construction paper left out in the sun.
Adam’s foot began to tap excitedly. “Dani! Glad you could make it.”
Evie rose to her feet. Ah, so this was who Adam had mentioned the other week. Speaking of him, he turned toward Evie and beckoned her over. She obliged. Callum, meanwhile, had given up on learning choreography, and came to join the other two in sizing up this stranger.
“Dani, this is Callum, and this is my girlfriend, Evie,” Adam smirked affectionately as he put an arm around Evie. Dani looked at her with a measured gaze.
“Nice to meet you,” she said brusquely.
“Same,” Evie murmured, putting up a weak hand in greeting.
“We’ve heard things about you,” Callum said with a grin. “Good things though, no worries.”
Dani did not react to his attempted banter. “Well, I hate to break up your little get-together, but Adam, are you still good for tonight?”
“I am so ready for this,” Adam said with a grin perhaps even surpassing Callum’s. (This was unusual. Callum was a very smiley guy.)
“Cool. If we want to get from here to Westford and back by a reasonable hour, we should probably head over now.”
“Wait,” Evie slipped out of Adam’s arm, frowning, “you didn’t mention having other plans.”
“Must’ve forgotten,” he said with a shrug, “but it’s not like we had anything else planned, right?”
“I guess not,” she said quietly.
“Oh, I need to grab my gear out of your car.”
Evie wordlessly slipped her keys out of her pocket and unlocked the car.
There was a moment of awkward silence as Adam left to rustle around in the trunk. “So, uh, are you looking for more associates?” Callum asked, crossing his arms. “I’ve always wanted to go urban exploring.”
“Right now me and Adam are still figuring things out. Two people is enough. I’ll let you know if things change, though.” Callum deflated slightly under Dani’s words, but maintained his casual demeanor.
“Here we go,” Adam said, stepping back from the trunk with one bag slung over his shoulder and another in his arms.
“Nice to meet you two,” Dani said with a small wave as she turned to head back to her own car. Adam followed her.
“I’ll text you guys!” He called over his shoulder.
Evie felt like she couldn’t do anything but just stand and watch as Adam and the girl got into the car and drove away.
“Damn,” Callum said with a sigh, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Guess he’s got more important things to do.”
She glanced at him. “He didn’t tell you his plans either?”
“Nope.” Callum picked up a pebble from the pavement. “The mind of Adam Lefevre is a mysterious thing.” He tossed the pebble over his shoulder. It clacked on the ground near the bench where Evie had been sitting, startling the lone pigeon. It took off, in a blur of feathers and flapping.
She swatted lightly at Callum.
“Hey! What gives?”
“You scared it away,” she murmured, gaze skimming the treeline as if she would somehow be able to pick out her pigeon again.
“It’s a pigeon, Evie, they’re really just public menaces,” Callum said with a huff, expression lacking any actual annoyance.
“Public menaces, huh? Sounds like a certain someone I know,” She said, putting her hands on her hips. “One second, it’s on the tip of my tongue…last name, Busch?”
“Takes one to know one,” Callum said, smirking back in reply.
“I could just leave you out here by the park,” she said, taking her car keys out of her pocket and jingling them slightly.
“And further enable my public menacing? You wouldn’t.”
Evie stuck her tongue out at the boy and headed towards the car. “Come on then, let’s get home so no one else has to experience our menacing presence.”
Jay fumbled with his keys as he unlocked the car. Evie ducked into the passenger’s seat, smiling. “Told you I’d beat you.”
“Yeah, well,” Jay put a hand up as he settled on the driver’s side, “I may have been going easy on you. So.”
She rolled her eyes. “Sounds like a sore loser…”
“Well, seeing as I am a kind and generous older brother, I will ignore that insult and won’t make you walk all the way back to my apartment.” He paused for a moment, still out of breath. “Hey, do you mind if we stop by the grocery store? I need to pick up some basics and I didn’t know what kind of snacks you wanted.”
“Sure, as long as it’s air conditioned.”
After a quick shopping trip, they made their way back to Jay’s apartment. Evie had nearly forgotten about the tapes entirely until they walked in the door. She put her bags of groceries on the counter, Jay stashed their leftovers in the fridge, and then - almost without consciously deciding to - the two wandered back to the desktop.
Evie blinked in the doorway, Jay pausing behind her. “Were you planning to watch more of the tapes?”
“I mean…after last night, I want to know more about what was going on in that clip. But that doesn’t have to be now -”
“No, it’s fine, we can watch them now.”
“Are you sure?”
In response, Evie walked over to the office chair and sat down. She patted the chair beside her. As Jay joined her, the bits of doubt migrated back into her head.
Why did she want to watch these tapes? Especially if they might have - no, that was ridiculous, it was probably a prank - She took a deep breath, hoping her brother wouldn’t notice her uneasiness.
The first tape was all footage from the film, mostly indoor shots of people talking around a table. Slowly Evie relaxed again. It had been a weird prank, that was all. The next tape also was footage from the film - this time outside, as Alex had Brian and another actor, Tim, worked through several takes of a scene where they were walking around a neighborhood.
And then the camera cut. And when it came back on, it wasn’t filming footage for Marble Hornets. It was pointing out the front windshield of a car driving down a road at night, headlights barely illuminating the curves ahead of it.
“I got home late tonight, and I was taking Rocky for his walk about, uh, twenty minutes ago,” Alex said from behind the camera, “so, around midnight. This was near the set of Marble Hornets, and a little bit farther down the road we saw this really tall guy standing in the middle of the street, just completely still.”
Evie’s hand tightened on the arm of her chair.
“For whatever reason this set off Rocky, and he got really scared. He wouldn’t move and he kept on pulling on his leash to go back home. There was something about this guy that was just…it was strange. So we headed back home. I have a little bit of time left on this tape, and we’re going to see if he’s still hanging around. In fact, I think this was the light he was standing under…” Alex pulled the car off to the side of the road, camera pointed forward towards a seemingly deserted streetlight.
He opened the car door and stepped out, panning the camera across the inky darkness. Neither Evie nor Jay could see much of anything, a sentiment that was confirmed by Alex a moment later. “...I don’t see anyone around here, so I guess he’s moved on.”
The tape ended a moment later. The two sat in silence for a moment.
“So,” Jay said with a sigh, “this could be entirely unconnected.”
“Or it could be the same person,” Evie said quietly.
“Yeah. If it is the same person - and to be fair, we don’t know that it is - this sounds less like a prank and more of a…stalker-type situation, I guess? Which…that’s not great, especially since it looks like they found out where Alex lived.”
“Or maybe the two clips aren’t related at all,” she said, as if saying that would make it true.
“Or maybe they’re not related at all,” Jay repeated.
He clicked out of the now finished tape, saving the footage to a file and moving it to its proper folder. It seemed that all his organizational skills had gone towards his computer files, rather than the apartment.
Evie, at Jay’s invitation, chose the next tape out of the box. Of course, this didn’t mean much, considering that none of them were marked and thus all looked largely the same. She passed her choice of tape to her brother, and he set it up in the camera. A moment or two later, and the monitor pulled up the player, and Jay started the footage.
The camera was aimed towards the center of a room. “I think that’s Alex’s bedroom,” Jay said. “Not sure why, we didn’t film there.” Alex passed through the frame a couple times, carrying items over to his bed. A tripod, some cables, some granola bars.
“It looks like he’s getting ready to go out and film with you guys,” Evie said. “Maybe he just accidentally turned the camera on?”
After a moment, Alex zipped up his bag and threw it over his shoulder. He walked over to the camera and grabbed it, flipping it around as he walked out of the room and outside. It looked like a beautiful summer day. As Alex got into his car, he set the camera in the passenger seat, turning it around to face him again.
“Weird,” Evie said. Alex started the car and glanced at the camera for a moment, giving it a little wave and a small smile. “Is this like. A thing that film majors just Do?”
“It’s not something I do,” Jay said.
After about thirty seconds of Alex just driving, Jay began to fast-forward through the footage. Eventually Alex parked and took the camera with him as he grabbed his bag and began walking somewhere. Again, Jay fast-forwarded.
“Alex! There you are,” a voice said when the footage returned to normal speed. “We thought you were going to be late.”
“I’m never late,” Alex replied sternly from behind the camera.
“Seems like he was just…heading to a shoot,” Jay said as other unseen voices exchanged greetings with Alex.
Sure enough, Alex began to direct the others to different spots, explaining how he wanted things to be set up.
“But…he’s just filming himself, not the actors,” Evie murmured.
The tape continued, without anything very interesting happening. There was clearly some second camera being used to actually shoot the scenes, as this one was often either pointed at the ground or set on a surface to point at Alex as he watched the scenes unfold. It ended unceremoniously, with Alex reaching over to the device after his watch began beeping.
“Another one?” Jay turned to Evie, eyebrows raised.
“Yeah, let’s -” she paused, noting the time in the corner of the computer screen. “...let’s maybe get a snack first? God, I didn’t realize how long we’ve been watching these.” She stood up and stretched.
Jay blinked at the screen. “...Yeah, me neither.”
She paused. “Oh my God, I forgot to put the ice cream in the freezer.”
The break provided a good opportunity for the two to put away their groceries. The ice cream was definitely not at its best, but Evie was hoping some time in the freezer would salvage it.
“I’m thinking about uploading this stuff online,” Jay said once the two of them finished, as they sat in the living room beside a bowl of salt and vinegar chips.
“Uploading it? Like, on your MySpace, or -”
“Like, on YouTube.” Evie stared at Jay for a moment, and he buckled slightly under her gaze, hand reaching to fidget with the corner of his shirt. “I mean, this stuff is weird, right? Like, really weird. Maybe if I shared this stuff, someone could help me figure out what it all means. Hell, maybe Alex would see it and get in contact with me!”
Evie shifted on the couch. “I just…I worry that someone might try and target you. What if there’s something really serious going on here? I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“How serious we talking? A government conspiracy?” Jay reached over and ruffled her hair.
She rolled her eyes. “Probably not a government conspiracy, but if it was a stalker or something, that’s still bad, right?”
“How about this,” Jay said, holding out his hands in a peace gesture, “I’ll keep everything as lowkey as possible. Won’t give away my location or anything. And if things get bad for some reason, I’ll stop.”
“I mean. If you think this’ll work, I won’t stop you.” She crossed her arms and shrugged.
Jay glanced at his watch. “What do you say, wanna do one more tape before I start on dinner?”
“You’re still hungry after all the food you had at brunch?”
He grabbed the bowl of chips, holding it away from his sister. “Alright, if you’re gonna be like that…”
“I was joking!” she said with a smile, before lunging at the bowl. When the two of them finally stopped laughing - and Evie was in command of the chips - they wandered back to the guest room.
The next tape was much like the last. Alex was filming himself as he ran errands. It was wholly uninteresting. But, it turned out the two of them were quite lucky (or maybe unlucky), because the last minute on the tape was different. Again.
As Evie watched the camera pan around a darkened playground, there was a tightness in her chest she’d come to expect.
“No audio,” Jay commented, frowning as the footage came to an end. He rewound it. “And - there, did you see that?”
Sure enough, when Jay played the clip back Evie was able to catch a glimpse of Alex’s stalker in the corner of the frame. The blurry form sent a shiver down her spine, although it had no right to do so - out of context, it looked like barely anything.
“He was definitely being stalked,” she said quietly, and then laughed dryly, “unless he was filming some horror project on the side.”
Jay didn’t answer, staring with furrowed brows at the screen, committing the pale pixels to memory. She grabbed his hand and began tugging him away.
“C’mon, let’s make dinner.”
Dinner was quieter than the day before. She had been in Alabama for a single day, and already she had anomalies to deal with, although there was a singular itch of hope somewhere in her core that said otherwise. Odd doesn’t mean dangerous. It’ll all work out. Hell, maybe it already has.
When they finished washing the dishes, Jay grabbed something from a bowl on the counter.
“I’ve got an opening shift at work tomorrow. Here’s a key for you,” he said, tossing a small silver thing in her direction. Evie caught it awkwardly, shaking off the piece of metal, which was still wet from Jay’s hands. “You’re welcome to go out as long as you lock the door behind you. And there’s plenty of food in the house.”
“What time do you think you’ll be back?”
“Sometime in the afternoon. Maybe between 2 and 3?” Jay wandered past her and flopped onto the couch.
Evie slipped the key into the pocket of her shorts, pausing beside the hallway. Although she couldn’t see the desktop through the door at this angle, there was a heaviness that confirmed it was there.
“If you’re gonna make a project out of watching those tapes, it’s really only fair that you move the computer into your room or something.”
“I can move the whole setup to my room after work tomorrow,” he said. “Deal?” He reached out a hand to her.
She crossed the living room and took it. “Deal.”
He smiled. “Now let’s see if there’s anything good on TV.”