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Despite the scattering of birds, there seemed to be an eerie layer of silence over the farmhouse. The rats too made not a sound as they skittered along the floorboards. Despite such, it seemed almost serene, if not for the rotting animals, at least the everlasting sunset was beautiful as it filtered itself across the rotten wood and rusted metal. The brown and orange tones of the home and it’s expanse of cornfield were in strong contrast to decaying resort in Ormond, but it was a middle ground she had agreed to meet Danny. Despite how it belonged to Max, it seemed many people seemed to enjoy it, and he never seemed to mind. But she too could once understand the wish to never be home.
It wasn’t her favorite place to be though, if she were to pick places beyond Ormond, she much liked to explore Haddonfield street homes or the old western saloon when she was bored, or the red forests where she could sit in the small home and listen to the rain outside as it fell against the trees. The farmhouse wasn’t too bad, it just was certainly more of Danny’s pick, although she didn’t quite understand why. At least it wasn’t the lab or the elementary school, those grossed even her out occasionally.
Heaving a sigh, she picked herself up from her lying position on the roof, tired of waiting, and instead decided to kill her time with empty thoughts and another smoke. But as soon as she reached for her lighter, she could hear the creaking boot steps behind her.
“Put that shit away, and take a drink instead huh?” He was quick to take a seat next to her, offering her a bottle and a grin. Sticking out her tongue, she shoved it all back into her pocket, but took the bottle from him with a shrug. “I know, I know, my idea and I’m the one leaving the lady waiting. My apologies, Miss Kostenko. ” she offered a snort.
“Oh get off it Danny, usually you’d be asking me for one.” There was the briefest of pauses as she watched him, though he didn’t speak on it or change his mind. “So. What is this about anyway?” Julie was already getting into her drink, and it was his turn to shrug.
“Can’t a man just like to hang out with one of his adoring fans?” he laughed, leaning back on one of his arms, looking off over the field for a few moments. “Although, I suppose it’s more about the fact you get what I’m working with in the...Morrison department.” Right, so that’s what it was all about. Frank.
It was always Frank.
“He ran off and jumped on another dick finally, huh? Who was it?” Quirking her brow, she almost laughed. “Jokes go around about Myers, or the big walking Great Pyramid of Who-Knows-Where. Can’t be the popstar, he’d get hit too fast with that fancy bitch bat. Pchew. ” she made soft noise before blowing a raspberry, her free hand gesturing as an explosion rupturing at the side of her head.
“First of all, that’s like..twunk on twunk crime. Secondly, it’s not that, but if you think I can convince any of them to play nice long enough for the three of us, four, five...” rolling his head back, Danny seemed to give it a legitimate thought. It was certainly not something new to him, Julie was quick to figure that out, earning a disgusted face from her. “Stop making that face before it freezes or I take a photo, come on. It’s not about that. It’s more about..Frank says things, sometimes, and well...”
“He’s just an absolute idiot?”
“Sure, you could put it that way. But also...” pause, drink, sigh. “It opens up many doors of curiosity, of before this, of him, of your little breakfast club. I suppose I want your stories and perspective. You have a better head on your shoulders, after all, you’re the brains, he’s brawn and the beauty.” she should have been insulted, but a moment later he laughed, and she couldn’t hold in a soft laugh to follow.
Part of the unspoken reality between them, though it was easy to pick up on, was that Danny wanted truth. Julie knew well enough Frank was a liar. He liked to exaggerate, he liked to make everything so much bigger than life; and that included himself. There wasn’t always something wrong in that, that was something he and Joey would thrive on together, and once upon a time it had been helpful. However now, all she could think about was when Susie had called him Icarus, and still he flew on his melting wings, just with a bigger audience.
Julie merely called it a dick measuring contest, however, and would laugh and watch. Occasionally, she would even help.
“I can’t say I know even that much about him, really. Well, not the origins of the mighty Morrison. He popped into town one day, and it was hard not to notice since everybody knew everybody.” or that was how it always felt, but Ormond was so small, so it wasn’t surprising. “We met at a party I threw when my parents were out of town, and he..well you’ve seen him, he’s a lot of talk.” That much hasn’t changed.
“And in small towns, that’s impressive. Looking like a big dog, with big bark, something new to cling to. Hm.” Danny tapped his fingers against his bottle before looking over to her. She didn’t look back, instead looking ahead, eyes a million miles away.
“Yeah...” her voice was soft when she said the word, before heaving a deep sigh. “I was so enamored by him, he fascinated me, but maybe I was selfish and just wanted a ticket out of my stupid little town. But it was fun, in the beginning, rosey glasses erasing all the red flags until it was much too late. It was a snowball effect that was ignored, until we got hit by something too big, and well…” a deep inhale. “You see how that turned out. But,” she finally looked at Danny, tilting her head. “He’s your problem now.”
“There’s a lot I could say to that,” he laughed again, looking a little too amused despite what she had already said. “Even with his little dog syndrome, I see what you like. He’s fun, you know. But how does a girl like you end up with him? There’s a gap I still don’t get to fill in.”
“Like I said, it was a party I threw. I wanted to be important, feel like I was something and not just some..girl living like all the others, wasting my life, sucked into the void. So,” she gestured out towards the cornfield and endless sky, unable to find her words for a few moments. “Despite spending so much of my life living in the mold my parents wanted, being little miss perfect, I started doing stupid shit to feel...good. Then he showed up, self invited or whatever, we met, and he was the worst enabler I have ever met. I got what I wanted, in a way, but also..I got absolute dog shit.”
And the little voice inside her head still told her it was worth it.
What was worth it, she wasn’t sure. The end result was out of the question, of course, this was hell. It was the inbetween. There had been a time where she had lived a life where everything had filled the need her very soul begged for; yearned for. Destruction, intoxication, desperate pleasure, her very soul had needed it to thrive, and no matter what, she would have to thank Frank for that part of her life. She felt so awake, so alive.
“Typical trope, good girl, bad boy. So cliche, Julie, your parents must have been devastated.” His words were punctuated with the crashing of glass, the bottle being tossed from the roof when he was done. Meeting her with a grin, she rolled her eyes at him. Needless, but so were many things he seemed to do. He and Frank were perfect for eachother, seeing as they needed so much mindless attention and thriving impulse.
“Oh they hated him, and they were disappointed in me. But I think part of it was them wanting to live their lives again through me. They wanted the best for me, maybe, but they wanted the best for themselves too. We moved to a new country, I could have a start they never could, and well...my parents just projected a little bit, I think.” She understood why, and never could it be said that Julie hated her family, but she would never let it be an excuse. It just led her to being angry, because maybe if her parents had been different, so would many other things in her life. But then, she told herself the same thing about so many fractions of her life. “Ugh, we sure are talking a lot about me for this being Frank based. Break time. What about you, huh? Your turn.”
“Oh I’m not as much fun. Just your average, everyday icon.” he said it so casually, almost laughing. “I killed a good number of people, the footage was killer, and they never saw it- or me- coming.” oh his stupid humor again, it had her elbowing him, and if she were lesser a person she would shove him right off the edge of that rickety roof.
“Fine, I get it, I’ll pry the details from you some other time, and in the meantime maybe I’ll go hang out with Anna instead. She’s quite the conversationalist with me. ” She finished her drink with that, and tossed the bottle as far as she could into the field, watching it go. The threat was, honestly, not empty either. She did want to go see the huntress, and had been meaning to check on her after the past few trials. Of all people, Julie enjoyed her company the most, and the feeling was mutual. Although it was hard to be anything else, when she was the only one who could speak to her in her native tongue, much less they seemed to fill the void the other had when it came to family. It was never to be perfect, but nothing in the Realm ever would be, so for what it was, she wouldn’t trade Anna for anything.
“Ahahhhh, no need to go hang out with her, right? We’re just having fun.” he nudged at her instead this time, earning a sharp scowl. “I just am sure my stories aren’t quite as fun, I’m a cool guy but it wasn’t quite like the movies, you know? Much more...clean and careful, and I don’t fall like those idiots. Really, that’s pretty much it. General serial killer life.”
“I’m sure you have something.” she insisted. “Even if not now, it’ll hit your brain, and I’ll want to know.”
“You’ll be the first.” Danny snorted, “Well until I can satisfy you, can you tell me anything else? Or shall we remain in silence, cigarettes, and staring at half dead corn until we decide to go back and watch whoever it is right now who’s out and about?” without a word, she was already reaching into her pocket, and offering him the small cardboard container and lighter with a smile.
“I’ll tell you some dumb shit, but only if I still get my smoke.” without a response, he took one, and allowed her to continue. Most things she could think of right away were already common knowledge surface facts. Frank was one of those people who thought he could say whatever he wanted to because well he had those friends. Or, he didn’t believe in bisexuality, so he was a renounced straight, and had deemed Julie a new-found lesbian when she and Susie had begun dating post their own break up. He also had the world's worst temper, which led to a good many bad situations Ormond or otherwise. But finally, as she sat there, fiddling with her hands in her lap, Julie spoke again.
“He likes to impress people. Which, we all know, right, I’m aware. But...Frank is a decent leader, and he likes to keep people happy. When you’re his, you’re his, and that means the world both ways. Even now, sure he and I aren’t together, and I blame him for a lot because I’m angry, but we’re...even I have to say we’re friends. I like to think we’re close friends even, the whole group. With him, I could throw him to the wolves, and he’d probably come for me, but then we’d laugh it off, he’d turn around, and he’d take on the world for me. He’s stupid, and impulsive, and a glutton for so much, but he’s also...weirdly good?” groaning, she pulled her cigarette from her lips, and finally fell back against the roof; arms outstretched as she stared blankly upward.
It sounded so sappy, so stupid. But it was true. “For all I’m angry about, Danny, I still remember at that party when that idiot tried to impress me, and he continued to try for months, as if my approval was the only thing that mattered. There were knife tricks, stories, this one weird lighter and four cigarette game he had, the tag art he personalized for me when he was showing me how...”
It made her sound almost nostalgic, which wasn’t quite the goal, but maybe she was. No, she knew she always was. By now, part of her had come to find fun in the chase that was her life, but when it was really her entire life, she had to .The rest of her life was built on her anger, her nostalgia. As she continued, that part of her might wither out and die, but it did so slowly, and in the meantime she had so many memories to dwell on, so many thoughts to have. She contemplated needing to reject that part of her and give in. She wouldn’t, she couldn't, but the idea always did sound appealing when it wiggled itself into her brain for those two seconds. Then, then maybe she wouldn’t sound so damn sad.
“Showing off, gaining your trust, and manipulating you. Sounds like it. Smart way to go about it until he got what he needed, the friendship otherwise could be considered a bonus.” Danny was peering over her, staring, unblinking for a solid few seconds. She blew smoke into his face, earning not even a flinch, so she frowned. “But...in the end, maybe you’re right, and I’m the one overanalyzing. Or. Weren’t those red flags hidden by your rosey outlooks? The world may not have been what you thought, but in the end, the life you lived, the man you have as your friend...maybe it doesn’t matter now. What is the meaning of any flags here?”
“Maybe. Maybe you’re right, honestly.” she wasn’t going to think about it. “Maybe he was, maybe he is. But I want to believe he’s good, part of him. We’re still a team, you know, and if I’m stuck here forever, then I’ll rot and wallow in my feelings, but I won’t let them isolate me from what I had. Why cut the group smaller when we made stupid mistakes, when instead...we’ve already added to the group.” when she said that, she tilted her head to look straight at him, and offered a slow, shit-eating grin. “Welcome to the club, Ghostie.” easiest way to move on from the subject.
Maybe he was right, but she didn’t really want to think about it too long, truthfully. Too much already ate away at her, and she already had found her ways to deal with what she had. These were things she wasn’t going to think about. Well, not, at least, without talking to Susie and Joey first. Maybe they would have good input. Yeah, she’d talk to them.
“I am not part of your little, weird, club.” he corrected, watching as she sat back up, cigarette between her lips, and in a fluid blur was on her feet as a raven found its way to sit between them; staring. It made not a sound, but that didn’t make it any more unnerving for the moment. Although, they both knew what it wanted.
“I’d argue that the moment you two became an item, that as another masked killer, good with a knife, you were welcomed with open arms. Almost like a new found mentor, but with more strings attached.” He made a face at her words, but didn’t argue, and she laughed. Cracking her neck, she took a drag and seemed to look from the bird, to him, and back, continuing. “But we can have your welcome party and more stories later. Seems like we’re getting kicked, or, we’re needed. Shame huh? Let’s go.”
“Party over then, let’s go.”
Julie grinned, and offered him a hand.
“Let’s.”