D A Y 9

[founds]

CHAPTER 2

NOV 08TH | 47℉☂

▸ --*CHSKSSS--*-Breaking News! In the light of yesterday's hunt on Black Rock Lake, a body has been found. It has not ye--*CHSKSSS--*-n identified, but has been confirmed to not be either of the missing children.

▸ Another fall storm is roaming through today,--*CHSKSSS--*ed to pick up after dark so stay safe or stay insi--*CHSKSSS--*-

▸ Blackwell's First Methodist Church is holding its annual Thanksgiving food drive from now until Thanksgiving. Donate now! Anything but turkey,--*CHSKSSS--*-pped over on the interstate the other day and donated hundred--*CHSKSSS--*-urkeys to feed people for the holidays. What luck!

▸ Back to our regular--*CHSKSSS--*-uled programming

HIGH WIND WARNING IN EFFECT

Comments

[inheritable]

Deal.

[mom was never too fond of hailey's boxing, which is a major reason she hasn't really kept it up since fall and staying in elkins most of the time.

elbows dad back. but gently. with love.]

You're just scared you're gonna get beat up by a girl.

[embroil]

[ mom will have to suck it up because hailey is a great boxeur. she could be champion! win trophies! medals! just kidding. but he does think she's talented enough to maybe, after some training, go around and beat up other boys.

her words make him smirk and he puts on a pensive face, like he's giving thought to it ]

Hm, maybe. [ he chuckles, crossing his arms. ]

[inheritable]

I understand if you're intimidated by me, Dad. I can be pretty scary.

[well she's not the tiniest of girls, but next to her father most girls would look tiny. And of course he's never been close to making her afraid of him, but she can see he makes some of the other kids' parents nervous. So there's that joke.

Anyway she hasn't tried to beat up any boys for like. A year now. Maybe dad would like her to start.]

[embroil]

[ he looks at her in his "uh Huh" fashion, before patting her shoulder and getting up from the bench. it's starting to rain. light rain. ]

You go on inside. Get us a turkey. [ a beat ] Can you cook a turkey?

[inheritable]

[stands up when dad does and has already started back toward the church when he asks the question they really should have started with. looks back at him and shrugs.]

I never tried before, but we got YouTube. How hard can it be?

[famous last words.]

[ex_vacuous481]

[ cypress is inside the church, one hand on her hip as the other is tucking dark hair behind her ear. she's giving direction to a group of young men who just accepted a rather large donation, holding large paper bags full of who knows what that now needs sorting. perhaps the recent rise in deaths and disappearances has forced the inhabitants of blackwell to feel a little more grateful for what they do have-- the drive hadn't done this well in years.

she straightens out her little white dress before moving forward to assist with the sorting. she can't always lead if she wants everyone to see how great of a helper she is. ]

[inheritable]

[apologetically slips past the guys carrying the new donations and back into her place in the sorting line. thanks for covering for her, grandma mona. she owes you one.

glances up when cypress takes a spot a few people down from her. sort of waves hi with a can of green beans.]

Hey Cypress. How's it goin?

[they haven't spoken a lot before, but hailey knows who she is, duh.]

[ex_vacuous481]

[ friends with colby, ogles her aunt-- yeah, i'd say hailey knows her. she looks up from tossing a can of spoiled yams over to another volunteer to drop in the trash, her eyes following the voice speaking to her. cypress smiles at her, moving from her place in line to squeeze in next to hailey. ]

Just busy. Got a lot more than expected this time around, I'm glad we have as many hands on deck as we do.

[inheritable]

[scoots aside a little to make a place for cypress. hey there.

looks down at the expiration date on the can she's holding and makes a face. nope that's older than hailey is. tosses it into the trash.]

It's been a bad time. I guess everybody's just trying to help out any way they can.

[ex_vacuous481]

Now is as good as time as any, I suppose. [ there's a shrug of her shoulders as she watches the line go smoothly. it's nice when people listen to her. look at the success of this. now if only more people would actually listen to what she has to say-- anyway. no time for those thoughts. ] Is your family doing well? These storms have been just awful. Those on the first floor of my apartment complex have been flooded out.

[inheritable]

We're all right. Dad wasn't at the plant when the tree went down, thank God. Uncle Ben looks like he's moving back for good, which is fine by me if not him. Aunt Alex is... Aunt Alex.

[you know aunt alex. she is how she is.]

Y'all doing okay? I assume you must not live on the first floor.

[stacks two cans of pumpkin pie filling on top of each other and passes them off to the desserts table. frowns at another can of green beans, but this one's legit. you may live.]

[ex_vacuous481]

I'm fine. I think Atarah is on another mission out of state, so I haven't spoken to her much these past few days. [ repenting for her sins, yatta yatta. away from cypress, that's all that matters. ] My apartment is lovely. Just had a get together with a few friends that turned out well.

[ for her, anyway. ] It looks like my luck is far better than some others, which is why I'm doing everything I can to make this drive as good as it can be. I'm glad you chose to volunteer. I tried to get Alexis out here but she took a lot of the shifts I chose to pass up to be here.

[inheritable]

Mm-hmm.

[nods and makes appropriate listening noises at the appropriate times. she i listening, too, she just isn't usually this active. cypress is just so together, you know? she acts way more like an adult than uncle ben, even though hailey is pretty sure she's younger. not that hailey doesn't love uncle ben! he's just kind of a kid and that means she can kind of be a kid around him.]

Well. Aunt Alex. She kinda does what she wants, when she wants. Me, I got a lot of free time on my hands all of a sudden.

[not quite true, she just knows less what she wants to do with herself when she does have free time.]

[ex_vacuous481]

You can volunteer! I'm always running something or other and the shelters and food banks always love the helping hands. [ yes, hailey. use all the free time to help the needy and get to know cypress a little better. ] It's a great way to use all that free time of yours when you're in Blackwell. And just wonderful to put on those college applications.

[inheritable]

Yeah... Yeah, I guess I should.

[is it what bela would have wanted? it was the kind of thing she talked about doing, but hailey was never actually sure if she was actually doing it. hailey never got too involved in community stuff at any rate.

makes a face at the mention of college like most 16-year-olds do.]

I can't think about college stuff yet.

[that's not what dad thinks. or mom. both of them have been leaving fliers lying around since she turned 15.]

[ex_vacuous481]

Oh trust me, now is prime time for college stuff. Or you'll end up like me and get behind and end up not going at all. Wouldn't want to do it to Trent, would you? [ she's teasing. cypress smiles at her and nudges her side. ] Do what you want. You're young. That doesn't last forever.

[inheritable]

Ugh...

[gives cypress the best teenage exasperated sigh and eye roll on record. it's really very good.]

You sound like my mom. I just keep thinking of college like it's something that's not gonna happen to me for ages, but it's not. I'm supposed to start getting ready like now. And then I'm just supposed to leave.

[granted, that's not going to be as hard as it would have been a few weeks ago. it's horrible, but it's true. she doesn't even want to be in elkins anymore.]

[ex_vacuous481]

Leaving may not be so bad. You have the whole world to explore, why would you want to stick around in West Virginia? [ cypress has a few reasons. ] Or you could just study at the university in Elkins and stick around. I bet your parents would just love that.

[ there's another smile. she glances down at the can in her hand before stacking it with the other corn cans. ah, corn. ] Or you can stick around here. The cool thing about your life is that it is your life. You get to do whatever you want with it.

[inheritable]

Yeah, I dunno. I guess I got family out in Illinois, too, if it came to that, but I never lived anywhere but here. I dunno. My dad...

[well he'd have his sister, and now his brother too, but it'd still feel like abandoning him a little bit if she left. even though it's what he wants for her.

sets down a can without paying attention to what she's doing, nearly misses and has to catch the stack before it topples and goes everywhere.]

Sorry. Uh. How's the hotel doing? Y'all got power back after the last storm finally?

[ex_vacuous481]

It's fine. [ her dad would just be heartbroken if hailey left, hm? a pity. she helps hailey with her can debacle and watches her curiously before returning to her own task. ] Of course. Hopefully it won't go again with this one. Guests don't really like staying in a dark room.

[inheritable]

I can see why they wouldn't, yeah. The place gives me the creeps.

[more now than it did before, and it definitely did before. now, she doesn't think she'd set foot in it again for love or money. how cypress can stand going to work in a place where someone was so very murdered is a mystery to hailey.]

[ex_vacuous481]

Surprisingly, I think the creepy factor has actually brought more people in than scared them away. [ she's saying it like it's surprising and kind of disgusting rather than how she really feels about it. of course. cypress reaches up to adjust the headband in her hair before her hands return to the cans. ] Which is good for my paycheck but makes me question humanity a bit.

[inheritable]

That's sick.

[not in the teenager way, she means it in the disgusting way. of course before halloween she might've been right there with the other spooky types, but it's a little different when you knew the deceased.]

[ex_vacuous481]

I guess it's the same sort of draw people have with Lost Lake. It can't be helped. [ well, people could stop dying. that would help it. ]

[inheritable]

Lost Lake was ages ago. This is different.

[sets a can down a little too hard again and this time she misses catching the stack of corn before it can topple over. fixes her eyes on the ground as she crouches to pick them up, and definitely not on anyone who may or may not be staring at her.]