[text]: i’ve got one last client, i’ll catch up with you there, okay? don’t do anything I wouldn’t do ;)
➟ sent.
She was late; she knew she’d be late, her later sessions with clients always seemed to run longer than they were meant to and as she pulled her fingers through her hair, the foggy bathroom mirror at the gym painting her in a slightly more put together state than she expected, Caitlyn caught the time on the glowing screen of her phone and cursed her way out into the quiet street. Everyone was likely already at the event, they’d probably been there for hours and momentarily she hated that she’d chosen to work late. A typical response really, work to stay busy, to keep her mind from wandering even though she knew at any moment Maddox could walk through those same doors and shatter her weakly built persona of composure that she threw up whenever he was around.
Her friends; a drink; a night to live, it was all she really needed to get through another night on her own. How pathetic she felt to need that; to not be okay, it felt childish and she was far from a child. Nevertheless, thinking about it was redundant, and it got her nowhere. How far someone that seemed to eternally perch themselves on a pedestal of positive energy could fall so quickly was not a line of thought that she’d wander tonight. Slipping into the drivers seat of her car, she tossed her gym back to the back where it habitually lived since she always forgot to take it out and deeply regretted it whenever she realized she’d done it again.
For a town that very rarely did you ever run into someone you didn’t know, it still felt like too long of a drive to the high school, Caitlyn switching through songs until she found something to boost her mood, grabbing for her phone to call ahead. If Remi or Lenny weren’t waiting for her at the door they’d hear about it, a thought that brought a quick smile to her face. The dial tone filled the interior of her car as the music cut out, the bluetooth kicking in after the first ring, tapping her fingers across the steering wheel, a deep frown set in place when Lenny’s phone rang out, Caitlyn only looking down for a moment at her phone to try Remi instead before a bright light on the road drew her attention.
Like a flash bang, it blinded her, Cait instinctively shielding her eyes as best she could without blocking her view. It faded, slowly but surely, leaving blinding spots glimmering in her vision, the road took shape, trees that lined it no longer blurred shapes.
----- And neither the figure standing in the middle of the road. Standing there; just waiting.
Too close to brake in time, she swerved left sharply, the squeal of tires drowning out the sound of Remi’s voice mail kicking in and recording the next three minutes of noise. Gravel and dirt crunched beneath tires as her car went off the road, spiralling a quick descent into the cavern of trees that lined the road and opened up into a branch of the woods lining the far side of the town. It was impossible to see -- to make sense of what lay in front of her, but the ground beneath her car falling through, drew the screaming in her throat louder while she fought for control over the steering wheel.
It was quick and sharp, the car coming to a deafening stop as it slammed into a tree, the impact rough as the front end of her car crumpled by the force of it. Airbags deployed a moment too late, Caitlyn’s vision already waning after her head smacked the window, hard.
Move. Get out and move. It didn’t make sense ---- why would someone stand in the middle of the road like that? The only real reason brought a sense of panic to her chest. People were dead. Murdered. Move. Coughing and groaning as she shifted as best she could in her seat, pushing the airbag out of the way with frustration that bordered a sense of fear, Cait only paused long enough to grab for her phone, it’d fallen to the floor on the passenger side, fingertips barely reached it before she tugged her seatbelt clean off, the sound of fallen footsteps against gravel and autumn leaves. Throwing the drivers door open, she fell out onto the ground, her head spinning violently as she fought the urge to vomit.
Get up. Her body hadn’t given in, she was fine -- she could run. She knew this town; knew the woods and she damn sure knew she could outrun most. Sticks broke beneath her weight as she pushed herself to her feet, swaying slightly on the spot, the glow from her phone flashing low battery and Remi’s phone call. “--- Remi... Remi..” Footsteps sounded louder than before, Caitlyn only looking around briefly towards the road above before she took a few steps away from the car, her trail into the trees already in front of her
Impact was brutal. Caitlyn might have sworn she heard it perforate the air like nothing else she’d ever heard when everything went black. Her body hit the ground and rolled through the debris of glass and rocks, her phone tumbling from her hand to bury beneath the foliage, the phone call ending after three long minutes of voice mail was left for Remi Kinkade to find; the screen flashing low battery before going dark too.
She didn’t come to by choice, her lungs begged for air as the smell of something awful corrupted her airways. What she did know -- was her head hurt, and though she tried to reach for it, the feeling of dried blood cracking on her forehead bothering her enough, she couldn’t. Bound. The rope around her wrist and ankles dug into her skin so much that it hurt. Breath didn’t reach her mouth, nothing did --- every confused sound that fell from her lips muted by the material tied and shoved in her mouth, the feeling of it alone foreign and enough for her to pull against her restraints just long enough for Caitlyn to completely miss the figure drowned in the dim light above as it came to a crouched stop beside her, a finger as detestable a skeletal figure lifting her chin high enough for her to see the camera.
“I did warn all of you that my games had just begun,” a distorted voice began, garbled and animatronic as though the speaker were half-machine. “The first move was mine, the second yours. If silence and pathetic, shameful cowardice is the route each of you wishes to take, then I accept.” The hand released Caitlyn’s jawline and the camera panned back with each step its wielder took. “And so I make my next play… Caitlyn Thompson’s life hangs in the balance. Each of you must decide who will be the first to open their skeleton closet and reveal a secret hidden away from the rest. Failure to do so will result in consequences you cannot even begin to fathom, especially for sweet Caitlyn.”
Panic --- more panic filtrated her bones, Caitlyn pulling against the restraints more as the voice she could never recognize but would never forget implied what might happen, a muffled sound of objection grew to a scream as she remembered the bodies; how the papers said they were found, the boy hung on the goal posts of the football field, tears leaving dirty tracks against her cheeks as they fought their way through her desperate need not to cry.
Vision blurred, and her head spun, darkness threatened to take her under.
“The day of atonement is coming, Blackwater Bay. You have thirty minutes.”
