lay low.

[jaysmerrick]

staticborne:

     ❝ i’m sorry. ❞    which she is, even if it isn’t her fault.                          even if there’s nothing she can do.    she’s quiet. realistically, they have nothing in common.    they’d never have met, or spoke more than pleasantries,    in another world. but jay was all she had now. all she was    allowed to trust. ( all she was able to trust. ) jessica has    to make this work; she just has to.     ❝ i’d suggest a walk, but i’m terrified to leave.      i know this place isn’t safe, but i like to pretend. ❞

  the two of them were far from best friends.   they met within a hotel after they were   both infected by the same disease, the   same . . . creature. it was hard to explain,   hard to understand, and neither of them   could wrap their head around such a    matter that no longer made any rational   sense. it was a nightmare that no one   could ever wake up from. it was an   infection with no  c u r e.

      “ i wish we had the freedom to just walk. ”

  it was a whisper. it didn’t mean to be.    a moment for either of them to gather   their thoughts. it seemed that neither   wanted to leave the other’s side. the   bathroom and shower were the only    two moments throughout the day where   they spent much needed time away   from one another. jay was thoroughly   surprised she didn’t outwardly hate him.

     “ pretending won’t help anything.                          we have to find a solution. ”

[jaysmerrick]

@staticborne·

     ❝ can’t sleep ? ❞    it’s nothing new. they both have dark circles stained    under their eyes – but it’s different, now, when they’re    in the same room. she can hear him not sleeping.     jessica may as well make small talk.      ❝ what’re you thinking about ? ❞

  when could the male find slumber ? there was a very   rare moment within his life where insomnia did not   wrack his entire being, causing for failed tests and    a back-breaking drowsiness that was portrayed within   the very frame of his body. an existence that would   be seen as desolate to most onlookers. 

  lips parted, eyes narrowing to avoid any light.

        ❝ i’m thinking about how tired i am. ❞

[jaysmerrick]

ttcmporary

   she was grateful it was him she had to survive with.    jessica, despite her intelligence, would’ve never thought    to resort to a library. though she won’t say as so.    instead, she glances from the packets she was     thumbing through the glance at him. curiosity ?    the only time jess had seen jay curious was    concerning some park. & she’d assumed that     was just an excuse to check up on her –        ❝ a bad habit i picked up in college pulling all nighters. ❞    it came in handy now. her ability to stay awake : especially    under pressure. her head tilts as she meets his eyes.       ❝ now i’ve given myself a caffeine addiction. ❞       ❝ when i first started getting these headaches, i thought       that was why – lack of caffeine. ❞    a sigh, as her attention turns back to the papers.       ❝ come to think of it, i’m not even sure i’d recognize       what a folded map looks like … i’m just gonna get this       & sit in the car, okay ? you keep looking. ❞    that’s a ‘i’m uncomfortable having to address my bad habits    like i’m still a human & not just a victim.’ a reality check she    didn’t need right now.

   it was nice to hear new things about her, even if    he had to practically drag them from her. there    was no reason she should be reluctant with her    information around him, but that was seemingly    the way she wanted to go about it. he learned    more about her in those thirty seconds than he    had their entire time being on the road - that    said something about the trust she had for him.                     ‘ yeah, i’ll be right out. ’    his words were spoken softly, as if he was    consoling her in some fashion. though jay wasn’t    one to help most of his friends when it came to    their downward spiral, he knew that most of them    were too far gone in the first place. a part of him    wished that he would have tried harder - especially    with tim - but he needed to make sure that jess was    okay in the first place - and then some.    it didn’t take him long to find the map that they would    need to get to maine. just a few exits that they needed    to take to get on another highway and they would be    right as rain. making his way out of the gas station and    into the car, where she waiting, he plopped the map in    her lap and hoped that she could read it.                         ‘ you’re on map duty. ’

[jaysmerrick]

ttcmporary

       ❝ suit yourself, ❞    she’d save this, though, for when jay grew too     weary to drive & it was her turn at the wheel.    having not slept more than ten hours in the    past week at that motel, being out of it was    ideal for the sandman.    jess does her best to ignore the rows full of snacks,    their money was meant for gas & the one mean a    day from the cheapest fast food place they could find.    not for overpriced, but tasty, bags of chips. ( said    ignoring her coffee, of course. )       ❝ i hope places still sell maps. with google maps & all. ❞    jessica says, flipping through travel guides with hotel    recommendations that make her nose crinkle. the next    bed she’d sleep in would be her own, hopefully.        ❝ otherwise we’re going to have to make detours for directions. ❞       ❝ & i don’t think we can afford being off the highway too much. ❞

   she wasn’t entirely wrong. actually, she wasn’t wrong    at all. it was surprising that she knew about escaping,    making him wonder if she had ever dreamed of it before.    jay had thought about it - back in high school - when    he was much too young to believe that his friends    could just disappear the way that they did. it made    him think that there was more in common between     the two of them then was let on - but he digressed.       ‘ we’ll find a map - one way or another. even   if we have to print one off at a library or something. ’    no matter what happened, he needed to stay     confident. if he allowed himself to get too down in    the dumps then only the worst would occur.            ‘ what’s up with you and those drinks anyway? ’    he recalled them being in her hotel room.

[jaysmerrick]

ttcmporary

   the last thing jessica wanted to interact with     was any architecture that was even mildly    spooky. but she knew they wouldn’t get far    without a map. ( or without snacks ! )    unbuckling, she slips out of the car with her    purse at her side. though there was a specific    maniac after them, other bad people still existed.    they didn’t need to get mugged in the process.    jess practically bee lines for the drinks.       ❝ do you want anything ? ❞    this was nearly as vital as the map, the    starbucks mocha mix she was holding.      ❝ i’m no use to you if i’m decaffeinated. ❞    this was a semi - joke, indicated by the loose    body language as she holds the refrigerator open.

   it was hilarious for her to mention a drink, after    all that they had been through. it was an     important part of their trip, he figured, so he     wouldn’t even start to tell her ‘no’. but he,    himself needed nothing but time to think about    what they were going to do next. going to maine    was one thing, but how would they manage to    get there? they barely had enough money to    survive. they would find a way though.    eyes traveled towards her, chuckling a bit as    she mentioned the cold beverage and if he    needed anything - though he didn’t. just a     shake of his head came then, letting her know    that he had all he needed ; other than that map,     of course . . and a piss break.      ‘ get what you need though. wouldn’t        want you to be useless without your caffeine. ’    

[jaysmerrick]

ttcmporary

   destination in mind, there’s a brush of conviction    that settles on her skin. they could do this – leaving    everything behind was less daunting the realer this    trip became. she imagines the atlantic beneath her.       ❝ let’s head to a gas station & get a map. ❞    with a phone long dead, & money too scarce    to repurchase a charger, it was their best bet.       ❝ i’ll be your navigator, captain jay. ❞    she tries to make light with newfound confidence,    but her voice still carries a tremble. one day she’d    leave that behind with this town & it’s prison motels.

   there wasn’t much of a choice set for either of them.    they needed to get away from where they were and    travel to some distant place. if they were caught, so    be it - but at least they tried. jessica deserved much    better than all of this. though jay didn’t find himself    to be much of a saint, he did think that this was all    something that just wound up on his plate, even when    he wanted nothing to do with it. some of his friends    toyed with the idea, tried to investigate, when they    needed to be doing exactly what jess & jay were.             ‘ aye, aye! ’ he shouted, pulling off at the           next exit and traveling down the road a ways.    they approached a gas station that should have    been torn down years ago - but there it stood. he    wasn’t entirely surprised that it was the only place    in miles where they could get a map but, it was     better than nothing at all.             ‘ let’s go in and search around. maybe           people up and go to maine all the time. ’

[jaysmerrick]

ttcmporary

   it was KIND of him to offer her the choice. since    it would be their new home for however long they’d    need to lay low. jessica tries to manage a half - smile    for his offer, but it’s meek on her features.       ❝ i guess not somewhere over saturated with people. ❞       ❝ but also not somewhere completely desolate —- ❞    fingertips find his arm in a minor excitement as the proper    place dawns on her. somewhere she’s always wanted to go.       ❝ maine. somewhere in upper maine. ❞

   maine was a little random, but he had thought of    moving that far away before. it was an interesting    thought, at least - entertaining said thought would    only show him that it was the best idea the had. it    didn’t take him long to figure that was what would    be best for them both ; a fresh start in a brand new    state - a brand new area of the united states.               ‘ let’s go to maine then. ’                  a smile graced his lips.          ‘ do you know how to get there? ’

[jaysmerrick]

ttcmporary

      ❝ it’ll get better once we’re out of here. ❞    though, what does she know ? aside from not having    chunks of memory, newly found insomnia & a blind     trust in someone who could EASILY ! be part of it —-    she leans against the seat, trying to let those thoughts    escape her. trying not to think about how long they’d be    in this car – maybe a hotel with other residents wouldn’t    be so bad … or maybe they’d all vanish.         ❝ where are we going to go ? ❞ a pause,         ❝ i know out of the city … but out of the country ?         out of this continent ? i’m not sure if whoever put         us there cares about borders & stuff … ❞ 

   it was hard for him to muster up the courage to    tell her anything about what was happening to    them both. it made him sick to his stomach just    to think about it - whether that was because of    the thing himself or just a part of the nausea that    settled within him, thinking about all that his friends    had been put through. it was out of a horror flick.

       a brief pause once the question was asked,        though he replied eventually with, 

                ‘ where would you like to go? ’

[jaysmerrick]

ttcmporary

   & she’ll believe this. that he’s confident in himself.    jessica has heard his lies before, & they were     rather OBVIOUS. a sense of genuine washes over    her. perhaps as CLOSE to relief as she was going    to get.        ❝ not really, ❞ this time, she was honest.        ❝ as long as we have each other. strength in numbers. ❞    or because he had answers – or so he had said –    that jessica had yet been graced with. & for an analytical    mind under the stress of the unknown she needed them.    meaning she needs HIM.       ❝ just let me know when you get tired. ❞        ❝ i don’t want to be at any more hotels. ❞

   being at another motel was the last thing either of    them needed, really. neither of them needed that    sort of stress - closing the curtains to make sure    that no one was peaking inside. they had met in    a motel, one that was meant to keep them both    safe . . but it hadn’t. instead, they were faced with    the hard truth that they were safe nowhere. they    could never be safe, in all truth. 

     ‘ meaning you want to sleep in the car? ’

   he may have thought that was crazy before all    of this started, but it made sense. ignore the    bad things to make sure that they both survived.    given that she didn’t know the truth of the whole    matter - and that he was one of the reasons she    was in this situation in the first place - he would    protect her from everything the best way he could.

      ‘ no more hotels then. we just . . need to leave. ’

[jaysmerrick]

ttcmporary

   jessica was TRYING not to think about what     lay behind them with tire tracks & what was to    be anticipated in the future. the anxiety meshed    with a soft car sickness was sending her spinning.        & though his reminder that this wasn’t a normal    trip should spike her tensions, a calm glance over    to him is given. jess’s hair is tied back so she can’t    numb her scalp playing with it as a vice, though she    still aimlessly reaches for a strand.       ❝ yes, ❞ except this a lie. a white one that burns.       ❝ why ? are you having second thoughts ? ❞

  there was a solid chance that this would all go   downhill and quickly. they weren’t ready to just   take off like this - jay was still having coughing   fits & jessica seemed scared shitless because   of it all. jay would be a liar if he said he wasn’t   scared as well. in all honesty, he thought that   they wouldn’t even get past the next motel.

  but that was the last thing that she needed to   hear. the last thing either of them needed was   having the other freak out in their presence, so   he would bite his tongue and allow her to see   the brave face that he practiced in the mirror,   even giving her the slightest shrug.

       ‘ no second thoughts. we don’t have much of        a choice anyways, do we? ’

[jaysmerrick]

          desperation had easily become a part of jay’s life.           his friends were gone and loneliness has seeped           through the cracks whenever he wasn’t around           anyone. after all those months of searching, he’d           finally decided to call it quits. jessica was involved           now. he wouldn’t allow her to get hurt because           of things that didn’t involve her in the slightest. now,           he needed to make sure that she was safe, even           if alex was still trying to hunt down the people that           were tied to that . . thing. 

                                                      ‘ jessica. ’ 

           the name fell from his lips with ease, looking at her            in the passenger’s side. 

                                ‘ are you sure about this? ’

         they were leaving their life behind, for better or for worse.

[jaysmerrick]

           ‘ where are you? ’ read the text message sent to the one and only alex kralie.               once friend, now . . something. enemy was a little too biblical for jay's standards.