╰ °✧ ( PAUL WESLEY, CISMALE, THIRTY-THREE, HE/HIM ) : — ❝ here comes crawford barrow to help guide the tour ! they’ve lived in deadmore for thirteen years and do know that the myth is true. besides helping guide you all today, they are also a stagehand at deadmore grand carnival ! they’re known around town for being industrious, hardy, self-preserving, and irritable. they’re said to give off a calloused palms, a knife hidden under the bedroom pillow, a battered pickup truck on its last leg, & a warning glare of ‘keep your distance’. some people suspect that they're hiding that they let their childhood best friends die in his place. hopefully the town and tourists don’t find out ! ❞ — penned by ( dew, she/her, 25, est )
**DEATH TW
thirteen years ago crawford and his two childhood best friends, grady and mercy lynn, were going on an impromptu roadtrip during their college spring break. a luck would have it, their car broke down. the closest town? deadmore.
the trio stayed at the devil’s backbone for the night. crawford’s friends opted to stay in that night, but he wanted to explore. and on his self-guided tour of the town, he ran into a local. who said they could show crawford the real deadmore.
they were true to their word. after a few stops around town, they led them to overgrove park. that’s where he came face to face with the truth.
sparing the details, crawford was nearly sacrificed. he begged for his life. and when that didn’t work, he offered up someone else’s. because why choose him, just one tourist, when they could have two?
the local must have seen something in crawford, because they agreed.
crawford chose to stay in town. after the decision he made that night, it felt like there was no turning back. he couldn’t sit in class and see the empty seat. or go home and see the tears in they eyes of their mothers. the memories were too difficult.
the memories keep him up most nights. he used to spend a lot of time tossing and turning. now he usually just goes for walks.
works as a stagehand for the carnival. so he helps set up booths and does some of the behind the scenes “magic” at the circus. kind of an every man with no grand expertise, just basic knowledge across the board.
he drives a pickup truck that should have died a long time ago but is somehow still running. it stalls, locks him out, and makes concerning noises but he won’t get rid of it. it was grady’s.
his participation in the sacrifices can be summed up as “as long as it’s not me.”
