geo

Who: Peyton to Geo
When: 7:00am (before school)
Where: Text via Phone of course

hey - I didnt hear from you yesterday, which means if I don't hear from you today, i'm coming to track you down after school. be prepared if it comes to that. worried about you. - p

Who: Peyton and Geo
When: 10:30am (after their texts)
Where: Peyton's house

Peyton waited for Geo. Or rather, paced anxiously on her porch. She kept glancing down the street, expecting to see him come riding up on his bike at any moment. Maybe he wouldn't be riding his bike. Maybe he'd be walking. She tried to sit a couple of times, to be patient, but it was difficult and she'd resorted to chewing her fingernail as the minutes ticked by. She had no clue what she would say or do, but all she knew was she wanted to see him in the flesh to make sure he was okay and alive. And then maybe it would click and she'd have the right thing to say. Unless there wasn't a right thing. He'd just lost his parents. Who'd she had really liked... and it made her think about what she'd do if she lost her mom. Or dad. Or both of them and her heart continually seized at the mere thought.

Tugging her phone out of her pocket, she flipped it open to text him again when her eyes caught sight of him nearing her house. She breathed a sigh of relief and set her phone on the porch railing, returning to wait on the top step.

To: Geo
When: 945am

hey - checking in to see how you are? are you feeling up for company today? I'd like to see you. - p

Who: Geo and Buttah
When: afternoon
Where: Helen's house

To: Geo
Sent: 2:43pm

if you don't mind me knowin, where you at, babydoll? i got some stuff for you an sammy. - Bu

Who: Buttahfly
When: 5:10am
wish i had called before now, sorry. still alive for wat thats worth

Who: Syn
When: 5:15am
Still alive i think, sorry i didnt leave town dunno what to do now

Who: Herbert
When: 6:00am
dunno if you saw the news - were both alive and mostly ok but i think im going insane.

Who: Peyton
When: 6:03am
dunno if you saw the news - were both alive and mostly ok but i think im going insane.

Who: The Williams.
Where: The Williams' Domicile
When: 3:17 a.m.

Silence reigned supreme over the house, for once. It was still and peaceful outside, the damp chill of early fall gently breezing in George William's open window. If it had been entirely by choice, that window would have been closed. But it was an old house and the window was stuck an inch open - wouldn't open further, wouldn't close. It was ok, really, though - the cold wasn't touching him through the thick warmth of his quilt. He was awake, and yet not awake, laying on his side, his good eye half closed as he stared out the window into the dark, cloudy sky. The sky looked like an endless void through the rain-tracks: not a reassuring thought in these days.

If you'd like to walk a while, we could waste the day...follow me into the trees, I will lead the way.

He lay there, earbuds buzzing softly in his ears. Music was his lifebeat, his constant, it aided him in trying to think and trying not to think at the same time. He really only succeeded in having his brain half awake and in a haze; the strange, non-restful sleep that he couldn't escape; the strange limbo that was close-to-but-not-quite full awareness.

Bring some change up to the bridge, bring some alcohol...there we'll make a final wish just before the fall.

The low, soft bass in his ears sounded predatory. Hungry. Strange, in his mind; the song he'd heard a million times before and - quite possibly - would hear a million times more had an alien tone in it, something that didn't belong. He flopped over on his back, rubbing at his eye as he yawned. The clock said 3:16 - and it felt as if he was never going to get back to sleep. There was too much of that...feeling in the air. Not anticipation...but something very like it.

Watch the sunrise all alone, sitting on the tracks. Hear the train come roaring in, never coming back.

Who: Manhattan and Geo
When: 3pm
Where: The streets near the Marsh's house

Well. That had been silly.

Geo walked down the sidewalk, hands shoved into his pockets. Why didn't you think of that? He'd wanted to talk to Peyton, needed to get out of the house - the two had combined to him wandering over here....

For midmorning.

Who: Peyton and Geo
When: After school
Where: Geo's house

Who: Peyton and Geo
Where: The Williams' House
When: 4:30pm

Geo sat on the front porch of the house, deeply, intrinsically aware that his mother was in the living room - probably watching him. Annoying - yet also reassuring. It was nice to not be the responsible one. His iPod was on, turned down low and soft. Foo Fighters today - only calm songs. It was all he could really handle - this was weird, after all. He kicked the floor, moving the porch swing into motion again, waiting for Peyton.

Who: Sent to Herbert, Leija, Caleb, Geo and Isaac
When: 7:00pmish

Who: Sent to Herbert
When: 7:00pmish

hey - checking in to make sure you're okay. see you at school tomorrow? (if we have it) - p

Who: Geo and Herbert
When: Late afternoon
Where: Herbert and Olivia's apartment

Geo was used to getting from place to place under his own power - that much was true. What he wasn't used to, however, was walking. But the doctor had been adamant. No bike. Not until he got used to the shift in depth perception that his injury was causing. The thought drew his hand up to his eye, brushing against the smooth white of the bandage. He had to jerk his hand down again as even that light, self-supplied pressure made him think of last night. This morning. Whenever the hell it had been.

He wasn't even supposed to be out, technically, but he couldn't stand the house right now, not with the mess and the looks from his parents - somehow accusatory and sympathetic at the same time - so he'd stormed out. Wandered, carefully, avoiding most areas where he might meet people. He didn't want sympathy. Didn't want to think about his eye, or what the doctor had said...

...granted, that didn't explain why he was at Herbert's door now, hand raising to knock three times on the wood.

7:46am, Tuesday, September 11th.

Who: Corwin, Sammy and Geo
Where: The Streets
When: One AM or thereabouts

The horrible smell of blood still seemed to cling to the inside of his nose, cloyingly copper, the scent almost strong enough to coat the back of his throat. He felt almost like gagging - he'd never seen anyone killed before, much less helped kill people. Vampires or not. The thought - You've seen death, you've helped death - loomed at the edge of realization like a slow-moving glacier: distant now, but sure to arrive and crush the framework that was currently keeping the thought of screaming away.

Who: Geo, Sammy, Melia, Caleb, Mathias, Ash, and Linn
Where: Out near the beach
When: Night

Mathias was strolling, actually strolling, a slight smile on his face, looking completely relaxed. He was also apparently alone, just him, walking along one of the streets near to the edge of the lake. It was a nice night for a stroll, after all - or, well, it would be if the town wasn't, say, overrun with blood thirsty, marauding vampires. But why let a little fact like that spoil one's evening.

Hey, George, it's Syn.. I just wanted to check in to make sure you were alright, and you got your family to safety and the like. I'm still fine, though the town's obviously still fucked. Call me back.

Who: Peyton and Geo
When: Sometime around noon
Where: Peyton's house

Geo pedaled up the walk to Peyton's house, discarding his bike by the porch stairs. He had a backpack slung over his shoulder, mostly empty right now, just his Pappy's journal and a box for the knife. Which, incidentally, he hopped up on the railing to fish out of the gutter. It still had blood on it from last night - Geo frowned, disgusted, but shoved the knife into the box and dropped it into his bag. He hopped down again, and moved to knock on the door, bouncing on his heels nervously. The Clash were yelling in his ears, I'm gonna stay in the city - even when the house fall down, I don't dream of a holiday when hate an' war come around...

It was almost scary how fitting that was for today.

Who: Geo and Peyton
When: 7:50am

Geo couldn't sit still. Not right now. So he was pacing the kitchen, carefully avoiding the mess in front of the door, the bowl of spices on the counter, and the shards of the broken coffee carafe shoved in the corner next to the fridge, trailing the phone cord behind him, trying to ignore the loud, angry music coming from the living room stereo system.

His heart felt like it was going to beat right out of his chest, and his hands were shaking. Probably a result of no sleep + the full coffee carafe on the table + the espresso his parents had rather foolishly left in the cupboard. Didn't help matters that his arms were sore and his mouth felt like something had crawled in and died beneath the vanilla-hazelnut taste.

At least the sun was up. Kinda. The sky looked horrible.

He finally managed to dial the right number, and sat back down, leg jerking as he tapped his foot on the linoleum. He was already up and pacing again by the time it rang once. Pick up pick up pick up.

Who: Geo and Sammy
When: 3:34am
Where: The Williams' House

Normally, the Williams' house seemed to exude an air of dignified, friendly peace. It was an older house, the kind with dark, soothing, flowery wallpaper; dark finished paneling, soft carpet and smooth-polished hardwood floors, where the lights always seemed dim and hazy and mellow. There was always music playing in the distance, always the quiet trickle of Laverne's fountain in the living room, the ticking of Fred's homemade grandfather clock in the den, but never enough noise to make to hard to think. Laverne was very Zen about such things - too much noise was bad for the soul.

Or something.

Which is why, right now? Geo Williams was so glad his mother wasn't home. The house sounded like a rock concert had set up shop in the living room, and it looked like it too, clothes and bandaids and towels littering the floor in a path clear down the stairs - like the mosh pit had torn through the kitchen at the same time, soap smeared on the floor in front of the door, cabinets left open, a thin layer of cayenne-pepper-red-pepper-onion-powder-black-pepper-ginger dusted over the counter top and left in fingerprints across the table, two exacto-knives rammed into the wood of the kitchen table. The shards of the one unfortunate coffee carafe still glittered on the floor, blocked off with a chair. The whole house spelled like spices and soap, sweat and fear and espresso. It wasn't such a nice combination.

Who: Derek and Geo
Where: The streets
When: Sometime after ten

Geo was back out for the second time that night; this time in human form, still dressed in his odd cargo shorts though now he'd thrown on his duster, his sneakers and his Clash t-shirt. They were all loose, though - he wanted room to get them off fast if he ran into more people like he had seen earlier, wanted room to be able to change if he needed to.

Who: Sammy, Linn and Geo.
Where: The Williams' house, then the streets
When: Sometime after eight, but before the gunshots in the park.

Sammy snagged an Oreo off the plate he had balanced on top of the monitor, steadying it with one hand as he dropped back into the spinny-chair of dOOm in front of the desk. The house felt weird all dark and without his parents inside. At least they weren't going to have to be here long. Just until close to one, when he and Geo'd be leaving to catch the bus. That wasn't long to wait, right...?

Who: Geo, Herbert and Sammy
Where: MSHS, then walking homewards
When: After school

Yesterday's weather had been nasty. Wet, and aiming to make anyone who dared to walk around outside in the weather wet as well. Today, though, was nice. No rain at all, and the sun was out. And there hadn't been any bad news stories either. It should have made Sammy feel better, but all it did was make him feel paranoid. He sat on a cement pillar at the bottom of the stairs, twisting and turning to look this way and that, dark eyes scanning the area as much to just watch out for anything that might be abnormal as much as it was to watch for either Herbert or Geo. Whichever boy turned up first.

Probably unsurprisingly, Herbert did. Given the horrible rain the day before, and his after-school plans with Stacey, he hadn't seen Sammy at all the day before, and he was actually looking for him as he came out the school doors. And scenting for him, but he was mostly out of luck, there. Being on crowded school grounds made seeking people out by smell difficult.

Who: Geo and John
Where: John's house
When: 2:30pm

The whole thing with Mackinac Island made Geo have to shift his entire afternoon forward by a couple of hours. It'd worked out alright, though - Mr. Zabat hadn't seemed like he minded Geo showing up earlier than originally planned. Geo and Fred made the ride out of town in relative silence. It wasn't a tense silence, just a sort-of companionable silence, much like they usually did. Fred wasn't much of a talker unless he had both of his sons around. Then, then, it was hard to get him to stop talking.

6:46am, Friday, September 7, 2008. Transcribed verbatim from the voice recorder of Geo F. Williams. Entry three.

[Memo: Music recorded in the background - Subdivisions, Rush. Only lyrics audible before author turned it down: Sprawling on the fringes of the city, in geometric order, an insulated border - in between the bright lights, and the far unlit unknown...]

Who: Peyton, Sammy, Geo and Laverne (NPC)
Where: On the way home from school + The Williams' House
When: After School

Geo told his mom he'd got fired the moment she picked him up from Econo Foods with the groceries.

He told her flat out, a damn dirty lie, jade pendant's broken leather thong looped around his wrist. It was - he'd told himself - an experiment. Either she'd smell through his lie - smell the sweat, smell the stink of a lie - or hear through it - the tiny change in voice, the minuscule increase in heart rate - or...she wouldn't. She wouldn't smell or hear through it, and he'd get away with it...

She didn't notice.

Who: Dexter and Geo
Where: Econo Foods
When: mid-day

Who: Billy and Geo
Where: Mya's diner
When: breakfast

Billy was at a loose end today. He'd turned up at the Lockwood house to continue his work and found the place locked up. He'd waited around for a while, but there was no sign of anyone home and he didn't have a key to let himself in. In the end, he'd left a note saying that Mathias should ring him when he got back and headed over to Mya's for some breakfast.

Who: Geo and Sammy
Where: Their house
When: After dinner

Sammy sat in his bedroom, the dinner his mother had given him still sitting untouched on its plate on the floor next to the pallet he'd made now that the hammock had been removed from his room. His legs were crossed over each other and his wrists rested on his knees, while his palms were turned upwards. Each breath in was deep and even, and filled his lungs, and after a few seconds he would let it out. His eyes were closed, unmoving behind his eyelids. If anyone came into his room, they were liable to step on the dinner plate since not only were his eyes closed, but he had the ceiling light off. Everything was quiet; still; calm...

Who: Syn and Geo
Where: Printed Syns.
When: Mid-Afternoon.

Man it was gray. Gray and drizzling and gross. The fine mist was making a less-than fine distraction from the papers. Hell, those papers. Geo didn't want to think about it anymore; didn't want to think about towns slaughtered, families murdered, and so close. Eighty miles, hell. You could drive that in an hour - less, if you were insane and had no care for life and limb...like something that would murder families. The thoughts were frustrating and frightening and made his head and his horizons feel as if they were collapsing; as if he'd taken one step too close to a black hole and the event horizon had taken hold.

His bike left wet tire-tracks behind him as he coasted under awnings, wet rubber hissing against dry concrete. He didn't know where he was going - he was just going. Anything to further the illusion to his mother that he still had a job. As a result, it didn't surprise him when he realized exactly where he was going. That photo shop again...

Who: Geo and Linn
Where: Seven-Eleven
When: Mid-Evening

Geo had left Fenton's with a sick feeling in his stomach. Something was happening, and whatever it was? It wasn't normal, at all. The tall boy's shoulders were slumped, one hand shoved deep in his now-empty pockets, the other clenched around the grocery sack of old, beat up record covers. He'd still bought those - but the CD had stayed in Fenton's. He hadn't had the guts to pick it back up and take it back out with him, not after dealing with that David guy. Not even with this weird...lying jag he seemed to be stuck in.

He was almost scared to go home; afraid he'd wind up telling Fred or Laverne something as obviously wrong as claiming his name was Sammy...almost equally afraid that he'd tell them something else, and they'd believe it. And so, he was still wandering, despite the chill in the air. The weather kept threatening to rain, but the thick tan wool of his duster was barring the ominous damp from reaching his skin.