isaac

To: Charlotte, Kaysen, Herbert, Thom, Isaac, Joshua, Dean, Peyton and Stacey
When: Late evening.
Where: Text message

For scenage.

To: Kaysen, Herbert, Thom, Isaac, Joshua, Dean, Peyton, Sammy, and Stacey
When: Lunch time
Where: Text message

After leaving school at lunch the previous day, Charlotte had not returned to day. She'd explained to her mother that she'd thought she was ready to go back to school after getting back, but it turned out that she wasn't up to it. Isadora had been nothing but sympathetic. Charlotte felt guilty for lying to her mother, especially about grieving over her uncle, but something had to be done. And nobody else was doing it. It was her frustrated opinion that what she was doing should have been done well before now, and by someone who'd actually been in the state for most of it.

She'd spent all of the previous afternoon and evening in the library, and had gone straight back there today when they had opened. Once she felt she had more than enough to support her theory, she took a deep, supposedly calming breath, bent over her cellphone, and got to heavy texting.

Who: Thom and Isaac
When: night
Where: Harkin household

Isaac was tired. Really really tired, in more ways than one. His arms and back hurt like hell from all the swinging and the knew scratches he'd picked up. One of them had caught him in the face, and while it wasn't too deep, it still throbbed like a bitch. He'd been continually hoping that this would stop at some point, but it hadn't. But then, it hadn't picked up to where they couldn't handle it, either. So maybe that was something. Kaysen was resting somewhere -- which had taken some cajoling, but at least she was doing it -- and Isaac found himself dying of thirst in one of the lulls after dark. He trudged into the kitchen, bat in one hand, the knife he'd been using tucked into his belt, and started rummaging around in the fridge for a bottle of water.

Thom had watched as Isaac left the basement and he took a moment to check on the sleeping Kaysen before he followed him upstairs, needing to double check for his own peace of mind before he left her, even though he knew she was fine. He firmly closed the basement door behind him - they'd found the shadows could open doors, but at least it was something as he headed into the kitchen to find Isaac. "How you holding up, man?" he asked his friend.

Who: Peyton and Isaac
When: mid-morning
Where: phone first, then Thom's porch

Isaac was tired as hell, scratched up, and not very happy. But at least he felt relatively safe. After the morning's absolute panic and rush to get to Kaysen's room and swing bats through the heads of ... whatever they were ... he'd called Thom to see if the same shit was happening to him. The three of them collected in the Harkin backyard, up in the treehouse, and after a few rounds of the boys bottlenecking the shadow-things down below and killing them off, he felt pretty secure that they had a pattern, and it was manageable. Painful when you missed, but manageable. So far, anyway. It seemed to take the things a while to regroup and come back.

During one of these breaks, he took the opportunity to fire off a text to everyone saved in his phone as The Group. Five minutes later, a response came back from Peyton, just as he was dialing her number. He wasn't in school, and he was sure she'd noticed. He wasn't overly worried that she was having the same trouble, given that she wasn't seeing shadows in the first place and she'd replied. At least ... god, he hoped he was right about that. He walked around to the side yard for a while, listening to the phone ring at his ear.

To: Herbert, Joshua, Dean, Peyton, Sammy, and Stacey
When: Around 9:20am
Where: text

Check in. Everybody ok? -Isaac

To: Kaysen, Herbert, Thom, Isaac, Joshua, Dean, Peyton, Sammy, and Stacey
When: Early morning, before school.
Where: Text message.

Everyone's still alive, right? Is it bad that that's the first thing I ask? That's bad, isn't it? Well I'm back - we flew in late last night. I'm going to school though I am a little sleep deprived. Can someone catch me up on what I missed? At lunch maybe? I hope things have been okay, or a reasonable variant thereof. Thought of you guys lots. -Charlie

Who: Isaac to Dean
When: around six pm-ish
Where: textity

Hey. Desperate question: anybody in your house know waht the fucks going on? -Isaac

Who: Peyton and Isaac
When: After school
Where: on the way home

Things had been extremely distracting for Peyton over the past few days. She had been worried after hearing about the strange mirror occurrences at the side lawn meeting, and she felt that Isaac had been distracted by it too, given he was the one experiencing it with the others. There was an uncomfortable ball of uneasiness that set up permanent residence in her stomach it seemed and once again, she wasn't sure what to do to make any of it better. She had hoped all of that had passed by now, but it seemed to have just come back on everyone three fold. Even if she wasn't directly involved or experiencing it, she still wanted to make sure Isaac was okay. She remembered how he had been after returning home from wherever it was he had ended up and she wanted to make sure he didn't slip back into that.

After the last bell rang, Peyton got her things, slipped into her jacket and headed outside to wait for Isaac. She didn't know if he would be walking home with Thom or not, but it was becoming habit for her to wait for him either outside or at his locker, at least to kiss him and say goodbye if he was with Thom or his sister. She was chewing on her lip anxiously as kids filed out of the school, her eyes sweeping along the faces to find his.

Who: Thom, Dean, Herbert, Peyton, Sammy, Isaac, Kaysen
Where: MSHS, side lawn
When: Lunchtime

To: Kaysen, Herbert, Thom, Isaac, Joshua, Dean, Peyton, Sammy, and Stacey
When: Early morning.
Where: Text message.

Who: Kaysen and Isaac
When: afternoon, post-school
Where: the St. James house

Even though it encouraged bad posture with the backpack and all that happy shit he got told, Isaac jogged home after talking with Dean. Which had just been ... a little disconcerting. But he had stuff to do today, and checking on his sister was top of the list. If he was having fucked up feelings and Thom was having fucked up feelings -- moreso than usual -- and she was too? Some shit was going on. He saw that no parental-type cars were in the driveway, came into the house lightly sweaty, and dropped his stuff by the door. "Kaysen!" he yelled into the house, toeing off his sneakers and padding toward the stairs. "Yak-butter, you home?"

She was home, and she was sitting in the hallway upstairs. There didn't happen to be mirrors in the hallway, and she was still feeling creeped out by hers, and stuff. So she was on the top step, doing her homework in about as half assed a manner as humanly possible. When she heard Isaac, she looked up. "Yeah, up here, Sac." she called, feeling the need to put the ball reference in there, if he was going to be shouting 'yak butter' at the tops of his lungs.

Who: Dean and Isaac
When: End of school
Where: Outside school

Dean had spent the entire day in the nurses' office, a cloth over his eyes and wishing they had some decent strength pain killer to give out. That or that someone would take a gun to his head and stop the pain. Either way. It started to ebb a little as school came to an end, the edge falling off the migraine as the day came to a close. He fell out of the bed and downed a glass of water, determined to actually achieve something with his day, dragging a hand through his hair and downing a glass of water before picking up his bag and heading out, walking down the corridors and wishing he could shut his hearing off the calls and shouts from student to student.

Who: Thom and Isaac
When: morning
Where: on the way to school

Isaac hadn't gotten a chance to really talk to his best friend the day before. While that alone wouldn't ordinarily make him twitchy, but the fucked up feeling that had remained between his shoulderblades as he took a shower that morning was just ... well, to put it absolutely simply, he wanted Thom's opinion. Sure, he'd had little bouts of lingering paranoia since they'd gotten home, but this had lasted all day yesterday, interfered with his sleep to the point where he got up in the middle of the night to toss a blanket over his dresser mirror, and hadn't gone away with the light of a new day. It was a concentrated feeling of being watched, instead of the usual mild feeling of skin-creeping around mirrors in general. Like one might suck him right back into that fucking place.

In short, he was weirded out. He left the house a bit early, without eating anything, and crossed the side yard, debating on whether or not he should just go in, or wait for Thom to come out. He settled on waiting, planting himself on the front porch steps and trying not to feel like he was losing it. ... which really wasn't working out too well for him. The hair on the back of his neck started to stand up, and his head whipped around, half-expecting in that insane way to see somebody there that shouldn't be. But it was just his reflection in the storm door, looking back at him. Fuck.

Who: Peyton and Isaac
When: After school
Where: Walking home to Peyton's

Peyton was eager for the day to be over. She'd barely been able to pay attention during her last class, and once the bell had rung to dismiss them, she hurried to her locker to dump her books, grab her jacket and go find Isaac. Despite everything else with Geo's family, her stupid meds, and her conversation with Caleb about the supernatural, she'd still felt a bit girlishly, stupidly happy just by the idea of being able to see Isaac after school. Which maybe seemed a bit weird, and shallow on her part, but she couldn't really help it. She was firm in her belief that she was allowed to have something happy and normal right now, and that was Isaac for her.

Juggling her bag, she shrugged into her track jacket while heading to Isaac's locker, attempting not to hit or bump into anyone on the way. She wondered if he'd told anyone. She nearly blurted it out to Leija earlier, but felt bursting with the revelation that she'd slept with her boyfriend in history class to a friend probably wasn't the best place, or time... and no doubt everyone would have known about it by the end of the day if she had. She knew Leija was trustworthy, but anyone who might have overheard? Not so much. Spotting Isaac, a wide grin spread across her face and she finally managed to get into the jacket and slip her bag over her shoulder. "Hi," she greeted, leaning up to kiss his cheek. "Want to be a gentleman and walk a girl home?"

Who: Dean to Charlotte, Herbert, Joshua, Isaac, Peyton, Sammy, Stacey, and Thom
Where: Text Message
When: Late evening

Have been doing some thinking about group stuff. Want to email some stuff out - what's your email? Dean

Who: Peyton and Isaac
When: after school
Where: Peyton's house
Warning: NSFW

As he was leaving school, Isaac had texted his girlfriend again. She was awake and was okay with him coming over, so that was where he headed instead of going home. This wasn't the first time she'd felt bad, and it worried him a little. It was hard to get Isaac sick, he tended to have that whole 'healthy as an ox' thing going on -- at least physically, anyway -- and so Peyton being sick was something to fret over. He'd also heard through the rumor mill who's house it had been that burned down, and he recognized her friend Geo's name in there. Which was something else to worry about, as he knew it would probably be having an effect on her. It was hard to imagine it not.

She'd told him to come on in when he got there, that the door would be unlocked. It was starting to feel natural to do now. Not nearly so much as Thom's house, but close enough. He opened the front door and stuck his head in momentarily, listening. Tyler's car wasn't in the driveway, and the rest of the house sounded quiet. Isaac stepped in and readjusted the straps on his backpack, closing the door behind him again and locking it out of habit. "Peyton?" he called, though not overly loudly, wanting to judge where she was before he started tromping through the place.

Who: Peyton to Isaac
When: Morning
Where: Text Message

going home - not feeling good. will tty after school? <3 - p

Who: Thom and Isaac
When: 9am ish
Where: Thom's house

The thing about having bandmates -- or being a sort of wayward bandmate, really -- was that they thought they could call you at ass-early in the morning on Sundays. Or Jason felt he was entitled, at least. He'd woken Isaac up and began haranguing him about doing his part to get people motivated and getting the band active again. Because sure, everything was all kinds of fucked up, but that was when people needed music, right? They needed social events to go to, and stuff to distract them, so henceforth, it was Promise Theory's job -- nay, duty -- to get themselves practicing again so they could do shows. And yes, he'd already called Tyler and Thom about this same thing, Isaac should be grateful that he was last on the list, it was nine o'clock already for fuck's sake ... hello?

Who: Peyton and Isaac
When: Evening
Where: Isaac's house
Warning: NSFW

After leaving Leija's house, Peyton felt a lot better, a bit happier that she got to actually hang out with a girl and talk about things that had been pressing on her mind for awhile. She was also thankful to have a bit more insight to Leija's situation with Caleb. Though she knew Isaac probably wouldn't understand it, that was okay because she had no intention of really telling him about it. Still, talking about him with Leija in a way that she couldn't really talk to anyone else had made Peyton want to see him. Or at least talk to him and hear his voice. On the walk home she pulled out her cell phone and dialed his number, hoping that he was around and could answer.

Isaac was laying on his bed, hands laced over his chest, eyes up on the ceiling, headphones over his ears. 'When The Levee Breaks' for about the third or fourth time. He wanted to learn it, and it was something to keep part of his mind occupied. He felt a little better since visiting Lullaby's grave, though he couldn't really say why. Maybe just being able to tell someone, even if she couldn't hear him. It just helped. He wasn't completely sorted, but he maybe was getting there, and that was something. His pocket started to buzz and he jumped a little, pulling it out. It wasn't Thom, which was good. He wasn't sure if he was ready for that quite yet. Flipping the phone open and moving one side of the headphones, he answered. "Hey beautiful," he told his girl with a faint smile.

Who: Isaac
When: after school
Where: cemetery

Instead of going directly home when class let out, Isaac had wanted to go out walking. His head was full of all kinds of things, not many of which he could actually talk about. So, walking. He'd just wandered a bit, hands tucked in his pockets, until his feet had taken him down toward the cemetery. Which had really been where he was heading in the first place, he'd just taken a roundabout way of getting there.

Who: Charlotte, Dean, Herbert, Joshua, Isaac, Peyton, Sammy, Stacey, and Thom.
When: Lunchtime.
Where: Side lawn at school.

Charlotte would have felt much better about this if Kaysen was there. She hadn't been nervous about this until she woke up this morning and realized she had no freaking idea what she was doing. Or maybe everyone would think she was crazy, or that it was a waste of time. They won't. she kept telling herself. If they agreed to show up in the first place, they must think it's a good idea. She just kept telling herself that.

Who: Peyton and Isaac
When: Just before last period
Where: Halls

Feeling a bit better after having spoken to Leija and making plans to get together, Peyton sort of coasted through the rest of the school day, her mind distracted, but not as heavy as before. She just needed to get through math and then she could head home and maybe call Geo about going over to see him again. At her locker, she sorted out her books and got her things to be able to leave right after class. Shutting her locker door, she sighed a bit, slipped her bag strap over her head to her shoulder and started off down the hall. It didn't take long before she spotted Isaac at his own locker and with his back to her. She smiled a tiny bit to herself and walked up behind him to slip her arms around his waist. "I've barely seen you all day," she murmured, pressing her cheek against his back just for the contact.

Who: Isaac and Leija
When: afternoon, between classes
Where: MSHS

Marquette's high school was small. There were only so many lockers in it, and with the way Isaac knew the layout of the school, the redheaded junior's wasn't too hard to find. He'd been mulling over in his head for the better part of the day how to handle this, what to say to her. He'd wavered between attempting to be nice, and doing his best to intimidate her. Part of him was pissed off, very pissed off about what she'd done to his best friend, but slamming lockers and using Tones weren't usually the best tactics at getting information out of someone. And she was a girl. But still. She was an evil girl who'd fucked over Thom, so that put her firmly in the realm of dislike. And so, to start out, he just walked up on her as she was changing books out at her locker, hands in his pockets, jaw tight.

Who: Thom and Isaac
Where: Isaac's room?
When: Late afternoon?

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: Kaysen and Isaac
When: midday
Where: St. James house

Isaac had woken up in Peyton's bed with his phone ringing. It was a little disorienting. But it was Kaysen, who apparently wanted to talk to him when he got home. Which he totally didn't have to rush, but if he wanted to come home soon, he could. He'd woken up Peyton enough to say goodbye and he'd call her later, and was sure to be quiet on his way down and out of the house. Just in case Tyler was around somewhere. It was on the walk back that he sort of decided he ... didn't really feel better about anything. A little better rested, but no closer to some sort of conclusion or compromise or anything. He walked in the front door and headed up the stairs toward her room, half hoping this wasn't another kind of trainwreck. Though her door was cracked, Isaac rapped his knuckles on it softly.

Kaysen looked over from where she was curled up on her side on her bed. The lights were off, and there was a single candle lit, on her nightstand. She'd been meditating, or drawing energy, or whatever it was called. She still felt vaguely like hell. When the knock came and she propped herself up, she smiled. It was a mixture of relief and a grateful sort of tone. He hadn't made her wait, he'd come right home. "Hey." she said. "C'mon in." she added, inviting him as she curled back up again.

Who: Peyton and Isaac
When: a little after 10
Where: Peyton's place

Isaac had gotten Peyton's text message as he was laying listlessly in bed at home, trying not to be a huge stupid fucking baby about everything and go to sleep. He hesitated in answering back immediately. He could be asleep. They'd been checking in with each other on and off most of the night, so he knew she was okay and that was good. It'd be okay if he let the rest of the universe think he was sleeping, and she was busy anyway, so ... yeah, it wasn't necessary to call her right back like he was in the middle of already doing. Shit. He listened to it ring and half-hoped she wouldn't pick up. He felt like he needed her, but he probably shouldn't.

Peyton was just getting ready to go out with a broom and a couple trash bags to get some of the mess up and out of the streets. A lot of cars left outside had been broken into, glass and trash scattered about. And it was better than sitting inside all day, stressing and worried. Another day without school, and the town looking so broken down and horrible, she wanted to help and if it was just by getting the streets clean, she'd do it. As she was opening the door, her phone rang. Setting the broom aside, she flipped it open to see Isaac's number. Lifting it to her ear, she smiled a bit. "Hi.... everything okay?" It was becoming her usual greeting, which was depressing, but she felt it was necessary.

Who: Thom and Isaac
When: mid morning
Where: Thom's house

Even after it had been determined that Kaysen was fine and the sun had come up, Isaac had had trouble sleeping. Not that that was unusual lately or anything, but it was even more difficult for different reasons. Eventually he just gave it up for bad and got up, rubbing his hands over his face. He wanted to talk to Thom, and despite the both of them really needing sleep, he had to do it now, or his brain would never shut the fuck up. The familiar dark head wasn't down there, so Isaac stood up from the air mattress in the basement and headed for the stairs.

Who: Thom, Kaysen, Isaac, Chance
Where: Thom's house / front lawn
When: After dark