[ He just keeps pinching his wrist; not constantly, just once every five or ten seconds. Another pinch. And then another one. The sting of the pinch helps ground him somewhat. It's becoming less and less effective as a coping mechanism but Alan refuses to admit it and stubbornly keeps pinching himself.
Eventually, he stops talking, and silence falls in the room. It's quiet. Too quiet, even though there's muffled voices outside the room. Alan doesn't know what to do when it's quiet. In the Dark Place, there's always noise. The Taken stomp around. Some of them shuffle. They all say his name. The wind rattles what's left of the leaves in the trees. Car brakes screech, but who's driving the car? He hasn't explained this aspect of the Dark Place because it hasn't come up, but it's not a forest. It's a city. Dark, haunted, possessed... Neon lights glow in the distance, creating an eerie sort of backdrop. It's the perfect haunted playground for the Taken, on the hunt for a writer who's found himself alone.
.... So alone.
Alan's breath catches in his chest, coinciding with Jesse moving slowly, lifting her hands and placing one against both of his own. I'm not alone? Is this real? It's not a dream? In the relative silence, Alan's slow exhaled breaths can be heard as he tries to gather himself. Jesse's hands feel warm against his skin; figures in dreams don't feel warm, do they? Maybe it's in his head, but he feels as though he hasn't felt warm in years. Maybe longer than years. She's here. She's real.
He draws another shaky breath and he shudders involuntarily as he finally, finally allows himself to accept that she's really here. Oh, God, I hope she's really here. Please let this be real. Even if it's a loop, things that happen in the loops still feel real. Terrifyingly so, sometimes. But Alan wants this one thing to be real.
He sees her lean in closer, and feels her hands squeezing his. ] ... Jesse. [ Jesse. ] I'm- [ I'm not okay, but she knows that. She doesn't need to hear again how completely messed up I am. ] Great. Peachy. Just peachy.
[ I've never said "peachy" before. This place really is messing with my head. It's worse than I thought. ]
What about you? Are you okay? I- [ Should I tell her? Yeah, I'm going to tell her. I don't know why, but I think she needs to know that something's different, if she hasn't picked it up already. ]
I looked for you. Tried to find you. But I couldn't, for some reason. [ I thought you might be dead. I didn't want to think it, but- It was there.
And now it's Alan's turn for his gaze to lower, gray eyes shifting away as fear tugs at him again. He pauses for a second, and then he adds: ]
I did what you wanted me to. [ It's there. It's in the story. Edited in. It just has to play out that way now. Like scenes from a movie. We just have to get to that point. Wait, I have something. I was keeping it for her.
It's folded up in the pocket of his jeans, and he has to briefly pull one hand away from Jesse in order to get it. It's wrinkled and one corner has a tear in it, but the writing on it can still be seen. It's a typewritten page, but what makes it more notable is the deep pen scratch marks that are all over it.
The scratch marks aren't orderly at all; they're erratic and uneven, and it looks as though it was done in a rush. Alan's scrawled writing is equally rushed and uneven, but the words can still be read without too much trouble. There's certain parts where the letters look like they were written with a shaking hand and a wobbling pen, as if the writer was taken by a fit of... of something. There's even a hole in the page where it looks like the point of the pen tore through the paper with the force with which it was written on.
Names, words, events... they're all scribbled down on the edited page. It's not a neat job by any means, but Alan had to take something that was written and alter it. He had to make it fit even though he was changing it. Expanding on it but still leaving it vague enough that something sinister didn't lash out in rage.
Whatever the case, Alan knows Jesse should see the page and how he changed it in order to fulfill the promise he made. ]
It's here if you want to see it. [ Well, it's not everything in entirety, as it's just one page out of many, but he hopes she realizes that there's more pages just like this one. This one is relevant because it's about them. He holds it out to her, wondering if she'll take it. ]
no subject
Eventually, he stops talking, and silence falls in the room. It's quiet. Too quiet, even though there's muffled voices outside the room. Alan doesn't know what to do when it's quiet. In the Dark Place, there's always noise. The Taken stomp around. Some of them shuffle. They all say his name. The wind rattles what's left of the leaves in the trees. Car brakes screech, but who's driving the car? He hasn't explained this aspect of the Dark Place because it hasn't come up, but it's not a forest. It's a city. Dark, haunted, possessed... Neon lights glow in the distance, creating an eerie sort of backdrop. It's the perfect haunted playground for the Taken, on the hunt for a writer who's found himself alone.
.... So alone.
Alan's breath catches in his chest, coinciding with Jesse moving slowly, lifting her hands and placing one against both of his own. I'm not alone? Is this real? It's not a dream? In the relative silence, Alan's slow exhaled breaths can be heard as he tries to gather himself. Jesse's hands feel warm against his skin; figures in dreams don't feel warm, do they? Maybe it's in his head, but he feels as though he hasn't felt warm in years. Maybe longer than years. She's here. She's real.
He draws another shaky breath and he shudders involuntarily as he finally, finally allows himself to accept that she's really here. Oh, God, I hope she's really here. Please let this be real. Even if it's a loop, things that happen in the loops still feel real. Terrifyingly so, sometimes. But Alan wants this one thing to be real.
He sees her lean in closer, and feels her hands squeezing his. ] ... Jesse. [ Jesse. ] I'm- [ I'm not okay, but she knows that. She doesn't need to hear again how completely messed up I am. ] Great. Peachy. Just peachy.
[ I've never said "peachy" before. This place really is messing with my head. It's worse than I thought. ]
What about you? Are you okay? I- [ Should I tell her? Yeah, I'm going to tell her. I don't know why, but I think she needs to know that something's different, if she hasn't picked it up already. ]
I looked for you. Tried to find you. But I couldn't, for some reason. [ I thought you might be dead. I didn't want to think it, but- It was there.
And now it's Alan's turn for his gaze to lower, gray eyes shifting away as fear tugs at him again. He pauses for a second, and then he adds: ]
I did what you wanted me to. [ It's there. It's in the story. Edited in. It just has to play out that way now. Like scenes from a movie. We just have to get to that point. Wait, I have something. I was keeping it for her.
It's folded up in the pocket of his jeans, and he has to briefly pull one hand away from Jesse in order to get it. It's wrinkled and one corner has a tear in it, but the writing on it can still be seen. It's a typewritten page, but what makes it more notable is the deep pen scratch marks that are all over it.
The scratch marks aren't orderly at all; they're erratic and uneven, and it looks as though it was done in a rush. Alan's scrawled writing is equally rushed and uneven, but the words can still be read without too much trouble. There's certain parts where the letters look like they were written with a shaking hand and a wobbling pen, as if the writer was taken by a fit of... of something. There's even a hole in the page where it looks like the point of the pen tore through the paper with the force with which it was written on.
Names, words, events... they're all scribbled down on the edited page. It's not a neat job by any means, but Alan had to take something that was written and alter it. He had to make it fit even though he was changing it. Expanding on it but still leaving it vague enough that something sinister didn't lash out in rage.
Whatever the case, Alan knows Jesse should see the page and how he changed it in order to fulfill the promise he made. ]
It's here if you want to see it. [ Well, it's not everything in entirety, as it's just one page out of many, but he hopes she realizes that there's more pages just like this one. This one is relevant because it's about them. He holds it out to her, wondering if she'll take it. ]