oceanview (different path) || ❝ turn the page i need to see something new. ❞

[outlierdirector]

a different path,
the same road.

When I thought that I fought this war alone
You were there by my side on the frontline
When I thought that I fought without a cause
You gave me a reason to try CODE BY TESSISAMESS

Comments

[outlierdirector]

You have intuition. One that's telling you I'm somehow... helpful. [ Her tone isn't really quiet, small, or flat. Something between all of them. Almost oddly factual and impersonal while guarded at the same time. Jesse sighs and looks back at the wall with the papers pinned to it. ] Fine. I can't promise anything. I might end up hindering you more than anything.

[ « Is THIS the real reason you said to come here? To help Alan Wake with whatever weirdness is going on? »

She jumps slightly at his sudden movement. Her eyes widen at the almost one eighty shift in ... clarity? Jesse isn't sure. It's still the same person sitting there, but, Alan seems suddenly laser focused and alert. Like something has kicked in to drive him in a certain direction. Something that Jesse isn't sure she necessarily likes. A shift in the air that isn't really the air. ]

O...kay. A kidnapper wants your manuscript you don't remember writing. This kidnapper has your wife? And he's just going to give you the information on your wife if you give them to him? [ Jesse doesn't want to point out how obviously stupid and Hail Mary it sounds. ] Soo, now that you have the pages, you need to sleep a few hours. Eat, get something to drink.

[ « Sure. This doesn't sound like disaster written all over it. Why the hell would a kidnapper want story pages? Does this guy really know what's going on? How the pages are about real people and things happening? I need a drink. Maybe time to re-read everything while he's sleeping. »

Even if, technically, she's underage for drinking. ]

Then, I'm guessing, we're going to find the mythical kidnapper and give him the pages.

I'll get a blanket and a pillow. You can't go up to a potential kidnapper who might be dangerous when you can't stand, Wake.

[crazyisinevitable]

I don't think you could hinder me any more than I'm hindering myself. You said it yourself, didn't you? Or implied it. This is crazy. Insane. I'm probably being screwed with, but why? Because I'm a writer? Maybe they want money. They didn't have to take Alice to get at me, but that's what happens in these stories, right?

[ He's trying to make sense of his own thoughts, of the intuition that drove him to come to her in the first place. It's a thread he's having a hard time following, and so far, he hasn't managed to really follow it anywhere. But maybe that will come to him after he's had some sleep. Sleep that he doesn't want, but apparently needs to have. ]

I don't think he's just going to hand over information. It's going to be blackmail. Extortion. The usual stuff. You don't have to come.

[ Especially if she thinks the kidnapper's someone he made up. ]

Fine. I'll nod off for a little while since you insist, and then I'm out of your hair. [ With or without her. Fat chance of me actually sleeping, though. ]

[outlierdirector]

There's crazier in the world than this. [ Her tone is flat, but her voice sounds small. Defensive. Her gaze looks down and to the side again. ] I guess it must be related to money if they want the pages, but... it's not a normal story. It's real. What happens on them really happens. Doesn't it?

[ Jesse gives him a look. ] You came to me for help. I'm in the pages. Yeah, I'm going to help and tag along. Until I know why.

[ « Why him, why Bright Falls? Why did you ask me to come here? I have too many questions. »

She nods and gestures again to the couch. Then, she disappears into the bedroom. Moments later she returns with an extra blanket and pillow. She puts the pillow down on one of the ends of the couch. Then, she hands the blanket to him. Jesse quietly moves into the kitchen to start on breakfast. ]

[crazyisinevitable]

You sound like you're speaking from experience. [ Maybe that's partly why he still believes she can help. He's just a writer from New York. He doesn't have experience with anything like this. ] I shouldn't ask, because you don't owe me answers, but-

[ Alan doesn't finish that sentence because he suddenly yawns and has to work to stifle it. Maybe he does actually need to stop and rest, even if it's the last thing he wants to do. ]

If it's money they want, I have it. Why go to all this trouble? [ He rubs his forehead in confusion and frustration. ] I don't understand any of this, but... I don't think this is a normal story. I don't know how or why, I just-

[ He lets out a long sigh. He really doesn't know much of anything, and that's becoming clearer to him by the second. With just a little reluctance, he drops down onto the couch, and takes the blanket from Jesse when she hands it over. At first he hesitates, but then he yawns again and that seems to be the answer.

He moves to lie down and pulls the blanket over him, intending to think more about the mess he's in and about the mystery of the pages and the kidnapper, but he only lasts a handful of minutes before he's just out. Maybe he needed the sleep more than he thought he did. ]

[outlierdirector]

[ continued here ]