S I X T E E N
between a rock and a hard place.
*to those who follow me, you would've seen my question about whether anyone would be interested in a h.s. ff, i added the description (work in progress, obviously) to the very bottom, so please tell me what you think if you're interested in exchange for a cookie <3
With the overgrown grass and mangled squawking of birds, I imagine I'm in Jurassic Park, and not Mrs Crain's back garden.
The weather is as it was millions of years ago, hot and wet to create lush plant growth and help dinosaurs flourish. The birds are pterodactyl and not crows I fear will swoop me, the rustling in the grass isn't JJ being clumsy, it's actually a Triceratops ambling lazily. Looking all intimidating and then eating a flower.
The noises of people talking are actually distant, epic fights of carnivorous dinosaurs fighting over a dead carcass—that died of old age peacefully with friends and family around them, obviously.
The stone ornaments and swings are...actually, I have nothing they could be. My immersion is destroyed.
"Mabel! You in there?" JJ looks at me, both concerned and amused.
I hum at him, way too into my Jurassic Park narrative.
"You looked spacey, I asked if you've seen anything?" He asks.
I shake my head, "Nope. Nothing. No wheat, no water, no stacks of gold conveniently set up for us. A whole lot of nothing."
The hot sun that rests high in the sky beats down on my poor, pale skin. I'm never outside this much, my body's in shock. It has no clue what to do with Vitamin D, it's never even seen it.
"Are you okay?" He asks.
"Why wouldn't I be okay?" I tip my head to the side, my mind millions of years away.
He looks my face over, "A lot's been happening. I just don't want you..." He trails off.
"Killing myself?"
"I mean, yeah, I wasn't going to go that far. But I guess that's what I was getting at," he nods.
"What were you going to say?" I smile.
"I don't know, maybe being sad?" He struggles.
"Which just circles back to my original point. Don't fret, pal. I'm on a bunch of antidepressants so that exact thing doesn't happen. As long as I pop those bad boys every day I'm happy as Larry," I exaggerate.
He looks awkward, obviously not the type of person who gets nitty gritty with his feelings. JJ didn't grow up with therapists, or get forced to see psychiatrists, he just soldiered through. "You know you could, like..." He trails off once more.
"Talk to you?" I finish off his sentence.
One of his large, ringed hands lifts and scratches the back of his neck—whether that's due to an awkward tic, or a mosquito bite will never be known. "Yeah, I'd listen," He agrees.
I don't know what to say. How am I supposed to answer that?
"Well, I would need to warn you even professionals decide they're 'not the right fit' for me. Mainly because I shout at them for asking questions, which is kind of the point, but I digress."
"You can shout at me, it's hot," He smirks.
"Now I'd rather kill myself," I give him a disgusted glare.
"That is not funny, you cannot kill yourself, Mabel." He shakes his head at my antics.
"Well, keep forcing pills upon me and I won't. Shit gets dicey without them, buddy," I tap his shoulder and keep walking.
His hand reaches out grabs a loop of my denim shorts and pulls me back to him. He opens his mouth to say something, but John B cuts him off. "Hey, psst! Hey, come on. It'd the 9nou place we haven't looked," John B whispers, I'm taking that as a hint we're meant to follow.
I turn and walk through the thin paths in the long grass, following the voices.
The next time I have access to a TV I'm watching Jurassic Park. I wonder if JJ's seen Jurassic Park? I think he'd like it—not that I care or anything—just a thought.
As I walk over I watch a crow dive from high in the sky, right down to inches above JJ's blond mop of hair. I stumble back as JJ yells "Shit!" His chunky boot gets stuck under a thick loop of tree root and he takes a few stumbled steps, only just landing upright.
Pterodactyl. That's all I'm going to say.
This is like the scene when they're in the aviary and they're attacking the top of the cage with their beaks, eager for my blood. Like flying vampires—my movie franchise scenarios are now getting mixed.
I walk over the same loop as JJ frantically wins his hair, probably checking for bird shit.
I end up at the back of the group, but as we near the small entryway to wherever the hell John B has decided we needed to check JJ stops walking, his rough hand finding the dip of my waist. "Ladies first," he smiles, turning us so my back now faces the entry.
My lips form a line as I give him a slow nod, stepping back, I turn toward where I'm going and walk in.
As I bend over, it's about three steps in when I realise why he decided chivalry needed a revival. I glance back at him as he looks like a kid in a candy shop. Jesus, he's so desperate. I wonder if he's sound pornhub.com yet because that would change his life. He wouldn't have to take elaborate measures to look at my bum or boobs.
The air in the basement is thick and humid, there's a network of copper wiring and plumbing pipes that intertwine overhead. I follow behind Pope, having to rush a little to catch up. Pope follows Kie, who follows John B as we venture further. Thankfully there are lights that make the creepy nature of the basement visible. However, dim those lights may be.
The cramped hallway quickly opens up to a strange room, one where we can finally stand back up. "Down came Mrs Crain, and cut off all of our heads. Up came the sun, and dried up all the blood," JJ sings to a strange, and awfully creepy melody.
I look back at him, my eyebrows pinched together in displeasure, "Don't sing that, I don't like it." I tell him, he grins back.
He takes a few steps to place himself right behind me, everyone else faces away. My heartbeat quickens as I feel his breath fanning against my neck and his hands hold my waist delicately, he does something I don't expect nor do I endorse. It's only brief, chaste, so quick that by the time I realise what happened, he's stepped in front of me and walked further into the building. He kisses the crook of my neck.
Warning lights switch on in all the nerves in my body, it feels like an electric shock to my system. Rebooting me and flushing my face.
Why the fuck would he do that?
"See any water?" Kie spins around to ask me. I stare back at her blankly, my brain really not working after such a small action, one that has happened so many times—but only ever in such a specific situation.
I shake my head stiffly, the glance around, trying to act like I'm looking for some waterfall I somehow missed in my mind screaming reality. There are old children's toys that are stained and with seams rotting apart, and cans of preserved food likely from the thirties. Who knew Mrs Carin was a prepper?
JJ reaches up from where he stands a few feet in front of me, his hands that so recently held my waist so gently, brush against the pipes that are scattered across the roof like a bowl of marbles thrown on the ground. "There isn't even any water in the pipes," he says cooly.
My hands tug my baby blue scrunchie from my hair, letting my long hair drop to my shoulders, covering my neck that feels like it burns.
"There's no water here," Pope concludes pessimistically.
"You know why we didn't find it?" Kie asks. "Bad karma," she answers her own rhetorical question.
I'm surprised she didn't say global warming. The water heated and evaporated. Poof, all gone. Blame Jeffrey Bezos.
I can hear John B cringe. We all know where this is going. "Oh God, here we go," he mumbles.
"You know, we had a good thing going," Kie begins preaching. "And then you decide to rope in Barbie, and now the trail's gone dry," she accuses John B.
I choose to ignore the next thirty seconds of Kiera's rant about Sarah being the worst person to walk planet Earth. I lean down and slip my finger into the side of my shoe, my hair cascades down and I remember why my hair is always up—it's so inconvenient. I scoop the small stone out from where I repeatedly stood on it.
As I stand up I hear a slap that brings me back into the conversation. Apparently, we've taken to throwing hands.
"Stop treating me like I'm some girl that's obsessed with you, instead of your best friend who's actually trying to look out for you," Kie accuses with venom dripping from each syllable.
John B looks at Kie with a gormless expression—about as confused as I was when JJ did the unthinkable. "Did you, uh... hit me?" He asks.
"Skeeter," she states.
"Skeeter?" He repeats back to her, and then John B's hand slaps against Kie.
Gotta love gender equality. Tit for tat, and all that.
"Where's your proof?" She asks. He flips his hand palm side up, and low and behold there is a lump of cells that used to be the world's deadliest creature.
"Yeah? There's probably one right there," Kie mumbles, and it dissolves into childish slapping willy-nilly.
A slap sound bounces around my head, much closer to me. I turn slightly and see JJ looking proud of himself. He slapped me—he kissed me and then he slapped me.
I smile at him with, a matching expression, then I lift my knee quickly and kick out my foot right to his dick. It's quick, and by the time the pain hits him my foot sits back on the ground—kind of like the kiss.
I take a step closer to him, doubled over, one hand bracing himself on the floor. "I barely tapped you," I scoff.
"Mabel, baby. You–the van, I think it's bleeding," he stammers.
I roll my eyes and turn around, feeling a little vindicated, I mindlessly toss the stone that was in my shoe at the mess of wooden board that is stacked in the middle of the room.
A plopping sound echoes around the stone walls, and the speaking and slapping cease for a second. The only noise is JJ slowly standing back up—I think at one point a strained 'I don't know why I like her so much' comes out his mouth.
"Am I a Goddamn genius, or am I a Goddamn genius?" I genuinely laugh.
Everyone, sans JJ, helped remove the wooden beams from the ground and exposed the water below them.
"You good, bro?" John B asks JJ who looks pale.
"Mhm," he nods.
John B and I turn our attention to the well that Pope smirks at, looking pleased. "Well, well, well, that's why there are mosquitoes."
That's why he looked pleased.
"That was a good Dad joke," John B compliments.
"They must've built this part of the house right over it," Kie observes with a small smile on her face.
"This is where she hid the bodies," JJ mumbles through a groan.
I glare at him, and he gives me a crooked smirk back. I think he's delirious.
-
I sit on the sofa next to JJ, my body practically melts into the squishy pillows. JJ's dark sunglasses sit on my nose, he handed them over when I kept fidgeting, trying to find an angle that doesn't blind my closed eyes.
He's three beers deep, he called it pain relief to me. I just smiled and told him not to slap me if he didn't want blowback. I then cut off the obvious crude remark he was about to make.
I shift and pull one of my legs up on the sofa, moving to face JJ, leaning against the arm of the sofa.
The tension isn't lost in me, I'm just choosing I'm ignore it.
Sarah and Kie are close to each other? The world may well come to an end soon.
JJ's rough hand grab my leg and pulls it to lay across his lap, I open my eyes, and he then taps my thigh and I kick up the other one. Careful not to touch his dick which—according to him—is about to fall off. Not in a good way, he specified. His heavy hands are warm against my skin, and the slithers of cool metal that wrap around some of his fingers make goosebumps scatter themselves across my skin.
"No fucking way," Kie complains furiously as she paces back and forth. Sarah sits beside me, John B stands next to her. Kie glares at the duo like they're Hitler reborn. "You brought her here? So what, she's in this now?" Kie accuses.
Everyone stays silent, not willing to put their neck on the chopping block and stop the tirade.
After a few seconds JJ pipes up, "Look, all I care about is that her cut comes out of your share." JJ speaks as he uses my thigh to rest his hand that holds his beer.
I stay silent.
Silence has been my position for a while when it comes to Sarah and Kiara. I am Swiss. It's easier, I don't want to pick, so I didn't. Simple as that. Hearing Kie bash Sarah, or Sarah bash Kie isn't fun for me.
"You know, I don't remember taking a vote," Kie spits. "This is our thing, a Pogue thing."
I decide I won't rip her a new one like I once made the mistake of doing. I can still feel that hangover.
"I gotta say, I'm just a tad bit uncomfortable with all of this," Pope speaks up. Barely, might I add.
"Thank you!" Kie says. Acting like Pope's comfort is something that really shows how a situation should be handled. It's Pope, he always looks constipated.
"I dunno. I rode here in Frankie's car pretty comfortably," He defends himself. He did look comfortable, I think it was the air freshener, he talked about it for about two minutes.
"It's true. Most relaxed I've ever seen him," JJ nods I'm agreement.
I smile as I look at him. "Is that a compliment to my driving?" I ask. JJ's thumb stops tapping a mismatched rhythm on my skin.
He looks surprised at my question, "No." He states what he seems to think is obvious. "Your driving is scary, I don't know how you have a licence."
"That's rude." I glare. "I passed first try, I may have questionable parking, b—"
He raises an amused eyebrow. "You call that questionable? Mabel we almost rolled into a ditch."
"Stop it. You're being cruel, it was fine," I roll my eyes.
"And you swerved off the road when you saw a bird," he adds to a quickly growing list of issues with my driving.
I push his sunglasses to sit up on the top of my head, "What was I supposed to do, JJ? Just hit the little thing?" I ask sarcastically.
"If the options are a dead Mabel or a dead bird, I'll get a shoebox from my cupboard and dig a small grave," He says battery of factly, not thinking about the bird.
"What if the bird has a family? Little chicks that still need regurgitation to survive? What then, JJ?"
"It's a fucking bird, Mabel, you're a person. I'd run over a bunch of birds if it meant driving safely."
"You drive stoned!"
"Fine. If you were in the car I'd run over birds," he changes the phrasing of his sentiment.
"You're a monster," I glare and try and pull my legs off him. His hand squeezes my leg, holding it in place.
"Sorry for caring about your safety. And the fact you are nicer to birds than me is a little insulting, Mabel," he looks at me in annoyance.
"Have you seen Jurassic Park?" I ask, remembering my earlier thoughts.
He tips his head to the side a degree, "Yes?" He replies unsurely.
"Stop talking about me like I'm not here!" Sarah shouts in defence, and I'm once again invested in the larger conversation being had.
"Then leave," Kie bites back.
Saran scoffs, crossing her arms across her front. "I told you," she looks at John B/Vald.
"Told him what? That you're a liar?" Kie spits.
Sarah shakes her head, "No, that you're a shit-talking bitch," she holds nothing back.
My eyes widen. "Fucking hell," JJ mumbles, I look across at him when I feel his eyes on me. He's looking at me like I should step in. No way that's happening, I raise my hands in defence.
I'm Swiss.
Pope leans across to JJ slightly, "My money's on Kie." He says just loud enough for me to hear.
"Don't count Sarah out. She punched me once. Just about knocked me out." I recount.
JJ looks at me, surprised at the new information. "She punched you?"
"Yeah, don't remember why. After I checked none of my teeth fell out I kicked her in the boob. Tit or tat, and all that. Or tit for teeth," I smile at my God-awful joke.
Both Kie and Sarah shout over each other. Throwing insults and low blows like the world is about to end. I'm tempted to stick my fingers in my ears when I hear my name brought up a few times. But, instead, I settle on taking the drink from JJ's hand and having a few mouthfuls.
"Everybody shut up!" John B yells over the clamour.
Shockingly, it works. The pair stop bickering like middle-schoolers who just learnt the word fuck, and look at the brunet. "Kie," He looks at Kiara. "You're my best friend, right?" He states the obvious. "And Sarah," He does the same routine and looks at Sarah. "You're..." He trails off, trying to find words that won't make everything worse. "You're my..." He doesn't seem to have the balls to say anything. He seems to be too scared Kiara will gut him like a fish.
Sarah glares at him, "Say it," she demands. It's a thinly veiled threat of action.
"You're my girlfriend," he finally bites the bullet.
Pope looks uncomfortable. "Ohh... that's new," he mumbles.
Kie has never looked angrier. Not even when I set her favourite Barbie on fire. "She's your girlfriend now. What was all that talk about using her for information?" She unashamedly throws a spanner in the delicate works. "Get a map. Cut her loose," she repeats the words that blew up her and my relationship a few days ago.
Sarah looks hurt as she glances between Kiara and John B, wanting someone to say she was lying. "You said you were using me?" She asks quietly, all the confidence her voice held has drained away.
"No," John B blatantly lies.
"Don't like, you said it. Stop being a pussy," I finally say something. Sarah deserves honesty.
"Look, love just walked in, okay?" John B makes quite possibly the worst statement I've ever heard. I'm truly in shock. What on Earth gave him the idea that was a good way to smooth everything over? "I didn't expect it, it just kinda happened," the boy continues shamelessly. "And I'm not going to deny it. Right?" He looks at Sarah for confirmation.
"Shoot me if I ever say anything close to that to you," His hand squeezes my thigh as he leans forward to whisper the words into my ear.
"You and then myself, I couldn't survive that."
There's a tense silence for a second. "Cut the bullshit, John B. If she's in, I'm out." Kiara takes a dramatic route.
"Kie, I'm not doing this. I can't!" John B sounds exasperated and exhausted.
Kie shakes her head, "You are going to decide," she doesn't let it go. "I'm very interested, actually. Me or her?" She pushes.
He shrugs, "Both."
JJ whistles and taps my leg, clearly eating the drama up. "Went for the Hail Mary," he looks across at me.
And with that answer Kie storms off, taking it as him choosing Sarah.
Sarah looks at John B with a hurt expression wiped across her face. "It'll be cool, right?" She seems to reference a prior conversation.
"Well, that sure was something," I mumble to JJ.
•
I almost choked to death on bok choy.
Also who was going to tell me those shower glove scrubber things are literally the best thing to happen to this planet? They leave me feeling like I have no skin and it's amazing. It's like crack and they're so cheap, I can wash myself without death gripping anything because I scrub too hard. I look like I have severe sunburn when I get out of the bathroom, but you best believe I smell divine.
I'm kind of on a 'getting my life together because I'm an adult' kick, so ya girl is also flossing and (as referenced above) eating more leafy greens (so I don't die of iron deficiency). My name? My name is Bella Hadid. I am a health Queen. [At the time of editing this has ceased and I'm deathly ill]
I'm also telling myself I'm going sober, but in reality, I'm just too poor for alcohol, but that's another point in the health Queen box. [I am still too poor to drink, though, so I guess slay Health Queen?]
But do I leave the house? No. I don't want melanoma, okay? I also hate outside melanoma aside. [Still don't leave the house, though]
I've also been reading through Liar, Liar and this shit is intense and quick and just a lot. Those who read that (or are reading this, it's not a completely different story) I just wonder how. I also spelt Kiara's name wrong for the entire first season. And the pacing is atrocious, but I had never written anything before so I'm trying to give myself a break.
I must've written most of it in a drug-induced state (prescribed, don't come for me government (and even if it wasn't it's none of your business)) and so much is being changed. At this point in 1.0, they were essentially married. Right now JJ would marry Mabel, but Mabel is just thinking about maybe sitting next to him isn't revolting.
Sorry this took a while, I got an infection that made me think I was dying. And I only now look at a screen for more than thirty seconds without my eyes screaming.
Anyway, the last hmotc was shocking, I thought people wouldn't agree, but they did! So, love that for me. I'm delirious so I'm going to go a little old this time.
Introducing... Jon Bon Jovi!
He is 61, I'll get that out of the way. And I'm going to be very specific, I'm not really talking young Jon, I'm talking sexy silver fox. I'm feral.
The all-important evidence:
So what do we think?
I'm super confident in this one. The white hair is so good. I can't even name one Bon Jovi song, either, so that's not great, but I'm sure he is a great singer.
I have to also say all my TikTok feed is Hozier and I am a whore for that man. I want someone to talk about me the way he writes lyrics about women. It's so beautiful it makes me cry :,)
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed <3
Stay safe, my children, and don't eat pink chicken!
TEASER FOR THE NEW H.S. FF (maybe, depends if anyone would want it lol)
"Why are you doing all of this?" His slow words are filled with boredom at his own question. It broke the welcome silence the crisp night air provided. I liked the silence. I could pretend he wasn't there, and that was a gift.
"Survival," I reply blandly. My eyes scan the city skyline bathed in a thick blanket of darkness, bright stars twinkle overhead. I shift in my seat to look back at him. Leant against the wall, Lord alone knows how long he's been standing there, watching me.
He drops the finished cigarette that was pinched between his fingers to the expensive tiles, I watch the warm light be put out under his shoe. "Why don't you run?" He looks at me and asks another question he knows the answer to.
"We both know I'm stuck," I answer the question, leaning back against my seat. I want to tell him he's just as stuck as I am, but I don't, because he knows that more than I do. No one escapes this life.
I can hear his shoes cross the balcony, it feels like the space shrinks when his suffocating presence stops beside me—looking down at me, judging me. Always judging me. The moon bathes the balcony we are on in cool light, giving only just enough that I can see the maleficent amusement that is spread across his face.
"Why don't you try, Freya?" The question is like a slap to the face, his expression mixed with his cruel words just mock me. The disinterested tone he held at the beginning of the conversation has long since melted away.
"Because you'd never let me leave."
He looks at the city skyline that I could never disappear into, the sinful smirk not faltering for a second.
-
When Freya takes a job offered by a sleazy man in a nightclub, she thinks her life has hit rock bottom; but when she uses her under-the-table paycheck to buy some coke from a stranger at a Halloween party, she finds rock bottom always has a basement.
She's sucked into a whirlpool of drugs, poker, baking, crime and heartbreak. And by the time she realises she's way out of her depth, it's far too late to swim to safety.
SO THAT'S IT?? it's obviously a work in progress, but idk, man. i think it'd be fun if anyone wants it :)