holgibbs

[holgibbs]

[printed letter to home address] if you think that video of malcolm was weird, you should see the rest of the tape. it'd be a shame if it ended up playing at the memorial.

It's not usual for him to get letters, or mail at all, really. Hollis holds the paper in shaking hands, silently mouthing the sentences as he reads them once, twice, three times. "Come on, Kai," he mutters to himself as he closes the door behind him, tossing the letter onto the kitchen table, "I'm not going to help you get it that easy." But he has a very bad feeling deep down, this letter wasn't sent by Kai.

[holgibbs]

"Where were you on the night of Christopher Wilder's disappearance?"

He supposes he shouldn't be surprised to find himself here after all this time, but Hollis had — wrongfully — assumed all that was going to come to light, had. Or maybe that was just hope. Hope had never gotten him very far. The man's eyes bore into Hollis as the silence drags on, and he tries not to come off as too nervous as he responds. "I was with my brother." Not a lie, he recalls the story he told back when it happened, what he had told his brother to say. It wasn't a lie. He was not a good liar. There were just... truths withheld. "We were at the party," he continues, "I mean, I think pretty much everyone was. It was supposed to be a fun night." Until everything had went south. "When was the last time you saw Christopher?" Hollis clears his throat, shifts in his seat, then questions if the movement makes him look like he's hiding something. He is hiding something, isn't he? "That night, sir. The night he... went missing. I didn't talk to him much, I just said hey." His eyes fall to his hands, clasped in his lap. Does avoiding eye contact make him look guilty? Shit. "I regret that now." Among other things. Something is written down, a pause that seems to drag on too long before the next question is spoken. "What was your relationship with Christopher?" "Uh, we... we were friends. Not... super close, you know, but more than acquaintances, I'd like to think. We worked on the school paper together. He was a pretty solid guy." He forces his eyes up, completely honest as he softly states, "I miss him." Preparing himself for the next question, but it doesn't come. The man dismisses him, lets him know he'll be contacted if there's anything else, and then he's walking away, a sad guilt noticeable in his expression to anyone that looks hard enough. Just like he walked away from the scene of the crime.

[holgibbs]

LOCATION: anywhere at all

FOR: @taejvns

It was an awkward situation, and Hollis couldn't say he did well with awkward. To run into the person that came after you, your replacement, in a way. It wasn'tthat he kept tabs on her life, or anything — but sometimes curiosity got the best of him, sometimes he did a social media deep dive on all of his old... friends. He couldn't look at Taejin now without thinking of Luci, and then wonder if he had treated her right. A thought he had absolutely no business pondering, after the way their relationship had gone, but he did want her to be happy. Even if it was without him. Even if a much smaller, more selfish part wished she couldn't be. "Taejin," he greeted the other, unable to turn on his heel and flee now that they had come face to face. "It's nice to see you, I hope you're well."

[holgibbs]

It was horrible, the sudden feeling that washed over him, the thought that they were strangers. At the root of it, they were now, weren't they? But could you ever really be strangers when you had given someone so much of yourself to them? In some way, wouldn't a part of him always belong to her, no matter how much he tried to take it back? No matter how much she didn't want it? "It's... a lot, huh?" The hint was enough, his eyes shifting as he tried not to stare at her too long or too little, his gaze aching to linger, to memorize all of the parts of her face he may have forgotten. "How have you been?" As he asked it, Hollis realized he wasn't sure which answer would hurt the most. He wanted her to do good, to be okay without him, of course he did, he cared about her — but, fuck, if the most selfish part of him didn't hate the idea that she had moved on, that she no longer missed him, needed him at all.

              it  was  stressful  . . .  all  of  it  .  luciana  truly  did  think  that  they'd  all  come  back  and  whatever  prank  was  being  pulled  would  be  handled  and  they'd  all  go  back  to  their  own  lives  .  but  that  didn't  seem  to  be  the  fact  at  all  .  all  of  them  seemingly  𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐃  in  their  own  hells  . . .  really  ,  luciana  had  learned  years  ago  that  it  didn't  matter  how  much  a  person  tried  to  run  away  from  their  demons  . . .  they  never  slept  and  if  you  thought  they  shut  their  eyes  for  even  a  second  . . .  you  were  wrong  .  in  reality  ,  that  was  the  moment  those  demons  would  plan  their  𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐀𝐂𝐊  .  there  was  a  reason  there  was  that  saying  ,  what  was  it  ?          (       the  calm  before  the  storm  .     )          did  that  mean  the  girl  had  any  idea  what  she  was  doing  ?  was  she  okay  with  any  of  this  ?  did  that  stop  her  from  wanting  to  get  away  and  end  it  all  ?  not  at  all  . . .  but  deep  down  ,  she  knew  all  the  fight  she  had  in  her  wouldn't  stop  the  storm  from  striking  them  all  down  .  what  that  meant  ?  it  was  a  mystery  .  everyone  had  their  own  demons  and  battles  ,  didn't  they  ?          ⏤           that  message  being  sent  had  really  sent  luciana  into  a  bit  of  a  spiral  but  she  was  doing  her  best  to  put  on  that  bubbly  smile  and  persona  she  did  so  well  putting  on  .  an  almost  cartoonish  nature  to  the  way  she  was  able  to  put  on  such  a  front  when  really  she  felt  completely  torn  apart  inside  .          ⏤         not  paying  as  much  mind  as  she  should've  been  to  her  surroundings  .  luciana  turned  to  face  hollis  ,  a  look  of  surprise  crossed  her  features  before  she  quickly  replaced  it  with  a  small  and  soft  smile  .  although  ,  the  smile  dropped  shortly  after  into  something  more  . . .  unreadable  .          ❛      your  ?     ❜         she  questioned  ,  head  tilting  slightly  to  the  side  as  if  she  was  waiting  for  him  to  say  something  she'd  𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓  to  hear  from  him  before  dropping  it  .           (       she  knew  better  ,  didn't  she  ?      )         another  small  smile  ,        ❛      of  course  i'm  back  .  besides  ,  zahra  would  kill  me  if  i  didn't  show  up  .  especially  with  everything  . . .     ❜         feeling  as  though  she  didn't  have  to  elaborate  she  left  it  at  that  .

[holgibbs]

Hollis had trouble saying no. He had tried, but when Nick brushed him off with an enjoy your walk, he had no further rebuttal. What if he left and the other was never heard from again, something happened to him, too? How was he meant to live with that? "Historic event," he repeated, forcing his legs to move once he was out of the car, hurrying to the other man's side. Feeling a bit like something was lurking in the shadows, waiting to reach up and grab him, pull him under the earth. "What... what are we doing here?" He asked again, failing to properly phrase his question. "What are we getting ahead of? What is the goal?"

nick  was  already  launching  out  of  his  car  ,  the  door  pressed  shut  .  "  enjoy  your  walk  ,  "  spoken  coolly  ,  the  suggestion  that  hollis  could  make  his  own  way  back  if  that  was  what  he  chose  .  (  although  nick  knew  this  was  unlikely  ,  it  would  mean  walking  through  the  woodline  either  way  and  the  possibility  of  stumbling  across  more  evidence  if  there  was  any  )  .  "  stop  being  a  little  bitch  ,  trembling  in  the  corner  about  a  historic  event  …  we  need  to  get  ahead  of  this  thing  ,  "  if  there  was  an  i  know  what  you  did  last  summer  ten  years  ago  ,  nick  would  have  been  the  perfect  asshole  .

[holgibbs]

Hollis had always liked Mary-Anne, as he'd liked everyone else. He wasn't religious himself, any amount of his hope that someone was looking out for them lost the day Chris went under and not one person stepped forward — including himself. But he considered it... a vice. Some people clung to religion, others to alcohol, others to whatever else they could to hang onto their sanity. He spent every Sunday morning hungover and he wasn't going to judge someone that spent them in church instead. "Oh, hello Mary-Anne," he greeted her, his smile faltering though he tried his best to not let her see the shift in his expression. He didn't want to be rude. "Oh, of course. Sure, yes." Hands pushed into his pockets, Hollis leaned back on the soles of his feet. "You'll have to remind me, what is it that I'm supposed to... do?"

closed starter: @holgibbs !!

after the whole satantic-feeling fiasco at the alumni event, the constant presence of sin was a weighted blanket that mary-anne couldn't shake off. no amount of prayer for herself made her feel as if the earth was spinning the way GOD intended it too . . . not when everything had seemed to stand still after the doors had been locked and a sense of doom filled the halls of st. mary's new horizons ( a wolf in sheep's clothing was still a WOLF ). she should have known better to attend that event but . . . a savior must do challenging things sometimes. test their own faith. so, in order to cleanse herself and those around her of the DEMONIC sludge that must have been in the punch, mary-anne was offering up prayers, standing in front of the school to ask GOD to save any and all who may walk in, out, or near the building. spotting a familiar face on the sidewalk, one of the few mary had " befriended " when she was a student, the brunette stuck out her hand and waved it feverishly to catch his attention. . . ❛ hollis !! ❜ mary-anne beamed, smile bright, a basket filled with paper prayer books looped on her arm. ❛ hi — i'm offering to pray for anyone who was at that . . . event that happened here the other evening. would you be interested ?? ❜ though whether or not hollis wanted it, mary-anne would be praying for him. she'd be praying for ALL of them.

[holgibbs]

He wasn't really sure why he had come along, or why he had even been asked to. Maybe he just needed to get out, catch up with old friends — if any of them had ever really been friends. Hollis was still reeling from the news the other night, and he hadn't been paying much attention to where Nick said they were going... if he said. He just wanted a distraction. "Here? No. No." He was shaking his head, a sudden panic coming over him. He hadn't been back to the lake since that night, and if it was up to him he'd never step foot near it again. This was anything but a distraction. "This is a bad idea, man, what are we doing here? I don't wanna be here. Come on, let's go."

open / @classcursestarters

while  everyone  else  was  probably  playing  it  safe  ,  nick  didn't  have  the  patience  to  spend  his  time  waiting  around  to  be  interviewed  by  useless  police  officers  .  it  was  clear  that  they  didn't  use  their  skills  in  inquisition  the  first  time  around  and  he  was  curious  what  new  evidence  could  have  been  overturned  after  ten  years  .  far  from  a  detective  ,  his  curiousities  were  completely  self  serving  and  somehow  he  had  managed  to  rope  somebody  else  in  .  yes  ,  nick  admittedly  cared  little  about  chris  being  gone  but  he  was  rather  intrigued  by  the  idea  there  was  something  out  there  to  be  found  .  no  body  ,  no  crime  .  "  here  we  are  ,  "  as  his  sports  car  ,  windows  rolled  down  ,  pulls  up  at  the  far  edge  of  devils  lake  ,  the  ground  drying  out  from  the  flooding  from  two  weeks  ago  and  no  police  cordons  in  sight  .  he  hadn't  seen  a  murmur  of  cordons  or  additional  searches  ,  materials  moving  backwards  and  forwards  .  no  ,  nick  was  ready  to  launch  his  own  investigation  and  his  unfortunate  ride  along  was  going  to  be  a  part  of  that  whether  they  liked  it  or  not  .  an  unexpected  duo  .

[holgibbs]

"That's good, that's good," he nodded, the harder he tried to not come off painfully awkward seeming to have to opposite effect. He shouldn't really be so bothered talking to him when it had been so long, but Hollis couldn't help it — he wanted to hunker down and hide, that was his solution to everything these days.

"I'm... doing." Too much honesty, he hurried to add, "okay, I mean, I'm doing okay. I hope you had safe travels getting in."

noel had never been the type of person that would go out of his way to avoid someone, or at least, he'd never thought of himself as that kind of person. but lately, his actions had said otherwise. but he would chalk that up to nerves and general awkwardness of seeing someone you hadn't spoken to in years. and unfortunately - hollis fell into the category of those he was trying to avoid. for no reason other than noel didn't know what to say.

"hello hollis," he smiled, though it was very clearly forced. or at least, uncomfortable. "i'm good, how about you?"

[holgibbs]

"Forgot and left it at home," he joked back, shaking his head at Kai's boy toy comment. He wasn't sure he was that dedicated to the cause. "Well," was all he could think to say, a little distracted by the spatula. He did have a point. If it was a video for Chris' montage then it should at least be able to be reviewed by the family members if they asked. Still, this was sounding like a conspiracy theory and he would rather remain naive. "I mean..." There wasn't much shit to have on Hollis, and he started to say so, but there was the whole Chris situation that gripped them all. Which was pretty damn bad. Dropping his hand by his side, he looked around them, at everyone else caught up in their own conversations before his eyes landed on Kai again. "How do we know they have anything on them? What if it was just genuinely some... random video mix-up she planned to use for the next... whatever event?"

             ❛      where's  the  confidence  ,  hollis  ?     ❜           kai  spoke  ,  eyes  glancing  around  to  try  and  spot  something  he  could  use  to  pry  that  drawer  open  .  what  could  he  say  ?  nothing  was  going  to  𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐏  him  from  what  was  now  planted  inside  his  head  .  maybe  this  had  something  to  do  with  kai's  curiosity  ,          (      a  lot  of  it  .     )        maybe  this  had  something  to  do  with  kai  feeling  a  sense  of  personal  connection  to  needing  to  know  𝐀𝐍𝐘𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆  and  𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆  floating  around  in  this  weird  situation  they  were  all  put  it  .  control  and  curiosity  went  a  lot  way  with  kai  wilder  .          ❛      women  love  a  little  boy  toy  moment  .  i  hear  it's  empowering  .     ❜          still  ,  an  unserious - ness  to  his  tone  as  he  spotted  a  metal  spatula  near  where  all  the  food  was  being  served  earlier  in  the  night  .  wandering  over  ,  he  grabbed  it  .  flipping  it  in  his  hand  and  catching  it  ,  he  gave  it  a  shake  as  if  he  was  checking  if  it  was  sturdy  .           ❛      you  don't  think  it's  weird  that  she's  putting  that  shit  in  her  desk  and  locking  it  up  ?  if  you  were  saving  it  ,  put  it  in  the  school  files  .  or  give  it  to  the  family  ,  i  think  i  have  a  right  to  that  tape  if  i  want  it  .  think  about  it  ,  why  hide  it  when  we  all  know  there's  some  weird  shit  on  that  tape  ?  when  we  all  know  there's  something  wrong  enough  with  it  that  the  headmistress  herself  ,  the  same  one  that's  now  storing  it  away  ,  stopped  it  tonight  but  now  wants  to  play  it  for  a  memorial  ?  why  would  you  wanna  be  the  one  caught  running  off  with  it  ?  shit  isn't  lining  up  and  you're  not  even  a  little  curious  ?  if  someone  has  shit  on  malcolm  and  helena  ,  you  don't  think  they'll  have  shit  on  you  ?     ❜

[holgibbs]

"Icky is... a good word for it." Personally he would rather stay as far away as possible from the school, revamped or not. Of course he would show up. He hadn't even been able to leave town. Forgetting was not really possible, but being forced to remember kind of sucked too. "I think they should have just started over fresh, clean slate."

“Uh, no. I haven't met with many people.” There was someone he'd rather avoid, of course. But he wasn't quite sure he'd return. Hollis was under the impression most people wouldn't know him, and if they did, not for much outside of being part of the newspaper committte. “What about you?” He went back to spinning his little umbrella, biting back a sigh at Zahra's comment. He sure hadn't let it go. “I guess it can be difficult to move on for some people.” Like him.

[holgibbs]

It was impossible to not compare his achievements to everyone else's, and for Hollis, it seemed like the best he had was getting out of bed. Still wandering with a stressed and tired smile on his face, he found himself wishing with everything he has they would all be able to leave soon, nodding in greeting at yet another familiar face.

"Hopefully not." The words came out before he could stop them, he couldn't help but feel a little protective over these kids that were... just like he was one day. "I mean," he quickly added, trying to backtrack, "I... I hope they aren't that easily persuaded about their futres. It should be a big decision, you know?"

open starter, after 9pm - @classcursestarters

by that point in the night mari didn't even know what she was supposed to be talking to others about. it felt like every possible topic, even the weather, led to a hidden landmine.

her book? absolutely not. she'd already discovered the hard way that her classmates could and did read and that they'd taken things a step further and read between the lines. the police? an obvious no. the lockdown? the mysterious messages the st mary's alumni had received that had pushed them all into the same room that night? chris? all of the most obvious conversation starters were nonstarters, so what was a safe topic for her peers in the class of 2014?

"do you think any of our speeches actually convinced the parents to send their kids here?" she decided on, asking the question of the person nearest her with a healthy amount of skepticism in her tone.

[holgibbs]

"It is," he admitted without hesitation, it wasn't necessarily a bad weird, he'd missed some of these people. But it wasn't necessarily a good one either. "It feels like it's been forever. But also..." Not long enough? He let the sentence linger unfinished. "At least we should be able to head home soon."

Parker turns her head to look over at Hollis, chewing on her lower lip. "No, no. I don't know if I can sit." It's a lot; her gaze shifts to look at all her old classmates, the ten year reunion and yet somehow it feels like she's been back in high school. She plays with a piece of fabric off her dress as she presses her lips together. "Weird being in a room with everyone, isn't it?"

@holgibbs

[holgibbs]

He hadn't seen it coming. Surely none of them had, but Hollis found himself wondering if he would have showed up at all tonight if he had the slightest idea something like this would happen. It had been hard enough to convince himself thinking it would just be a few hours, and now he was wondering if they'd be stuck here all night. Where were they meant to sleep?

“Uh, yeah? Yeah, probably,” he nodded, his eyes slowly shifting to River's face. “Otherwise it's a shitty security system.” He wasn't sure he wanted to be the one to try it, either. Locked or not, if he let the rain in and the people out, that was probably illegal or something, and Hollis felt like he had enough going on to get wrapped up in whatever was going on now. “They probably won't have us on lockdown long, though.” One could hope.

setting: locked in who: open to anyone @classcursestarters

This whole event, it felt weird. Fucked. Like River was waiting for the next shoe to drop. And maybe that was more of a him thing. Maybe he was projecting. He hadn't been back in this godforsaken town since high school and it was making him uncomfortable. He kept wondering what people were doing, because right now it all felt like a farce. Everyone was pretending like this shit didn't feel like the start of some horror film, and it was causing his anxiety to sky rocket.

Also, what the fuck were Chris Wilder's parents doing here? Yeah sure, their foundation had something to do with the school's rebrand, but did they really have to be here? His foot was tapping out any nervous energy that was building in his body, and River decided in that minute, he needed a cigarette. He was almost towards the doors of freedom when the sound of numerous phone notifications went off, and then the slamming of the doors in front of him followed. Great, they were locked in. "You have to be fucking kidding me." He grumbled, turning to the person next to him he continued. "Think the windows locked too?"

[holgibbs]

“I mean...” Hollis hesitated, rubbing the back of his neck. This felt like... too much, for a simple tape. He would be lying if he said he wasn't getting a little tired, ready to sneak off and head home if he could manage. “I don't think the seduction tactic is going to work on her.” His attempt at a joke, referencing the thing Kai had said earlier about the tech nerds. But it hadn't been a tech nerd, and he wasn't ready to trespass and steal – would it be considered stealing? – something just to curb Kai's curiosity. Especially if it was actually going to pop up again in some other montage. “Not to be... insensitive… but what's so important about it, anyway?”

𝒔𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 : pt. 2 event starter. 𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒆𝒅 : @holgibbs .

           making  his  way  over  to  hollis  ,  kai  didn't  let  go  of  𝐀𝐍𝐘𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆  easily  and  he  wasn't  about  to  let  go  of  the  mystery  of  this  tape  .  should  it  have  been  something  he  was  this  invested  in  ?  maybe  . . .  or  maybe  he  had  𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘  right  to  figure  out  what  the  hell  was  going  on  ?  the  latter  being  more  so  the  direction  kai  chose  to  believe  in  .           ❛     we're  not  seriously  gonna  stop  trying  to  get  that  tape  ,  are  we  ?     ❜           hollis  really  the  𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘  person  kai  felt  fitting  for  the  job  being  that  they  had  both  stumbled  on  what  they  had  .          ❛      gotta  agree  there  was  something  off  about  that  shit  .     ❜         kai  spoke  ,  referencing  what  they'd  seen  .

[holgibbs]

LOCATION: event part 2 FOR: @lucisaphira

He was kind of teetering between blind panic and an unbothered shrug-it-off mood, his reaction to this situation changing with every passing minute, swinging between the two like an overly stressed pendulum on the verge of snapping. Hollis was aware losing his shit wasn't going to help anything, but he didn't want to be here, he hadn't really wanted to show up as it was, and the idea of having to spend another minute in this building not by choice but force made him feel like his lungs were filled with cement. They could at least give him the choice to trudge home in the flood, make him sign a waver before leaving or something. Everyone else had walked right through the exit, why were none of the previous students allowed to? It felt... calculated, somehow, like someone had planned this whole thing. But maybe he'd simply watched too many crime documentaries, maybe he was just paranoid. Turning from the area he'd been pacing for the last five minutes, he nearly ran right into someone, an apology slipping from his lips before he realized who he was face to face with. Shit. It was not a good time for this. Was there ever a good time for this? “Luci, I'm...” He hesitated, trying to find the right words; there were no right words. He had assumed, wrongly, that she wouldn't come back to town knowing he'd still be there. At least the lockdown fear was momentarily pushed down, replaced with complete and utter discomfort. “I... didn't know you were back.”

[holgibbs]

“Uh, no. I haven't met with many people.” There was someone he'd rather avoid, of course. But he wasn't quite sure he'd return. Hollis was under the impression most people wouldn't know him, and if they did, not for much outside of being part of the newspaper committte. “What about you?” He went back to spinning his little umbrella, biting back a sigh at Zahra's comment. He sure hadn't let it go. “I guess it can be difficult to move on for some people.” Like him.

"have you seen anyone you were hoping to see?" she asks, tone oddly serious for a moment, juxtaposed by the brightly colored drink that she's sipping through a rainbow crazy straw. "any old enemies, old flames?" zahra shifts so that she can put her elbow on the counter, chin coming to rest in her hand. "a school where something bad happened. people have a hard time letting that kind of thing go." she says, fully aware that she's one of those people.

[holgibbs]

He let out a laugh, not having the faintest clue what a spring sale at Michael's looked like, or had to do with anything, but nodding along none the less. It was always easier to just nod along. "I guess it's... kind of nice," he thought aloud, bringing his glass to his lips, not yet taking a sip. It was anxiety inducing, but he'd be lying if he said he hadn't missed some of the people returning to town. And maybe a part of him, a small, hopeful part that had yet to die off, hoped his brother would take the chance to return as well. Of course, that was never happening. "Seeing everyone again, you know? But maybe a little excessive too. It's just... a school."

zahra wouldn't consider herself a creature of habit, but she did have rituals. one of these rituals was heading to her favorite bar in town every week, plopping herself at a table (or the counter), and sipping drinks with hollis. it wasn't necessarily a planned thing, just an unspoken habit they'd fallen into in the last several years. swinging her oversized, crocheted bag over the back of her chair with little regard for its trajectory, she sinks into the seat with a dramatic sigh. "that's one word for it. i swear, the whole city's busier than michaels the morning of their spring sale."