S1 E15: Enter, the Spurned Child

Kenzie Tartaglione:

The content warning for this episode includes emotional manipulation between parents and a child.

Kenzie (MC):

It actually does feel like a TV show. A small, darkened room. A little colder than comfortable. One light hanging from the ceiling casting a warm, yellow circle over you and the metal chair you’re sat in. They offered you water, coffee. Everything said nicely but with a discomforting edge to it. You had a good cop. You had a bad cop. And then for about the past hour and a half, you’ve been left to your own devices. The door opens and a tall, slim woman with blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail so tight, it gives her face a face lift, enters. She is wearing a black pantsuit with shoes that click across the tiled floor as she walks around to face. She has a folder in her hand that she’s flicking through, an obvious play.

Kenzie (Agent Drummond):

A CVS receipt list of vandalism, a whole page to itself for theft, throw in a few disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace charges. And this time, criminal attempt with the intent to break and enter. Criminal attempt with the intent to steal. Do you have a clear picture?

Ashley Westover (Farrow Smith):

Allegedly, I think, you missed out on a few of those.

Kenzie (MC):

She raises her eyebrows at you and kinda looks over the top of the folder and there’s a hint of a smirk on her lips.

Kenzie (Agent Drummond):

Allegedly. You haven’t been actually punished for any of these, so you’re right. Allegedly.

Kenzie (MC):

She closes the folder, a dossier file on you and slaps in down on the table. It’s rather thick and the fact that you’ve never been actually charged with a crime the entire time makes it feel odd that they have this list of things that you’ve done, because you’ve been sneaky and you don’t get caught.

Kenzie (Agent Drummond):

I’m Agent Drummon with the FBI.

Ashley (Farrow):

The FBI?

Kenzie (Agent Drummond):

And you are Farrow Smith, is it?

Ashley (Farrow):

That’s what my birth certificate says.

Kenzie (Agent Drummond):

You live with your parents?

Ashley (Farrow):

I live with my mom and whoever she happens to be dating.

Kenzie (Agent Drummond):

Where’s your dad?

Ashley:

So, when Farrow was ten, eleven years old, they spent a lot of time at their local, public library. It was pretty much the only place where they could just exist without being kicked out or having to like buy something or like that. The public library was pretty much a good safe space for them. This is where they were on one of the public computers, like one of those big Dell dinosaur square ones. They saw an article from a town from like in the same state but a few hours away about this man named William Hook and this property he was selling – it was like weird adult stuff but that name stuck out to them because the only times that Farrow’s mom talked about Farrow’s dad was when their mom was in the middle of an argument with whoever they were dating at the time and they would often compare whoever they were dating with this unknown William. And one time she had slipped and said, “My Hook wouldn’t have treated me like this.” She was always comparing like all of her lovers to this William guy and so Farrow eventually asked her one day, like, who’s this William guy. And their mom said well that’s your dad, William Hook. And so Farrow had this idea in their head of this sort of night in shining armor almost that was their mom’s true love and would one day come by – if he just knew that Farrow existed, Farrow knew that he would come rushing to help them because things were never good financially. So when Farrow came across his name on just a random article they got so excited. And so Farrow asked the librarians like how do I contact this person? And they were like oh, he looks like he’s got some business emails, things like that. And so Farrow, always the little investigator, dug a bit and found an email like W Hook at some business email dot com. They spent a whole day figuring out what they were going to say and it was a long email I would say.

Ashley (Farrow):

Hi, my name is Farrow. I know you don’t know about me but I know a lot about you.

Ashely:

And just sort of introducing themselves saying like, I’m really good at history class and things like that. Trying to talk themselves up, sort of like pitching themselves to William and then they finish the email off with,

Ashley (Farrow):

I don’t think we’re that far from each other.

Ashley:

And they give their address, like,

Ashley (Farrow):

This is where I live, will you come by and meet me? Can we please talk? I would love to get to know you.

Ashley:

In a very like hopeful, ten-year-old – they’re so convinced this is going to go great. Like there’s no way this can go wrong. William, from everything they’ve heard, is such a good guy. There’s no way he would like say no to this, right? Because why would their mom continue to compare him to everyone if he wasn’t good. And so they send the email and they check their inbox, like they go to the library every day after school and check it over and over and over again. But there’s no response. One day, they get home and their mom is standing, waiting for them in the kitchen, looking very upset but not like angry, just sort of, fuck this is sort of conversation we have, because instead of emailing Farrow back, William had called their mom basically to say, do not contact me, control your kid. They didn’t even like give Farrow the respect of a response. So, I think Farrow gets home, getting like a little anxious because they haven’t heard back from their dad yet but obviously he’s going to respond soon.

Kenzie (MC):

Farrow lives with their mom in a two bedroom apartment. It’s not huge but it does the job and you’ve lived their for you entire life. So, you walk in the door, kinda kick off your shoes. You can’t really see your mom right away but you do hear her and you hear her voice coming down the hallway from the kitchen going,

Kenzie (Abigail Smith):

Farrow, come here please.

Ashley:

Farrow like puts their backpack down and kinda runs up,

Ashley (Farrow):

What’s up?

Kenzie (MC):

She is standing in front of the stove, stirring something, dressed in her scrubs. You figure she probably has a night shift. When you come in and say that, she turns around and you notice, very quickly, that she is displeased with you. And she says,

Kenzie (Abigail):

I thought we talked about this Farrow. Why didn’t you tell me that you contacted William?

Ashley (Farrow):

I didn’t tell you because I wanted it to be a surprise.

Kenzie (Abigail):

Well it would’ve been very helpful for me to have known that before he called me today.

Ashley (Farrow):

(gasp) He called! What did he say? Is he coming over? Is that why you’re cooking dinner? Is it a nice – it’s gotta be a nice dinner, Mom.

Kenzie (MC):

She puts her forehead against her palm and says,

Kenzie (Abigail):

Farrow, sit down please.

Ashley:

And they kinda climb up onto the stool that’s next to the kitchen island.

Kenzie (Abigail):

Farrow, we have been over this. Sicne when have you cared about meeting him or talking to him. I thought just the two of us. I thought we were good. You can’t go bothering him like that. That’s not how this works. You should not have contacted him. He’s not around for a reason. And it’s going to stay that way, okay? He chose not to be here.

Ashley (Farrow):

But he just – he just didn’t know about me, right?

Kenzie (Abigail):

I wish I could tell you that was true, Farrow. But, he knew. I told him. I wasn’t keeping that from him. He knew. And that didn’t make him stay.

Ashley (Farrow):

What?

Kenzie (Abigail):

You were never supposed to contact him. I told you not to. Yet you did it anyway and then he called me, and I had to explain to him that I wasn’t expecting anything from him, we weren’t expecting anything from him anymore.

Ashley (Farrow):

But you always said… you always say to other people that…

Kenzie (Abigail):

I know what I say.

Ashley (Farrow):

So, it’s my fault that he’s not here?

Kenzie (Abigail):

No, no, baby. It’s not your fault, okay? I loved him a lot when we were together and I thought he was somebody that he wasn’t. and I’m sorry that means you have to deal with that now. But Farrow, you shouldn’t want to know him, okay? He left. He left me and he left you. And he doesn’t deserve your time or attention anymore.

Ashley (Farrow):

What did he say?

Kenzie (Abigail):

He said that I need to make sure that you never contact him again. That he never has to hear from either of us, ever again.

Ashley:

Farrow like clenches their jaw and squeezes their hands into fists and takes a deep breath.

Ashley (Farrow):

I think I’m gonna, um, I think I’m gonna go hang out with some friends at the park.

Kenzie (Abigail):

Wait, Farrow. We don’t need him, right? It’s always been me and you against the world, baby. That’s all we need. Just us together. But you have to promise me that’s good enough for you. That you won’t try to do this again, yeah?

Ashley:

Farrow gets like this rush of anger and they sort of shove off the stool and runs out of the house ignoring anything their mom might – they’re not even paying attention to if their mom is calling after them or trying to follow in any way. They wouldn’t be surprised if she just sort of stayed back. But there’s this really shitty park right outside their front door. It’s pretty much just a bunch of overgrown brambles and things. And they’ll sometimes just go out there to, you know, have a semblance of being a kid, doing fun things. Like making soup with different rocks and plant and stuff just thrown in an old bowl. They’re having all these new, big emotions so this place doesn’t feel right to sort of like let that out. It also feels sort of exposed like there are cars that drive by, and there’s windows that look out and can see into this park. They want to find a place that just let’s them be by themselves. They suddenly get the urge to just find a dark hole are something just to like scream in.

And across the street there’s this old apartment building that had a fire a couple years ago and ever since then, the people moved out obviously because it caught on fire, but it’s not like the whoel thing went up ablaze, it’s just like one room, sorta like blasted out. Maybe there was some sort of illegal activity going on that caused the fire or something, Farrow doesn’t quite know about that stuff yet. That is a building where they know no one’s going to be in. And so they run across the street and the front door has got the yellowed caution tape on it but it’s very faded from the sun and time and so they just sort of like duck underneath and through this broken part of the door.

They’re breathing hard and they have like tunnel vision almost because they’re not quite sure if they’re angry or sad or just want to fight somebody. Or just want to be alone for like five years. But as they cross the threshold from the outside world into this very quiet house, the char on the walls and there’s some sunlight filtering through a broken window and the little dust motes are floating through, and it hits them all of a sudden how peaceful it is in here without anybody. And they walk further in – they’re light enough that they’re not worried about the floor falling out from underneath them. They learn in the future, the hard way, to look out for that but luckily this first time, there’s not an incident. They walk further into this old apartment building and they climb up the stairs to like the second floor window that’s also been busted out. Seems like teenagers were in here a few times. There are beer bottles that have been covered in dust and things and they sort of hunker down in like this back corner. And they’re just breathing and they’re hands are shaking and they’re heart is racing with confusion and anger and fear. But they’re by themselves so they’re actually able to just breathe for a moment before something shiny catches their eye.

There’s an old dresser or something and one of the knobs on the dresser is brass and a little bit of soot has been wiped away and they go up to the dresser knob and they kinda like wipe the rest of the soot off with their sleeve and it’s so shiny and so pretty and probably very, very cheap. But this sort of shiny trinket brings a little spark of, “Oh, I like this!” So, they unscrew the knob from this old dresser and they sort of rub it with their thumb. And the cool metal is very satisfying and they just start picking around the rest of the room. And they spent the rest of the day in this old, abandoned apartment building, finding little tiny, shiny, beautiful things that are probably just trash, but it’s the only thing keeping them from breaking their hand on a wall. Or just utterly losing it.

Farrow, their jaw clenches at this and they’re trying – their whole thing when it comes to authority is that they’re very good at keeping their cool. That’s why they’ve never been actually charged with anything. But this makes them prickle a good bit. And so they shift uncomfortably, trying to look as tough as a fourteen year old kid can. And they just look back up at this person and they go,

Ashley (Farrow):

Don’t know. Never met him.

Kenzie (Agent Drummond):

Are you aware of a small town called, Wildmoore. About an hour drive southeast of here?

Ashley (Farrow):

Do I look like I’m a geography major?

Kenzie (Agent Drummond):

Do you know of a man named William Hook?

Ashley:

Farrow again is starting to like shift in their seat, they’re starting to squirm a little bit because they have done their due diligence with digging and things and so they know the name. Instead of answering the question, they just turn back.

Ashley (Farrow):

I’m not quite sure what the FBI has to do with an alleged petty theft. Sorry I didn’t catch your name.

Kenzie (Agent Drummond):

Agent Drummond.

Ashley (Farrow):

Wait you might’ve already said that, huh?

Kenzie (Agent Drummond):

Better listening skill would serve you well.

Ashley (Farrow):

People don’t often have anything worth to say around here.

Kenzie (Agent Drummond):

I think I have something worth to say and I think that you should listen. We have been aware of you for a while now and we’ve been keeping tabs on you as you can see.

Kenzie (MC):

And she points at the folder.

Ashley (Farrow):

Did he like murder somebody? Is that what this FBI thing – did he like murder someone? Like you can tell me?

Kenzie (Agent Drummond):

What do you know of William Hook?

Ashley (Farrow):

I know he’s a deadbeat dad who doesn’t give a shit about anyone but himself. But like I said, I’ve never met him.

Kenzie (Agent Drummond):

Interesting, because he has two, healthy, thriving children.

Ashley (Farrow):

What?

Ashley:

There are tears welling up in their eyes and their throat has closed up a good bit. And they’re focusing on their breathing.

Kenzie (Agent Drummond):

In Wildmoore. Two happy children. A family unit. You seem to be the only one left out.

Ashley (Farrow):

How old are they?

Kenzie (Agent Drummond):

Sophomore in high school and a little girl about four.

Ashley (Farrow):

Again, is this like a murder thing or are you just here to fuck with me? Like do you want me to confess to something? Because I’d rather do that then have this conversation for literally a second longer.

Kenzie (Agent Drummond):

I’m trying to gauge what you know.

Ashley (Farrow):

Not a lot.

Kenzie (Agent Drummond):

You seem rather upset at the situation.

Ashley (Farrow):

Could say that. Doesn’t take a genius to figure out, but alright.

Kenzie (Agent Drummond):

With this dossier, you could be sent to juvenile, easily.

Ashley (Farrow):

Did we miss the alleged part because I’m pretty sure I was cleared of all charges for all of those.

Kenzie (Agent Drummond):

You were cleared of all charges because we wanted things postponed.

Ashley (Farrow):

This is feeling very shady.

Kenzie (Agent Drummond):

Farrow, I can offer you a deal.

Ashley (Farrow):

Kay, I feel like I’m sorta just being backed into a corner but what? What do you have to offer?

Kenzie (Agent Drummond):

If you don’t take it, there are repercussions so you can feel how you want to feel about that. You come work for us and this goes away forever.

Ashley (Farrow):

I’m getting like severe whiplash right now. So, you want an alleged criminal to work for the FBI, to do what exactly?

Kenzie (Agent Drummond):

An alleged criminal who is extremely good at what they do. And who has a personal connection to William Hook and ad possibly, growing… vendetta is too strong of a word… against him.

Ashley (Farrow):

I’d use grudge.

Kenzie (Agent Drummond):

A grudge. We could use you and in return we get rid of all of this.

Ashley (Farrow):

What exactly are you hoping to gain from me?

Kenzie (Agent Drummond):

You’re a kid. You can easily fit in in high school. You need to gather information. We need to get close to people that agents of a certain age can’t necessarily do. And an ally.

Ashley (Farrow):

If I help you guys with whatever this is, I’m assuming my rap sheet goes away.

Kenzie (Agent Drummond):

It does.

Ashley (Farrow):

What about Hook? Is this a goal to imprison him like what level of vindication am I going to get out of this?

Kenzie (Agent Drummond):

I suppose that’s up to you. I can’t tell you all the details until for certain you are with us.

Kenzie (MC):

And she flips over the folder and on the back is an NDA listing terms to agree upon and not speak about to work with this team.

Kenzie (Agent Drummond):

A signature and I can tell you what you need to know.

Ashley:

Farrow sits there and contemplates this offer. Even though it’s a very vague offer and they’re not exactly sure what’s going to be asked of them, the fact that they’ll be able to learn more about their biological father and maybe find a way to get back at him is more tempting than a mountain full of gold. They pick up the pen and just as they’re about to write their name, they look up at her and say,

Ashley (Farrow):

Uh, by the way. If you were keeping as close tabs on me as you thought you were, that folder would be twice as thick.

Ashley:

And then they sign their name with a flourish.

Kenzie (MC):

Picks up the folder, picks up the pen and says,

Kenzie (Agent Drummond):

Welcome to Obsidian.

Kenzie (MC):

We cycle forward to a quiet early morning in the middle of August. The long shadows of night retreat between the buildings as the sky begins to lighten and the first rays of the sunrise chance the sky into magnificent hues. It’s a little bit humid, your skin slightly sticky as your muscles first begging to move upon your body waking. You feel stiff. Your neck and upper back sore from sleeping in an odd position. When you finally regain enough consciousness to open your eyes, you find yourself in the passenger seat of an old rusted out, dark green sedan. The seat is leaning back as far as it will go. As you move, a crinkling sound fills the interior, and you see the tan fabric of the seat covered in specks of orange dust. Half-filled bottles and empty cans of soda, a strange array of snack wrappers and a pair of binoculars are littering the space. It’s a mess. A mess of your own making. You see your newest friend, Damian, conked out in the driver’s seat. Head lolling against the window, drool shining on his chin. The shaved side of his head is in your view, the dyed green wave of hair that sits atop his head is smushed against the window. His glasses are askew on his chubby cheeks and it' s a little too warm to be wearing a jacket, but Damian, you can’t remember a time in the last month where he wasn’t wearing his thin, black, zip up hoodie over whatever he qualified as a shirt underneath. Damian also shouldn’t be in the driver’s seat. He only has his learner’s permit. But his dad is Chief Evans so on a scale of one to ten of how much trouble you’d be in if he was caught driving without a licensed adult in the car, it’d be about a negative five. Granted, you drive around mostly at night but its not as if no one has ever seen the Evans’ twenty-eight-year-old car with two teenagers in the front seats driving around Wildmoore.

Looking out the window, you finally get your bearings. You’re parallel parked on First Street, just a few cars down and on the opposite side of the street from the grand Victorian façade that is the Duncan residence. You had been on patrol – what Damian called your nighttime snooping escapades – and you had convinced him to park outside this house specifically. It had been late, most of the lights in the house turned off and you hadn’t been able to glean much, boredom most likely was the culprit of your unfortunate sleeping arrangements. Damian snore. A loud buzz sounds around the car as your phone vibrates in the cup holder. A text from Elias,

Kenzie (Elias Mashburn):

First day. Do not be late.

Kenzie (MC):

The night before the first day of school and you can hear Elias’ orders in your head.

Kenzie (Elias):

I know it’s the first day tomorrow, but I need eyes on Blackthorn.

Kenzie (MC):

You’ve been for the last few weeks, following his orders, gathering the intel, information he wants, even if it’s not much. But going to the places he sends you. You sit on the curb outside of the house waiting for Damian Evans to pull up. You met this kid at that bonfire the first night in town. He was on you as soon as you walked onto the lawn. Asking you the most personal, egregious questions one could muster. No filter. No boundaries. Wanting to know everything about you, what your whole deal was. And you realize this kid is probably a good contact to have because he did this with everybody and he, while a conspiracy theorist of the mysteries of Wildmoore, isn’t necessary wrong in his thought that there’s some weird shit. Maybe not right in what he thinks is happening but not totally wrong. And as you sit on this curb waiting, there’s a little rustle in your pocket and Beauregard, lifts it’s head out.

Ashley (Farrow):

Hey, buddy.

Ashley:

I scratch the side of his ear.

Kenzie (MC):

Smells the night air. It’s late enough in summer to be dark at about nine o’clock and Beauregard slinks back down in the pocket as headlights and a low growl from around the street announces Damian’s arrival. And the window slowly rolls down as it is not an automatic window and Damian kinda leans over and goes,

Kenzie (Damian Evans):

Hop in.

Ashley:

Farrow grabs their backpack that they have with them and runs over to the passenger side and hops in. And then opens up the backpack and there’s like a bunch of chips and just like junk food and they turn to Damian and they go,

Ashley (Farrow):

I brought payment as requested.

Kenzie (Damian):

Yes! Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Kenzie (MC):

Reaches over, grabs a bag out, rips it open, just kinda the chips spray out of it and just starts shoving them in his mouth.

Ashley (Farrow):

Ah, dude (laughs).

Kenzie (Damian):

You gotta be ready. You gotta have energy to do all the stuff that we gotta do. We’re going to be out late, okay? Because I think I got – I’ve got like a bit of a lead, okay? I think some shit is going down at the Baptista house because I know like, I don’t want to be weird with them because I know Joe’s dad died in that fire but like I just think some shit is happening and I think that’s where – I think that’s where we gotta go tonight.

Ashley (Farrow):

You know I love your energy and I love the instinct that you have with this but, um, growing up on the streets like I did, Damian, you learn to like really get a nose for the people who have shady shit going on. And while Joe, certainly tragic, and there is some weird stuff going on over there. My instinct are telling me that Blackthorn Manor is the place to be tonight. I don’t know. I’m just getting some weird, creepy vibes from them.

Kenzie (MC):

Gives you a quizzical look and is like,

Kenzie (Damian):

Farrow, you know the patrol has a schedule. And Blackthorn Manor is Saturdays. It’s a Tuesday!

Ashley (Farrow):

I know, but tomorrow is like the start of the new school year so I have a feeling, there might be some new shit going on. So, we have to - as investigative, uh, reporters, or just people searching for the truth, we have to be flexible, you know? We have to be able to take the hits as they come and adjust our schedules if things pop up. And also, I brought your favorite kind of energy drink. So I think that gets be some brownie points, as do these brownies.

Kenzie (Damian):

You make a very persuasive argument and I think for one time, one time alone, the patrol schedule can be switches up a little bit.

Ashley (Farrow):

You are a gentleman and a scholar.

Kenzie (Damian):

But know, that bribery only gets you so far.

Ashley (Farrow):

Gets you to switch up the schedule.

Kenzie (Damian):

Once. One time.

Ashley (Farrow):

Once. Once.

Kenzie (Damian):

One time.

Ashley:

Farrow has their fingers crossed behind their back.

Ashley (Farrow):

One time, yeah.

Kenzie (MC):

Grabs the energy drink, mouth full of chips, chugging down the energy drink at the same time. This is what he does. Goes out every night. A car that he steals from his dad. And his already chubby cheeks are filled with food as he’s chomping. But he begins to pull down the street and head towards First Street where Blackthorn Manor sits.

Kenzie (Damian):

Okay so I don’t want to get like right up next to it because… well, that’s just stupid.

Ashley (Farrow):

We’re professionals.

Kenzie (Damian):

Yeah, we’re professionals. I’m gonna park a little bit down the street. I’ll cut the lights, cut the engine and I go uh –

Kenzie (MC):

And he reaches down between the door and his seat and pulls out a pair of binoculars.

Kenzie (Damian):

And I got these so here.

Kenzie (MC):

And gives them to you.

Ashley (Farrow):

Finally, some spy gear.

Kenzie (MC):

He parallel parks badly, almost hitting the car in front of him. But does end up parking without any major catastrophe, turns the car off, rolls the window down a little bit, and you can already hear the humidity kinda seeping into the car.

Ashley:

Are there any lights on in Blackthorn Manor?

Kenzie (MC):

There are. There are a couple in the windows. It’s only a little bit after nine so that’s not strange. The garage door is open and you can see that it’s kinda a huge garage that they have with multiple cars inside of it. There are also a couple cars parked in the driveway. But there are no lights on in the garage.

Ashley (Farrow):

Jeez, talk about old money.

Kenzie (Damian):

You can say that again. These people have been in this town for as long as anybody can remember and they’ve lived in this house, each generation, for as long as anybody can remember.

Ashley (Farrow):

Imagine all the secrets they must be hiding down there.

Kenzie (Damian):

Oh that’s right, you’ve never been inside. You just got here.

Ashley (Farrow):

Wait, we can go inside?

Kenzie (Damian):

Well not right now but the Duncans are like known for their parties.

Ashley (Farrow):

Really now?

Kenzie (Damian):

Ivy often invites everybody to come over and hang out. Yeah – I’ve been inside a few times, yeah.

Ashley (Farrow):

That could either be really good or really bad because if they often have people over they’re going to have extra security measures for the things that are really important to them.

Kenzie (Damian):

What are you talking about? What do you think is in the house that needs extra security measures?

Ashley (Farrow):

I don’t know. I mean, I’m just saying. Like these people have secrets, we’re trying to find them out. The illusion of being open and having their house available to people all the time? That’s a red flag, my dude.

Kenzie (Damian):

Fuck, you’re right. I never thought of that.

Ashley (Farrow):

Is there a place that’s usually locked that you know of? Is there a basement or a wine cellar or something they don’t let people down in.

Kenzie (Damian):

You know I’ve… these were parties -

Ashley (Farrow):

You were high.

Kenzie (Damian):

I kept the snooping to like a minimum.

Ashley (Farrow):

I’m not gonna lie, I am a little disappointed. But I’m not mad.

Kenzie (Damian):

I mean it’s only been a couple times but like yeah, you’re right, you’re right, you’re right! I was sleeping on the job. I didn’t do my job and now we’re behind.

Ashley (Farrow):

It’s alright. Now you have a partner and we’ll get this together. Sound good, bud?

Kenzie (Damian):

Yeah what exactly are we like looking for?

Ashley (Farrow):

Well, I have a few main theories. The ones that you posited: either there is some sort of intelligent life from behind the stars that’s been influencing this town…

Kenzie (Damian):

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. That’s theory number one.

Ashley (Farrow):

Theory number one.

Kenzie (Damian):

And I think that that’s the theory that after a couple more weeks, you will start leaning towards as well.

Ashley (Farrow):

You don’t have to convince me, dude. Like I got here and the vibes were immediately off. Why do you think we work so well together.

Kenzie (Damian):

This is kismet! Like you showed up at the perfect time!

Ashley (Farrow):

You don’t ever have to convince me of anything, okay? We’re in this together. Gettin’ to the truth, bud. So, aliens, big thing. Then there’s also some sort of mafia deal that you mentioned? But the thing with that, I don’t understand how they would get the supply lines around unless there’s some sort of underground tunnel.

Ashley:

And right now, Farrow is just feeding into Damian’s delusions to keep him engaged and wanting to help.

Kenzie (Damian):

Uh, there could be an underground tunnel though because the old sewer systems don’t work anymore and that’s where Sawyer and his crew hangs out. And so, what if those were the old tunnels that people used to get in. to get the shit in, you know? And there is a rather indecent amount of drugs available in this town. So mafia? I’m just saying.

Ashley (Farrow):

The Duncans are giving the illusion of openness and trustworthiness and that’s when you need to be the most suspcisiou. So, next time there’s a party. You and I go in, you will figure out what area is on the hardest lockdown. You keep watch. I’ll use my special skills to get into places I’m not supposed to be. And then I will report back and we’ll figure out what the next step should be. Whether its another sort of investigation like that or we just grab some shit and run and analyze it later. I think that’s going to have be like an on the fly decision but we should definitely at least try to get in.

Kenzie (Damian):

Yeah, there’s a party tomorrow night.

Ashley (Farrow):

Oh really!

Kenzie (Damian):

Yeah, here, they’re hosting the uh – they did it last year too – it’s the, it’s the first day of school bash. They probably don’t actually have a name for it, but yeah.

Ashley (Farrow):

I need to get on these group chats are whatever.

Kenzie (Damian):

No, I should have told you. I should have mentioned it and I just kinda forgot about it.

Ashley (Farrow):

No, you’re good. I’m the new kid. There’s a lot of things people assume everyone knows but I’m just trying to catch up. That’s why I need ya, man. You’re my guiding light and I’m your support beam. We’re gonna get through this. Just forward me any sort of like social events that are going on. Whether it’s from the Duncans or the Baptistas or you know like the Moores or the Hooks or whatever.

Kenzie (Damian):

I don’t think Joe’s going to be throwing a party any time soon.

Ashley (Farrow):

Yeah it doesn’t seem like he’s the in the mood for that. Poor kid. So any sort of events that are going on, until I get, you know – I’m not great at talking to other people, you know? Like we vibe.

Kenzie (Damian):

What do you mean?

Ashley (Farrow):

It’s because you’re a cool person, you know? And you know how most people are just like –

Kenzie (Damian):

Dicks?

Ashley (Farrow):

Yeah!

Kenzie (Damian):

Yeah.

Ashley (Farrow):

Girls are terrifying. Is it just me? Or are they terrifying?

Kenzie (Damian):

I don’t think it’s just you. But I can’t say that I have much information on that subject.

Ashley (Farrow):

Not a lot of experience in the lady’s department.

Kenzie (Damian):

I don’t really feel the need to. I’ve got other things on my attention.

Ashley (Farrow):

Same. They’re just scary.

Kenzie (Damian):

Yeah it’s just not worth my time when there are shitty things going on that no one is talking about.

Ashley (Farrow):

Exactly. There are bigger issues than like high school drama.

Kenzie (Damian):

So what I don’t have a date to Homecoming? It doesn’t fuckin’ matter because I’m out here every night with my nose to the pavement, doing the work.

Kenzie (Damian):

We’ll be the ones remembered by history. Not these schmos.

Kenzie (MC):

While he’s not lying there might be a little bit of sadness that he probably won’t have a date to Homecoming.

Kenzie (Damian):

Pass me a Slim Jim. Pick up those binoculars. Do you want to go first or do you want me to go first?

Ashley (Farrow):

I can take first watch. You just crushed an energy drink so you’re going to be a little jittery for a bit.

Kenzie (Damian):

You gotta be quiet. You gotta be calm. You gotta be observant.

Ashley:

Farrow lifts up the binoculars and takes a look and just like – antiques are like they’re thing. They love old shit. So when they see the cars and just that little glimpse into the Duncan’s garage, it made their fingers itchy in a way. Like they’re just like, “I want to get in there. Oh, I want to look around at some old shit.” The Duncan house is their favorite one to stake out just because it holds the most shiny things. Damian and I met at the bonfire and everything and it was great. We vibed, we hit it off and then we ran into each other, both staking out the Duncan house one night.

Kenzie (MC):

It is a Saturday night in Wildmoore which is not like a rambunctious, crazy night. These were the nights when you were back home that you and your friends, gang of people that you did little jobs with would go out and do those things. I mean, you did them most nights. But Saturday night was when you had like planned a whole week to do something specific. And it’s a little bit less exciting here. But, Elias has asked you to take the night and go to Blackthorn Manor. He doesn’t necessarily have a specific reason beside the fact that the Hooks are currently not at home and it’s hard to keep a track on the Moore’s whereabouts. So, Blackthorn Manor is the best assumption that you will be able to find some information this evening. And you hop on the bike at Elias’ house, pedal your way over to Blackthorn Manor and kinda hide your bike in the bush of on the houses across the street and creep along the cars on the opposite side.

Ashley:

Farrow has left Beauregard at home. They’re not quite comfortable enough bringing him out quite yet. They do that thing where they just like casually walk down the street. Like there’s someone just walking or whatever on their first pass and then as they walk back, it’s more of a sticking to the shadows and pausing at certain spots to try to get a better look in certain windows. And they crouch behind this car and they’re looking through the back windows and they see movement out of the corner of their eye.

Kenzie (Damian):

Psst! Hey!

Ashley (Farrow):

And you see the face of Damian Evans, your new friend in town, and he’s like,

Kenzie (Damian):

What are you doing?

Ashley (Farrow):

What are you doing? I’m just on a walk through this lovely town.

Kenzie (Damian):

No, you’re not. I know a little wannabee spy when I see one.

Ashley (Farrow):

You do, do you? That’s great! So, I’m assuming you also know that the Duncans are probably aliens.

Kenzie (Damian):

You know, I knew, as soon as I met you that we were going to get along.

Ashley (Farrow):

Yeah.

Kenzie (Damian):

Yeah, I don’t know if the Duncans are aliens but they have some ties to some alien shit going on. Did you see my video?

Ashley (Farrow):

The one that you texted me after the bonfire that was like three hours long?

Kenzie (Damian):

Yeah, yeah, yeah that one.

Ashley (Farrow):

That actually is what made me want to go here tonight.

Kenzie (Damian):

You should have texted me ‘cause I’m here every Saturday. You coulda come with.

Ashley (Farrow):

I was just so nervous ‘cause you’re like a pro in this town and I wasn’t sure if you needed – if you were like a lone wolf kinda –

Kenzie (MC):

You are boosting his ego, successfully.

Kenzie (Damian):

Ah I mean like usually I’m a bit of a lone wolf, but I think that sometimes it would be nie to have a partner. And I think that you would kinda make a perfect one.

Ashley (Farrow):

Okay, yeah, totally. I mean, take me under your wing sensei.

Kenzie (Damian):

Yeah, alright. Shh, shh. Open the door quietly but you can get in.

Ashley:

And I get in and I’m like,

Ashley (Farrow):

Why are there so many wrappers back here?

Kenzie (Damian):

The number one rule of a stake out is that you gotta have snacks.

Ashley:

Farrow slowly reaches in to their hoodie pocket and brings out a Slim Jim.

Ashley (Farrow):

I could not agree more actually.

Kenzie (Damian):

We are on the same wavelength.

Ashley (Farrow):

The exact same wavelength.

Kenzie (MC):

You have the binoculars looking up at Blackthorn Manor and you watch. You see a light flick off. You see a tall, well-built man, Bast, close the curtains over one of the front windows. Before he closes them, you could kinda see a dining room table of sorts in this room. You see his shadow walk away further into the house.

Kenzie (Damian):

Okay, uh, Farrow. What do you see?

Ashley (Farrow):

Hot dad number one was in the dining room.

Kenzie (Damian):

Oh that’s different from last week.

Ashley (Farrow):

I didn’t get a good look to see if there was any food on the able but I don’t see food in their house often. Let me see. Everything else is pretty much closed I think.

Kenzie (Damian):

I’m sorry but I’m gonna say I told you so because like Tuesday night at Blackthorn Manor is boring. Saturday night is where all the juicy stuff is.

Kenzie (MC):

And you know that is not true because Saturday nights are often just as boring. You haven’t like seen some big thing that would help you and Elias out, or confirm Damian’s theory about alien invasions.

Ashley (Farrow):

You know what Damian? We’ve only been here like ten minutes. Patience, remember?

Kenzie (Damian):

I’ve like been through three bags of chips, it’s only been ten minutes?

Ashley (Farrow):

Holy shit, Damian, not again. You are literally going to eat me out of house and home my guy.

Ashley:

And I just hand him another bag of chips (laughs). I was prepared for this.

Kenzie (MC):

You switch off duties for the next couple of house of him watching the house, you watching the house. And at one point when you try to hand the binocular back to him, you turn and you see his head smushed against the window and his chest slowly rising and the little sound of snores coming through his nose.

Ashley:

Farrow takes it as their cue and they slowly set the binocular down and at this point, they’ve mastered where the noisy and squeaky parts are of this old car, and they like undo the latch and slip out. And just take one more look to make sure he’s like gonskies and then they’re going to slowly approach the side of the manor that has the garage and any of the cars that are outside, they’re just going to take a peek inside the cars after clearing to make sure no one’s looking out a window or anything. Their hood is all the way up as well.

Kenzie (MC):

You don’t feel like you’re being watched from the house. You peer into the cars and they are in pristine, stately condition.

Ashley (Farrow):

Ugh, fucking perfectionists.

Ashley:

Farrow’s going to go around to their garbage cans and they’re just going to carefully open the lid, check for racoons. They forgot raccoons existed the first time they tried to do this at – I believe I was one of the Moores’ houses – and they just swung the lid open. Beauregard almost had a heart attack. Farrow almost had a new pet, but it got away. So they just slowly peak open, make sure there’s no animals in there. And they just take their phone flashlight to look.

Kenzie (MC):

I mean the trash bin itself isn’t full at all. There’s like a couple bags thrown in but the trash bags themselves are rather lacking in trash.

Ashley:

Everyone’s trash bins should be full right now, right? Like the way that the trash pickup happens?

Kenzie (MC):

It is going to be happening probably in the early hours of that morning.

Ashley:

They reach down and grab just like one of the bags, see if they can tear it open, see if there’s anything in there incriminating.

Kenzie (MC):

It’s mostly food, like fruit rinds, eggshells. There are like some paper products.

Ashley:

Does it seem like the amount of food that would be eaten in a week by three people that live there?

Kenzie (MC):

It doesn’t look like enough to feed a family of three.

Ashley:

Let alone all the guests they always have over. Farrow jots that down in their notebook: Duncan trash weird. They’re gonna look at their clock, see about what time it is.

Kenzie (MC):

It’s a little bit after eleven o’clock.

Ashley:

That’s still fairly early. The way that this is set up is there like a hedge around the manor or do they have next door neighbors.

Kenzie (MC):

So, there are other house son this street but they have a large plot of land so they have a wrought iron fence that goes around it. The gate into the driveway’s open and it’s attached to like stone pillars. And there are like bushes around the fence that goes around the house.

Ashley:

They’re going to try to listen in to see if there’s footsteps on the side of the house that they’re at. Maybe someone’s close to a window that might be able to see them.

Kenzie (MC):

It’s really quiet. It’s mostly just the light breeze of the night and the summer bugs chirping and buzzing away.

Ashley:

They’re going to creep then along the edge of the house just to peak at the storage shed in the back.

Kenzie (MC):

There is a lock, a padlock, on the door and there is also a small window on three sides. So the two sides and the back.

Ashley:

They’re just going to peek into one of the windows, see if they can spot anything.

Kenzie (MC):

It’s really dark inside. The moonlight that comes in from the other window sheds a little bit of light. You can see like some bags of soil, a rake, there’s not a lot else you can see because of how dark it is inside. As you’re peering through this window, you hear a window opening from the main house.

Ashley:

They’re going to press themselves into the shadow. No sudden movements but just kinda push up against the side and towards the back of the shed, away from view.

Kenzie (MC):

You watch as Ivy climbs out of her window and down a trellis onto the ground and sneaks around to the front of the house.

Ashley:

Farrow’s going to sneak, more towards the bush than the house, and just quietly move, keeping an eye on Ivy.

Kenzie (MC):

She is, not like running or anything, but swiftly skirting her property, down the driveway, out the gate, and starts down First Street.

Ashley:

As she gets a little bit farther Farrow is going to – they don’t really want to involve Damian right now – they’re just going to go up on the sidewalk, casually walking in the same direction that Ivy’s walking. They’re going to actually put their headphones in to make it look like they’re listening to music but they’re not going to have anything on.

Kenzie (MC):

Ivy kinda glances back a couple times as she goes, but you have enough time to hide, dart into a shadow. And you watch as she walks down First Street, all the way to Cherry Lane. And you follow her all the way down and you see her kinda then start jogging up the yard of the Hook house.

Ashley:

Every time they’re sent to watch the Hook house, there’s a level of anxiety that just spikes. And if they’re being honest, they usually cut those sort of stake outs short and they don’t ever get as close and they’re frustrated with themself because on one hand, this is why they’re here, to find out more. But at the same time, they just get full of so much emotion, anxiety, anger, all that stuff, jealousy especially, that it’s hard for them to focus and they just usually walk away. So they get hit with a wave of that as they see that Ivy’s headed up to Sawyer.

Kenzie (MC):

You can see some light through the trees but the driveway is like long and winding up the house.

Ashley:

Farrow’s going to follow until they see where Ivy goes. They don’t want to risk being caught right now because that would jeopardize a lot of things. They’re just curious right now, especially ‘cause it’s around Sawyer and his family.

Kenzie (MC):

You watch as she starts to climb up the side of this house and like slips in to the house and then you – through the front windows, you see Sawyer walking from one side of the house to the other, flipping off lights. And all of a sudden he looks up and you can hear him go, “Annabelle! Go back to bed!” And he continues flipping off lights as he goes.

Ashley:

Okay so when Ivy climbed up the wall is it like a – like how exactly did she – like it’s a wall!

Kenzie (MC):

You go to the side. The wall is completely flat getting up to wherever she climbed in. And then you can on the back of the house a little bit, she wasn’t climbing, she was kinda jumping. And there were like levels and so it looked like she might’ve jumped up onto this wall, jumped up onto the roof here, ran up a little bit and then somehow got up to the window.

Ashley:

Either Ivy is a parkour master or Damian might be onto something. They’re not quite sure what to make of that because she just looked like she was casually moving up. It wasn’t like she had to do a lot of momentum or anything. Farrow’s going to like try to process that while listening in to see if maybe Sawyer was expecting her or if there was a scream.

Kenzie (MC):

You see the light click on in the bedroom. You hear Sawyer scream. You hear her giggling laughter float out the still slightly open window.

Ashley:

Farrow is just going to be like, “I don’t understand teenagers and they’re horniness. I don’t get why you would just break into someone’s house.” That’s what they’re assuming. She’s booty calling Sawyer. They don’t want to hear more after that so they’re going to slink back the way they came towards Damian’s car and just sort of shimmy, quietly settle back into it.

Kenzie (MC):

You stay up pretty late. She doesn’t come back at any point but you start to drift off and you’re not fully asleep when you hear voices, just mumbles at first that you can’t really make out. You blink open your eyes and you see movement outside the front of Blackthorn Manor. And as you come more into waking, you hear,

Kenzie (Gabriel Duncan):

No, it’s fine. She left awhile ago.

Kenzie (MC):

And you can kinda see two individuals doing something, like coming down the driveway to one of the cars.

Ashley:

Farrow’s going to grab the binoculars and try not to wake Damian up because he would probably just start making a lot of noise. And they’re just going to rub the sleep out of their eyes and they’re going to look.

Kenzie (MC):

You don’t see Bast. You see Gabriel and you see the man who has been living with them for a little while who’s name you have found out is Gregor. They look to be carrying something and as they come down, they go to the car and they maneuver something into the trunk of the car.

Ashley:

Can I see maybe the size of it?

Kenzie (MC):

Gregor is carrying it by himself. He doesn’t seem to have any issues carrying it so doen’t seem to be that heavy but when he drops it into the trunk, the car like moves with the weight. And you hear,

Kenzie (Gabriel):

Gregor, be quiet.

Kenzie (MC):

And Gabriel starts looking around and Gregor shuts the trunk but clicks it so it doesn’t slam shut. And you hear,

Kenzie (Gregor):

It’s fine. I’ll take care of it.

Kenzie (MC):

And Gabriel says,

Kenzie (Gabriel):

I’m going to go check on him.

Kenzie (MC):

And Gabriel starts back up to the house as Gregor gets into the front seat of the car. And the car backs out of the driveway and starts away down the street, no lights on, engine just faintly rumbling.

Ashley:

At this point Farrow really wishes they were old enough to have a driver’s license of their own or that they knew how to drive period. Public transportation was a staple of their upbringing. They’re going to slowly shake Damian a little bit,

Ashley (Farrow):

Hey, hey, dude.

Kenzie (Damian):

What? What? Oh, what is happening?

Ashley (Farrow):

I need you to as quietly as possible start the car and just head that way.

Kenzie (MC):

Looks at you weirdly.

Ashley (Farrow):

They just brought a bag out and that Gregor guy – we need to get moving. I’m not trying to get you to panic but I think there’s some shady shit going on. So, start the car and head that way.

Kenzie (MC):

Looks at his phone.

Kenzie (Damian):

It’s like one thirty in the morning. We can’t be following some creepy shit at one thirty in the morning.

Ashley (Farrow):

You’re right the engine would probably be too loud.

Ashley:

And then Farrow just opens the car door and starts like half jogging against the wall of the hedge or whatever to try to keep the car in their eyesight. They’re assuming they’re going to lose it, they just want to keep an eye on it as long as possible to get a general idea of where it’s going.

Kenzie (MC):

Yeah, it has already turned the corner and you can kinda jog down and you can see it like all the way down Cherry Lane, just continuing south through town. But it is already pretty far away from you.

Your phone clock reads: 6:28. That means Elias was texting you on his way out of the house and into work.

Ashley (Farrow):

Damian, hey (claps). Dude!

Kenzie (Damian):

Uh, yeah, um, uhhhh mornin’.

Ashley (Farrow):

Mornin.’ No luck tonight or last night, whatever. We gotta get to work or school, uh, I mean, yeah.

Kenzie (Damian):

It’s kinda both.

Ashley (Farrow):

Kinda both. Is there a coffee shop? Do you guys have coffee here?

Kenzie (Damian):

Yeah, uh, I mean it’s kinda crappy.

Kenzie (MC):

And you see him reach down and pick up a bag of Fritos and start eating some chips.

Kenzie (Damian):

Yeah, uh, do you want to like go to the uh, sorry my brain is just (yawns).

Ashley (Farrow):

Yeah and you got to sleep some.

Kenzie (Damian):

Were you just watching the house all night?

Ashley (Farrow):

Yeah, dude, that’s what we’re here for. Amateur.

Kenzie (Damian):

I mean you’re gonna – it’s the first day and you’re gonna just conk out in the middle of class but I guess that’s one you.

Ashley (Farrow):

I’ll be fine if I get my coffee, okay? Not to sound like a wine mine, if its crappy but it’s still got caffeine, I’m fine.

Kenzie (MC):

Starts the engine. The AC blasts out of the vents and the kinda sheen of sweat that had accumulated because of the humidity in the interior sends a shiver throughout your body as its hit with the cold air. Pulls out of the parking spot, almost clipping the ar in front of you and begins down the street and you kinda watch the Duncan residence as you go by but there’s no movement. It’s a pretty quiet morning. The last bell of the morning rings at eight o’clock on the dot and if you’re any later than that, you’re deemed tardy for the day. So, there’s still some time for people to be awaking, for you guys to grab your coffee. Damian drives down First Street, makes a couple turns and pulls up upon this brick building. A chain coffee shop that has sprung up in this small town and is the only coffee shop in town much to the dismay of many of its citizens. It looks like the lights are just being flicked on to open the store for the day. And he pulls into the empty parking lot except for the one car, most likely the staff member inside and parks again. And just gives out a big yawn.

Kenzie (Damian):

Okay, uh, I’m gonna like chug this Coke, I don’t need any coffee but do what you gotta do.

Ashley (Farrow):

Are you sure you don’t want anything? I can grab you like a breakfast bagel or something too?

Kenzie (Damian):

Uh, maybe a donut. Like glazed but the colorful sprinkle ones.

Ashley (Farrow):

You got it kid.

Ashley:

Farrow kicks open the door. They’re legs are a little bit sleepy still because they’ve been sitting in the same position for a few hours at this point. Give a big stretch, breathe in the slightly humid air and head into the coffee shop. And they grab themselves a coffee with an ungodly amount of cream and sugar and also grab Damian a small one as well, in case if he needs an extra little boost, along with his donut that he mentioned.

Kenzie (MC):

You come back outside, climb back into the car. Damian kinda snatches the wax paper wrapping around the donut out of the your hand and just shoves it in his mouth and goes,

Kenzie (Damian):

Do you uh…

Kenzie (MC):

He’s still like half asleep which is not a good way to be the driver of this car. Um, but he’s like,

Kenzie (Damian):

Uh, do you wann like – do I need to drop you off at home? I probably gotta return the car before my mom wakes up anyway.

Ashley (Farrow):

Yeah, yeah! Whatever works for you, man. Sure. Just, uh, don’t wreck. ‘Cause I would rather not start our first day in the hospital.

Kenzie (MC):

I promise, Farrow, that I will get you home safe and sound in like record timing.

Ashley (Farrow):

Excellent.

Kenzie (MC):

It’s the grossest breakfast. He’s had Fritos, he’s had Coke, he’s had this donut now. He’s kinda like intermittently chomping on gum as well. The flavor palette in this kid’s mouth has just gotta be atrocious. He pulls out of the parking lot - a couple other cars are starting to filter in for people commuting to work and grabbing some coffee and maybe some kids up early before school - and heads out of the kinda main part of the town into one of the little off skirts, small tiny neighborhoods. Not like big suburbs in anyway but just like a collection of houses that kinda consist of a certain type of architecture that have popped up around Wildmoore. He pulls up to your current residence. It’s a small one story house with barely any yard out front and barely enough yard in the back for Elias’ unkempt terror of a shitzu, Oscar, to run around in. There’s a small driveway but Damian doesn’t pull into that. He just stops on the street to let you and says,

Kenzie (Damian):

Okay if you have any notes from when I was sleeping on the job last night, write ‘em down, we’ll go over them later.

Ashley:

Farrow holds up an army green notebook that has bits of paper sticking out. Maybe like sticky notes or something and they just say,

Ashley (Farrow):

Got everything here.

Ashley:

And they give him a nod as they shut the door and head inside.

Kenzie (MC):

You twist your key in the knob, opening the front door, and get hit again with this AC blast which is honestly wonderful seeing as it had been broken for awhile and just about three days prior, had finally been fixed. The cool air hits your skin and its immediate chaos as you open the door and this fluffball of a dog does his best to make you fall flat on your face.

Ashley:

Farrow like knows this is coming so they’re able to brace themselves and they half wrestle, half pet the dog back.

Ashley (Farrow):

Hey, good boy. Yes. Yes. I know I’m your favorite person.

Kenzie (MC):

Up on its back legs just like (panting).

Ashley (Farrow):

Yes I know, yes, I know. Did you –

Ashley:

I peek at his food bowl to make sure Elias actually remembered to feed him this morning.

Kenzie (MC):

Yeah in the kitchen, uh, you can see where his food bowl usually lies are the remnants of a breakfast.

Ashley:

Excellent.

Kenzie (MC):

So, he’s just trying to trick you into giving him some more food.

Ashley:

I head back down the hall to my room. They swing open the door, close it behind them so the dog can’t follow them in. And this room, it is sparsely decorated. There’s not a lot of belongings. Like there’s a few shirts in the closet and a few things in the drawers and stuff. It looks about one suitcase worth of items. But taking up one whole side of the wall is like a ratropolis. And inside like all these twisting tubes and things, there’s a white and brown speckled rat that Farrow walks up to. They bend down on the ground, pick up the bag of food, fill the bowl and they open up the cage a little bit and the rat jumps up onto their shoulder and scurries across, back and forth very excited.

Ashley (Farrow):

Good morning, Beauregard. Hi, buddy. I know I wasn’t here last night, I’m sorry. Was doing important work, but you’re a brave boy. You can handle a night without me.

Ashley:

And they kinda give him a little love before putting him back in the cage, making sure the water is fresh. And then glancing at the clock, oh shit, they got a little distrcted so they quickly just change their T-shirt. Mange to brush their teeth, put on ddeodorant. They grab their school bag and take the green notebook that they had, shove that in there as well as a laptop and any of the other notes that they had along with pencils and normal school supplies. They zip that up and sling it over their shoulder and head downstairs and out the front door to their biek that is just sort of haphazardly tossed next to a bush.

Kenzie (MC):

The paint of the bike has kinda been chipped off in the thorns of the bush whenever you just like toss it inside of there.

Ashley:

Oh yeah. This bike also looks like it was – the frame was found in a junkyard and the tires are mismatched so they were either stolen from other bikes around town or it’s just a mismatched bike, what are you talking about? No, this is fine. This is how they are.

Kenzie (MC):

And I think that there was a moment, after you had found this bike, in which you were riding around town, just trying ot get your bearings on where everything was and you got some eyes from this kid as he looked at like the back tire of your bike and like familiarity crossed his brain. Couldn’t prove anything and watched you pedal down the street.

Ashley:

Farrow, uh, today they’re wearing some dirty jeans and a green T-shirt with a gray hoodie over it.

Kenzie (MC):

Oddly, you are reminiscent of what Damian woke up in.

Ashley:

I gained inspiration from his ensemble.

Kenzie (MC):

I mean it’s not a bad outfit. Like the reason Damian wears it is mostly because he just kinda blends in anywhere he goes so it’s uh – it might not be the most fabulous style but you know, it gets the job done. It’s your first day in a new place anyways, what’s the point in – you don’t want to stand out.

Ashley:

Exactly.

Kenzie (MC):

You hop on you bike and start riding into town. The school is actually not that far from where you woke up this morning, just a few blocks away from the Duncan house. It is about a fifteen minute bike ride, especially with the stop lights and early morning commuter traffic, which in this town, you found isn’t anything like early morning commuter traffic in the city. It is literally people driving from their house the few blocks to their job. Which is completely ridiculous coming from a city when you could just walk for ten minutes. Instead, you drive for two.

Ashley:

You’re wasting so much gas. I really don’t understand.

Kenzie (MC):

Your bike kinda hits the divots and the potholes in the asphalt. There’s not bike lanes and the sidewalks even more hazardous in some places than the road with it just being so old that tree roots have grown under the concrete and lifted it up out of the ground. You have seen a kid, even in just the few weeks you’ve been here, one too many kids take a tumble right over these raised portions of the sidewalk. So you kind of are able to weave in and out of cars. These people obviously don’t know how to deal with bikers in any way so you’re mostly given the go ahead because they’re too afraid to be aggressive against somebody on a bicycle.

You pass the pharmacy. You pass the general store. This is kinda Main Street, which is the main trek in town of businesses and shops. They of course spread everywhere but this is the most populated area. The diner’s on this street. First Street which you were on earlier in the morning is more of a residential street. It has a couple of the oldest businesses or at least the façade of it like an old law office that is no longer a law office but nobody has taken the wording off the building. Stuff like that.

Ashley:

Halfway through this trip, Farrow realizes that they left their coffee in their room. And they got about halfway through it so it’s not a total loss but they just really hope their rat doesn’t figure out a way to open his friggin’ cage again because they’ve had to deal with a caffeinated rat once before and it was a headache and a half. So, they’re mentally bracing themselves for that after school.

Kenzie (MC):

You had this realization as you turn left and start pedaling up Chapel Street which is one of the roads the school is located on. And you pull up to a large, unassuming building. It looks like every other public school in a small town. Just kinda like a rectangular, concrete nonthingness.

Ashley:

Prison?

Kenzie (MC):

Not too far off. It has Wildmoore High School in block letters attached to the front of the building. Which is actually kind of odd because no other building in town is lettered like that. It literally looks like WordArt printed out in sign form but like individual like thick letters that were screwed into the brick as if it would somehow make the school more modern when it is in fact, nothing of the sort. You swerve into the parking lot, narrowly getting hit by another car that’s pulling in. At this point, it’s probably about seven thirty. It didn’t take long for Damian to drop you off at your house and then you don’t have a long morning routine. And then getting to school early enough to maybe talk to Elias if you need to, check and see where the classrooms are. You’ve never been inside. As you did with the town, kinda scoping the place out, making sure you know exactly where everything is. There is a bike rack area off to the left of the front entrance to the school. And you can pull up and lock your bike up outside.

Ashley:

They pull their bike up and they grab their bike lock and notice that a few of the bikes aren’t locked at all. Like this is another one of those small town things where in their brain they’re just like, “Interesting!” So they expertly thread the bike through the little stand area and then grab the – one of those maps of high schools that they have that they print out at orientation days and things like that. It’s kinda crumpled and it’s got the different classrooms that they’re going to be in circled. They head in, mainly looking for Elias’ classroom but also clocking cafeteria, that’s the library, that’s so-and-so, and seeing if they see Damian there. If there’s any other people they’re trying to keep an eye out for, what their morning routine my start out as.

Kenzie (MC):

The library is actually almost central on the first floor and has windows out so you can see into the library around pretty much three of its walls. You don’t see Damian inside but you do know that he will be in your homeroom so if you don’t see him before the last bell of the morning rings, you will see him in homeroom. It looks like the room number on your little schedule sheet points that Elias’ homeroom that you start your day in is on the second floor in the history block since he’s kinda a world history teacher at the school. You don’t see yet any of the people that you would like to see. Whether that’s because they’re elsewhere in the school or they have no arrived yet, you don’t know. It would’ve been fun to come in and immediately be able to start clocking these people’s movements in a space you’re unfamiliar with but unfortunately that’s not the case here. Pretty quiet. Even with half an hour left there’s only a few people at their lockers putting books in, taking books out. And I think that this is also a whole new environment. Like at the city when you went to school it felt like there were always people about all the time. No matter what.

Ashley:

Everyone always had somewhere to be constantly.

Kenzie (MC):

And this feels like maybe people here don’t show up until the bell rings which is almost infuriating because then you’re late. The last bell before you were tardy was almost like fifteen minutes before the actual school day officially started because they wanted to make sure that the kids were in their seats and ready to learn. And here it seems almost as if it’s too lenient. Something is awry. Or maybe, it’s just how it works.

Ashley:

So, Farrow, they’re going to go find their locker first. Is it one of those where it’s like the code, little knob is in the locker or is one where you have a separate lock you put in to open and close them.

Kenzie (MC):

The code is attached to the locker.

Ashley:

This is gonna be easy to get into. Just their mental sort of pathways I like, “I can’t put anything important in here now. I just have to keep things on me at all times, that’s fine.” They have the little code that was written down for them that was given in their orientation packet and they open up their locker.

Kenzie (MC):

It’s not even like a full length. It’s like the half-sized locker so somebody is, at some point, you’re going to get hit with somebody else coming in and being like, “You’re standing. My locker’s at the bottom.” At least yours is the top one.

Ashley:

We have to do that awkward like you’re standing to the side thing with your legs but your torso - you’re still trying to get to yours when they’re under you. It’s a whole thing. So they just take out all the books that will be needed for the second half of the day but they keep their notebook and their laptop and the history and homeroom, like anything that would be needed for the first few classes, shut their locker and do another quick sweep of the common area before checking in and peeking their head into the homeroom to see if anyone’s in their yet.

Kenzie (MC):

There’s a couple students in your homeroom. You see somebody sitting at the second desk in the front row from the door. There’s a notebook out, a textbook and a pencil case. And the pencils are like lined up in an order and it looks like this person is color-coding some stuff in a notebook or preparing the notebook for the class. It is a young girl who is sitting, legs crossed under the desk, a plaid skirt on. Weirdly like a skimpy private school outfit that it looks like she wears because she feels like that is what the fashion for education is. So, she has like a white blouse on that’s a little bit too tight over her boobs, tucked into this skirt. Like white socks, not heels but there’s a little bit of a heel on these tan shoes that she has one. Her hair is lke pulled back into a pretty sever ponytail and she is kinda all occupied at her desk, whatever work she is doing at her desk. You also see, actually two seats behind her in that row of desks is a kid who looks like he would rather be anywhere else. Kinda has his head in his hands, you don’t know if he’s sleeping or just trying not to have anybody talk to him. But he’s kinda in his own world like elbows on desk, hands on his forehead. But those are the only two people in the classroom so far and you don’t see Elias in there.

Ashley:

Turn back around to see if I can at least locate the teacher’s lounge.

Kenzie (MC):

It’s easy enough. So how the history block is set up it’s like a straight shot almost. On the upper floor on the west side of the school is the history block and at the end of the hallway is the teacher’s lounge. On a dark brown plaque with gold lettering on the door it says Teacher’s Lounge and there’s a little window next to the door but there is like blinds covering it so you can’t see in and see if there are any teacher’s inside. And the door is not closed all the way, it’s open a little bit.

Ashley:

It's like the first day and they have a lot of energy from their third wind of being up all night and also half a cup of coffee and the anxiety of the first day of school and also the anxiety of everything else that’s going on. And so they’re trying to find – they feel like they rushed here too quickly and now they have a half hour to kill and they have all this nervous energy and they want to be doing something. But they’ve like – there’s nothing in this tiny ass town. Oh my god, people don’t do anything here. The coffee really is crap.

Kenzie (MC):

As you peek through this little window of the teacher’s lounge, I think you can smell and actually hear the sound of a coffee machine inside. You hear a couple voices, I think you hear Elias’ laugh so you know he’s in there. But you don’t know what the rules are –

Ashley:

But you said there’s coffee? Farrow is going to slowly open the door – are there any teacher’s within eyeline?

Kenzie (MC):

Not from where you were looking into the – but you heard voices.

Ashley:

Are the voices coming from the same direction as the coffee noises?

Kenzie (MC):

You get the sense that this is not a large room so like walking in, you could be seen.

Ashley:

Coffee though. They are a little sleep deprived so I think they’ll sorta peek in and see if they can see how many teachers are in there.

Kenzie (MC):

Yeah, you kinda push the door open and you see that there is a couple couches right behind the door. There is a small round wooden table with a few chairs and then like a small kitchen area in the back corner where there’s a coffee pot, it looks like a microwave, and a little fridge. And you see Elias standing there, two female teachers and they seem to be standing in that kitchen area talking.

Ashley:

Are the female teachers’ backs to me?

Kenzie (MC):

They are.

Ashley:

Walk up to the coffee as quietly – they’re a pretty quiet person – they’re gonna just try to like sneak coffee and run out.

Kenzie (MC):

You open the door. You make eyes with Elias. You have to creep to this kitchen area that they’re in to get the coffee. He’s just like kinda talking and then watching you walk by.

Ashley:

I shake my hand and shake my head as well in the cut it out almost sort of thing but it’s just to communicate to him, “Don’t pay attention to me. Do what you’re doing. We’re fine. Don’t make a big deal about it” kinda deal.

Kenzie (MC):

You do get into sight of one of the female teachers eventually. She’s like,

Kenzie (Teacher):

Um, excuse me. This is the teacher’s lounge. Students aren’t supposed to be in here.

Ashley (Farrow):

Oh, oh, yeah. My bad, sorry. I was just, uh, I had a question for my uncle. Sorry to bother you guys though. I’m new here – I didn’t – at my old school there’s different things, culture –

Ashley:

And as I’m saying this, I’m still just pouring the coffee, looking her dead in the eye.

Kenzie (MC):

Elias walks a couple steps over to you and awkwardly puts his arm like around your shoulder and pulls you in and goes,

Kenzie (Elias):

I’m sorry about that. This is my niece. She’s – or they’re new here. Sorry what am I supposed to call you, not niece.

Ashley (Farrow):

You can call me Farrow.

Kenzie (Elias):

This is Farrow. They’re new here. Just wanted to come say hi. I’m gonna show ‘em around a little bit.

Ashley (Farrow):

Okay thanks, bye!

Kenzie (MC):

You also know Elias knows exactly what to call you. That this is a charade put on to kinda of nail harder into everybody’s mind, the story that you are newly arrived and that while he’s your uncle, you guys didn’t really have a relationship before you coming into town. It’s all a little unplanned façade on top of the façade.

Ashley:

I think Farrow kinda goes to give him a fistbump like, “Hey that was really good,” as we were exiting. “Like you’re doing pretty good, man. You’re doing great.”

Kenzie (MC):

And there’s just kind this look of,

Kenzie (Elias):

You don’t have to tell me I’m doing well. This is my job.”

Ashley (Farrow):

Can part of your job be to make sure we have coffee? Can you get a coffee machine at your desk or something? ‘Cause I will be going in here every morning if need be.

Kenzie (Elias):

You will not be doing that because that will bring attention to you and you will get in trouble and then you will be in detention and we can’t have you in detention all the time. Make coffee at home before you leave.

Ashley (Farrow):

Your coffee machine smells like mold. How many times do I have to tell you just get a Keurig. It’s fine. You’re not going to die if you get a Keurig, it’ll be okay. Just get the little pod in there, it’s just a button. You don’t have to do the whole like paper thing with the actual ground beans. You don’t have to mess with that.

Kenzie (Elias):

And how many times have I told you that those little pod things are destroying the environment.

Ashley (Farrow):

Oh my gosh! Okay, fine, we’re not going to get into the politics of like individual consumption versus companies destroying the planet. I get it, it’s bad to use straws, but I’m not the one who’s dumping oil into the ocean. Um, I’m going to go to the classroom now.

Kenzie (Elias):

I’m walking that way too, we’ll just go together.

Ashley (Farrow):

No, that makes it look weird. I don’t think my character, you know, would want to be seen with their uncle. Like especially on the first day that seems a little nerdy.

Kenzie (Elias):

Then you go this way and I will go to the classroom where I need to go to do my job and you will be there before eight am. Before!

Ashley (Farrow):

I’m punctual if nothing else.

Kenzie (Elias):

Okay.

Ashley (Farrow):

Okay.

Kenzie (MC):

And you have this – it’s not even like a cup – it’s some teacher’s mug that they keep at the school to get coffee. I think it is like a blue and it has yellow lettering that says, “Number 1 Dad.” You wanted to figure out where people congregated before class. There is an outdoor courtyard on the – you can see if from the top floor but the entrance is on the first floor. And you can see people like using this space like it’s not a part of school property. People are throwing footballs in a space that is not – somebody’s going to miss and it’s going to go through the glass and it’s going to be a mess in the hallway type of situation. There are some people laying down as if the sun was coming in – which it’s not – with their shirts rolled up like they’re sun bathing. It feels like these kids are trying to make their high school experience something it’s never going to be and there’s some sort of props you have to give them for the attempt.

Ashley:

I just kinda take in this scene. Like, “Am I in some sort of weird Hallmark movie? No, this is how some places actually are, Farrow. It’s going to be okay. You’ll get through this.” And I scan the courtyard to see if I can locate any of my quote, unquote targets.

Kenzie (MC):

You don’t see your specific targets but you do see Adam Moore, captain of the Wildmoore High hockey team, sitting on one of the benches in the courtyard surrounded by a couple friends, talking animatedly. They all seem to be listening to him.

Ashley:

I’m going to take out my notebook and write down the time that I see Adam and the descriptions, just short descriptions of the people that are around him so I can figure out who they are later.

Kenzie (MC):

I actually think that you might know one of them already.

Ashley:

Ohhh.

Kenzie (MC):

He’s sitting on the bench. Next to him is this girl who looks to be wearing a cheerleading uniform, but why because it’s seven thirty in the morning and no one is going to be cheerleading yet and it’s completely unnecessary and it’s very annoying. And it looks to be a girl that has tried to be kind to you and offer you help in town even though you’ve taken it a little more from Damian. But you see Natalie, which is a little odd from what you know about Natalie because Natalie is friends with Ivy. Why is Natalie hanging out with Adam?

Ashley:

Can I see if Natalie’s trying to be flirty with Adam or anyone else in that group?

Kenzie (MC):

She doesn’t seem to be flirting with Adam but there’s a familiarity there of people who know each other more than you know anybody here. There seems to be not any difference with her interactions with him and her interactions with the two other people that they’re standing with.

Ashley:

I think Farrow’s just going to take a few minutes to continue to watch the courtyard – see who comes in and out – as they finish off this coffee. And then they’re going to head towards their homeroom and they’re going to drop the coffee mug off on the first teacher’s desk that doesn’t have anyone in the room.

Kenzie (MC):

As you’re heading back towards the homeroom, you finally spot one of your marks, coming down hallways towards you, you can see Ivy but she’s not alone. There is a kid in front of her like walking backwards, looks to have a camera in her face. She’s kinda laughing kinda annoyed but as she nears the same homeroom that you’re going to, the guy with the camera kinda drops off and spins around and heads into a different direction as she enters the room.

Ashley:

At this point, Farrow’s going to head into the homeroom and see which seats are left. I feel like a few kids would be like, “Morning, Mr. Mashburn!” as they come in. Farrow just kinda gives him an awkward little wave as they sit down next to the very preppy girl that they saw earlier. And they start getting their notebooks out and everything and they look around to see who else has shown up.

Kenzie (MC):

There’s like a pretty decent amount of kids in the class now. The only seats empty upon you coming in were yours, the one in the back of the room, right in front of Ivy. Everybody seems to currently be there except for just a few stragglers.

Ashley:

I think that Farrow sees they’re in the same row as one of the people they’re keeping an eye on. You know how when you’re a teenager and you suddenly have really big feelings that you can’t put your finger on but all of a sudden you feel like there’s everything, all at once. I don’t think they even make eye contact with Sawyer, I think they just see him and they kinda get hit with that and take like a deep breath and then settle into their seat and look across and see Caleb doing his thing. This is the first moment that it settles in that this is going to be like the longest con they’ve pulled and this is actually happening – like what they want is – they’re going to make it happen but now it’s actually possible. So they have a lot of mixed emotions going through them as they’re getting their notebook out and sharpening their pencil and doing like school morning things. They’re just very calm looking, just kinda poker facing it.

Kenzie (MC):

Don’t think that this is the first tiem you’ve seen Sawyer since coming here, but it is the closest in proximity you’ve been to him.

Ashley:

And I think the idea of, I’m going to be here every day with him, is a big part of it.

Kenzie (MC):

And you see that the luck of the draw has made it a possibility that Damian is sitting right next to him. I don’t know if you feel like you would want to be that close to him but the fact that you have somebody there to keep a literal direct eye kinda makes you feel better. As you’re getting your stuff together, Elias also is being a lot more scrutinizing of the class and I don’t think anybody else notices but just because you know who he is, what he’s doing, kinda see him taking stock of Caleb and Ivy and Sawyer and you even. Finally, the last couple people kinda rush into class, the bell rings. It sounds like not what you’re used to which is like a digital sound coming through a PA system. It sounds like there is a little metal bell hanging on the wall outside with the arm dinging it.

Ashley:

There is an actual goddamn bell? Like a real bell? Oh my god. I think that almost breaks Farrow.

Kenzie (MC):

And Elias kinda claps his hand to get everybody’s attention and says,

Kenzie (Elias):

Well, good morning everybody and welcome back to another glorious year at Wildmoore High. Go wyverns!

Kenzie:

We hope you enjoyed the episode! If you want to support our show, you can become a patron at patreon.com/queerpg. Becoming a patron allows you access to our exclusive after show, where the cast atalks about acharacter insights and their own reactions to the episode, as well as a plethora of other perks. If you like the show, remember to rate and review. And to keep up with queeRPG, make sure you’re following us on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok @queerpgpod and on Tumblr at tumblr.com/queerpg. Until next time!