(no subject)

[not_crazy]

Up close? The lighthouse does have that...'I am the heart of Haven' kind of vibe. Also a 'I am potentially haunted' vibe, but Jessica ignores that because she's a little freaked out already.

Okay, a lot freaked out, but everyone else is out there, Duke included, doing what they need to do. She? Needs to do the same. So she takes a deep breath as they approach, trailing just behind Vince and Dave, who haven't stopped bickering since they realized Vince's tattoo is apparently somehow a compass. Because no, really, things weren't weird enough yet.

(She knew she had to stop tempting this town with thoughts like that. One day.)

There's a long walkway toward the totally not haunted (maybe) lighthouse, and Vince peers down at his tattoo-and-also-arm compass to make sure it's still pointing at it. Sure enough, the mark is pointing forward.

"This is the heart of Haven," Vince says, matter-of-factly, and it's not like Jennifer can deny what's literally right in front of them right now. Without another word, she steels herself and starts walking forward, her steps purposeful. From over her right shoulder, she can hear Vince add, "There's been some kind of lighthouse here for as long as anyone can remember."

She supposes they all know why now.

The brothers are uncharacteristically silent after. She can feel tension, and assumes that it probably is there because of what they're approaching. Tension or not, the moment they reach it, Vince opens the door. There's a moment she half expects something to come out, but nothing happens. No, instead she walks over to look inside and it looks a whole lot like a really old lighthouse with a trap door in it.

A trap door that she quickly realizes is being overlooked.

"No stairs, no ladder. How do we get up?" Vince asks, very much not looking down and instead staring up.

"Looks like we're out of luck, then," Dave says, sounding awfully relieved. This is a fact she files away to worry about later, because obviously they are somehow missing the trap door on the floor.

"...I think we should go down," Jennifer states, pointing at it for good measure. Vince and Dave completely ignore her.

"We're not out of luck, Dave. You can hoist me up to that ledge there," Vince says, and that would be a very sensible option if not for the fact there was a trap door.

"You know how hinky my back is," Dave responds, and that's about the point Jennifer realizes she's going to need to raise her voice.

"Guys! Seriously. Why don't we go down the trap door?" she asks, and apparently she's loud enough this time because their attention turns from each other, to her, and then to the ground she's pointing at.

"...What door?" Vince asks, sounding confused.

It's the most obvious trap door she thinks she's ever seen.

"You don't see the...trap door," she says, carefully. There was a time where seeing a trap door no one else sees would freak her out. Now, she's just a little puzzled. Dave peers in more himself, like he's looking for a tiny trap door instead of the huge one right in front of them.

"No?" Dave replies, sounding as confused as his brother.

Invisible trap door only she can see? Well, at least this place made it easy to figure out the next part of what they need to do. Apparently her Trouble really, specifically likes letting her see doors no one else can see. She supposes things could be worse. (like baby's cries can kill people worse).

"Definitely have to go down that," she says, stepping between them and inside. She kneels down and takes hold of it, pulling it up. By the time she looks back, the brothers are staring at it in astonishment. She guesses it's not invisible anymore.

"I think going down there is a really bad idea," Dave says, sounding as nervous as he did when she found the door. Vince ignores the warning.

"Come on, Dave!" he says stepping in now that their next destination is found. She sees him hesitate and while she feels bad for him, Vince doesn't have much sympathy. "Come on!"

It's a warning she ends up wishing she heeded. Everything's as normal as finding an invisible trap door can be at first. Vince takes the short ladder down into whatever room is underneath the lighthouse. Nothing weird comes after him once he's at the bottom, so after seeing Dave hestiate, she decides to go next. The ladder is old but sturdy, and she focuses on getting down safely. It's when her feet touch the ground that things suddenly change.

She notices it immediately, honestly. One minute she's stepping off an old ladder, the next she looks up at it and it looks like a regular, shiny, new ladder that she might see at any hardware store. When she turns to look at Vince, he isn't there, and okay, she didn't really get any kind of look at the room they were going into, but she's pretty sure it's not supposed to look like some kind of random person's basement.

She's staring at her surroundings in confusion when things get even worse. The sound of a door opening startles her, as does the sudden light that floods the room. She finds herself staring at someone who is staring at her with the same kind of shock she has on her face, and then there's a lot of screaming from both ends and warnings to not move and well.

That's how she ends up getting arrested. Not by Haven PD, mind you, because that would be too easy. No, the man who comes to take her away for trespassing and attempted burglary (because apparently when you're found in a stranger's basement, they immediately assume you are there to steal things) is from a place named Darrow which is neither Haven, Boston, or anywhere she's ever been in her life. She's carted away even as she babbles an explanation that, in retrospect, probably put her 'favorite' label of 'mentally unstable' on the list of reasons why she needs to be taken away.

She probably should be happy she ends up being booked and thrown into a jail cell instead of some kind of hospital. Except a jail cell actually really isn't much better, and the only saving grace of all of this is no one else is in the cell with her. She sits on the cold seat, her arms wrapping around her body (because on top of being somewhere she didn't know, she was also in a place that had snow on the ground and was a lot colder than her clothes allowed for) as she tries to not freak out.

She's really, really freaking out. The voices that weren't actually all in her head had been bad enough, once upon a time. This? This was so much worse.

"Excuse me?" she calls out eventually, standing against the cell's bars in a vain attempt to get someone's attention. "Don't I get a phone call? Hello?"

When no one answers, she slowly steps back and sits again, still hugging her arms to body because she doesn't even have her book anymore to hold like a weird, badly written magic shield - they took it away when they were checking her for weapons.

Jennifer takes another deep breath, trying to steady herself. Figure out what's going on. Do something that isn't sitting here. As much as she wracks her brain, nothing comes up. She doesn't know what to do.

It scares her in a way she hasn't been scared in a long time. A monster coming after her that only is defeated by her weird, magic paperback? Yeah, that's scary, sure. But potentially losing her mind, which she kind of feels like is what is happening here at this point? That's a whole other beast.

Comments

[boo_fuckin_yah]

"Hey, I'm gonna need you to stay focused here if you wanna get out of this cell," he says and he feels like a real shit, being hard on someone who's only just arrived, but he doesn't know what else to do. He needs her here, he needs her to concentrate on getting out. They can worry about the rest of it later.

"You don't have to die to come here," he says, because maybe that'll make it easier for her to concentrate. "Some people just turn a corner and find themselves here. You're okay, though. My name is Russell, I'm a deputy here and we're gonna get you out. Then we'll figure out the rest, okay?"

[not_crazy]

The command stills her movement. She takes a deep breath, knowing he's right, and she tries to focus on that. Everything looks a little better when she's not looking at it behind bars, right? Turning to him and stepping closer to the cell bars again, she looks at him with wide, scared eyes.

She can't really help that part of it, even if she is glad to hear that death isn't a requirement for this to be going on.

"I'm Jennifer. Jennifer Mason," she replies. Putting her complete trust in him was about all she can do now. She wishes he was at least Nathan, but being picky isn't an option, apparently. "Can't - can't you convince them this was a misunderstanding? Because when I tried, they looked at me like I was crazy. I'll do whatever you tell me to do."

[boo_fuckin_yah]

"Okay, Jennifer," he says. "Wish I could've met you under better circumstances and if I seem like a bit of a dick, I apologize for that, but I think I'm gonna be able to get you out of this cell if I talk to the woman whose basement you ended up in." There's a weird line between those who show up here and those who think they've always been here, but being a cop means Russell's been able to cross that line at least a little bit. They trust him. The uniform helps.

"I think I can probably convince her not to press any charges, which means I can get you out, hopefully as soon as possible," he says. If he angles this correctly, he thinks he can get the other cops to hand over the file without any questions. "Far as I can tell, you didn't actually do any damage to the property, didn't have anything on you when you were arrested, didn't resist the officers, didn't hurt anyone. I figure it won't be much of a problem. You sit tight, you give me ten minutes and I'll see what I can do, alright?"

Without waiting for an answer, he heads back down the hall. It takes him a little longer than ten minutes to get the file and contact the victim, longer still to convince her not to press charges, but he's back at Jennifer's cell thirty minutes later, another officer with him, carrying the belonging they'd taken from her during booking. "You're free to go," Russell says as the other officer unlocks the cell door. "I'll drive you home." He knows there's no home for her to go to yet, but he doesn't want the other officer to pay them any more mind than necessary.

[not_crazy]

Jennifer opens her mouth to speak, but before she says anything, he's gone. For a moment, she lingers near the bars but eventually returns to the seat she'd been on before. She leans against the cold concrete of the cell, trying to slow her thoughts, slow her breathing. Duke had taught her meditation, but it's a little hard to use what she knows right now.

Especially since even thinking about doing it makes her think of Duke, period. What Russell told her about this place has her stomach in knots. What is Vince and Dave going to tell him? Was she really never going to see him again because whatever happened, happened?

She's almost grateful when the sound of the jail door opening snaps her out of that (depressing) line of thoughts. She stands, letting the blanket fall to the seat she'd been sitting on. She looks between the two, remembering what Russell has asked her to do.

No talking about how she doesn't know what home he means. No talking about Haven or showing up in this crazy place. In the end, she decides to barely speak at all in the presence of someone who she recognizes as one of the people who brought her here in the first place.

"Thank you," she says, quietly, taking back what's rightfully hers, including Unstake My Heart, which she's the most anxious about getting back. The book looks ridiculous, she knows, to anyone that isn't her. She doesn't care right now, as she hugs it to her chest as she exits the cell and follows after Russell.

It's the last piece of Haven she has right now, after all.

[boo_fuckin_yah]

Russell doesn't say much of anything until they get out to his car and when he unlocks the front door of his cruiser, he pauses before opening it for Jennifer to get inside. "Sorry about that," he says, because he knows this is all hard enough without having to deal with stone-faced cops and he doesn't like being that kind of police officer in a situation like this, even here he hasn't had much of a choice. He just really doesn't want any of the other officers to get suspicious or start to ask questions until he can get her away from the station. Once she's out of there, they'll probably forget about her, about the whole situation, and that's what he's hoping for here.

"I'm gonna take you to the train station," he says, opening the door so she can get into the passenger seat. "We'll get your package and hopefully I can explain it all a little better."

Even with the envelope, he knows it won't all make sense. He knows it's gonna take time until she's settled, but he wants to do what he can to help. He knows that this is never easy, but he doesn't think anyone else has been arrested upon their arrival in Darrow. That has to make everything even more difficult.

[not_crazy]

Jennifer shakes her head at the apology, knowing she's really not in a place to even think about making him feel bad. They both just did what they had to do. She appreciates that.

"I mean it, thank you," she says, offering him a weak smile as she slips into the police car. She still isn't sure if she's supposed to say anything - these cars have cameras, don't they? She doesn't know. She's just assuming. But then he gets in and starts talking himself, so she relaxes.

Somewhat.

"How does a package even exist for me here?" she asks, confused. Because last time she checked, she didn't go over to anywhere to ask for one to be made for her. "You said it had something like an ID in it - I never took at pictures for that. I'd think I'd remember that."

[boo_fuckin_yah]

"You would think so, wouldn't you?" he asks, starting the car and pulling out of the station lot, turning them in the direction of the train station. "But it'll be there and you'll be wearing the clothes you're in right now, as if someone took a picture of you today. No one really knows how it works and I'm sure there's a bunch of people tryin' to figure it out, but I'm just gonna leave it to them. All I do know is that for everyone who shows up, there's a package here for them with everything they'd need to get... well, to get along here in Darrow, anyway."

He sort of hates this part, but he can't avoid it. There's no reason to let her get her hopes up when it comes to going home.

"No one can leave either," he says. "It's like there's somethin' that keeps us all here. We can't leave the city and we can't get home. I'm sorry to be the one who has to tell you this, but it's how things work here."

[not_crazy]

"That's -" she begins, then falters, because actually, she doesn't know what that is. That's crazy, is a good one. She also sort of wants to ask him if he's really never been to Haven, because is he sure this isn't some kind of Trouble gone out of control? Duke has never told her of that nice woman or man who could send them to a giant city prison, but right now, it's about all she can think of as an explanation.

If the Troubles can make a screaming baby become a weapon and all the other crazy things she's seen since she got caught up in what's happening, why not this? But he really didn't seem like he ever heard of Haven when she brought it up before, so -

None of this is good.

"How long have you been here?" she asks instead, her free hand digging her nails into her pants' leg. Now that she isn't in jail and seeing the completely unfamiliar city towering around them again, it's hard not to feel her chest tighten.

She can't stay here. There's so many reasons why she can't stay here, and not a single one she can say outloud. Except maybe something about how she really can't be here when she knows her boyfriend would freak out and tear the town apart trying to find her, maybe, but just thinking about Duke - well.

[boo_fuckin_yah]

He's not sure she's going to like his answer very much and he drives in silence for a moment, navigating the traffic to get to the train station. "It'll be two years in April," he tells her finally. "A lot of us arrived here together on the train on the very first day and the city was completely deserted at that point. There was nothin' here, no people, all the stores were locked up and clearly had been for a long time. I found some keys in the station, but I was the only one who used that place for a long time."

It's weird to think back to those first several months when it had just been him and Delta and a couple of guns. He's lucky nothing went too wrong in that time.

"After about three months the other people showed up," he says, signalling to turn into the lot of the station. "They don't remember it that way. They think they've always been here. Some of 'em... well, I keep callin' them them and that's how they feel about us. We're outsiders, so it's good to be careful when you start talkin' about bein' from someplace else." He turns off the car and looks over at Jennifer. "I know this is all shit. It's scary as hell and doesn't make a lot of sense, but this is how it is."

[not_crazy]

Two years. The reply almost echoes in her head. She didn't have two years. She was pretty sure she didn't have a day, with what had been happening back home. Her stomach twists in knots as she holds back the urge to freak out.

It's very, very tempting to do otherwise.

"What happens when you try to leave? Is there - I don't know, is there some kind of barrier stopping you? You'd think that'd be weird to anyone, even people that came from here. I mean, not being able to leave town would be a big red flag for me."

Is a big, red flag to her, actually.

[boo_fuckin_yah]

"Some people talk about there bein' a barrier," Russell says as he gets out of the car. As long as they keep their voices down and don't attract too much attention, talking about it in public isn't such a big deal and he really does want to help her get as settled as she can. "I tried to drive out a couple times and it was like... as soon as I got far enough away, all of the sudden I was just driving right back in. Like I'd just been taking to the other side of the city all without turnin' around or changin' direction."

He knows how that sounds, too, but that's how it's happened for him. He doesn't try to leave anymore, mostly because he knows there isn't anything for him out there. Darrow's all he's got. Odgen Marsh is gone and the Russell Clank who lived there is dead.

[not_crazy]

"That - sounds like we're stuck all right," she admits, resisting the urge to rub her temples. Her headache's somehow getting worse, she didn't know that was possible.

So. Something as insane as the Troubles, but not the Troubles, since this is clearly not Haven. Distantly, she wonders if maybe she should try to find that edge that sends them back and see if her book reacts to it at all. Still grasping at straws, she knows, but a desperate feeling is already welling up in her.

She can't be here when she needs to be home.

"You haven't - you haven't heard of someone named Duke Crocker, have you?" she asks, not sure if she wants to hear he's here or not. She knows he's as needed in Haven as she is, and if he's here, things are looking worse and worse for over there.

[boo_fuckin_yah]

"Not a name I know, sorry," Russell says, shaking his head as he leads her toward the train station. "But I don't know everyone in Darrow. Any idea what he might be doin' if he was here?" If he has a better idea of who this Duke is, who he might be, he can think a little harder, see if there's anyone who might fit her description. He feels pretty bad for her. As far as arrivals go, hers definitely has to be one of the hardest he's ever seen.

"Your envelope will be at the information booth," he tells her, pointing to where it is. He'll come with her, of course, but he's never tried to pick up someone's envelope for them and he's not sure if such a thing would be allowed. Darrow's got weird rules sometimes and he can't remember them all.