To him, rhythm is the pattern of music. To her, rhythm is movement on a page.
JATP season 1
[reggie x female oc]
[alex x male oc]
Disclaimer: I do not own Julie and the Phantoms and the associated characters. I own all original characters and orig...
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"It's a free country, right?"
It's times like this that Jess really misses her friends. It feels like forever since she's seen anyone she knows other than those at the Hollywood Ghost Club. Even just thinking about her new place of employment sends a shiver down her spine as she kicks her feet on the swing she currently resides on.
To escape the club, Jess often finds herself at the park. It isn't much—just some swings, a set of monkey bars, and a few slides. She used to escape out here almost every day when she was younger. It's just a few blocks away from her—now Justin's—house, and she doesn't dare go closer. The park is already a huge risk, but actually going back home... It would risk everything she kept safe when she shook the devil's hand.
Stars twinkle in the dark sky with the Hollywood skyline behind her. Jess does her best to draw it accurately, but everything just seems off. The shading's all wrong and the lines aren't straight; the rhythm of the whole piece is like a broken violin, but she keeps trying to fix it.
Her wrist aches with each curve of the pencil while her bones crack as she adjusts on the small swing. Despite all her progress to control her phantom pains in the past year, since joining Caleb's club, she hasn't been able to keep it at bay. The pain comes and goes like the ocean, and it just gets more difficult to ignore it.
With a sigh, Jess shakes her head and looks out over the skyline. Somewhere, out there, she hopes her friends are living their undead lives. They were going places when they were alive, and death shouldn't stop them. Nothing should, not even Jess. She wonders if Julie still has the butterfly clips Jess adores or if Justin finally picked a dance for the showcase coming up in a few weeks. Her mind briefly wanders to the ghosts, but she pulls herself back to her drawing.
She hears someone else enter the park, the creek gate echoing in the sunset air, but she does not move. What's the point if they don't know she exists? Unless, of course, they do.
The soft crunch under the footsteps stops a few feet away. "Oh," a small voice makes Jess frown. "I didn't think anyone else would be here."
Jess blinks once before looking up to find a girl around her age in overalls and glasses. The large lenses sit on her perfectly round cheeks as she shifts her weight, nervously looking at the ghost.
"Wait, you can see me?" Jess asks, her voice an octave higher than normal.
The girl lets out a small laugh. "Yeah. Why wouldn't I?"
The girl can see her. The girl can see Jess. Someone else can see her.
