𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐖𝐀𝐗 // house of wax (2005)

001: the beginning

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CHAPTER ONE OF ?? 

❝ THE BEGINNING ❞

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THIRD-PERSON POV. THE JANUARY OF 2005. LOUISIANA, AMERICA.

(NAME) ANDERSON OFTEN REFLECTED ON THE EVENTS THAT LED HER LIFE TO DRASTICALLY CHANGE IN A MATTER OF HOURS. She recalled that it all began when her childhood friends, Carly Jones and Paige Edwards essentially begged her to come with them and some other friends to a college football game in New Orleans one day in mid-January of 2005. She was 19 years old, going on 20 in October, and she regretted ever accepting the invitation. 

They'd stopped in the middle of "butt fuck nowhere", as Nick Jones described it, in rural Louisiana, at a service stop just off the interstate. Blake was messing around with the GPS in his truck, whilst Nick and Dalton grabbed snacks from the gas station. Wade was answering nature's call in the bathroom whilst Paige and Carly sat at an outside table by a diner, having some dinner.

(Name) Anderson sat with them, happily eating chicken nuggets and fries, compared to her friends who got burgers instead. (Name) wore a grey and dark purple hoodie, with a grey t-shirt underneath, baggy-style blue jeans, white trainers and hooped earrings. She had her Bazan headphones plugged into her iPod Nano, listening to Rich Girl by Gwen Stefani, a song that came out last month.

Paige dipped one of her fries into some of her ketchup, as her eyes scanned the newspaper in front of her, specifically a section about apartments up for rent. Carly had recently been accepted as an intern at a magazine, for which (Name) and Paige were very proud of her. "There's a place in Tribeca for $3,000," Paige said to Carly, as (Name) ate her chicken nuggets with her favourite sauce.

Carly deadpanned. "That's still too expensive," Carly said, "All the money I saved up won't even cover two months' rent. I'm gonna have to work every second I'm not in class until graduation-". Paige was quick to cut the strawberry blonde off, with a polite smile.

"Carly, don't even think about not going," Paige chastised. Paige Edwards was a beautiful girl with long blonde hair and blue eyes. (Name) had a crush on her when they were teenagers but grew out of it and silently respected her when Paige started dating Blake.

Carly closed her eyes and sighed. "I'm not," Carly reassured, as (Name) quietly ate another chicken nugget, both girls turned to look at her when they heard the crunch from the chicken nugget, as (Name) looked back at them, pausing her song and resting her headphones on the back of her neck.

(Name) wanted to crawl into a hole and die from the awkward silence. Paige gave (Name) a look. "Yeah, we're super proud of you," (Name) awkwardly says, "Uh...an internship at Instyle Magazine. It's...sorry I've run out of social queues and I'm crap at multitasking so I'm gonna eat my chicken nuggets,". They all laughed at (Name)'s comment as Carly drank her Diet Coke, biting the plastic straw.

"Or would you rather stay at the Waffle House as a waitress forever?" Paige asks, as (Name) turned to eye the tall figure of Carly's boyfriend, Wade Felton, passing by a gothic-looking homeless guy who (Name) thought looked pretty interesting.

Wade sat down at the table with the trio of girls, who shared a brief laugh. "Hey babe," Wade greeted, sitting down next to Carly, whilst Paige and (Name) sat with each other. Carly greeted Wade back with a "hi". "Sorry there were these two drunk rednecks wrestling in the bathroom,". 

(Name) raised an eyebrow, slowly sipping her drink. "There's no rednecks in New York," Paige said, as (Name) scoffed, having another chicken nugget. Wade's smile dropped and the silence between the quartet returned. "No, there's not," Wade blankly said in response, coughing.

Paige stood up, "I'm gonna go see what Blake's doing," Paige said, getting up and approaching Blake's blue SUV, "He seems to like that car more than me nowadays,". This left (Name) awkwardly staring at Carly and Wade, who stared back. (Name) grabbed her box of chicken nuggets and fries, and her drink. She stuffed her iPod in the pocket of her hoodie.

(Name) quickly stood up. "I'm gonna go talk to the homeless guy," (Name) says, as Carly deadpanned and Wade scoffed, "Don't judge me. I'm having impulsive thoughts again,". She adjusted the strap of her backpack over her shoulder and began to approach the homeless gothic guy.

"Don't talk to the homeless guy, (Name)!" Carly called, "Did you take your ADHD meds today?" (Name) didn't respond, avoiding Carly's gaze and quickly walking over to the homeless guy outside the gas station. "I'm guessing that's most likely a no,".

(Name) perched next to the homeless guy, looking intently at him and giving him $5. "Don't spend it on crack," (Name) dryly said, "Spend it on something cooler like a colouring book, or candy. Or add to a fund, like a go-cart fund or Lego. Lego's cool,".

After talking to the homeless guy, (Name) eyed her ex-boyfriend, Nick Jones, followed by Dalton Chapman, who always had his camcorder that she'd gotten him for his fourteenth birthday filming, as they walked out of the gas station, with Nick drinking a beer. (Name) was only awkward terms with Nick, and it was crystal clear that he still liked (Name). Dalton had shamelessly crushed on (Name) since middle school. She had a fan club, as Carly called it.

Nick kicked the homeless man's change cup over, knocking the coins and dollars to the floor. "Get a job," Nick sneered, as (Name) helped the homeless man gather his money, before walking back over to the group. Nick and Dalton laughed at their actions, as (Name) sat at the table opposite Carly and Wade.

Nick and Dalton sat on the same side of the table as (Name). Nick persistently stared at (Name), who rolled her eyes, deep in thought. "If I fed duck meat to a duck would it be duck cannibalism?" (Name) thought to herself, "If the plural of goose is geese then why isn't the plural of moose meese? Do cats have elbows? Was Jesus the first victim of controversy? What if aliens are real and they just don't want to talk to us?".

(Name) snapped back to reality when she saw Dalton's camera facing her direction. "Dalton, if you dont stop filming me I will shove that camera up your ass," (Name) casually spoke, looking at her nails and picking the cheap nail polish off, "And you'll be making in-body documentaries for the rest of your life,".

"I'm not!" Dalton said, terribly lying, as (Name) eyed the little red light, indicating the camera was on. She rolled her eyes, "And don't shove the camera up my ass,". Nick lowered the camera slowly with a single hand, as Dalton turned the camera off. "You're a crap liar," (Name) scoffed. 

"Come on, put the camera down," Nick said, eyeing (Name) with a half-resentful look but one that slightly intrigued her, "You know she doesn't like having people up in her face. She feels under pressure,". Ever since their break up last year, (Name) could just tell that he wanted to confront her. 

"Nick, whatever it is you're dying to say just spit it out!" (Name) said, eating her final chicken nugget, "Bloody hell...". She shuffled through her iPod Nano and one of her playlists and selected the song Waterfalls by TLC, turning the volume down so she could hear whatever her former boyfriend wanted to say.

"No," Nick shrugged, using a tone of voice that came off as snarky, "I think you've spoken enough for the both of us, haven't you, (Name)?". (Name) rolled her eyes, and turned her volume up on her headphones, as the amazing vocals of the three singers of TLC flooded her ears. 

(OOC: just for reference i have never stepped foot into the southern states of america. i've been to california, nevada and arizona and that's it. for reference, i'm english and i try to use american terms for certain things and i do use the u in certain words like colour)