This Town (Sally Face x Reader)

Brother

Nightmares, being not so uncommon in your life, happened randomly. At least you did your best to convince yourself they were. Part of you knew it wasn't as simple as that.

Tonight's particular nightmare happened not long after falling asleep. Long after you had come home after being at Larry's.

The movie choice of the night was "The Exorcist". You, Larry, and Sal sat huddled up against each other on a small couch Larry had in front of his TV, with Sally in the middle. You three loved horror movies, but that didn't mean any of you were immune to jumpscares. One particular scene, you jumped so hard that you bonked heads with Sal. He also jumped, but nowhere near as hard as you. Larry did too, though he did his best to recover and act like he wasn't fazed.

Bellies full of pizza, you said your goodbyes to the boys before retreating to your own apartment. It was late, around midnight, but you knew your mom wouldn't mind. You were a night owl and so was she, which came in handy when she worked late shifts. You were surprisingly sleepy after the day. It was a school night so going to bed before 2 am was a good thing. You dozed off quickly.

A voice called to you. It was a male's voice. Sounded young and old at the same time, but you'd recognize that voice from anywhere. It was Jason. Your dead brother.

"Here."

The details were hazy. You were walking through a misty forest. It was just before dawn when the sun was beginning to light up the sky, but dark enough that the morning fog made it hard to see where you were going. Jason was walking ahead of you, leading the way like he always did. Everything was like it was on the day of the accident. You didn't remember how you had convinced your brother to follow you into the woods that day. It was cold and you and your brother were barefoot, having just crawled out of bed and out the window of his bedroom. It was that urgent. Something inside you urged you to walk out into the woods alone. Jason wouldn't let you go alone anywhere, so he came too. He was just as lost as you. You could feel the damp chill of morning dew collected in the plants and mud that squelched beneath every step you took.

"Jason? Where are you going?" You asked the figure in front of you. He hadn't aged since the day he died, but you were just as you were before you fell asleep.

He did not respond. He looked back at you, then ran ahead to a clearing in the trees. You ran as fast as you could. You were close in age now, but his legs were still much longer than yours.

When you caught up to him, he was standing in front of a church. A familiar one that you recall passing by on the bus ride to school. It was the one Travis's dad owned and operated in as a front for the cult.

"There's n-not m-u-uch time le_t" He said. His eyes were worried, but you were just happy to see his face again. His voice sounded patchy, like a phone call with bad reception. In the past dreams he appeared in, he didn't speak.

"What do you mean?"

"I ca_t st-ay f-or long." He hesitated, like he wanted to say something, but settled for what he said next. "You ne-ed to stop."

"Stop what? What are you talking about?"

"This." He pointed towards the church. " St-op looking."

You processed what he was saying. He wants you to stop looking into the cult. "But why?" You figured that the only way to get answers was to follow the clues to the source. Why would Jason want you to stop now?

"I can't, Jason. I know it can be dangerous, but how else am I supposed to figure out what's going on? I'm marked and I don't know why or how."