Antihero ✷ Tyler Galpin

𝐱𝐱𝐱𝐢𝐢. 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰?

- Here We Woe Again -
2x1

"Wednesday! Hey, you alright?" Vada asks as she comes through the trees. She has been walking in the woods for half an hour to clear her mind and when she felt a pain in her chest and seen Wednesday, she assumes the worst.

Wednesday turns and looks at the girl. "I'm fine. What are you doing out here?" She asks.

"Taking a walk but then I felt like something was wrong." She looks at Thing, who is collecting some trash for his shrine.

Before the braided haired girl can reply, sirens reach both of their ears. They share a look before moving together through the trees.

Several cops and coroner vans are gathered in the trail parking lot. The body bag on the gurney is open to reveal a man with his eye sockets completely hollowed out—deceased.

"Victim is Carl Bradbury. Local private investigator, real sleaze." A cop speaks just in Vada's ear shot. She silently thanks her father for demon hearing. "Witnesses are Greg Mulligan and Debbie Prizeman. Greg's the manager of the Piggly Wiggly and Debbie's one of his cashiers."

"So, Bradbury was out here catching our supermarket sweethearts in a tryst, when he got attacked by a squad of kamikaze crows." The new sheriff speaks.

Vada steps closer and takes in the sight of several large crows, dead around the scene. The van windows are busted and damaged.

"This is a first. Even for Jericho." The deputy confirms with a solemn tone.

Wednesday lifts her brows slightly. "I'm sensing a new investigation."

"Me too." The girls make their way around the van and approach the scene, taking in the sights of the damage and the body.

Vada walks closer and examines the empty sockets of the man, furrowing her brows. "Bet you didn't see that coming.." she mutters.

The deputy narrows his eyes at her and quickly rolls the gurney away. The sheriff sets her gaze on the two and crosses her arms. "Wednesday and Vada. Can I help you two?"

"Just admiring the view." Wednesday puts her hands in her pockets calmly. "Nice to see you again, Sheriff Santiago."

Sheriff Santiago lifts her own brows. "I promise to be better than my predecessor."

"That's an exceptionally low bar." Vada scoffs and crosses her arms. "Where is Galpin now?"

"Probably getting wasted. You're asking the wrong woman, kid. That man don't wanna be bothered." She shakes her head and walks off.

Vada tilts her head slightly and sniffs the air before turning toward the back of the van. A hooded figure turns and hurries into the woods. She follows.

"Vada! Hold on!" Wednesday calls from somewhere behind her.

The man never sees it coming though. Just as he comes down a hill, Vada teleports in front of him and kicks his stomach, watching him fall back in the grass with a groan.

Wednesday catches up and pants slightly, furrowing her brows. "What's going on?"

The man pulls his hood from his face and winces as he sits up. "You got a mean way of hellos, kid."

Vada's eyes widen. "I knew I recognized your stench. What are you doing out here, Galpin?"

"The victim was a friend of mine. Carl Bradbury. We were working a case together, and that's what got him killed." He informs as he slowly stands and watches the girls. He still looks wary and untrusting.

"I play cello, not violin." Wednesday deadpans, rolling her eyes. She has never been the sympathetic type.

"Bradbury stumbled onto something. Said it could affect Outcasts and we're just starting to scratch the surface." He continues.

Vada scoffs. "You care about Outcasts now? How many times have you called me a worthless heathen?" She reminds.

"My son is an Outcast."

"Your son hates you and you have no right to speak of him as yours-" Vada says quickly, feeling Wednesday grab her arm and forcing herself to go quiet.

The man sighs and looks down. "I know what he's done but Ms. Thornhill turned him into a monster. I didn't do that."

"No, but you made him feel so alone that he felt more safe with a strange woman who tortured him. You caused a riff in his life that can never be undone." Vada snaps.

Wednesday clenches her jaw. "People don't change. Look at you. You're still a broken, deluded man who can't hide behind his tin badge anymore."

"Badge never stopped you, did it?" He retorts. "Neither of you. I could use your help getting to the bottom of this."

Vada scoffs. "Over my dead, rotting, wilting body."

"You two didn't just wind up at that corpse by accident." He reminds. "You felt it. You felt the death. You sensed it... and that's useful."

Wednesday grabs Vada's shoulder, seemingly wanting an out to this conversation. "It's a shame your keen psychological insight couldn't help you save your own son."

"You change your mind, come find me!" He calls out as the two retreat back toward school. He clenches his jaw and shakes his head to himself. "Just remember.. the birds are always watching.."

Vada looks up as they walk, seeing the numerous large crows staring at them. Half of their head was normal, the other half an open meaty skeleton with a large grey eye. Her brows furrow and she keeps walking through the woods.

She isn't sure why it bothers her so much to see Sheriff or not so Sheriff Galpin, but her stomach is turning with old emotions and reminders of her time with Tyler. She knows she should visit him, but she's terrified that he hates her. What if he doesn't want anything to do with her anymore? She couldn't bare that.

So as she lay in bed that night, curled up with her phone, she looks through old photos of her and Tyler. A picture of him kissing her cheek, a picture of him balancing on the balcony outside her dorm, a picture of them holding up slushies. A picture of the last real date they had at the Weathervane, the two sharing a hot chocolate. It all feels so long ago.

Something floats in the air above her before landing on her blanket and she sits up, collecting the paper. It's a picture of her and Wednesday entering the dorm only a half hour ago.

Turning it over, her brows furrow as a message is scribbled in sharpie: Don't get too comfy. This is just the beginning.

Vada sighs dramatically and lays back on her pillow. "Who wants to murder me now?" She asks herself.