ATOMS (THE SOCIETY)

iv. who's got the peanut butter ?

chapter four. 🍂 episode one.
who's  got  the  peanut  butter ?

• • •

*WARNING: this chapter features
heavy swearing and some bad stuff,
please don't continue reading when
you are uncomfortable.*

spring . 12:23 pm , may 24
▬▬▬▬▬▬ phoebe beckett

"I mean, there's only so many options." Gordie said from his seat on the pavement. Some people had gathered around the bridge, the Pressmans and their cousin, Campbell and Will, Gordie and Kelly and Helena, Luke's girlfriend.

Phoebe stood next to Clark, their shoulders brushing. This seemingly minuscule contact caused a monumental feeling for the two. Phoebe's presence-- even Phoebe's smell, was enough comfort for Clark. They were imprisoned in the town of New Ham, yet Clark felt calm, serene, untroubled by the idea that he was stuck in New Ham because he's stuck with the person he's been wanting to be stuck with since the first time she smiled at him from across the room in junior year.

Around Clark, Phoebe felt safe. She felt at home. And that was a rare feeling for her. This town of New Ham in which she spent her childhood and wasted her adolescence, lacked the feeling of home. This replica of the New Ham she knew was no longer home. Home was where Heather and Marcus and Ben and Lucinda were. This was not it. But Clark, he gave that feeling, with his smile wrinkles and gentle smile, she felt at home.

"Maybe we're dreaming. It's the best option." Allie suggested.

"Maybe this is just some elaborate fucking game." Harry said as he leaned on the car. "Like, someone built an exact replica of our town and just put in the middle of nowhere, and if we just walk like, this way or that way or any way, eventually we'll get back to the the real world."

"Harry...I don't know..." Phoebe mumbled, not really sure what to make of his theory. She wouldn't completely rule it out but it didn't seem likely to be true.

Everyone else looked around and avoided his gaze, not really sure about the accuracy of his statements. "I'm not saying it makes any sense." Harry mumbled and leaned back on his car.

Cassandra stepped closer to the group and leaned on one of the crimson steel of the bridge. "There was a smell, and then it went away, and it came back, and the buses came for us."

"You're gonna just work this out, Cassandra? Like some logic problem? I mean, not a flicker of a doubt?" Harry asked, the annoyance clear in his tone.

"The world doesn't just turn upside down without a reason. We're not in some play-within-a-play. Okay? Clever is not the same thing as true. There is a point to everything, there are answers." Cassandra answered.