Jessica Ray
Everyone gathered around the TV with a mix of popcorn and slices of fresh banana bread, that Jess had eagerly offered to share. She hoped a little homemade food would brighten everyone's spirits, because she certainly needed the help herself. All of the dreams she was having were starting to weigh on her. Of course, they weren't too weird, and she'd assumed she might start dreaming again, now that she was sleeping a little longer, and a little deeper. But the one with her mom, and the one with Mikhail in it she wished she could forget. It felt like her subconscious was just digging the proverbial knife deeper into the wounds already there.
And then of course, she had to write them down for scientists to read. She knew she'd agreed to that, but that was before she knew her brain was going to decide to dig up all of her unresolved emotions.
Oh well. It was movie time.
She plopped down on the couch beside just a little ways from Rachel on the other end. Clyde and Noah had pulled all of the couches closer to the TV, creating a little V-shaped nook with their snack table in the middle, like an offering under the big TV screen. Tara jumped over the side of the couch and scurried across the room to turn off the lights, and Clyde was already wrapping himself up in a blanket in the corner of the other couch. Jess couldn't help but laugh. It had only been a few days, but she'd witnessed the guy napping in so many odd places all throughout their little facility.
Yesterday, it had been draped over the washing machine. At least he was prepared this time.
Tara jumped back on the other couch, in between the boys, Noah and Clyde, and grabbed one of the big bowls of popcorn that her and Noah immediately began to share. Jess nibbled at her banana bread as Rachel found the remote and pressed play.
Jess had never seen the cult classic (pun intended) but thought it would be interesting. She'd been young when Adam Whitman's name was all over the news, back when he'd found his sisters. Media outlets kept calling back to the court case, and the murders, and all of the women caught up in the cult (and how many had kids with Jay). It had been like this big, nationwide drama that everyone was a part of and had an opinion on. Nowadays though, it was just history.
She couldn't help but admire the little "theater" the three younger ones put together. It was cute, and it kind of make Jess like she was back in college again. Especially with all the candy on the table.
As the movie played on Jess found herself immersed back in the drama of Alex Altman all over again. She could remember seeing the young girl on TV, and wondering how a girl like her could get caught up in something so dark, and so sinister. It was interesting how the movie dove into her personal life before meeting Jay, and how that acted as a set up for Jay to step into.
Alex had been looking for an answer - someone to make her feel like she was seen, like she belonged, like shew as special, she was wanted. Jay used pretty typical tactics to lure her in.
Then, they showed a flashback. Jay was with his ex-wife Sarah and his then eleven year old son Adam. They were at a park, and Jay seemed especially into her. He wanted her back. Adam was looking away. Rachel squirmed uncomfortably throughout the scene.
Jess glanced over at her, wondering if maybe the subject material was getting a little too much. It was a heavier topic, after all. Not exactly a feel-good movie.
"You alright?" she whispered.
Rachel shook her head, but said nothing.
Jess pursed her lips into a frown, looking between Rachel and the movie, then at the others. Clyde, Noah, and Tara seemed pretty absorbed in it. They didn't seem to notice.
"It's fine, let's keep watching," Rachel said curtly.
"Okay." Jess decided to leave it, and the movie played on.
From the critical flashback scene, the movie quickly moved towards its conclusion. The interactions with the girls. Them leaving, one by one until only Alex, Sasha, Blake and Michelle were left. The murder of Margaret Kelly and her two friends on July 4th, 1971.
Things wrapped up quickly after that, showing them getting arrested and charged. Then the credits rolled, and there was an epilogue, showing pictures of the real people involved.
Esther Altman was raised by her grandfather, until she committed suicide in November 1988.
Alex Altman remains in prison to this day.
Sasha Adams died in 2001, of brain cancer.
Blake Johnson has converted to Christianity.
Michelle Vallens lives in upstate New York with her husband and two sons under an assumed name.
Jay Whitman was first diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2013. He spends most of his time in prison hospitals now.
Rachel took a loud, deep breath as the credits began to roll, complete with an awful auto-tuned cover of The Fifth Dimension's "Age of Aquarius".
Jess stretched out her legs, and tossed a napkin out of her lap and onto the table. Clyde looked fast asleep, but he'd lasted longer than they'd all expected.
"What'd you guys think?" Noah asked, grabbing for another handful of popcorn.
"I can't believe that movie won eight Oscars," Rachel said snidely.
Jess laughed. "At least it didn't win any awards for the score, right?"
Rachel laughed. "I didn't mind the score. I minded that they showed Amy Fox being raised in the commune when that never happened. I minded that they showed Jay and his ex-wife fucking when that never happened. I minded that they showed all of the girls except the killers leaving when that never happened. Terrible movie."
Jess's eyebrows pinched together. She knew Rachel was a history buff, and it was normal to have qualms about historical inaccuracies, but this was starting to sound a little personal.
"Did you do a lot of research on this or something?" Tara asked.
"Um," Rachel began, looking uncomfortable, like she had just dug herself into a hole. "Jay Whitman is my... grandfather."
Everyone stared. Well, except Clyde. He was asleep for all of this.
"Oh, Rachel," Jess began, her voice gentle. "I'm so sorry. If we'd known we wouldn't have watched the movie."
Rachel sighed. "It's okay," she said. "The filmmakers asked to consult with us. My dad and me. My dad's Adam, his son. But anyway, they pretty much ignored everything we said."
"Well that sucks," Noah declared.
Rachel took a deep breath. "I didn't want any of you to think of me differently, but cat's out of the bag, so." She then looked down at the floor until someone said something.
There was a small pause, but Jess swooped in. She leaned forward a little on the couch.
"Hey, we don't have any problems with you Rachel. You are not all of this-" she gestured to the screen.
Rachel smiled sadly. "Now my sister's fucking missing, and now my dreams have been about her."
Jess's face fell in concern. "Oh my gosh, that's terrible."
Rachel pursed her lips, letting it all out. "And my husband hates me because I can't get pregnant, and our doctors think I'm the problem. So that's great." She took another deep breath. "Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to have a normal family. My mom and dad tried so hard, but they have no idea what they're doing."
Jess kept leaning in, listening. It sounded like there was a lot weighing on Rachel right now, and she was sure with a missing sister, a lot of emotions were swirling to the surface.
"I'm sorry things have been so hard for you lately," Jess empathized. "I really hope they find your sister. Have you been able to get any news from her since we've been in here?"
"Yeah she blocked me and our brother and our parents on her all socials, so I think she might be in trouble." Rachel sighed. "I think she was always jealous of me. I know how that sounds but. I think if people look at my life on the outside they might think it's something it's not."
She snorted and continued. "My dad's a wreck. He acts like he's strong, but he's not really." Rachel's face then turned red. "Anyway, what's everyone else's dreams been like?"
Jess blinked, and her eyebrows shot up before she looked away, eyes dropping to the floor.
"Not too great," she admitted. "They're not quite nightmares, but they're scary in the way that they feel deeply personal, if that makes sense."
Rachel nodded in understanding. Then, she stood up. "Hey, um, I need to be alone right now. Thanks for the banana bread." She stood up and disappeared down the hallway.
Jess leaned over the couch, watching as Rachel left.
"If you need anything, just let us know!" she called out.
"Will do!" Came Rachel's voice.
Jess sighed and slid back into the couch, looking over at Tara and Noah. Their faces were painted with concern, and a tense silence hung over the room as they sat there for a moment, still in the light of the TV screen in the dark room. Jess took in a deep breath and reached for an empty bowl on the table. She shook it, and could hear the clatter of leftover popcorn kernels that never popped.
"Why don't we clean this mess up?"
-<>-
Jess woke up with a weight on her chest, still feeling the heaviness of the dreams from the night - well, the nights before. She'd had one about her mother again, and her mother wasn't feeling well. Her mother had forgotten to take her insulin and it hadn't ended well.
Jess groaned as she sat up and rubbed her eyes, grabbing for her computer by her bedside and hurrying to type up the dream so she could get it out and forget about it. She didn't think she'd actually be able to forget about it any time soon, but maybe if she distracted herself enough, she'd get lucky.
Her fingers danced across the keyboard, filling the empty silence of the morning with the faint clattering of keyboard keys. She was about halfway through typing up her dream log when she heard an awful crash, like the shattering of glass.
She froze, looked up at the door, and slammed her laptop shut.
She grabbed a loose cardigan from her closed and pulled it over her shoulders as she rushed out down the hallway to the bathrooms. It sounded like the sound had come from there. She spun around in the hall as she looked around at all of the bathroom doors. All of them were closed, but the light was on in Noah's. She could see it through the crack under the door.
She knocked a few times, but she couldn't hear anything besides a few muffled noises; the shuffling of feet, and the clattering of glass across tile. Jess tested the doorknob. It was unlocked.
"Noah? Are you in there?"
She could hear the start of a sob.
"Noah, I'm coming in, okay? Please say something-"
Her eyes widened as she opened the door.
The glass door to the shower had shattered, and shards of glass were scattered all over the floor. Noah was sitting on the end of the tub, holding his right hand, clenched like a fist, and bleeding. Still in his pajamas, but now splattered. His whole arm look like it'd been cut up to the elbow, and blood was dripping all over himself and the tub.
Noah's face was red with tears and he was sputtering and sniffling. Trembling.
She started to make her way towards him, but she was on bare feet.
"Clyde! Rachel! Tara!" she called out. "Somebody grab the phone!"
They'd been given a phone that only rang to one number. An emergency number, in the case of an emergency, and this was an emergency. Jess could hear a door slam open.
Jess hazardously grabbed a towel off a rack and used it like a makeshift broom to push glass and pave a way to Noah. "Oh my gosh," she muttered, surprised at how she was not shaking, and her voice was somehow devoid of panic. "Noah. What happened?"
As she came to Noah's side, she put an arm around his back. They needed to get him away from all the glass.
"I-I-I-I was just- I th-thought-it was j-just a d-dream," he stuttered through sobs. Jess's heart was twisting inside her chest.
Tara appeared in the doorway, looking on at the scene in horror.
"The phone! Get somebody on the line!" Jess ordered. Tara nodded at Jess with eyes as big as saucers before she turned tail and sped down the hall.
Jess turned her attention back to Noah. "Let's get you out of here, okay?" she said, moving to help lift him to his feet. It was about that time that Rachel came to the door.
"Oh, thank god, Rachel. Can you help me clear away the glass and get him out of here?"
The two of them ended up getting Noah out of there, fortunately with the pads of their feet unscathed. Noah, though, looked far worse for wear, and he was still sobbing. Jess didn't know what poor Noah's dream had been about, but it couldn't have been anything good.
By the time they made it into the hall, the main door to the facility burst open and four doctors came in with a stretcher. Clyde came out of his room just in time to witness the chaos of Rachel and Jess handing off the injured Noah to the doctors, who lifted him up carefully and started wheeling him out.
"We'll have a team come by in a few minutes to clean up the mess. Stay away from the bathroom in the meantime, and take care of yourselves," one of the doctors ordered, before rushing back out the door to the outside world with Noah.
Tara came running back out from the kitchen, too late to say goodbye.
Well, none of them had gotten to say goodbye.
The four of them stood frozen, staring at the door for Jess didn't know how long. Her heart was still racing. Now she was shaking.
"What happened?" Clyde finally questioned, pushing through the tension in the air. Half awake, with his hair sticking up different directions.
Jess realized in that moment that she was the only one who probably knew remotely how to explain, but even then, she didn't know that much.
"I don't know," she said, lips pressed into a line. "He... he said something about a dream..."
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