Vol 1. Chapter 1: A new start

She puckered her lips, smacking them together after rubbing a light layer of lip gloss across them. She shoved it into the open glove department and then smacked the sun visor closed.

"It's time." She sighed and threw open the car door.

"Marlowe Buckley." The grungily old man stroked his rather long beard with brittle fingertips. He twirled around in his office chair and faced the young one. 

"Tell me about yourself." He inquired.

Marlowe adjusted herself and cleared her throat. She uncrossed her legs. "Well, my names Marlowe Buckley; you knew that-" She flushed abit. "I'm not from the area. I just moved into an apartment from downstate. "

"What's your education history like?" 

"I'm a high school graduate. I plan to attend the local community college once I've found a stable job." Marlowe answered. 

Her eyes zeroed in on the equipment hanging on the walls of the bookshelf. Apart from books, the old man had an intriguing amount of uh...

Science. 

On the walls. 

From skulls, to baby deer stuffed in vials... yeah. This is weird.

The man followed her gaze. "Ah!" He stood up, and walked over to the shelf, plucking one of the vials off the shelf and walking back over. 

"Observe." He held it out to her. 

She flicked her gaze to it, grasping the small vial. She flipped it over in her hands, looking at the small lizard embalmed inside. "It's...-"

"I may seem like a old business man who'd fulfilled everything in life; but there is still much I do not know." He chimed; eyes following the vial as she turned it. 

"I-" She was interrupted as the vial was snatched from her hands and then rushed back to the shelf. 

"I'm afraid I don't have much time. Are you over the age of 20?" He questioned. 

"Yes." She answered quickly, kind of startled by the sudden fast pace.

"When are you able to start?" He asked again.

Rapid Fire, this one..

"Immediately." 

"Great! I'll see you on Monday at 8:00am." He pushed himself up from his seat.  "Meredith will see you out." 

If Marlowe had any words to describe this old man, it'd be that he was very strange. 

"Insane." She muttered as she closed the car door as she got in. She let her shoulders relax, leaning into the steering wheel. 

A squeal tore from her. "This is.. AMAZING!" She scrambled to find her phone, face flushed red with excitement. She tapped the screen, getting it to come on. 

She opened her contacts and immediately started a call towards one of the people she trusts most.

A freckled face pops up on the screen. The person on the other side was very close to the camera, but she could spot the fields of yellow about them; and the sound of laughter heard on the other side was loud. 

Her eyebrows furrowed. "Regan? Where are you?"

The blonde grinned ear to ear. "Guess." 

"Regan!" Someone shouted on the other line. "Who is it?" 

"It's Marley!"   He called back to them.

"Tell her I said Hi!" A female voice chirped in.

"She can hear you, you dunce."

Marlowe grins. "Is that the Crossex House? What are you doing there?" 

"Oh, ya know. Old times. For fun." The camera turned in perspective towards the group. 

There were three people. One of them hung upside down from a tree, a young woman with long braided blonde hair. Kaeleigh.

Beside her, a tall man with glasses trying to get her to come down; hands placed on his hips effeminately.  Thomas.

And finally, another person approaching the camera. They are of a stockier build, short hair and a pierced nose. Evan.

"Hey girl!" The phone was snatched. "How'd the interview go?" 

Marlowe let out a exaggerated sigh before her face cracked out into a grin. "I got the job!" 

The hoots that retorted in response were so loud; the microphone peaked on the other end.

Marlowe chuckled, glancing up at the time in the corner. 3:43pm.

"I'm just as happy as ya'll- I needed this job." Her eyes flicked back to the camera. 

Bewildered green eyes stared back at her; full of curiosity and intrigue. 

The image on the phone scrambled before the face of Regan appeared again. "That's amazing! You need to celebrate."

Marlowe stared back at the phone in confusion. What was that? Maybe I'm just tired.

"Y-yeah. What happened?" 

"Kae dropped the phone." Regan called out the shortie. 

"Sorry!"  

Marlowe chuckles in amusement. "I miss you all- Look. I gotta go. It's starting to get around that time, ya know-"

"Ah, yeah yeah. Get going. We'll call you tonight."

"Mama said we should head back, she made chili!"  Evan grunts out.

"See ya!" 

"Kisses~"  

The phone went back to her homescreen and she shoved her phone back into her purse; revving up her car. 

The eyes; those brilliant green... She could see it; lingering. Even as she curled into her bed, that's all she thought of. She is reminded...and tortured by what had been.

And what will be.