After Hours (open)

[Cathy Dawn]

Cathy sat at a stool at one of the many in the bar she was in blowing a pink bubble with the gum in her mouth. She was new in this city which is her mind was a weird place to begin with but she did not care. She was the youngest of all her siblings and she did not want to go back to that family ever again. Her father had treated her as if she was not there because his favorite was her older sister whom he called his princess. She was ignored by her mother who gave attention to all the boys. The only person that paid attention to her at all was her Nana. Her Nana told her family history which the girl loved to hear about. She learned and got into things like the Civil war, WW1, WW2, and other wars that her Nana had told her about. When her Nana died Cathy got all the old memories that was in a collection and her father did not care because he said it was all things he would have gotten rid of. Her siblings had laughed at the fact that she got all the items she has which are in the car outside along with the uhall that is behind it. She was wearing an outfit that looked like it was from Grease 2. She was a throw back as her family had called her.

She sat and sipped her coffee that she had before her and watched everyone that came into the bar she was sitting in. She had been looking for a 50's style dinner but did not find one anywhere. She was okay with that though maybe she would in time open up one herself. She would have to come up with the cash first but that was okay she would work hard for that money Right now it was look for a place to live and put out her resume to different places to see if she got hired. For now though she would drink her coffee and watch people come into the bar.

[Sean (DELETED 6788)]

A bus, an awful bus, had just dropped Sean off, in the middle of a town he was unsure the name of. It was hard at times for the deranged man to focus. What with the hallucinations that hunted his thoughts and here he was out of his meds, only making matters worse. Sean, you really should look into seeing someone. This place looks nice… The voice was cut short as the other chimed in, always they were his two companions. **** that! Doctors are all corrupt Sean! That last one was poisoning your mind! Exhausted, Sean rubbed his hands over his face and through his hair once, it definitely didn’t help madders. His hair stuck up a bit funny and he would cringe, the sounds of the two within thought bickering, as usual, was nearly too much to handle. “Shut up… shut the **** up…” Words grumbled beneath his breath, nothing said crazy like talking to yourself.

It was rather pleasant to be off the bus, he could find a place to rest. He had been unable to sleep on the bus, for a single moment, on his long journey into town. Paranoia fueled his mind in many ways, such as having him believe that if he had shut his eyes, even for a moment, that someone would have stolen all of his possessions. Not that he had much, it was sad to think that everything he owned fit into one overly large bag. His first stop had been finding some temporary accommodations and the place he checked into, had been a dive. If the city worked out, then he would look into a more permanent living arrangements. After freshening up, hiding his belonging above the ceiling tiles (because he didn’t trust that someone wouldn’t go through his stuff), Sean would smoke over half a pack of cigarettes. The kinder, nagging voice of delusion would only nag him while smoking the first few. It was always the typical conversation, of how one day he would end up with lung cancer bla bla bla. The voice was like the mother he never had.

After half the pack, as usual, the nicotine worked its temporary magic. It (usually) kept the voices and other hallucinations at bay, at least for a little while. Setting off Sean soon found his way to a place not far from where he would be staying. Putting out his cigarette, Sean cautiously made his way in. Everything felt fine as he would take a seat at the bar, only then to notice the woman who sat not all that far from him. With what she was wearing (not that anything was wrong with it), Sean would question the reality of if she was really there (he did this sort of thing often, questioning reality). Wondering if she was just a figment of his schizophrenic mind. Out of habit, he would knock twice on the wooden surface before him, believing it would help to reveal if he was having a visual hallucination or not. She didn’t vanish, so maybe she was real?

Sean quickly looked away, not wishing to look like a weirdo, that and someone had come to take his order. “Um… Just a coffee? Please… um…” He stumbled over the few simple words spoken as his thoughts were racing. “The coffee… do you um grind the beans fresh or…” His words were halted, as he took in the sight of the clearly aggravated waitresses’ expression. This was when a faint bit of cold, familiar, laughter could be heard within his thoughts, followed by a short spoken fear. She’s going to spit in your coffee! ”The coffee with be great, just the coffee… thanks.” Spoken with a short sigh of relief, as the waitress walked off without saying a word.

[Cathy Dawn]

Cathy felt the eyes on her and had seen the man come into the bar. Popping the gum in her mouth again she took it out and looked for a trash can to put it into. The bar keep that was behind the bar held up a trash can and she tossed the gum into it. The man that had looked at her knocked on the wooden bar twice. It was not something you saw everyday but she did not think anything of it. She got up from her seat and grabbing her coffee she walked over to him and sat down beside him. ”Hello. My name is Cathy. I saw you looking towards me.”

She looks at the bar and then her outfit. ”I guess I look like something out of a different decade don’t I. It is okay you should see the things in the U-hall outside.” She laughs as she says that because to anyone that looks in the u-hall will think she is strange but she does not mind. She will find her a good place and have room for it all. She will not put any of it into storage. She would sleep in her car till she found a place since she did not have to return the trailer she was okay with that. She had bought the trailer so she would not have to put anything into storage. ”I guess you are new to the city as well.” Waving over the waitress she let the woman refill her cup of coffee and then took a sip of it.

[Sean (DELETED 6788)]

Yes, he should have just stayed at the dive, hung around outside and smoked the other half of that pack of cigarettes. The waitress had walked back by then and placed his cup of coffee in front of him. Looking at the black, hot liquid, he would then glance back up to the waitress before she walked off. He didn’t even get a chance to thank her….. She definitely spit in it…. Sean thought about just paying for the coffee he didn’t want to drink and just leave but it was too late now. Especially with sight of the woman with the pink jacket approaching. Sean rocked a little in his seat, before bracing himself still by placing his hand upon the bar before him. As she had a seat beside him, the woman greeted him with such ease, and seemed really nice. “Um…. Cathy, it’s nice to meet you. Sean, I mean I’m Sean… That’s what people call me, like that’s my name…” The words were shared, paired with the use of hand motions. Sean was terrible about talking with his hand, he did it almost as well as he stumbled over words.

As the woman spoke further, Sean would do best to focus, but didn’t drink his coffee. Perhaps that might have been peculiar? On the opposite side of him, the delusional man caught site of something he knew wasn’t real but that didn’t mean it didn’t aggravate him any less. It was one of his typical hallucinations, the one who on a daily basis hunted his mind. Currently now, it would not just be a voice, he saw the man (who was just a figment of his crazy mind) sitting on the other side of him. The hallucination looked exactly like him, except cool and collected. Dressed in a sharp black suit, and he was drinking a cup of coffee. Sean couldn’t help but glance over to where none actually was. His attention quickly returned to Cathy though. Your so bad at this, it’s ******* hilarious Sean.

Sean resisted the urge to tell the delusion to go to ****. Instead he just knocked at the bar, twice but it didn’t even work, the hunting form of himself just laughed. Your ******* compulsive little tricks don’t work. Sean did best to keep calm, the man had gotten good at appearing to be calm and collected on the outside, even if within thought he was completely mental. From the corner of his eye he could see his illusion stand.Might want to drink that coffee, she might think somethings wrong with you. See ya around buddy. On the inside, Sean cringed a bit and looked down at his coffee, then back to Cathy.

With her mention of him being new to the city, Sean would smile and nod. “I’m definitely new to these parts, it looks like a nice place….” As the waitress came to refill Cathy’s coffee, she went to refill Sean’s, but noticed it was still full. She may or may not have given him a look but all Sean’s paranoid mind thought was, she thinks I’m weird… I am weird…. Against his better judgment, Sean lifted the coffee to his lips to have a drink. He nearly choked, as it was straight up black coffee. Setting it down, he would add creamer and lots of sugar as he spoke then to Cathy. “I just got into town this morning, it was a long trip but I’m looking forward settling in a bit. So…. Um what do you think of the place so far?” Making small talk, he could at least pretend to know what he was doing.

[Cathy Dawn]

Cathy sipped her coffee and watched the man as he introduced himself. ”Sean. That is a cool name. I just arrived today as well just now to be exact. I still have to find a place to stay and then a job. I will probably do that tomorrow I hope. First a place to stay and a bath. I was on the road for about 4 days before getting here and did not sleep anywhere but in my car. I do not trust my stuff anywhere but with me. It was all my Nana’s and she was the best thing in my life and the only one that paid me any attention.” She shut up then and realized she had been rambling on without thinking about it. That was something she would have to curve sometime in the future.

She looked down into her cup now because the guy might just think she was weird for rambling like she did. She could just here her family now laughing at her and calling her names like they always did. She could also hear her Nan telling her it was all okay and she should just calm down and take her time. When she was nervous she would ramble or when she was scared or even in a new place. It was something she would need to get out of her system and she would do it. ”Sorry I tend to ramble at times”

[Sean (DELETED 6788)]

Sean listened quietly as Cathy spoke further. She spoke so easily, so openly, and Sean wished he could do such a thing. Socializing, at times, made him a bit uneasy. His last therapist said he had to force himself to do such things though, even if it seemed difficult. Sean tried, but obviously not enough as it never seemed to get any easier. Though he didn’t do such often enough or it could have been that he hadn’t met the right sort of people. That was one of the many reasons for coming to this new town, a new start. Things could be better, he had to hope for such, and they simply had to. Sean knew he needed to get better first for any of that to be possible. First things first, get a job (possibly one with insurance). Then the difficult part, finding someone he could learn to trust, someone who could work with him on how to live with the disorder that plagued him.

After over stirring his cup of coffee, Sean gave another go at having a drink. He nearly spit it back out, but did his best to swallow it and managed to get it down. That was by far, the absolute worst coffee he had ever tasted. It tasted like, like…. Someone had spit in it. Maybe it was the whole mind over matter things (or however the saying went). He hated how much power his paranoia held over him at times. Setting down the cup, Sean had no plans of drinking any more of the stuff. His gaze returned to Cathy, and his smile was as kind as he could present it. It was interesting how she was apologizing for rambling. Sean hardly found her words bothersome, rather it was nice to listen to someone ramble on a bit. It was a nice distraction of the mind and for the moment, the voices were quiet. That most certainly was a wonderful thing. Though he was craving another cigarette, it was a habit he really partook in routinely (and too often then he should).

“It’s quite alright, feel free to ramble as much or as little as you wish. I’m in the same situation, well um sort of. I’m staying at this dive just down the road. Going to start job hunting and then maybe find some permanent place to settle in.” Said as he fiddled with the cup of coffee before him. He definitely wasn’t looking forward to sleeping at that hotel tonight. If he would even sleep at all, maybe with a hand full of sleeping pills. “So, um what brings you all this way to a town like this?” Four days was a long way to drive, he found himself curious of where she had moved from. Though was such a thing creepy to ask a complete stranger? Just another reason Sean had trouble talking with new people. What were appropriate ways to go about conversation?

[Cathy Dawn]

Cathy was taken aback when he said that he did not mind her rambling. "I came from down in Mississippi just outside of Vicksburg. It was where a big part of the civil war was fought. I know I do not have that southern twang to my voice. I was sent to boarding school when I was just 4. My Nana hated me being gone all the time and she would often bring me home for Holidays and summer. My parents and siblings could give a damn about me. My sister was the princess and my brothers where the ones mother doated on. They wanted more boys and only one girl but got me. I as the last one they had and they stopped at me. They also ignored me and I had a nanny till I as 4 and sent away. None of my siblings where never sent away just me. I miss my Nana but she is gone now." Yep she was rambling again but since he did not seem to mind she did not mind either. "Where did you come from?"

[Michael Stone (DELETED 6803)]

He wanders past the transit station patting the backpack full of supplies his glorious grandsire gave him.
He looked someone who's grandparents just made him a homecooked meal and he got to take some home. Michael had always been a brass person, so seeing the pair talking he thought nothing of walking right up behind them and leaning in since he was new to the area "hello my name's Michael " he smiles " Michael Stone" he holds out a hand hefting up the gigantic backpack that looked like it weighed about as much as Cathy's car.

He looked from the Trailer to the obviously slept in car infront of the cafe. It was obviously lived in.
"Would anyone know if there is someone named Cathy here?" he asks as if he didnt know who he was talking to, but he did >>"

[Sean (DELETED 6788)]

Cathy had shared much more then he would ever had imagined her too. Not that anyone had never done such a thing with him before, just they usually went sober when they had done so. His last job had definitely been an interesting one. Sean had always wanted siblings himself, but with hearing Cathy share a bit about her family experience, Sean was grateful that he had been an only child. Not that his childhood had been some sort of leave it to beaver dream. His father suffered from schizophrenia but still had managed to raise Sean on his own. Life was definitely always full of interesting turns of evens, fueled by his father’s paranoia. The man owned two clubs, and according to his father he had gotten money from the mob to start them up (though who knew if that was believable). His father always thought people were after him and more often than not, Sean was taking care of his father. Sean had only been 16 when his father had him working behind the bar, he had definitely been exposed to far too much at a very young age.

“I’m sorry for your loss…. My father died a few years back, and things for me have not been the same since.” That had been when the delusions had begun for him. They were progressing and Sean feared he was going to end up committed, he couldn’t have that so he left and got as far away as he could. “I grew up not too far from Mississippi, born and raised in Louisiana, New Orleans, and all my life until just recently.” Said just before the other man would lean in and introduce himself. Out of habit, Sean would knock twice more upon wooden bar. “Hello Michael…. Pleasure to meet you, I’m Sean….” Spoken as his gaze shifted to Cathy, he didn’t want to give away that her name had been Cathy…. Maybe she knew the man? Sean suddenly felt a bit of anxiety creeping upon him.

[Cathy Dawn]

Cathy had looked to Sean and listened to him talk about his dad. That was one of the sad things about loosing someone you loved it always hurt. She reached out a hand to him and touched his hand lightly before she had heard the other man show up. That voice it was familure to her someone she had known in boarding school. She looked up but keep her hand on Sean's. "Michael is that you?" She got off her stool and hugged the man even though he seemed different. She then sat back down beside Sean and placed her hand back on his. "Sean to loose someone you loved is hard even I hate that. It hurt bad to loose my Nana.'