A.R./L.R. -Okay, quick Walkthrough on the FF.N app for posting a story. If I've replied in time to help, that is.Across the bottom of the app there is a chair, a heart a pen tip, we can stop there. Click the pen.Doccument manager is where I type. The plus symbol in the blue up top is where you add more doccuments.Might want to keep those around until all the kinks are worked of the latest chapter, this will be useful for if and when you need to edit.Story manager is where you post it. pretty straight foreward. you'll go through a set up. title, genre, adding the rating are first, think the summary is there.third part of the process is adding the chapters. same plus symbol is in the blue up top. tap that, name chapter, choose doccument, then publish.To add chapters, go back to story manager, selext the story, go to third step, tap plus, name chapter and choose doccument.To edit, the chapter list in the third step has the stack of three lines, the drop down menu, by each chapter, you can just swap out the old post for the edited doccument here.Hope that helps, my friend.
Week 5 Friday
4am
Bad side of town.
A lone figure sat in a plain white sedan. The vehicle was a common make and color as well as cheap. Perfect for the task as there were several others parked along the road.
Empty bags of chips, jerky wrappers and bottles were building in the back seat.
Half a block away four men moved from an alley into a white van. Back and forth. Unloading boxes. The same routine had been repeated last friday at the same time and the occupant of the car had a good idea that it would be the same next week.
Up above a security camera recorded the vehicle. Sometimes parked near the hydrant, but not close enough for a ticket sometimes parked across the street by the newspaper dispenser. Sometimes for a few days, sometimes for a few hours. On and off through the last week at different times of the day.
The driver talked with people, helped an old woman with her bags. Walked up and down the road and often slept in the backseat.
The person also had a taste for junkfood.
The issue the individual posed to those monitoring them was the fact that they showed up durring a tumultuous time in their operation and that they have yet to get a clear look at the person's face.
"Very skilled. Very skilled indeed." The figure in the fedora lit their pipe. "Follow them, Albert. Tell me what their weakness is."
"Boss. The guys tried this at the last safe house. Now they're here and Rico is in a body bag."
"Rico was an amature! You're trained for this." The fedora wearing figure stepped up to Albert. "Now. I expext you to do. your. job. Understand?"
"Sure thing boss." Albert hurried out the back way.
It was another hour before the white car pulled away. Albert on the tail.
The driver of the sedan didn't seem spooked. Used turn signals and even stopped to get a deep fried burrito and jumbo drink. He observed as the driver scratched several lottery tickets before leaving the parking lot.
Ten minutes later the sedan stopped and the driver loaded a bag full of empty bottles and cashed them in.
The sedan driver took several calls and then pulled around the side of a building.
Albert had to go on foot and was treated to the driver changing into a suit. The mysterious individual used water to wet their hair and slick it back but Albert still didn't get a good look at the person through the process.
Albert got back in his car and waited. The sedan pulled from the alley and he followed. After a short drive, he watched his quarry bound from the sedan with a briefcase in hand and dodge traffic to get into a building. "This was where I do my taxes." He mumbled as soon as he could focus on something else for a minute.
It was fourty minutes before the target left the building. Loosening their tie and looking disgruntled. The bad mood was made more obvious as the briefcase was thrown into the car hard enough to send up a flurry of papers when it hit the opposite door.
He sat back as he watched the sedan owner rested their head against their car in defeat. Then they answered their phone and rushed to gather their papers and place them into the case before they hopped back in the car and sped off so quickly that Albert almost lost the vehicle.
It pulled up to a small business and the driver happily greeted an older, professional looking man in a suit.
The driver and older man spent a few minutes talking outside then went into the building.
Albert was back on foot. He walked up to the door and took notice of the sign out front.
Beekly Accounting.
"It's starting to make sense." He told himself walking up to the white sedan. He peered into the window. "Junk food diet. A few stray work applications. School jacket." He slapped the top of the car. "Fucking college graduate!" He turned and bumped into someone solid.
"Hello, Mr. Tomas!" The voice was too cheery for his liking and the pinch in his arm was harsh. He looked up to the face only to see a blur.
Shinji pulled up to a red light and started to open her salad. A shout drew her attention and it was Violet. She rolled her window down to greet the younger woman.
"Hey, Shinji! Where have you been?"
"Around." There was a thump in the back of the Shinji's car. "Ignore that." Violet nodded okay. "Dinner tonight?"
"Luna has another concert, I'm tagging along. Mick has been helping her get gigs at some of the rich folks private parties. He is AWESOME!"
"He is. He is." They both drove foreward and had to stop at the next red light. Both groaned loudly and then laughed about it.
"Hey, um, the girls are worried about Linky. He looks like hell again today." Violet spoke up. She obviously got a good look at the boy. "I mean yesterday he was fine, but today... He just walked out, helped Luna and I load the van and then headed off down the road. He still hasn't been home and..." She was starting to look very worried.
"I'll have everyone I know looking for him. I'll be out there too." Shinji's words instantly eased Violet's worries. She wasted no time in sending out a picture of Lincoln and a short message of why they should be looking for him. "They already know, Violet. You let me know if you find him too, alright." Violet nodded happily and they had to part ways. Shinji turning towards the South and Violet heading straight.
As luck would have it, Shinji found Lincoln first, wandering in a daze along a dirt road. She sent word out and pulled along side him.
"Need a ride?"
He paused and turned to look at her. After a few moments he seemed to realize it was her. He took a look around seemingly trying to figure out exactly where he was.
"Sure." He said blandly and got in the back seat of the car.
It wasn't even a minute and he was sleeping.
The trunk closing woke him up. They were in some small grove and a couple buildings stood in the center.
"Hungry?" He heard and looked up to see Shinji holding out a bag of jerky. "Sorry I don't have more." She told him.
"Thanks." He sat up, letring his legs hang out of the door and tore into the bag. His stomach growled and he shoved several pieces of the spicy, dried meat into his mouth, not caring that his lips had went instantly numb or that even his teeth seemed to burn.
"I was going to say take it easy, but you seem okay." Shinji said wincing in sympathy as she bit the side of her finger. "Pepper made that. Soaked it for a week in habanero paste and other spices."
"Tasted good while I could taste it." He smirked. "I'm sharing this with the guys!" There was a mischievious glint in his eye and she smirked. "Got any more?"
She simply nodded. "We need to talk." Her voice sounded concerned and he had a feeling that he knew what they were going to talk about. "Come on in when you're ready, Snowball." She hugged him in a motherly manner and even kissed the top of his head before she took a sewing kit from the glove box and entered the shed opposite the old house.
"I didn't expect you to be ready so soon." She told him as he came into the small structure.
"Mr. Neilson!?" He noticed the man tied to posts and the beam above him.
"You know this guy?"
"He was Luna and Luan's history teacher." Lincoln informed. "Told Leni she was an idiot."
"Well, he's always been an ass." Shinji set out the sewing kit on a TV tray. "Even back in the day." From her pocket she took a small cylinder and snapped it under his nose.
The man woke up in an instant and started to freak out immediately.
Shinji ignored his begging and questions. Shoving an old rag in his mouth then calmly turning to Lincoln. "So. Your family is worried about you. What's going on?"
He looked over at her captive.
"Don't worry, I can't break doctor patient confidentiallity and he'll be dead soon enough." The casual manner in which she stated the man's fate made him think back to Lisa admitting that she would have disintigrated Jackson.
He still looked unsure. Mr. Neilson getting louder, screaming through the gag. She slapped him harshly and he was left stunned and quiet.
"So, relax, speak." She motioned to pool chair, the kind that allows for the occupant to lounge in it.
He did take a seat. Sitting up in an internal debate for a short time before he laid back and crossed his arms over his chest.
He briefly explained how he felt alone in his new room. How he felt that it triggered the nightmare which left him feeling cold and led to him falling asleep in the shower.
"I didn't want to spend a week feeling like I was on fire." He told her. "Mika offered to help. She made some magic remedy." He rubbed his left leg, the part of him that had spent the most time in the hot water. Sometimes it still felt hot. "It worked, but I don't remember anything until noon that day, and everything was still fuzzy until dinner."
He turned his head to look at her for the first time. "That night I had my first nightmare. I don't remember anything. Just feeling used and tired."
"Okay. Go on." She encouraged gently.
"The next night, I was getting glimpses of a body. I believe we had sex." He looked to Neilson who looked on in confused horror that this was taking place while he was bound.
"Like I said, Lincoln, he won't be around to tell anyone anything."
"The body didn't belong to my..." He glanced over at the bound man and looked back up at the ceiling. "... Sisters." He trembled. "It wasn't until later, after the second dream, that I really started to feel, apprehensive about sleeping. When I heard her say next time." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
"I finally got a good look at her. I wasn't sure if I had just had a wet dream or a nightmare. She looked dead. We had sex. Honestly I can't tell if I'm afraid or excited about the next time." He was sweating.
"I didn't have the dream when I spent the night with Lucy." He ran his hand over his brow. "I'm supposed to be the man of the house, a big brother." He sniffled as tears began to run down his cheeks.
"They gave me this room, the best in the house. How am I suppsosed to tell them I don't like it? I can't expext them to spend the night with me everynight because I had a bad dream!" He sat up quickly. "Mika left me a TV. A card that said sorry." Shinji perked up, her pity replaced by curiosity. "She said she thought I could use a more entertaining night light." He looked to Shinji. "Like she knows about my dreams." He finished.
"Have you asked Mika?" He shook his head no. "Well, I'll ask." Shinji pulled out her sketch book. "I really think you should tell your older sisters, at least about the nightmares. They have always taken care of you before. Why make them stop now?"
"I guess that makes sense." He moved his legs over the edge of the chair to fully face her. "I guess I feel a little better." He admitted.
"So this dead girl." Lincoln loked at her with unease. "Are we talking Hollywood dead or morgue dead?" She asked.
"Like she had drown dead." He found himself admitting then went into describing his nighttime visitor.
When he was done she showed him the sketch and he turned pale white and looked haunted. She quickly closed the book. "It's okay, Lincoln." She hwkd her arms out to him and he crossed the few feet to climb into her lap. She held him for some time, stroking his back and hair until he decided that was enough.
He moved back to pool chair and sat down. After a while of sitting in silence he motioned to Mr. Neilson.
"You're free to stick around if you want, but it won't be pretty." She let him know.
"I'm a man." He said with a shaky smile.
She merely nodded and removed the gag from Neilson's mouth. "HEEEELLLLLLP!" Lincoln covered his ears. Shinji struck the history teacher, stopping him from yelling out again.
"So, Albert." She started.
"My name is Robert Neilson! I am a history teacher at Royal Woods High!" Lincoln winced as she again slapped the man.
"Albert Tomas. Albert William Tomas." She stated. "You really don't recognize me, do you?" She said with some surprise and much amusement.
"You! You're the woman from the paintball field!" He smiled then frowned. "Look, I'm sorry, I'm sorry about everything! I was just having a bad day..." His whole body was pulled taught in the ropes with her sudden blow.
As her captive took several shakey breaths she spoke.
"You weren't having a bad day. You've always been an asshole, Tomas."
"My name is Robert Neilson!" He screamed.
"I admire your commitment, but you still suck at telling lies." She flicked his nose. "Yeah, Smith, I found Smith. Gave him flying lessons. He failed. No wings for Smith."
She pulled a photo out of a file. Lincoln snuck a look and to him it lokked like the time he had put an action figure in the microwave.
"The trick is, you don't throw a person off the roof. A little nudge and it looks like they stepped off the edge." She explained. "That is one down. I have you. All I need is LeChance."
"My name is Neilson! Rob..." Lincoln winced as she stood quickly and kicked her captive in the groin. His eyes filling with tears and he repeated his name through pained breaths. "I am Robert Neilson."
"Again. I admire your commitment, but you made a few mistakes." She took another photo from the file and held it up next to him. "I admit, even with the minimal ammount of work you had done, I didn't recognize you, but then you had to be an asshole."
Lincoln shifted his gaze between the photo of the man in a suit and Mr. Neilson. Even to him, they were the same person.
"The first mistake was not changing more than just your looks." She dropped the picture and leaned closer to him. "If you dispise fast food, then you eat at the greasiest fast food joints within a mile of home at least once a day. If you live like a porn star, you turn and live like a fucking monk in your new life. If you are an asshole, you should become the nicest man on the planet." She lightly patted his cheek. "You see where I'm going with this?"
She sat back and showed him time-stamped pictures on a phone. He was obviously following someone. She had obviously been following him.
"That's the second mistake. You stayed in the business. Seeing you operate today cinched it for me. Put all those pieces together."
She disassembled the cheap phone and tossed it at him part by part. With each throw she said "Where is LeChance, Tomas?"
"I won't talk." He finally said. To Lincoln, the man finally admitted to being this Tomas person.
"Final offer. Tell me where LeChance is, and it'll be quick. Or, this can last the rest of your life." Her whole demeanor changed and Lincoln felt a little worried.
"I think I'm going to go." Lincoln told her.
"You sure?" The teen was shocked. A full one eighty in the tone and body language when addressing him as opposed to what had come over her when speaking with her captive.
He felt oddly better. "Yeah. I uh... think I just don't want to be here, in the shed."
"Head on in the house, Linc, I'm sure Kari could use some company." Shinji left her spot to walk him to the shed door. With sense of affection she held his shoulders softly. "You just let me know when you're ready to head home. Have Kari take you, if you want. That way your sisters and I don't worry about you wandering off again. Promise?"
"Yeah. I promise." He smiled.
She hugged him and then nudged him gently out the door.
Once outside he heard the interrogation start again and ran up and into the house. Lincoln found thst it didn't actually bother him, what she was doing. What was going to happem to Mr. Neilson, he didn't care. He just knew that he needed to get away from the thoughts the whole thing was giving him.