Chapter 14
For Casey
"So, Night in the Woods…" Dahlia sits across from the band, situated on a ratty couch found to be quite similar to the one from the boys' apartment. "What lead to that name, of all things? It's peaceful, introspective, seems to be something personal for you."
Mae sighs. "Yeeaah… really is, for every one of us. The band started as just me, Gregg, and Casey chilling in the woods behind his house." She huffs and hangs her head. "We all had some pretty life-changing moments in those woods. They redefined us…"
Bea nods and takes Mae's hand. "Helped us discover ourselves."
Gregg lays across Angus, causing the bug guy to roll his eyes a bit. "And take some pretty big leaps.
Angus adjusts his glasses. "Faced some of our worst fears and darkest times."
Selma nods and slouches a bit in her seat. "When you live in the middle of nowhere, the woods can mean a lot. Solitude most of all, and sometimes it takes a bit of that to find some pretty big answers. Sometimes, you're not so alone out there, and you discover something better, or worse. Embracing nature like that frees your mind to just throw away all the bullshit and just focus on what matters most to you."
Dahlia grins. "Oh, that is excellent. I can tell there's some pretty big stories behind all of that. Any you're willing to tell now?"
Angus shrugs. "Nothing too big to hide, really. Gregg and I confessed there, in a town that's not exactly the most supportive of us."
Selma huffs. "Arrested there and taken to rehab, came back and retraced my steps to where I was arrested and found something I dropped. A key to a storage unit I was planning to take some stuff from to sell for that twisted addiction." She shakes her head slowly. "Then I remember how much all that old stuff meant to me, how much better my life used to be when I wasn't constantly stressed about relationships and a future I didn't even want a part in."
Bea slowly tilts her head back and closes her eyes. "… I would run into the woods to hide from my dad on his worst nights. When he was too much of a hassle or a hazard to be around. Just go out there and walk until I could come home late and find him passed out already. It was what little freedom I could get, for a long time."
Mae squeezes Bea's hand. "And for all of us but Selma, we… well, we kinda got caught up in the mess with that cult that was uncovered in our town recently. Their whole operation was hidden out there, in the old mines."
Dahlia nods and straightens herself in her seat. "I've looked into that ordeal quite a lot for this, actually. The Order of the Black Goat. So you four had a run-in with them and managed to survive?"
Mae shudders and takes a deep breath. "God, those guys were so fucked up. I-it all started at Harfest, when I saw one of them take somebody. Just some jackass in a cloak knocking a kid out and bolting for the woods. I-I tried to follow, but I lost them. But I couldn't stop thinking about it, and we kind of all ended up going deeper down the rabbit hole."
Gregg grumbles and glares into empty space. "Bastards killed Casey… shouldn'ta stopped me from using my damn crossbow."
"Calm down, bug." Angus rubs his back. "Might not have made it out there if you did. Probably wouldn't have. But we all know they can't hurt anyone else now…"
"Indeed they can't." Dahlia hums. "The mine collapse that lead to their public reveal was quite the event. The fact you all managed to get away is impressive, though."
Bea shrugs. "Well, that's because it was more of a negotiation. They believed what they were doing was helping the town, and they needed young recruits. I didn't find out for days because he'd been silent when we were down there, but my father was among them. When we refused, they let us go, since they had the police chief in their ranks and could cover up everything if we said a word. But one dumbass that Gregg shot in the shoulder wanted revenge and followed us."
Mae nods shakily, remaining hunched and leaning into Bea. "He came for me first. I was exhausted from nightmares and stress, and so much more, and I was lagging behind on the way out. Fighting him off shook the elevator too much, and the whole thing came apart and collapsed the tunnel."
Dahlia's jaw drops. "Oh my god… how did I never hear of this? Is this not on record?"
Angus nods. "It is, but they left it up to us whether we wanted to speak of it. No gag orders, more of just keeping our faces off the news so our lives wouldn't be uprooted by it all. Things have calmed down, mostly, so we don't see any reason to keep it a secret."
"A fair point, but that must have been terrifying, and traumatic beyond words. How can you speak of it so… easily?"
Mae shakes her head. "It's not easy. But it happened. It's just... our lives. Keeping it in the dark doesn't do anyone any good, even us. That crazy, cursed autumn, we learned keeping shit like that under wraps just leads to more trouble and more pain. Even if it hurts to talk about, that hurts a hell of a lot less than it would to hide it. I mean, hell, I've been seeing a therapist, and she's still having trouble finding out how to approach that hornet's nest."
She suddenly hears Miss Carver calling out from the audience. "But you're doing great, Mae!" A round of cheers and laughter erupts from everyone else in the audience.
"T-Thanks, Miss Carver. Yeah, that's her… kind of awesome she came out for this. My parents are out there too, mom's dolled up and looking half her age tonight." Another round of cheering follows. "They've been some pretty huge support for getting through all this. We've all been here for each other, and will be probably for the rest of our lives. If a life-threatening mess like that couldn't break us up, I don't think anything will. Have we been fucked up by it? Yeah, a lot. But we've got each other, and more, and we'll be alright."
Dahlia nods and hums contently. "A beautiful sentiment, and one I completely agree with. You're all incredibly strong for making it here today, through all of that. I hope the world can see that strength someday. Maybe today can be the first step of that."
"God I hope so." Gregg huff. "Living in Possum Springs fucking sucks."
The whole band raises their bottles to that, Mae's being non-alcoholic of course.
"Well, speaking of how apparently terrible your town is, I see we have two lovely queer couples here. Must have been obnoxious being gay and living in a town run by a conservative cult."
Bea snorts. "Well, it was, but I didn't get hit with much of that. For me, it was mostly conditioning and repression. I didn't realize what I was until well after Maeday here confessed to me, and that was just a month ago, well after the cave-in. With the cult gone, the town started resembling something civil for once, and most of the bigotry faded out."
"Except for Mr. Penderson." Mae cuts in. "He's still an asshole."
"Everyones got one asshole neighbor, Mae. Also, he's afraid of me." A quick round of laughter brings a grin to her face. "Something about me being a witch or something. Might lean into that next Harfest just to mess with him."
"Nothing better than a little thematic and petty payback." Dahlia giggles slightly. "Now Gregg, Angus, how about you two?"
Angus hums. "I was… very repressed. My father basically disappeared from my life when I was young, but, until then he was a violent drunk. Beatings followed by days in a closet without food were the norm." Some audience members gasp, but he waves them down. "It hardened me. Turned me into as much of an ideal child as I could be by the time my father left. My mother is manipulative, dropping constant guilt trips, and has very traditional, conservative, and deeply religious views. I was very deeply closeted until one day, out of the blue…" He peeks down to Gregg with a smile.
Gregg peeks up and kisses him quickly. Cheers and wolf whistles ring out. "I stepped up and asked him out after school one day, and he took the leap." He chuckles. "I was crushing on him for a while, and damn, I was terrified. But Casey convinced me to make a move, and we've been inseparable ever since. As soon as we could, we got some decent jobs and got an apartment together, left our fucked-up families behind and never looked back."
"Hey!" Someone calls out from the audience. "What about me, cuz?!"
"Not you, Jen, you're great!" He sighs. "Well, I still talk to my cousin. Everyone else can rot."
Dahlia chuckles and take another quick note. "Well, that's all the time we have for this set, how about I let you all get back to the show while I prepare the last of my questions for you?"
Mae hops up and pulls Bea to her feet. "Watcha say Beabea, kick it off with our song this time?"
Bea rolls her eyes. "Ok, fine. Serenade me."
It takes less than a minute for the stage crew Jackie gathered to move the couch and chair off for the next set, and they breeze through it to repeated rounds of applause. Red Winder captures the hearts of their audience, Hole at the Center of Everything grips them tighter, and eventually unsettled them all with a new horror-themed piece titled Hunched and Withered, after the mythical Huncher, the witch that killed the forest god they now know quite personally.
Her story had gotten them thinking, really. Hearing more from James has also convinced them that she wasn't done with this world just yet, but they couldn't fathom how. That inspired writing a song about her living on as a curse, passing from her to The Kid, and forward, for eternity. It became the most disturbing track they've made by far, but they lean into that creepiness and captivate their audience regardless.
Eventually, their set ends and they're called back up for the second round of the interview, the last stage before they end the night with the big finale they'd been preparing for so long.
The moment they've sat down, Dahlia decided to hit them with a darker question. "Now, I've done a good deal of research into you all to prepare for this. I already knew of Mr. Santello's involvement with the cult, for example. But do you have any clue why your father may have joined them?"
Bea sighs deeply and nods. "They believed their god could perform miracles that would keep them and their loved ones healthy and their town prosperous. After my mom died, when cancer finally took her, he just… lost it. He lost his faith, his sanity, his heart, and he filled that hole with the cult and a lot of booze."
"Well, as painful and horrible of an answer as that is, it's certainly understandable how he could be lead down that path. Despite the dark places he went, I'm sorry for your loss."
Bae shrugs. "I'm better off now. I'm free, now that he's gone. Mae's parents have been kinder to me in the two weeks I've lived with them than my father was for years. He stopped being my dad the moment my mom died." Mae pulls her into a tight hug, and she leans into it. "Now that I've accepted that, I feel I can really move on, with a little help."
"I wish you the best with that. But now, Mae, here's a much more difficult one."
Mae sighs and sits up. "So… Andy Cullen, right?"
She nods. "Indeed. Actually, he's a classmate of mine, and when he heard you were among the people I was interviewing, he had a few questions of his own to pose. I mostly ignore them, seeing as I'm looking strictly for facts."
Mae takes a deep, shaky breath. "… I didn't really have any answers for that for a really long time myself. Your research on the cult should tell you that Possum Springs' only practicing doctor, with multiple fake degrees including in psychology, was in the cult. He fucked me up even worse after that incident and left me pretty much helpless for years. It wasn't until Bea started helping me out after the cult mess that we found some answers." She calms down just a bit as Bea squeezes her hands. "I-I have a condition called Derealization Disorder. Basically, it's like a sibling to disassociation. The world around me stops feeling… real. Objects break down into shapes, the shapes become unrecognizable, and nothing makes sense anymore." She shudders. "I could be looking right at you, and… your antlers would just be long triangles that to me would have no association with the rest of you. I wouldn't see you, just the shapes that make you each as their own senseless thing. It's… I-It's terrifying…"
Her vision swims a bit, and she closes her eyes as a few shapes start closing in on her peripherals. "That day… t-that was my first real incident with derealization. I stopped seeing the game, stopped seeing the players, just… shapes. Reality made no sense, and I was so…. So scared…" Bea practically pulls Mae into her lap. She takes a deep breath to try and calm herself more. "When Andy threw the ball, all I saw was a circle suddenly get a lot bigger, really fast, and scare me even more. I panicked and got defensive, and attacked the next thing I saw move towards me. And… it just happened to be him."
She sighs. "I've had a few incidents since. A few at college, which caused me to drop out, because… I still didn't understand it, and I was terrified of myself. Then the stuff with the cult started, and I started derealizing even more. I thought I'd be safe if I came home, where everything was familiar. But I wasn't…" A few tears leak free through her closed eyes, but he quickly steels herself. "S-So yeah… you, Andy Cullen, and I guess the world now, can know what really happened that day. I… I don't think it's really excused, either. I still did it. And I don't know how he's recovered from it. Probably not well. All I can do is move forward, take my pills, and try my damnedest to be better than I was that day. I-I doubt I'd hurt anyone during an episode now anyway. I, uh…" She chuckles nervously. "I'm much more likely to hurt myself during them now than anyone else."
Dahlia is slack-jawed for a few moments, but slowly manages to pick herself back up. "That is… wow. That's quite the answer. I came here already informed about the derealization thanks to Jackie, but your insight in the matter is incredible. You've clearly put a good deal of thought into that day, and what your condition means."
Mae nods shakily. "Y-yeah… I have. And uh… I guess he's probably gonna hear what I say here today. No idea if he remotely wants anything to do with me, or anything I have to say, but… I'm sorry. I know I can't fix what I did to you, or anything that's come of it, but… I'm doing everything I can to make sure I stay healthy and in my right mind so nothing like that can ever happen again. I doubt you'll ever forgive me, but… maybe I need someone to stay pissed at me to keep me on the right path."
Bea shakes her head. "Mmm… Nah. You just need me."
"… Ok, I'll give you that."
Dahlia hums contently as the tense atmosphere eases just a bit. "Well, that brings us to our final question. Something admittedly just as personal for all of you." She slowly leans forward. "Who was Casey Hartley?"
Silence falls as they all look to each other, and Mae waves to Gregg to take the lead. He sits up and takes a moment to compose himself. "He was… the dearest friend any of us could ask for. His family was a mess and he was always dirt poor, but he ambitious. He always wanted to do more with his life, and didn't care what anyone told him he couldn't do."
Angus chuckles softly. "He was the one to bring us misfits together and help us feel we belonged anywhere. He could do that with anyone, and push them to really be themselves, when they couldn't with anyone else."
"He was quiet chaos." Bea snorts. "Mae and Gregg were practically his hands, and they pulled so many pranks and stunts that he planned, just because they could. He made a town that was dull as hell at least a little interesting."
Mae nods and smiles softly. "He was family without blood. An inspiration. He wanted nothing more than to get the hell out of that town, and…" She sighs deeply. "… He never got that chance. He was desperate and helped his uncle for some dirty money, hoping it'd help him get out faster. The cult saw that, and… they decided he should be their next sacrifice. Someone they thought nobody would miss."
Selma shakes her head. "I didn't even really know the guy well, and I can still say they were wrong. Casey was an icon to our generation in that shit town."
Mae nods and slowly looks up, staring Dahlia right in the eyes with pure conviction. "And that's the biggest thing Night in the Woods is really about. It's Casey. Living his dream and taking him with us. Because he'll always be here, as long as we keep playing and never forget."
Dahlia can't manage to stop just a few tears from leaking free, no matter how professional she's trying to be. "W-Well, that is… an excellent goal. And I hear your last song tonight, the one you're recording here, is dedicated to him."
Mae nods and peeks around to the rest of the band. "Casey wrote it himself, and he brought us together to begin with. It's all for him, and always will be."
"I'm sure your fans will hold you to that." Dahlia grins. "Well, thanks you for speaking with me tonight, I think we should wrap this up here, right?" She stands and turns to the audience. "Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Night in the Woods!"
The crowd cheers, the Borowskis holler, Jen hopping over the rest of the crowd, and Mr. Myers is grinning ear to ear as Law scampers around up above triple-checking the cameras.
As the band returns to their instruments, they look to one another and take a few deep breaths. Mae wipes a few tears away roughly, but Bea takes her hand and whispers. "You need us to stall for a few?"
"No… no, I'm ready." She smiles. "No shapes, no panic… we've got this." She peeks around to Gregg, Angus, and Selma. "For Casey."
