Disclaimer: Listen, if I was Kevin Williamson or Paul Stupin or whoever else, would I be writing fanfic and posting it on the internet? NOPE! So now that you know that I'm not Kevin or Paul (or whoever now owns DC), I'm presuming that you can *guess* that I don't own DC. Please don't sue me. I only have about $3 in total anyway. It wouldn't be worth it. Author's Note: This starts sometime during the summer before senior year. Joey and Pacey are on True Love, and... well... read on to see what happens. This is, actually, a future fic. Only the prologue is set in the present. Feedback: I love feedback! Seeing that I don't make money from this, and don't get rewarded in any other way, feedback is my reward. Send me SOMETHING! I spend time which I could spend reading other people's fanfic writing this, so I need to know what you think of it! Please, please, please??? [email protected]
Tempest - Introduction: Calm After The Storm?
Five years later... ANDIE MCPHEE "I have a particually stuffed up past - despite the fact that I've turned out to be a rather successful person. I went back to the same institution that I'd been to twice before after Pacey and Joey's death. I was seventeen at the time. Joey's death didn't effect me that much. I guess that was because I had to deal with Pacey's death at the same time. "I haven't heard from anyone in Capeside since. That's probably because that's how I wanted it. I left the institution ten months later, and changed my name and my identity. I'm now known as Sasha Philanne. Don't ask me why I picked that name. I don't even know myself! "I do miss all my old friends, but I have no desire to run into them again. Too many painful memories. As I once told Pacey; 'I have my life in order and I intend on doing everything I can to keep it that way. I have a plan.' Ok, so that plan didn't exactly work out, but I'm perfectly happy to co-own a successful chain of book stores called 'OBMUD BOOKS'. There is a reason for the peculiar name, but I'm not going to tell you. It's one of the many mysteries that come along with Sasha Philanne. "Solve them. That's a challenge for you to complete."
JACK MCPHEE "Hey! I'm David Hewant. Twenty-three years old and extremely happy. A bit too happy for someone who just lost their job four days ago. "You see the thing is... I have a wonderful boyfriend. Yes, a boyfriend. I'm gay and loving it. "James. he's everything I ever hoped for and more. I'm comfortable with who I am when I'm around him. I used to be scared of it. "He's a part-time drag queen. You know, he dresses up only at nights - usually anyway. He often begs me to give it a go. I've dressed up once, but we didn't make it out the door. I was laughing too much. But I wasn't the only one to blame. He was in hysterics! "I met James two years ago while I was on the rebound. My boyfriend of six months had fallen for another guy. I went to a gay bar, in search of a one night stand. The last thing I wanted was commitment, so I lied about my name. I probably lied about a lot of other stuff too. I wouldn't remember - I was kinda drunk. "James had also just been dumped. But, unlike me, he wasn't there to pick up. He was drowning his sorrows in his bottomless beer glass. "I bumped into him again at the same bar a week later and he kept calling me 'Daniel'. At first I was confused, but then I realized that he was the same guy who I'd chatted to last week. I finally got around to officially changing my name when I realized that things between us were VERY serious. "I started a whole new life with him in Boston and never looked back. "James says that the important thing is that I can honestly say that I have no regrets. "I can."
JEN LINDLEY "I've been through so many personality changes in my lifetime. It's not funny! "When I was fourteen I was a total slut. I felt like I was just there to be passed around then kicked to the curb. I hated it, but I didn't try to stop it. I didn't believe that I was strong enough. That was, until I moved to Capeside. "I cleaned up a little, but it didn't last. I let myself slip back into my old routine. I had already been chucked out of my house in New York, but it was suprisingly more heartbreaking to be chucked out by my Grams - twice , in fact. "The first time was after Abby Morgan's funeral. I said a lot of stuff which was really inappropriate to say at the time. As a matter of fact, they were pretty inappropriate for any time at all! "The second time was a little more complicated. I guess I kinda missed out the part in which two of my closest friends died. Not to mention the fact that this happened a week before I found out that my boyfriend, Henry, had been cheating on me. Damn them for having cheerleaders at football camp! So anyway... I was obviously really depressed. I hated myself for letting all these people get so close to me. So, once again, I let myself drift back into my old ways. "Of course, this just made me hate myself even more than I did before. I needed to escape from Capeside. To escape all these people who had hurt me. To escape all these people who I had hurt back. "Paris. I'd always dreamed of going to Paris. I never would've admitted it to anyone back then. It's too cliched. It's too sappy and cheesy for Jen Lindley. "But I'm not Jen Lindley anymore. I'm Ashleigh Lyttle. I got married when I was twenty (that was two years ago) to a wonderful man, who I love more than I ever thought possible. Jean-Luc Lyttle. He's fully aware of every aspect of my past. He knows that I was once Jen Lindley: out of control slut. He's ok with it, and he respects me for telling him. Knowing that I don't have to lie to him about any of it is a great relief. "When I first came to Paris it was only meant to be temporary. You know, a short getaway. But when I met Jean-Luc I knew that there was no place I'd rather be. "Our baby's due in one month and three days. Jean-Luc's hoping for a girl. I'm hoping for a boy. Funny, isn't it? Isn't the mother supposed to want a daughter and the father supposed to want a son? Oh well, it doesn't matter, because either way, we're both on top of the world. "We own a small cafe on the outskirts of Paris. It's the same place in which we first met. About three months before our wedding we saw that it was for sale, and I jokingly suggested that we should buy it. I can't believe he took me seriously! For his wedding gift to me he gave me an envelope. I was wondering what the hell it was, and I opened it, and out came the papers for the shop! I couldn't believe it! We're not that rich, but we're comfortable with what we earn. Jean-Luc does artwork in his spare time. For my twenty-second birthday he gave me a huge oil-painting of me splashing around in the water at the beach in a flowing pale blue dress. My hair was flying everywhere, and my belly was sticking way out. Well what did you expect? I was nearly seven months pregnant at the time! "I love my life now, and I hope that all memories of Capeside remain just that - memories. "Au revoir!"
DAWSON LEERY "Ok, let's make this quick. I'm booked for Britney Spears' wedding in two hours. It's just a small private wedding with only her closest family and friends. For the first time in her life she isn't looking for publicity! "Why am I going to Britney Spears' wedding? I'm a photographer! Not a particually bad one either! "Ok, so maybe it's not what I always dreamed of doing, but I'm happy with it. "I always used to dream of being a film maker. My idol was Steven Spielberg. I guess that kinda explains my on-the-job name: Steve Torpet. I never officially changed it, so if someone wanted to track me down then they could. I don't see why they'd bother. After a while, having two names became confusing, so I just stuck to being Steve. "I've been back to Capeside a couple of times, but I usually try to stay the hell away because the memories that remain there are really painful. "You see, when I was seventeen, my supposed soulmate ran off with my best friend. Joey and Pacey. They left Capeside on Pacey's boat, 'True Love'. "About a month after they left there was a horrific storm. They were both killed. They probably died in each others' arms. "My life went spinning out of control after that. Ha! And I thought that I had problems before that summer! All my friends and I rapidly drifted apart. Andie McPhee had to go back to a mental institution for the third time in her life. Jen Lindley reverted back to her old ways, then, one day she just mysteriously packed up and left. She never told anyone where to. Jack and I just drifted apart, not that we were particually close in the first place. "My biggest regret is that Joey and Pacey died believing that I hated them. I've never managed to forgive myself for that. I should've just swallowed my pride and given them my forgiveness. That way they could've stayed in Capeside rather than running away, and that way they'd still be alive today."
JOEY POTTER "Hi, I'm Natalie Evoleurt. I wasn't born with either that christian name or that surname. My name used to be Joey Potter, but if I went up to anyone and told them that then they'd probably laugh loudly in my face and say something along the lines of, 'You should respect the dead, Natalie.' "I hate thinking about the past, but I guess I have no choice. The past is painful. It hurts too much to think about. But I will. It's the only way that anyone could possibly understand me. "The thing is - I don't want anyone to understand me! The only person who ever truly understood me hurt me SO badly! I know that it wasn't his fault, and that he would never have meant to hurt me, but he did. "Pacey Witter. The only person who ever truly understood me. He was killed in the same storm that killed Joey Potter. "So maybe I didn't truly die. SO WHAT?! Everyone thinks that I did. It was so easy to fake my death. Pacey died, so everyone just believed that I died alongside him. "Why did I do it? I can tell you exactly why I did it! I knew that I wouldn't be able to deal with everyone's pity, so I simply didn't return home. Home being Capeside. "It's funny, really. I always used to say that I wanted to get the hell out of Capeside and never return. Well, Joey did get the hell out of Capeside and never returned. As for me... well I can't say that I have that much self restraint. I stayed out of Capeside for two years, but after that I just couldn't stop myself. I needed to visit Pacey's graveside. I needed to finally say goodbye. I just wanted to place a bunch of flowers near the empty coffin that represented him. I wanted to say goodbye once and for all. I wanted to be able to move on with my life. "It didn't work. I found myself driving back towards Capeside's cemetary in the middle of the night, EVERY fortnight. I didn't mean to make a habit of it, but no matter how hard I tried to convince myself not to go, I always found myself driving down the exact same route. "My grave is six rows behind Pacey's. I found that out purely by chance. I guess they don't put them in order. I was wondering how many other people had lost the only thing in their life that truly mattered. Each row has seventeen tombstones in it. Pacey's was the sixteenth in his row. Mine was the fifteenth. I never really understood why they didn't put our graves beside one another. "I was counting aloud. Ironically, the weather wasn't that bad. There was no wind, and it was quite warm, despite the fact that there was a slight drizzle of rain. Not the typical thunder, lightning, strong wind and extremely heavy rain that you're supposed to have in the ultra-spooky cemetary scene. "I saw this one grave which had lots of fresh slowers on it. I sighed, knowing that this person had been loved very much. I hope that Pacey would've done the same for me if that had been possible. "I read the tombstone. 'Natalie Tewich, Born: September 14th, 1962. Died: October 27th, 1988. The ocean is like my love for you. Seatch as hard as you like, but you will never come to an ending. I will never forget you. From your beloved Bill.' "Natalie. Bill. The ocean. Living for exactly twenty-six years. I knew exactly who this was. Bill saved my life. Sometimes I wish he hadn't. Life without Pacey is like Earth without air. They're both necessary. "I traced Natalie's name with my fingertip, letting out a couple of choked sobs which I'd been desperately trying to hold in. "Something to my left caught my eye. A single daffodil. "Daffodils. During our first stop off during our vacation, Pacey and I frolicked around in a huge grass field. We ran around like little kids. We tackled each other, then we made-out for a while. At the far end of the field there were several daffodils. Pacey picked one and tucked it behind my ear. That's when he first actually told me to my face that he loved me. "I looked over at the tombstone. 'You will always be loved but never be forgotten,' I read silently. Not exactly the most original thing to say, but sweet none the less. I looked up at the name. 'Josephine Potter,' I read, not really taking it in. I started to turn away, but my head suddenly snapped back to face it. I practically had a breakdown right then and there. I screamed. I cried. I swore. I even kicked the tombstone a couple of times. "As soon as I screamed, a couple of headlights flashed on and the rusty old bomb of a car which they belonged to made a rapid, extremely noisy exit. My emotions were already on overdrive. This REALLY wasn't what I needed right now. A million possibilities of who that could've been ran through my head. Someone had seen me. Someone had quite possibly been watching me. Did they know me? Had they recognised me? "I ran from the cemetary like a bat out of hell. I LITERALLY leapt into my car and slammed the door as hard as I could. I jammed my foot down on the accelerator before I was even properly in the car! I sped away at brake-neck speed. Thank god there were no police officers around. If there had been then I'd most likely be telling this story from my jail cell. "Two weeks later I found myself driving down the same damn road again! "If any of my clients found out about any of this then I'd be out of business SO fast! Psychiatrists and counsellors aren't meant to have similar problems to their patients. "Speaking of... I'd better get back to work soon. I've got a client coming in at 4:30. Bye."
PACEY WITTER "I, Pacey Witter, have problems. Problem one: My 'true love' was killed five years ago. Problem two: I didn't go to her funeral. Problem three: I can't tell any of my friends about it. Problem four: I only even have two friends! Problem five: I'm dead. Literally. "Ok, ok. One at a time, right? Well... here goes... "Firstly, Joey (my girlfriend at the time) was killed in a storm during the summer of 2000. I tried to find her and save her, but I failed. I guess I just wasn't worth fighting for. She wouldn't pull through for me. I miss her so much. I think about her all day long and dream about her all night. I never really recovered from her death. "Secondly, I have a very good reason for not going to her funeral! Everyone would've pitied me and given me all that crap that comes with people's deaths. I couldn't stand that. Dawson would've beat the crap out of me. I'm pretty sure that he blamed me for Joey's death. The trult awful thing is that I agree with him. I mean, I know that I didn't intentionally kill her or anything, but I still feel responsible for it. "Why can't I tell any of my friends about this? The answer's simple but it's not... if that makes sense. If I told them, then I'd have to explain how I ended up here. How could I tell them that everyone thinks I'm dead? I can't. So I won't. "Besides - I only have two real friends now. Because of my fake death, I had to lay low for a while. That 'while' turned into five years. I've lived in an old trailer all that time. I just parked it out in the middle of nowhere and worked nearby, pumping gas and serving coffee to spoiled old bastards who have no idea what's it's like to actually have to work to be able to stay alive. I've been saving up to buy a cabin or something out here, but considering the fact that I don't get paid much more than I did at Screenplay Video, it'll be a while... "Anyway... where was I? Oh! Right! My two friends... John and Chris. They're great guys. Both became my friends pretty much as soon as we met. John owns the pub down the road from where I work. It's actually a joint ownership. Him and his wife. Chris just works with me down at the gas station. We spend all our free day time together, but at night time we all go home separately and wallow in our misery. The guys haven't told me much about what makes them so damn depressed, but if they live in a place like this, something must've gone terribly wrong in their pasts. We don't really talk about it. All of us would much rather live in the present. I'm more than happy with that! I have absolutely NO intentions of digging up the past anytime soon. Matter of fact, I don't have any intentions of digging up the past - period! "All my old friends and family don't know that I'm alive. Quite literally . I just couldn't face everyone after the storm, so I left. Well, I'd already done the leaving part. What I really had to do was the staying away part. It was easier than I expected. I simply moved away, got a whole new look and changed my identity. I'm now known as Brett Younger. Not that many people know me anyway. You're probably thinking that I took the coward's way out. Well, maybe I did, but it's not like I can go back and fix it all now! What am I supposed to do? Stroll back into Capeside and go, 'Hey Dougie. Hey Bess. Hey Dawson. Hey McPhee. Hey Lindley. Hey Jackers. It's me, Pacey! Guess what? I've been alive this whole time, but I'm a wuss, so I didn't come back here and let you know that I was ok. I just decided to let you all grieve and suffer. Forgive me?' Nope... that wouldn't go down well at all. "I haven't actually managed to stay out of Capeside. Well... not at night, anyway. I have these 'nightly trips' to the graveyard every couple of weeks. "I know, I know. I can hear you yelling, 'Why the hell would you go to the graveyard in the middle of the night?!' Well... that's simple. To see Joey. No, not literally... but in a way. I need to put fresh flowers on her grave. Sometimes I put down a huge bunch of flowers which I buy on the way there. Sometimes it's a smaller bunch of something small and cute like pansies which I've picked from John's wife's garden. If she ever caught me she'd kill me. She's really proud of her garden. When I miss her the most I place down a single daffodil. But only on the nights that I get the feeling something's doing to happen. Usually I'm right. Usually something does happen. "I can't let her think that I've forgotten about her. "It's weird. When someone so close to you dies, you're supposed to feel that they're watching over you and protecting you. I never felt that. All I feel is pain. I know that Joey would've wanted me to make something of myself. She once warned me that I'd wind up 'at the Chevron station, where you'll probably going to be pumping gas for the rest of your natural born life.' Then she went on about what a bonehead I was. Damn! Sometimes I really wish that that woman hadn't been so smart! Anyway... I thought that she would continue to inspire me in death, just as she did in life. I thought that knowing she was looking down at me and watching me would make me feel the need to prove myself to everyone. "Now all I feel is empty."
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