Participants:
| Scene Title | Evo Hidey Hole |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Peyton calls Wendy for advice, gets an earful on Wendy's conspiracy theory and the benefits of Refrain |
| Date | August 3, 2009 |
Peyton lies on Gillian's bed, thinking about her power and her control. It seems so simple, yet so complicated all at the same time. But that's life, isn't it? It's almost like a high, the feeling she has — sort of pent up and agitated yet happy all at once. "Fuck, I need some pot," she thinks to herself before flopping over the bed and pulling her cell phone from her jeans pocket. She scrolls through names — all her celebrity friends who seem so far away, and even mundane now. She finally finds Wendy — damn her being at the end of the list with that W name and dials.
Life after refrain, after her day in the park and then back at her own place, is pretty… mundane in and of itself. Wendy's eyes land on the small miniscule mark left behind by the syringe with the luminescent blue drug. The memory of the experience itself is not lost, and not likely to be lost for a long time. So when Peyton calls, she's jolted out of her reverie and snaps up the phone. "Hello?"
"Wendy…" Peyton says, happy to have that link to her "own" life — even if she's only known Wendy for a short time. "How are you? I'm okay… in case you were wondering…" she isn't sure if Wendy was worried about her at all, and of course her own self-conscious need for people to care niggles at the back of her mind — maybe Wendy doesn't care. Maybe she's not her friend. Just someone to get drunk with.
"Oh my god! Finally! I kept calling your cellphone but I kept getting your fucking voicemail!" Wendy near screeches into the phone. Her sleeve pulled down and forgotten for now, she turns around to march to her studio area. "Where the fuck have you been! God, I was fucking freaked out thinking that you had been shot or something at the hospital on your way out!"
"I almost was — sorry, I had the phone off in the hospital and all, and never turned it on til now —" the phone beeps. "Ah, it's just finally told me I have missing messages. I'm sorry, Wen." She curls up on the bed. "Yeah, it was a nightmare. I actualy — Wendy, I saw from that guy's eyes, it all started when I was getting discharged. Some guy helped me out of there, but not before some asshole tried to shoot at us, I still don't even know why." Her voice is tremulous for just a moment before she swallows. "Anyway, I'm at some… hiding place. For Evos. The guy, he says sometimes people come and kidnap Evos and make them work for them, like spying and shit. I don't want to do that, Wendy!"
"Total, TOTAL BS pey. Come on, seriously? Whats to say that what he did wasn't some elaborate set up? He's gone and 'saved'" her fingers make the quotation marks "you from the hospital and now has you squirreled away somewhere that's safe for evo's. Right. Pey, that's crazy. That's banana's!"
Peyton frowns. She never thought about it that way. "I … I don't think so… some guy - that Adam Monroe guy, according to the news… he shot at us in the closet, and this guy Brian, he made clones, and one of them got hurt… I don't think it's all a set up. I think he believes it when he says it, but really why would anyone want me? I'm not… strong or powerful or anything like that." She rubs her eyes. They're tired from the exercises she was just doing, trying to improve her control. "No one's ever tried to get you to work for them, with your power, Wendy?"
'Why would anyne want you? Ohh, I dunno pey, maybe your TRUST FUND huh?" Wendy shakes her head, moving through the sealed buckets of clay. "Nope. No ones ever taken me, much less asked me. You think they would right, given who I am and what I can do. I mean, come on pey, just avoid the b rooklyn library and your fine. Want books, go to a bookstore or send someone else or do what I do on occasion, keep my registration card elsewhere on me instead of in my wallet. That way, god forbid, you ever DO end up like in the brooklyn library, you can pass over your wallet and purse and like, not get marked as an Evo"
"I've never been to the public library in my life, Wendy," Peyton says, finding that thought funny for some reason, though of course she knows it's not. "Fuck, I don't know what to do. I'm in this building that I guess is for people like me — scared Evos. Someone called me a … refugee." She shivers at the thought. "Listen, I'm going to try and see if I can see through your eyes — trying to practice the power so that … if something happens like the gunman the other day, I'm not stuck seeing those images again. It was … awful." Peyton picks at a thread on the comforter of Gillian's bed. "Is that okay? If I try?"
"Like, from where you are? Or are you like.. near me?" Curious and curious. "Uhh, sure! You can try! You try that, and when you like, get the fuck out of Evo safehouse prison, you can try something else that I found. What do you need me to do?"
"Anything… I can still talk while I do it. Just keep talking to me. What do you mean, try something else you found? And no, I'm not near you… I don't know if distance affects it or not…" she says, starting to concentrate on Wendy, thinking about what Wendy might be looking at, where she might be. "Just don't do anything gross, all right? It's kinda disorienting," she adds with a laugh.
"I'm in my studio, not running naked around my apartment" Wendy snorts. "I'll sit down and look at my art piece, how about that and you'll see. But it's this new designer drug out on the market, really new, it's called 'refrain'. I got my hands on some the other night and fuuuck Pey, it's so god damned … great"
Peyton's eyes lose their focus and she finds herself in Wendy's studio, looking at the strangely surreal sculpture. She rubs her eyes, not sure she's seeing it right. "Put your hand in front of your face? I can't… not sure my focus is right. That's your art piece? Trying to make sense of things…" she says with a shake of her head. "Refrain? Never heard of it. What's it do?"
A manicured hand slides into view then back out, then back again once more. "Injectible. That's the downside, but god, good thing your evo it only works on evo's. But happy memories, good memories pey, it brings them to the surface and fuck, makes them twenty times better. I can't explain it better than that except, I wanna hit up rapture and find the dealer again so I can get some more. Leave that hideout, come with me. Fuck them and thier safe house, probably want to use you. I'll help you register and you can try the Refrain too"
"Okay, I see your hand, things make more sense now," Peyton murmurs before it all blurs and her own room comes back into focus. "Oh, fuck my head…" she groans. "Pushed it too far for the day I guess." She reaches over to turn off the light next to her, to dim the glare in her sore eyes. "What'd you see when you took it, Wendy? I don't know - I mean… the last time I was out of it, all sorts of crazy shit happened. But it sounds like a blast."
"Fuck I saw like… god, so much Pey. When I sold my first art piece, so great. it's like.. I just laid there, all blissed out. Fuck heroin or anything else Pey, this is the shit. It's a little pricy but, cheaper than heroin and I don't think you can overdose. That doctor Cong who was like in the papers and on Larry King? He's got something to do with it"
Peyton's a little quiet. What would her best experience be? Getting into her first club? Her first happy trip? Kissing her first rock star? Making out with the movie star she'd had a crush on since she was 12? Nothing significant. Nothing as meaningful as creating art or whatever Wendy experienced. "Sounds like a blast," she says, a little huskily. "I'll think about it, Wendy… not sure I can handle giving up everything, you know? Tonight though I'm going to crash - I have an awful headache all of a sudden."
"Pey, what do you mean give up everything?" There's confusion in her voice.
"I… I don't know. There's some women giving people papers, documents, with fake names and stuff like that. Brian says that I can't go back home, that people will come and scoop me up off the street. But when I asked about getting my money from the bank, he said we could do that… wouldn't that leave a trail for anyone looking for me? But he said it was safe. Just not… for a long time." She leans back on her bed, tears starting to slide out from the corners of her closed, tired eyes. "I don't think I can be me if I stay with them. I think I have to pretend I'm someone else."
"…."
There's silence across the line before Wendy just sighs. "Fuck Pey, he take syou from the hospital, 'saves' you from people who are shooting up a hospital, tosses you in this evo hidey hole and won't let you go access your money, will go do it himself Fuck pey. Get the fuck out of there. I'll go get my car outta the garage and come pick you the fuck up, but right now, i'd sya the only people who are snatching you up and making you disappear and using your ability? That'd be this fucker who wants you to hand over your money pey"
"He didn't go to get my money, he just said we could, Wendy… but we didn't today. Just got coffee and a bagel. I can't think on it anymore today, though. My head is killing me." Suddenly there's a knock at the door, and Peyton glances up. "Someone's at the door. I'll call you tomorrow, okay?" she asks.
'You better Pey, you better call me. If not, I'll rip the fucking city apart for this evo hidey hole" Wendy warns. "Get some pills for your head"
"Yeah. I wish I had some vicodin. Talk to you soon, Wen," Pey murmurs quietly, and pushes the red hangup button.