basking in the truth of it all-peyton

[NATALIE ROSE OWENS]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style, background-color:#f4f4f4; width:400px; padding:8px; border: 8px solid #9b6464;] she‘s had all she can take SOMETHING’S GOTTA MAKE ME FEEL ALIVE. I DON‘T KNOW WHERE IT IS BUT SOMETHING‘S GOTTA GIVE Two months, one week and two days. Six-nine days. One thousand six hundred forty nine hours. Ninety-eight thousand nine hundred forty minutes. Five million nine hundred thirty-six thousand four hundred seconds. That’s how long it had been since the night of the fair. More precisely, since she had been taken from the church. Yes, Natalie counted. Natalie was terrified for her life. She couldn’t even return to school until about a week into November and even then she had a breakdown when someone accidentally bumped into her. If people didn’t think she was a freak before for being the pastor’s daughter, they thought that now. She was so skittish. Natalie couldn’t even go to her volunteer work anymore because she was afraid of driving alone. When not at school she was by her father’s side or a friend of the family’s. At night she slept with some sort of light and sound going. Her father even broke down and got her a small television for her room that provided both light and noise. It was the only way Natalie slept at night. If you could call it that. She often tossed around as nightmares of that night racked her brain. What also confused her is what happened after that Skylar person set fire and jumped off the boat. She had some fuzzy images in her mind. She knew someone got her off that boat but not who it was. And someone had told her Peyton Malone had found her on the shore which mean whoever got her off the boat wasn’t the one who grabbed her. She knew because she had been burned pretty badly. One on her shoulder and on her hip that went down her thigh. So that means whoever pulled her out at least had their clothes singed. Her own sweater was gone which explains the burn on her shoulder because there was a tank top underneath. Apparently the one on her leg was because there was a small fire in the galley but she was in shock so she didn’t even feel it. Whoever grabbed her put it out before carrying her out. And the water put out the flame on her shoulder which is why that scar wasn’t that bad. On her thigh she was pretty embarrassed about. Today was her first day going somewhere without her father, though he was still along the same street. Natalie was looking at some of the booths while she waited for the parade to start, her body tense. She clung onto the strap of her bag, wringing it while she often looked over her shoulder. Another habit of hers. There was a light blanket of snow on the ground that her boots crunched on. The earthy ground still poked through the covering of white dusting. She stopped at a booth to grab some hot chocolate, her hands gripping the cup as she went to walk away. The kept herself as small as possible in the sense of pulling her arms in close as she looked at a selection of handmade jewelry. Natalie was hoping this day would go by quickly. Her therapist suggested this since it was during the day and a lot of people around so it’s not like she would ever be really alone per say. She knew she had to take this step at some point so why not today? tagged !

[/b] peyton outfit ![/b] click
notes ![/b] pretty excited about this :][/div]

this lovely template was made by Arro from Caution 2.0 and features lyrics belonging to the oh so amazing LeAnn Rimes. please leave all of this credit stuff in tact and leave a link for Miss Roro here if you are going to be using this anywhere. Thank you, loves!

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[peyton]

Time had flown since the night of the fair. The citizens of Hope Harbor had attempted to move on with their lives, trying to forget the chaos that shook the town so abruptly and prominently that night. While most of the town was frightened into pretending that it hadn't been vandalized with threatening messages, Peyton noticed a change within the general atmosphere of Hope Harbor. There was an unspoken tension within the town and its people. The inhabitants seemed to have become more conservative, minding their own business while the glancing nervously over their shoulders as they attempted to go about their day to day business.

Peyton understood that the townspeople were disturbed by Hope Harbor's disruptions, but what frustrated Peyton the most was that a significant amount of people seemed to neglect the fact that Natalie Owens had been kidnapped and almost murdered the same night the messages had been stained on various structures and objects downtown. It more than frustrated her, it also made her all the more determined to remind people of the realities that they were faced with – the most obvious one being that Natalie had almost died and the culprit still had yet to be caught.

It was the Christmas season and Peyton was far from being in the festive mood. However, watching the Christmas parade had been a tradition that Peyton and her family had participated in each year since she was a little girl. Being a tradition that had been encouraged by her mother, Peyton felt obligated to continue the tradition – despite her brother being MIA and her father being too busy with the family business.

Before the parade commenced, Peyton found herself browsing the various stalls that were positioned down the street. Naturally, she had been drawn to the stalls containing second hand books first, but gradually made her way to various jewellery stalls in hopes of picking up some interesting trinkets. Among the crowd, a familiar face came into view. The face was revealed to be Natalie's as she angled her head to glance nervously behind her shoulder. Peyton hesitated for a moment before approaching Natalie – and the stall she was browsing – with care.

"Hey Nat." She greeted her friend warmly, her voice shaking a little from the nerves that had slowly begun to emerge. Peyton had visited Natalie at the hospital after the night she had called the ambulance and remained with her until her father had arrived. Since her visits to the hospital, Peyton had barely seen Natalie – who seemed to always be accompanied by her father these days – she was surprised to see Natalie alone at the parade.

[NATALIE ROSE OWENS]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style, background-color:#f4f4f4; width:400px; padding:8px; border: 8px solid #9b6464;] she‘s had all she can take SOMETHING’S GOTTA MAKE ME FEEL ALIVE. I DON‘T KNOW WHERE IT IS BUT SOMETHING‘S GOTTA GIVE When she heard Peyton’s voice, Natalie tensed up for a moment. It was a fairly natural reaction when anyone besides her father came around her. She gripped at the bracelet she was looking at tightly before she set it down. ”Hey Peyton…” she ventured out. Once upon a time the two girls got along really well. They were actually pretty close but then Peyton’s mom died the other girl had withdrawn from Natalie. Natalie tried to reach out and be there for her as she understood the feeling but it was to no avail. One could only try so long before they accepted defeat. Occasionally they saw one another in town but that was about it. Even then that was rare as Natalie was so busy with school and her volunteer work while Peyton. Well, Natalie had been busy with those things. Lately not so much. She as trying to get back into the things she used to enjoy but it was proving difficult. When one withdrew as deeply as she had, just jumping back in was hard. Now, everything was different. Even things with Peyton felt different. The Malone girl had been there for Natalie until her father arrived. Even rode with her in the ambulance which must have been hard. There had been a few moments when Natalie was very aware of everything going on-that she was confined in a vehicle with a bunch of people she didn’t know. The scream she had let out was blood curdling. Mixed with sobs and coughing from inhaling smoke and water, those moments until she was sedated had to be torture for those in the ambulance. Screams bouncing off metal walls? Still, having a kind face to look at helped. Whenever someone new, even a doctor, wanted near Natalie she would cry. The sedation was only mild as they needed her alert for certain things. She may not have been able to cry out but the trauma had still been there and every touch just made things worse. Knowing there was someone there that she knew, even if they were no longer close, and that she had found Natalie eased things slightly. Natalie turned so half her body was angled at Peyton though she kept a bit of a distance as she did with most people. ”H-h-how are y-you do-doing?” Was stuttered out meekly. Trying to be here in this crowd alone was making her more anxious then she wanted. Much longer and she might need her pills that helped calm her down. They were carried with her everywhere and she had even gotten special permission to carry them in her bag at school. Just no one aside from Natalie’s teachers could know about them. Her eyes did another quick scan. Now a days, anyone with a black hoodie pulled up instantly sent her shaking in nerves. It could be a rainy day and that person’s only protection from getting soaked and she would still freak out. Hopefully one day she could move on from this and be slightly normal. At least as normal as one could be after being kidnapped. tagged !

[/b] peyton outfit ![/b] click
notes ![/b] sorry for the kind of ‘eh‘ post ><[/div]

this lovely template was made by Arro from Caution 2.0 and features lyrics belonging to the oh so amazing LeAnn Rimes. please leave all of this credit stuff in tact and leave a link for Miss Roro here if you are going to be using this anywhere. Thank you, loves!

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[peyton]

In all honesty, being around Natalie made Peyton nervous. She had always been rather timid before she went through her own ordeal – which was something that Peyton had gotten used to over the years – but now Natalie and her state of mind was very unpredictable. She noticed that the smallest thing would make Natalie tense up and that she was incredibly cautious and intimidated in most situations. Honestly, Peyton couldn't blame her. After that terrible night, she found even herself becoming more aware of what was occurring around her, paranoid that something dreadful would jump out of nowhere and turn her world upside down once more.

Despite being nervous of Natalie's temperament, Peyton found herself determined not to give up on her like some of the other citizens of Hope Harbor had done. She tended to tread carefully with her, but she wanted Natalie to know that she was there for her if she needed a friend. When her mother died, Peyton had distanced herself from those around her. Unfortunately, one of those people had been Natalie, the person that she had viewed as the little sister she never had over the years. After everything that had happened, Peyton knew that it was time to reach out again.

"Eh. You know, same old. Paranoid like everyone else in this town." Peyton said nonchalantly in response to Natalie's question, her lips curving into a toothless smile as she attempted to add light upon the situation. "The real question is: how are you?" She asked, turning serious as her features filled with concern. "You're doing really well coming here alone, you know." She added, smiling reassuringly.

[NATALIE ROSE OWENS]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style, background-color:#f4f4f4; width:400px; padding:8px; border: 8px solid #9b6464;] she‘s had all she can take SOMETHING’S GOTTA MAKE ME FEEL ALIVE. I DON‘T KNOW WHERE IT IS BUT SOMETHING‘S GOTTA GIVE Natalie nodded slowly. Yes, she knew what Peyton meant. Natalie probably knew better then anyone else about being paranoid. The slightest sounds made her jump out of her skin nowadays. She avoided the statement before she lashed out and gazed down at some hand sewn items some women had done. Her hands fiddled with a small pillow as she half heartedly shrugged. She cleared her throat, finding her strength again. ”There are bad days and there are better ones.” Natalie wasn’t sure how to act around Peyton. They were once friends then they weren’t. Natalie had made peace with that but now things were weird. Peyton had stayed with her all the way until her father came then visited her. Natalie wasn’t sure if she was doing it out of pity or because she cared. No, Natalie wasn’t blind to the stares some people gave her. Like she was broken. In a sense she was but seeing it in other people’s eyes didn’t help. None of them talked to her the same way but in all fairness she didn’t talk the same way either. The lightness in her tone was completely gone. Only a shell of the girl who was there before remained. Dark circles clung under her eyes, visible even through the minimal make-up she wore. The normally modest girl took even more care to make sure she was completely covered up. She didn’t like feeling even a little exposed. They hadn’t assaulted her sexually but something even as simple as being taken left one feeling vulnerable. She hated that feeling. It was one she wanted gone but it wouldn’t fade away as quickly as she hoped. ”Thanks.” Natalie rubbed at her arm through her jacket and sweater. ”It’s hard, not having my dad around but I-I’m trying.” She found subjects where she felt like some part of her was exposed she tended to stumble over more. Letting anyone into how she really felt outside her father and the therapist was hard. Natalie squeezed at her arm and then released, repeating that pattern three times to calm the nerves she felt building up. ”So, uh, what have y-you been up to lately?” Natalie was terrible at small talk but would try. If anything, having Peyton around was helpful. All Natalie had to do was try to get out there without her father around. Nothing was said about talking to an old friend. tagged !

[/b] peyton outfit ![/b] click
notes ![/b] sorry for the kind of ‘eh‘ post ><[/div]

this lovely template was made by Arro from Caution 2.0 and features lyrics belonging to the oh so amazing LeAnn Rimes. please leave all of this credit stuff in tact and leave a link for Miss Roro here if you are going to be using this anywhere. Thank you, loves!

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