refusedtocall | made the skyline look like crooked teeth

She's not in shock, not really. At least, Carla Jean doesn't think that's the case, no matter how normal she knows it's supposed to be after a situation like this. Shooting and killing a man doesn't come without its consequences, after all, even when it's entirely necessary, even when there's a bizarre sort of satisfaction in it. Still, she thinks she can deal with seeing Chigurh's lifeless body when she closes her eyes and knowing that she's the one responsible for that, and with the accompanying mess of emotions (she'd thought it would feel better than this). It's the whole sequence of events that has her thrown for a loop. There might be something strangely appropriate about showing up in an entirely different place after having killed Chigurh, just as she showed up somewhere new after he'd killed her, but it's a hell of a lot to process at once. Months of worrying she might be losing her mind have finally come to an end, a sensation that would be enough to leave her stunned in its own right. Being in a place that's totally unfamiliar on top of that just makes it all the more difficult.

The same could have been said of the island, of course, but that wasn't like this. Even if its small community was still dissimilar to the Texas towns where she spent her whole life, it was quiet in a way she was accustomed to, at least most of the time. A city like this is foreign territory, nothing like she's ever seen in person before and a hell of a lot more daunting than she'd care to admit. At least she isn't on her own here, though. Having been found by Kate was more relieving than she'd care to admit, and hearing from her that there are others who remember being on the island was, too. It doesn't make trying to find her footing here any less strange, though.

She'll have to, at some point, go out and get clothes, groceries, all the other essentials like that; she'll have to find herself a job, too, though having some money in the meantime is reassuring. For now, though, she has more immediate concerns. Finding a corner store to duck into for a pack of cigarettes isn't too difficult, at least, even if the price is boggling enough that she nearly reconsiders. A lot's changed from 1980 to now, it seems, in ways that are a lot clearer here than they were on the island. She gives in, though, already taking one out of the pack to light on her way out the door, thinking as she does about how much Llewelyn would hate it. He never was a fan of the habit; she never cared, and she especially doesn't now.

Rather than going to the apartment that she knows is supposed to be waiting for her, she instead heads back out to the beach after. It's a far cry from the one she just lived near, but she thinks she likes that a little better. If nothing else, she thinks the air might help her clear her head, anyway. Instead of the quiet she'd been expecting, though, she finds a familiar face when she gets out there, and thinks that might just be better. "Hey, Harley."

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"Carla Jean?"

I come down to the beach sometimes for no real reason. It's not far from work. I guess it's kind of comforting, a reminder of the old days back on the island. There isn't too much there I miss, but when I was there, it was good. Now, though, just about the last piece of the puzzle comes walking up, and I don't know what to think.

I just stare at her, slack-jawed, bewildered, not sure if she's in my head or not.

"You know anyone else who looks like me and knows your name?" Carla Jean asks wryly, brow raising. She's sure that's not what it is, of course, that it has to be pretty surprising, when from what she's gathered, time is all screwed up. Regardless, even after a night like the one she's had — or maybe especially — it's easier not to get too sentimental, at least for the moment. Still fairly shaken, she can't guarantee that will remain the case. "Just got here a little while ago."

"Shit," I say, breaking into a grin as I walk toward her. I wasn't expecting to see her today, but I'm never expecting this shit when it happens. At least for once the surprise is a good one. That's not exactly the norm in my experience.

"Took you long enough. I've been here half a fuckin' year already."

"If I could've gotten here sooner, I would've," Carla Jean says with a shake of her head, though she can't help her own smile at that. Under any other circumstances, she's sure she would never have chosen somewhere like this for herself, the setting already leaving her feeling too out of place, but Kate and Harley both being here, and having been for so long, makes that a different story. They're the closest thing she has to family now, after all, and though she never lost them on the island, it's still nice to have them all in the same place. "Though apparently it's a year later than it was for me back there."

I'm gonna kill Kate for not texting me just this once. Or, fuck, maybe she did, I don't know. I always forget to check that shit. For all I know, the battery's dead. I don't care enough to check, though. After a moment of hesitation, I pull Carla Jean toward me in a hug, once she's close enough for that, hand curling briefly in her hair before I step back again. We're not touchy-feely people, but it's been too fucking long since I was last around her to ignore the desire to hold her just for a second, like I can't be sure she's real until I've felt her presence, solid and whole.

"Same old bullshit," I tell her, shaking my head, "time being all fucked. You didn't miss too much."

Other than that shit with me and Kate, but I'm grateful for that as soon as I think of it. I don't need Carla Jean knocking me upside the head for it. I already know it was dumb as hell.

Even after a day as fucking harrowing as this one has been, Carla Jean finds it easier than she would have even expected to relax after Harley pulls her close, returning the embrace until he steps back. It's not as if she's had cause to miss Harley or Kate, has only just seen them both, but even so, she wouldn't have wanted this to work out any other way, wouldn't have wanted to show up to only be surrounded by strangers. There's comfort in it, even if she never had to deal with anything else. Between that and having taken care of Chigurh herself, knowing that she wasn't just going crazy all those months, she finally feels like things might just be working out alright.

"Well, at least there's that," she says, smile widening slightly. "Would've hated for y'all to be havin' too much fun without me."

I snort and shake my head. "You don't have to worry about that," I say dryly. Things have been alright at best. I don't like the city, but I don't have to live in it either, hiding out by the woods. I don't like my job, but I've never liked any job I had. That's not the point of one. And Kate and I have only barely started talking again, but that just means we got to miss out on Carla Jean knocking us both upside our heads. "Kate show you where you're staying?"

"With her," Carla Jean replies, exhaling a laugh. How that could possibly have happened, she doesn't know — and honestly, if she thinks too much about it, it's pretty goddamn unnerving — but she has to say that it's better than what the alternative would have been. She'd already just moved in with Kate back on the island anyway, and in a place like this, a setting so entirely unfamiliar to her, she isn't sure she would want to be on her own. Besides, though she feels more composed than shaken, like she's finally resolved something, a weight off her shoulders, the idea of going to an empty apartment by herself wouldn't sit quite as well with her. "Guess someone figured we lived together already, so we might as well do so here, too."

"Shit, really?" I don't think I've heard of that happening to anyone else, but I haven't been paying too much attention to that kind of thing anyway. "Works out, I guess. I'll have to show you where I am sometime, out by the woods." I'm a hell of a lot more comfortable there than I am here on a city street. I don't feel so bad leaving Elvis at home either. He's alright to wander around the forest nearby, but I don't feel safe letting him out in the city alone.

"Yeah, you will," Carla Jean says, nodding in agreement. Out by the woods sounds pretty nice, actually, though her living arrangements make being in the city more appealing than it would otherwise be. It all still feels too strange to her, like someplace she doesn't and never could belong. She isn't even sure why she'd want to, though when she has such limited options, going home being especially out of the question, she's not about to complain. "Not much for livin' in the city, I take it?"

"Fuckin' hated it," I say with a dry laugh. "I had a place when I got here, me and Elvis, but I wanted out fast as I could." I think the rent on the new place is a little too high for one guy and his dog, but shit, it beats living in some high-rise surrounded by lights and cars and noise. I'm not meant for a place like this. I have to get away and breathe before I bust wide open and take someone out with the flying shards of splintered metal, the still-glowing embers with them.

"I think I'd have been the same, if it weren't for havin' someone to stay with," Carla Jean says, brow raising. Even now, all of this feels a bit beyond her, part of a life she was never meant to have. Then again, the same could be said for the fact that she's here at all, so she's trying not to make too much of that. She'll get used to it, or if nothing else, she'll learn how to deal with it. "I've never been anywhere like this before."

"Me neither." There's no use lying around Carla Jean, not about something like that. I don't feel some need to seem worldlier than I am. I was just fine never having seen a city, let alone lived in one. But with her and Kate here, I guess it's not like there's anything left on the island for me anyway. I wonder if there's anything left back in Black Lick. "I guess it could be worse. But I don't wanna live in it. Besides, Elvis hated it."

"I bet," Carla Jean says with a slow, heavy exhale. She's still not sure she won't still ultimately hate it, but she might as well give it a try. She has to, really, without anything else to do for the time being, and she wouldn't turn down accommodations, especially with a close friend. If something has to change once she's found her footing, then that will be a different story. "What's it like out where you are? Quiet?"

made the skyline look like crooked teeth

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