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To get it out of the way now, Alex Kralie is not a good person. He knows that. Has known that, for a long time. Most of the time, he uses his relative badness for good things, things that won’t hurt anyone. Sometimes, the things he does hurt people, but Alex doesn’t do that kind of thing a lot, just- only when it's important.
He’d never hurt someone if it wasn’t important, really.
So, he feels a little guilty, but also like it’s necessary, when he goes to meet with Tim Wright, and he’s got a mic inside his jacket pocket.
He tells himself, he won’t use any of the audio. It’s only if he needs to review something they spoke about. Or if something is really good and he does actually want to use some of it for the episode. But only if it’s really good.
He’d found Tim on Instagram. And then Facebook. And then at Tim’s job. And Tim called him a stalker, which really wasn’t fair, but whatever. And Tim hadn’t been interested in an interview, not until Alex impulsively promised there’d be no cameras.
Which. Alex hates that he promised that, because what’s the fucking point of doing an interview not on camera, but also doesn’t regret it because Tim had uneasily asked him, really? And Alex knew he had him, then.
Alex would have promised anything to get the interview, honestly. Keeping the promise wasn’t as important as this. Maybe if Tim finds out, he’d be upset, but again, he probably won’t find out.
Anyway,
All this to say, Alex sits at a booth in one of the local college dives, fidgets with his bracelets, and contemplates on his own unfortunate nature. Wonders if it's the reason why Tim is twenty minutes late.
Wonders if Tim will show up at all, and how long he’s willing to wait to see if he does come.
He swirls his beer around in the little glass it came in. It’s mostly empty. He’s a little buzzed. He’s been waiting. Glances at the door again, then lets out a huffy sigh. Tim’s not coming. He knows that, somehow. Gut feeling, maybe. He’ll stay long enough to finish his drink and then he’ll go.
Alex fishes his phone out of his other pocket, opens up his texts with Jay.
Don’t think he’s going to come. Turns it off and lays it face down on the slightly sticky table.
He sighs again, gaze traveling to one of the TV’s up above the bar, knows he looks pissed or petulant, tries to smooth his face into something more presentable, feels like he sorta fails at it. He takes another sip to mask his annoyance from the people around him and really tries not to look like a guy who’s date stood him up, when the door to the bar clatters open. Automatically, Alex looks, and then he’s meeting Tim’s gaze across the room.
Huh. His instincts weren’t wrong often. Interesting.
He lifts a hand in greeting, and Tim’s features smooth over in recognition. He offers Alex a hesitant smile, and approaches the booth.
“Uh. Hey.” Tim’s throat works. He seems like a generally anxious guy, even moreso than Jay.
“Hey there.” Alex has an easier time making his face look relaxed and open this time. “Here, sit. Let me order you something, since you came out here to do me this favor.”
Tim sits, awkwardness in his posture. “You don’t have to do that…”
“It’d be my pleasure. You get settled. Any preference?”
“Just a, uh. Gin and tonic, is fine,” Tim manages. He pulls off his coat. Looks uncomfortable.
Alex nods and makes his way to the bar. He orders, licks his lips, reviews his questions in his head. When he gets back to the booth, Tim’s khaki jacket is bundled up to his side, revealing a dark blue tshirt underneath. Alex sets his drink down and settles down across from him with his own refreshed IPA. He pulls a little notepad and pen from his pocket, giving them a little wave, which Tim rewards with a stilted laugh.
“Oh god. Okay. Interview time, then?”
Alex smirks. “I don’t really like to waste time. I’m sure you’re busy and don’t want to either.”
“Uh, sure.” Tim takes a sip. “I mean, I. Well.” He exudes pure discomfort. “Could I ask you some questions too? First?”
Alex blinks. Recovers quickly. “Alright. Sure.”
Tim shifts. “It’s just. I’d like to know more about, uh, you. And your show. Before we really start.”
“That makes sense. That’s totally fine.” He hopes he doesn’t seem irritated by it. He is, a little, but also sure, whatever makes him comfortable enough to answer Alex’s questions. If he needs to get to know Alex to do that, then fuck, Alex will give him his life story. “Ask away.”
“So…” Tim drops his gaze to the table. “You been doing this long?” He cringes immediately after saying it, like even he thinks the question is shit. It kind of is. Alex smiles anyway, puts on his best charmer voice.
“Oh, yeah. A while now. Kralie in the Reel World is a. A whole thing, you know. Jay and I, my assistant, he was there when we spoke the other day.”
“When you stalked me at my job.”
“Stalked is a strong word. That wasn’t stalking, that was-”
“Following?” Tim raises a thick brow.
Alex smiles. “Chasing a lead.” He takes a sip of beer to settle his nerves, because although that didn’t really shake him, he doesn’t need Tim thinking it did. “I’ve been doing the show off and on for a few years.”
“Is it just you and your assistant?” Tim asks.
Alex grins. “The more skilled the team is, the less of them you need.”
“How’d you get working together?”
“Oh, you know how it is. We go way back, were friends at film school. He works in the industry, actually. Great guy.”
“Right. Do you?”
Alex smiles. “Do I what?”
“Work in the industry?” Tim asks.
Alex’s smile doesn’t twitch. It doesn't. “No. Uh, actually. I’m at a call center pretty much full time, but the show is where my priorities are.”
Tim nods. “Okay.” He’s silent, then he says, “Do you like film?”
Alex tilts his head. “Yeah. Yeah, I love it.”
Tim meets his eyes, and for a weirdly long moment, neither of them say anything. Then, Tim clears his throat.
“Okay. You can ask your questions now, I guess.”
Alex smiles.
“Great.” He poises his hand over the paper. “So, you were brought into the hospital as a child. Wanna disclose how you ended up there?”
Tim looks immediately uncomfortable. “Yes. Uh. No. No, I don’t want to talk about that.”
Alex’s smile does twitch. “Okay.” He scratches out a question. “Well, what about- what was your first impression of the hospital?”
“I don’t remember.”
Alex has the urge to face palm. He wants to be a cool millennial though, so he fights it off.
“Like, it’s been so long so you forgot?”
Tim looks away. “I… have memory problems.”
“Okay, let’s just- let’s move on.” Alex rubs the bridge of his nose.
“Let me ask you something,” Tim says.
“What?” Alex looks up over the rim of his glasses.
“Why are you here? Do you actually care about seeing what happened at Rosswood Hospital?” Tim asks, lips a thin line.
Alex falters.
He thinks of the microphone in his jacket. And the badness.
“I care,” he says, “about telling a good story. Folklore fascinates me. The legends around Rosswood Hospital are what drew me here. I don’t know if it’ll make any difference, but telling the story is what matters most to me.”
“What if telling that story hurts people?” Tim counters. Alex narrows his eyes.
“Who would it hurt?”
“The- the victims of the hospital!”
Alex laughs, then stops when he sees the look on Tim’s face. “Its not going to hurt anyone. Listen, we’re going to be really respectful. It’s gonna be fine.”
“I don’t want my name shared,” Tim says.
“Sure, we can do that,” Alex assures him.
“And I don’t want you to share anything about me aside from things relating to the hospital. My life is here and I can’t- I don’t want anyone knowing this about me.”
Alex thinks of the mic in his jacket.
“Of course,” he says. “No one will know.”
“Do you promise?” Tim asks, expression uncertain.
Alex sighs, takes a small sip of his drink, and then holds his hand across the table. Tim tentatively shakes it.
“You have my word,” he says.
Tim nods, hands going back to his lap. “Okay. Okay, I believe you.”
“Can I ask the next question then?” Alex asks.
Tim smiles a little. “Okay.”
They go over Tim’s admittance into the hospital. Some of what his treatment was like. What the staff said and did to him. What prompted him to run away.
“I figured,” Tim says, now on his third drink and definitely intoxicated, “that anything would be better than being there. Even if I was homeless. Even if my parents kicked me out.”
“How old were you?”
“Twelve,” Tim answers. “And I was ready to live on the street. There used to be rumors, at the hospital, of other patients who ran away. Who disappeared into the surrounding woods, and then were found dead. I had thought, being dead or homeless was better. I hated that place so much.”
“Did you have any friends there?” Alex asks.
“An older girl, named uh- well, I guess I shouldn’t say. She had psychosis, saw things just like I did. She took care of me though, like a big sister.”
“Did she know you were going to run away?”
“She encouraged it.” Tim traces his finger through the condensation on the table. “She said she’d cover for me, even if she got punished for it.”
“What sort of punishment would that be?”
“Spanking, solitary, writing lines, no meal time, losing blankets and clothes at night.” Tim counts off on his fingers. “All kinds of things. They were creative.”
“Awful,” Alex says, shaking his head.
“Tell me about you, now,” Tim says. “Did you have anyone like that?”
Alex sighs. “No. I had an older sister, an actual one, but she and I weren’t close. There was a big age gap. We only talk during holidays.”
Tim watches him. “That’s sad.”
Alex shrugs. “I guess so.” He pauses a second, then feels a tug to go on. “I don’t really talk to that many people, honestly. Mainly just Jay, and his partner, Riley.”
“Your assistant, Jay?”
“Yeah, the very same,” he laughs. “He’s kind of… I guess, my only friend.”
Tim tilts his head. “Why?”
“I don’t make friends easily.” Alex studies the TV screen behind Tim’s shoulder. “I just have a lot of walls up.”
“Me too,” Tim says.
He glances back to Tim. “I can tell,” he says, grinning. Tim half smiles back. There’s a swimming feeling in his stomach, and it's not just the alcohol. A pulling.
Alex leans on his elbow, closing the distance between them a little. “Tell me something else. Not about the hospital.”
Tim raises a brow. “For the interview?”
“No,” he shakes his head. “Just for me.” He pushes his pen and paper away for extra emphasis. Tim bites his lip, but the smile shows anyway.
“Okay…” He taps his fingers on the table. “I’ve been, uh, out of the closet for a few years now. I didn’t have anybody to tell, but I always thought if someone asked, I would be honest.”
“And if I asked?” Alex says quietly. The pull in his stomach makes it hard to look Tim in the eyes. He tries anyway, and enjoys the bashful look on Tim’s face as a reward.
“Well uh, I’m gay, basically,” Tim says. He swallows. “And you?”
“I’m bisexual,” Alex says. “I’ve been out since college. But uh. I also didn’t really have many people to tell. My parents don’t know.”
“Mine don’t either.” Tim’s voice is low.
“Well, cheers to our parents knowing fuck-all about us,” Alex says, lifting his glass. Tim smiles faintly, and they clink their cups together.
It feels like something.
They get drunker after that. They get touchier too. Tim keeps kicking Alex’s feet under the table, and Alex grabs his wrist at one point, holds it loosely while playing with his fingers. It makes Tim’s face flush in a delightful way.
The bar closes and they’re kicked out around midnight. The night is muggy and humid when they duck out of the bar. Tim takes him to his car, and frowns.
“I think I’m uh… not gonna be able to drive.”
Alex scuffs his feet on the parking lot asphalt. “I just walked from my hotel.”
“My house isn’t that far. I can walk too.”
Alex stuffs his hands in his pockets. “I guess uh, this is it, then?”
“I guess so,” Tim says.
Alex looks up from the ground and they meet each other’s eyes. “Unless…”
“Unless?” Tim repeats.
“Well. I could walk you home.”
Tim smiles. “You’re the one from out of town. I should be walking you back to your hotel.”
“I’m sharing a room with Jay,” Alex answers. “Maybe I just want an excuse to be alone with you.” It comes out a lot braver than he feels.
Tim bites his lip. “What would being alone with me entail?”
Alex groans. “You’re gonna make me ask for it right here?”
Tim smiles again. “Maybe. I kinda want to hear you say it.”
Alex looks away, aware of his face reddening. “I think. I’d like to..spend more time with you tonight. Off the record.”
He can’t look at Tim, but he hears him hum in response.
“I’ll take you up on that, then,” Tim says, and gently takes Alex’s hand.
The walk to Tim’s place isn’t long. They get gradually handsier as they go, and end up half draped across each other by the time Tim is unlocking the door. They tumble inside and then Tim is pushing Alex up against the wall, kicking the door shut behind him. Alex gasps, and the sound is immediately swallowed up by Tim’s mouth. Tim’s hands settle onto his waist, and Alex dizzily grabs the back of Tim’s jacket for purchase.
“This okay?” Tim murmurs against his lips.
Alex nods, and then for good measure, says, “yes. Definitely.”
God, it’s been too long since he’s been with a guy. There were slim pickings in Alabama, but Tim was certainly not someone Alex would be with just because there were no other options.
Tim laughs softly, pulling back enough for Alex to see his face again. It’s a nice face. It’s really good. Soooo good.
“I’m so drunk,” Alex laughs, his own internal monologue cracking him up. Tim’s expression falters.
“Do you not want- is it just because you’re drunk?”
Alex’s eyes go wide. He’s not a good person, but he’s not that bad.
“Fuck no,” he says. “You’re like, the hottest guy I’ve ever seen.”
Tim’s face flushes, and Alex kisses him then. Tim instantly responds, kissing back with energy. Alex releases his iron grip on Tim’s jacket, and instead slides a hand up into his hair. It makes Tim groan lowly, which is such a good sound that Alex immediately starts thinking of how to get Tim to do it again, but then Tim slips his tongue over Alex’s bottom lip, and he stops thinking. Their tongues meet, wet and hot, and Tim’s body is firm but pliant, and Alex sinks against him.
He sinks into the moment completely, lets it take over. A break from stress, work, and his projects. Just Tim. Just the two of them.
The bubble bursts after two in the morning, when he wakes up from a light doze. Tim’s bed is comfortable and warm, and Tim’s holding him from behind, and no part of Alex wants to move.
But he has to go to Rosswood Park tomorrow. Today. Fuck. He disentangles himself from Tim’s arms and sits up. The room spins a bit. Still tipsy, then. He gets up, wobbles, and starts hunting around for his clothes.
He thinks he’s quiet, but after a minute, he hears: “..Alex?”
He grimaces. Tim is leaning back on his elbows, squinting through the dark.
“Hey,” Alex says, pulling up his jeans the rest of the way.
“You leaving?” He mumbles, rubbing his face.
“We have to go to Rosswood first thing in the morning, so…” Alex sighs. “I wouldn’t if I didn’t have to.”
Tim blinks at him slowly, then sits up all the way. “Gimme your phone.”
Alex checks his pockets, and retrieves it, passing it to Tim. Tim scrunches his eyes up cutely in response to the bright light. He types his phone number into Alex’s notes app, and then hands it back to Alex.
“Call me when you’re done with your ghost hunt,” he says. Alex smiles, and leans down, pressing a kiss to Tim’s cheek.
“Will do.”
He’s out the door a few minutes later, and as he walks, he wonders what he’s gotten himself into with Tim. With Rosswood.
He hopes he has a good story to tell when he calls.
Alex wakes up in the hotel, a pounding headache for company, and his body pleasantly sore. Good drinks. Good sex. Really good sex.
He rolls over and groans into his pillow.
“Morning, sleeping beauty,” Jay says from… somewhere in the hotel room. “You got back late last night.”
“Mhrnmrmrf,” Alex grumbles.
Jay snickers. “The interview that good, huh?”
Alex lifts his head and glares, and that sets Jay off laughing harder.
“Oh my god, Alex, your neck!” He cackles harder. “So it wasn’t the interview part that was good, then?”
“Fuggoff,” Alex says, and drops his face back down into the pillow. “Wha time do we needa leave?” He says, muffled.
“Like, an hour. Want me to go get you coffee from the lobby?”
“Yes, please,” Alex says, turning his head to peer at Jay. “How long have you been up?”
“Since seven,” he answers. Alex groans.
“Jesus Christ, what’s wrong with you? Don’t you like sleeping?”
“Well I wasn’t up half the night screwing around,” Jay says, smirking. “I’ll be back.”
Alex nods, and rolls over to grab his glasses and phone. He closes out of the notes app without reading it, and opens his planner, swiping through the schedule for the day.
Despite everything, Alex is excited for this. He always liked an adventure.
Then.
Then.
The world becomes hell.
When Alex Kralie stumbles out of purgatory, somehow alive, he knows deep down that Jay is not going to make it out after him. He knows in order to escape, some part of him has died. He has been crucified, blood on his palms and dripping down his back, making his feet throb, beading along his scalp.
The sun is shining. That is, of course, what shocks him the most. That the sun is shining. The endless night is over.
He walks and he finds the tree. He walks and he finds the car. Won’t unlock, obviously. Of course it won’t. Jay has the key. And Jay is gone.
Alex limps along the main road, a ghost in his body. He doesn’t know how long he walks, time no longer quite existing to him. When he reaches town, it feels like stumbling onto a movie set. Unreal. A two dimensional scene.
Alex has seen something darker, something worse than any of these people can imagine.
He clutches his stomach, which aches with a hunger he’s never experienced before. And he walks to Tim’s house. It’s evening now, and he doesn’t know if Tim is even home, but it’s the only place he can think to go.
The house looks the same. There’s a car out front.
Alex knocks.
When the door opens, he doesn’t even speak. Doesn’t know if he can, or if the words will come out wrong, stammering and jumbled again. Tim looks mostly the same, but his scruff has grown into more of a beard. His expression shifts from shock to horror.
“Wha- I-” Tim shakes his head in disbelief. “Alex?”
Alex licks his lips and hangs his head. Tim’s hands find his elbows, and he holds onto Alex gently.
“You never called.”
Alex wavers on his feet.
“Alex, it's been months.”
Alex blinks slow.
“What the… what happened to you?”
“Don’t- don’t- don’t know,” he manages. “A mon- a monster found us- us.”
“Oh, Alex…” Tim whispers. His eyes are heartbroken. “You went to the hospital.”
Alex nods miserably.
“Where’s Jay?”
“Gone.” It escapes his lips like a sob, but no tears come.
“Fuck…Alex. Okay, come in.”
Alex stumbles inside. It's warm, and dry, and clean. So different from where he’s apparently been for months.
“Hungry,” he mumbles.
“Okay,” Tim says. He pushes Alex down to sit on his couch. He scurries off into the kitchen, is gone for a few minutes or maybe hours, time is weird now, and then comes back with a bowl of rice and chicken.
Alex takes the bowl, puts a small, hesitant bite into his mouth, then his stomach growls and he starts wolfing it down. Tim sits beside him, face unreadable.
When Alex has finished the meal, reality crashes in.
“I left- I- I abandoned- left him there,” he croaks. “Awful. Evil. I’m evil.”
“You’re not,” Tim says softly.
“Kill me, just kill me,” Alex whines, tears dripping down his face now. “Saw it. Knife in my neck. Kill me. Oh god…”
Tim pets his arm. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”
Alex lets himself be led to Tim’s restroom. He lets Tim pull his clothes off, put him in the shower, wash his hair and clean the blood off of him. Dry him off, bandage the cuts and slashes and punctures.
Tim leads him to a bed. It smells like Tim. Tim’s bed. He remembers now. He looks up at Tim. It’s a confessional. Tim is a priest and the monster is God, and Alex confesses his last sin.
“Recorded our interview. I was record- I,” he wets his lips and Tim’s face is unreadable.
“Go to sleep, Alex. We’ll talk in the morning.”
Unforgiven. As he deserves.
Alex dreams of the monster and Jay and Riley and Tim. Of death and gore and something awful scraping itself down the hallway. Of damp, cold, filthy concrete. And cameras. And cameras. And cameras. And cameras-
Alex Kralie is not a good person.