Spider Quinn 07: Ashes to Ashes - Part 1
Feb. 24th, 2024 06:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fardell2407 Ashes to Ashes
A car was being chased along a back road. “Come on, pick up!” the woman driving said.
“Hello?”
“Is that Helen Morgendorffer?”
“No, it’s her daughter, Daria.”
“Oh. Is she there?”
“Yes, but who is this?” Daria asked.
“Tell her it’s Linda Ballinger.”
Helen didn’t quite understand what Daria said. “Daria, you know as well as I do, that Linda Ballinger is dead.”
“I know, but this woman says that she is Linda Ballinger.”
Helen sighed. “Here,” she said, before grabbing the phone from Daria. “Hello?”
“Helen!”
‘If it is Linda, she sounds a little different,’ Helen thought quickly. “Linda?” she asked.
“Yes, it’s me. I need a place to stay and Lawndale was the closet place where a friend or family is living.”
“I see,” Helen said. “But I’ll need proof that you are who you say you are.”
“I’ll tell you about something that happened in the 1980’s…”
Helen clicked off the phone.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Daria commented.
“Her story checks out. She said something that only she would know about myself and your late father.”
“Which was?”
“Something embarrassing to say to one’s daughter,” Helen responded. “In any case, she’ll be here in half an hour.”
“Right.”
“Where’s your sister?”
“No idea,” Daria answered.
Helen sighed. Quinn was nearly always out.
SpiderGirl arrived back at Glen Oaks Lane to find an unfamiliar car out front of the red brick house at 1111. She wondered who it could be. She made herself scarce as she saw the door open. She didn’t want to be seen too often in her superhero persona by either Helen or Daria, especially close to the house.
Helen saw that Linda had changed a lot. “Welcome to Lawndale!” she said.
“May I come in? Is Jake home?”
Helen frowned.
“What?”
“Jakey has recently passed away,” Helen explained quietly.
“Oh!”
“He got shot when someone tried to hijack his car.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Linda said.
Daria saw Quinn enter through the kitchen door. “Just in time.”
“Just in time for what?” Quinn asked.
Daria explained what had happened.
“Quite strange,” Quinn said quietly.
“I agree,” Daria said.
“Like, you said, in Freemont, that we could investigate crime. Maybe we could investigate this,” Quinn suggested.
“But you’re still in the Fashion Club.”
“I’m still on the outs with Sandi.”
‘I guess that would do,’ Daria thought. “Right. But we are going to investigate, regardless.”
“Good.”
“Here they are!” Helen said.
“They have grown,” Linda said.
“Daria’s 17 and Quinn, 15.”
“I see.”
“Now,” Helen said. “What happened. You say that you faked your death?”
“Yes.”
“Why?” Helen asked. “What happened.”
“First, how long ago did Jake pass away?” Linda asked.
“Nearly a month ago,” Quinn answered quietly.
“Oh. It’s raw.”
“Of course, it’s raw!” Quinn said bitterly. “I saw him die!”
There was shock on Linda’s face. “I didn’t know, sorry.”
There was an awkward moment of silence.
Daria looked to Linda. She still wasn’t sure what to make of her. “So, you faked your death?” she asked, one eye on the still crying Quinn.
“Yes,” Linda answered, and she started telling her story.
It was ten years ago.
Linda pulled up to the Morgendorffers house in Highland. She knew it would be a long time, if at all, before she would be able to see Jake and Helen again. She looked around the street as she went up the door. Most of the houses looked dilapidated.
She rang the doorbell.
Helen came to the door. “Linda! I didn’t know you were coming over today!”
“May I come in?” she asked.
“Of course. I’ll put on some tea, just the way you like it.”
“Thanks. Is Jake home?”
“Yes.”
I have the tea and catch up with you two, as well as Daria and Quinn briefly.
Helen, Daria and Quinn remained silent after Linda told of her last visit at the old house.
‘She hasn’t commented that Quinn’s hair is a different color,’ Daria thought. She didn’t realise until later how important that detail was.
“So, why did you fake your death?” her mother asked.
“People were after me,” Linda explained.
“Could you explain more?” her mother asked.
I had discovered something at work…
Linda returned home from the Morgendorffers. She knew that she had to get away. There were already threats and Highland was suffocating. She had already put plans in place, she just had to initiate them. She grabbed what was essential and went to the backyard. Soon, the place was alight and she was a disguised passenger on a Greyhound coach enroute to Montana.
And so, I found an isolated community in Montana near the border with Idaho.
“I see,” Helen said. There were many unanswered questions, but she didn’t see why Linda wasn’t telling the truth. “We do have a spare room you can stay in.”
“Really?” Linda asked.
“Yes. It’s the least we can do. I won’t even ask you to pay board, at first,” Helen said.
“Really?” Daria asked.
“Yes, Daria. As I said, it’s the least I can do, while Linda settles into Lawndale.”
“I’m not sure why she would want to stay here,” Quinn groused.
“The crime isn’t that bad,” Helen said.
“That wasn’t a concern,” Linda said. “Show me upstairs.”
“Sure.”
Helen then showed Linda the spare room, and the bathroom which she would be sharing with Daria and Quinn. “Their bedrooms are down the hall, mine is at the front of the house,” Helen said.
“Right.”
“I’m not sure what to make of it,” Daria said to Jane.
“You’re welcome to stay here if you’re concerned,” Jane suggested.
“Then who’d watch for Quinn.”
“Hasn’t Quinn hardly been there anyway?”
“She hasn’t been out that much.”
“I heard Stacy and Tiffany talking about Quinn’s habits,” Jane said.
“Jane Lane eavesdropping?” Daria teased.
“Don’t we do that anyway?” Jane asked. “And maybe you could do it with your mother’s friend if you’re staying there.”
“Probably,” Daria said.
“So, you’re just a little concerned.”
“Yes.”
“Other than what I suggested earlier, I’m not sure what to say.”
“You’re no help.”
Quinn too was concerned. “I need to talk to someone,” she told her self as she looked in her mirrors. She was just dressed in the SpiderGirl suit, with her face showing. She saw a girl who was still recovering from her father’s death. ‘I don’t want to have to worry about Mom and Daria, with a strange woman in the house,’ she thought. She made her decision, she would talk to Stacy, but it would be best to do so in person. She pulled the mask down, switched off the light and then swung out of her window, up onto the roof.
She headed in the direction of the Rowe’s, in Eichler Drive.
‘Like, is Linda who she says she is?’ she considered as she leapt over the house behind the Morgendorffers’.
Stacy answered the door. “Quinn?” For it was her friend, dressed in the same outfit she had when she was dealing with acne the previous week.
“Evening, Stacy,” she said. “I need to talk to you about something. May I come in?”
“Of course,” Stacy said, opening the door wider.
Both Stacy and her mother listened to what Quinn said about the mysterious visitor at the Morgendorffers’ house as Stacy made some cocoa for all three of them.
“It’s all very strange,” Elisabeth said as Stacy poured out the cocoa. “Like it’s not as if your mother doesn’t know what she’s doing, but it’s likely that her grief has influenced her judgement in this matter.”
Quinn nodded. “Like, Daria also doesn’t like it.”
“That makes sense,” Elisabeth said.
“And now I have to be more on guard at home,” Quinn groused.
“You can stay here tonight if you want,” Elisabeth suggested.
“Maybe, but I didn’t tell anyone where I was going,” Quinn said.
Elisabeth sighed. “You can call home.”
Helen answered the phone. “Hello?”
“Mom, can I stay at Stacy’s tonight?” Quinn asked.
“Are you there right now?”
“Yes, duh!”
“I see. You’re worried about Linda, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
Helen checked to see that Linda wasn’t in the lounge room before going back into the kitchen, “I admit that I am a little worried too,” she said quietly. “I will try to run a background check tomorrow at work. You can stay there tonight, if Mrs. Rowe allows it.”
“She suggested it.”
“I see.”
“So, you’re staying?” Stacy asked after Quinn had hung up.
“Yes.”
“Cool!”
“Just for tonight though,” Quinn said. She doubted that she would be able to use the Rowe’s house as a base for her SpiderGirl activities for long without arousing Stacy’s suspicions.
“That’s OK,” Stacy said.
Daria heard her mother knock on the door. “Come in,” she said
“Quinn is staying over at a friend’s tonight.”
“I didn’t need to know that.”
“I mean, I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to go over to Jane’s tonight,” her mother said.
“Maybe not tonight. Are you having second thoughts?”
“No. But maybe I jumped the gun.”
“I’ll probably sleep lightly,” Daria said.
Quinn awoke about 2:30 to the sound of police sirens in the distance. ‘Just as well I’m in the spare room,’ she thought. But she knew that Stacy was a light sleeper. ‘I’ll just swing out from the opposite side of the house,’ she thought as she stripped off the nightgown, leaving only the suit on her person. She put her hair up and then pulled on the mask.
SpiderGirl left the window open a crack and swung out from the Rowe’s.
Stacy turned in her sleep, but didn’t wake.
SpiderGirl found the commotion. A car had crashed on the edge of town. She swung down from a tree, recognising Officer Peterson. “What’s happened?” she asked.
“Oh! SpiderGirl,” Officer Peterson said. “There was a report of a crash here, but when an ambulance arrived, whoever it was fled.”
“Oh!” SpiderGirl said.
“There’s not much you can do here.”
“Obviously not,” she groused. She added. “Thanks, see you around!” before swinging away and heading back towards Eichler Street, where the Rowe’s were situated.
As she headed back, she wondered if it would be linked to Linda. ‘Not likely,’ she concluded. Lawndale had a large population afterall. ‘Like over 25000?’ she wasn’t sure.
She was quite tired when she got back, such that she almost fell asleep without putting the nightgown back on. But she managed it and was asleep before her head hit the pillow.
Jane met Daria on the way to school. She could tell her friend hadn’t slept much. “I hope you’re not going to go to sleep in class,” she said.
“I might, but that would impact my grades,” Daria said with her usual sarcasm.
“What about Quinn?” Jane asked.
“What about her? She stayed at Stacy’s.”
“You should have taken up my offer.”
Daria yawned and then said. “I might stay over tonight.”
“Cool.”
A car was being chased along a back road. “Come on, pick up!” the woman driving said.
“Hello?”
“Is that Helen Morgendorffer?”
“No, it’s her daughter, Daria.”
“Oh. Is she there?”
“Yes, but who is this?” Daria asked.
“Tell her it’s Linda Ballinger.”
Helen didn’t quite understand what Daria said. “Daria, you know as well as I do, that Linda Ballinger is dead.”
“I know, but this woman says that she is Linda Ballinger.”
Helen sighed. “Here,” she said, before grabbing the phone from Daria. “Hello?”
“Helen!”
‘If it is Linda, she sounds a little different,’ Helen thought quickly. “Linda?” she asked.
“Yes, it’s me. I need a place to stay and Lawndale was the closet place where a friend or family is living.”
“I see,” Helen said. “But I’ll need proof that you are who you say you are.”
“I’ll tell you about something that happened in the 1980’s…”
Helen clicked off the phone.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Daria commented.
“Her story checks out. She said something that only she would know about myself and your late father.”
“Which was?”
“Something embarrassing to say to one’s daughter,” Helen responded. “In any case, she’ll be here in half an hour.”
“Right.”
“Where’s your sister?”
“No idea,” Daria answered.
Helen sighed. Quinn was nearly always out.
SpiderGirl arrived back at Glen Oaks Lane to find an unfamiliar car out front of the red brick house at 1111. She wondered who it could be. She made herself scarce as she saw the door open. She didn’t want to be seen too often in her superhero persona by either Helen or Daria, especially close to the house.
Helen saw that Linda had changed a lot. “Welcome to Lawndale!” she said.
“May I come in? Is Jake home?”
Helen frowned.
“What?”
“Jakey has recently passed away,” Helen explained quietly.
“Oh!”
“He got shot when someone tried to hijack his car.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Linda said.
Daria saw Quinn enter through the kitchen door. “Just in time.”
“Just in time for what?” Quinn asked.
Daria explained what had happened.
“Quite strange,” Quinn said quietly.
“I agree,” Daria said.
“Like, you said, in Freemont, that we could investigate crime. Maybe we could investigate this,” Quinn suggested.
“But you’re still in the Fashion Club.”
“I’m still on the outs with Sandi.”
‘I guess that would do,’ Daria thought. “Right. But we are going to investigate, regardless.”
“Good.”
“Here they are!” Helen said.
“They have grown,” Linda said.
“Daria’s 17 and Quinn, 15.”
“I see.”
“Now,” Helen said. “What happened. You say that you faked your death?”
“Yes.”
“Why?” Helen asked. “What happened.”
“First, how long ago did Jake pass away?” Linda asked.
“Nearly a month ago,” Quinn answered quietly.
“Oh. It’s raw.”
“Of course, it’s raw!” Quinn said bitterly. “I saw him die!”
There was shock on Linda’s face. “I didn’t know, sorry.”
There was an awkward moment of silence.
Daria looked to Linda. She still wasn’t sure what to make of her. “So, you faked your death?” she asked, one eye on the still crying Quinn.
“Yes,” Linda answered, and she started telling her story.
It was ten years ago.
Linda pulled up to the Morgendorffers house in Highland. She knew it would be a long time, if at all, before she would be able to see Jake and Helen again. She looked around the street as she went up the door. Most of the houses looked dilapidated.
She rang the doorbell.
Helen came to the door. “Linda! I didn’t know you were coming over today!”
“May I come in?” she asked.
“Of course. I’ll put on some tea, just the way you like it.”
“Thanks. Is Jake home?”
“Yes.”
I have the tea and catch up with you two, as well as Daria and Quinn briefly.
Helen, Daria and Quinn remained silent after Linda told of her last visit at the old house.
‘She hasn’t commented that Quinn’s hair is a different color,’ Daria thought. She didn’t realise until later how important that detail was.
“So, why did you fake your death?” her mother asked.
“People were after me,” Linda explained.
“Could you explain more?” her mother asked.
I had discovered something at work…
Linda returned home from the Morgendorffers. She knew that she had to get away. There were already threats and Highland was suffocating. She had already put plans in place, she just had to initiate them. She grabbed what was essential and went to the backyard. Soon, the place was alight and she was a disguised passenger on a Greyhound coach enroute to Montana.
And so, I found an isolated community in Montana near the border with Idaho.
“I see,” Helen said. There were many unanswered questions, but she didn’t see why Linda wasn’t telling the truth. “We do have a spare room you can stay in.”
“Really?” Linda asked.
“Yes. It’s the least we can do. I won’t even ask you to pay board, at first,” Helen said.
“Really?” Daria asked.
“Yes, Daria. As I said, it’s the least I can do, while Linda settles into Lawndale.”
“I’m not sure why she would want to stay here,” Quinn groused.
“The crime isn’t that bad,” Helen said.
“That wasn’t a concern,” Linda said. “Show me upstairs.”
“Sure.”
Helen then showed Linda the spare room, and the bathroom which she would be sharing with Daria and Quinn. “Their bedrooms are down the hall, mine is at the front of the house,” Helen said.
“Right.”
“I’m not sure what to make of it,” Daria said to Jane.
“You’re welcome to stay here if you’re concerned,” Jane suggested.
“Then who’d watch for Quinn.”
“Hasn’t Quinn hardly been there anyway?”
“She hasn’t been out that much.”
“I heard Stacy and Tiffany talking about Quinn’s habits,” Jane said.
“Jane Lane eavesdropping?” Daria teased.
“Don’t we do that anyway?” Jane asked. “And maybe you could do it with your mother’s friend if you’re staying there.”
“Probably,” Daria said.
“So, you’re just a little concerned.”
“Yes.”
“Other than what I suggested earlier, I’m not sure what to say.”
“You’re no help.”
Quinn too was concerned. “I need to talk to someone,” she told her self as she looked in her mirrors. She was just dressed in the SpiderGirl suit, with her face showing. She saw a girl who was still recovering from her father’s death. ‘I don’t want to have to worry about Mom and Daria, with a strange woman in the house,’ she thought. She made her decision, she would talk to Stacy, but it would be best to do so in person. She pulled the mask down, switched off the light and then swung out of her window, up onto the roof.
She headed in the direction of the Rowe’s, in Eichler Drive.
‘Like, is Linda who she says she is?’ she considered as she leapt over the house behind the Morgendorffers’.
Stacy answered the door. “Quinn?” For it was her friend, dressed in the same outfit she had when she was dealing with acne the previous week.
“Evening, Stacy,” she said. “I need to talk to you about something. May I come in?”
“Of course,” Stacy said, opening the door wider.
Both Stacy and her mother listened to what Quinn said about the mysterious visitor at the Morgendorffers’ house as Stacy made some cocoa for all three of them.
“It’s all very strange,” Elisabeth said as Stacy poured out the cocoa. “Like it’s not as if your mother doesn’t know what she’s doing, but it’s likely that her grief has influenced her judgement in this matter.”
Quinn nodded. “Like, Daria also doesn’t like it.”
“That makes sense,” Elisabeth said.
“And now I have to be more on guard at home,” Quinn groused.
“You can stay here tonight if you want,” Elisabeth suggested.
“Maybe, but I didn’t tell anyone where I was going,” Quinn said.
Elisabeth sighed. “You can call home.”
Helen answered the phone. “Hello?”
“Mom, can I stay at Stacy’s tonight?” Quinn asked.
“Are you there right now?”
“Yes, duh!”
“I see. You’re worried about Linda, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
Helen checked to see that Linda wasn’t in the lounge room before going back into the kitchen, “I admit that I am a little worried too,” she said quietly. “I will try to run a background check tomorrow at work. You can stay there tonight, if Mrs. Rowe allows it.”
“She suggested it.”
“I see.”
“So, you’re staying?” Stacy asked after Quinn had hung up.
“Yes.”
“Cool!”
“Just for tonight though,” Quinn said. She doubted that she would be able to use the Rowe’s house as a base for her SpiderGirl activities for long without arousing Stacy’s suspicions.
“That’s OK,” Stacy said.
Daria heard her mother knock on the door. “Come in,” she said
“Quinn is staying over at a friend’s tonight.”
“I didn’t need to know that.”
“I mean, I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to go over to Jane’s tonight,” her mother said.
“Maybe not tonight. Are you having second thoughts?”
“No. But maybe I jumped the gun.”
“I’ll probably sleep lightly,” Daria said.
Quinn awoke about 2:30 to the sound of police sirens in the distance. ‘Just as well I’m in the spare room,’ she thought. But she knew that Stacy was a light sleeper. ‘I’ll just swing out from the opposite side of the house,’ she thought as she stripped off the nightgown, leaving only the suit on her person. She put her hair up and then pulled on the mask.
SpiderGirl left the window open a crack and swung out from the Rowe’s.
Stacy turned in her sleep, but didn’t wake.
SpiderGirl found the commotion. A car had crashed on the edge of town. She swung down from a tree, recognising Officer Peterson. “What’s happened?” she asked.
“Oh! SpiderGirl,” Officer Peterson said. “There was a report of a crash here, but when an ambulance arrived, whoever it was fled.”
“Oh!” SpiderGirl said.
“There’s not much you can do here.”
“Obviously not,” she groused. She added. “Thanks, see you around!” before swinging away and heading back towards Eichler Street, where the Rowe’s were situated.
As she headed back, she wondered if it would be linked to Linda. ‘Not likely,’ she concluded. Lawndale had a large population afterall. ‘Like over 25000?’ she wasn’t sure.
She was quite tired when she got back, such that she almost fell asleep without putting the nightgown back on. But she managed it and was asleep before her head hit the pillow.
Jane met Daria on the way to school. She could tell her friend hadn’t slept much. “I hope you’re not going to go to sleep in class,” she said.
“I might, but that would impact my grades,” Daria said with her usual sarcasm.
“What about Quinn?” Jane asked.
“What about her? She stayed at Stacy’s.”
“You should have taken up my offer.”
Daria yawned and then said. “I might stay over tonight.”
“Cool.”
