Session Eight

## I Want You To Know The Real Me

We see the abandoned house, silhouetted by the rising sun. We zoom in slowly, only hearing mourning doves and the sound of wind. A scream cuts through the silence, shrill and angry. Glass shatters, things sound like they're being thrown, and someone just keeps screaming. A fancy chalice flies through the window and lands with a thud on the lawn.

Ashlynn calls the police on Kareem, drops off her borrowed gun back to Brittany and Broden’s room at the Armstrong (interrupting the two mid-bone), and sends a quick sext to Angel with the message - *Thinking about you! <3*

Angel drops Juno off before parking alongside an empty road and popping her truck to look at the stolen duffle bag. She texts Chastity, *We need to talk about Ashlynn*, and is greeted with Ashlynn’s sext.

Crow wakes up still buried in rubble and digs herself out. She finds herself alone, abandoned again by Kareem. She rinses off and we see a view of the Moonpool from under the water, with Diana’s grandmother - a werewolf, dead. Crow dries off and sits on the pile of rubble to call Kareem.

Ashlynn, dressed in a hot pink tube dress, enters the room Harper is being held in and puts on long rubber gloves. Harper lays strapped to a gurney, looking near-death. Ashlynn pulls a scalpel out and slices Harper’s neck in one movement. She draws the brainslug out, holding it in her hands. She tells it that it’s failed her and that this will not stand. The gathered cronies watch in silence. Ashlynn drops the brainslug and squishes it. Charlie cries, stone faced. Maddox cleans up the mess. Ashlynn walks to the door and swings it open, revealing her mother - come to visit.

Standing behind her car, Angel rummages through the duffle bag, finding bands of cash, passports, a handgun, and a gold bar buried at the bottom. She zips the bag back up and drives home. Leaving the bag in the car, she enters her bedroom and stares into her reflection in the mirror. The reflection’s face darkens in anger. Angel explains why she couldn’t bring the bag when Juno was there. Her reflection coldly asks if she still has it. Angel runs to her car, retrieving the bag, and runs back to her bedroom to deliver it. As she goes to hand the bag through, she stumbles on her shag carpet and falls through the mirror. When she stands, she is alone in a mirrored version of her bedroom. She drops the bag and turns slowly, seeing her reflection on the other side of the glass. It smiles widely at her. She reaches out to touch the mirror and finds herself unable to return. Her reflection taunts her, asking if it would be terrible if her mom got sick again, if Ashlynn didn’t love her back, if Ashlynn’s sext went out to the whole school. Angel touches the mirror and falls through again. She turns to her reflection, now alone, and promises it won’t happen again. She checks her phone, finding an automated response that Chastity is in worship, ending with an invite for next week. She sets her phone down and pulls out a matching bra and underwear set, intent on heading to Ashlynn’s.

At the Moonpool, Crow texts Kareem angrily, *Where are you?* Kareem replies that he tried to go home, but there were police so now he’s at the Cemetery. Crow messages him to *STAY* and snatches a squirrel from a tree on her way out. At the mausoleum where they first hooked up, Crow finds Kareem dejectedly leaning against a wall. He looks more gaunt with sunken in eyes, visibly hungry. Crow asks why he left her and Kareem shrugs. She asks what he plans to do about the police finding his parents. Kareem offers that they can both still run away together. Crow rebukes him, and the two argue. Crow feels overwhelming emotion - *he said he loved me, he abandoned me, he killed his parents, he punched me in the face!* She raises her arm to slap him, but is interrupted by flashing red and blue lights and a voice that shouts, “Put your hands up!” Kareem bolts into the woods. Crow freezes and raises her arms, shouting “He killed his parents!” Police rush past her, officers and dogs in pursuit of Kareem. Crow is cuffed and placed into the back of a cruiser. She forces herself to cry, using condensation from the window to drip tears down her cheeks.  In the distance, gunshots crack.

At Ashlynn’s penthouse, she greets her mom with a warm embrace. Her mom removes her sunglasses, revealing golden compound eyes. The Hive orbits the two of them, arranged in perfect hexagons. Ashlynn removes the Diana-slug from the holding tank and slides it into a small alien capsule, which fits perfectly into her mini-purse. Tylar drives Ashlynn, Honey, and Jason to Diana’s house. In the backseat, Ashlynn and Honey buzz quietly to each other, communicating with alien humming. The interior of the car is hazy, almost smoky, with Honey’s pheromones.

Arriving at Diana’s, they find a decrepit house on the outskirts of Crystal Mills. As they exit the car, a long and mournful howl echoes through the woods. A massive wolf charges from the underbrush but begins to stagger as Honey’s pheromones reach her. The wolf transforms gruesomely, leaving a naked and shorn-head Diana staggering towards the two. Honey and Ashlynn watch calmly. Diana reaches the two, collapsing at their feet. Honey wraps Diana in a jacket and Ashlynn turns her on. She gains a string on Diana and kisses her.

At the Crystal Mills Police Station, Crow is booked in. Their fingerprints come back to someone in the foster system from the 70’s, which the police brush off as an error. In an interrogation room, Crow weaves a story to throw Kareem under the bus. Crow is released with a bundle of personal items right as Kareem is being brought in, cuffed and covered in blood. As they walk by, Crow winks at Kareem. He shouts to Crow, begging her to stop and talk. Crow doesn’t turn around.

Ashlynn returns home and struts out to meet Angel in the Armstrong parking lot. Ashlynn greets Angel with a passionate kiss against her car. She asks Angel if she wants to meet her mom, which Angel immediately agrees to. As they walk in, the lobby is militant. Angel notices that the cronies seem to be more postured than normal. Ashlynn turns her on and Angel gives herself to her, ignoring the weird cronies and her previous anger over Ashlynn’s lying.

Ashlynn introduces Angel to her mom, wrapping her arm around Angel’s waist. Honey greets her warmly and the group heads to the Grill for brunch. On the drive, Honey tells Ashlynn that it’s about time Angel was incorporated. Ashlynn asks if that's something Angel wants. Angel nods and the two kiss.

Crow and Juno meet up to hang out, heading to the Boardwalk together. They walk along the beach and Crow tells Juno about what they’ve been dealing with. Juno apologizes for their message the other night, explaining they almost died at the Armstrong. As the conversation proceeds, Juno confronts Crow about the things they’ve heard from Chastity and the rumors they’ve heard at school. They ask Crow to tell them the truth and she does, telling them she wants them to know the real her. Crow turns Juno on and they become morbid. The two hold hands, Juno trembling in the cold breeze. Crow takes her jacket off and slings it around Juno’s shoulders. Crow suggests moving somewhere warmer and the two sneak into Juno’s bedroom. As Crow’s feet hit the floor after climbing in, Juno rushes to kiss them, pulling them to bed.

Elsewhere, the Hive gyrates and makes out together. Ashlynn coaches Angel through the brainslug process, telling her that they never have to be apart again. We see flashes of members of the Hive having sex, of Ashlynn guiding a brainslug onto Angel’s face, of Maddox and Jason kissing, of Angel’s upturned face with hazy eyes, of freaks having freak shit sex. In the living room, sitting placidly with her hands folded in her lap and a small smile on her face, is Honey.

As Ashlynn and Angel lay in bed after everything, Angel asks why Kareem was killing people. The two share pillowtalk about the murders and Ashlynn calling the police on him. Ashlynn comforts Angel, telling her she knows she can keep her safe now. On Ashlynn’s bedside table, Angel’s phone buzzes with repeated messages from Chastity, increasing in vitriol, detailing her horrible day.

Later that night in the police station, we see a glass-walled cell holding Kareem. He stares straight ahead, restrained, now wearing a muzzle-like mask. Several officers watch from outside, holding gauze to human bite wounds.

In the Armstrong, Diana, returned to her old room by Jason and Tylar, lays unmoving in the bed. She opens her eyes and they are drained of all color.