Prologue: Welcome to Ravenwood
Ravenwood, Nebraska.
That’s what they called this older, beat-up, but beautiful place in the Midwest. The streets had broken and beat-up asphalt not because they were neglected, but because they were used. Mom-and-pop shops, tattoo parlors, parks, corner stores, strip clubs, and more all took their places as iconic and solid foundations for what Ravenwood was: someone’s community.
Somewhere on the streets of the city, sitting on the broken-up concrete that made up the sidewalk of Mercer Street, two lifelong best friends found themselves on the worse end of what the community had to offer.
“...Okay… groceries or the water bill…?”
Veronica turned and gazed at her friend. Veronica Laughlin, twenty-two years old, was already feeling the mantle of responsibility, even if it was for something as simple as keeping her and Jay alive and fed.
“...Both?” Jay sheepishly asked.
Juliette ‘Jay’ Gurrera was Veronica’s younger, shy, awkward, and kind best friend.
“Not both.” Veronica shook her head.
“Maybe Mr. Cromwell wi—”
Jay found herself cut off.
“Mr. Cromwell is the owner of the laundromat, and we should be happy he is letting us work mopping the floors, cleaning out the lint, and all that shit. He is not giving us raises.”
Veronica let out an amused laugh, but she spoke genuinely.
“Yes, Mom…”
Jay very gently teased her, but clearly it came from a place of warmth. They were only a little over a year apart. Jay was freshly twenty-one, while Veronica was twenty-two, but for Jay it felt like she sat beside the wisest and most caring person she knew.
There was a small smile between the two of them for the moment.
“Well, if we want more money, we’ll have to get better jobs.”
“And how do you suppose we do that…?”
There was a moment of silence before the older woman found her gaze turning to the building across the street. An aged, unassuming, and unordinary three-story building stood across from them.
There was another moment of silence as the old L.E.D. sign flickered once or twice.
THE WHISPER CLUB
STRIP CLUB AND BAR
CLOSED
“You have got to be kidding me,” Jay said.
