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As they pulled up to the house, Karen couldn’t help but glance at the house with apprehension. Sure, she did ask Will Navidson to choose between the family and photography, but she wasn’t expecting for him to actually start committing to the former. And that actually makes Karen feel bad, because it sounds like she doesn’t want Navy to be for her or the kids, and she does, but she also knows that photography means a lot to Navy, and-
“Karen?”
Karen jumped in her seat when she found that Navy was standing out of her side of the car, gazing at her with a concerned expression. Looking over his shoulder, she can see that both Chad and Daisy are already near the house, waiting for the parents to join them.
Exiting the car, Karen gave Navy a sheepish smile. “Sorry, just woolgathering.” Hesitating, she added, “I’m also a bit nervous, of course.”
Navy grinned back, and damn, it still took Karen’s breath away to see that almost boyish grin. She could feel one of her many doubts sink away into the depths. “So am I, actually. I’m not too worried, though. We have each other, after all.”
Karen swore she could hear her heart flutter at those words. It made all the times Navy chose photographing over her almost obsolete. Almost.
Like a gentleman, Navy opened the door and extended a hand to help her out. Karen couldn’t help but feel slightly irritated over the gesture, even as she greatly appreciated it at the same time. She was about to take his hand when she heard screaming.
On its own, the screaming itself wasn’t that worrying for Karen. Both of her children tended to scream out of excitement while playing, and Daisy still had not grown out of it. It was Chad’s screaming, though, that set Karen off, as Chad was mature enough to manage the volume of his voice. That, and his screaming had traces of shock and even fear within them.
Without a second thought, Karen charged out of the car and sprinted towards her children. She could tell Navy was running to them as well from the thump of footsteps right behind her. Surprisingly, she managed to reach Chad and Daisy first, quickly crouching down to their level to find any potential injuries.
“Are you two alright?!” Karen asked, breathless, and both of them hesitantly nodded. She still checked their bodies, confused when she couldn’t find anything. “Why were you both screaming?” she asked, glancing up to Navy for any guidance.
Except, Navy wasn’t looking at her, wasn’t even looking at the kids. He was staring in the direction of the house, mouth agape. Confused, Karen turned her head to that direction, and she finally saw it.
The door to the house was open, presumably from either Chad or Daisy opening it. Spilling out onto the doorstep were a massive pile of leaves, with colors ranging from fall-brown to green. The doorway was practically packed with leaves, preventing any entry into the house. From what Karen could see in the windows, the rest of the house was also filled with leaves.
Karen could’ve sworn she could hear an extremely muffled “noot-noot” from within the house.
For a moment, none of the Navidson family spoke, still shell-shocked regarding the strange sight.
“What the fuck,” Navy finally spoke under his breath.
“Language,” Karen responded, despite herself.
“Mommy,” Daisy said, tugging on Karen’s shirt, “how long will it take to clean up the leaves?”
“Hoss. Hoss!”
Johnny Truant jumped, only a little though. He was still fighting off his drowsiness from being rudely woken up by Lude when the two of them arrived at some old man’s apartment.
“Two things, Hoss,” Lude started as he unlocked the apartment with keys lended by the landlord. “The first peculiar thing concerns what happened to Zampano.”
Johnny frowned. “I thought the first thing concerned the cats.”
“What? Hoss, you’re clearly still half asleep,” Lude says as he pockets the keys.
“No thanks to you.”
Lude laughs, forgetting about the apartment for a moment. “Zampano, the old man, recently got shipped to some senior citizen's home. Well, in my personal opinion, he should’ve been sent to some mental asylum for how he was acting before he got detained.”
Now this sounded interesting. “And how was he acting?”
“Well, he thought he was a tree.”
Pause, most likely for dramatic effect. Lude was just silly like that. “He would just stand outside in one place, arms outstretched, for hours on end. When I tried to ask him why, the only response I got was that he was ‘photosynthesizing.’ Eventually one of the guys living here got fed up and called some guy to take care of him.” Lude chuckled a little. “Actually now that I think about it, the cats started to leave the old man alone after he ignored him. So in a way, you’re right on the money, hoss.”
Johnny yawned in response. The story was interesting, and something about the mentioned trees unsettled him, but currently all he wanted to do was get this over with and fall back onto his bed. “Okay, and? What’s the second ‘peculiar ‘thing?”
He could’ve sworn Lude’s face had a look of disappointment and almost hurt, but Johnny was too drowsy to find out the implications of it, never mind cheer him up. “The second peculiar thing, you’ll see for yourself.” With that, Lude entered the apartment, and Johnny hurried inside.
Fitting the description of Zampano, his apartment was a mess. Various potted house plants in varying degrees of decay were scattered across the place, making it difficult to navigate. It didn’t help that, from what Johnny could tell, most if not all of the vents were covered by duct tape.
What really interested Johnny, though, was the smell. The best way he could describe it is what fall smelled like, like fallen leaves on the ground. This smell persisted even with the rotting plants. Maybe that was why Johnny felt so unsettled and, strangely enough, hungry?
He forgot about it as soon as Lude showed him the trunk. It was large and made with dark wood. There was an ominous feel to the trunk, though not as ominous as the current smell of leaves. When Johnny opened the lock and popped it open, what awaited him was the top part completely covered with leaves. An innocuous sight, and yet Johnny’s heart started thumping like crazy.
“...Is this a fucking joke, man?” Johnny asked, though he was still looking at the trunk instead of Lude.
Even Lude looked surprised, though, when Johnny turned back to assess his friend. His mouth was gaping along with Johnny's though it seemed more out of surprise than fear. “I did pop the trunk open to check what’s inside, but I closed and left it alone right after. I swear, hoss. No tampering from me.”
With shaking hands, Johnny cleared away the leaves to find… leaves of a different kind.
Pages of a manuscript, to be exact.
“I will not abort this mission.”
Much attention has been given to Holloway’s use of the word “abort” and “mission”, as it is similar to Navidson’s use of the word “outpost” earlier in the film. The implication in “abort” is the failure of completion- the treasure unfound, the new creature undiscovered.
As Hank Leblarnard puts is, “The general consensus is, it is at this point that Holloway’s goal has deviated from “clean the house” to ‘find the source of the damn leaves.’”
Naturally, as Holloway’s colleagues, Jed and Wax plead for him to seek reason, but at this point, Hollyway’s reasoning is long gone. He starts cursing at them when they suggest he take a break, maybe drink some lemonade at the stand Chad set up. In Holloway’s mind, this is the equivalent of teammates leaving him to die alone in unexplored territory. Except he’s way off; by now the entryway to the stairwell is mostly cleared out of leaves, and there is still no danger of the upper levels collapsing on itself from the mass of leaves.
Eventually, Jed and Wax realize they won’t get any reason out of their colleague, so they give up and start climbing downstairs to get a drink and rest their arms after hours of sweeping. Now that the two men are ‘leaving’ Holloway to ‘die’, the man now knows what he should do.
Jed and Wax are reaching the doorway when Holloway erupts a mighty roar and barrels down to ground level, eyes on target with the two men. Panicking, Wax immediately sprints to the outside, what critics call the ‘safe zone’. Jed, meanwhile, is frozen in place and is only about to run when Holloway rams into him, throwing both men onto the floor.
The fight, if you can call it that, only lasts for about 5 seconds before both Will and Tom can pry Jed and Holloway off from each other, but in those seconds, Jed not only suffered from a concussion from hitting his head hard on the ground, but also a broken nose caused by Holloway’s fist. And from there, Holloway’s fate is sealed.
Holloway himself seems to realize this in Tom’s bulky arms, as his eyes grow wide with regret for his actions. “Jed,” he starts, “I… I’m so sorry. I’ll do anything if you can forgive me.”
And here is where Jed utters his most famous line, a line that made him a favorite of both fans and critics alike. Even those unfamiliar with The Navidson Housekeeping Log will usually be familiar with this short yet sweet line.
“In that case, sign my restraining order when it comes in the mail, asshole.”
-
As Lude angrily pounded on the door, a million thoughts raced in his head. Most of these thoughts were about Johnny, but a few of them were about him and Thumper together. Lude tried to avoid those thoughts as much as possible as they were stupid to think about in the first place. Like seriously, it’s not like Lude’s jealous of a fucking stripper.
No, this is about how Johnny hasn’t been in public for the past whatever days, even being fired from his stupid tattoo job.
It was almost a relief that Johnny opened the door, but that was quickly dashed when he saw what state his friend was in. A thin, gaunt frame, his clothes hanging off of him, and if Lude tried to smell Johnny, he would have definitely smelled something rotting. Lude tried his very best to hold his breath
The room was in even worse condition. Every single window was covered by a combination of wooden boards and duct tape, and it was generally unkempt. What really drew Lude’s attention, though, were the drawings scattered around in what approximated as a pile. They were various uncolored sketches of leaves.
Finally, his attention shifted to the damn trunk and its manuscript, placed in the middle of the room, the stupid shit he wanted to show Johnny to impress him, and Lude scowled. “Put it away, hoss,” he says, starting towards the trunk. In response, Johnny surged toward the trunk, snarling at Lude like some ravenous beast.
Shocked, Lude stumbled back. Johnny never acted like this, at least when it comes to hanging out with him.
Eventually, Johnny calmed down. “Sorry man. I’m just going through some stuff,” he mumbled, not meeting Lude’s gaze.
That’s the biggest pile of bullshit Lude’s ever heard. “Yeah, no fuckin’ shit man,” Lude snapped, maybe a little angry at being stratled. He strolled over to the pile and looked over the drawings. “What the actual fuck is this man? It’s just a bunch of drawings of-”
“Don’t!” Johnny hissed. “Don’t say that word.”
Okay, so maybe being angry is the wrong approach. “Sorry,” Lude apologized, softening his voice a little. “But hoss, I don’t know why you’re so scared of them. They’re literally harmless.”
“So you think,” Johnny retorted, his eyes wild. Lude just realized his glasses were missing. “Raymond died from a bunch of those things suddenly falling on top of him and crushing him immediately.”
Lude raised an eyebrow, both at the strange death and at the question of whoever the fuck Raymond was. “Who the fuck’s Raymond?” Lude asked, deciding to ask about the latter.
Johnny shrugged, staring at the floor. “He used to be one of those hardcore gardeners. Went to a club every Thursday. That is, until he got kicked out for ethical reasons.”
“Ethical reasons,” Lude repeated flatly.
“That’s what he always said.”
Lude has had enough of this weird ass conversation. He fished out the bag of weed he had tucked into his pockets and waved it around. “Look, hoss-”
But Lude couldn’t even get to extending a party invitation when Johnny started screaming at the top of his lungs, staring at the bag.
“GET IT AWAY FROM ME!”
“J-Johnny-”
“GET IT THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME, LUDE!”
Lude quickly pocketed away the bag. Johnny collapsed onto the floor, breathing heavily with each intake. Lude stared in shock at his friend’s quivering form.
“Leave,” Johnny finally whispered, not rising from his spot on the ground.
Not needed to be told twice, Lude mumbled a quick “Later, man,” before sprinting out of the apartment. By the time he got back to his car, tears were beginning to form in his eyes for no fucking reason.
Finding someone who can help Johnny was the only thing on Lude’s mind now. A doctor, a shrink, Lude doesn’t give a flying fuck.
As long as things can go back to the way they once were.
Will was resting outside when he heard it. Well, he was forced to rest after some of those leaves he was clearing away ended up cutting his skin. Seriously, of all the injuries he sustained throughout his entire life, it was papercuts (well, more like leaves-cut) of all things that forced him to rest.
No more resting, though. The minute he heard screaming, what he immediately recognized as belonging not only to his two beautiful children but also Karen, he immediately dropped his drink (man, when did Chad get so good at making lemonade?) and rushed into the house.
Daisy was there to greet him at the doorway. She had a smile of wonder and excitement, but that wasn’t new: a house full of leaves was a strange sight, after all. What really befuddled him, however, is that Chad also had that smile, and he usually was the more serious of the two. Only Karen seemed to have an expression of complete shock, so Will came over to comfort her.
“Karen, dear, what’s wrong?” he asked, tentatively placing his right hand on her left shoulder.
Karen opened her mouth and closed it again, repeating the motion for a few seconds. Finally, she spluttered, “We cleared the living room.”
“That’s great! What's the matter, then?”
“We also,” Karen continued, “think we found the source of the leaves. In the living room.”
As soon as Karen finished, Will charged towards the living room. When they first arrived, he had obsessed over the source of the leaves, but he quickly put it inside once he realized he should put more focus on making the house habitable. But the obsession was coming back in full swing as the source was apparently discovered. He barely even heard Karen’s note of warning as he headed towards the source.
Will skidded to a stop the moment he saw the tree. A magnificent tree in the center of his living room, with a thick trunk and an even thicker canopy of leaves up above. Will thought he could almost hear an eagle cawing. The ground had some firm roots stuck in the floorboards, and on the floorboards was what looked like a sea dragon, whose snout was fixed on one of the roots, sucking away. Suddenly, it let go of the root and let out a sound, a sound that the family has heard multiple times, that has slowly gotten clearer and clearer as the leaves were swept away until it almost had an echo.
“Noot-noot.”
Well, at least they found the source of that sound.
In addition to the tree, four stags were in the living room as well, ignoring Will’s presence. He was not sure whether the stags suddenly appeared the minute the leaves were gone or if they were always there, buried under the leaves. Both had little explanation.
As Will drew closer towards the tree, he heard a squeak and raised his eyes to meet a squirrel’s. Strangely enough, unlike the other animals, this squirrel had some intelligence. Unfortunately for Will, this look the squirrel had contained quite a bit of mischief and even malice within. Will quickly looked away, and he could hear the squirrel skittering upwards on the trunk.
“Well?” Will opened his eyes again and looked at Karen, whose arms were crossed. Chad and Daisy had somehow sneaked past him and were now observing the sea dragon.
“Well…,” Will repeated back to her. “We already cleaned up most of the space. It’s practically in living conditions.”
“Navy, there’s literally a tree in our house.”
“But the work we put into it,” Will protested, almost a whine.
“Will Navidson, there are wild animals here! There’s a freakin’ seahorse in our living room!”
“Sea dragon,” Will quickly corrected. “I could always read up on how to take care of them. The library’s only a ten-minute walk away.”
Karen was working her mouth again, clearly trying to come up with a suitable argument. Normally this wouldn’t be too hard - living with a tree inside your house is generally a deal-breaker - but Will was making puppy-eyes at her, and judging by how she’s squirming, he can tell that Chad and Daisy were joining in as well.
Finally, Karen sighed in defeat. “If you can manage to clear the rest of the leaves, we can stay.”
The three of them, Will and his two kids, began to cheer loudly in celebration. Will picked up Chad and began to spin him around while Daisy rushed over to the sea dragon and hugged it. The sea dragon ignored all of this, including the hugging, going about on its root-destroying tendencies.
“Noot-noot.”
Daisy laughed. “I’ll name you Pingu!”
Johnny sits on the bench, watching the sky gradually bloom into the morning. The husky that had found him is now laying down at his feet, sleeping any potential troubles away. Johnny allows himself a small smile as he bends over to softly stroke the dog’s back. The dog only twitches a little before stilling.
The meeting with that band was brief, barely lasting an hour, and yet, with the discovery of Leaves of House, Johnny has been feeling this strange sense of peace ever since the encounter. The strange fear he’s felt ever since he found the manuscript, of every leaf that fell on the ground, felt so distant now. All that was left now was a feeling of contentment.
Tomorrow, he’ll head over to the hospital Lude’s currently in. According to witnesses, the guy apparently had a tree upheave itself and drop itself on Lude. How much of the scene was from the drugs remains up to debate. Miraculously, Lude survived, though the last time Johnny visited he was still unconscious.
Hell, maybe he’ll even visit Thumper, get to actually know her rather than simply flirt.
But for now, Johnny can sit here, right on this bench. Everything is going to be okay, after all.
A sudden breeze stirs Johnny from his thoughts. The wind brings some leaves along for the ride, and without thinking, Johnny snags one from the wind’s grasp.
There was only a brief moment of hesitation. Then, with resolve, Johnny bites into the leaf, savoring the crunchy texture. It tastes just like nature itself.
Johnny smiles again to himself. Like mother, like son.