we're FINE, but. guess who got rear ended 😔😔😔😔😔😔😔

blue on black.

WHERE: Highway right outside of Tonopah, the night before Cassie's funeral WITH: Closed

Nothing cleared Cole’s mind quite like a full throttle on an open road. His Harley roared just loud enough to drown out most of the discord in his head, leaving nothing left to linger on but the freedom he found on the miles laid out in front of him. He’d seldom known peace like this and right now? He needed it more than he had in years. Cassie Donovan’s death loomed over him like a black cloud, one he couldn’t shake no matter how hard he tried. Maybe it was the manner in which she passed, or maybe it was the lack of closure between them that had him reeling– maybe it was both– but either way, he looked to the road to try and quiet some of the noise he’d been silently living with since the moment he’d learned of her passing. It felt more fair– letting the asphalt take the beating he couldn’t dream of forcing onto the people around him. He’d resigned himself to the idea that he had no right to feel any sort of way to begin with.

With her funeral only a small handful of hours away, once the night gave way to the sunrise, that reflexive need to unleash the brunt of everything he felt burned even stronger and so he gunned his Fatboy onward into what few hours the night still had left to lend him. With every mile added to the odometer, he felt the slightest bit lighter and would as long as the vibrations from his handlebars rattled through him from his palms to his shoulders. But the moment that stopped? He’d be reminded of all the things he wanted to forget.

Snatched from his thoughts as a sudden flash of blue pulsed like some sort of slow strobe light behind him, Cole muttered a harsh curse beneath his breath and glanced down at his speedometer. Despite the noise in his head, he wasn’t speeding– he was toeing that line, actually, which was fairly conservative considering the way these midnight rides typically tended to go. So what was the problem? Cole didn’t have long to ponder it before those blue lights were less of a spark in his periphery and more of center stage as the officer revved the engine, bringing the patrol car just inches away from his rear bumper. It didn’t stop there, though– moments later, the car bounded forward until it wasn’t so much even with him, but just level enough to turn its nose towards the back end of Cole’s bike, prompting him to swerve out of the way to avoid a collision.  

“Shit,” Cole hissed once the car tried the same maneuver again, prompting an even wider swerve on his part. He braced himself as his tires teetered along the shoulder of the road, the rough terrain jarring him the moment he dipped into it. Cole tried to redirect back onto the road, but the patrol car came for him again, pushing him so far off course until he felt himself careening aside then skidding to a stop on the dusty shoulder of the road. Fortunate enough just to remain upright, he shoved the heel of his boot into his kickstand and cut the engine. Unclipping his helmet, he stashed it on one of his mirrors with a start and climbed down from his bike, eyes already on fire as he turned his gaze on the cop car slowing to a stop a few paces behind him. “Hey!” Cole shouted, storming towards the patrol car despite the way the officer stepped out and demanded that he stop. If he thought that would work, then obviously he didn’t know the man he’d pulled over. “Tryna get me killed?” He pressed, shoulders giving an exaggerated shrug.

“Swerving, failure to maintain your lane– I could go on,” the officer started, his right hand moving towards the gun stationed on his hip. Taking note of the action, Cole scoffed softly and lifted a brow at him as if to say really? Cole was an outlaw– he wasn’t a fool. He knew better than to draw his Beretta– a weapon he wasn’t even permitted to own.

“Kinda hard not to swerve when you’re tryna run me off the fuckin’ road,” Cole countered, brows raising as a haughty smirk graced his features– though that smirk was doused in the sort of rage seldom seen on the President’s face, at least no in the public eye. But this little stunt? It felt personal, could’ve even killed him if he hadn’t been plastered to the back of a bike since he was a teen and knew how to maneuver swirly terrain. Even so, how was he not supposed to feel enraged? “Ya need to back off,” he pressed, the warning in his tone just as evident as the stars overhead.

The officer, who’d stepped close enough for Cole to read Officer Riggs on his nametag, was clearly a young gun in way over his head but lifted a brow anyway, “Mr. Monroe, are you actually threatening an officer of the law?” At least he knew who Cole was– he’d never been much for introductions.

“That what ya are?” Cole inquired, his head tipping to the side as his expression cooled, eyes narrowing and teeth clenching so hard that his jaw threatened to pop, “Coulda fooled me.” While Cole had absolutely no respect for law enforcement, he could at least discern the real players from those who only hoped to find themselves in the game. It was clear to him which category Officer Riggs landed in. This right here? It was dirty, the sort of shit that’d get his badge snatched right from underneath him if he actually had a chief that was worth a damn.

“Look, I’ll get right to it,” Riggs started, clearing his throat as if to gear up for his moment in the spotlight. While he talked himself into whatever he was about to say, Cole dug out his Marlboros and set one between his lips, lighting it. “Your reckless driving and threats aside, Chief Donovan wanted me to inform you that your presence won’t be required or appreciated at his daughter’s funeral tomorrow. You– you’d do well to heed my advice.” For a moment, Cole only stood there with his cigarette hanging limply from his mouth, stunned and simply unable to process what he’d just heard. Was Cassie’s father so heartless that he’d actually waste a taxpayer’s dime just to have this message delivered? So heartless as to actually bar a man who’d, by all accounts, been closer than blood from attending a funeral and saying goodbye to the daughter Harold didn’t give a single shit about? “That what this is– friendly advice?” He questioned, lifting a brow seconds before his expression twisted into a snarl, “Well, here’s some advice of my own– ya tell him that next time he needs someone to do his dirty work, he can just tell me himself, save us all some time,” Cole spat, a scoff of disbelief trailing close behind. It was no secret that Harold hated him– he had ever since Cole was a teenager and had often whisked his daughter away. And then once Cole had reconnected with Cassie when they were adults? It might as well have been a slap right across Harold’s smug face. “But then again, maybe next time it’ll be his ass in a coffin– not one of the kids he only pretends to give a shit about,” Cole mused aloud, shrugging his shoulders before backing away and starting for his bike, a cloud of smoke spewing off to the side. Shaking his head, he pivoted around on his heel, turning his back to the cop, “Have a nice night, officer,” he called out, waving a hand as if to dismiss the man, “I’ll see ya around.” A threat or a promise? He'd leave that up to Riggs.

Stay with Me: Luther Hargreeves (2)

Request: Vanya hurts the reader instead of Allison; Luther and the others find them and the reader is dying. Lots of Angst!

Warning(s): Lots of Angst, Blood, Grief, etc.

"Can't you drive a little bit faster?"

Luther leaned in from the backseat, impatiently looking over to Five, who clutched the steering wheel. Already hitting over 90 on a small road off the highway that was probably only permitting anything below 30 on the speed limit.

"Ask me again," Five sighed. "And I'll burn you with the cigarette lighter."

Luther huffed, sitting back into his seat, glancing between his brothers. His palms were sweating, his hands were shaking, something was wrong, he needed you, he needed to know you were okay. "I just--somethings not right. Can you just press on the gas?" He said now, visibly alittle more lenient, just worriedly staring out of the window. The sun had set and stars were igniting the dark purple sky, it was your favorite time of day, when you could see the stars.

Diego glanced at his brother, before tapping on Five's seat. "How much longer?"

"No more than ten minutes, tops." Five then complied with Luther's wishes, pressing his foot down on the gas pedal until the car was going well over 120.

Luther visibly relaxed, closing his eye's for a moment, then opening them. He balled up his fists, the audible crinkle of paper stopped him however, he straightens and looks down before taking the narrow pieces of paper from his sleeve. His expression softens, he stares down at the tickets he had bought not too long ago, to Paris. Maybe if the world wasn't ending, you two could finally...live, together. He wouldn't disappoint you this time.

He pocketed the tickets before clasping his hands together, painfully squeezing to get rid of the burning feeling setting in his chest.

●

Allison's eyes were cloudy, swollen from crying for hours, she gasped out as she hauled your limp body another inch before collapsing. She had been able to get your body out of the house, but every move only pained you further, she finally collapsed as you begged hoarsely. "Allison, ally! Please," you wheezed, breathlessly, crying silently as blood continued to seep through your fingers. "Stop," you sucked in a breath.

Allison fell to her knees, a loose cloth from the couch pressed into your bloody chest, she whimpered lowly. "I-i'm s-s-sorry," she winced at every sound that flooded her throat, stopping with a hand over the side of her neck where she was bleeding profusely, her eyes dropping as she began to feel dizzy. She groaned, then looking down at you, where your eye's had began to dull, staring upwards. "N-no, (y/n), d-don't--" she leaned over her sister, stroking your cheeks to coax you awake, your vision fading in and out.

"Ally..." you muttered, a thin strand of blood ran down the side of your left nostril, your eye's crossed and Allison took your hand, holding it tight to her lips as she gathered you in her arms. "Where's--where's....V-Vanya," you struggled to say the words, your body spasms faintly, pain blossoming through your limbs as your toes go number and your legs lay limp.

Allison presses her lips together, closing her eyes at the mention of their sister, who betrayed them, who hurt the both of you. How could you still be concerned for Vanya's safety of all things when she left you like this? She doesn't answer, she can't. First, because she's physically incapable with the slice to the throat and secondly she had no idea where Vanya was now, but her first guess would be they were going back to Harold Jenkins place.

She instead, strokes the sides of your face, shakily wiping the blood from your chin and along your paling cheeks. She didn't want to lose you, she couldn't, you've been with her through everything. What would she tell her daughter? Who adored you, who she had made her Godmother, what would she do then? God, what would Luther do?

Allison let out a sob, hugging you to her chest, she couldn't even stand, they'd never make it to the car, you couldn't even take a step without crumbling. She couldn't just leave you either, she'd never do that, so she waited and as your breathing labored, your body shivering as blood pooled around the wooden planked flooring. Allison leaned her head against yours, her mouth opening and nothing left, she grimaced at the vibrations she had tried to create. But, she needed to try, she needed to let you be ok, "I--I heard...a r-r-rumor..." she could see your eye's begin to cloud over, a white glaze that washed over your pupils. "...that y-y-you...you're gonna be fine. You're gonna...gon' be o-ok," your eye's were glazed over, but she wasn't sure if it was from her power anymore.

The night air blew through her curls as she leaned over you, panting heavily as her eyes grew heavy, she stroked the side of your face. Your lips curved up fairly try before dropping, your skin was so pale, so cold now. "N-no...! No, please," Allison cried out as she felt her wound tear, but she still begged as she now laid beside you. Her hands shook you to stay awake, sniffling as she knew you didn't have much time left. "I'm--I'm sorry," Allison breathed, laying her head on your shoulder now, her hand pressing down weakly on your bleeding chest. She could hardly breathe, taking one painful breath after the other, and all she could do now is lay here with you until you were found.

It was moments later, Allison was on the verge of blacking out, when there was a sudden shout, a vibration along the wooden boards up to the both of you.

Finally...

●

The car came to a halt as the lights of the cabin illuminated the area, but Five narrowed his eyes driving up closer as there was no car in sight. "Harold's not here."

"What are you talking about, this is the place," Klaus brought up the police report copy, Five rolled his eye's, waving it off.

"Yes, I know that. But there's no car, Allison's call isn't here either." Five drove up further.

Luther sighed impatiently. "Well they have to be somewhere, let's go inside, maybe there's clues!" He hastily opened up the car door, just as Diego caught sight of the porch.

"Oh, god..." He breathed before pushing the door open and running towards the cabin.

Klaus finally could see and follwed. "Oh no!"

Luther rushed to the cabin, Diego racing towards the steps in front until he caught sight of the scene in front of them. "No...no!" He cried, pushing past Diego and collapsing to his knees in front of your limp body. "(Y/n), (y/n) hey, baby," he raised you up in his arms, your head limply hung to the side. "No, no! Please, (y/n)," his eyes burned at the sight of your bloody, broken body. His right hand shaking as it held the soaked cloth over your bloody middle, your breathing was so faint. "Oh god, oh god, oh god please, no! No!" He held you close, breathing heavily before lifting you in his arms, your skin was so cold, your eye's fluttered open.

Klaus came up, his eyes reddening, mouth agape at the state of his family, he was leaned over Luther, a hand on his shoulder, until the man began rushing back to the car. "Wha--oh shit, god no. Oh je--we have to get them back to the house!" He leaned over Allison as Luther took you to the car, his body shaking as he struggled to keep himself together.

"I couldn't--, I couldn't--," Allison gasped out, her eyes crossed in exhaustion as Diego carefully lifted her, Diego shushed her, quickly making his way to the car as Klaus opened his side door.

"We know, we know. It's gonna be ok, Allison," Diego assured her as he climbed into the car.

Five was already behind the wheel, pressing down on the gas as his own eyes blurred with angry tears, he couldn't stop his family from getting hurt, he came back to save them! And he couldn't protect them! He stepped on the gas, turning the wheel forcefully, they needed to get home and fast!

During the car ride, Luther ripped away his coat and wrapped you in its stifling warmth, hoping to keep you warm, but your body still shivered. He rubbed your shoulder, while your body was tucked into his chest as you sat across his lap, "We're heading home, you're gonna be ok, baby," he said, using his left hand to hold his coat in place over your chest as a desperate attempt to stifle the blood loss, the other caressing the side of your face. "Hey, (y/n), baby, look at me. You can't close your eyes ok?" He tilted your chin up, your head leaning on his shoulder, "You don't have to talk, ok? Just listen, stay awake," he tried to hold himself together, his body was shaking, he didn't know what to do or how to fix this.

All this blood. His pants were warm, his hands are sticky with your blood, draining from your body like a running faucet.

"Come on, (y/n)," Klaus turned in his seat, feigning one of his go lucky smiles Luther used to hate so much, "I thought you wanted go hear about my therapy session last week? I'll tell you now, that man was a mess, he spent more time talking about his problems more than my own. But then I took his, um, his car! And pawned it," Klaus produced a half-hearted laugh, you visibly produced a breath of humour, causing him to continue. "But, ya know I didn't make much, it was a rusty old thing, barely worth a grand."

"You're...hopeless..." You breathlessly spoke.

Luther adjusted you in his arms, relaxing slightly, happy to see you could still speak at least. He was thankful for once, for Klaus' humour, having never truly appreciated it.

Klaus leaned against the seat, his eyes on your pale skin and darkening eyes. "Yeah, yep, I am," he snickered lightly, his expression flickering as his eye's watered once more. "Yeah, you're right. But, I said it first."

You hummed, amused as Klaus laughed faintly with you.

Diego then pitched in, holding tight to Allison, who had her hand tightly looped with yours. "(y/n), hey, sis," Your eye's flickered over to Diego, "I still got a few tricks to show you, ya know. You're shit with the knife still," he said, turned away from you, snickering lightly while you snorted weakly.

"Gee, thanks," you breathed, a smile settled on our face. "Your...teaching is...just bad,," you finished, than humming a laugh as Klaus and Luther chuckle while Diego gave you a half-hearted glare.

Five looked up through the mirror. "Keep her up for ten more minutes. We're almost--," he looks at you, your eyelids fluttering. "Hey! Hey, (y/n)," Luther rubs your shoulder, coaxing you up. "We're almost home," he says directly to you, as calmly as he could.

You nodded, a faint movement he hardly caught.

Everyone tried to keep you up, Luther trying to hold himself together as you soon stopped talking altogether, only blinking or a light smile to show you were listening.

Then, you stopped responding, your eye's were still open so Klaus had assumed you were listening. All of a sudden, you stilled, Klaus paused, Allison sitting up after a few seconds and putting a hand over yours. When you didn't give any indication of response, she panicked, shaking your arm and that's when everyone realized what had happened.

●

"We're safe here for a bit," Leonard said, putting his keys on the table, shrugging off his coat.

Vanya stepped inside his home, numb as her hands were stiff with dried blood, her eyes with bags from the long ride and constant reminder of her betrayal to her sisters. Her body shivered with each step, her cheeks stained with tears that had gone on for hours.

"Can't stay long," Leonard continued, unfazed by the previous events. "We've gotta pack our things," he said.

Then fully turning to Vanya, her silence as she stared at her feet, "Vanya," he walked over to her, "Vanya," he said again, she didn't answer, she couldn't, a dead stare into a void he knew she must must be haunted by. "Let's clean you up." He took her hand, looking at the blood crusted along her hands and her clothes.

She followed him to the tub, when he ran the water, she sat down inside, the warm water did little to ease her. Even as Leonard--or was it Harold-- washed her bloody palms with a rag to the soothe her shaking bones.

"Your family," Leonard began, "they'll be coming for us soon," he said. When she said nothing, only still looking forwards, lost in the repeating memory of you falling in her arms, blood flooding your chest. "It's ok," he breathed against her. "You don't have to worry, we're a team now." He assured her. She blinked at the word, her eyes blurring once again with tears.

"Vanya! I made you this!" You ran down the hallway, clad in your umbrella academy costume, everyone was on their way to a mission. You had a mask in your hand, one exactly like everyone else's, Vanya hadn't received one before because she had no power at the time.

Vanya remembers being so emotional about it, tearing up so badly that she couldn't put the mask om right away because she'd just drown her own eyes in her tears. You gave her a walkie-talkie and shook one of your own in your hand, "Now, you can help me on missions!" You revealed, grinning widely. Wiping Vanya's eye's, you helped her put her mask on. "There! Now we're a team!"

"Take the fight to them," Leonards voice broke her out of her memory.

She spoke. For the first time in hours, "Why would they be coming for me?"

Leonard chuckles softly, "Vanya..." he breathes. "You killed (y/n)."

A flash of what she had done hits her, she flinched before shaking her head. "No, I..." she started. "I lost control." She explained. "Everything just happened so fast." She couldn't stop herself, she hadn't even known what she had done until it was too late. It was an accident. They'd understand that, right?

"I know," Leonard says, running the rag over her fingers. "I know," he repeated. "It's not your fault. You were protecting yourself."

"Vanya, vanya, I love you!"

From what? What was she protecting herself from? All they wanted to do was help, all you wanted to do was help her.

"That's not how they'll see it," Leonard continues.

"No. I'll-- I'll...I'll explain it to them." Vanya nods to herself, trying to convince herself. "Uh, I--I just need to get to them and I--I need to explain it to them."

Leonard frowned, leaning over her. "They wanna hurt you," he warned, "I'm the only one on your side who understands...just how special...you truly are."

"... (y/n) understood." A tear escapes Vanya's eye.

Leonard hums. "But, she's gone now." He reminds her.

She's silent after that, silently crying harder.

"I've known you were special since the day we met. I see it now, just as she did , as I look at your face," Leonard insists. "But they don't see it. And the only other person who did, she's gone now. But I'm still here Vanya," Leonard rubs her hands of blood, "They never have seen it, Vanya. And they never will."

She looks down at the water, having slowly turned pink, she sniffles, accepting the hard truth, the lie masked within his words.

"Say it."

She shakes her head. "I can't..."

Leonard stops, looks at her, hard. "Say it for me."

She takes a slow breath, a word she had once craved now seemingly cursed in her eyes. "I'm special."

"Say it again." He instructs, a grin spreading across his face as Vanya only sunk deeper into herself.

"I've watched everything my siblings can do, ruin their lives!"

"I'm special..."

Leonard chuckles. "Now that wasn't so hard."

●

The car comes to a screeching halt in front of the Umbrella Academy, everyone immediately piling out of the vehicle, carrying Allison's body out and Luther holds you tight in his arms. But, he hasn't moved from his spot in the car.

It's been an hour since you had gone silent, stopped breathing. Five stayed in the car, behind the wheel, gripping the leather wheel tightly and he still hasn't let go, he didn't dare look back at the back seat to see your body laying there. Luther hadn't been able to let go of you, burying his face in your neck as he cried in agony as you had passed on.

Allison had passed out after you had gone quiet, unable to deal with the reality, everyone else was in shock, thinking maybe they could make it home or to a hospital in time. But, they were too late.

Klaus and Diego left with Allison to carry her inside, hopefully Pogo and Mom would be able to make quick work to help her.

Luther is inconsolable as he finally goes inside the academy after an hour, carrying you inside and setting you down as Mom confirms you had passed on, giving a mournful kiss to your forehead as she runs a hand over your hair. She closes the infirmary doors after she had given Allison her blood transfusion from Diego. Cleaning you up from blood, she changes your clothes before letting everyone say their goodbyes as she opens the doors.

Allison wakes up later on, sitting up, hoarse breathing in as she cups the sore pain in her throat, she winced at the bandage on her neck. She hums but grimaced at the pinch that traveled up her neck, she looks around before noticing someone else in the room, two people actually. One on a gurney like her and the other sitting beside the other woman, her eyes widen as she recognizes your (h/c) hair.

Luther is at your side, holding your hand close to his face as he leans against your side, the man clearly having never left your side. Allison gasps softly in the quiet room, breathing heavily as she realizes you're gone, Luther looks up, his eyes were so dull, defeated and filled with grief.

He slowly straightens up from his spot before walking over to the woman, Allison cries as she can't take her eyes off of your body, she can't believe that you're actually... She sobs inaudibly, her chest clenching in agony, Luther comes over taking his sister into an embrace that she gladly responds to.

"No..." she gasps out, "No!"

Luther only holds her tighter, masking his own tears as the two sit in silence of their grief.

●

Klaus bursts into his room, stumbling to his bed, throwing the pillows off of it before pulling out the drawers underneath his bed frame. His eyes clouded over as he sniffles harshly, a shaky breath leaving him as he looks around for those little red and white pills he knows are hidden somewhere.

"What're you doing?" Klaus doesn't have to turn around to know Ben is speaking to him, his ghost brother, who steps into the room behind him. Ben's voice is dampened with sadness, having witnessed his sister bleed out on the way home and watched her spirit cross over. He didn't wish death on anybody, nobody is ready for it, he couldn't believe you had gone so soon as well.

"What does it look like?" Klaus stammered, he hiccups before wiping a stray tear from his face. "I'm looking for drugs!"

"Don't do it."

"I'm done listening to you!" Klaus spins around on him. "Just go away! Go away, please."

"I like the sober you," Ben admits as Klaus returns to lookin for the drugs he had apparently hid from himself. He rips through the fabric of a stuffed animal desperately while Ben frowns.

"Yeah well, sobriety's overrated." Klaus pulls out a few bagged pills from the fluff.

"Look where it's gotten you, though!" Ben points out, Klaus having met up with Sir Reginald earlier, albeit not a very informative meeting but he did it.

Klaus looks at Ben, upset. "Well, where has it gotten me? Where has it gotten me!?" He demands, "Nowhere!" He throws his hands up in exasperation. "I can't talk to the person I love. People...still don't take me seriously! The only one who did..." he paused before looking away from his brother, his hands shaking as he thought of his sister. "I can't even see (y/n)...I couldn't even say goodbye, nothing!" Klaus puts his hands to his face. "I wanna be numb again."

Inktober 2020 #1: Fish

To say I wasn’t expecting an attack would be an understatement.

I was in my van, driving my oldest daughter to soccer practice.  (Why yes, I am a soccer mom.  I’m big enough to admit it.)  Natalie was supposed to be putting on her shin guards, but instead she was playing the Nintendo 3DS Arista had brought, on the grounds that technically it was her 3DS.  I believe Arista’s was out of battery, although it was the kind of detail I try not to pay too much attention to.  Arista, of course, had whined about this for ten minutes straight.  “It’s not fair!  I brought that 3DS!  You said you’d let me play!  Mommm, Natalie won’t let me play!”  And so on. This was partially, though not fully, drowned out by the sound of Theo singing “Itsy Bitsy Spider” loudly, enthusiastically, off-key and with half the words made up, for what may well have been the tenth time in a row.

“Mom!  Make Theo be quiet.  I can’t concentrate!”

“Just give me back the 3DS! You aren’t even supposed to be playing it!”

“—itsy bitsy spider, gob up the stop again, itsy bitsy spider went on the bo bo bot, so wong go the dwain and it quash the spider out—“

“That isn’t even how it goes, Theo.  It goes ‘Itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout—'“

“If you’re just gonna sing to Theo you can give me back the game.  Mommm, she isn’t even playing it and she won’t give it back!”

“I’m sing it, Natwee!  I’m sing it my way!”

“Yeah, well your way is wrong, cause you’re a baby.”

“ITSY BITSY NATWEE, CAN’T SING THE SPIDER SONG, CAUSE THEO IS SING IT LA DA DOO DOO LA LA—“

“Come on! Let me play!”

With all this going on, I had no hope of getting back enough of my own concentration to change lanes, so I had been stuck behind a car carrier lugging SUVs for the past ten minutes.  I hated being behind large trucks; they block my view of the rest of the road.  And here I was with nothing in the CD player but Gary’s smooth jazz, when plainly I needed death metal to drown this out.  I’d have given my pinky finger to be able to put on the radio, but radio and I did not get along.

As if to underscore this, a sudden burst of static cut through the horn solo.  I frowned, wondering if I’d gotten mixed up and this was the radio after all.

“Hey, cool!” Arista said, having apparently found something worthy of distracting her from her quest to recover the 3DS.  “My mood ring is red.  Mom, what’s it mean when your mood ring goes red?”

I went cold, and glanced at my own left hand on the steering wheel.  The stone in my ring, normally opal, had turned obsidian black.

I glanced back up to see the top SUV on the car carrier starting to slide.

“Aspída!” I shouted, having no time to do anything more complex than that.  Then I spun the wheel and swerved wildly onto the right shoulder, scraping the jersey wall, as the SUV slid off the carrier’s ramp and came careening down at us.

Distantly I was aware of my kids screaming, but all my attention was on surviving this. The SUV slammed into the shield I had just cast and bounced into traffic, making the car shudder. The small truck that had been behind me struck the SUV, sending it spinning across the road. Meanwhile I’d slammed hard on my brakes, coming to a full stop about twenty feet away from where the SUV ending up crashing into the jersey wall ahead of me. The small truck pulled over, in front of the SUV. The car carrier continued blithely on into the distance.

At least they hadn’t all fallen. That would have been a lot harder to deal with. I could have done it, but I would not have liked to explain it to the kids.

“Mom! Mom! What was that? What happened?” Natalie screamed.  Theo was crying hysterically, and Arista was gasping, hyperventilating.

I turned around in my seat. “Arista! Inhaler, now! Natalie, help her grab it!” I wanted to unbuckle, to go take Theo into my arms and calm him, to grab Arista’s inhaler and give it to her, but I didn’t dare. My ring was still black; Arista and Natalie’s rings were still both red.

The guy who’d been driving the small truck was coming toward me, walking along the shoulder, and he looked furious. Of course, from any reasonable human being’s perspective, I’d had nothing to do with the SUV that had fallen off the car carrier and smashed into his car, but with my ring black I didn’t dare assume he was a reasonable human being. I’d read enough about road rage incidents in the paper; I had to assume he had a gun.

I threw the car into reverse and drove backward as quickly as I dared, which was a lot slower than the cars zipping past me on the highway were going, but a lot faster than one dude walking on the shoulder. He began running toward me. “Katev̱odó̱no̱,” I whispered, shoved the gearshift into drive, and pulled out onto the highway, lurching from 0 to 60 in three seconds and slamming myself and my children back against our seats. The car behind me laid on the horn – I’d cut it off. “Sorry,” I said, more to myself than to the driver who obviously couldn’t hear me, but now I was back up to full highway speed, weaving in and out of traffic so that neither the guy I’d just cut off nor the driver of the small truck could catch up with me.

I pulled off the highway at the first exit that came up, watching as my ring dulled to a grayish opalescent color. We weren’t safe, but we weren’t in deadly danger either.

Arista’s breathing was normal again. Theo was still crying. “Mom, where are we going?” Natalie asked. “Don’t I have to get to practice?”

“You’re skipping practice today, Nally.” She used to call herself that. She couldn’t get the middle syllable of her own name, so she was Nally. Nowadays she usually rolls her eyes when I call her that, but this time, she didn’t. I could see her face in my rear view mirror; she was pale and shaken.

“Because we just had an accident?”

“We didn’t have an accident,” Arista said. “We almost had an accident.”

“Right,” I said. “We’re going home, and we’re going to eat ice cream and we’re going to relax.”

“Ice cream?” Theo asked, his sobs becoming weaker and less pronounced.

“Yep! Who wants an ice cream soda, who wants a milkshake and who wants a sundae?”

Kids are sometimes very easy to bribe. Though I suspected that Natalie was letting herself be bribed rather than challenging me. She knew something weird had just happened, but she didn’t want to ask me what, or perhaps didn’t want to acknowledge it.

Another old terror raised its head. What if she was like me? What if all of them were? What if they could use magic?

I shook my head to banish the thought. No one had found us. No one had sent either of them an invitation to school. Natalie was 12, Arista was 10… they were old enough that they could have gotten invitations by now. I’d gotten mine when I was 9, though my parents hadn’t been persuaded to send me to a boarding school until I was 13.

I’d wanted to go. I’d begged for it. I’d wanted to learn magic so, so badly.

I couldn’t even remember how that had felt, now.

 ***

When we got home, I put the girls in charge of getting the ice cream, the Coke, the sundae fixings, the milk and the blender out, and Theo in charge of washing his hands, going to the bathroom, changing his clothes and washing up. He’d been potty trained for nearly a year, but I’d nearly peed myself during the almost-accident; I could hardly hold it against a little boy that he’d wet his pants. Theo was obviously very embarrassed by it, though, so I didn’t acknowledge that he’d done so, just gave him the opportunity to wash himself up and change to save face.

I went straight downstairs to my fish tanks in the basement.

The filters didn’t hum. The tank lights weren’t on. The room smelled like ozone and smoke. At least one of the surge suppressors that ran my tank filters and lights was blackened. And every single fish in all four of my tanks was floating on top of their water, dead.

The opal on my ring was still dark grey.

In Homeric Greek – the language I cast spells in, though this wasn’t a spell – I said softly, “Brave heroes, I commend your souls to the Elysian Fields. The gods will honor you.” I didn’t actually think the ancient Greeks had believed fish would go to the Elysian Fields, but then, I also didn’t actually believe in the Elysian Fields, or the later Christian version, Heaven. If humans had souls – and they might, I’d seen Jason so many times I found it hard to believe that all of him could literally be gone, forever – then fish could as well, maybe. These fish hadn’t exactly volunteered to die to save my family, but they’d been feeder goldfish, destined for the belly of a pet predator or an agonizing, choking death due to high ammonia levels and lack of oxygen from the overcrowding in the feeder tanks. I’d given them a better, longer life than they could otherwise have hoped for.

Whatever had killed them, I hoped it had been fast. It looked like some kind of electrical short, maybe. A month ago one of those had taken out all the fish in tank four; I’d replaced the filter, and the surge protector, and the GFCI outlet the surge protector was plugged into, but when magic is targeting you, all of the sane and reasonable precautions you can take may end up coming to nothing. The fish had died because I’d bound them to my family and enchanted them to take on our bad luck. Most of the time, that meant fish died one by one over a period of months, as all of the normal bad luck that might occur to a family just failed to happen – my kids never got scraped knees, our cars never broke down, Gary made it through every round of layoffs at his company, none of us ever got sick.

When the fish started dying fairly rapidly last month, starting with the electrical short, the stone in my ring had been purple – not white opal, not the gray it was right now, not the black it had turned on the highway. I’d put more fish into service and it had faded to white. The fish had been doing reasonably well; I’d thought the danger was over.

But today all of them were dead. And I didn’t dare go out and get more; whatever malevolent spell had targeted me and my family would work a lot more effectively outside the shields I had around the house. Petco would ship me fancy fish, but not feeders. Which meant firstly that it would cost a lot more money to put more fish into service, secondly that I wouldn’t be able to leave the house again until tomorrow when the fish arrived (and what would I do about the girls going to school? They couldn’t leave either, and I couldn’t explain to them or to Gary why not.) And thirdly, that the girls, and Gary, would see the change, think I was taking Gary’s advice about getting nicer fish who could actually serve as pets, and they’d be horribly disappointed when the fish died.

Maybe I could have two layers of fish, I thought. Pet fish upstairs and feeders down here. Order neon tetras and a tank for overnight delivery, set them up, go out and buy more feeders as soon as I had the neons in service.

The thought flickered through my mind that I could buy feeder mice instead. Mammals are stronger and have more life force, and more resistance to malevolent magic. Feeder mice were in the same position as feeder goldfish – they were destined to die. I’d just be giving them a good life before it happened.

But my children would get attached to the mice. Would give them names. Would cry when they died.

I closed my eyes. I needed more power to protect the family than I had at the moment. I’d given up so much of it for my anonymity and my family’s safety, back before I’d even met Gary, when the only family I’d had to protect were my parents.

To get it back, to protect them now, I’d have to break some old compacts. But those old compacts weren’t working well enough anyway, obviously, if someone was targeting me.

“Moommm! We’re ready!” Arista yelled down the stairs.

“I’m coming,” I said, and headed up. I’d deal with the magic later. Right now, I’d promised my kids ice cream, to distract them from near-death and any weirdness they’d observed, and as both a magus and a mother, I’d learned to keep my promises.

***

This is a piece from a WIP “Not Even Past”, about a former child mage student who had to save the world with her group of friends, all of whom died except her. She left the world of magic behind and became a soccer mom. But now the world of magic is coming back for her.

There Was Only One Bed

“How was your trip?” Yaku asked Kuroo, stirring his drink.

“Aren’t you curious?” Kuroo asked with a smirk. “You never cared about how my trips were back in high school.”

“Yeah, because you never went on any, you shithead. And I’m bored, so there’s that.”

Kuroo clutched his chest, pretending to be offended. “We meet up to hang out after a whole year and you treat me like this, Yakkun? You break my heart.”

“The hearts of people like you don’t break this easy.”

“C’mon, Kuroo-san, tell us about your trip!” Lev said, bouncing excitedly in his seat. He was still as excitable as ever, even in his third year.

“Why are you here again?” Yaku asked Lev, arching his eyebrow.

Lev pouted, and Kuroo watched in amusement as Yaku instinctively patted his head as if he was a puppy. “I wanted to see both my dear senpai.”

“How sweet,” Kuroo said. “Are you sure you wanted to see both of us?”

Lev nodded a little more forcefully than needed. “Now tell us about your trip!”

Kuroo sighed and put on a show of giving in. “Fine. Since you want to know so badly, I guess I’ll tell you.”

“You know, maybe we’ll ask Kenma instead.”

Kuroo laughed. “We all know how that’s going to go. I’m your best bet if you ever want to know what happened.”

“Fine. Continue,” Yaku said.

“So last summer, I found this amazing deal for really cheap airline tickets to Canada, and I decided it would be an excellent opportunity for me to go practice my English. And Canada seems like a nice enough place to visit, plus I figured I deserved a break, so it was really a no-brainer. And because I’m always nice and think about my friends, I asked Kenma if he wanted to go with me.

“He said yes, on the condition that I’d do all the planning, because he trusts me, and also because he was way too busy with the freelance project he was working on to actually be able to help me. Obviously, the major reason was the fact that he trusts me and not how busy he was. (“Obviously,” Yaku rolled his eyes.)

“Anyway, I planned our trip out in a lot of detail, because the cheapest round-trip tickets were for a month, and I was going to make the most of that month away from school and work and everything. My mom was a little skeptical when I told her about this plan, but she eventually came around to it. She knows she can trust me to be responsible (“More like she can trust Kenma to keep your ass in line,” Yaku muttered.).

“So when the time came for us to go, we had one large carrier between us, plus our carry-ons, mine mostly containing things we’d need, and Kenma’s containing his laptop and gaming consoles. I told him he wouldn’t get a whole lot of time to game while we were there, but he ignored me and packed them anyway. I suppose it was a good thing he did that, but I’m getting ahead of myself in the story. All will be revealed in good time.

“The flight was very long, mostly because we had two layovers, and one of our flights was very delayed because of the weather. By the time we landed in Toronto, we were both very tired of being inside planes and airports, and just wanted to sleep.

“When we got our passports stamped at the airport, the border agent asked us what we were visiting for, and she looked very surprised when we said we were there for a vacation. She said it was an interesting time for us to visit Canada, and wished us luck. I think she also mentioned something about warm jackets, but I didn’t really catch most of it. She was speaking pretty fast. Anyway, after that, it was time for us to get our baggage and head to the hotel. Baggage claim was uneventful, and we got our bag pretty quickly.

“I suggested we take public transport to our hotel, but Kenma glared at me and so we got a taxi instead. The taxi driver was a very nice and very talkative man, but he spoke way too fast for me to understand what he was saying. He didn’t seem to mind that I barely said anything for the whole ride. (“The thought of you staying silent for any considerable length of time sounds like a dream,” Yaku snarked.)

“We got to our hotel without a problem, and it turned out to be fairly decent. It was clean, which was pretty much all we hoped for, really, for the price. We stayed there for the two weeks we were in Toronto for, and then I went and picked up the car I had rented. Kenma was a little wary because they drive on the right side of the road, but I was confident I could do it. It would save us all the hassle of public transport, and we could easily bring our luggage with us, so really, it was a pretty solid idea. It’s not like I get the chance to drive a lot here, so I didn’t think the adjustment would be that big of a challenge.”

At that moment, Kenma walked up to their table, and slid in next to Kuroo. “Hi, Yaku-san, Lev,” he said. “Was he telling you about our trip?”

“Yes, and it’s been pretty standard so far. A logical progression of events,” Yaku said. “Kind of boring, not going to lie.”

“Oh, don’t worry, it gets more exciting after Toronto,” Kenma said, shaking his head slightly. “Did you order for me?”

“Of course,” Kuroo answered. “I told the server to wait though, but it’ll be here soon now that you’re here. Okay to continue the story?”

“Yeah, can we skip to the good parts?” Yaku asked.

“Yaku-san, you have to be patient,” Lev said, surprising everyone there. “What? I can be serious,” he said defensively, when everyone stared at him, Yaku turning half in his seat in his shock.

Kuroo laughed. “Clearly. How you’ve grown. I’m proud of you, kid.”

“You sound like an old man,” Kenma said.

Kuroo chuckled, and put on his story voice again. “Where was I? Ah yes, the car rental. I successfully managed to pick up the car, but I hadn’t realized how terrible traffic in Toronto would be. Well, let me tell you, it was pretty bad. It’s a good thing I’m patient, or it wouldn’t have worked out very well. Once we were out of Toronto, it was fine though, and we were soon off to Niagara, because I had heard the falls look great when they’re frozen over.

“I didn’t know if they’d be frozen though, because there didn’t seem to be a lot of snow around. Nor was it extremely cold, and I wondered if all the stuff about how cold Canada is was just an exaggeration. The drive to Niagara started off fine, and I decided to stay off the highway because I wasn’t really used to driving at all, and didn’t want to start off with driving really fast. Kenma agreed with that decision, but maybe it was so he’d be able to play Pokemon Go more conveniently.

“Funnily enough, the only real prep he’d done for this trip was to purchase a roaming data plan that worked in his favour. (“What a Kenma thing to do,” Yaku said with a smile. “I like to have internet access at all times,” Kenma said.) Anyhow, the trip takes around three hours if you don’t take the highway, and when we started it looked a little cloudy, but we didn’t pay it any mind.

“Turns out, we really should have. About an hour or so into the drive, it started snowing real hard, real fast. Which probably explained why there was so little traffic on the roads. The visibility was so poor that I had to pull over at the side of the road before we got into an accident.”

“That sounds really scary,” Lev said, looking a little concerned. “How long were you in the car for?”

Kuroo looked at Kenma, who shrugged. “I think it was about two hours. We ended up getting back on the road while it was still snowing, just not as much.”

“We had to crawl along at a snail’s pace, because the road was covered with snow, and I wasn’t sure if the tires on the car were suitable for snow. I hadn’t really thought to ask at the rental office, which was an oversight on my part but it was too late to lament that. Since we weren’t very close to our destination, I asked Kenma to look up any motels nearby, and I’ve never been more thankful for his insistence on having a working internet connection.”

“There was a motel fairly close by, thankfully,” Kenma piped in, before taking a bite of his apple pie.

“So we decided to call ahead to confirm that they had a vacancy. Kenma dialed, and then put it on speaker so I could talk to them. They informed us that they had had a sudden influx of people coming in and that most of their rooms were taken, but that they’d probably still have one or two left by the time we made it. They couldn’t promise to hold the room for us, which is reasonable. They couldn’t just turn other people seeking shelter from the storm away. Since we were only a few minutes away, we decided to stop by and hope that they still had a room left for us.

“So that’s what we did. We pulled into the motel parking lot, which was pretty full, and thankfully the sign still said ‘vacancy,’ so we went in to the office to try our luck. There were a couple of people ahead of us still, and when we got to the front, we were told that there was just one room left. We didn’t really have a choice but to take it, so we did. I casually asked the owner how long the snow storm was supposed to last, and he looked at me a little strangely and told us that there was a lot more snow coming. The region was under a blizzard warning, and people were being told to stay indoors. He also told us that they offered breakfast in the mornings, but couldn’t really offer us lunch or dinner, and that there were a couple vending machines that we could use.”

“I told you we should’ve gotten more snacks,” Kenma said disapprovingly.

“Yes, you did, and I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you. We did have some snacks, though,” Kuroo said.

“Yes, but not nearly enough. And most of them were healthy,” Kenma said with disdain.

“Kenma, I’m not going to apologize for healthy snacks. It’s a good thing they were healthy, particularly since we didn’t have much else to eat,” Kuroo said. Kenma huffed, but didn’t answer. Yaku watched the exchange with interest, and Lev just seemed excited to get back to the story.

“The room wasn’t very large, but it was a room and it was clean, and there was a bed to sleep in, so we were happy. We were still pretty tired, what with jet lag and all, so we decided to turn in early and then take stock of the weather the next day.

“Well, the next day didn’t look any better, and everything was white when we looked out the window, so we had to accept that we could be stuck at the motel for a while. Hopefully not for too long, since we had less than two weeks left of the vacation.”

“This isn’t very exciting, still,” Yaku commented.

“Patience, Yakkun,” Kuroo clucked his tongue. “Learn from Lev.” He ignored the glare Yaku leveled at him.

“We were inside for three days straight, subsiding on snacks and the breakfast the motel provided. I spent most of that time reading, or watching Kenma play games. I even played a little, but I was really bad at it, and Kenma didn’t want me to take over the console for too long. On day four, we had a fight.”

Kuroo paused for dramatic effect, and Lev filled the silence with a shocked gasp. Even Yaku looked surprised. Kenma rolled his eyes. “I wouldn’t call it a fight.”

“It was as close to a fight as we’ve ever gotten,” Kuroo amended, but Yaku and Lev remained shocked. “I woke up to find Kenma already awake, sitting on the chair, playing a game. I asked him if he’d slept okay, and he gave me an annoyed look before he said he’d slept just fine, but he’d have slept much better if someone hadn’t left crumbs in the bed. I refused to believe that I was the culprit behind the offending crumbs, but Kenma held firm, and I got a little annoyed.

“I was also very tired of the breakfast they served us every morning. I know it was stupid to complain because they were doing their best, but I was still tired of it. Plus I was getting antsy from being cooped up in the room. So I decided that it would be a great idea to go out and find us something to eat, since it wasn’t snowing outside.

“Kenma didn’t look happy when I told him I was going out to the nearest grocery store, which wasn’t all that close, but he didn’t say anything other than to drive safe. I think he also wanted to be free of me for a little while.

“I made it to the store, and took my time picking out things we could eat with only a microwave and a kettle at our disposal. I can’t have taken that long, but by the time I was done, it had started to snow really hard again. So I had to stay in the store and hope it would subside soon.

“It let off a little about thirty minutes later, and I decided to try to get back before it started snowing again. I didn’t get very far before I found myself caught in a blizzard, the visibility practically zero. At this point, I was pretty freaked out, and my phone had turned off because it was too cold, so I was relying on my vague recollection of the directions to the motel.

“Well, the snow stopped about ten or so minutes later, and I found myself kind of in the middle of nowhere. There were trees on both sides of the road, and I have no idea how I got there. I didn’t remember taking any turns, but I must have at some point, because I didn’t remember coming this way. I tried to turn my phone on, but it stubbornly refused, and I didn’t even have a charger on me to plug it into the car.

“I contemplated turning back, but then I saw a house tucked away in a small clearing, and someone was out shoveling the driveway, so I figured I’d go ask them for directions. I stopped the car, got out, and called out to the person. It was a man of indeterminate age. He could’ve been my age, or five years older or younger. I couldn’t tell.

“He seemed nice enough, though, and when I asked him if he could direct me towards the motel, he said he was actually heading out that way, so I could just follow his car. That seemed like a great enough idea, so I thanked him and waited until he pulled his car out on the road. It was a very old car, but looked like it was in great shape for how old it must’ve been. He drove fairly slow, so I could easily keep behind him.

“By this time, it was starting to get dark because winter, and I hoped we’d be back soon. I hadn’t been able to text Kenma about what had happened, and I didn’t want him to worry.”

“How did you feel about that, Kenma?” Yaku asked Kenma, eyebrow raised.

“I was very worried,” Kenma said. “It was out of character for him to be that late and not send a text. He didn’t answer my calls so I figured his phone must’ve died, but still.”

“Sorry about that,” Kuroo said. “I should’ve taken my charger with me. Anyhow, this car led me straight to the motel like I had been promised. He pulled into the parking lot ahead of me, and I followed a few seconds later. But when I pulled into the lot, I couldn’t see his car anymore. It was like it had vanished into thin air. I honestly felt a chill down my spine at that moment, and I’m pretty sure I was saved by a ghost that day.”

“Really? You told us this whole long-winded tale and turned it into a ghost story?” Yaku asked, eyes narrowed in disgust. “He probably just left via the other exit.”

“There was no other exit, though. That parking lot only had one entrance and exit. There’s no way he could’ve left without me seeing him. It was bizarre. I can’t make you believe me, but I’m convinced he was a ghost. A nice one, luckily for me, but a ghost nonetheless.”

“That’s so cool!” Lev said, excitedly flailing his arms. “I want to meet a friendly ghost. Yaku-san, let’s go to a haunted hotel and stay there.”

“Not a chance,” Yaku said. “And don’t tell me you believe the ghost story.”

“I do. My grandma tells me stories about ghosts she’s seen in Russia all the time. They’re real,” Lev said sagely. Yaku didn’t argue. Instead, he turned to Kenma.

“Do you believe the story?” he asked.

“Yes,” Kenma said. “I saw the car pull in and fade away, so.”

Yaku stared at Kenma, as if trying to gauge if his leg was being pulled, but couldn’t make up his mind. He let it drop.

“That’s probably why Kenma didn’t yell at me, if I’m being honest. He told me he’d swept the crumbs off the bed, and that I was an idiot to have gone out when the weather was like that, and a bigger idiot for not even taking my charger. The end.”

Lev clapped. Yaku didn’t.

“So,” Yaku said slowly. “I can’t be sure, but from your story it sounds like there was only one bed in your motel room.”

“That’s because there was,” Kuroo answered easily.

“Oh,” Yaku said, and stared at them.

“Wait, why is that imp—ohhh,” Lev said, as it clicked. He laughed. “This sounds like a romance novel where the main characters are forced to share a bed in a hotel. Did that incident bring you closer together and spark a romance between you?”

“Lev!” Yaku said, looking both curious and scandalized at Lev’s audacity.

Kuroo laughed, and Kenma smiled. “It didn’t need to spark something that already existed,” Kenma said, amused at the shocked looks on Yaku and Lev’s faces.

“Wait, since when?” Yaku asked.

“End of high school,” Kuroo answered.

“There was only one bed that time too,” Kenma added.  

A New Life Chapter 31: Bus Ride

Dean Winchester x Reader

1200 Words

Story Summary: You’re a Demon who is trying to erase all the bad you’ve done, by helping the Winchesters. But the price to be good can be too much, even for a crossroads demon.

Catch Up Here: Masterpost

The light was blinding, cutting off everything else in your vision. You tried covering your eyes, but the light still filled your gaze, even in the dark.

"Ma'am, are you okay?" Some man asked you while you struggled, a hint of authority in his voice.

Finally getting adjusted to the bright light, you slowly removed your hand from your eyes, glancing around in surprise at the man attempting to help you. He was wearing a dark blue uniform, a badge pinned proudly to his chest. He had a slight dusting of scruff on his chin, his eyes were almost gray in color, and he was tall, at least taller than you.

"Ma'am?" He repeated because you still hadn't answered him. You looked around, the city sidewalk busy around you, with high skyscrapers slowly blocking out the sun that had moments ago blinded you.

"Where am I?" You whispered, having no recollection of what you were doing on that street. The more you thought about it, you had no recollection of who you were or anything else about you.

"You're in Denver Ma'am. Is there somebody I can call to help you?" He asked, pulling a phone out of his pocket.

You thought hard, trying to come up with anything at all that might help you remember, but you couldn't. Your mind was a blank slate, wiped clean. "No." You whispered, scared of what that meant for you.

He sighed, before putting his phone away. "Why don't you come with me, I can drop you at the hospital."

You recoiled from him, knowing you didn't want to go to a hospital, but having no idea why. He reached for you, and you did the first thing that came to mind. You ran, pushing through the crowd that was as thick as glue on the sidewalk, your feet pounding the pavement as you ran away from the cop who was just trying to help you. Not paying any attention to where you were going, you just moved, past shouting people, past honking cars. It didn't matter where, as long as it wasn't here.

Your heart pounding fast, you finally slowed, resting your hands on your knees. After catching your breath, you took stock of your surroundsings, immediately noticing a bus stop across the street. Something urged you to keep moving, and you reachedi nto your pockets, hoping there was cash inside.

You were in luck, there were a couple of crumpled twenties in your front pocket, along with an antique silver bracelet. You had a sudden aversion to the bracelet, wanting to keep it, but not wanting it on your body at all. Shoving it in your pocket, you crossed the street, looking up at the schedule. There were buses to California, Montana, anywhere you wanted to go. But one destination stood out like a sore thumb, and you knew you had to travel there. You might not know who you were, or anything, but you knew where your next step had to be.

Stepping into line, you quick purchased a ticket, grateful that your bus was leaving in fifteen minutes. It was already letting passengers load, and you climbed on, settling towards the back of the bus. Before long you heard the bus driver yelling last call before shutting the doors. It was fairly empty, an older couple up front, a young man sitting in the very last seat, and a couple of teenage girls giggling in the middle.

"One-way ride to Lebanon Kansas." The bus driver exclaimed, before pulling out onto the street. The dusk was settling, and you were in awe at the beautiful orange and blue sunset that was setting above the mountains. Turning east, the sunset was now at your back, and you watched as the city slowly faded away, turning into farms, then fields of corn, as far as you could see before the sky darkened enough that you couldn't see past the window.

As the bus rolled along the highway, you closed your eyes, urging yourself to remember something, anything that would help you figure out who you were, and what you had been doing in Denver. What you saw confused you, and you were sure it had to be from a movie or a tv show, or even a weird dream. Because there was no way you had been alive in the 1800s.

You finally fell asleep, the rocking of the train lulling you into a sense of comfort and security. Your sleep was broken by dreams, fragments of something you couldn't quite understand. Visions of an evil, dark place, a man with a British accent, filled your dreams. It was terrifying, and you woke, your body shivering as you tried to calm yourself down, knowing you wouldn't be able to sleep anymore on the ride.

An hour later, the bus pulled into Lebanon and you climbed off, grateful for the chance to stretch your legs. It was still pitch black outside, the only light coming from the streetlights bathing the empty street. Not knowing what else to do, you walked, taking in the sights, hoping something would look familiar.

After an hour, your feet were sore, as was your brain. Nothing was ringing a bell, and you were tired and hungry, but you didn't have enough money for a hotel room. In front of you was a bar, the open sign still flashing. With nowhere else to go, you pushed open the double doors, surprised at how busy the bar was at this time of night.

The bar itself was full, as were the tables lining the side of the dance floor. The dance floor was the only thing empty, most patrons were either drinking or playing pool at the back of the bar.

Taking quick stock of your money, you decided to splurge on a beer and a hamburger, even though you knew it would have been better to save your money. Sitting down at the bar, the bartender came over, a handsome young man.

"And what can I do for you, pretty lady?" He asked, leaning over the bar, his light blue eyes lighting up with interest.

"A hamburger and a beer please." You responded.

"Sure thing sweetheart." He answered, and as you waited for your food, you watched the other patrons, wanting to take your mind off of your problems.

There was a heated game of pool at the back, a group of college-aged men laughing and kidding each other as they racked the balls. The bar was filled with mainly men, each tuned into their drink, probably trying to relax after a long day at work. One man, in particular, caught your attention. He was at the end of the bar, bathed in shadows, a glass of whiskey sitting in front of him, his head in his hands.

It was then the bartender came back with your drink and food. Thanking him, you had to ask. "Who's that man at the end? He seems awfully sad."

The bartender looked down to where you were pointing. "Him? He's been in here every night for almost a month. Doesn't talk, but keeps a steady supply of whiskey in front of him."

Feeling inexplicably drawn to the man, you took what was left of your money, knowing it was a bad idea, but you did it anyway. Giving it to the bartender, you asked him to buy the man a beer, hoping to steer him away from the hard liquor.

"What kind?" The bartender asked, and you looked at the selection in front of you. Picking a unique one, you watched as the bartender delivered it, but nerves had you turning your head down, facing your food.

Here you were, no idea who you were, and you were hitting on strange men at the bar. Chastising yourself, you took a big bite of the burger just as a hand touched your shoulder, sending a jolt of electricity through your body.

"Excuse me miss, are you the one who bought the beer for me? How did you know it was my favorite type?" A deep voice, like whiskey being poured, said from behind you. Looking up, you came into contact with the most gorgeous pair of green eyes you had ever seen, a pair that widened when they took in your appearance.

"Y/N?" He exclaimed, a lock of shock crossing his face, as you raised your eyebrow in confusion, wonder who this Y/N was.

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Can you do Bellarke and bed sharing?

Hey, nonny! You’ll never believe how carried away I got with this prompt. Thank you for giving it to me! I actually turned it into a full one-shot and posted it on my AO3.

Without further ado, here it is! 

Completely Platonic

Clarke was exhausted. After hours of non-stop driving, she needed to rest and she knew Bellamy felt the same way.

They had been driving up from their hometown to visit Octavia at college. While Octavia might have been her best friend and his little sister, the two of them never really hung out before. Actually, this was the first time in years that they spent more than an hour together.

It was nice. Different, but nice.

She was surprised when he asked her to come with him to visit his sister on her birthday. It was a fifteen-hour drive away, but, considering both of them were college students themselves, they couldn’t afford airfare. She pegged him asking her to come along on the fact he couldn’t drive for fifteen straight hours by himself. This way, they could at least split the torture.

So, she went. He took the first shift of driving while she tried to sleep, and they switched off as soon as it got dark out. They were still hours from getting to Octavia’s city, but she couldn’t do it. She cursed herself for overestimating their driving abilities.

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. Bellamy’s forehead was pressed against the cool glass, the seatbelt pulling tightly against his chest. She could see his eyes were closed, but he didn’t look like he was sleeping. His breathing was uneven and he kept adjusting his position every few minutes, almost like he was struggling to get comfortable.

She understood the feeling. Sleeping while sitting up was impossible for her.

She noticed his features weren’t smoothed out. Still, he looked stunning. His skin glowed under the moonlight, his freckles across his skin acting like constellations in the night sky. His lips were parted, each breath casting a tiny patch of fog to appear on the window. Bellamy Blake was as striking as the Greek heroes he loved to talk about so much.

At that thought, she caught herself and brought her full attention to the road ahead of her. Her cheeks were burning with a blush and her heart was thrumming inside her ribcage. She fought back the sudden rush of feelings that came with that train of thought. This was Bellamy. Bellamy.

Gods, get a hold of yourself.

It was safe to say she might have a crush on the oldest Blake. How could she not? Not only was he beyond attractive in every way possible, he was really fun to spend time with. It was something she never really experienced with him before. Whenever they would interact, Octavia was always there, a buffer between them. Being alone with him was something completely different, and she felt herself falling more and more for him.

It didn’t start out that way. When they left their city, she thought he was attractive, sure, but that was as far as it went. She never would’ve imagined glancing at him out of the corner of her eye, laughing at his lame jokes, or feeling the warm flutter of her heart when he said something genuine.

But between sharing the same music tastes, him pulling over to pull a small turtle off the road and bring him safely to the other side, him buying her coffee unexpectedly, and him offering his jacket to keep her warm when she tried to sleep, things had changed. He was different than she thought he was.

She clenched her jaw and blew out a breath of air, begging her thoughts to pull away from him. She didn’t have time or energy to be thinking of him.

“You okay?” His voice was groggy and hoarse, showing just how tired he was. He lifted his head lazily from the window, glancing towards her. She forced out a smile and hoped the darkness would hide her blush.

“I’m fine.” She readjusted her grip on the steering wheel. “Just tired.” Bellamy rolled his neck a few times and stretched his arms, coming to an upright sitting position. It looked like his attempt at sleep was over.

“Same.” As if to justify his point, he let out a loud yawn. Seconds later, Clarke followed suit.

“Don’t do that,” she complained teasingly. “You’re putting me to sleep.” He snorted.

“We need coffee.” She chewed on her lip, mulling over that thought.

“We aren’t close to any towns. Plus, it’s the middle of the night. Nothing will be open.” He ran his hand through his hair, his head flopping into the headrest ungracefully. She smirked at how his hair stuck up in all directions. Gods, he was cute.

He cracked open an eye, locking into hers. Once again, she felt a blush forming on her neck. He just caught her staring at him.

She was just about to explain herself, but stopped just short. He looked distracted, like he didn’t even notice her staring. She quickly clamped her mouth shut, electing to wait for him to speak first.

“We should pull over,” he said, locking eyes with her. “We don’t need to get all the way there tonight. You’re tired. I’m tired.” She chewed her lip. She didn’t really want to stop so early. She wanted to make it most of the way to Octavia’s tonight, so she could spend more time with her tomorrow. “And look!” He gestured out the windshield, pointing to a sign on the side of the highway. “We’re approaching a town with a motel. Let’s just stop there.”

What’s the worst that could happen?

She nodded. “Sure.”

—

Well, the worst that could happen was them being all out of rooms.

Bellamy leaned forward, his fists resting on the countertop, and his eyes pleading.

“Please. You have to have something.” The man shrugged helplessly. Bellamy had been asking the same questions for several minutes now. What else was there to say?

“Sorry, we don’t have any rooms. As I mentioned, we’re all booked up because of the concert in town.” Bellamy let out a defeated grown, letting his head fall into his hands tiredly. It looked like he could fall asleep on the countertop. Clarke grimaced. They wouldn’t be able to keep driving and the next town was fairly far away. This was their last hope.

She stepped up, a smile on her lips. Out of the two of them, she was the better bargainer. “Please,” she said. “We’re exhausted. We’ve been driving for hours. We’ll take anything you have.” He quirked up his eyebrows. A spark of hope illuminated her chest. This was good. He was thinking about it. “We’re really desperate.”

As he glanced back at the screen in front of him, her eyes wondered to Bellamy’s, a soft smile on her lips. He smirked back at her. Maybe she should be in charge of diplomatic solutions from now on.

“Well… We do have something.” The worker reached into a drawer below him, pulling out a set of room keys. He placed them just out of reach from Clarke. Her eyes zeroed in on them.

“That’s great!”

“It’s a room currently being renovated. Will that be okay?” Clarke nodded enthusiastically, already pulling out cash from her wallet. She didn’t care if it was half under water at that point – she just needed to sleep.

“Yes. Yes!” She pushed the room fare towards him. “As long as we have a place to sleep, I couldn’t care less.”

Clarke took the room keys, relief flooding her. If this motel didn’t have a room, they would’ve had to sleep in their tiny car, which would’ve been a disaster. Bellamy and her walked through the hallways, both too tired to speak.

But, all the relief she felt disappeared when Clarke opened the door.

There was one bed.

She froze to the ground as soon as she noticed the single bed, her heart plummeting into her stomach. There was only one bed. Oh, gods.

Bellamy walked into her back, clearly oblivious to her panic. She stumbled a few steps forward from the force of him, but he instinctively reached out to grab her by her elbow to steady her. She barely noticed, already too absorbed with the nerves hanging over her.

They would have to share a bed.

Somehow, the thought didn’t bring her as much panic as she knew it should have. While they started off the day as merely acquaintances, their relationship had developed during the day. She guessed that’s what being stuck in a small car for hours does to people.

“Oh.” Bellamy’s words died on his tongue as he realized the single bed. Neither of them said anything for a long moment, letting the thick silence settle over them. He cleared his throat and let go of Clarke’s elbow. Awkwardness settled over them.

Screw it. She lifted her chin, determination to make the best out of a crappy situation coming over her.

“Come on,” she said, walking further into the room. She didn’t want to wake up any other occupants of the motel by talking in the hallway. Bellamy stumbled in after her, shutting the door behind him. She dropped her backpack to the floor and kicked off her shoes, too awkward to meet his eyes. He must’ve felt that same awkwardness, since he didn’t speak for a long moment.

“One bed.” Bellamy broke the silence. The tone of his voice was unidentifiable.

“Looks like it.”

“He never mentioned that.” She cocked an eyebrow.

“We did say we would take anything,” she reminded him. Finally, she glanced in his direction, getting over her awkwardness. This was Bellamy. She knew him for her whole life. Sharing a bed wasn’t that big of a deal. It wasn’t a big deal if she didn’t make it one.

He looked exhausted, like he could collapse at any second. She felt sorry for him; he was the one that was driving for majority of their trip. Despite his exhaustion, he looked nervous and unsure. She sent him a half-smile, trying to reassure him.

“I’m going to change, okay?” She tried to gauge his reaction, but found she couldn’t. She wasn’t too surprised; Bellamy had always been a mystery to her. He merely nodded as she escaped to the bathroom.

When she got back into the bedroom, he had his back to her as he glanced out the window. She made a point to make a lot of noise as she dug in her bag, letting him know she was in the room again.

“I can take the floor,” he announced suddenly, turning to face her. He didn’t look as nervous as before, but still unsure. His eyes were intense and his lips set in a solid line. It sent butterflies spiralling in her stomach. “I mean… If you don’t want to share.” She made her way towards the bed, pulling back the covers slowly, trying to measure her words.

“I don’t mind,” she said. “I’ve shared beds with people before; it doesn’t bother me.” She glanced at him over her shoulder. “It’s up to you, Bellamy.” She glanced towards the floor, her nose crinkling. “The floor is dirty. We’re both exhausted. We’ve been driving for hours and we need to do the same tomorrow.” She glanced at him again, forcing down her nerves. “I don’t mind sharing the bed, if you’re okay with it.”

He pushed the curtains closed, cutting off the moonlight from the room. She noticed that he had changed out from the clothes he had been wearing that day. Now, he wore a pair of sweatpants and a simple shirt. The only light came from the light she left on in the bathroom, casting a soft glow over both of them.

“I have no problems sharing,” he mirrored her words. Still, the two of them stood several feet away from each other, hovering along the bedside. She tried to swallow the lump in her throat. Don’t make it a big deal.

“Good. It’s settled then.” She climbed into the bed, not glancing away from his eyes. She tried to gauge his reaction as she settled into her spot on the bed. “We’ll share.” He didn’t look away from her eyes as he climbed in beside her, each examining the other for their reactions. 

Climbing into bed with him felt too normal, she realized with a start. The only reason her heart was beating so fast was because this was Bellamy, not because she was uncomfortable. In fact, being beside him was more comfortable than she would’ve guessed.

They both settled into the bed beside each other. Laying beside him was easier than it should have been, she realized. The tension in her shoulders had disappeared and the worry in her mind had been silenced. There was something to calming about being beside him, barely distinguishable under the soft glow from the adjacent room. While their bodies were separated by inches of mattress, being in the dark with him felt extremely intimate. She swallowed thickly.

Somehow, she couldn’t look away from his eyes as she pulled the covers around her shoulders, snuggling deeper into the bed. They were like two magnets, drawn to each other in an inexplicable way. She let out a shuddered breath when she realized his nose was only inches from her own. She could taste his breath on her tongue.

Without thinking, she began leaning forward, her eyes locked on his lips only inches away from hers.

Gods. She wanted to kiss him.

Her heart groaned and thumped rapidly against her chest as she came to a jarring halt. She jerked backwards, her eyes flying open as she remembered their situation.

She couldn’t kiss him. It was Bellamy.

She would’ve bet her degree that he could feel, never mind hear, her racing heart. Then again, she couldn’t hear his. Was his heart racing like hers was? Did he notice her leaning towards him?

She closed her eyes, finally breaking the contact between them. She could feel him beside her, his body heat rolling off of him in waves. Bellamy shifted beside her, pulling the blankets closer to himself.

“You better not hog the blanket, Blake,” she teased, her voice weaker than intended. He pulled a face in mock offense.

“Me? Hogging a blanket? Doubtful.” Despite his words, he pushed some of the excess blanket towards Clarke, a teasing smile on his face.

This feels so natural.

The tension in her body had completely disappeared. Somehow, it felt natural to be inches away from her best friend’s brother, both of them huddled under one blanket. With every breath he took, he blew some of her lose strands of her away from her face. If she wanted to, she could shift over by a few inches and be right next to him.

Unknown to her, he was thinking the same thing. She was so close and so warm. Gods. His eyes danced over her lips, wondering why she had pulled away so abruptly only minutes before.

He could feel rather than hear a soft burst of laughter escape her lips. He cracked his eyes open completely, glancing down at her. Her face was lit up in a breathtaking smile, her cheeks glowing a stunning shade of pink. Even after hours of being in a car together, he didn’t think he would ever get sick of looking at her like it was the very first time.

“What?” he asked, his voice low. Even though they were the only ones in the room, the darkness hung heavily on him. Whispers came naturally when the moon was out and the room was silent.

She must’ve been thinking the same thing, as she responded in a whisper, too. “I’m just thinking about something funny.” He snorted at her vagueness.

“You’re killing me, Clarke.”

“It’s not even funny,” she corrected herself. A small smile pulled at her lips. “Okay. It is.” Once again, their eyes met and the air was sucked from Bellamy’s lungs. Her eyes were like rain clouds, rolling in to bring relief to the dried earth. “I was just thinking about how I kick in my sleep.” A small laugh escaped her. “I’m sorry. It’s not funny. You’re going to get kicked and it’s going to suck.” Bellamy couldn’t even think about pretending to look offended; her smile was infectious.

“I see,” he teased. “You got me into bed with you, just so you can get revenge for me stealing your cupcake on your twentieth birthday, huh?” She smiled brighter, his eyes dancing with mirth.

“That was years ago!” she pointed out. “I’m not petty like you, clearly. I didn’t even remember that.”

“Hey. It’s not being petty – I was being nice. I remembered all these years so I can pay you back.” She snorted. “I’m serious!”

“Okay.” 

She didn’t believe him. It was hard to, considering the most they ever spoke before this date was when she would accidentally run into him at his house, or that one time she had too much to drink and argued with him about Greek mythology. 

Still, though, she thought, he remembered the cupcake. Maybe he wasn’t as uncaring towards her as she thought.

“It’s fine, though,” he said quickly. “About the kicking. As a kid, Octavia used to kick in her sleep all the time.” Clarke smiled fondly, a silly thought coming to mind.

“Gods, I wonder what she would say if she seen us now?” she wondered out loud. Bellamy stifled a laugh.

“I doubt she would ever let this go.” After all, it wasn’t every day your brother and best friend share a bed in the middle of nowhere. His smile faltered as he glanced down at her. “I’ll be sure to remind her this was completely platonic, though.” Some of the spark seemed to leave Clarke’s eyes at those words, just like how Bellamy seemed to deflate slightly too.

“Right.” She locked eyes with him, determination in them. “Completely platonic.”

Show Us Mercy 1.2

    As they drove down the highway, she couldn’t help but steal several sideways glances at him. She couldn’t seem to piece it together that such a normal, fairly attractive, flirtatious guy would have mental issues that would prevent him from having many friends. Hope had to admit to herself that he did appear very charismatic. It just didn’t make any sense.

    Aron didn’t seem to notice her. He was paying close attention to the road while humming to a Trace Atkins song playing on the radio. He was only stirred by Maria leaning over the seat to try and change the station. 

    “Hey! My radio. Put your seat belt on,” he laughed.

    She teased him “Change the channel. How do you listen to this old country crap?”

    “Better than that Mexican mess that your parents are always blaring out the car window.”

    The young Native man proceeded to get his point across by mimicking a Spanish song the best he could without actually knowing the language. The three passengers laughed at his impression. Still, Maria wasn’t having it.

    “Seriously, change the music before I die of depression.”

    Aron smiled mischievously and said “Fine,” as he turned the radio to an alternative rock station.

    He started singing every word to the song that had just come on. While Maria continued to complain, both the twins gawked at each other. They had never taken him for an alternative sort of guy.

    “You like Hedley,” Daniel asked in reference to that band that was playing.

    Aron yelled over the loud music “I know they’re kind of old, but I just to attached to move on.”

    Maria yelled in his ear “Oh my God! Shut it off!”

    Dan and Aron shared a sly grin. The driver turned up the volume and both started singing at the top of their lungs. Hope couldn’t contain her laughter as the other female passenger desperately yelled at them to stop and resorted to pulling their ears.

    Hope eventually started to sing with the boys, leaving Maria on her own to bleed from the ears. As the song finally ended, the others cheered while she dramatically cried out for death.

    Hope noticed how hard her brother was laughing, and decided that she could at least get along with Aron for making them forget about the stress of moving for a moment.

    They were all shocked back into reality as Daniel screamed “DEER!!!!!!!”

    Aron slammed on the breaks, but couldn’t stop the truck quick enough to avoid the impact. He and Hope lurched forward, were caught by the seat belts and jerked back against their seats. Maria screamed as her body launched forward into the front seat, with her head barely missing the dash board. Daniel had struggled to steady himself and try to pull her back at the same time.

    The truck wobbled on its piped hinges for a second, before becoming completely still. The four young adults could only stare at each other in silence. When Maria finally began to pull herself back into the back of the truck, Aron snapped into focus and quickly got out of the truck.

    “Everyone out of the truck!”

    Hope managed to open the passenger side door with a shaking hand. Her brother ran around the side of the vehicle after helping the other girl out. He looked his sister over for injuries, but found none.

    “You okay?”

    She started sobbing before she could answer.

    He hugged his sister tight and yelled “Maria, you alright?”

    “I’m good,” she answered from the other side of the truck.

    Dan asked “Aron, you good too?”

    There was no answer.

    “Aron?”

    “I’m fine,” his voice came from in front of the truck.

    “But you guys should come see this.”

    Daniel carefully led Hope around to the front of the truck, where Aron squatted on the ground with a look of thought and dread on his face. Maria came around the side of the vehicle to see what they were looking at, and nearly had to look away.

    The twins could only be hushed by the sudden urge to vomit at the sight of the deer. The thing was not horribly mutilated, but was clearly dead and had an arrow sticking out both sides of its head. The animal’s tongue was purple and hung out of its mouth. One eye was nearly popped out of the skull due to the arrow going through its socket and was glazed over.

    As if he thought something could be done, Aron reached over to feel for a pulse on the deer’s neck.

    He quickly drew his hand back and whispered “It’s cold.”

    Hope yelled at him “That isn’t funny Aron!”

    “I’m not trying to be funny! Come feel for yourself! The deer is cold!”

    Daniel carefully let go of his sister and approached the dead animal. As he knelt down beside Aron, he noticed how bloated the deer was. It looked like the deer’s body had already began to swell with gas, as if it had been laying in the road for hours.

    He slowly reached out his hand to touch the carcass. The body was cold to the touch, and he felt his heart raise and his breath hitch.

    Daniel stood straight up and said “This is fucked up. This thing looks like it’s been dead for hours!”

    Maria carefully bent down and gave one of the deer’s legs a tug. The whole half of the body dragged along with the limb, and the joints were totally stiff.

    She wiped her hand on her jeans and said “Rigor mortis.”

    Hope suddenly whipped around towards the side of the road and started to vomit. Her brother ran to hold her hair and try his best to comfort her.

    Maria nearly cried “I’ve had enough of this! Let’s just forget about it, and go to the party!”

    “Shouldn’t we call the sheriff or something,” Daniel suggested.

    “My dad is gonna’ kill me for putting another dent in this truck. Getting the cops involved will piss him off more than Election Day.”

    Hope managed to ask after her wrenching “So what do we do about the deer?”

    Aron answered “We move it into the ditch, like anyone else would. Dan, come help me drag it.”

    Daniel really didn’t want to touch the deer again. He thought to himself that he’d rather walk all the way to the party rather than move that thing.

    Aron saw his hesitance, and said in an impatient tone “Come on.”

    Maria helped Hope back into the truck, while the boys struggled to move the deer. The younger girl folded her arms tight into her chest and huddled into the left side passenger door.

    “Hope, are you okay?”

    She looked up and said “That thing just jumped out in front of us. So why does it look like it died yesterday?”

    Maria tried to sound comforting “I know it’s a little weird, but maybe we just shouldn’t worry about it. After all, how could we honestly begin to explain this?”

    “I just don’t need this right now.”

    The boys silently got back into the truck. Aron slammed his door shut as he let out a ragged breath.

    Maria impatiently prodded at him “Aron, let’s get the hell out of here.”

    He straightened himself up in his seat and started the truck.

    He muttered under his breath “Whatever,” and he carefully made his way down the road, half expecting a big foot to jump out of the bushes.

    They drove in silence until they finally made it to the party. Aron’s house was a well-kept cabin with a green roof.

    Daniel had expected the home of the mayor’s family to be a bit grand, but ended up reminding himself that this was no more than a small town in the middle of nowhere. It was unlikely that anyone could be a millionaire in a town like this.

    Instead of neat flower beds and hedges, the property featured a few old hand made wind chimes hanging on the porch, some dandelion weeds here and there, and a forty year old oak tree on the side of the house with a fallen concrete bird bath.

    What was to be noted, was the amount of people that were there. At least two dozen children of various ages were playing football near the back of the house. Three men were busy at the grill while a few women set out plates and pored lemonade and coke. The rest of the adults were all over the place, playing poker, chatting and trying to keep the kids from breaking any windows.

    Aron parked behind the rest of the vehicles in an attempt to hide his damaged truck from his father, who was currently nowhere to be seen.

    As they climbed out of the truck, the smell of the grill hit Dan right in the face. He remembered for a split second how hungry he was, but recoiled at the idea of eating meat after what they saw.

    In a failed attempt to lighten the mood and break the silence between them, Aron chirped “Smells like lunch is about ready. You guys hungry for burgers.”

    He quickly noticed that Hope appeared to be getting sick again, while Maria gave him a nasty look.

    He almost cowered with shame and embarrassment as he said “Sorry.”

    Dan felt bad for him and said “Don’t worry about it. In fact, let’s just forget it. Why don’t you introduce us to some of your folks?”

    “As much as I appreciate the change of subject, I’m not sure my folks are really your speed if you know what I mean.”

    He replied “I really don’t.”

    At that, Aron shrugged and said “Come on then. Birthday boy should be around here somewhere.”

    Maria said “I’m just gonna’ go find my mom. I’ll see you guys later.”

    Daniel was disappointed as she took off in the direction of the house before he could say goodbye.

    As the three of them walked towards the crowd of party goers, Hope finally spoke “I thought you said ‘Just us kids.’”

    “I did, but I corrected myself remember?”

    “But there are people of all ages here. A lot of people at that.”

    “I think I was just trying to sound convincing. You probably shouldn’t take most of the things I say seriously.”

    “That’s kind of harsh.”

    “I’m not gonna’ sugar coat it. I’m pretty stupid,” Aron said with a weak smile.

    The twins laughed a little, but could sense some ice under his tone. It really didn’t seem like he thought to highly of himself.

    Daniel shook it off as him trying to be funny after seeing the mutilated deer.

    “He’s just a little shaken up,” he thought to himself.

    Aron spotted his brother sitting on a foldable table with some friends, and motioned for the twins to follow him.

    He yelled out as he approached ”Roll out your red carpet, Birthday Boy. We’ve got some new guests.”

    “I don’t have a red carpet, but I’ve got a cooler full of beer.”

    His brother looked just like him, but was surprisingly even bigger than he was. He had his arm wrapped around a girl who was half his size, and possibly a bit younger.

    Aron replied “Well, we may not be turning twenty one, but I guess we can take you up on that offer.”

    Hope declined as he tried to pass her a beer, while her brother gladly accepted.

    “Anyway, this is Daniel and Hope Mercy. They just moved into town last night.”

    “So these are the folks that moved into the old ghost house?”

    Daniel choked on his beer.

    Hope asked “The ghost house?”

    “Never mind. We’ve got an old inside joke on that dump. Anyway, I’m George. This is Kayla.”

    Aron said “Don’t you think it’s kind of rude to call someone’s home a dump?”

    Kayla laughed and said “Well, it is.”

    Hope found herself having to bite her lip. While they weren’t wrong, she didn’t find her family’s situation much worthy of laughs.

    George’s attention shifted to Dan, who was still struggling to recover from choking.

    “Careful, kid. Your mommy might not be very happy if we bring you home sick with the hiccups.”

    He and his girlfriend laughed.

    The twins began to regret having judged Aron so quickly. His brother was apparently a real ass.

    “Right,” Aron said awkwardly.

    Daniel finally got his coughing under control, and attempted to change the subject “So, I’ve got an important question. What exactly do people do for fun around here?”

    George shrugged and replied “Not much besides racing cars, swimming drunk, and having sex.”

    His little brother desperately tried to be nonchalant as he added “It’s not too bad, but there isn’t much variety.”

    “Little brother, sitting around to camp fire with Grandpa all day isn’t what I would call variety.”

    Trying to mirror his brother’s ability to not give a rat’s ass, Aron gave a halfhearted shrug.

    It became apparent that the conversation wasn’t going down a very pleasant root.    

    Hope tried to turn it around “How’s the high school? Our mom says it’s good, but that probably means it isn’t.”

    Kayla finally spoke up again “Your right. It’s a shit hole.”

    “Teachers?”

    “None of them give a flying...”

    Her bad mouthing was interrupted by a commotion coming from the front porch. A few women screamed while men shouted and pulled children out of the way.

    Part of the old wooden railing had collapsed under the force of two bodies colliding with violent intent. These two forced were now wrestling on the ground on top of wooden splinters and surrounded by shouting.

    Hope muttered to herself “What on Earth?”

    George was surprisingly calm “Oh. Well shit.”

    Aron pinched the bridge of his nose “This always happens!”

    Daniel got a closer look at the wrestling bodies on the ground. One was significantly larger than the other, and had much lighter skin. The other was dark like the Redrock boys. In fact, he looked just like them.

    The two brothers finally walked over to the brawl and begrudgingly separated the angry men. Their father was almost foaming at the mouth as he spat curses at his opponent. His eyes were red hot and glazed over with drunken rage. The other man, who was at least half sober, struggled against George to attack again.

    After another moment of struggling, the man crossly gave up his efforts. He muttered angrily under his breath as he was told to leave.

    However, John Redrock hadn’t had enough. He continued to screech at the man as he left, while his youngest son held on to him for dear life. When his opponent had gone, he was finally allowed from Aron’s grip.

    He immediately whipped around and screamed at his son. Hope and Daniel could only make out a few slurred curse words.

    George surprisingly attempted to defend his brother, but was quickly silenced by the raging words of his father’s drunken tongue. Excepting imminent defeat, he moved back towards the twins and his girlfriend. This left his brother to be defenselessly berated with the older man’s swears.

    Many of the party guests had moved away from the scene, but had returned to their activities. The twins were shocked that people could turn a blind eye to a drunken parent verbally abusing his kid.

    What was even more shocking was that Aron preceded to stand there with a straight face and take it like it was nothing. Daniel decided that enough was enough, and began to approach the angry drunk. As he got closer, he was finally able to understand what was being said.

    John Redrock loudly slurred “I’ve had it with you and your shit! All you ever do is give me lip, and then you just go drive around in that damn truck and sulk! You had better start growing up or I...!”

    “Dad, you’re ruining George’s party. Go inside and lay down.”

    “Don’t you tell me what...!”

    “Please! For once, just calm down!”

    Before he could yell at his son again, Dan calmly addressed John Redrock “Sir, you’re bleeding. Maybe someone should drive you down to the emergency clinic.”

    While it had only been meant as an excuse to change the atmosphere, Aron’s father was actually bleeding from his nose quite heavily. His jeans were also slightly ripped and bloody from where a splinter of the wooden porch had stuck his leg.

    The older man indignantly whipped the blood from his mouth and hissed “I’m fine. I don’t need a damn clinic.”

    He then stumbled back up the wooden stairs and into the house, with the screen door slamming sharply behind him.

    Daniel instantly found it easier to breath, as the air began to loosen with the drunkard’s absence. He scanned the crowd and saw that everything had returned to how it had been before the fight had started. Men and women were talking and cooking, while the kids playing football ran through the grass with clumsy feet.

    However, when he looked back at Aron, the boy was walking away from the happy go lucky American scene. He shifted through tables and people without drawing much attention. Almost as quiet as the wind blowing the grass, he made his way towards his truck.

    Daniel began to follow him, but was stopped by his sister and Aron’s brother.

    “Just leave him alone for a while, Dan. He doesn’t look like he’s in the mood to talk.”

    George had lit a cigarette and was casually puffing smoke.

    “It’s not a big deal. Just let him cool off a bit, and he’ll be fine.”

    Hope caught something in his tone that almost reflected a slight flash of annoyance.

    Concerned, she asked “Does this always happen?”

    He let out another cloud of smoke and flatly said “Yeah. Don’t worry about it. He just needs to toughen up a bit.”

    “I was actually referring to your dad.”

    “That too, but there’s nothing that would ever make him change. It’s useless for anyone to concern themselves with it. The sooner Aron figures that out, the sooner he can grow up and stay out of Dad’s hair.”

    Hope opened her mouth to defend Aron, but was caught off guard by her lack of anything to say and his brother’s condescending glance.

    “Do yourself a favor and don’t try to baby my brother. I know him better than anyone on this Earth, and I know how weak he is,” he said with just the slightest tone of malicious conviction.

    “Must run in the family,” Daniel calmly quipped with a sly smirk.

    George only shrugged and muttered “Whatever,” as he stalked away to find Kayla.

    The twins watched him go, and wondered how Aron had managed to ram a stick so far up his older brother’s ass. Not to mention his drunkard father.

    They waited around for a bit, eating burgers and chips while glancing at their new friend from a distance. He sat on the edge of his tail gate, staring into what seemed to be empty space.

Breda Iowa Cheap car insurance quotes zip 51436

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I don t know anything about this if its possible or not.  Is there anyway to get one of us insured to drive the car for a week, we are all insured drivers here in Michigan if that matters.  Also would it make any difference that the car we are using is my Aunt s, so we are closely related.      Any information, experience with this type of situation, contact numbers etc. would be greatly appreciated!    Thank you! <br/><br/>Do I need to buy auto insurance for my car?<br/>My car broke down last week and my auto insurance is up for renewal.  Am I required to renew it if I won t be fix it anytime soon?   Will my insurance hike up if I wait 1-2 months before renewing? 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(ALICO) last year.  I had opted for a 10 yr. plan then I ll cash it out.  I knew that METLIFE had acquired ALICO late last year.  I just want some real reviews from their clients who had insurance which matures & cash-in their investment.  My monthly premium is $200, but I still want to be re-assured that I m putting my money on the right track.  I m serious about this investment and will keep up paying my premiums till it matures.  But i just want to double-check now that their clients are able to cash-in their investment on maturity without nuisance or difficulty.  Please give me some real feedback.  Because I am willing to withdraw it now rather that loose everything all the way.  Thanks in advance for those who will reply.      P.S.  The contract I signed explicitly states a phrase likes this  I represent and warrant to ALICO that I am not a citizen or resident of the United States of America or any state <br/><br/>Is it illegal as a landlord not to have house insurance?<br/>my landlord doesnt have house insurance, the boiler broke down and i asked the plumber questions about my landlord, he informs me that there is no house insurance. this concerns me as a tenent. is this illegal? i mean what if i burn th house down? <br/><br/>Nitro West Virginia Cheap car insurance quotes zip 25143<br/>Nitro West Virginia Cheap car insurance quotes zip 25143<br/><br/>Will my car insurance increase?<br/> I received a ticket for failure to obey street sign, because I went down a closed road. I was wondering will my insurance rates go up because of this? This is my first ticket and have been driving for about 6 years. If I go to traffic school, will it stop the rate from going up? From what I have read online, some people said it does effect and some say no. I have Allstate and live in CA.  Any info is much appreciated. <br/><br/>Can I insure my automobile?<br/>Can I insure my automobile?<br/><br/>How much would it cost for mobile home insurance?<br/>Don t tell me it depends or to talk to an agent.  Just give me a ballpark estimate of what the most basic homeowners insurance would cost per year on a 1997 14,000 dollar mobile home single wide located in idaho.  This is insurance on  the 14,000 dollar value not what it would cost to get a new one. <br/><br/>Is it cheaper to shop for car insurance online vs local agents?<br/> I am looking to switch and was told by an agent that they like it when you come to them in person rather than over the phone? I don t want to spend a whole day running to different agencies only to save a couple of dollars each month because the agent gets a share. Is that how it works? Is it cheaper to shop online? I would appreciate any reply.<br/><br/>Insuring a car financed by someone else....?<br/> So I am looking to purchase a car but of course the insurance will be much higher for me than my veteran older sibling with a longer driving history and a policy as well. Would I be able to have him insure and me as a second driver or can he Co sign to be able to put the insurance under him (me as second driver)?    Is there any way to finance a car and be under someone else s insurance?    Thank you<br/><br/>Need help to find information about health insurance?<br/>Need help to find information about health insurance?<br/><br/>Insurance cost for a 2001 Range Rover?<br/>What would the annual cost be to insure a smart teenager on a 2001 range rover hse?   just a ballpark works...   Thanks<br/><br/>I am a college student and i am looking for health and dental insurance.?<br/> I just moved to texas and I rarely go to the doctor only for like for pap smears birth control and things of that nature. I work PRN an a hospital but PRN employees do not qualify for benefits.I am looking for an affordable insurance until i finish nursing school and get a full time job with benefits? Can anyone help me!<br/><br/>Is it possible to have health insurance coverage in 2 different states?<br/>For instance if you go to school in one state but live in another is it can you have health insurance coverage for both states? It seems like it would be more convenient if I suffered an injury and could be treated in one state or the other at the time.<br/><br/>Looking for a good insurance company?<br/> Im barley getting by as it is so i need an insurance company that can help pay for expensive monthly inhalers, and i need dental insurance. But like i said im barley making it as it is, is there anyone out there that is paying for there on plan and what are you paying? Im 19 my moms 55 and we both need coverage. Any suggestions would be really appreciated. <br/><br/>Gerber Life insurance?<br/> My mom says Im a Gerber baby and she pays monthly into them, idk how much. But from what Ive heard when you reach the age of 25 or something like that Gerber gives you money? Im not sure and I was wondering if its true or not. Ive asked my mom and she said she doesnt know. So is it like regular insurance that if i die or get killed the money will go to someone in my family or do I get a percentage of whatever my moms been paying into? <br/><br/>What is a good CHEAP car for a 16 year old?<br/>i am turning 16 in a while and i really want a cheap used small suv got any suggestions ????? please help my dad and i are tired of fighting over it<br/><br/>How much does a moped cost?<br/>How much does a moped cost?<br/><br/>Do I need gap insurance?<br/>I have an 05 nissan 350z with 30000 miles on it. kept in very good condition. KBB quotes my vehicle trade in value at $18,337.    I paid $19,???. I put $5,000 down. so now i have to pay with interest $18,???.      I have full coverage insurance, but no gap insurance. If i totaled my car would I be screwed? <br/><br/>Does my motorcycle insurance affect my credit report?<br/> I have never lapsed on my insurance coverage in the 7 years I have been driving.  I live in massachusetts and am a motorcycle rider.  My insurance policy on the bike ended in February 2013 and i forgot to renew it.  I just reinstated in today, March 23 2013.  Will this have a significant affect on my credit report?  How much of your insurance score goes into factoring your entire credit score and could this make shopping for insurance more difficult in the future.  Again, I have never had any delinquencies in the past and just complete forgot due to all the snow we received.  Thank You! <br/><br/>Insurance cost/ car cost?<br/>ok i live in canada, and i am saveing up for my first car, what is the cheapest car i can get, cheap but still a good car, a standared car not a stick. and how much insurance will i have to pay for this car. no i only got pulled over once but that was 2 years ago, will that take an effect for my insurance  ......... <br/><br/>Are there anyways of lowering my car insurance?  19 Yr Old Male.?<br/> Im a 19 year old male and I have my own suzuki swift sport which I have worked hard for for the last few years. The only thing is my insurance is around 3000 a year (brand new car)........ I dont mind going on my mothers insurance for example, im not worried about not being able to build my own no claims bonus.............................    I have done a small amount of research into going onto my mothers policy and it wasn t that much cheaper........................are there and other ways of legal going about this?    Thanks for your time,  Matt. <br/><br/>Which car is a good cheap first car?<br/>so im starting driving in january and my grandad has promised to buy me a car (which i am very grateful of). So i was just wondering which car to get? I was thinking a ford Ka. Also i need the car to have cheap insurance. Cheers.<br/><br/>What do you think about bmw for a teen?<br/>im 16, not rich not poor (average), you think i will be able to afford 1998 BMW 528i? i mean i can buy it but the repair cost, insurance is it ok compare to lets say honda accord. is it a good choice because it looks great  <br/><br/>Steps in getting health insurance in one day?<br/>Steps in getting health insurance in one day?<br/><br/>Nitro West Virginia Cheap car insurance quotes zip 25143<br/>Nitro West Virginia Cheap car insurance quotes zip 25143<br/><br/> https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/discovered-lump-out-unemployment-without-insurance-what-snyder

There was an article in a scholarly journal recently indicating that insects, spiders, mammals, in fact most species that are not human evolve more quickly. The assertion was generational influence operates on a fairly static principal, and since these “lower species” have a much shorter life span the influence is accelerated. The members who live, and reproduce create more robust, elusive, and able offspring.

No matter how you feel about climate change meteorological evidence proves that winters have been milder, and summers warmer. One of the effects of this climate change is the increased opportunity for reproduction. All of the sudden species are racing down the evolutionary highway.

Yesterday, my friend, John, was working in the dock of our building. He came across a huge spider. Even John found the size of this spider to be unnerving, and he doesn’t panic easily. He captured the spider in something sturdy, and tossed the beast outside.

“It turned around and looked at me, and I swear it gave me the finger.” He said. “It made me a little mad, but it was so big, and looked so angry I decided to let it go.”

I don’t blame him.

Today, I stopped to get gas. There were a couple of birds bouncing around on the concrete pad of the gas station. Dusty, brown birds, hopping closer and then retreating on the harsh gray concrete, looking at me, then bouncing up on the grass. They would start over again, coming to within a few feet of my car, then hopping away. Stupid birds, I thought.

Since I was dangerously close to getting to work early I decided to stop and get a cup of coffee. There was a Tim Horton’s right on the way. Coffee for me, and some donuts for my associates, bar keep.

As I walked back to my car, a cup of coffee, and box of donuts a wonderful companion to my little stroll, I saw two birds right by my car. They looked like the same birds! One of them flew up and came to rest on the railing of the cargo carrier on top of my car. He looked at me, black, pupil less eyes flashing, anger, resentment and contempt.  It was a little unnerving.

“What are you doing?” I asked, trying to sound intimidating.

The other bird flew up and landed on the hood over the motor of my car, turned, looked at me and said, “We’re going to follow you around. You can’t escape. We are going to ruin your day.”

Stunned, I stopped, feet frozen, knees locked, mouth moving making no sound. I didn’t know what to

do, what to say to a bird who was threatening me.

“Yeah, we hate you.” The one on the top of the car said.

“Why?” Squeaked out.

“Oh, I don’t know. Pollution, deforestation, urban sprawl, wars, walls, windmills. A general lack of concern for every other creature on the planet.” He said, his voice whistling through the air, cutting like a tree branch being swung in anger, the barbs and thorns right in the front, ready to rip off flesh. He bounced and turned, and looked at me sideways.

“But, I have this World Wildlife Fund commemorative leather wrist band with a panda device right on the badge. All proceeds from the sale went to protect the environment.”  I said, my voice shaking, my hand shaking as it attempted to point at the ornamental band on my wrist and hold the coffee. My wrist was shaking, trying to turn the emblem out and hold the donuts.

They screeched with what I am assuming was bird laughter. The bird on the hood looked at a group of squirrels who had gathered on the wooden privacy fence that kept the mechanics shop dreariness from spilling onto the donut shop parking lot, and said, “Isn’t that cute, he has a bracelet?”

One of the squirrels laughed so hard he fell off the fence.

“Our hero,” the big squirrel at the end said, wiping tears off his face with little squirrel paws. “I guess that makes up for driving the car, all alone, every day. Or the years of trash, and waste, and neglect.” He was starting to sound a little angry. 

I jumped at a sound behind me, turning so quickly most of my coffee ended up running down my leg, burning all the way. Hot, steaming, delicious liquid, dark and tempting, soaked into my sock, the loss was painful, the pain was immense.

Two of the angriest geese I had ever seen were walking towards me, cursing, and hissing. Language so awful I can’t repeat it here, or anywhere.

I backed up toward the store, my left heel bumped into the raised sidewalk and I knew the wall was only a few feet away. I was trapped. All of the animals were fanned out in front of me, chanting softly, uniformly, something deep, primal, terrifying. It resonated in my bones, in my ears, I could feel the anger in my chest and stomach.

I was out of options, and time. I threw the box of donuts at them. It fell short and they spilled over the parking lot.

“Hey, donuts!” They all sang. And started eating ravenously.

I jumped in my car and sped off, breaking speed limits, traffic regulations and common decency. But, I got away. If you happen to be in the north part of town and a bunch of city animals ask about me don’t tell them where I am, please.