Chapter Two: Exodus, Part Two
The ride back to James' house was as quiet as the trip out to the cemetery, save for the light emission of AC/DC's 'The Razor's Edge' album coming from the speakers of the truck via an old cassette tape that Faith figured that James had probably had since it's initial release years earlier.
When they arrived and the truck pulled to a stop in the small driveway along the side of the run-down house, Faith wasted no time in jumping out and heading for the side door into the basement without waiting on her cousin. She knew it was rude, considering that he'd allowed her to move in the day after she had slain Kakistos, but with her currently emotional state she didn't really care. The last thing she wanted was to have her cousin see what she considered a weakness. After all, Lehanes weren't supposed to cry.
Behind her, James watches her disappear inside with a conflicted look on his face before turning and heading up the narrow walk to enter through the front door into the main floor of the house. He knew that she'd come and talk if she really needed to, or when she'd calmed herself down.
Faith just managed not to slam the door shut behind her before making her way over to the far corner at the back of the basement where she'd set up her stuff in the small den that she'd taken up residence in and drops heavily onto the twin-size bed that was pushed up against the wall.
Most of her belongings were still stuffed in the crates and boxes she'd brought over from Diana's still, and with her plans to leave for Emma Frost's school, the Massachusetts Academy out west come the next morning, she had seen no point in unpacking when she'd never planned to stay with her cousin long-term. She'd made a promise to Monet and Tabitha that she would go if they'd helped her with Kakistos and while it may have been a bit of an impulsive decision on her part, she wasn't going to back out on her oath.
Especially since it was almost a month since Diana had died, and the familiarity of Boston was still as much of painful reminder of what had happened. It seemed that everywhere she'd gone in the city since that day only served to rip the festering wound open further and all she wanted to do was get away so she could heal her mind properly and it was clear, both to herself and James that it would only get worse the longer she stayed.
Turning her head to the side, she catches sight of the small picture frame containing an image of herself, James, Tabitha and Monet that had been taken shortly after she'd awoken from her second 'death' at Kakistos' hands, and she gives a short sigh as she sees the smile on her face, back when she'd just been relieved that the whole ordeal was over and before her depression had taken hold a day or two after Tab and M had gone back to the school.
After a few moments, she can no longer bare to look at the picture and with a quick flick of her wrist she tips it over to lie flat against the surface of the bedside table, and then slumps down on the mattress with her head landing heavy on the pillow.
From her vantage point on the bed, her gaze falls upon the katana that had once belonged to her two-time murderer, retrieved by Monet at the same time that the older girl had flown up and gotten her then-lifeless body off the burning warehouse roof, and with an audible sob, Faith bursts into tears and clutches one of her pillows to her chest as her body begins to shake as she breaks down for what must have been the thousandth time, using it to muffle her cries.
She didn't even know why she kept the damn thing, remembering all too vividly what it felt like to have it stuck through her not once, but twice. But still, for reasons she couldn't fathom she'd not been able to get up any real desire to dispose of it, and so it sat atop the stack of sealed crates just a few yards from where she slept for the past few weeks.
Not wanting to look at it at this moment, she turns herself over to her other side, and stares blankly out the small window that looked out over the fenced off yard at the rear of James house, watching the sunset with little to no enjoyment.
After a couple more minutes of now silent sobbing, her eyes drift shut and she's asleep within moments.
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She's awoken hours later by the shrill ring of her cell phone as it vibrates on the surface of the bedside table and she blinks a couple times as she shoots up into a sitting position, eyes darting around wildly for a moment before she remembers where she is.
"Shiiit.." She mutters out, running her hand through her hair as she turns to look at the alarm clock which read 5:47 am, and with a quick grab, she has the phone in her hand and flips it open before holding it up to her ear. "Hello?" She asks tiredly into the receiver, not having bothered to check the caller i.d. before answering.
"Faith, hey!" Tabitha's all-too-cheery voice filters through and into her ear and she pulls the phone away at the sudden loudness for a moment before she brings it back to her face to speak.
"Tab? It ain't even six.." Faith replies back, her voice belaying her lethargy.
"Yeah, sorry 'bout that." Tabitha says, still sounding cheery and to Faith, not at all repentant for waking her up at such an ungodly hour. "Thought maybe you'd be up already, it being moving day and all."
"I wasn't, but guess I am now." Faith says with a shrug to herself as she pulls herself back a foot or two to rest her back against the concrete wall. "What's up?"
"The usual chaos of orientation weekend and a bunch of new snobs to deal with, which if not for the need for secrecy I wouldn't mind knocking off a couple of those prissy bitches with a bomb or ten. Thank god I was able to talk Emma into letting us be roommates." Tabitha's voice answers as Faith shakes her head a few times to try and get rid of her drowsiness. "Monet said to say hi, by the way." The blonde mutant adds as an after-thought and Faith gives an instinctive nod before realizing that Tabitha couldn't see her.
Normally, Faith would have little patience for anyone waking her up at such an early hour, but between joint warnings from both Tabitha and Monet about the training schedule that the mutant students of the school followed, and the tight bond of friendship that she and the blonde had formed over the course of the past month, Faith holds her tongue save to reply to her friend with a 'yeah' to belay her agreement. The two of them had a lot in common as it had been revealed through their various conversations over the phone during the past month. Both came from poor, under-privileged families, the products of drug-addled and now deceased mothers and absentee fathers, and although Faith did feel a tiny bit of resentment over the fact that Tabitha at least knew who her dad was, she'd decided it would be best to keep her jealousy to herself so as to not end up losing the girl who was quickly becoming her closest friend.
"Tell her hi back for me, and that I'll see her later today." Faith replies, still unable to shake off her tiredness.
"So what time are you heading out?"
"About noon, I think. James is gonna drive me up. Hey Tab, not that I don't like talking to yah and all but I'm still really tired.." Faith trails off, hoping that her hyper-active friend would take the hint and let her go back to bed.
"Right, sorry about waking you up." Tabitha replies, still cheery, much to Faith's relief. "I'll see you when you get out here."
"You'll be the first one I look for, promise." Faith swears.
"Have a good sleep Fay." Tabitha says at last before Faith hears the click that indicated the other end of the call had been hung up and she flips the phone shut and tosses it haphazardly back onto the bedside table before collapsing sideways back onto the bed and letting slumber take hold of her once again.
To Be Continued…
Note: Thanks and Props to Syed at FFnet for the review and the idea for Faith to have kept Kakistos' katana as a 'trophy'.
Thanks also to Gnurd, Raxadian, JediKnight, Michaelangelo and Daveykins at TTH for the most recent set of reviews, both for this story and 'Things'.
A second and special thanks to Gnurd for being the third person to give 'Things' a recommendation.
