Okie dokie. Been a while.
Last chapter was light-hearted, it's the second damn chapter and we're in the heavy shit.
sorry for the delay, you can kill me if you want... please do.
ENJOY!
Gabby lay on her stomach, on top of her plush bed.. She flicked through the feeds of her social media as she yawned. It was around midnight, and all others within the house were asleep.
She glanced over to Olivia, the Absol quietly stirring in her sleep. She had noticed the girl's lips slowly moving. It was obvious she was having a dream.
Gabby smirked. It was a bit creepy, but she sometimes enjoyed watching how peaceful and happy Olivia was within the depths of unconsciousness. She was like a white, fluffy angel. Gabby enjoyed seeing her at peace. Then, and always.
She went back to scrolling through her phone, silently giggling when she saw something that she found funny, what with her odd sense of humor. With Gabby, anything from harmless knock knock jokes to memes about various genocides were funny.
The Miltank glanced over once more, mindlessly. This time the sleeping Absol wasn't there, and the door was wide open.
Gabby stared at the door, blinking, dumbfounded. She slumped her way off her bed. "She's doing it again" She chuckled, yawning.
The Miltank walked out of the room and looked down the hallway. She noticed a faint light coming from the bottom of the stairwell, and it had begun to worry her.
The half asleep Miltank sauntered down the stairs. Now on the bottom floor of the apartment, she looked down the hall to see the kitchen lights on. Olivia was sleepwalking, which was not an uncommon occurrence, yet it worried Gabby as she knew it was likely that Olivia was having a nightmare. Gabby took a deep breath and rubbed her eyes, getting used to the light.
Olivia sat in a dark corner.
She had no idea where she was, but from what she could see and feel, she was in some sort of bunker. She squinted her eyes, just barely making out a light at the end of a thin hallway. She had tears in her eyes and her dark hair fell over them. She stumbled to her feet, beginning to walk.
"I'm sorry okay?" She muttered. "I'm sorry okay?" She repeated, almost mechanically. She walked towards the light, yet it never got closer. It never went further away. It was as if she were walking in place in her own corner. Like a treadmill that wouldn't stop.
She stopped abruptly. She tried to push forward, but to no avail. She felt something, and she didn't know what it was. It felt as if she had Butterfrees in her stomach. She pushed harder, trying to move forward, which still created no progress. Her breathing became heavy. She tried to scream, to yell for help, but she couldn't. She lost her hope as she lost herself. As she looked around, all that she could see was darkness, and the shape of a thin silhouette in the distance.
She felt familiar feelings of helplessness and solitude. As if no one would help her, as if she was useless. She felt guilty. She felt sorrowful.
She felt a hand ghost over her shoulder, gripping it softly.. She heard the sharp sound of tires screeching
"I'm sorry".
Her eyes lazily opened.
"Babe… babe…" Said Gabby, gentle frustration and worry in her voice. As she saw Olivia open her eyes, Gabby's expression softened immensely. She made a small smile, still worried about her friend. "Babe... are you okay?" She spoke gingerly.
Olivia blinked multiple times, breathing shakily. She was sweating, and as she looked around the kitchen she was confused as to where she was. She almost smiled as her gaze fell on Gabby. They stood in the dark, quiet for a brief second before Olivia broke the silence.
"It happened again, didn't it?" She noticed that she was in the kitchen, which could only mean that it did. She felt embarrassed, upset, and still scared. The Miltank nodded in response.
Gabby took Olivia by the hand, leading her to the living room. She sat her down on the couch. Olivia stared blankly at the Miltank in front of her. She was lost in thought, still clearly half asleep.
"Now…" Gabby spoke. "Are you okay, darling? I know… I know that the last time this happened you weren't exactly in best spirits after waking up." Olivia listened to her, a dumb smile on her face remembering the last time. Images of erratic screaming and uncontrollable shivering coming back to her. "Yeah… I just, don't know why I keep doing this"
They sat in silence for a long while. Olivia mumbled, "Like, yeah, I know it's in an Absol's nature to act differently due to a bad experience or disaster… but... what disaster's got me like this?" She was kidding herself.
Gabby took a breath, trying to keep herself up. "We both know the answer, babe". She looked at her, seeing only sorrow in Olivia's eyes. Which was a rare sight for her.
"It's been a year. I just don't think that could be the reason." Olivia scoffed. Silence emerged again. Olivia brushed her hair out of her eyes and sat back into the couch, crossing her arms.
"The last three times you've sleepwalked, it's been because a bad dream, or a recurring dream about him, you know." Gabby said, adjusting her bra. She sat back on the couch to be at eye level with the Absol.
Olivia never liked being upset around other people, this time was no exception. She had convinced herself that that emotion was weak. And yet, she still felt her eyes brim with tears. "But Absols sleepwalk, Gab, you know that it happens. This shit happens all the time!" Olivia barked out. Gabby just looked at her, not batting an eye at her rising tone.
"Oli… Listen, okay?" Gabby moved herself off of the couch to be sitting on her knees, like a mother to her child. "You know you can't run from this forever, from him. You can't face him. But you can face it". Gabby set her hand on Olivia's, a warm grin on her face.
Olivia was choking back her sorrow. 'I hate this, I hate this.' She looked down at Gabby's lap, the dim light from the kitchen making her visible. "How can you say that?" Olivia stated, shaking her head, tears falling. "It feels like forever ago, how would you know that?" Her voice a simple whisper.
Gabby squeezed her friend's hand, now feeling responsible somehow. "Because, babe. I know you. It's been happening multiple times, each time you've seen him-" She was cut off by the Absol.
"You don't know what happened this time!" Olivia raised her voice again, ripping her hand out of Gabby's grip. Gabby sighed, agreeing to the fact that she indeed didn't know what happened. "Yes… You're right, I shouldn't have jumped to that conclusion. I'm sorry".
The Absol broke into sobs. She turned to the clock on the wall. 1:23 A.M.
She sniffed and rubbed at her eyes, hating herself for crying. They sat without a word, sniffles being the only sound to cut the silence that hung over them like a blanket.
"...Do you want to know what happened?" She said quietly, her breath shaking. Gabby nodded her head, staring at her, wanting ever so badly to embrace the girl.
Olivia lifted her head some. "You were right, okay? …I think… I mean- all I saw was a shadow and I was in a hallway and there was darkness, and my feet were being stupid and-" Her chest rose and fell faster once again, and she started slurring her words together into an incomprehensible mess.
Gabby quietly shushed her, reaching for her hand again. At that moment, their eyes met again. It was that moment were Olivia broke. Sobs broke through her teeth as she fell onto the light-pink pillow known as Gabby, who wrapped her arms around her. Olivia's tears fell onto Gabby's chest, rolling down in between her breasts, sobs muffled. They fell back onto the couch.
They laid there for what felt like forever. Gabby took her time to run her fingers through Olivia's light-coloured hair, massaging her back. As her cries slowed and came to a halt, they remained there, motionless. Only breathing to tell if the other was still awake. 'It's going better than last time…' Gabby thought, smiling to herself.
"It was my fault…" Olivia spoke, voice muffled by Gabby's breasts.
"How could it have been your fault?" Gabby shook her head slowly.
"I could have saved him, you know..."
Hearing this, Gabby's eyes narrowed. She was heartbroken while listening to her. "There's no way you can blame yourself."
"I could have been there."
"But you couldn't have gotten there in time-"
"Because I was too slow."
"That's not your fault."
"It was my fault."
"How do you know?"
"I can sense disasters. And I just brushed this one aside, how could I?"
Gabby sighed again. "Not every disaster can be prevented. You can't… you can't stop the rain if you don't know where the storm is coming from." Gabby suddenly remembered 'him'. His name was Josh.
"How could I have let my own fucking flesh and blood die like that?" Olivia choked out tears once again. Gabby didn't stop her embrace.
"You didn't let him die. I know you tried, you could sense something bad was coming but you didn't know. You couldn't have known, darling."
Olivia shivered. She still hated that her emotions were overtaking her, yet she was comfortable with Gabby. She always was.
"I'm just so mad…" She shook, gripping the couch cushions hard, looking for something else to think about, but to no avail.
"I know… I know, babe, I'm mad too - but not at you, never. You couldn't have known. I'm mad because sometimes this shit happens, and fate is fucked up. I'm sorry we had to have this conversation now of all times, but it had to happen. I can't relate, and I hate that. But I've been through grief before and if there's a thing I can always cling to, it's the fact that things get better. Things always get better. And I'm here. Justin's here, Violet's here, everyone else is here. We always were, from his funeral, to now, and we always will be."
Olivia took deep breaths, listening to Gabby speak. That day... the day her brother was leaving for Kalos... She can still see Josh's smiling dark face, hugging her and waving goodbye, as he stepped in the taxicab heading to the airport. "I love you, girl," being the last words she ever heard him say. She didn't know in what shape the taxi was in. But she could feel something wrong. She blamed herself for brushing it off, she never forgave herself, she refused to accept the fact she couldn't do anything.
She couldn't have known the brakes would fail.
"I couldn't have known..." She said quietly.
Gabby smiled, taking a moment before planting a gentle kiss on the shaking angel's forehead. "Come on… We should go to bed." Gabby spoke, looking at the clock, the hour hand now past two. Olivia sniffled, still in her fractured mental state. She still blamed herself, as she did every time she woke up from a nightmare-induced sleepwalk, only this time she felt less numb, less broken.
That night, Gabby shared her bed with Olivia. She never let go of her, until later that morning when she had to pee. Other than that, Gabby didn't let go.
But Olivia was beginning to learn how to do just that.
