Vic's POV:
The Mustang was a place I could cry. The 1990's airbags provided enough insulation to the point where no one could hear me sobbing into the steering wheel. Today had been a little too much for me to handle, which wasn't something that happened often. Without my anxiety medications, my stress levels had gone completely haywire. Fortunately, Luke liked to get out of the car long before I did, so it gave me some time to decompress. I had almost forgotten about the party, when I was greeted by the comforting site of my friends.
"Oh man, y'all really outdid yourselves," I smiled, hoping my eyes weren't swollen still.
"We can't remember the last time we were part of a party," Ozzie spoke.
"Nearly a year ago, dork," Arty sneered back.
"Go get changed, Vic, Nick and I made chocolate cake," Liv smiled, waving the intricately designed cake in the air.
"How'd you know I liked chocolate cake?" I laughed, taking off my necklace.
"Willy," Liv shrugged, motioning towards Willy, who waved towards me. I snickered, waving back. I took a brief note of Luke's facial expression before I left the room to change my clothes: a strange mix of irritation and anger. I placed my hand gently on his back as I walked towards the hall, which he promptly shook off. Oh boy, this is gonna be fun.
I had to decide between jean shorts or more sweatshorts. I had only just settled on a pair of jean shorts and an acid washed shirt, when there was a light knock at my door.
"Come in," I grunted, still trying to turn the shirt the right way. Willy slipped through the door quickly, before noticing me.
"Oh-dang-Vic, I'm sorry, I didn't know you were still-"
"You're fine, it's nothin' you haven't seen before," I sneered, finally pulling the shirt over my chest.
"You got that right," Willy sneered back, "You've been crying, though,"
"I had a bit of a long day," I shrugged, leaning against Willy. He embraced me tightly, pulling my head into his chest. "How'd you know?"
"I can always tell, 'cause your eyes are puffy," Willy said, "Anything ya' wanna talk about?"
"They want to kick Luke out of the school," I stated, closing my eyes, "His grades are terrible. He's been throwing away his report cards, so I had no idea he had gotten this bad. This is eighth grade of all things,"
"Isn't Luke in seventh grade?"
I paused.
"Damn it, I think I'm beginning to lose it," I laughed, trying to decide if I needed to start crying again.
"The year is almost over, you're holding out just fine," Willy comforted.
"That, and I had a bad run-in with one of my coworkers," I continued, trying to decide the best approach to telling Willy about Rudy.
"Is someone bein' a jerk to ya'? Need me to go over there and teach 'em a lesson or two?" Willy snickered.
"Yeah, they keep trying to get me to go out with 'em," I spoke.
"They want what now," Willy replied.
"And they slapped my ass,"
Willy paused for a moment.
"Alright, everythin' else is outta the question, I'm gonna go over there and shove him right up his own a-"
"It's not a big deal, I sucker punched his face, so hopefully he'll leave me alone. That, or report me," I shrugged.
"It is too big a deal, it upset you, and it ticked me off in the process," Willy sneered.
"Trust me, I've wanted to use the 'I have a boyfriend' excuse for the longest time, but it's kind of hard to pull when I don't have any real evidence you exist," I laughed.
"That's true, isn't it. Well, whatever the case, any time during the day just call Liv or Nick to send me over there and I'll show that idiot what one-fifty PSI of pure steel looks like," Willy growled playfully.
"Thank you," I smiled, hugging Willy tightly.
"Anythin' else you wanna talk about?" Willy asked.
"No, not that I can think of. Hopefully if there was I've forgotten about it," I spoke, looking up at him.
"In that case, you deserve that cake. And I can hear Arty walking towards us," Willy snickered. Willy's hearing was a lot more accurate than mine, and his prediction was also correct. Right as I placed my hand on the doorknob, it was instantly pulled in the other direction by Arty.
"Da' cake is ready," Arty spoke, eyeing the two of us.
"Hi," I smiled sweetly, as Arty let me pass. I couldn't quite overhear the preceding conversation with Arty and Willy, but it ended with Arty laughing, before getting punched in the shoulder by Willy. The first sight to grace my eyes upon reentering the kitchen area was Luke, who was slumped down in one of the chairs. Sara sat next to him, moving a present towards him. Luke had no interest in it.
"There you are, where were you? Trying on your whole wardrobe?" Liv laughed. I rolled my eyes, smiling.
"You know exactly what those two were doing," Ozzie retorted, snaking his head.
"Ozzie," Cammy spoke sternly, nudging him.
"Yea, you bird brain, get a life," Willy teased back.
"Would you three sit down? This is a very special occasion," Liv spoke to Willy, Arty, and I. Once everyone was somewhat seated, Nick emerged from the kitchen with the cake in his hands. I couldn't remember the last time I had a decent cake, so I was somewhat excited for that.
"Now, we have gathered here today to mark the birthdays of our two best friends, Vic and Luke Halifax Hawthorne," Liv smiled, standing up from her place at the far end of the table. "And in celebration of you two dorks, Nick and I teamed up to get you each somethin' special," Liv continued, handing me a wrapped present. It was a small box. Luke finally accepted his box, which was slightly larger. "Go ahead, open 'em up," Liv smiled. Taking great care not to rip the paper, I slid my finger along the edge of the tape. Luke, performing the exact opposite task as I, wasted no time in completely shredding the paper to bits. He looked excited for a brief moment, before realizing what was in the paper.
"A pair of keys?" He asked, fiddling with the keyfob. I widened my eyes at Liv, as she looked excitedly towards Nick.
"We thought you might want something a little more entertaining to do around here," Liv shrugged. Luke turned over the keys in his hands, letting me catch a glimpse of one of the most well-known 4-wheeler companies of Nevada. I slid the small box from the wrapping paper. It was a jewelry box. Opening the magnetic seal, I gazed upon a beautiful necklace.
"Oh, Liv, you guys didn't need to do this," I spoke, admiring the gorgeous emerald and sapphire stones.
"I did. Because check this out," Liv grunted, reaching over the table to pluck the box from my hands. She messed with the necklace for a bit, before pulling it into two separate jewelry pieces.
"One for you, one for me," She smiled, handing me the half with the emerald. This is my birthstone, I don't deserve Liv. "They're just like the BFF necklaces we wore when we were younger,"
"Liv, this is so beautiful," I marveled, clasping it around my neck.
"You're my best friend, it's the least I could do for someone like you," Liv replied, standing up to hug me. I trotted awkwardly towards her, before we embraced in a strange, laughter-filled hug.
"Luke, Nick chose your present just for you," Liv spoke, motioning towards Nick, who was standing near the garage. Luke stood up reluctantly, clutching the keys in his hand. I noticed he wasn't wearing his bandage, which was slightly unnerving. I had to wear a bandage over my left arm for the longest time. It was only recently it healed up enough to stop cleaning it every night before bed. As Nick opened the door, he led Luke out into the garage as the garage door opened.
"You know he doesn't even have a permit, right?" I asked Liv.
"He doesn't need one, I checked," Liv shrugged. "Go sit, we can eat before the two of them get back,"
"Eh-em," Arty cleared his throat.
"We have a gift for the two of you too," Gus smiled.
"Y'all didn't have to get me anything, I-"
"Shush, shush, you deserve something from us," Cammy interrupted, as Knighty presented me with a strange looking paper.
"We used the words we knew from Scrabble to make words for you," Arty explained.
"With or without a dictionary," Ozzie spoke, instantly being hushed by Arty. I read over the sloppy writing, smiling. The animatronics had given me a piece of paper with the words 'HAPY BURTHDAE VIC N LOOK' written in a variety of interesting colors.
"It's a little hard to grip those tiny pencils," Willy spoke, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Y'all are way too kind to us, this is so sweet," I smiled, admiring the interesting writing.
"I tried to tell 'em Luke's name was spelt with a 'U', but we didn't know where to put it," Cammy spoke.
"There is no 'U', it's 'O'," Arty insisted, "Speakin' of which, did the little ankle biter have a good day at school? He wouldn't talk to us,"
"He's in a mood right now, if he ends up getting mad at any of you don't take it personally," I replied, glancing towards the garage.
"Don't you worry, Vic, it's nothin' none of us can't handle," Ozzie spoke, ruffling his feathers.
"Luke can get pretty nasty sometimes," I warned, laughing. Right at that moment, both Luke and Nick reentered the house. Nick was smiling down at Luke, but Luke's expression hadn't changed.
"So?" I asked, smiling at him.
"I got a 4-wheeler," Luke replied, talking like everyone in the free world owned one.
"Wow, ain't that neat? Did you tell Nick and Liv thank you?" I asked, smiling in an attempt to encourage Luke to look the least bit happier.
"Now you get to learn to drive!" Tito spoke. Luke nodded, pursing his lips.
"Thank you, both of you," I spoke to Liv and Nick, who both nodded their heads, "Did you wanna see the card?" I asked Luke, holding out the crinkled paper the animatronics had given me. Luke walked over to me, trying to read the paper.
"You spelt my name wrong," He stated. I glared at him from over the top of the paper, trying to somehow telepathically knock off his attitude. Liv seemed to catch the vibe I was trying to throw, and instantly tried to help me out.
"I don't know if Nick told you, but you've got miles of fenced farmland out back that you're free to drive on. Nick and I have a matching set of 4-wheelers in the yard that we like to use out there too," She smiled.
"Cool, thanks," Luke replied.
"Come sit down, we made this cake for the two of you," Liv continued, motioning for Luke to come join the rest of us. Luke seemed slightly reluctant, but did what he was told.
"Now," Liv continued, once everyone had become reseated, "We're also gathered here today to celebrate the almost-one-year anniversary of our achievement in banishing the infamous Hayesville cultists to Hell,"
"It was definitely a team effort," Sara added. Nick handed me a plate of cake, which I willingly took. Luke wasn't so enthusiastic about his.
"We literally saved the entire world," She laughed.
"And freed the other souls," Cammy added.
"Plus makin' sure we don't have to kill anyone for a real long time!" Ozzie continued.
"And made a fool of ourselves on national television," Arty sneered.
"Oh c'mon Arty, it's not like we have much of a rep to uphold anyways," Willy replied.
"We were famous, remember?" Tito asked.
"Famous for what? Scarin' the Hell out of customers and murdering innocent people for their souls?" Willy sneered. Judging by Liv and Nick's facial expressions, they found the lighthearted conversation highly amusing. I did too. Luke, on the other hand, was getting pretty restless in his seat. He clenched his fork tightly enough to the point I was afraid he was gonna reach over and stab someone with it.
"Famous for being part of Hayesville's only Willy's Wonderland," Ozzie spoke proudly, putting emphasis on the word' Willy'.
"Whateva' it's not like I asked for my name to be up there," Willy snickered.
"It's catchy," Liv shrugged.
"So is Tex's Turf," I smiled, earning several laughs from everyone else. I was hoping that joke hadn't come across as being 'too soon'. Back when Tex Macadoo was still alive, I remembered overhearing several conversations between him and Jed at the Auto Repair Shop about renaming Willy's Wonderland to 'Tex's Turf'.
"Hey, hey, hey, who's side are you on, birthday girl?" Willy teased, nudging my shoulder. I rolled my eyes.
"Just think you guys, a group of mastermind cultists who have been at their act for years got beat by eight animatronics, some guy with a cool leather jacket, two teen twits, and a kiddo," Ozzie spoke.
"It's not like I wanted to help," I heard Luke mutter quietly from the right of me. Ughh.
"Yeah, this is our homeland. They're not invited," Gus added.
"Like, just think, no one else in the world realizes that we saved their lives. It's a secret," I continued.
"Ooh, I love secrets," Sara spoke.
"And to make things even better," Liv began sarcastically, "You're all wanted criminals,"
"Who knows, maybe someday this'll all blow over," I shrugged.
"We'll be dead by then," Liv laughed.
"Thou canst die, we needeth thou," Knighty pleaded.
"We'll do our best," I sneered playfully.
"You better, I ain't lettin' you go out before the rest of us," Willy spoke, ruffling my hair, "On another note, is that cake any good?"
"Yeah," I replied, shoveling another forkful of chocolate cake into my mouth. I hadn't had a cake like that since I was little, and it was honestly amazing. If I wasn't surrounded by others, I would've been completely gorging down. I had definitely gained at least ten pounds since living with Nick, his cooking was amazing.
"We wouldn't know, we can't taste. Sorta," Ozzie stated.
"Just think you guys. I know I keep saying this over and over again, but we literally got rid of the worst cultists to ever grace the face of our state," Liv laughed.
"And the dumbest. Imagine writing out the entirety of a spell that could be your demise all on a piece of paper, and leaving said paper where someone could easily find it," Arty added happily. While I appreciated Arty's humor, after taking a quick glance at Luke, I could clearly see that he didn't.
"Didn't the both of you end up finding the spell? On two separate occasions?" Cammy asked Liv and I. I opened my mouth to quickly submit a clean response, when Arty beat me to it.
"Yeah, Vic tried to get all touchy with Jerry to try and-" He began.
"It was for the protection of y'all, not 'cause I wanted to," I laughed in response.
"You seemed awfully familiar with each of Willy's pockets, are you sure-" Arty continued. I saw Liv turn to smirk at me, to which I quickly mouthed her a 'NO'.
"You're right Arty, Liv found it the second time," Willy quickly interrupted, turning the conversation. I bit my lip, trying not to laugh.
"Yep," Liv started, trying not to laugh at me, "Nick and I both found it the second time. It must've slipped from one of your guys's hands,"
"After Jerry grabbed it back, it was out of my control at that point," I shrugged, smirking.
"Whatever the case, still. We managed to outsmart them more than once. I mean, it's not that hard to beat up humans," Sara continued. I shoved more cake into my mouth, watching Nick taking small bites of his own.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Liv joked.
"Just look at you guys, you're made of, uh, guts? Blood? Soft stuff?" Ozzie replied.
"Bones," Gus added.
"We're pretty hearty, I've watched Vic get beat up time after time again," Liv replied, pointing to me. I scoffed.
"As if, I've always been the one beating up everyone," I snickered, "But y'all are much more sturdy than us. If it came down to me and Jerry, I could totally take him on,"
"You're pretty tiny, Vic," Willy mocked.
"Oh shut up, I'm not that small," I replied, laughing, "I'm taller than Liv,"
"By an inch, that's it," Liv replied, "Luke's almost as tall as me,"
Everyone glanced at Luke, who instantly sulked backwards.
"It'd be fun to beat up Jerry, honestly," Liv continued.
"Well aren't you violent," Tito teased. I glanced towards Luke, who was glaring at Liv. I looked towards Liv, trying to catch her eye.
"I'm just being honest, like, if he wasn't possessing one of you guys, I think we'd stand a pretty good chance at giving him a taste of his own medicine, what do you think, Vic?" Liv asked. I opened my mouth to agree, when Luke beat me to it.
"Why are you all being such jerks?" He spat out. He was doing so well just a minute ago.
"We're not talking about beating up you, love," Sara replied, turning to look at Luke.
"You're talking smack about my family," Luke growled back. I breathed deeply.
"Luke," I started.
"Don't 'Luke' me, Vic, I cannot believe that all of you think so poorly of them," Luke interrupted. Everyone was silent, except for Nick's fork clinking against the plate. No one wanted to try and argue this point with Luke, which meant I had to do it.
"Well how would you talk about them?" I asked, turning to face Luke. We hadn't argued about Jerry for a long time, and I had learned a thing or two about dealing with uncooperative children since working at the school.
"They're my family. They're the only people who have ever understood me. They're persistent, loyal-" Luke started, pushing his cake away from him. He had only taken a few bites from it, and I wanted the rest.
"Do you even hear yourself?" I interrupted, "All seven of them were loyal to Jerry, because he made empty promises. They were all psychos who got what was coming to them,"
"You're just upset because the only family you've ever had is with an abusive Dad and your apparently useless brother," Luke barked. My stomach nodded as he disrespected Dad's name.
"Don't put words in my mouth," I spoke calmly, "My family is the people who respect me as I respect them. As far as I'm concerned, you're gaining absolutely nothing from being involved in a freaking cult,"
"Wrong. I've gained a trust that I didn't know I could have with anyone," Luke replied, turning in his chair to face me. "And, it isn't hurting to know how to use dark magic,"
The awkward silence in the room became even more awkward, as everyone seemed to be greatly disturbed.
"You know how to what?" I asked calmly, slowly turning to face Luke. For the first time, I could see his face in full light. He looked like he hadn't slept in ages, as there were dark circles under his eyes. His face had become more defined, which meant he wasn't eating enough.
"That's right, you idiot, I've been learning how to use dark magic behind your stupid little back, and there is nothing that is gonna stop me, am I clear?" Luke shouted. I rolled my eyes. Luke didn't intimidate me, but I was still trying to keep my temper in check.
"Don't speak to me like that. You are not allowed to be doing that. I'm gonna have to make sure you don't have access to any technology, which I really wouldn't wanna have to do," I replied again.
"What are you gonna do, tell your teacher friends that I'm learning? You know why I'm failing school? 'Cause I hate it! I hate everyone there! I hate all the people in this stupid town, I hate all of you, and I HATE you!" Luke screamed, standing up.
"Luke Halifax," I hissed, my eyes following his, "You have no right to disrespect-"
"Oh there you go again with the whole 'respect' thing. I can't even remember the last time you had any respect for anything around you," Luke argued.
"Stop-"
"None of you will ever be anything to me but murderers. You literally sent my family to Hell, and now you want to celebrate it?" Luke screamed to the table. Everyone was either too shocked or didn't quite know what to say, because they were all still silent.
"Luke, Jerry tried to kill-" Liv bravely began to speak. Props to her for trying.
"Oh, you wanna talk about killing?" Luke spoke loudly.
"Luke," I muttered, trying to get him to calm down.
"There are eight of us here who have been responsible for the unfair murder of hundreds of people," Luke spoke, pointing to the animatronics.
"In our defense-" Tito went to speak.
"And you wanna get pissy about how Jerry stabbed you? And you lived? Want me to get him to try again?" Luke mocked. Liv's eyes widened.
"LUKE!" I shouted loudly at him, standing up. He stepped back slightly, "I don't ever want to hear you disrespect anyone like that again, your behavior is completely uncalled for,"
"Whatever, Mom, what are you gonna do? Ground me?" He sneered, "I'm stuck here with all of you, that's enough torture in itself!"
"Please calm down," Sara spoke softly.
"You want me to calm down? I'll calm down as soon as everything goes back to the way it was SUPPOSED to be. Just me and my family, and Vic, you can just keep enjoying Willy's-"
"Luke," I instantly interrupted, "They are not your family. They only tried to get you to believe that because they just want power. They don't want you at all, what about that do you not understand?" I asked.
"Oh, I understand plenty. More than you ever will. Someday you might realize that you'll never have family with these idiots-"
"Do not disrespect them like that," I shouted, taking a step towards Luke. As an act of intimidation, it worked. Luke instantly sulked backwards, before stomping quickly towards his room. I watched him, before letting my head rest against the table.
"I've failed," I muttered, covering the back of my head with my hands.
"Aye, you didn't do half bad. You tried to put the little runt in his place," Arty spoke. I lifted my head up to prop it against my hands.
"I can't keep doing this. I hate arguing with him, I just want him to be happy," I replied.
"You've some patience, Vic," Liv laughed lightly. I smiled against my hand.
"It's taken years of practice,"
"So, do you think he was serious about that whole dark magic thing?" Ozzie asked.
"It hurts me to say this, but I think he's serious," I replied, "Willy, can he perform dark magic? Like, is there some sort of law that is allowing or preventing it?"
"Technically speaking, yes. If Luke takes part in any ritual with them, it automatically gives him the power to perform dark magic on other living beings. As far as the dead are concerned, he does have that ability. He was the one who brought Jerry back in the first place," Willy explained.
"Damn," I replied.
"So, if he was desperate enough, he could bring Jerry back right now?" Liv asked. The animatronics nodded thier heads in unison.
"I need to talk to him. I'm so sorry for the way he treated all of you. He had no place talking to any of you like that,"
"No offenses taken, we've dealt with worse," Gus smiled.
"We got that 4-wheeler so he'd be able to get himself from place to place without relying on you," Liv spoke.
"That might be good for him, I think he just wants me to step back so he can figure things out for himself," I replied, "All of you gave us amazing gifts, thank you again,"
With that, I went to walk towards Luke's room. I had to mentally prepare myself for whatever the angsty Luke was about to throw at me, which wasn't easy, as I was practically on the verge of tears again. I heard light conversation about the weather beginning to come from the kitchen, which made me glad everyone wasn't too badly affected by Luke's outburst.
"Luke?" I spoke, knocking on his door. I didn't hear a response, which I expected. I took a deep breath, then twisted the handle open. I hadn't been in Luke's room for a long time, which he had taken advantage of. Everything was an absolute mess. There were dirty clothes all over the floor, random, unfinished school assignments falling from drawers, his bed was a wreck, and there were strange plastic bags from different stores everywhere.
"Luke?" I asked again, seeing him sitting on his bed. His eyes, initially pointed at the floor, shot up to meet my gaze.
"What," He growled.
"We need to talk," I continued, closing the door behind me.
"About what? Your lack of understanding of what a real family is?" Luke snarked. I took another deep breath.
"About your behavior," I corrected, taking a seat next to Luke. He inched away from me.
"I know you're going through a rough time right now. All kids your age are, and it's completely normal to be feeling like you don't have a place right now," I started, placing my hand softly on his back. I could feel a very bad aura radiating off of him.
"But you need to trust me when I tell you that the cult is not something you will want to be a part of. I know it looks promising now, but there's been bad endings for everyone who's joining. I can't stand the thought of losing my brother,"
Luke was quiet for a moment.
"You're just saying that because you're scared of me,"
At that moment, a chill shot down my spine.
"Afraid of you? No, of course not-" I began to speak.
"Yeah. You and everyone else in this house are afraid of me," Luke continued, his voice becoming louder.
"I have no reason to be afraid of you, Luke, stop talking like you run the world, and come back to reality," I spoke, raising my voice as well.
"What have I ever known about reality? I've spent my entire life living in a city that doesn't even have a name on the map, my sister has been a criminal for half her life and now spends her time teaching kids, I'm living with a pile of sentient animatronics in the middle of nowhere, and no one thinks its weird!" Luke screamed.
"Calm down, Luke, this isn't something to get upset-" I spoke, trying to keep my voice steady.
"What do you mean this isn't something to get upset over? Do you ever think about anyone but yourself? You know what, Jerry was right about you," Luke muttered.
"Excuse me?" I asked loudly.
"I said, Jerry was right about you," Luke screamed in my face.
"That scum of a man has no right talking to you or I. Luke, this needs to end right now," I spoke, beginning to lose my temper.
"You can't do anything about it, you're just a sad sap who-"
"Luke Halifax! What has gotten into you? I don't know how Jerry is communicating with you, but it needs to end-" I started to interrupt.
"I dream about him. And the cult and I talk. Jerry says he visits your dreams too," Luke smirked.
"We need therapy," I spoke, shaking my head slowly.
"You're the only one needing therapy, you're insane thinking you can just avoid the law and try and see if sleeping with animatronic weasel will get you-"
"That's it. I'm moving you back into my room," I spoke, throwing my hands in the air. There was nothing else I could do. There wasn't any way for me to access his mind.
"Hell no, no one in their right mind would wanna go in there after you and Willy have stayed in it," Luke replied.
"Well you're just gonna have to suck it up then, because I need to start monitoring you. Obviously I haven't been doing a good job of keeping you in check. You've been completely disrespectful to everyone here, and I'm not about to let that slide," I spoke firmly.
"Obviously. You're not my mom, you're my sister. My stuck-up, ego-filled, no-good skank of a sister! You don't want what's best for me, you just want to feel safe!" Luke screamed.
"You do not speak that way to me, understand?" I shouted back, grabbing Luke's wrist. He yanked it away, freeing my grip. Luke had definitely gotten stronger.
"I'm going to keep learning dark magic, and there is nothing you can do about it!" Luke shouted.
"Do you know what's gonna happen if the cult comes back?" I asked.
"I'll be happy for once,"
"There are other ways to be happy, you know," I continued.
"You know what Vic, get out. Just get out, and don't bother to ever come back here again!" Luke screamed, shoving me. I instantly shoved him back.
"You're playing Jerry's cards, Luke, he's manipulating you!" I screamed back.
"That's not true. You're one to talk, you're being manipulated by an overgrown rat into thinking that whole relationship is normal!" Luke sneered.
"Not everything has to be based on Willy and I, you need to grow up,"
"Get the Hell out," Luke growled, standing up to face me.
"I'm going to leave, and you're going to think about everything you're doing. Hopefully, you've got enough smart left in you to realize how stupid you're being," I snarked. Luke belted several curse words at me, to which I slammed the door. Holding my breath in an attempt to not cry, I quickly returned to my own room and shut the door to break down.
"I can't keep this up," I cried out loud, burying my face in my pillow. Although Luke was much younger than I, his words did hurt.
"I don't wanna make it worse," I heard Willy's voice whisper from outside my room.
"Vic is someone who likes to be comforted, go in there and make her happy again, however you may do that," Liv whispered back. I quickly tried to wipe my eyes, holding the pillow tightly to me as the door creaked open slightly.
"Vic? Is it alright if-" Willy started.
"Please come in," I interrupted, opening my eyes slightly. Willy slipped through the door, closing it behind him.
"Any progress?" He asked.
"I think he's serious," I breathed, rolling onto my back. Willy bent down to pick me up from the bed. I willingly let him. He sat down, cradling me awkwardly.
"Serious?"
"I've never heard him sound so defiant. I don't know what's been going on behind my back, but he's super serious about learning dark magic. And the only reason he'd do that is for that stupid cult," I replied, choking on my words, "There's literally nothing I can do to stop him,"
"You're doin' your best to help him, Jerry's threshold is incredibly powerful. It'll take a lot of convincing to get him out of this phase," Willy explained.
"He'll never listen to me. He hates me," I replied, holding Willy tightly. There were very few things I found comfort in anymore. While that list was continuing to grow slowly with my reentry into normal life, Willy was still at the top of that list.
"He doesn't hate you, I can guarantee that. I see the way you two interact, and it's not out of complete hatred. Deep down inside, he does still love you," Willy spoke soothingly.
"How on earth am I supposed to get through to that kid? He thinks he runs the joint," I asked.
"I have no idea, honestly," Willy replied. I sighed, trying to draw some sort of idea from the blankness that had fallen over my mind.
"Hey Vic, want more cake?" I heard Liv shout from outside my door. An offer almost too good to refuse.
"Yeah," I replied hazily, pulling myself closer to Willy.
"You really like your cake, don't cha'," Willy teased.
"Yeah," I replied again, smiling. "I don't want to leave you though,"
"I'll be back here tonight, don't you worry," Willy sneered, ruffling my hair.
"Fine, I guess you're right," I pouted, "I told Luke he'd be moving in here again,"
"You think he'll come quietly?"
"Definitely not. That boy would throw hands before I drug him back here," I scoffed, "But to be honest, I don't trust myself alone with him,"
Willy scoffed.
"I'm serious, I think if he had the chance he'd try and hurt me,"
"Want me to stay here with you if he ends up moving back in?"
"Stay here regardless and we'll be just fine," I sneered.
"Whatever you want, girly,"
"Good. I'mma get my cake now,"
Luke's POV:
Pulling a drawstring bag from my closet, I quickly began to load my most precious possessions into it. I had come close to flat out hitting Vic, because she just wouldn't stop bothering me. She knew how much I missed the cult, and yet, had no issue with Liv and Nick throwing an entire party based around the worst day of my life. I hadn't expected Nick and Liv to funnel so much money into a 4-wheeler for me. I knew Vic had nothing to do with that, since she was hardly making any money. She doesn't care about me enough to spend any of her precious savings. I had nearly forgotten it was almost my birthday, let alone Vic's. Dad usually combined both of our birthdays into one day, which ended not long after Vic turned twelve. I wasn't about to stick around for much longer to celebrate, as there were much better things for me to be doing. There were still a few details I needed to work out with Jerry, but my wait was finally over.
I pulled the drawstring bag shut, before pulling a box of assorted items from under my bed. Several candles, some chalk, and a paper with several engravings on it. I couldn't borrow any books from the library, out of fear of Vic somehow finding out the kind of books I was renting, so I had to make sure all my learning was done at the school and with the cult in my mind.
I wanted to scare Vic. It didn't occur to me she would be completely helpless to me, but it was true. My entire life, I looked up to her as some sort of higher power. I had never realized she was literally just another person in the world wanting attention. I always knew Vic had been terrified of Jerry, and wanted nothing to do with dark magic. This was my leverage on her. It's time for the tables to turn, I want to be the one in charge. Vic knows she can't do anything to stop me, which is why she's so terrified. She can't turn to her friends this time, and she can't turn to Willy either. In fact, as soon as I bring my family back, the first thing I want to happen is for Vic to see how much they really care for me. I want to watch her realize how wrong she's been.
I shoved the candles and other items into the drawstring bag, before shoving the entire thing under my bed. Monday is gonna be the day, I can feel it. Walking towards one of the large mirrors Vic picked up from the local dollar store, I sat in front of it, staring into my reflection. I wasn't able to perform any magic without the assistance of Jerry, which meant I could only use spells to channel his spirit temporarily. They were easy, weak spells, but they let me talk to Jerry for a few seconds.
"Jerry?" I spoke into the mirror. I could barely see Jerry's outline surrounding me, "I'm ready,"
Monday is gonna be the day they're all gonna wish they didn't mess with my real friends. My cult. My family.