Author's warning:- some of the chapters content could be triggering for some people...
Chapter Fourteen
As Marko and Dwayne filed out of the cave carrying Star and Michael's limp bodies, Paul knelt in front of Flick, gently placing a hand on her trembling knee. A pang of guilt hit his chest, the sensation clawing at his insides like gnarled fingernails when she flinched and whimpered, curling further into herself. He scowled in David's direction, the platinum blonde merely shrugging, cocking his head with casual dismissal.
"You should have let me tell her the plan David – look at her, she's terrified!" Paul hissed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"If she's going to be one of us, isn't it only prudent she faces the reality of it? She can't walk around thinking it's all sex, drugs and rock n' roll – you can't sugar-coat everything all the time Paul," the elder immortal countered, shaking his head.
"I didn't fucking plan to asshole but I at least wanted her to be introduced to shit slowly, give her time to adjust, you know? Not scare the shit out of her-" he argued, "-have some fucking compassion you walking fucking fence-post, take your head out your ass and consider other peoples damn feelings for once."
"I've been more than accommodating to her Paul, don't start playing the victim," David scoffed.
"Accommodating? How about being warmer towards her, the best she gets is fucking luke-warm – a penguins assholes warmer than what you've been to her, you son-of-a-bitch," Paul sniped.
David scowled. "Suck my dick you backcombed little bitch," he retorted coldly.
"Unzip Dracula," Paul countered haughtily.
"Do fuck off Paul," David rolled his eyes dismissively before turning his back and heading out of the cave.
He sighed heavily, his shoulder's sagging with the weight of his guilt as he stared at Flick, unsure what he should do or say to make it right. Could he even make this right this time? She'd been through so much tonight already then to scare her in such a shitty way was the lowest blow he could have dealt her.
"Flick I'm sorry, David didn't give me a chance to warn you, then your brother started saying all that shit and I just lost it, I didn't even think about how you were gonna react. Please babe, just look at me, it's me OK? Paul..." he spoke softly, the pad of his thumb rubbing her swollen ankle.
Flick hitched a sob as her head lifted from the crook of her arm, her blood and dirt matted hair obscuring her face. "Babe?" he murmured, gently tilting her chin, urging her to look at him.
Flick's sea-green eyes met his and his stomach sank to his knees. Her eyes were wide with fright, the rims swollen and puffy from her tears while her complexion was drip-white, her body shivering. Paul whipped off his jacket, cautiously wrapping it around her shoulders. As if she'd been in some kind of trance, Flick's eyes flickered with recognition, darting around the cave manically.
"M-michael, S-star?" she stammered frantically searching the shadows.
"Dwayne and Marko took them both home – we didn't hurt them Flick," Paul assured her.
Flick shook her head as if trying to communicate it wasn't them being hurt that was the issue. "They know now, they know the truth, w-what if they tell?" she panicked.
Paul reached out and tucked her hair behind her ears, stroking her tear-stained cheek with his thumb. "Babe it's OK, they won't remember anything-" he assured her, "-they'll only remember the fear but not what caused it. They'll have no memory of what they saw. As far as Star's concerned her brother and his friend have gone missing – done a runner after what they did to you..."
"R-really?" she implored, desperately grabbing his wrist. "Sam and the Frogs, they already think you're all vampires, t-they wanna hurt you, if they find out – they'll come for you and-"
"-Sshhh babe, I swear that won't happen OK? Stop worrying about me or any of us - you should be hating on me right now for scaring you so badly."
Flick's eyes flashed with hurt and she swallowed thickly. "You should have told me," she whispered forlornly as if the fear had just hit her all over again.
"I swear I wanted to but David didn't give me the chance and then everything just got out of control when your brother started talking shit..." Paul flustered.
Flick's eyes once again flashed with hurt. "Can you take me home please?" she swallowed.
"Babe you know you can stay here, right?"
"I know but I wanna change clothes and take a bath... I just... I just need to go home..."
"OK-" Paul reluctantly nodded, "-let's go."
Flick wrapped her arms around her middle, her fingers tentatively brushing her tender, bruised skin as she bit her lip to fight back the tears building thick and fast at the back of her eyes, the lump in her throat seeming to grow bigger with each minute that passed. She leant her forehead against the tiles, the cool surface easing the violent ache in her head as the hot water of the shower rained down on her, washing away both the visible and invisible dirt and grime she felt coating her skin.
When the water started to run cold, Flick reluctantly shut off the shower and stepped out of the tub, wrapping herself in a towel as she padded over to the sink, wiping the mirror hanging overhead with shaking fingers, the foggy condensation quickly turning to droplets of water that trickled like tears across the reflective surface. She studied her reflection, more than a little startled by the state of her face. She tentively prodded the violet bruise covering her jaw and winced when the action elicited a twinge of pain.
Flick exhaled heavily, her shoulders sagging in defeat as her hands gripped the cool porcelain basin as she fought through the tidal wave of emotion that hit her from all angles. The mental and physical pain of her injuries. The pain of knowing her own brother had been behind her attack. The pain of Michael's words back at the cave that had hit her like a dagger to the heart and the fear of those very words being true. The fear of what she'd seen and the fear of the reality she'd found herself in.
She wanted to hate Paul for scaring her so badly. She wanted to hate him for not telling her what they'd planned. She wanted to tell him to leave her alone, that she didn't want to see him ever again but she couldn't do it. She loved him. She was connected to him in a way she still wasn't so sure she fully understood and despite the now heavy weight of the reality she'd previously buried at the back of her mind bearing down on her shoulders, she knew that Paul was all she had and the thought of losing him made her heart ache.
With tiredness seeping into her aching bones, Flick made her way down the landing to her room. She stepped inside, finding Paul perched on the end of the bed, his head in his hands. His head snapped up when he sensed her presence. "How're you feeling babe?" he asked hesitantly, guilt and shame evident in his expressive grey eyes.
"I'm not sure..." she replied truthfully with a frown.
"Can I get you anything?" he offered as she tiredly routed through her closet for a clean shirt.
"No," she shook her head, slipping into an over-sized Bowie t-shirt. She gathered her damp hair in her hands, tying her unruly curls in a messy bun on top of her head and crawled into bed, collapsing against the pillows.
"Do you want me to leave?" Paul asked, the uncertainty in his voice making her chest tighten. She wordlessly shook her head and felt the mattress shift as Paul slid onto the bed behind her. She heard and felt him sigh against the back of her neck, his deft fingers gently grazing her bare arms, the pads of his fingers ghosting the vivid violet bruises in a way that sent shivers racing down her spine.
Flick closed her eyes, relishing in the safety and comfort of Paul's presence, her fear of his monstrous form merely a whisper in the ocean breeze as she lay with the solid weight of him behind her like a silent sentry. As she begun to feel herself drifting into the waiting arms of slumber, she heard him quietly humming as his fingers softly stroked her hair. "And being apart ain't easy on this love affair. Two strangers learn to fall in love again. I get the joy of rediscovering you. Oh girl, you stand by me. I'm forever yours... faithfully..."
"I'm still yours. I'm forever yours. Ever yours... faithfully..." she murmured sleepily, the melody of the familiar song playing like a lullaby in her mind.
All Flick had wanted to do was curl up in bed and sleep, perhaps wallow in self-pity while she was at it but unfortunately her plans went array when she made the mistake of thinking her mom had already headed out to work and wandered into the kitchen for a glass of water only to find her mom elbows deep in the kitchen sink washing dishes while her brother Sam sat wolfing down cocoa pops at the kitchen table. Despite Flick silently warning her brother to keep quiet in hopes of sneaking back upstairs without being seen, Sam had made a scene about the state of her injuries and in her shock, Lucy dropped the plate she was in the process of rinsing, leaving the kitchen floor littered with colourful ceramic shards.
Suffice to say, Flick promptly found herself in the emergency room awaiting the results of an x-ray on her ribs that she knew her mother couldn't afford. She shuffled on the uncomfortable bed one of the nurses had procured for her in an empty bay, the starchy white sheets rustling every time she moved. Someone a few bays down groaned in pain and Sam grimaced as Flick leant back against the flat, lumpy pillow propped behind her head. "I hate hospitals," he groused, peeking around the curtain in the direction Lucy had gone in hopes of finding a doctor.
"I love em'" Flick countered.
"Really?" Sam glanced over at her, bewildered.
"Oh yeah. I just love the lingering odour of disinfectant masked bodily fluids, the asylum white walls and incessant screams of agony," she replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
"Be serious!" Sam tutted, resting his hip against the metal rail of the bed.
"Why are you even here Sam? Shouldn't you be off playing Commando or whatever it is you do with the dork brothers?" she sighed, toying with the corner of the bed sheet.
"I'm here for moral support," he puffed out his chest self-importantly and Flick scoffed.
"How about you tell me the real reason little brother?"
Sam sighed, smoothing his fingers through his coiffed blonde hair. "I care about you Flick, why can't you believe that?"
"No, what you care about is proving the dork brother's theories are true. You're not here for me, you're here to see if you can get some gossip. Here, let me save you the trouble – no, it wasn't Paul who did this to me in a fit of bloodthirst-" she scoffed, "- and no, it wasn't any of the others either."
"Then who was it? Why are you refusing to speak to the cops? Who are you protecting?" Sam pressed relentlessly.
"I'm not protecting anyone-" Flick scowled, "-what's the point in talking to the cops anyway? It's not like they'll ever find who did it..."
Sam's eyes' widened. "Why? Did your boyfriend kill them?" he whispered.
"No-" Flick lied, trying to keep the tremor out of her voice when memories of the headless corpses flashed in the forefront of her mind, "-you know this towns full of dreks, the cops won't even know where to start."
Sam was about to protest when their mother bustled through the curtains into the bay with a doctor in tow. "What's the verdict Doc, did you locate a brain?" Sam joked, earning a stern glare from Lucy.
"Sam," she hissed in warning.
"Am I free to go?" Flick asked hopefully, the need to get as far away from the hospital, Sam's questions and her mother's discontented frown enough to make her skin itch.
"The x-ray on your right rib-cage does show two fractures but with plenty of rest and some prescription strengh painkillers, I'm sure you'll make a full recovery young lady," the doctor smiled.
"You heard the man, I'll make a full recovery," Flick feigned joviality as she started to slide off the end of the bed, trying to hide the grimace brought on by the relentless white hot pain in her ribs.
"Felicity-" Lucy tried to hold her in place, obviously keen to probe the doctor for more information but frankly Flick didn't want to hear it. She knew what hurt, she knew what injuries she had, she didn't need some quack to announce it.
"I'm fine-" she spoke through gritted teeth, desperate to get away from the doctors hard stare, she could see the questions flickering in his eyes, questions she didn't want to answer, "-we shouldn't have come here, it's not like you can afford it," she added a little more harshly than she'd intended but her hackles were starting to rise. She felt trapped, cornered. She needed fresh air.
"You know, the least you could do is say thank you – I missed a shift at work to spend half the day in the emergency room," Lucy stated coldly as Flick climbed into the backseat of the car while Sam hopped up front.
"Thank you," Flick muttered chastised, averting her eyes to stare out of the window at the dark clouds that had been rolling across the sky all morning. The clouds that now covered the whole town, dying the sky and everything beneath it in a foreboding deep shade of violet – a storm was definitely on the way.
Flick followed her mom and Sam into the house, Sam had been chirping about the latest Batman comic all the way home from the hospital, completely oblivious to Flick's dark mood and their mother's stoic demeanour. She walked into the lounge and froze when she found Michael and Star huddled on the sofa, the atmosphere suddenly feeling thick and heavy, almost suffocating. Flick remembered what Paul had told her, that they wouldn't remember what they'd seen at the cave, they'd only remember the fear, but judging by the way Michael was glaring at her with hatred, it didn't seem like fear itself was enough. Star however had a haunted look in her eyes, her complexion pale like she'd seen a ghost.
Or rather a vampire... four of them in fact...
"So Edgar told me he'd let me have a sneak-peak at the latest issue and-"
"-Sam I really don't want to hear anymore about comic books – it's about time certain people started living in the land of the responsible rather than in the land of make-believe," Lucy snapped, and Sam clamped his mouth shut, glancing in Flick's direction wearing an expression of bewilderment.
"You're finally gonna tell Mike he needs to stop being such a bum and get a job huh?" Sam joked, ruffling Michael's hair in a bid to lighten the mood.
"Screw off Sam," Michael pouted, swatting at his younger brother's hands.
"Michael isn't the problem," Lucy clarified and Flick's stomach knotted as her older brother's hateful tirade back at the cave swam in her mind and she tried to push them back, silently telling herself that what he'd said wasn't true.
'You might think mom loves you but she really just tolerates you. Secretly, deep down in the part of her she'll never admit to having, she hates you just as much as I do...' Flick swallowed, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth as she felt the hurt she'd tried to bury rise in her chest as her mother continued to stare at her with only cold anger in her eyes.
"Are you going to tell me the truth about what happened to you Felicity?" her mom asked calmly yet emotionlessly.
Flick's eyes drifted to Michael and Star. Star's eyes flashed with guilt and fear while Michael's eyes brimmed with defiance, almost like he dared her to tell their mother the truth. "Even if I did tell you, what's it going to achieve? You wouldn't believe me anyway – just like last time..." Flick countered.
"What do you mean like last time?" Lucy frowned.
"When I told you Mike hit me and you literally called me a liar," she reminded.
Lucy laughed bitterly, shaking her head in disbelief. "Are you honestly trying to tell me that your own brother had something to do with your attack? Or are you perhaps going to tell me it was him, himself?"
Flick was momentarily flawed by her mother's outward dismissal of her feelings before she shook off the feelings that made her insides itch and stood her ground. "What if I am?" she stated, ignoring her brother's angry glare.
"Michael attacked you?" Lucy planted her hands on her hips, arching her brow.
"No, he wasn't man enough to do it himself so him and his girlfriend recruited two goons to do it for them."
Star shrank into the couch cushions while Michael leapt to his feet. "Do yo honestly believe that I'd do something like that?" he protested.
Flick held her breath, hoping that for once her mom would take her side.
"No, of course I don't Michael."
Flick's heart sank, the last glimmer of hope that Michael had been wrong last night quickly fading, leaving her stood in a shroud of emptiness. Lucy turned her attention back to her daughter, her eyes flashing with simmering anger and frustration. "For once-" she paused, seeming to be gathering herself, "-for once in your life could you not go out of your way to make my life a misery?"
"Mom-" Sam spoke lowly, his eyes darting between Lucy and Flick anxiously but Lucy held up her hand, silencing him.
Flick's throat worked as she swallowed thickly, her fingers instinctively reaching for the hem of her t-shirt as a nervous habit, hating how weak and insignificant she felt right in that moment. She caught Michael's mouth twitching in the ghost of a smirk. "I know Michael had nothing to do with the state your in, I know that it's most likely a consequence of the delinquents you continue to associate yourself with-" Lucy shook her head in disapproval, "-time and time again we find ourselves having the same conversation. Time and time again I'm left to pick up the pieces after yet another of your mistakes or pointless endeavours to cause trouble. Time and time again I find my life disrupted by your incessant need to be the centre of attention."
"I-" Flick wanted to argue, she wanted to scream and shout that her perfect son was actually a psychopath, that he was the one causing trouble but she was just too blinded by her love for him to see it. However instead Flick just stood feeling small and pathetic while everyone stared at her with pity in their eyes.
"I don't want to hear anymore excuses from you Felicity. I'm tired of sacrificing everything for someone who doesn't appreciate nor deserve it. I spent so much time cleaning up your mess and tending to your tantrums that your brother's are now left without a father and I'm left without a penny to my name and just when I start to pick up the pieces, you once again send them scattering like leaves in the wind. I'm done with that now Felicity, from now on your responsible for yourself and your own mistakes. You'll get a job, you'll finish school and then you'll do what you want to do as always and for once, I'll have nothing to do with it."
Flick watched her mother turn her back and walk away, leaving her feeling as though she'd been slapped in the face, the metaphorical sting making her face flush with heat.
"I told you," Michael hissed lowly as he pulled Star to her feet, leading her upstairs, content to disperse now that the show was over.
"Flick..." Sam's voice abruptly snapped her out of her frozen state and she looked up to find him crossing the room toward her. A ground-shaking crack of thunder sent her heart racing as the sound of torrential rain pounded against the roof of the house, the heavy droplets of water rattling the windows like they were being pelted with stones. "Mom didn't mean it, she's just-" Sam tried to placate her.
Flick shook her head. "-No, she meant it – I-I have to go..." she murmured.
"You can't leave, there's a full-blown storm out there, anything could happen!" Sam pleaded.
"Stop pretending you care Sam!-" she shouted, the control on her mental fuse close to fizzing out as she stormed out of the house.
A clap of thunder rendered her deaf as the heaven's continued to open, pelting her with freezing, stinging rain as she stumbled across the beach heading towards the forest intent on making it to the cave, the only place she could think to go. The thin cotton fabric of her t-shirt clung to her skin as the relentless rain soaked her to the bone while the sky lit up with blinding flashes of sheet lightning as thunder rumbled ominously over her head. She almost tripped on a piece of driftwood, distracted by the jumble of vicious voices and sneering accusations spinning in her mind.
'Anyone whose ever told you they loved you or even liked you were lying...'
"Shut up, shut up, shut up," Flick sobbed, fisting her temples as her tears joined the raindrops trickling down her cheeks.
She finally made it to the forest, the dense tree-line swallowing her eagerly, its spindly arms welcoming her with a gentle brush of damp lush green leaves down the length of her bare arms. As she stumbled deeper, the rain started to ease up, the vast valley of trees weaving a tight canopy overhead offering her shelter. Flashes of lightning broke through the cracks in the canopy, lighting the dirt path ahead of her, bathing the outgrown, rotting roots, wildflowers and fallen leaves and twigs that crunched and snapped beneath his feet with bursts of brilliant white light. The air was humid, leaving her skin coated in a thin sheen of sweat while her senses were overwhelmed with the scent of wet earth, wildflowers and the odd indescribable scent of the storm itself.
After what felt like hours, she collapsed against the rusting gate leading down to the cave, both physically and mentally drained. She clambered down the old rickety steps, her sneakers squelching each time her feet landed on the rotting wooden boards. Flick squinting against the darkness shrouding her as she staggered down the incline, her hands clawing at the jutting rocks lining the walls in a bid to keep her from landing on her ass as the water logged slope grew slippery beneath the soles of her sneakers. Making it down the incline unscathed, Flick tentatively lowered herself down into the cavern, cursing when she lost her footing and slipped, landing painfully on the floor, her hip bumping one of the large rocks. "Shit..." she sobbed, gritting her teeth against the sudden flare of pain as she clutched her side feeling every bit as weak, worthless and pathetic as her mom and Michael had made her feel.
"Paul?" she murmured weakly as she hauled herself back onto her feet, her eyes peering into the shadows. A flash of lightning lit up the cave which was swiftly followed by a deafening clap of thunder which seemed to shake the very foundation of the cave, leaving her heart thumping wildly in her chest. The brief burst of white light illuminated the cavern and she was able to see that she was completely alone.
Working with what little light she had, Flick limped over to the fountain and grabbed one of the candles, tugging it free of the build-up of melted wax that left it moulded to the old, crumbling stone. To her relief she found a battered blue Bic lighter beside an empty cigarette box sitting alongside the row of candles and lit the candle, casting herself in soft, yellow light.
With little to distract her from the sinister thoughts spinning in her mind, Flick soon found herself spiralling into despair. She had no idea where Paul slept when she wasn't around and she neither had the energy or the skills to navigate the dark, dank tunnels of the cave in order to find him. Her eyes landed on the crate of alcohol laid askew in the pit of the fountain and wanting nothing more than to numb the pain that felt like daggers to her heart, she reached for a bottle of bourbon before making her way over to the alcove at the far end of the cavern. She perched on the edge of the bed, robotically twisting the metal cap off the heavy glass bottle and the sweet, woody scent of the rich amber liquid filled her senses. It was familiar. It was almost comforting. Silent tears rolled down her cheeks as she downed a quarter of the fiery liquid in one breath, pulling the rim of the bottle away from her mouth when she was struck with a violent cough. She drank repeatedly, breaking every so often to catch her breath and it wasn't long before she started to feel the fuzzy, tingling effects of the alcohol on her system, though it didn't numb the pain like she'd wanted it to.
'For once in your life could you not go out of your way to make my life a misery?'
'I'm done with that now Felicity, from now on your responsible for yourself and your own mistakes. You'll get a job, you'll finish school and then you'll do what you want to do as always and for once, I'll have nothing to do with it.'
'You might think mom loves you but she really just tolerates you. Secretly, deep down in the part of her she'll never admit to having, she hates you just as much as I do...'
Her mom and Michael's words swam in her mind as sat slumped on the cold, dirt floor of the cave, her drenched clothes clinging to her like a second skin as she stared at the orange tub she held in her hand through her tears. Downing another mouthful of bourbon, she fumbled with the child-safety cap and shook a pile of the chalky white pills into the palm of her trembling hand. Flick knew the side-effects of the painkillers like the back of her hand, she'd took them on occasion with her friends back in Phoenix for the drowsy high.
Maybe if she took enough the pain would stop? Maybe she could silence the symphony of voices snarling in her head making her heart hurt. Maybe if she took enough she'd go to sleep and never wake up. It's not like her family would miss her, if anything they'd be relieved to be free of such a burden and as for Paul, it was inevitable he'd grow tired of her pathetic meltdowns and emotional baggage. Bailing out on him now would be doing him a favour in the long-run, right?
After all, who'd want to spend eternity with a worthless, fuck-up anyhow?
Once again the snarling voices in her mind poked and prodded at the emotions that hurt and she sobbed, clutching her head with one hand and fisting the chalky white pills in the other. "I just want it to stop..." she whispered to herself, her breath hitching.
She crammed the fistful of pills into her mouth and picked up the bottle of bourbon, barely able to keep her grip from the tremor of her hands. Flick tasted the bitter chemicals of the pills and immediately spat them out onto the floor before chasing away the acrid aftertaste with a mouthful of bourbon. She buried her head in her hands, her shoulders shaking with the weight of her grief as she silently berated herself, wishing more than anything that the ground would open up and swallow her whole.
She needed Paul.
He was the only one that could make the hurt disappear. Maybe it was selfish to burden him with her emotional baggage for eternity but despite the sneering voices in her mind telling her he was better off without her, she knew that her life wouldn't be worth living if he wasn't in it. She hadn't realised how dependant on him she'd become until she found herself at rock bottom, sat alone, drowning her misery in bourbon and contemplating tossing back half a bottle of prescription medication.
She needed him like a junkie needed their next fix.
Paul's eyes slowly flickered open, his eyelids feeling as though they were being held down by ten tonne weights. He could sense that it wasn't yet dusk, they were still in daylight hours – so just why the fuck was he awake? It was then, in his dazed, sleep drunk reverie that over the thunderous claps of thunder he heard it, the sound seeming to pierce his mind like drill through wood – crying. The sound was so clear yet seemed to be distant all at the same time. Like their was someone sat right beside him sobbing their heart out while at the same they were further away, like in the next cavern from where he was.
"What the fuck?" he murmured to himself in confused irritation. He hauled his sleep sore body up from the old, tattered mattress, frowning when he found Marko, Dwayne and David were still sleeping like the dead.
He scoffed – how ironic.
Was he the only one that could hear it?
Propelled by curiosity, irritation and a deep niggling ache in his core, Paul made his way through the pitch black underground tunnel network, knowing the twists and turns like he knew the patterns lining the palm of his own hand. The closer he drew to the main cavern, the more the sobbing increased in tempo as he made out the glowing flames of a solitary candle in the near distance.
All at once he was hit with an intimately familiar scent, the mouth-watering perfume of blue raspberry making his skin heat. Flick. Frowning, he stepped into the main cavern, the summer storm beating the cliffside blocking the daylight that usually filtered into the cavern leaving him free to enter without fear of burning beneath the searing UV light. His eyes honed in on the lone figure slumped by the foot of the bed in the alcove, a bottle of prescription pills scattered on the floor by their feet alongside an empty bottle of bourbon.
"Babe?" Paul jogged over to where his mate sat sobbing, lowing himself to his knees infront of her. He reached out to brush back her hair and found it soaking wet much like the rest of her. "Babe why the hell have you been running around in a storm? How the hell did you get here?" he asked, concern for his mate heightening when her breath hitched as she choked on her own tears.
"I-I..." she stumbled over her words, unable to form a coherent sentence. "I walked..." she slurred.
"You're drunk-" he frowned, eyeing the empty bottle of liquor. He tilted her chin so that she was looking him the eyes. "What were you thinking? Do you have a death wish Flick? Anything could have happened to you."
"I just want it to stop..." she croaked and Paul's chest tightened seeing her in such a mess.
"You want what to stop?" he frowned, stroking her bare forearms. When she didn't answer, his eyes drifted to the discarded pills and a gut-wrenching thought popped into the forefront of his mind. "Babe, did you take any of these?" he demanded softly yet firmly.
"N-no, I s-spat them out," she slurred through chattering teeth.
"Don't lie to me Flick," he urged, squeezing her wrists.
"I'm not fucking lying!" she screamed in his face, slamming her fist against the metal frame of the bed in a fit of anger.
"What the fuck babe, stop," he chastised, gently grabbing her wrists and held them in her lap. A few moments of tense, confused silence padded before he pulled her into a bone-crushing hug. "I don't know what's happened but I can't fucking lose you Flick," Paul murmured, stroking her rain drenched hair as she fisted his shirt as she fell apart in the safety of his arms.
"I don't know what to do Paul..." she wept, her tears seeping through his shirt leaving his chest damp.
"Look, let's get you out of these wet clothes and warmed up, then I want you to talk to me, OK?" he urged, affectionately kissing her crown.
"OK," she sniffled.
Paul dragged one of the oil drum over to the alcove where Flick sat huddle on the bed in one of his old shirts, wrapped in a thick wool blanket. He doused the scraps of wood and old cardboard in the bottom of the oil drum with lighter fluid and tossed in a match, stepping back as a fire ignited with a resounding whoosh and crackling pops. "Talk to me babe..." Paul murmured, settling himself beside her.
"Aren't you tired? It's not sunset yet," she frowned, peering up at him through puffy eyelids.
"I'm fine-" he assured her, "-forget about me and tell me what happened..."
"My mom saw the state of me and dragged me to the emergency room. I had an x-ray, found out I have a few fractured ribs hence the prescription-" she gestured to the scattered pills, "-Sam was bugging me with questions about who did it, he was trying to imply that it was you or one of the boys, then when I told him it wasn't, he kept asking why I wouldn't talk to the cops, asking who I was protecting..."
"...I told him I wasn't protecting anyone but telling the cops wouldn't do anything, they wouldn't find who did it and that's when he asked if that was because you'd killed whoever it was. I was just starting to lose it with his constant questions, being in the hospital in pain when all I wanted was to be at home in bed," she exhaled, wiping her eyes with the corner of the blanket.
"Anyway, when the doctor came with the results and the prescription I just wanted to go and snapped at my mom about how we shouldn't be there anyway, it's not like we could afford it and she hit back with how I should at least thank her for taking the time outta work-" Flick looked up at him through misty eyes, "-please don't think I'm some kind of ungrateful brat, I just wanted to get out of there... I just couldn't handle all the questions..." she sniffled.
"I don't think that at all, I'd have probably done the same," Paul kissed her temple.
"That's not what my mom thinks..." she countered forlornly.
"What do you mean?"
"When we got home my mom just went off at me. She basically told me that I make her life a misery, that my fuck-ups are the reason dad left her and why we ended up out here. She basically confirmed everything Mike said last night and then some... she told me that from now on I'm on my own, that I need to get a job, finish school and then do whatever I want and she wants nothing to do with it..." she narrated, her voice breaking as she broke down in tears.
"Babe..." Paul whispered, drawing her into his arms. His chest tightened in sympathy for his mate, he knew how much it hurt to know that your parents were done with you, that they pinned their shitty life on you, when they made you feel like you were the cause of their misery and unhappiness. But most of all, what hurt the most is when they tossed you out like yesterday's trash, leaving you wondering just why the fuck they couldn't love you for who you were.
Weren't parents supposed to love their kids unconditionally?
"I even told her that it was Mike and Star that set me up..." Flick uttered against his shoulder and Paul straightened up, gently pushing her back so that he could see her face.
"What did she say?"
"That I'm a liar..." she sniffled, averting her eyes.
So that's why she'd freaked out when he'd told her not to lie...
"That's some fucking bullshit," he fumed.
"I just don't know what to do... I don't have anywhere to go – I don't have a family anymore..." she sobbed, burying her head in the blanket.
"Hey-" he caught her face between his hands, forcing her to look him in the eye, "-this is your home Flick, you belong with me, with us, we're your family, don't you understand that?" he urged, kissing her softly, tasting the salt of her tears on her lips.
"Do you really mean that?" she whispered desperately.
"Always-" he dried her tears with the pad of his thumb, "-I love you, you idiot," he smiled, nudging her lips.
"I love you too," she gave him a small smile in return, her head falling to his shoulder. "Do you think the boys will mind me staying here?"
"Nah, you're one of us babe, it was gonna happen one day," he shrugged.
"What about my stuff..."
"Leave it with me," he reassured her, pulling her into an embrace as he fell back against the pillows, guiding her down with him.