The Twilight Twenty-Five: thetwilight25 dot com
Prompt: #25 (Be Home Soon)
Pen Name: Maddie-the-Muse
Pairing/Character(s): Embry Call / Quil Ateara (Claire Young, Joy Ateara)
Rating: T
Word Count: 493
Photo prompts can be found here: thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts
Flopping down onto the small bed, Embry dialed into his voicemail and pressed 1 twice to listen to the saved message there.
"Embry, hey, I hope you can hear me. I'm at the train station, it's crazy loud."
Embry could hear scuffling on the message as Quil shifted, trying to find a way to block out the background noise. He could see it in his mind; Quil pressing further into the corner that he had chosen to make the call from, turning away from the crowds of people that bustled past.
"I'm done here. My train leaves in about half an hour. Fuck, I miss you. I can't wait to see you...shit, I've got another call coming in; I have to go. I'll be home soon. Love you."
He'd been so excited when he had heard it the first time while walking to the truck after leaving work. Quil had been gone for a little over two weeks—sent to San Francisco for training for his new position at the paper in Port Angeles—and Embry was antsy to see him again. They hadn't ever been apart that long since the summer Quil had returned from college and their relationship had evolved.
Claire was sixteen that summer and Quil had finally told her the truth about the imprint, having discussed it with Jake, the council, and her Mom, of course. She'd shut him down pretty firmly, asserting that she could never see him in any other way than as her brother, and encouraged him to go and find someone who could love him back. It hadn't taken long for Embry to come forward with his feeling for his best friend after that, and they'd been practically inseparable since. That had been almost two years ago.
Embry pressed a button and tucked the phone against his ear again, waiting for the familiar sound of Quil's voice to soothe his raw nerves. He'd listened to it so many times the words had become a permanent part of his brain. He rolled toward the wall, curling around the phone in a tight ball. The faded wallpaper of the dusty room swam as tears welled up in his eyes.
Joy Ateara watched from the doorway of her son's childhood bedroom as she watched a man she'd known since he was a boy—a man she knew as well as her own son—broke down in body wracking sobs. It was a scene she'd come all too familiar with since the accident. It didn't make it any easier on either of them.
Drawing a deep, shaking breath, she wiped the stray tear that spilled over her own cheek and pulled the door closed as she backed out of the room, leaving Embry to his grief. Her son was never coming home.
The train left the tracks in the dead of night just outside of Crater Lake National Park. The investigators said ice on the tracks was to blame.