The sun was out, it looked like it was going to be a beautiful summer's day. If there was no emergencies, the Tracy brothers usually would be heading out to the poolside to enjoy it and unwind. Well, most of them, except for Virgil – he would be off to the side, either with a canvas and some paints or his spiral notebook and a pen, scribbling down ideas for a secret novel.
That was where Virgil was now, sitting there on a rock under a palm tree near the pool, staring down at the said notebook resting in his hands. Alone. No brothers coming out to the pool. Not anymore, not after everything.
The notebook was from his mum from their last Christmas together before she suddenly ran away and left Jeff with his brothers. Some sort of argument between her and Jeff, he remembered the night she did run away. There was yelling, crashing, threats of…threats of death before it had suddenly fallen eerily silent. Next morning, Jeff told them that she had left.
He couldn't recall the exact words, he had been curled up under his covers, clutching his teddy bears, soaking them in his tears as Kayo tried to distract him, her smaller body lying beside him. Despite being the same age as each other, Kayo had a shorter frame than he did. Along with a different complexion and surname, cause Jeff had never finalized the adoption papers.
Virgil brought up the death threats, but he couldn't remember who made them – his father or his mother. He didn't mean anything, was just recalling the conversation. But he was quickly shut down, no-one believed him and were appalled that he would suggest such a thing. The conversation his father had with him later in private…Virgil still flinched at the memory. At what was said, what was threatened and what he did.
His skin crawled as he could still feel his fathers fingers and hands going over every part of him, and not to hit.
As a little kid, he shut up and did what his father wanted, took the fall as a rebellious child who wanted to blame his father for everything cause he favourited his mum over Jeff cause she had been trying to quote unquote manipulate and turn the kids against Jeff. As Jeff was always trying to prove.
Even Kayo distanced herself from him after that, which gutted him so badly. He tried to discuss things with her, explain what was happening, cause he was so horrified that he could've been like this, was it true that he could've caused all this that happened to him?
But Kayo shut him down, reminded him of all that Jeff had done for them, and that there was no way he could be doing what Virgil must be lying about.
Was it true? Was he hallucinating?
Was he really such a shithead that was trying to destroy his family?
He really must be brainless as his father would repeatedly scream at him, Kayo, and the other boys. They worked their butts off to keep the place tidy, study and take care of each other while he sat around and fiddled on his computer all day and all night. But the place was never fully clean and spotless and they could never get the study done with all the work that had to be done to keep the place running and watch over the little kids like Gordon and Alan.
They were lazy. Disgusting. Degenerates who didn't give a shit about their dad…according to their dad.
Jeff would remind them all the time how that was partially why their mum left.
Anytime the younger kids acted up, it was Virgil's fault. He either wasn't watching them hard enough or he happened not to be in the room cause Scott or John were watching them, but no, somehow it was still Virgil's fault.
Grandma Tracy didn't come around often. When she would make her once every 5 year visit, it was only for a few hours and then she'd go home.
Cause she didn't care about anyone, Jeff would yell after she left. She would happily visit any other relatives, except them cause they couldn't fit her standards.
And they all believed him cause he was the only link to the outside world they had. He would monitor their internet usage religiously, as soon as they made a friend on games, he would immediately force them to sit there and start preaching to them about doomsday and his extreme, messed up religious thoughts.
It was what they were supposed to do.
And they were gonna die.
Jeff would remind them of that every fucking day.
That they would die in a few years.
It was a part of life.
Turns out he was right.
Cause one by one they all became sick.
Started out with a cough.
A fever.
Vomiting.
Then bringing up blood.
Not being able to keep food down.
No matter what medicines Jeff gave them, it didn't work.
It took Virgil a long while to figure out Jeff wasn't given them prescribed drugs, but drugs he made up himself.
To fulfil the death prophecy.
Virgil clutched his stomach. "Stop, stop, stop…" he whispered, his voice shattering into a million pieces as he sat there with the weight of all these memories that pushed themselves out into one loud scream.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Until he actually started vomiting. It went everywhere, all over his shirt, his pants, shoes and on the ground.
He tried to stand up, but he suddenly didn't have any strength and splattered face down into his own vomit, dirt and pebbles scrapping his face.
Except there were no dirt and pebbles.
It was a white tiled floor with vomit and blood mixed together.
He looked around in a panic.
The walls were white, too.
Everything was white.
What happened to the island?
He was just there!
No…
NonononononononononNONONONONONO!
Not here, not again, I don't wanna be back!
He heard a noise and turned to see a doctor and a nurse walking in, with security right behind them.
Fuck…
He tried to scramble to his feet, but he slipped in his own vomit and landed hard on his side with a crunch.
"Get away from me, getawayyoubastards! I don't wanna be here let me g-"
A cloth was pressed to his face with some weird smell.
"Wha…" he trailed off as everything started to spin into darkness.