It's half past two in the morning, and the McCormick household is anything but peaceful.
Kenny is startled awake by a loud crash resounding through the walls, heart racing as he lurches upright in bed. He blinks rapidly and looks frantically around his dark bedroom, disoriented.
"Stuart, you no-good son of a bitch!" his mom shrieks. "You fuckin' smoked all of it, didn't you?!"
"Hah, my ass! You're fuckin' crazy, Carol, you're the one who smoked all of it!" his dad shouts back, words slurring, which Kenny knows means he's at least halfway through a case of beer by now.
Heavy thumps and the sound of broken glass echo through the hallway, followed by more curse-filled screaming. Kenny closes his eyes in resignation and lets out a deep sigh.
So it's gonna be another one of those nights, huh?
He gets out of bed, moving slowly because his limbs feel ridiculously heavy with exhaustion.
Before he can put his feet on the ground, his left hand twinges with crushing phantom pain and he winces, sucking air through his teeth as he grips his hand protectively with the other against his chest.
He has to take a moment to breathe, to try to keep himself in the present.
Two days ago he was pushed into oncoming traffic, which of course led to another, uh… "curse reset" for him, but not before all the bones in his hand were turned to splinters under the weight of a semi-truck. For whatever reason, that pain sticks with him the most from that particular death, somehow more memorable than the sight of his exposed guts spilling onto the asphalt.
It takes a long-ass time, but eventually the pain starts to dissipate. He squeezes his hands into fists a few times to try to shake off the feeling as he stands, suppressing a shiver.
Fuck. It never gets any easier. Kenny used to try to keep count of how many times it's happened, but at some point after fifth grade he just gave up. It was getting too painful to try to remember every variation of the same fucking inevitable outcome.
He walks to the bedroom door, glancing briefly at Kevin's side of the room. His brother is still asleep, his body rising and falling slowly under the covers with each breath. Kenny envies his ability to somehow sleep through their parents' batshit crazy late-night fights, though he knows a lot of it has to do with Kevin popping an oxy before bed more and more frequently nowadays.
Either way, Kenny lets him sleep.
He walks down the hall, ignoring the continuing screaming and insults resounding through the paper-thin walls, and comes to Karen's bedroom. He opens the door a crack and peers inside.
Karen is awake, just like he knew she would be. She's currently curled up on her side and clutching her worn teddy bear tight to her chest, eyes wide open and staring at the far wall.
"Karen?" Kenny calls softly, creaking the door open a little further.
His sister startles and darts her gaze to stare at him. She blinks and takes a halting breath, relaxing a bit.
"Oh, hi Kenny," she says. Her voice is weary and anxious.
"Can't sleep?"
Karen looks down at her bed and shakes her head solemnly.
"Me neither," Kenny says. "Can I sit with you?"
Karen doesn't look up but she nods, so Kenny walks through the threshold and closes the door behind him. He sits on the edge of the bed and sighs. They can still hear barely muffled screaming.
"Were you at least able to get a couple hours in before now?" Kenny asks.
"Yeah," Karen says.
"That's good."
Another crash rings through the house, this time accompanied with the musical tinkling of broken glass and not-so-musical screaming. It sounds like his parents are escalating their fight, trying to outmatch the other in volume with increasing frequency of swearing and insults. It's horribly grating to listen to.
Karen startles at the noise and clings tighter to her teddy bear, squeezing her eyes shut.
God. Kenny's head rushes with anger at the same time his chest aches with worry. He fucking hates seeing her so scared. He grits his teeth and makes up his mind, right then and there.
"Okay, we're going for a drive," Kenny announces.
Karen opens her eyes and blinks at him. "A drive?"
"Yeah," Kenny replies, standing up. He holds out his hand to her. "Just for a few hours. C'mon."
She stares at his hand for a second, letting out a quiet breath as she takes it, her tense posture relaxing a little again. Kenny helps her get untangled from the covers and pulls her to her feet, then goes to find her winter jacket as she puts on her boots. He grabs her mittens, a scarf, and a hat out of the closet while he's at it.
It fucking sucks that it's so cold out right now; last he checked it was ten below zero with the windchill. But Kenny knows he needs to get Karen out of here as soon as possible. Hopefully, he'll be able to mitigate some of the damage his fucking idiot dickhead parents are causing her by getting the hell outta dodge.
He thanks God that he's only got a year and a half until he's old enough to leave this shithole of a house. He's gonna have to figure out how to get Karen out of here too, but that's a problem for future Kenny.
As Karen finishes getting dressed, Kenny goes out to the hallway.
Jesus, he can already smell the spilled booze from where they are in the living room halfway across the house. He sneaks into the kitchen and fishes the car keys out of his dad's jacket, carelessly flung across the counter from earlier that day, but his parents are still too busy arguing to notice him. Kenny makes a quick stop in his room to put on his own boots and coat, the latter of which is probably three sizes too small for him at this point given how much the sleeves ride up on his forearms, but it's not like he can afford a new one.
He goes back to Karen's room to fetch her.
"Alright, ready?" Kenny asks, taking Karen's hand again.
Karen nods. She zips her jacket all the way up to her chin.
"I'm ready, Kenny," she replies.
He walks with her to the hidden exit in his closet that he made almost a decade ago, pulling aside the false wall blocking the way and ushering her through. He follows close behind.
As soon as the outside air hits his face his cheeks are already stinging from the harsh wind, the hair on his arms standing on end. They quickly make their way around the house to the street.
Kenny unlocks their dad's old-as-balls Chevy C/K and the two of them scramble inside, Karen riding shotgun. With trembling fingers, he sticks the key in the ignition and turns it, making the engine rumble to life with metallic coughs and sputters. Karen puts her seatbelt on diligently and looks at him with curious eyes. Kenny gives her a fond smile.
"Okay, we're outta here."
Kenny puts it in drive and pulls out of their street, avoiding potholes as he goes. He looks at Karen out of the corner of his eye again and his heart sinks to see her shivering, her thin arms wrapped tightly around herself. As much as he wants to turn the cabin heat on full blast right away, he knows they have to wait at least five minutes before the engine gets hot enough so it's not shooting freezing air in their faces.
Despite the cold and the wind, the night sky is surprisingly clear, with only a few wispy clouds floating around. Kenny leans forward a bit over the steering wheel to look up at all the stars and the half-moon shining brightly through the windshield, then sits back again with a sigh. It's hard to fully appreciate nature when you're so fucking stressed out, but he has to acknowledge that it's a beautiful night for a drive.
They steadily make their way down Main Street, driving past all the closed stores, city hall, the community center, and finally South Park Elementary on the edge of town. Kenny deems that they've waited long enough and finally turns on the cabin heat. Karen sighs in appreciation and holds her hands up to the vents, turning them back and forth to heat both sides. Eventually, the air in the car gets warm enough that Kenny himself stops shivering and he's able to relax a little.
They drive in silence for a while.
"Where are we going, Kenny?" Karen asks.
Kenny shrugs. "I don't know. I was just gonna drive on the highway for a while. That okay?"
"Yeah, that's okay," Karen says with a small nod.
Despite her agreement, Kenny can tell from her expression that she's a little unsure about this whole thing. He decides to reach over and dig inside the glove compartment.
"Here," he says, fishing out an old cassette tape. "Let's play some music." She needs a distraction right now, and this is as good a way to do that as any. He takes it out of the case and pops it into the player.
The tape deck whirs for a few seconds before the old speakers start croning out some gentle guitar notes from the tail end of whatever song the cassette was on before. Then, after a moment of silence, the next song starts to play.
As soon as Kenny hears that familiar guitar riff, he feels his heart become instantly lighter. It's cliche to say, but this one really is a classic. He unfortunately does share some music taste with his dad. Against his will, his fingers start tapping on the steering wheel along with the beat.
Shit, maybe he really needed a distraction, too.
Karen must notice his mood change, because she turns and gives him a soft smile.
"You like this song, Kenny?" she asks.
Kenny nods and gives a weak laugh. "Yeah," he admits. "Yeah, it's a good one."
Karen's smile widens. "I like it too."
The guitar intro ends, and Axl Rose starts to sing.
She's got a smile that it seems to me
Reminds me of childhood memories
Where everything was as fresh as the bright blue sky
Now and then when I see her face
She takes me away to that special place
And if I stared too long I'd probably break down and cry
Whoa-oh-oh, sweet child o' mine
Whoa, oh-oh-oh, sweet love of mine
He looks over and sees Karen mouthing along to the lyrics. And, thank God, she has such a genuine smile on her face that Kenny could cry.
The sight makes Kenny happier than he's felt in a long time.
He reluctantly turns his gaze back to the road so they don't crash and starts to sing along, quietly enough that they can still hear the actual song but loud enough to encourage Karen to sing too instead of just mouthing the words. Soon enough, Kenny's turning the volume up and they're both singing along with energy he didn't know they still had.
They speed west down the highway, the landscape whizzing by them with the mountains looming in the distance, the two of them working their way up to singing at the top of their lungs, and it's fucking exhilarating.
The minutes pass, and eventually the song comes to an end. In the lull before the next song, Karen looks at him again.
"Thanks, Kenny," she says softly, and he can feel the weight of how much she truly means those two words. She reaches over and gives him a reassuring squeeze on his arm.
Chest full with happiness and love for his sister, he smirks and leans closer to ruffle her hair teasingly. She giggles and smacks his hand away.
The tape continues to play, some songs more familiar than others, and the two of them keep singing along to what they know. They're alone on the road together, not encountering any other cars since it's so late. Or, rather, so early.
Time passes.
An hour into their drive, Karen's voice gets too hoarse to keep singing, so Kenny turns the music volume down to act more as background noise. Another hour in, her eyes start to droop and her head starts to nod. Eventually, she lets herself fall to the side and leans her head against the window. Her breathing gets slow and steady, and she falls asleep at last.
Kenny keeps driving and lets her rest. God knows she needs it.
They're a few miles out from Fairplay when the Appetite For Destruction album finishes its fourth replay, and Kenny decides to turn it off. He finally slows down the car and, even though he really doesn't want to, he turns them around back the way they came.
He drives without music the rest of the way home.
Instead, Kenny listens to the sounds of the winter wind, the rumble of the engine, and Karen's calm, quiet breaths, feeling at peace in a way he hasn't for a long, long time.
ooooooooo
Sweet Child O' Mine
author's note: aaand that's the end! This fic was semi-experimental for me and a bit outside my comfort zone, but it was definitely more fun to write than expected.
Thanks so much for reading 3
oooooooooo