Playing Hero who: Ella, Seanna, Sean and a demon when: mid morning and on where: streets of scarlet oak what: getting home when demons are running amok isn't easy
Ella hadn't slept well after Sean left the night before, it was like eight and a half years of emotional baggage had been pulled from the closets and their tight lidded boxes and buried her and once the tears started it became impossible to rein them back in. She'd cried for what seemed like forever though it was only a few hours until she'd cried herself into unconsciousness. When the alarm had gone off all Ella had wanted to do was pull the covers back over her head and hide in bed all day, she came thisclose to calling off her class. However, she sucked it up, managed to get herself and Seanna together, showered, dressed, fed and up to Ann Arbor by 7:45am.
When she'd dismissed her class at 10:30am, she hung around as she usually did answering questions from the various student's mothers about everything from dance wear to the upcoming recitals and after a good fifteen minutes of that she gathered her stuff and Seanna and started for home. The beginning of the drive was rather uneventful, mother and daughter singing along with the radio, Ella pretending to be in a much better mood than she really was, not that Seanna was fooled -- she had quite good hearing and the open areas of the house they lived on made sound carry -- and well, the sound of her mommy's choked sobs all night had woken the wee one up and made her night of sleep less than restful as well.
They were only a few streets from making it home however when all Hell broke loose, literally. The radio station ceased the music and announced the return of Demons to the area, unfortunately for Ella and the little one, they didn't need that announcement as it seemed they came out of nowhere and chaos erupted on the streets of Scarlet Oak. People were screaming and fleeing, cars were crashing and blood was being spilled every which way you looked. "Baby don't look..." Ella called back to Seanna in the backseat of the compact SUV as she quickly pulled onto a less busy side street off of the main thoroughfare in hopes that the less people the less Demons there would be. If only...
It all happened so fast that to Ella it was a complete blur, one moment there was a clear road and the next a Demon appeared in the middle of the street and began to charge at the vehicle. Fearing for her own life as well as the precious cargo in the backseat, Ella hit the accelerator hard, gunning it in hopes to at the very least, hit and stun the damn thing so that she could keep going til she made it safely home -- but things didn't go as hoped, once the car made impact with the beast, and the sound of Seanna's terrified scream filled the small space of the vehicle -- Ella found the beast attached to the hood of her car still snarling. She jerked the steering wheel in an attempt to shake it off only to lose control. There was the sound of screeching tires, crushing metal, the screams of mother and child intermingled with the unwholy shriek of the Demon -- and then for Ella, everything went black leaving the tiny little girl strapped into the backseat unharmed, but terrified at the sight of her mommy slumped against the steering wheel and the Demon still on the hood, but not moving.
Seanna sat there, unable to move or speak for what seemed like hours though it was but a few minutes. With neither her mother nor the beast stirring, the little girl undid her seatbelt and climbed into the front seat, her eyes firmly fixed on the Demon as she moved her tiny form to sit beside her mother, afraid to move her. She was able to find Ella's purse and dig out her her cellphone, she searched desperately through the saved numbers until she found her dad's name and clicked the call button.
By the time his cell phone rang, Sean was already freaking out. He'd heard the chaos on the radio as he was getting dressed and his first thought had been to protect his daughter and her mother. When he got to their home, however, she had yet to come back from work. That just made the freak out double. He immediately got into his car and made his way down the road in the direction of Ella's job. But then his phone rang and Ella's name lit up on the screen. Answering the phone, he prayed to god it was good news and they were alright.
"Ella? Where are you? Is Seanna okay?"
"Daddy Help," were Seanna's first words out as soon as Sean answered and paused for response. "Mommy won't wake up, there's a monster on the hood and I don't know what to do..." her voice was calmer than it should be, but the little quiver of her shaking lower lip made her tiny fearful voice sound slightly shaky.
All those fatherly instincts that Sean didn't even know existed inside of him pushed to the surface at the frightened sound of his daughter's voice. Monster meant demon. And Mommy wouldn't wake up? Shit. "Where are you?" he asked her, trying to sound calm, despite the fact that he was anything but. "Look around you, princess, tell me what you see."
Seanna swallowed hard, looking around meant standing up and it also meant looking at the Demon again and that was almost too scary. "O-okay, D-daddy..." she said, taking a deep breath as she stood up, flinching slightly as her eyes fell on the nasty creature on the hood. She looked around; finding a street sign. "Brookshadow Drive... that's on the street sign... can't see the other part, there's houses... no one's outside..." she told him, eyes moving back to the monster on the hood, a small gasp escaping the girl as she quickly lowered herself back onto the seat beside Ella. "Daddy... I don't think Momma killed it... it's still breathing..." she whispered, moving in as tight against her mother's body as she could. "She hit it hard too..."
Brookshadow Drive. Alright, he knew where that was. When Seanna told him that the creature was still alive, however, his heart sank into his shoes. "Is Mommy still breathing?" he asked her, concerned with that more than anything else. "Daddy's on his way, baby, don't worry. Just stay in the car until I get there, alright? Stay with Mommy." God he hoped that he'd get there before that bastard woke up. Thankfully it wasn't but a few streets away from where he was.
"She's breathing Daddy... I think she hit her head on the wheel." she whispered, biting her lower lip. "I didn't want to move her, the movies always say not to move someone after a car accident cause you might make it worse... please hurry daddy... the monster is making icky sounds..."
At least she was still breathing. She might have had a concussion though and the way he sped up a little showed how worried Sean was about her. "One minute, sweetheart. Right around the corner." And he stayed on the phone with her until he pulled up next to the car. He wasn't concerned with the demon as he threw the truck in park and climbed out, opening the backdoor up and leaving it running. Rushing over to the car, he motioned for the little girl to unlock it. "Come on, honey." he told her. "Let's get you outta there."
Seanna quickly unlocked the car by clicking the button on the keychain attached to the keys still in the ignition and she climbed over into the backseat to get out without having to climb over her mother. "I think it's waking up Daddy... it's making bad noises..."
Sean moved to open the backdoor of the car and shook his head. "Shh." he told her as he picked her up and let his eyes flick to the creature on the hood. It was still attached to the car and pinned between the front grill and some debris. It wouldn't be able to move, but it certainly wouldn't be happy if it woke up. So Sean did the only think he knew he could do, turning to face the creature and letting his eyes flick once more to Seanna. "Close your eyes, sweets." he breathed as he drew the fire from within himself and lit the being up in a single blaze. The cries that came from it certainly weren't happy, but after just brief sounds, there was silence. Once he was certain there was no more life in the creature, he drew the fire down to nothing and he sat Seanna in the car. "Buckle up. I'm gonna get Mommy." Back to the car again, he did just that, first checking to make sure she hadn't broken anything. Thankfully there didn't seem to be any broken bones. Everything else would have to be dealt with when he had first aid. Carefully, he extracted Ella from the car, snatching her keys from the ignition and carrying her to his truck. "Sit up front with Daddy." Sean told his daughter as he lay her mother out in the back seat. "We'll be back at my place soon."
The little girl closed her eyes tight as her daddy had instructed, and though she couldn't see what happened, she heard it, even when she covered her ears. The screaming sound was like nothing the child had ever heard, even worse than when her mother had hit the thing. When it was over, she again followed her father's instructions, climbing up into the cab up front, buckling herself in. "Mommy won't like that I sat up front, Daddy... it's not safe..." she whispered, looking back toward the backseat.
"Mommy'll understand it this time. She needs the whole backseat." he explained as he shut the doors and climbed into the cab himself, shutting and locking the truck and then cranking it. "It's alright for just a street or two. Trust me." He knew that Ella would understand whenever she woke up. He was quiet the entire way to the house and even after he'd pulled up in the yard and parked the car. His father had already been called and instructed to stay in the house. The older man was already holed up with his other son and his daughter so there was no more need to worry about any of them. Right now there was worrying about Ella and Seanna. "Okay, I'm getting Mommy out of the car, take this key and unlock the front door for me." Sean instructed as he handed over the key and moved to get Ella out of the backseat and carry her to the door. "Then it's down to the basement and we're staying there."
Seanna took the keys and gave her daddy a little nod before running like hell to the front door, unlocking the top and bottom locks as fast as she could, turning the knob and pushing the door open. She'd never been to her daddy's house yet, so she didn't know where exactly the basement door would be, so she held the door open and waited; watching as he got her mommy out of the truck and carried her inside. "She's gonna be okay... right Daddy?" she asked, worried that her mommy still hadn't woken up.
Sean managed to shut the doors to his truck with his hip and walked in the house, making sure Seanna was in too and getting her to shut and lock the doors. "Mommy's going to be fine." he promised the little girl as he sat Ella down on the couch. "We're gonna get her woken up before we go downstairs. She's just sleeping, that's all." he promised. Retrieving his first aid kit from beneath the sink, he got a wet wash cloth and headed back over to Ella. First he cleaned the wound on her forehead and bandaged it up, then he tried to wake her up just by talking to her and letting his fingertips brush over her cheek. "Come on, Ella, baby. Wake up."
Seanna sat herself down on the chair beside the couch, looking over at her mommy nervously. She wanted to believe her daddy when he said she'd be okay, she knew her mom was tough, but they had hit that monster awfully hard and then that brick fence even harder.
Ella was still out, though she stirred slightly at the sound of Sean's voice, though it seemed like something more out of a dream than anything.
"Maybe she's sleeping so hard cause she didn't sleep last night?" Seanna asked, cocking her head to the side. It seemed logical to her. "Maybe her body needed a nap like I take in the afternoons sometimes?"
That confused Sean a little bit. Ella hadn't slept last night? Looking up at his daughter, he furrowed his brow in question. "Why didn't she sleep last night?" he asked the little girl as he lifted the wash cloth and ran it along Ella's cheek.
"She was sad..." the girl said simply, frowning. "I heard her crying... a lot." her frown deepened. "Mommy never cries..." she whispered.
Great. She'd probably spent the whole night crying about him. What else could it have been? That certainly didn't make him feel good about himself. Even worse because he thought they'd had a good night and were going to figure things out. But instead she'd been upset. Crying. Crying so much that she hadn't slept. He frowned and couldn't seem to get the creases to disappear from his forehead. "I hope Mommy doesn't ever have to cry again." he murmured, mostly to himself as he once more tried to rouse the sleeping mother of his child.
Seanna sat back in the big armchair, pulling her knees up to her chest in the same self protective manner as her mother tended to do, watching and waiting for her mommy to wake.
The sounds of the voices was getting a bit louder and she could almost discern what the words were, fighting to wake from the sleep the head injury had thrown her into, Ella stirred slightly, making an almost pained noise as her head began to throb from the force of the impact of her head with the wheel. Slowly rousing at first, then her eyes snapped open like a shot and she let out what sounded like the tail end of the scream she'd began before the final crash.
Sean was startled at the scream, but at least she was awake. That was all that mattered. "Shh, shh." Sean whispered as he pulled the woman's body off the couch and into his lap, arms twining around her body and pressing it tightly to his. "You're alright." he promised her. "I've got you. You're alright."
Seanna was more than a little startled by her mother's scream as well, the tiniest of whimpers escaping as the tiny girl curled herself tighter into a ball on the seat.
It took Ella a moment to realize where she was and that she was safe... and in Sean's arms? How in the... "How in the world...?" she breathed, taking in a deep shaky breath, her brain instantly snapping away from the 'I'm safe' realization to fear for her child. "Seanna! Is she safe? Where's my baby?" she demanded, flailing slightly in his arms.
"I'm okay, Mommy..." the little girl whimpered, sounding anything but.
"Shh..." Sean said again, holding tighter to Ella and trying to get her to stop wiggling around. "You might have a concussion, you don't need to be bouncing around like that. She's fine. She's not hurt. Not even a scratch on her." he assured the frightened mother. "She's fine. You're fine. Both of you are safe."
Ella stopped fighting to free herself, the sound of her daughter's voice as well as Sean's assurance that their daughter was indeed okay calming her just a bit, though the scared tone of the wee one's voice still had her maternal radar on high alert. "What happened? How... how did you find us?" she asked, her head still swimming from the blow she'd taken. "Are they still out there?"
"I saw the alert about demons on the news. I came over to your place to find you, but you were at work, so I was driving out there to find you and Seanna called me on the cell phone. I think you hit one of them with the car. You crashed. It was stuck to the hood." he explained. "You weren't far so I came to you and brought you back to my place. You're gonna stay here."
"Daddy said we're gonna go in the basement..." Seanna chimed in. "Right, Daddy?"
She was still pretty out of it, but Ella could at least absorb the information being given, and she was grateful that Sean had come for them, she didn't want to think about what would have happened if he hadn't. "It was charging the car..." Ella shuddered, letting herself cling to Sean for the moment. "Thank you for coming for us... and the basement sounds good actually... you'll get no arguments here..."
"You don't have to thank me." Sean told her as he let his fingertips run through her hair. "I'm just glad you're safe." he breathed. The thought of her being hurt and the simple thought of what might have happened if he hadn't shown up in time made his stomach crawl. "The basement yeah. I've got a couple of air mattresses. We can air them up for somewhere to sleep. Take some dry food down. Water. It's safer down there than it is anywhere else. You wanna handle looking through for food? There should be something edible in there. I'll get the mattresses and blankets situated."
"Yeah, I can do that," she nodded slowly, frowning a little at how her brain felt like it was sloshing inside her skull. Definitely concussed. "I don't know about the sleeping part... think the concussion is a rather spot on diagnosis..." she told him, easing up on her grip rather reluctantly. "And yeah, thank you's are necessary... it could have been bad if you hadn't come..." she told him, she didn't need to expand on that. Her eyes flicked to his for a moment and then she looked away, moving to get up.
"Well you don't have to worry about what would have happened." he told her. "It's not going to. You know what... I can get the food and the blankets and the mattresses. You just sit there, alright?" he told her as he helped get her back on the couch. "I think you've been through enough in one day."
Ella gave Sean a slow nod, her head still swimming quite a bit as she settled back into the couch, soon joined by Seanna, who clung to her mother tighter than she ever had before. The mother and daughter waited for Sean to get everything they'd need to hunker down in the basement for the duration. Once everything was in place, they all went down to the basement together and huddled around the television set to watch the news -- and when it got to be too much demon overload, it was DVD time for the little one. Ella set Seanna up on the smaller mattress and hooked up her portable DVD player that was in the girl's over stuffed dance bag and let her listen to her Disney princess movie of choice through her headphones.
She rejoined Sean in front of the TV, taking a seat, pulling her knees against her still sore chest and rested her chin on her knees. "I can't believe this is happening again..." she sighed, looking at the news footage of the carnage on the streets of their small town. "Is this going to be the kind of world our daughter grows up in? Demons just popping out of thin air and attacking... why is this happening now?"
Sean didn't want to think that Seanna would have to grow up in this sort of world, but it was a very real possibility as the television clearly showed. Reaching over, he flicked it off and kicked his shoes off, stuffing his socks inside and settling himself on the other mattress with Ella, lifting an arm and putting it around the woman's shoulders. "Don't worry about any of that." he told her. "It's getting late. Maybe you should try and get some sleep. You've been up all day... I doubt it'll be long before the little one is out completely."
"Dunno if I can sleep... the image of that thing is still in my head." It felt good to feel his arm around her, even if they were going to just be friends now -- after the day they'd had -- well, she just needed that little bit of security she always was able to find in his arms. She let herself lean her head against his shoulder, eyelids fluttering closed for a moment before opening them again as she turned her head to look at him without lifting it. "I'm really glad she called you... don't think it would have turned out the same if she'd called my dad..."
"You should still try." he murmured, shaking his head a little. "You can have the bed, I'll make myself a pallet on the floor and get the lights turned off." he suggested. "And double check the door." he went on. The last thing he wanted to do was leave any tiny little flicker of a chance for any demons to get into the house.
"Mmmmmk," she nodded, glancing over to the smaller air mattress where their daughter had already zonked out. "I just want to get her tucked in and then I'll lay down..." she told him, getting back up and moving over to Seanna, removing the headphones from the sleeping child's head and turning off the portable DVD player; closing it and putting it aside. She pulled off the girl's sneakers and pulled the blankets over her, it wasn't particularly chilly, and she'd only likely kick them off as the little fire elemental tended to do, but it was a normal part of the tucking in process and Ella needed at least something to be remotely normal right about then.
She returned to the bigger mattress and laid down, curling herself up in the fetal position and just lay there listening to the sounds of the house creaking and settling.
While she got their daughter tucked in, Sean made himself a pallet on the floor and went about checking the door and making sure it was latched and doubly latched. Then he checked the single window that was near the ground and made sure it was latched and then pushed the shelf that held his tools in front of it. He wasn't taking any chances. Returning to the area where the beds had been laid out, he flicked the light off and settled himself down on the pallet, being closest to the door, followed by Ella's mattress and then the sleeping child in the furthest and safest corner of the room.
Ella tried to sleep, but every sound the house made had her jumping out of her skin, that and it was just unnatural for her to have spent so much time inside. She craved fresh air, and as well kept and tidy was Sean's basement was, it was still quite stuffy for her and made her feel rather cagey. She tossed and she turned, then she turned and she tossed. Finally she sat up and scrubbed a hand down her face, taking in a sharp intake of breath as her fingers pressed absently over the bandage on her forehead. "Sean..." she whispered. "Are you still awake?"
Sean had tried to get to sleep himself, but he found himself concentrating on the sounds of Ella's breathing and of their child's breathing. The noises around the basement didn't help to keep him from thinking about the dangers that were so close at hand. When Ella whispered the question of whether he was awake or not, he rolled over to face her. "Yeah." he whispered back. "What's wrong?"
"Can't sleep..." she sighed. "I feel like I'm five again and afraid of the dark..." she admitted, frowning though he couldn't see it in the darkness. "And I don't have my body pillow to curl up with..." another admission, rather embarrassing one at that. "Would it be too weird for you to sleep up here with me?" she asked, wondering if she was really asking too much all things considered.
Sean didn't even answer her as he shifted, getting onto the mattress with the mother of his child and pulling her body against his. "Don't worry about it." he told her. "Whatever helps." Which was all he was concerned with. "I'm just glad you're safe." he breathed. "I thought I'd lost you."
Ella curled in against him, letting herself breathe him in as she did so; instantly comforted. "This helps," she whispered. And it did, she missed this, him, that body pillow habit of hers coming from her arms and body desperately missing having him to hold. "Close call, still here... can't get rid of me that easily..." she teased, idly tracing her fingertips up and down his arm like she used to do when they'd sneak into one or the other's bed at night and cozy up. Old habits died hard.
It felt like old times, especially with her fingertips tracing over his skin, little abstract, invisible patterns marked on him. "Wouldn't think so." he said. "You always were the stubborn one." And in a way, he was glad of that. He didn't want to get rid of her. He was happy to not even think about that subject in all honesty. Now that she was back, he hoped she'd stay there.
"Told you I haven't changed so very much," she reminded him, the slightest of smiles tugging at the corners of her mouth. She snuggled in a bit closer, settling in; her head using his bicep as a pillow -- face buried in the crook of his neck. "Still stubborn as the day is long, some things never change..." she breathed, the smile fading away. She might not have changed, but everything else seemed to and it was still hard to accept, she would in time -- if the end of the world didn't come before that.