InsaneJournal

Well, it breaks my heart...
Who: Naea and Pierce(So far-- feel free to butt in if ye like!)
What: A phone call and news she never truly wanted to hear.
Where: #603
When: The evening of September 14th.
Warnings: Sadness. Frustration. Drinking.





It had been a long, hellatious night at the diner. College students--frat boys, specifically--could be and usually were beyond obnoxious. They were heading from one kegger to another across town and just had to stop to eat. And be obnoxious. And be boys. Linnaea had ended up with three phone numbers, a smack on the ass, a girlfriend threatening to kick her ass and $4.23 in tips. Considering they ordered $50.00 worth of food for seven people, she severely doubted their ability to function in modern society.

The apartment was eerily silent and quite dark as she slipped inside, kicking her shoes off at the door. David had been out of town and finishing some business, though tonight she didn't much mind. Naea was glad to have the peace so that maybe she'd be able to get her algebra homework finished before school tomorrow.

The shower felt amazing--fantastic to get the grease and food smell out of her dark locks and off of her skin. She'd cursed the fryers for the sudden onset of acne across her forehead in the last month, and made a point to take a shower every night instead of before work. A bite of leftover pasta salad to eat, a change out of her work clothes and into comfy flannel pajamas... onto the couch she plopped with pencil, paper and book in hand.

Linnaea was on her last three problems when her cell phone rang, suddenly. She frowned deeply, wondering who would even bother calling this late on a Tuesday night. "Ugh," she mumbled to herself. "This better be good..." She reached over to the coffee table, losing her pencil to the perilous floor in the process and picked up her phone. Glancing at the caller ID, her expression sours and she wants nothing more than to snap her phone in half, gut the damn thing and set it all on fire. "For fuck's sake."

She flipped it open, just the same, and knew that she just should have let it go to voicemail. "What, Dad?" Her voice was tired, annoyed and he was definitely the last person she wanted to talk to. Her aunt Mary had talked her into at least letting her father have her cell number, "Just in case, you know!" Naea remembered thinking, 'In case of... him getting hit with an atom bomb?'. Now it was just him calling either wondering how she was, drunk dialing and telling her how sorry he was, or asking her to float him some cash (this happened once every few months. The answer was always "Fuck that.").

Naea was really good at handling really bad shit. Even if it meant she had to be bitchy sometimes (her father was the only one she could stay this angry with). What she didn't expect was the voice on the other end to not be her father, but her aunt Mary--his sister. She sounded beyond upset.

"Linnaea?"

"Mary? What's wrong?" She didn't enjoy the sudden stinging chill that raked across her skin.

"Honey. Come on home for a bit. Your father had a heart attack." A pause. "He-- didn't make it."

No matter how much she hated her father for what he had done, Naea had never wished for him to die.

She didn't say anything for a long moment. "I'll call you back, Mary." Linnaea flipped her phone closed and suddenly felt like the most alone person in the world and tried to find the spot inside of her to even wonder how to mourn. She was an orphan, now and maybe she had been since that fateful night five years before. He had driven her out. His many steps too far went over the edge.

The choked sob came so quickly, it didn't click right away that it was her own. Naea held her head in her hands for a while, wondering just why all of her frustration and anger and sadness welled up just now. What was she crying for? The loss of her father? Her childhood? Being angry at Mama for dying, too?

Her first instinct was to call her significant other. When had she begun to rely on him so heavily for an emotional pillar? Likely when it became more certain that they were going to stay together for more than six months. It wasn't often that she laid her burdens on him, but tonight... she needed him. Naea continued to cry and flip through her phone contacts before giving up for a while and allowing her brain to wrap around everything. Did she want to go home? To deal with his side of the family (other than Mary) who hated her so?

It was late. There was no sense in bothering others with phone calls and her tears.

Maybe tomorrow. Maybe. She had dealt with worse.

On her own.

It was going to be a long night. Suddenly, that want of a peaceful apartment started feeling more like a box with nothing but one's thoughts and no respite from them.