Aaron Lucas (thirdandlast) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2019-01-31 10:02:00 |
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Entry tags: | #november 2017, aaron, aaron x gavin, gavin |
Who: Gavin and Aaron
When: Thursday, Nov 30th, morning
Where: Gavin’s house
Status: complete
Aaron wasn’t technically up early, because Aaron hadn’t slept since getting up in a panic over Mila missing from the bed. He’d laid back down with her and listened to her breathe while his thoughts ran around in circles and tumbled all over one another. Eventually it was dawn, and Aaron got up. He shuffled to the kitchen to turn the coffee maker on, waited until he could have a cup himself, jotted a note to Mila to leave on the table, and then left the house. Aaron felt paranoid about leaving her alone, so he stayed in his truck in the driveway for another twenty minutes, watching for Mila to come out. But it seemed like she wouldn’t. He thought maybe the thing had more of a hold over her in the night time, but maybe that was just wishful thinking.
It was way too early for the bar to be open, or a lot of people to even be awake, but he took a gamble and drove to Gavin’s house. This whole thing had him scared, more scared than he could remember being, and he wanted to consult with his oldest brother. His most understanding brother. That wasn’t saying much, but still. Not wanting to wake the kids if they were still sleeping, Aaron parked in front of Gavin’s and pulled his phone out.
u awake? he sent.
It wasn't optimal timing. Gavin was awake but only barely so. He was still on the couch, still gathering his wits about him and the phone buzzing startled him out of his stupor. A text this early meant something was wrong. He was probably due for some crap already, things had been going so well lately and bad news usually traveled in flocks. The night before he'd heard about the For Sale sign outside his old house and he was still not sure how to approach that and bring it up with the kids. Go figure something else was hitting before he'd even had a chance to start dealing with the first. He groaned softly as he sat up, realizing he was getting ahead of himself but he wasn't optimistic as he checked his phone. Aaron's message didn't tell him much and he thumbed in a quick reply back. Call. No way was he having a text conversation.
At least that meant he was awake. Aaron didn’t want to call, and he wasn’t big on text conversations either -- this had to be a face to face thing. He didn’t know if it was best to do it in Gavin’s house, considering the sleeping kids, but he’d already thought of maybe taking them out for a pick-up breakfast or something and talking in the truck. He would leave that up to his brother. Aaron opened his truck door and climbed out, his thumb moving over his phone screen even as he walked up the path to the front door. out front now. need 2 talk. Aaron didn’t want to knock or ring the bell and make the dogs bark, so he just stood in front of the door and shoved his hands in his pockets to wait.
Gavin groaned again because this meant he had to get up and couldn't stay cocooned in his blanket fort for a little longer. Oh well, it was bound to happen soon anyway and he did need to piss and get some coffee in him. He crawled off the couch and padded out to the doorway, opening up and squinting at his younger brother before nodding at him to come in. "Make us coffee, I'm gonna-" he said in a sleep-scratchy voice as gestured vaguely in the general direction of the bathroom and then headed off there to take care of the morning business. If this was bad news - and judging by Aaron's demeanor it had to be - Gavin needed coffee to deal with it.
Aaron opened his mouth to suggest that they go somewhere else for coffee, but Gavin was already shuffling away. He looked like he hadn’t actually been awake when Aaron texted, and some guilt flared in his stomach, mixing with the stress that was already churning there. He stepped inside the house and shut the door behind him, watching his brother’s retreating back for a moment before he headed for the kitchen. Aaron paused to give the dogs a scratch on the head, then went to the coffee maker to start it up. If it wasn’t so damn cold, he would’ve suggested they talk out on the porch, but it was. Maybe he could lure Gavin into the truck once there was coffee in his hand.
Gavin might have skipped brushing his teeth this once if it wasn't for the fact it tasted like something crawled into his mouth and died so he did the bare minimum and took a few minutes longer than otherwise. He felt a little more human when he came back out, glancing at the clock as he entered the kitchen. Jasper would be up soon but Amelia would sleep like the dead for another few hours. They had a little time to talk. He patted Aaron on the shoulder before grabbing a seat, scrubbing his hands over his face. The coffee might not be ready but Aaron looked antsy and Gavin didn't want to be left guessing. "Okay," he muttered. "What happened?"
Aaron didn’t need another cup of coffee, he already felt jittery enough, so he’d just poured himself a glass of juice instead while he waited. Tossing an unsure glance back toward the bedroom hall where the kids were, Aaron sat down at the table with his brother. He shifted to the edge of the chair, one leg starting to bounce as he cracked his knuckles. “Um ... well ... there’s something wrong with Mila,” he started. Aaron had thought and over-thought about all this throughout the night, of course, but he was finding it hard to know where to start. He couldn’t blurt it all out at Gavin at once, so he tried to start at the beginning. “When Amelia was missing, and we were all doing the search parties ... me and Mila went to look around the Cooperdale Tunnel? And ... we heard a kid crying. Like a baby, no like a nine year old. We followed it, and it was coming outta the tunnel. So we went in.” His lips tightened at the memory. If only he’d tried to stop her from going in, resisted the urge himself, would any of this have happened?
There's something wrong with Mila. The words sent a jolt of guilt and worry through Gavin as his mind only thought of one possible thing that could be wrong with her. A curse, a lingering effect of something he had done. Then Aaron kept talking and he furrowed his brows, trying to focus on the facts and not the chanting shame in his own mind. "Those tunnels-" he started, shaking his head. "What happened? What's wrong with her?" A baby crying in the tunnel sounded like something out of a horror film and he might have rolled his eyes if he didn't Know the evils that thrived in Point Pleasant.
Aaron was glad that Gavin wasn’t dismissing what he was saying outright, though he hadn’t expected that exactly. He was just glad to be right about it. “We kept hearing it, and kept ... going deeper in,” he said, plenty of his own shame written all across his face. He should’ve stopped it earlier, should’ve known how wrong it was from the start. “And after a while I started to feel bad, like ... in danger. But she was sure it was our baby. I had to pick her up and carry her out of there, she fought me pretty hard, Gav,” Aaron said, his voice lowering as he looked at his brother imploringly. “I thought things were kinda okay after that, like she seemed mostly normal, but then she tried to go back there. I mean, she did go back there, but then she tried to take Roxy with her another time, and they told me about it, but I didn’t know what to do, and Mila just promised she wouldn’t try to go again.” He paused to scrub a hand over his face. “And then I woke up last night and she was gone, and I caught her almost in the woods. And she started to take a bath in like, almost boiling water, and I don’t ... I dunno what to do.”
Gavin felt like his insides had turned into quivering animals, huddled together, chattering away. This was his doing, this was Caden's doing, this was Reagan... The backlash wasn't supposed to affect Mila, it was supposed to affect him and Caden - and it had, as far as Gavin knew. This... This was not supposed to happen. He didn't let it show, the panic that was overtaking him or the regret bubbling up like bile in his throat. If Aaron hadn't heard the crying too he would have thought Mila had just lost her mind. Maybe she had, maybe the crying had been a one off and it had sent her tumbling over the edge into despair. "Aaron," he said, his voice heavy with sympathy. "I don't... what do you think it is?"
It was strangely vindicating to hear that tone in Gavin’s voice, like it was a confirmation that he wasn’t overreacting in his worry. The whole thing seemed so crazy, and he’d really wanted to believe that things were getting back to normal. But they’d obviously been doing the opposite. Aaron shook his head a little, helplessly. He swallowed back the lump in his throat. “I don’t know,” he mumbled miserably. “Maybe some kinda possession? She says ... she keeps having thoughts that don’t feel like hers, bad ones. And she just zones out sometimes. I think she’s been back to that fucking place a lot more than she says. When I was dragging her back home, she said she didn’t want to hurt me. That’s not ... that’s not my Mila.”
"No, it's not," Gavin said quietly and for a few moments he just sat there, quiet, rubbing at his beard as his brain churned. He got up then, needing his first cup of coffee now more than ever. The machine wasn't done, but there was enough for a cup in there. "Have you talked to anyone else?" he asked and he was going to have to talk to Reagan Kelly and that wasn't something he was looking forward to, nor was it something he was going to share with Aaron. He wasn't so sure he wanted to tell Caden what they'd done, he was more likely to go after Reagan with violence than with questions and that wasn't going to do any of them any good.
Aaron watched his oldest brother get up and move around the kitchen, worry churning in his stomach. “No,” he answered. “Well I mean, Roxy knows, because Mila tried to talk her into going out there with her. But nobody else. I keep asking if she wants to see a priest, or thinks we should, and she doesn’t. And last night I was just thinking about Olivia and all her hex bags, and that maybe you ... knew someone? Who might know something about this kind of shit?” Aaron tried not to sound too hopeful, but if Gavin didn’t have any ideas on what to do, he wasn’t sure where he would turn next.
A priest was a good idea in theory but as much as Gavin often tried to rely on God, he had to admit it hadn't done him a whole lot of good. He didn't want to examine that too closely and for now he was just going to blame it on priests being ineffective. "I uh, can look into it," he muttered as he took a sip of his fresh coffee. He couldn't take Aaron to Reagan, he certainly couldn't take Mila to see her, there had to be someone else. Of course the required talking to Ollie... Or maybe Reagan could recommend someone. She had to see why he wouldn't want her mixed up in this business. "Things aren't great with Ollie, she's moving it seems. I don't think she's told the kids. I don't know." It wasn't the time or place to talk about it but maybe it would help keep Aaron from pushing him too hard on finding a witch or two.
Aaron was a little surprised -- but not, at the same time -- to hear that Ollie was moving. He knew the divorce was happening and that she was pregnant with some other schmuck’s kid, but moving without telling the kids she already had sounded pretty fucked up. It didn’t distract him for long, however. “You don’t know where she gets them from?” he asked. That didn’t seem like Gavin, Aaron would’ve thought he would want to keep tabs on what Ollie was bringing into the house. “I really need to find someone fast, Gav, I’m worried we don’t have a lotta time here. Maybe I can start asking around ... like at that spice shop? They seem kinda ... witchy, I guess.” His brow furrowed fretfully.
Gavin couldn't help but feel relieved that Reagan Kelly's shop wasn't obviously 'witchy' but the thought of Aaron bumbling around asking random strangers if they were witches was a little harrowing. "Don't do that," he muttered. "You can't just go around asking... I'll look into it today, I'll have a name for you as soon as I'm able. Can you make sure she's never alone? Where is she now?" Did Mila even have any close friends other than Roxy? Roxy was working at the bar so Aaron wouldn't be able to ask her to stay with Mila. They were short staffed on a good day so that wasn't negotiable either.
“At home, in bed,” Aaron answered, sounding like he knew just how bad that was. For some reason it seemed less scary when the sun was up, but he knew it was still a possibility that she might wander off. “I didn’t wanna do this over the phone, and I waited hours before I got up to come here, and she just kept sleeping,” he added, so Gavin wouldn’t think he was totally negligent. As for having somebody with Mila all the time, Aaron didn’t know how possible that was. They all had jobs, Mila even had a new one. She would be around people at work, but who knew if she would even keep going? Or be honest about her schedule? Short of locking her in a room, Aaron didn’t know what to do, and it all put a painful sort of lump in his throat all of the sudden. He propped his elbows on the table and rubbed at his eyes, shaking his head a little. “I can’t lose her too,” he muttered with more emotion than he intended.
If guilt wasn't already gnawing hard at Gavin, that almost break in Aaron's voice would have tipped him over the edge. The way he already felt it was just a harder push on his gut and he hid his little frown behind another sip of his coffee. "We're gonna sort this out," he said after swallowing, stepping back to the table and setting his hand heavily on Aaron's shoulder. He squeezed. "We got Amelia back, we'll help Mila. I won't let you lose her." It wasn't really a promise he could keep but he would try and he at least suspected where all of this might have originated, that had to help, right?
They had gotten Amelia back, yes, and Aaron was thrilled for that. But sometimes he was jealous of it, too. He still had plenty of pain he hadn’t dealt with from the loss of the baby, and now he had to deal with this? Whatever ‘this’ was? If he hadn’t heard the baby crying in the tunnel too, he would’ve thought this was all some kind of grief-induced madness. Aaron had promised Mila that he believed she wasn’t crazy, but now he was thinking it might’ve been easier if she was. At least then he could find experts to help them. All he had was Gavin and his superstitious ex wife. Aaron scrubbed his palms over his face and up through his short hair to the back of his neck, nodding with his head bowed. “Yeah,” he agreed, because he had to. “Okay.”
The family had always been hurting so seeing Aaron like this should really just be more of the same but it still weighed on Gavin and he felt helpless to fix it - as usual. He gave his shoulder another squeeze before letting go of his shoulder. "You want some coffee?" he asked in lieu of taking a seat. "There's enough for another cup now." Without waiting on an answer he moved to grab a cup from the cupboard, glancing a little worriedly back at his brother.
Aaron didn’t really want coffee, he already felt kind of high strung, which was weird considering how tired he was. But he recognized that Gavin wanted to do something for him, and his hands were cold anyway and maybe it would taste nice. “Thanks,” he murmured. Part of him wanted to apologize for being so much trouble, but he knew that wouldn’t do any good. And maybe he should save it, because there was surely more trouble heading their way. He accepted the coffee mug from his brother when Gavin brought it back, and took a sip. “How’s Amelia doing?” he asked after a moment, his voice a bit rusty. Aaron had the thought that maybe Amelia could sit with Mila some, but he didn’t want to put that burden on her either.
Gavin was glad Aaron had accepted the coffee because he'd been right, Gavin needed to do something for him right now. He sat down at the table and thought of Amelia and how to answer the question. It wasn't his place to tell anyone how she really felt, nor was it really the time and place now. "She's good, yeah," he said instead of mentioning that she sometimes cried over seemingly nothing and that she sometimes came out to the living room in the middle of the night, pale as a ghost after a bad nightmare, just sitting with him and watching shows until she felt calm again. Aaron had enough on his plate and Amelia probably wouldn't appreciate the chatter. "Settling in pretty good, we just need to get her a proper room, is all." He rested his arms on the table and leaned forward a bit, studying his little brother for a moment. "I'm going to look into this today, Aaron. We'll set it right."
No, Amelia had enough to deal with, Aaron decided, in spite of the vaguely good report Gavin gave. And Jasper had school, and it would probably be weird to ask an 18 year old boy to babysit his grown-ass girlfriend. Aaron had the idea that Mila could manipulate any male she wanted to, anyway. She’d done a great job with him so far. He just nodded a little and sipped his coffee, then looked at Gavin with red-rimmed eyes when he spoke again. He was trying not to be desperate and pathetic, trying to keep his shit together, but it was so hard. All of this was so terrifying. “I hope so,” he murmured after a moment, not sure what else to say that wouldn’t really make him start crying. He was just so tired and worried and sad for Mila, he wished he could take whatever was happening to her onto himself instead. He deserved it much more than she did. “It’s my fault,” he added, soft and miserable. “None of this would’ve happened if I hadn’t knocked her up in the first place. What if we can’t set it right?”
"We will," Gavin said firmly as much for his own sake as Aaron's. God, Aaron was right though. If he'd just been smart and used a fucking condom they wouldn't be in this mess, none of them. "Listen," he said, followed by a little sigh as he tried to gather his thoughts. He'd never been one for motivational speaking - or speaking a lot in general - but he'd been trying to be a better person all around so it felt vital that he say something - anything - to calm his brother down. "We're Lucases, shit rains down on us all the fucking time and we endure it. That's what we do and it's what we've always done. I'll fix this, Aaron. You go home and you watch your girl and don't let her out of your sight." It wasn't just for Mila's well being but also to make sure Aaron stayed out of the way. The last thing Gavin needed was for him to go snooping around and finding Reagan.
The fact that Gavin didn’t say it wasn’t his fault solidified Aaron’s idea that it was. Gavin and Caden had been pissed at him over Mila being pregnant, even when they’d wanted to keep the baby, and now that it was gone and everything was going so weirdly, terribly wrong, of course it was still on Aaron’s shoulders. He was a fuckup, and he’d ultimately needed his big brother to bail him out, just like they’d all said he would. Mila was probably better off far away from him, but he had to try and protect her until then. It made his throat feel all blocked-up and painful, and Aaron looked away as his eyes got wet again. His jaw flexed as he worked on keeping his composure, but exhausted despair was making it a real struggle. “Okay,” he forced out. Aaron pushed away from the table and stood up abruptly, turning his back on Gavin to leave. “Call me,” he added, the words barely understandable. He started out of the kitchen, his movements stiff.
Gavin didn't know any men who liked being emotional and he knew he would hate it if someone brought attention to it if he was emotional so he did his best to ignore the fact his brother seemed to be about to burst into tears. "I will," he muttered, getting up to walk him out. "Soon as I know anything." He'd go today, talk to Reagan, try to get some answers and hopefully a solution. It might be something as simple as a hexbag, or something as complicated as a cleansing, he just had to hope he'd left her on good enough terms for this not to be another Problem in the making.