Who: Aaron, Caden, Gavin and Kat Where: The Back Porch Pub When: Noon, Thursday 01/25 Status: Complete
Gavin should have gone straight home to talk to Amelia but every time he tried to find the words he could possible use, he just cried again and it felt like he was fucking dying. It had been hard enough to deal with Amelia going missing, having to tell her Jasper was gone now and seeing the look on her face was going to be too much. So he didn't go home. Not right away. He texted her and told her he'd be home in a couple of hours and to call if anything was wrong. Even then he wasn't sure how he was going to drive home in those couple of hours. He had parked the car by the beach, staring out at the rolling waves with plenty of salt in his own eyes and his hands sore from beating the dashboard. Eventually he drove to the bar because he had told Aaron he'd meet him there.
He wasn't surprised to find his little brother's car already parked outside but it made it a little harder to go in. He knew there was no hiding the fact he'd been crying but kind of rushed past him with a brief greeting and a promise he'd talk to him in a minute. First he wanted to put a sign on the door, something that said more than just closed, some estimate of when they'd reopen but it was hard to give a shit and he only really checked the door because he noticed there was already a sign there as he drove by. Miles had closed early the night before. His note, neatly pinned in the window, simply read, 'closed, because holy fuck you guys'.
Gavin took that note down but he left the closed sign up and locked the door, heading to the back to get a drink and text Caden and Kat. They needed to know what was going on and even in his current state, Gavin knew he couldn't just text them about it.
Family meeting at the Porch he sent out to the Caden and Kat. Emergency. He decided to pace himself with the drinking for now, knowing he still needed to drive home and talk to Amelia, had to keep his shit together until the others knew what was going on. Someone else could deal with their mom. He was in no shape to even decide if she should know the truth or not but that's what the family meeting was for, he supposed.
Finally he headed into the back to find Aaron, slouching against the wall next to him and rubbing his face with one hand. "I'm calling a family meeting," he said, his voice hoarse with emotion. "The bar stays closed today."
After their phone call that morning, Aaron had gone by Gavin’s house to make sure it was empty. There hadn’t been any cars in the driveway and the place seemed deserted when he knocked and peeked in a few windows. Aaron didn’t have a key and didn’t want to break in, so he left it at that and went on to the bar. He’d left Miles’s note alone, had even snorted over it when he arrived and read it. It looked like it had been a wild night at the bar before Miles shut it down, and there was a lot to clean up, so Aaron got busy doing that.
Aaron had been tempted to follow Gavin to ask more questions, but he knew that tone of voice and that he should leave well enough alone. So Aaron kept mopping until Gavin returned from the front, an unsettled feeling growing quietly in his stomach. It had to be their mom, he thought. Gavin was going to check on her while he was at the hospital, and it had to be bad news. That idea solidified in his head as he looked at Gavin, both hands braced on the mop handle. Gavin looked like he’d been crying, and that was unnerving. “Is it Mom?” Aaron asked in a low whisper. Gavin might not tell him until the others were there, but he couldn’t help but ask.
Gavin shook his head and opened his bottle. Pacing himself, what a laugh. He could do it, but he really didn't want to. He didn't drink right away, just stood there with the open bottle, staring at the floor in front of Aaron. It felt weird not telling him but he also didn't want to have to say all of this twice, scared that once he actually said it it'd feel even more real and he wouldn't be able to talk again after that. "Mom's fine," he muttered. "She's awake but a little groggy. The doctors wanted to keep her one more night just to make sure she's okay, she was uh... dehydrated and something... Low on something." He rubbed his face again and hoped Caden and Kat would get there fast. The waiting was torture. "I'm gonna... I'm gonna-" he trailed off and waved toward the front of the bar again before heading out there. He needed to sit down, he needed something. He needed a cigarette and since the bar was closed he decided he could very well smoke in there, rules be damned.
Kat spent Thursday morning on the phone with Brian, trying to explain why she was still in town when she didn’t really have a good explanation. Every time she’d gone out, she’d ended up back in bed, trying to sleep off an exhaustion that just wouldn’t quit. She’d been packing up her things, preparing to leave, when she got the text from Gavin and she headed straight there. Normally she was left out of these things, unable to attend in person and having to hear about them afterwards. It was nice to be there this time, except for the sick feeling in her stomach. Emergencies weren’t good things and, after the past few days, she knew something bad had to have happened. She parked beside Gavin and hurried in, taking the porch steps two at a time. “Hey,” Kat said as she dropped her purse on the counter and went to join her brothers. Gavin starting at the bottle this early in the day wasn’t a good sign, near were his red-rimmed eyes. “What happened? Where’s Caden?”
Aaron had set the mop aside and followed Gavin out into the front of the bar, just in time for Kat to arrive. He went to give her a hug in greeting, then walked behind the bar to open the beer cooler and grab a few of them. Caden might want hard liquor like the eldest Lucas in the room, but Aaron didn’t want to go that heavy. His lips got looser when he was drunk, and God knew this wasn’t the time for that. At least he didn’t think so, yet. He hadn’t heard whatever this news was yet. A crawling, sick feeling in his stomach thought it had to be related to Jasper and what he’d done. Had he come home to confess to Gavin? Was he in jail now? If he’d hurt Amelia, Gavin wouldn’t have been there at all, so it couldn’t be that. “He’s on his way, I guess,” he answered one of Kat’s questions. “Did he answer you, Gav?” Aaron offered Kat one of the beers between his fingers, then sat down in one of the chairs at the table Gavin had slumped in front of.
Gavin nodded but he still felt like he had to save his voice, as if he only had a limited amount of words left before he became a blubbering mess incapable of speaking. The alcohol was helping at least, a sweet burn every time he needed to swallow down that lump in his throat. This was different from when Amelia went missing, there was a certainty that Jasper was gone which he hadn't had with Amelia, even in his darkest moments when he was sure she was dead. Jasper might be alive, but he was - much like his sister before him - gone somewhere awful. Maybe he'd be better off dead. Gavin had to wonder; what were the odds of both his children surviving something like this? Much like when Amelia went missing, Gavin just wanted to be sedated. He didn't like this pain, didn't know how to deal with it. God, how was he going to tell Amelia? How was he going to tell Charlie without completely falling apart? He drank more, it was the only thing he knew to do right now.
Caden didn't like getting text messages from most people, but he definitely didn't like getting text messages from Gavin that ended with emergency. Given what had happened that week, he automatically assumed it was one of two things... either their mom had died, or Jasper had confessed to Gavin what he'd done. Caden didn't want to deal with either of those scenarios, but he had no other choice. Ignoring this wouldn't make it go away. So he told Roxy he was needed at the bar, leaving it at that simple lie as not to have her worry, or worse, insist she come with him. She was family, yes, but this was different. If Gavin knew what Jasper had done, they had to keep it between them and not involve anyone else.
He drove to the Porch, ignoring the heavy lead feeling in his stomach. When he walked inside, he spotted his siblings, immediately noting how terrible Gavin looked. Jasper was nowhere to be found. Instinctively he locked the door and then walked over to the three of them, his gaze flickering briefly in Aaron's direction with one unspoken warning. Don't say shit unless we have to.
"What's going on," he asked, his focus now on Gavin.
Gavin braced himself by drinking more, then twisted around to put the bottle down on the bar. There was no use delaying the bad news but he was finding it was hard to actually say what he needed to say. Especially since neither his brothers nor his sister knew what was going on beforehand. "Jasper and dad were both injured in the fog," he started, clearing his throat before he went on and fishing out his pack of cigarettes. He'd had one while they waited for Caden but maybe it would be easier to break the news with another. That's what he told himself anyway. "Whatever attacked them... infected them. They were... Dad was draining mom's energy, Jasper almost killed Amelia with the same damn thing. They were effectively in a coma at the hospital. Now they're... They're gone. That's why things are back to normal, mom's awake, Amelia's awake, people aren't fucking fighting all over the place. They're gone."
He wanted to stay calm about it, just break the news and then get the fuck out of there and cry in the car but his body had other ideas and he crumbled as soon as the words were out. Gone. He didn't give a shit about Joseph, but Jasper deserved better, Jasper was supposed to be getting high and being an idiot teenager with his cheerleader girlfriend, but he was gone. "Don't ask... how. They're... They're in that place the fog came from, with the monsters." He hadn't even lit his cigarette yet though he had his lighter in his hand and cigarette in the other, pressing both against his face as he heaved deep sobs.
In all her life, Kat couldn’t remember ever seeing her older brother cry like that, not even when Amelia had gone missing. It was the only thing that slowed her down from demanding better answers than the ones he had given, fragments of a story that didn’t hold together, especially for someone who hadn’t been there to witness it. “Gavin,” she said carefully as she moved to join him at the table. “How do you know this? They can’t just be….gone. What do you mean, Jasper almost killed Amelia? When did that happen? Is she okay?” Her eyes darted to Aaron and Caden, looking to them for help. Maybe this would make more sense to them; they’d been there for the fog. They’d seen the monsters. From the way Gavin was reacting, Kat got the sinking feeling that their father and Jasper were dead, but that didn’t make sense. They couldn’t just be gone. “What do you mean by the place the fog came from? Where’s Dad and Jasper?”
Some of that was news to Aaron, or at least how it all connected together. It wasn’t a full picture by far, but he thought he understood some of what had happened. Watching Gavin break down put a profoundly uncomfortable feeling in his stomach, and his eyes darted to Caden again. If Jasper and Joseph both had been ‘infected’ by something bad, something that made them dangerous ... maybe that explained why they’d gone after each other. Why their mom had been in the condition she was in. But Gavin obviously didn’t know that Joseph was dead by his own son’s hand, and maybe that was best. “Jesus Christ,” he whispered. Aaron lifted his beer to swig all of it down in a few big gulps while Kat peppered Gavin with questions, then stood up and moved behind him to put his hands on Gavin’s shaking shoulders in silent support. “We saw what kinda shape Mom was in,” he told Kat, glancing at Caden again. “We took her to the hospital. If Jasper drained Amelia the same way ... but they’re awake and okay now, he said.” He didn’t know any of the other answers, but Gavin deserved a minute to collect himself.
It took Caden a moment to realize Gavin had no idea Joseph had been murdered. Jasper was gone, so he assumed Joseph was gone... because they had both been hurt in the fog. He was still confused but he knew enough to know that he wasn't going to bring up what had happened at their mom's house. But... it was important to know how Gavin knew Joseph was gone. How did he know any of this? "How'd you find out?" Caden asked, keeping his tone level. He didn't ask how it had happened, just how Gavin knew and Caden felt they deserved that much. It was a relief to hear Amelia and his mom were all right, and given how Jasper and Joseph had been acting, he considered it a fair trade. But if this was something they all needed to worry about now, they needed to know.
A part of Gavin wanted to tell them every little detail he knew, to get it off his chest and let them put the pieces together. Maybe this was why he hadn't wanted Jules to tell him everything, he felt like he already knew too much and it weighed him down like a pile of rocks. He couldn't answer right away, didn't even attempt it because he knew he wouldn't get the words out without hiccupping and near suffocating. He inhaled slowly instead, tried to stop the tears, swallow down that lump and find balance in his breathing. Then he drank more and finally lit his cigarette, wiping his face with the sleeve of his shirt. "There were people with abilities to... fucking open up the place those creatures came from." He paused, breathed again and tried hard not to let himself crumble again but his hands shook and even smoking didn't help much. "They were hoping to fix it but it all went wrong and now they're... Everyone who got infected is on the other side."
This was all news to Kat, who felt like she was getting the shortest synopsis on a sci-fi story ever, except it was her family and apparently real life. She knew weird things happened in Point Pleasant, she'd witnessed some of it herself, but this was almost too much to grasp in its entirety. "What people?" she asked, trying not to press too hard when Gavin was so distraught, but she had so many questions and no one else seemed as shocked as she was. This was why she'd moved away, because something was wrong when they were able to take all of this in stride. "There's got to be something we can do. Ask 'em to open the place up again, pull Jasper and Dad out, then get them some real help." For some reason, she pictured them locked in a basement somewhere, left to starve when it sounded like they were sick. They couldn't just leave them there, wherever it was.
Instead of a basement, Aaron pictured the Cooperdale Tunnel where Mila had disappeared. He didn’t think it was literally the tunnel that had swallowed those people, but someplace like it. A place you couldn’t just pop open and rummage around in. “I don’t think it works that way, Kat,” he murmured, real regret in his tone. Aaron gave Gavin’s shoulders a gentle squeeze before he moved to one side and reached for another bottle of beer. Aaron twisted the cap off. “It’s like when Mila disappeared ... and Amelia, right? Like, a different place, not Earth. If it’s the place the fog came from, it’s definitely a bad place.” Gavin had said the attempt to fix it had gone wrong, so he wasn’t sure how much hope there was of successfully opening it again. He took a long swig of beer and sat down again, letting it all sink in. Part of him was horribly relieved that Gavin thought Joseph was gone to the same place instead of where he actually was, but ... poor Jasper.
Like Aaron, Caden couldn't help but feel some relief that Gavin believed Joseph was in that other place. He supposed it spoke volumes to his growing up in Point Pleasant that he barely questioned the thought of some other world existing. Maybe because he knew witches existed and his young niece had become a teenager seemingly overnight. If Gavin had seen Jasper's demeanor, had seen the coldness in which he beat his grandfather to death, maybe he wouldn't be so distraught. In Caden's mind, this was for the best for everyone. Jasper, Joseph... probably all of those people... had been dangerous. "He could come back," Caden told Gavin. "Amelia and Mila both came back. This doesn't mean he's gone for good." He was trying to give Gavin some hope, even if he didn't believe it himself.
"Did you... fucking see those things?" Gavin choked out, waving his hand as if indicating a gigantic creature standing right there in the bar with them. He'd seen but a shadow, had seen what it did to Joseph, had seen Jasper in the aftermath, pale from blood loss and high on painkillers. "She said they didn't... they didn't go after the infected but what if that changes when they're all locked behind that barrier together?" He unwillingly pictured Jasper getting picked up and torn apart by some ancient looking dinosaur monster and before he even registered what he'd done he'd thrown his bottle of whiskey with full force at the floor. "I can't be here," he said hoarsely as he got up and stubbed his cigarette out on the bartop. "I can't be here."
Kat had never quite understood where Amelia had been, but she’d seen her niece with her own eyes and knew for a fact that wherever she’d been, it had changed her. Aged her beyond scientific explanation. It was the most concrete evidence she had that unexplainable things could happen and the reminder felt like a kick to the stomach, reality finally settling in. Her dad and Jasper were gone and they had no fucking way to get them back. No wonder Gavin was a mess. He’d already been through this once with Amelia, but it sounded like there was absolutely no chance Jasper might find his way back from this. “Gavin,” she said gently as he gestured towards the window and she almost expected to see a monster standing outside, glaring in at them. It was hard to offer words of comfort when she knew absolutely nothing about where Jasper and their dad were. The words would be empty.
Aaron flinched when the whiskey bottle crashed to the floor, and he gave his other siblings a concerned glance. Not that they would be a lot of help -- Caden was shit at being a sympathetic human, and Kat just wasn’t around enough to fully understand these things. Gavin didn’t accept much help in general, but Aaron wanted to do what he could. So he stood up a second after Gavin did and stepped around the table to get closer to him, reaching out one hand to touch his arm. “Let me drive you home then,” he offered quietly. Gavin didn’t seem in any state to drive, and the last thing this family needed was another death on their hands.
Caden knew as much as his siblings that he was pretty shit at comforting people. That didn't mean he didn't feel loss, or sympathy. They had gone through this once with Amelia, and now Jasper was gone? And their dad was dead... although no one knew that but for him and Aaron. It was enough to think their family was cursed. Watching the liquor bottle shatter, Caden stared at it for a moment before his gaze ticked back to Gavin. "You want me to call Charlie?" Gavin could go home, but was he in the right state of mind to comfort Amelia? Someone would have to tell her, and then what? He couldn't dismiss the possibility that Gavin could very well drink himself to death today and they'd all suffered enough loss already.
"I'm not a fucking child," Gavin snapped, shaking Aaron off and wishing he could do that with the others' concern as well. "I can drive. I'll need my truck." He'd need his truck yes and he'd need to talk to Amelia and god, he couldn't face Charlie right now. He couldn't keep straight all that he needed, not when he kept thinking of the night Jasper had been so terrified he'd crawled into bed with him and cried like he was a child again. That's all he could see in his mind's eye now, not the tough exterior boy who scoffed at everything, smoked too much and drove too fast but the boy who'd been scared and needed him. Gavin wasn't there for him now and it was starting to feel like he was cursed and the fates kept taking it out on his children. "I can drive," he said again, forcing himself to sound calmer even if he felt anything but. "I need to go home, I need to talk to Amelia, tell her... Tell her her brother's gone."
That sounded like a horrible idea to Kat, considering Gavin’s current state, but she wasn’t sure she was in a position to argue with him. Amelia needed to know and she wasn’t close enough to her niece to offer to do it for him. Aaron driving him home would have been a fantastic idea, if he’d let him do it. At least he didn’t argue with Caden about calling Charlie. Kat rose from her seat and went to get the broom, figuring the least she could do was clean up the broken bottle. “We just want to help,” she reminded him, since he didn’t seem to see it that way. He had a right to be upset, but they also had a right to be concerned about him. He’d just lost his son. Kat couldn’t even imagine what that must be like. The most she’d ever lost was her dog. And now her father. But the dog was a bigger loss.
Aaron’s jaw tightened a bit at the way Gavin shook him off, but he wasn’t dissuaded. “Then let me drive your truck and you home,” he insisted. His gaze flickered toward their sister and back. “Kat can follow and bring me back. You’re in no shape to drive, don’t be an idiot.” It wasn’t even the booze, Aaron knew Gavin drove half-lit all the time. Most of them did on occasion. It was the wrenching emotion on his brother’s face. Once he was home, hopefully Amelia could keep Gavin from drinking himself to death, but running his truck into a tree on the way was another concern. He remembered all too well how much Gavin had fallen apart when his girl disappeared, and this time they were more certain Jasper wasn’t coming back. “You want to risk Amelia losing her dad today too?”
Of course it wasn't the booze, Gavin wasn't even drunk and he wanted to angrily tell them that, just keep yelling or punch something - someone - to redirect this pain somewhere else. His brother was making sense though and that was the kicker even if he thought Amelia had already lost her dad now because how the hell was he going to be any good to her in this state? He'd been a wreck when she'd gone missing and Jasper was independent enough to handle it - but Amelia...? "Okay," he said quietly, defeated, even if he just wanted to get out of there, get away from them and not have to talk to anyone ever again. it was easier to be sad and fucked up alone without them staring at him with worry and sympathy. God he hated that look, they all did, but it was always there because something awful was always fucking happening.
Caden didn't have Charlie's number but he was pretty sure Roxy did. He'd text her for it when Aaron and Gavin left. He was going to argue with him if he insisted on driving, but once it seemed like he had relented to let Aaron drive, Caden relaxed. There were no words that would make his brother feel better, so he didn't try. Instead he glanced at Aaron, hoping his younger brother had enough brains to not mention Joseph.. or what Jasper had done... on the drive. He knew Aaron wouldn't do it on purpose, but... still. "I'll clean up," he told Kat. "Go with them. You might want to go visit mom too. Make sure she's doin' okay." Their mom had been more or less unconscious when Jasper beat Joseph to death, so he didn't think Caden and Aaron had to worry about her remembering anything.
Kat was glad to help in any way she could and handed the broom off to Caden so she could follow Aaron to Gavin’s. She couldn’t imagine having to give the news to Amelia, especially in his condition, but supposed that Amelia would understand better than anyone else. That in itself was a horrible thought. “I’ll check on mom after,” she agreed. “And tell her… something. I dunno. I’ll figure it out.” She had no idea how their mom might cope with the truth, so she might have to just tell her that Dad was missing. Sad as it was, it might be good for her, though Kat didn’t say so aloud. She had the feeling they all knew it.
“I’ll go with you to see her,” Aaron told Kat, also relieved that Gavin was cooperating now. “We’ll figure out something to tell her together.” Really, Aaron was more concerned with what Bridget would have to say, if she remembered the brutal murder she’d been a semi-conscious witness to. Aaron was praying really hard that she didn’t, and they could just tell her that Joseph had gone missing. Along with her grandson. Bad news all around. He could feel Caden’s look without returning it, and he knew his brother was probably worried about him fucking up and saying too much, but Aaron would be careful. They had to take that one to the grave, whether Jasper came back or not. Aaron couldn’t taint Gavin’s memories of his son like that, they were already rough enough. “C’mon, let’s go,” he said to Gavin and Kat, turning to head toward the back and the outer door beyond it.
It was hard for Gavin to shake the feeling that the more people who knew what had happened, the more real it was. It made him not want to talk about it again and he didn't want to go home. Let Amelia have one day of not knowing how hellish their lives really were. It wasn't fair, she already knew something was wrong but it was still tempting to beg Kat or Aaron to be the ones to tell her. That wasn't fair either, he needed to pull himself together for long enough to have that conversation and he knew it. He felt like a man walking to the guillotine as they walked out of the bar, the weight of the world on his shoulders and too much pain in his chest for one man to bear. He should thank his siblings for not letting him drive as it got more obvious with every step he took that he was in no fit state to drive, but he was out of words for now and so he stayed quiet. He'd managed to stop crying at least though it felt temporary just like he could only hold his breath for so long. Maybe long enough to talk to Amelia, it wasn't a long drive.