Building A (Strange) Family

Photographs

She was getting ready for bed when she noticed it.
She lifted the box off the dresser.
It was pretty heavy, measuring probably a foot by all ways.
It was black and had a simple closure on it.
She didn't remember ever seeing it before. Strange given it was quite large.

It was probably David's.
She thought about opening it, then shook her head and just put it back.
Maybe she would ask him later.

"You can open it."

She jumped and gasped and turned to glare at David.
He grinned at her from where he had been watching her,
leaning against the stair railing.

"I mean it; you can open it."

She squinted at him, but opened the black box.

There were papers, typed and hand written documents.
She smiled, recognizing Davids handwriting.

However, she was instantly lead to the photographs in the very front.
She pulled them out carefully and sank to the floor where she could lay them out.

"Oh, goodness... are these...?"

He nodded, sitting down on the floor with her,

"You look... different." She cocked her head to the side and studied the photo.

He snorted, hiding his face in her shoulder.
"Could be the mullet..."

She giggled with him, but continued to look at the picture.
"The hair may have something to do with it... but its so strange. You do look older now... maybe its wisdom... or compassion... without aging, you seem older."

He huffed out a laugh, not ready to say yet how much that pleased him.

"Think you can figure out who's who?"

She looked over the pictures. Some were in color and others in black and white.
Some had smiles and crazy hair, some were a little more sinister.

It was one of these she started with.
The man in it had long dark hair and stony hazel eyes, as well as the lower half of his face being covered in blood.

"Hmmm... The strong, silent protector of the group. Is it Dwayne, fresh from the hunt?"

He nodded slowly with a half smile, looking down to the photo in her hand.

She hummed happily.
"He's lovely. Native American?"

His eyebrows knit together, though he still grinned.
"You know? He never actually said.
None of us talked about our past.
Everything was just in the moment."

She leaned her head against his on her shoulder as she continued through the pictures.

"Ooo... He seems to be pretty cozy with the beautiful blonde.
Holy shit! 80's hair bands would be jealous over that lions mane!... better then a mullet, anyway."

They both laughed for a while over that.
He reached over to touch their faces and Lilly realized he was crying with the laughter.

"Paul was the last guy who came to the group.
He was... crazy, in the best way.
Music always playing in her head.
Dwayne was the exact opposite. Silent protector, like you said.
And he was the balance Paul needed."

He pulled up another picture and Lilly gasped.
"Wow! He looks like a Greek statue... so beautiful..."

David grinned, "And boy did he know it.
Marko never had to attack anyone: they would gladly have just given their blood to him if he asked.
He was... my first. Max let me turn him myself."

She leaned in to wipe the tears running down his cheeks, kissing his forehead.
His hand moved over the pictures,
spreading them out and smiling a little differently at each story they told.

Them on their bikes, them wrestling, laughing.
"Not a day goes by I don't think of them.
It wasn't till I met Mark, Joel... You...
That was when I started to forgive myself for their deaths."

She smiled, knowingly.
"Some days, you're fine. Other days it hits you so hard and you don't think you'll ever recover."

He looked up at her, shocked.
Then he remembered her Jay, and how no one understood his loss like she did.

"The pain is different as time goes on," She continued.
"But you'll never fully be rid of it. And that's fine."

He lunged up and kissed her and she sighed into it.
She held his face in her hands as he pulled away.

"Thank you, David, for sharing this with me. Sharing them with me."