Family

The ORIC

24 Jan, 2022

Liam sat solemnly in his room, thinking only about James. Rosa was wrong, Liam did bring James sorrow as soon as he let him in. All was - meaningless. The man's phone began to ring, and he lazily slouched over towards it and looked upon it to see it was Bunny. For a while he simply stared at it before eventually reaching over and answering.

"Hello?" He said drearily.

"Liam, I need you to come over here," The woman said hurriedly. "You can't tell anyone. It - it's about him."

"Who?" Liam replied shakily.

"Just come over, please," Bunny cried. "Look, I'm getting another call, I'll see you when you get here. Please, don't ignore this, it's important."

"If you say so."

"Tom?" Bunny asked, walking into the basement slowly. "Are you alright? Did you have a good rest?" The man didn't answer, and she realized that he hadn't moved from that position since when she left him there the night before. He still rocked back and forth, shivering under the blanket, just like he was yesterday - his tea now stone cold on the table. "Jesus, Tom, I need you to work with me here. What happened? Why aren't you at the institute?"

"He made me do it," the man muttered. "Oh god, he made me do it."

"What? Who?" Bunny exclaimed. The man said nothing, simply rocking back and forth."God, why won't you talk to me?!"

"Liam," Tom stated simply. "Liam." The woman looked upon him, confused, and hurriedly walked out of the room, calling Liam. He agreed to come over, and she got a call from Jansen.

"Hello?" She asked.

"Bunny, what the hell are you doing?!" he yelled. "I get that you've moved back to your hometown, but why? We need you here, in Allansby! God damn it, woman, you just up and left without saying a word to anyone!"

"Listen, you fucking mull," Bunny screamed back. "I don't have to tell you shit. All you need to know is that I quit, you don't need to worry about paying me anymore. I'm back in Optimus for my own reasons, what the fuck do you need to know about that?!"

"Listen, Bunny, you're the best worker I have," Jansen sighed. "Come back to Allansby, and we can sort it out. I can even give you a promotion, if you'd like."

"Go to hell." Bunny scoffed and put the phone down before walking back to the basement, waiting anxiously for Liam to arrive.

"So he'll be okay?" Pandora assured.

"Yes, yesterday when he woke up he was still in shock," the nurse answered. "But he should be fine to go now."

"Thanks, Doc," Felucca smiled, and soon enough he was in the car with Pandora. "Listen, I-"

"Don't try to back out of this one, Felucca," she snapped. "We are going to drive home, and you are going to explain to me what the hell is going on." Felucca frowned and looked out the window, trying to think of some sort of way to get out of it.

"Holy shit," Liam exclaimed. "Bunny, what the fuck?"

"He - he came up to me yesterday," She answered. "He's barely spoken since then - but he said your name in response to me asking who made him do...something."

"What?" The man exclaimed. "I didn't make him do anything - I haven't even seen him since he - well, you know."

"Liam," Tom muttered raspily. "Heee. Lieed."