And His Name Was Ash Lynx

Christmas

Griffin sighed as he leaned forward on the couch. Wrapping gifts were a pain in his fucking ass. He had one for Jim, one for Jennifer, and about four for Aslan.

Beside him, Max too was wrapping a few gifts for his family, and his new girlfriend.

Griffin groaned as he leaned back. "I'm never doing this again. Next year I'll just throw it into a bag."

Max laughed. Of course he did, thought Griffin. Unlike himself, Max had actually decent wrapping skills. Griffins was a tape monstrosity, he needed tape to hold up the tape, which was holding onto the wrapping paper like a leaf about to fall off a tree in autumn. "Not even putting a little bit of love into the gifts next year? Too lazy?" Max smirked.

Griffin rolled his eyes. "I got them a gift. That shows love. And no, I'm not lazy. I just can't wrap if my life depended on it."

Max snickered from beside him, which resulted in a glare from Griffin.

-/-/-

The next day, Griffin left around 7:00 am, putting him at Cape Cod anytime between 11:00 am and 1:00 pm depending on the traffic in the city. Hell, the snow might put him even later.

But finally, after a long drive, he arrived around 1:30 pm, or some time close to that.

When he got out of the truck, he was greeted with a cold wind, and a light snowfall. He took a deep breath, breathing in the cold, crisp, fresh air. Griffin got his wrapped gifts and his suitcase out of the back seat and made his way inside.

He opened the door to find Aslan on the couch, a blanket draped over him, asleep. Jennifer was doing something in their small kitchen, and Jim was nowhere to be seen. Probably at the diner. Jennifer and Jim barley came into the house, so the two occupants were mainly Griffin and Aslan. However, it's just Aslan now.

Jennifer gave a small smile to Griffin and motioned for him to come to her. So he did. He quietly placed down his stuff and went over to Jennifer.

She gave him a small hug. "Hello Griffin."

Griffin returned the hug. "Hey Jen."

Jennifer stepped back and glanced over to Aslan. Griffin followed her eyes and glanced at him as well. Jennifer sighed, bringing Griffins attention back to her. "Poor kid. Hasn't slept much since the end of August."

Griffin gave her a questing look. He knows for a fact that Aslan loves his sleep. So it was concerning that he hasn't slept good for about 5 months. "Is there a cause? Or is it just because I left?"

Jennifer shook her head. "As he puts it, terrible nightmares. Every night. They keep him up."

Griffin frowned. That was so unlike Aslan. Yeah, he would get the odd nightmare or two since he's young and his mind is very creative, but every night? That's different. Griffin knew for a fact something happened to Aslan, and it fucked him up good. "Perhaps something happened at school that traumatized him? Have you and dad looked into that?"

Jennifer sighed, and shook her head. "We figured it out. We are trying to help him. No need to worry. We will sort it out." Jennifer gave him a forced smile. As if that was supposed to relax him?

Griffin grunted. "What happened? I need to know, Jennifer." He wanted to know, needed to know. He's apart of this broken family, and he deserves to know.