Locklyle - The Story after The Empty Grave

Part 10: Panic in the Basement

Lockwood's POV:

At Lucy's voice I stood up and whipped around. How long had she been standing there? Had she seen anything? She spoke again, but I'm not sure what she said. My brain suddenly felt fuzzy, all sounds were muffled. My heart started racing, my chest contricted with pain. Everything was a little dizzy. I wobbled a little and probably would have fallen down, but Lucy must have rushed to me and pulled me to the floor because next thing I know, her arm is around me and I'm leaning against her.
'What's wrong?' Her voice sounded far away. I tried to process what was happening, but it seemed so hard.

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Lucy's POV:

Lockwood's breathing started to become ragged; extremely shallow.

At that moment Holly had entered the room, slowly walking, bag in hand. As soon as she saw us she dropped the bag and rushed over before kneeling in front of Lockwood.

'Hey. Hey, Lockwood.' She said. 'Whats going on?' He shook his head. A few more tears fell. He grasped for my hand and I let him hold it. Holly spoke again before looking around. She picked up something. It was a photograph. As Holly gazed at it, I felt Lockwood grip my hand tigheter. I looked at him and found panic in his eyes.
'Holly,' I whispered, 'What's in the photograph?' She turned to show me - it was a beautiful scene. Four people could be seen smiling, a concrete wall behind them, covered in lush green vines. Flowers were set all around them. Two children sat in front of two adults, one of them gazing off in the distance as if fascinated by something behind the camera. One of the children looked like a younger version of Lockwood and that's when I realised it was a photo of his family. Him, Jessica, and his parents.

I turned back to Lockwood. His face was contorted in a lot of pain.
'Holly. Put that away.' I eyed her, but she was already putting it behind her. She started to talk to Lockwood again, asking him questions like "what was she wearing?", "what was outside the window?".

Slowly, ever so slowly, his grip loosened on my hand, and his breathing became slightly more normal. I could still feel his heart pumping, but the tears had stopped as well.
'I'll go get you a glass of water, okay?' Holly said as she stood up. Lockwood nodded as she left.

It was just us two. My arm was still around him and our hands still connected.
'Lucy, I'm sor-'
'No. Don't be sorry, Lockwood. You have nothing to be sorry about.' I interrupted.
'But, this is pathetic. I should be over this stuff by now.' Lockwood protested.
'Over what?' I asked carefully. I knew he didn't like to talk about his past even now. Even after we had gone through Jessica's room and cleared many things. Even after he took me to his parents grave. Even after all we had been through. And I didn't fault him for it.

So I wasn't expecting him to start.
'That photo. It was from when my family and I went to a theme park. It's probably one of my earliest memories. Maybe even one of my best too. I just...' he stopped.
'You don't have to explain if you don't want to. I know it's hard.'
He shook his head. 'No, I want to explain. Seeing that photo... I haven't since before Jessica passed, it scared me. It made me remember what it was like before everything went bad.' He said slowly. 'Before I lost everyone.' His voice cracked at the last bit, and tears threatened to spill again. Without thinking I pressed my lips to his temple.

And I quickly pulled away.

What had I just done?

I froze. Lockwood froze. I wanted badly to pull my arm away and give him space. He was probably so uncomfortable. But I couldn't move. I sat there staring at the floor, re-thinking all my life choices, when Holly came back. She must have noticed the shift in the air because she gave me a look.