BEFORE THE MORNING CAME

.12 - homebound

michelle was happy to be home. barry was surprised to have her back.

for a week after her arrival, her brother stayed home with her and tended to her every need, despite her insistence of being fine. she was nursed back to her peak physical health with the assistance of barry's new income; bartending. he treated each day as her birthday, because each day with her was a gift after he thought his sister died. she was greeted with three square meals a day, mostly a variety of sandwiches, as that was what the twenty-something year old ate at home, but it was more than enough for the teenager.

the days were easy, as the reyes siblings returned to their normal routine of lounging with a joint between their lips, and a stray bag of chips shared between the two of them.

the nights, however, were a different story.

when michelle would bid her brother goodnight, he would listen into the early hours of the morning from the living room as the girl paced hastily around her untouched bedroom. he heard the floors creak and muffled sobs for hours as the girl spent each night reliving what she had just returned home from. it happened each night, the girl would pace, anxiety coursing through her veins as she thought about what her friends were living through, now back on the island. she wondered if john b. was alive for the first few days, but after countless hours and days of calling jj when the moon rose, he assured her that both of the john routledges were home and safe. she had yet to talk with her john, though, as each failed call eventually made it to his voicemail. it took everything out of her each night to not leave her safe haven and go to him, to see with her own eyes that he was home safe. she had become dependent on him, on the comfort he offered her, of the familiarity of her uncomfortable thoughts, of having someone to talk to that understood just about everything she had gone through the past weeks. she needed him like she needed air, and she hated it.

she hated it even more knowing that her feelings were not reciprocated. her best friend, the boy that had so carelessly kissed her and held her, did not even offer a text to the girl. that thought, and her brother being posted on an old lazy boy outside her door, was what kept her in the house each night, alone in a dark room with her thoughts.

barry did not tell his sister about his work with rafe. it was a burden that he felt the girl did not need to carry, after seeing her rampage of emotions consume her each night. it was hard on him, knowing that there was not more he could do to comfort his baby sister. he thought that the profit he would make through rafe would offer her a new life, maybe even one off of the island, away from the trauma they had both endured their entire lives. the young man had turned his life around in the past month, wanting to make the idea of his deceased sister proud, but now that she was no longer dead, and instead, was living in constant grief, barry was quick to turn back to his old ways, as long as it assured his sister a better life. he would do anything for her.

even stealing a priceless relic.

even playing a part in killing ward cameron.

after a week of being home, following the same routine each day, barry inquired to his sister if she had any interest of facing life again.

"so, you want me to leave?" michelle chuckled, rubbing her dry eyes as she passed the smoking joint to her brother.

"no, i don't want you to leave." barry insisted, lying straight to her face. he knew that rafe would arrive that afternoon, and they would set up a fire pit to melt down the golden cross they had stolen. "i just... think you should see your friends. y'know, maybe it would be good for you."

michelle sat back in the chair after plucking a ruffled chip from a half-eaten bag in front of her. she considered barry's offer, and everything in her body was telling her to take the opportunity. her racing heart held her back. the two sat in silence while michelle talked her anxiety down internally, then nodded. "yeah, true." she shrugged, attempting to remain nonchalant.