Rubble: Devil's Rose #12

Chapter 17: Nicholas Frasier

"Come with me," Alice whimpers, tears of shock streaming down her face.

Oh my fucking god. I think I'm about to die looking at her so fucking sad.

I wanted to go from the start, from the moment that her mom told me what was going on, but fuck, I didn't want to overstep. I had no idea that I would feel so hurt watching her hurt. I didn't have an idea that that was possible. But it very much is, and I want to be there to comfort her.

Seeing her like this, I don't think I'll ever recover. I will do anything to make her not feel this way, and if I can't stop it, I'll be with her through all the emotions. I don't hesitate to follow her down the steps, and I direct her out the door and down the stairs to Major who is parked outside.

I go up to the passenger side window where he sits, Violet in the driver's seat. In any other circumstance, that wouldn't be happening and I would be surprised to see the switch, right now it makes sense.

I don't think Major or Alice are in a headspace where they should be driving. Violet clearly feels the same way.

"Alice invited me to come, so would you be able to swing by my place? We can still take one car, but I need to get a few things," I tell the two of them, also directing the question toward Violet who has gotten out of the car to help Alice put her things in the trunk.

"I was gonna tell you that you should come anyway," Major announces, his voice wobbly.

Fuck, it hurts hearing him all sad too.

Before I get the chance to sit with Alice in the backseat, Major climbs out of the front and makes his way to her. The two of them sit in the back while Violet and I are in front, just as still and quiet as the siblings. Violet and I give each other a couple of knowing glances, but that's about it.

We don't acknowledge the amount of pain that we feel for the people we love. We just let them sit together and find comfort in being with their sibling. Neither Violet nor I have siblings, so we don't truly understand that bond, but it's strong between Major and Alice.

They've been through a lot together, and this just adds another layer of pain that they have to deal with. I think they both have a bigger support system than before though. And everyone will be there for them.

When we get to my apartment building, I run upstairs and back my things pretty quickly. It's just enough to hold me over for two weeks before having to do laundry, but we will be probably staying at the Owens family house so they will have things there.

And if needed, we can go to stores and buy something that we forgot in the rush. I just have no idea how long we are going to be in Denham Springs, and I don't think anyone does. I get back to the car and take a deep breath before getting back inside.

Alice and Major are talking in hushed, fast tones, probably trying to come up with ways not to have their mom, Erin, ask a bunch of questions about their lives and convince them to stay forever.

It's making the world a little lighter for them. That's all that matters right about now. I don't know how they aren't breaking down. I would be.

The trip to the Midland airport is different than any other three-hour car ride I've ever had to be a part of. At some points, mostly in the beginning, it was really fucking sad. Like they were both just trying to hold it together.

Toward the middle, Violet and I could finally play some music to try and ease the tension building up within the siblings.

Then, Alice put her headphones in and cried while staring out the window for an hour straight while Violet and Major argued about how often they should be watering their houseplants and other random shit they have to do to their place.

And now that we're thirty minutes out, the tension has returned to full force. They are extremely anxious to just be on the plan, to just be in Denham Springs with their dad, Cliff.

Violet and I take over everything, knowing what the two of them need. We just direct them through every single step since we both agree that they shouldn't have to think about anything but getting to their mom and dad.

I get the information that Slasher has about the flight, so we can get our boarding passes, and got me a ticket without having to ask. I give it to the person at the counter, and they direct me to a more private sector of the airport where most of the private planes fly out of.

We are guided to a runway that shows us the way to a private hangar. Inside the hanger sits a plane, pilot, and flight attendant just for the four of us it seems. I don't even question it because I know that Violet had something to do with it.

In the past couple of months, and I don't know all the details because I'm not Major (thank god), Violet and her parents have started to heal their relationship.

And because they're rich, it partly means extremely generous favors, such as private planes and pilots and flight attendants.

After maybe ten minutes of getting our things loaded on the plane and getting settled into our seats, the plane is ready to go. Violet and Major are having a moment in the back of the plane, and Alice and I have seated ourselves slightly apart from them.

Not because they don't want us around them, but I think we all recognized that it would be best if we were around our significant others.

Violet definitely knows that Alice and I are something more than friends, but I'm not sure if Major is paying enough attention to either of us to fully realize. I don't think that the relationship between Alice and me is a priority at this particular moment.

And the instant that I sit down next to Alice, she's using me as support while she tries to sleep, so it's not like she's trying to hide anything from her older brother.

I run my fingers through her hair, gently coaxing her to sleep. She desperately needs it. The flight is about three hours, the same as our road trip, and she didn't get a second of sleep on the road, so I'm hoping she can sleep now.

I can't even begin to imagine the emotional turmoil she's going through. She knows exactly what it feels like to be in a car accident and the aftermath of that. She is aware of how fucking awful it is. It's dominated her life for so long, that she's only now starting to break out of the holes she dug for herself.

She wouldn't ever want that for someone she cares about, obviously, so for her dad to be going through something very similar to what she did, it has to be so incredibly hard.

It has to be like torture thinking about what he's feeling. They don't even know the damage; Erin was too overwhelmed to give them all the information which is super understandable, so they just have to wait to get to the hospital or get to see her.

All they know is that he's going to live, and that's it.

Tears gather in my eyes just thinking about it.

Alice's hand clutches the material of my shirt tightly, her knuckles turning white. I run my fingers over the top of them, hoping to relax her grip, which I sort of do.

Even though she shouldn't be, she's climbed into my lap. Her legs are settled next to mine, her chest pressed to mine, and her head buried into my neck.

I cradle her in my arms and hope that everything will be okay. The fucking torture I feel is nothing compared to hers, which makes me insane. I want to ease every fucking burden that she holds, and I know I can't. Fuck.